Last effort before i sell it

[jjsaw5]

To keep from going on a rant about this phone and beating the preverbal dead horse. I?ve resulted as a last ditch effort before I completely give up on this phone to see if some of you guys can help me out.

Already been through a replacement, several calls to the Tech Support folks.

My battery life is horrible. Now I fully understand that with the dual core setup this phone has battery performance issues can be expected. I have the extended battery in my phone. You would think that having the phones settings dulled down for optimal battery life with an extended battery I would easily?and I stress easily be able to make it through the day WITH LITE VERY LITE usage.

But I cannot. I?m not streaming music all day, I don?t have 12 widgets running that are sucking up data usage and constantly going to the internet, my usage is as follows.

Check twitter/facebook (maybe 3 times a day?maybe)
Check e-mail (same as above maybe 3 times a day)
Make a couple calls that are never longer then 10 minutes.
Send text messages maybe 20 a day on average.

I can not make it through the day with out having to charge this phone. If I increase my usage forget about making it 4 hours.

Here?s what I?ve tried?

Dulled down phone settings (screen, data connections, widgets, screen time out)
Have gotten a replacement phone (Due to other issues. Hoped my 1st phone was just having issues)
Extended battery (tried multiple same results)

Other then the battery and settings I don?t know what else I can do.

Today?s usage.

Left the house this morning at 100% at 7am.
Checked facebook and twitter total time 6-7 minutes.
Sent 4 text messages
Checked e-mail less then 2 minutes.

I?m at 60% Battery life. To me this usage with an extended battery and my current settings should have me around 80%...maybe not even that low. At this rate the phone will be dead before I get home from work around 5 pm.

What am I missing?

 

[radgatt]

You ever try doing a factory reset? Maybe it's a bad phone because I'm blasting music for 30 mins on lunch and on the internet and can make it back home from work with about 40% battery and with a standard battery. I have widgets as well.

 

[jjsaw5]

I just got a new phone on Monday, it was a new replacement model. So it was completely stock. I haven't really installed or used anything on this new phone other then gmail, facebook, and twitter.

I also did try a factory reset with the other device and it didn't help either. My next step may be to try and install a batter monitor and see what is really going on.


I'd love to be able to actually use this phone with out it being plugged in all day.

 

[Wildo6882]

I honestly think it comes down to this: cell phone batteries are not ready for 4G LTE. Simple as that. Or 4G LTE isn't ready for cell phone batteries. One or the other. I have the same issue. I take it off the charger at 8 am, I'm at 20% at 4 pm. This is with a standard battery and the phone basically on my desk all day - probably about 20-30 texts and checking email for about 10 minutes, then maybe 10-20 minutes of phone calls. I've decided to give up on 4G for the time being, until a standard battery can last me through the day.

 

[Joe92GT]

Try this

The app name from the store is betterbatterystats, no space. I'm not sure if this is the best app out there for what it does, but it is what teslacoil software had me download to check what the draw was.

Link to the app development page: [APP] BetterBatteryStats adds battery history back to Gingerbread - xda-developers

 

[LDubs]

How often do you have twitter and facebook set to check messages and/or refreshing messages? If it's fairly often, this could suck battery life too. Also, is your phone constantly switching back and forth btwn 4G and 3G? This could also drain battery.

 

[doogald]

You say that you use twitter and facebook only a few times a day, but how often are they polling for new messages in the background? Every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes?

For email, are you using Gmail (which uses push mail) or are you using the stock mail app, which (I think) polls for mail on a schedule, rather than using IMAP push?

So, in other words, Have you tried altering how often apps like these poll for messages in the background?

I was using Tweetdeck for twitter and facebook, set to look for messages every 15 minutes, and otherwise just Google account sync. Like you, not much voice calls, several text messages a day. I'd typically look at Tweetdeck every hour, on averagem to go through accumulated messages. With the standard battery, I could go 11 hours with about 60% battery life left.

(Oh, I was set to CDMA only, not LTE/CDMA. But I was connected to WiFi more than half the time, so LTE was unnecessary for me.)

 

[shadowsjc]

i would turn off 4G LTE unless you really need it. If you're in the office, then it would be safe to turn off until you hit the road. that should give you some added battery benefit.

It could also be that your office/home whatever has poor reception. your phone will definitely feel warm on the back if it is constantly searching for signal.

finally, if you're using the facebook app, check under the settings that the refresh interval is set to "never". this will make it so that you receive push notifications, vs. having the phone poll for new changes every 5 mins. i've been told that push notifications are better on battery than polling.

 

[Wildo6882]

Oh, I was set to CDMA only, not LTE/CDMA.

