[Official] D2 & D2G Battery Life Discussion

[aweber1nj]

You have to root the phone first. (z4root in the market is quick and entirely painless)

Be sure to read all you can here and everywhere else before your root your phone such that you understand all the "risks and responsibility" that goes with it!

Then you can install setCPU from the market and read-up on some of its capabilities.

 

[aweber1nj]

You need to root the phone (I used z4Root) and then download the app. Highly worth it and this is the only reason I rooted (no custom ROMs for me).

Same boat. Works great.

(Try autostarts too if there's anything you find starting when you don't want it to...though I can't disable the docking, which is pissing me off.)

 

[sketch337]

Well, I've only had my phone for a couple of days...but so far the battery life on my Droid 2 Global is pretty sad. Today, it lasted about 5 hours and then had to be recharged. I'm still working on tweaking the power usage on the phone but I'll probably be grabbing the extended battery before long.

 

[corydunbar]

if you set it up right, you can make it through a whole day.

 

[thebizz]

I second that you should be able to make it a whole day just make sure everything isn't constantly pulling data like blur (huge battery drain), if you don't need data to be constantly on set it up to stop using data after 15-30 mins of you touching it. I can now make it through a day the global should be able to also

 

[lhorn]

battery usage statistics problem

My battery has seemed to drain more quickly than it has been. One thing I noticed before my usage stats started to refuse to open was that the android os was using the highest percentage of power which has never happened. It was normally around 2% and now it was 30%. I have looked at my running applications and can't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. I have only had the phone for about three weeks so i may be missing something. I have also tried turning the phone off and even pulling the battery but I still can't get into the battery usage stats.

 

[thebizz]

Its a problem with the update my phone rooted did the same and I would have to wipe battery information in recovery to get it back

 

[geendroid]

roughly how much is the battery life improved just by rooting?

 

[dbasham]

Hard to say but Juice Defender (which does NOT require you to root) claims somewhere between 1.5x and 2.5x improvement over normal battery life depending on when I look at it during the day (it samples over 48 hours). I'm not sure what % SetCPU helps with but it is SO easy to try it that I suggest you give it a shot. I am running BOTH Juice Defender and SetCPU on my phone.

SetCPU varies the CPU frequency dynamically so obviously less CPU is better. I also have mine set to 300 min/600 max when the screen is off and as battery life drains my max goes lower (at 60% I am at 1000 and at 35% I am at 800). This certainly helps.

 

[chatykat58]

I'm new to the Droid, just switched from iphone. My battery life seems pretty poor compared to the iphone.
How do you set up your phone to stop pulling data, as stated in previous post?

 

[corydunbar]

you can so a lot of battery saving if you're willing to root your device. is that something you're willing to do?

 

[thebizz]

Settings battery manager, then choose a profile pr make your own with data set to turn off after a preset period of time

 

[lyoko37]

My battery life has also been quite poor. I get 5 hours on my regular use and 8 hours if I try really hard, I recently installed Juice Defender but have not noticed much of a difference. I did order the R2-D2 (White) Extended battery from Verizon, which is the same white. since they don't offer a white door as an option under Droid 2 Global in white. It should be here today so we will see how that helps.

I am thinking of rooting my phone though and attempting SetCPU.

 

[ydh2323]

oh no! im getting my d2g tomorrow and can not deal with a phone that wont last all day--is it really that bad??

 

[lyoko37]

oh no! im getting my d2g tomorrow and can not deal with a phone that wont last all day--is it really that bad??

I's pretty downright horrible. Even with the extended battery I have trouble keeping like 16+ hours with very light usage

 

[Mr Mayor]

Like most of you, my D2G has horrible battery life. It's on the charger at least 4 times aday simply because I'm afraid of it dieing at an inopportune moment during the day. Seriously, home, then car/commute, then at work, then in car again, and maybe home..) 30% in 10 txt msgs, 5 phones calls of 15 minutes each? What????

By the 2nd day I purchased the ext life battery (but what the hell is R2D2, and yes, my cover IS black, is the battery even bigger?)

So, as a rookie, and frankly, a chicken$h!+ when it comes to rooting...
I've done the following:

Dropped Facebook sync to lowest #, 4 hours I think.. And went to FB and turned on emails instead, it's easier.
Dropped email sync (4 accounts) to lowest (for now, not thrilled about this, as I may start using VPN to connect to our Domino server here @ work)
JUST dropped to CDMA from GLOBAL (Thanks for that! Great tip!)
I don't Tweet, Feed, whistle, bark, fart or whatever it is people feel the need to share TMI these days... (Where to switch off syncing for something I don't do, does that matter?)
Brightness I need, as I run a privacy screen on mine, and it's pretty dark.
I'd like to remove some of the crAPPS that came with the phone too... but again, scared. Tell me more about this "easy rooting" method just so I can uninstall a few apps... tell me more about setCPU please.... or point me to a post..