And that's exactly what leads me to believe that batteries are not ready for 4G LTE. When I have mine on CDMA only, it gets pretty solid battery life. Even with playing with it for much of the day, it makes it all the way to bedtime with juice to spare. While on 4G it makes it to dinner time, and then dies, without using it much. I don't want a phone that can't make it through a day doing what a smartphone is supposed to do. It isn't the phone's fault, it's that 4G chews up battery like there's no tomorrow. I'm even in a good area where it never goes below two bars of 4G.

 

[jjsaw5]

Yes i have all of these settings to either be manual (it won't update unless i make it) or i have it on the max settings. Like facebook for example i have it on never update. Gmail and the other app are set to the same settings.


I downloaded the app @Joe92GT. Maybe this can yield me more information.

 

[2defmouze]

Its not that batteries are not ready for 4G. I repeat: Its not that batteries are not ready for 4G. Its software-related. Before I rooted/updated/ROMed my phone I actually got pretty good battery life on 4G all day, I think I averaged around 8-10 hrs with moderate usage. Your problem, as suggested, could also have to do with constant switching between 3G/4G, this would drain the battery a bit more.

For comparison.. After flashing the DroidTh3ory's ROM and running the Powerboost script he has included in it... battery life is off the charts. I get around 10 hrs with moderate to somewhat heavy usage, and if I go easy on her I can get around 15 hrs or more.

All on 4G 24/7 with the standard battery.

Point is.. the hardware/battery itself CAN handle it just fine.. the software needs tweaks though.

 

[anon(392870)]

Leave my 4G on all day, turn my Wifi on when @ work (8-5 mostly), check twitter, send some texts, browse, a phone call or 2 and stream music as well.

I'm at 76% being off the charger since 7:30 this morning.

Basically, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[potermac]

What is your phone saying is using the most battery?

 

[greydarrah]

Why don't you try deleting (actually delete as opposed to just not using) facebook and twitter before going to bed, charge the phone and then use the next day. See how your battery does. I have neither of those apps and usually have 40 to 60% left every day when I go to bed around midnight. Just see how it does.

 

[mjwalsh]

Its surprising the disparity in battery life with the bionics. I take mine off the charger at 7.30am (stock battery) I am on 4G all day, use the phone pretty often and easily have 30% by 11pm. Extended battery gives me around 50% left in same time frame.

The OTA update is said to improve battery life by better radio software (from those who have tried the leaked firmware updates)

 

[mamawM]

try this, it made a huge improvement in my battery life. Having Battery and OS Issues

 

[ferniesp]

Yes i have all of these settings to either be manual (it won't update unless i make it) or i have it on the max settings. Like facebook for example i have it on never update. Gmail and the other app are set to the same settings.


I downloaded the app @Joe92GT. Maybe this can yield me more information.

I hate to say it but I will. The Bionic is a huge fail. Get over it, sell it and buy another phone.

 

[Preston951]

I hate to say it but I will. The Bionic is a huge fail. Get over it, sell it and buy another phone.

Excellent argument.

 

[Wildo6882]

Its not that batteries are not ready for 4G. I repeat: Its not that batteries are not ready for 4G. Its software-related. Before I rooted/updated/ROMed my phone I actually got pretty good battery life on 4G all day, I think I averaged around 8-10 hrs with moderate usage. Your problem, as suggested, could also have to do with constant switching between 3G/4G, this would drain the battery a bit more.

For comparison.. After flashing the DroidTh3ory's ROM and running the Powerboost script he has included in it... battery life is off the charts. I get around 10 hrs with moderate to somewhat heavy usage, and if I go easy on her I can get around 15 hrs or more.

All on 4G 24/7 with the standard battery.

Point is.. the hardware/battery itself CAN handle it just fine.. the software needs tweaks though.

This is my point exactly why the batteries and/or phones are not ready for 4G. The masses do not want to have to root, ROM, etc. to get their damn phone to work. The argument that they work fine with those is a pointless one. Your average consumer doesn't want to, or can't, root and ROM. IMHO these phones need to be able to last a good 12-15 hours with a bunch of crap running the way they were intended without the rooting and ROMing. Until then, they aren't ready for 4G. For example, today my phone was off the charger at 8:00 a.m., at 10% by 3:30 p.m. This is with a whopping 3 phone calls totalling 10 minutes, deleting about 20 emails (not responding to), responding to maybe 10 texts, and checking Twitter once. That is not being fully functional to the average consumer right out of the box.

 

[Syounger64]

I noticed that when I'm at work I have to plug it in by noon but at home I'm fine all day. The difference is the reliable 4g at home while the battery drains a lot faster bec its constantly switching btw 4g and 3g plus mywork wifi sucks.