So, what else can we go through to "ease my pain" huh?

Thanks gang,
Mr Mayor

 

[Prospekt]

Like most of you, my D2G has horrible battery life. It's on the charger at least 4 times aday simply because I'm afraid of it dieing at an inopportune moment during the day. Seriously, home, then car/commute, then at work, then in car again, and maybe home..) 30% in 10 txt msgs, 5 phones calls of 15 minutes each? What????

By the 2nd day I purchased the ext life battery (but what the hell is R2D2, and yes, my cover IS black, is the battery even bigger?)

So, as a rookie, and frankly, a chicken$h!+ when it comes to rooting...
I've done the following:

Dropped Facebook sync to lowest #, 4 hours I think.. And went to FB and turned on emails instead, it's easier.
Dropped email sync (4 accounts) to lowest (for now, not thrilled about this, as I may start using VPN to connect to our Domino server here @ work)
JUST dropped to CDMA from GLOBAL (Thanks for that! Great tip!)
I don't Tweet, Feed, whistle, bark, fart or whatever it is people feel the need to share TMI these days... (Where to switch off syncing for something I don't do, does that matter?)
Brightness I need, as I run a privacy screen on mine, and it's pretty dark.
I'd like to remove some of the crAPPS that came with the phone too... but again, scared. Tell me more about this "easy rooting" method just so I can uninstall a few apps... tell me more about setCPU please.... or point me to a post..

So, what else can we go through to "ease my pain" huh?

Thanks gang,
Mr Mayor

Regarding the last part about uninstalling the crAPPs, once you're rooted you can install titanium backup and "freeze" those apps so they never ever run and don't show up in your app drawer. That way when there's a system update you can "thaw" them and you won't screw anything up like what could happen if you completely uninstalled them.

 

[Mr Mayor]

Ok, got it... So... I need to root, right?
And I want this Titanium Backup app to freeze those apps.. So, I want to forget about SetCPU or.... unrelated or..... ??

Thanks!!
MM

 

[DougFNJ]

I know there are obviously a lot of people that have had the device a little while posting here, and I definitely hope you got the answers you are seeking as far as what to turn off or on to maximize battery. If you minimize the useage of social networking apps, as well as News Apps, and of course turning Global to CDMA Only, this will give a remarkable boost. Keeping Wifi on is not a bad thing as data used through Wifi takes less power than data used through the network. The key is to uncheck Network Notification in Wifi settings, otherwise when out of a Wifi Network, it will keep polling and notifying you everywhere you go.

I just figured for those that just got this device new, a couple of tips and things to understand. There is a conditioning process that takes a little time. First of all, don't forget that for the first 2-3 days, drain the battery until it shuts itself off, and recharge it completely, this conditions the battery. It dosent hurt to do this every so often. The second thing to understand in regards to Android OS is, the first week or so, you will be downloading applications more, changing settings, generally using it more than you will when you are completely settled in with the device, so after a week or so, you should see better results day to day, particularly getting a full days use out of it, not Blackberry like battery life, but it should last you from the morning off the charger, until you are ready to go to bed and plug it in again.

When I first got my Droid X, I noticed the first week that taking it off the charger at 7:30am, it was at 50 or 40% battery by 12:30 lunch, very low by the time I got home, and just about dead with about 2 hours before I'd go to bed. After conditioning, and settling in with it after that week I mentioned, it was at 90 or 80% by lunch, the lowest would be 40% by the time I plugged it in at night if it was off the charger all day. If I charged a little at lunch and on my drive home I'd be between 60%-80%.

Results may very, but be patient, I am hoping to see similar results with my new Droid 2 Global.

PS. I didn't root the X, and have no immediate plans to root the D2G.

 

[Mr Mayor]

Thanks Doug (NJ huh? Same)

I need to add that since diving into this forum more, and just experimenting with different settings and menus and stuff, my battery life is actually reasonable now... A full day of texting (except 8 to 5 of course ) and a few calls, and a quick check of the weather, and some management of my ATV website, and I can still get a full day and a half out of it. This is much better than the 2 to 3 times per day I was getting. I do believe the best settings for me were:

Facebook sync off, then logging into my Facebook via PC and setting up email alerts instead, and only a few of those at best)
Unchecking Global and checking CDMA (I think this was the icing on the cake btw)
Raising the sync time in email from damn near immediate to 4 hours.

So, patience has paid off finally. I'm still digging for more, especially because My orig Droid had a std battery that kept pace with my Droid2G EXTENDED life battery...and they are the same... and no, I never rooted it...

Mr Mayor