The Official Battery Life Thread

[shadowsjc]

You're thinking a phone with 4G, a higher res screen, and 1000MHz more processing power is going to get better battery life? I'm thinking short battery life is the price we'll pay for the power these devices have now, at least until there's a breakthrough in battery tech.

That being said I do think you should be getting slightly more life then you are if you're only using 3G but it depends on how much signal strength you have too. With a bad signal 3G will suck your battery empty pretty fast too.

I'm at 30% right now after 12:30 on battery and 1:30 screen on time. That's using 4G all day with full signal strength.

That's all well and good...except 1) I have (edit) 4G off pretty much the entire time, 2) i have the screen off pretty much the entire time.

I accept that 4G and a higher res screen use up battery, but if they're both disabled and I've barely used my phone, there's no reason for it to drain so quickly.

 

[PhontomF]

That's all well and good...except 1) I have 3G off pretty much the entire time, 2) i have the screen off pretty much the entire time.

I accept that 4G and a higher res screen use up battery, but if they're both disabled and I've barely used my phone, there's no reason for it to drain so quickly.

Well your post said you're in 3G mode most of the time nothing about it being disabled?? What do you mean you're in airplane mode then or on wifi? If your data connection is disabled for 11 out of those 12 hours then yes you have a major issue somewhere and should return your phone for an exchange.

 

[alphanu22]

Anybody know how to launch the stock launcher? I've been using an alternative launcher (Zeam) since day 1, and I thought it may be worthwhile to launch the stock launcher and remove all of the widgets from the home screens just in case.

Now when I clear the defaults from Zeam Launcher, the only launchers it allows me to use is the Xperia launcher (I installed) and Zeam. I can't find the stock one.

Brandon

PM'ed since not Battery Post-

 

[YourMobileGuru]

Check the market for an app called Home Switcher I think it is called.

https://market.android.com/search?q=home+switcher&so=1&c=apps There are a few of them.

Alternatively you an just uninstall the alternative launcher. You can always reinstall it later as most of these things save their settings on the SD card (or can back them up to the SD card.

 

[shadowsjc]

Well your post said you're in 3G mode most of the time nothing about it being disabled?? What do you mean you're in airplane mode then or on wifi? If your data connection is disabled for 11 out of those 12 hours then yes you have a major issue somewhere and should return your phone for an exchange.

sorry it was a typo...I meant I had 4G off most of the time, so my phone is on 3G. And if my DroidX can stand well over a day while on 3G and mostly sitting idle, i'd expect the Bionic to compare somewhat favorably...but it's not anywhere near that at all.

Also, it seems any time I do anything remotely useful with the phone (play a game, download something on 4G), the battery life goes nuts and just plummets straight down. Whatever, I'm over this. Just gonna wait around till day 13 so I don't have to use my crappy Samsung Omnia any longer than I have to.

 

[KillerG]

sorry it was a typo...I meant I had 4G off most of the time, so my phone is on 3G. And if my DroidX can stand well over a day while on 3G and mostly sitting idle, i'd expect the Bionic to compare somewhat favorably...but it's not anywhere near that at all.

Also, it seems any time I do anything remotely useful with the phone (play a game, download something on 4G), the battery life goes nuts and just plummets straight down. Whatever, I'm over this. Just gonna wait around till day 13 so I don't have to use my crappy Samsung Omnia any longer than I have to.

I'm telling everyone...this is normal stuff for early adopters. There's going to be bugs like this...I'm going to guess all the battery issues anyone's been having is software related, and that you should try a battery manager app and see if you can get that squeeze more battery. For now, Motorola's stock launcher is a little messed up. Make sure something's not using up your battery, it seems that people have been able to squeeze out plenty of battery life, but you haven't. Maybe you have a dud phone, idk.

 

[bigsmoove]

charged it up full yesterday morning around 10am...went all day on 3g with a few phone calls, streaming music, a txt or 3...didnt charge til this morning again... up at 7am with it at 30%.

 

[shadowsjc]

charged it up full yesterday morning around 10am...went all day on 3g with a few phone calls, streaming music, a txt or 3...didnt charge til this morning again... up at 7am with it at 30%.

if i could get this, i would be happy. i might try to get one more phone before returning it altogether

 

[anon(392870)]

LTE Switch is descent. It's a shortcut to the mobile network settings menu. It's not as bad as digging in the menus from the main menu.

Its a nice shortcut, but it's not a true widget.

I think once you're able to flip the 4G on and off simply by a widget (not a shortcut) people will really enjoy this phone more.

 

[Jasper]

4 Hours of Display on will kill your phone no matter what. If you can go 17-19 hours I would bet Cory's arm that your display was only on for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This is with the standard battery.
I can run around 12-13 hours with about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of display actually being on. This is in 4G or WIFI.

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

This might be a dumb question, but where do you see the actual "screen on time" info? When I got to my battery info on the phone, all it shows is % of use by various things, no options under the menu in there other than to refresh. Do you see this with some of the alternative battery apps? (i haven't downloaded any of those yet...) Or is this not actual hours, but rather best guesstimates based on your perceived usage? Just curious.....

 

[shadowsjc]

If you click where it says "display", it will take you to a new screen that shows you how long your screen has been on. You can also click the other items for more detailed info (how long each of the other apps/services has been on for)

 

[SSHGuru]

You know, I think many of you have expectations that are too high for how long a battery will last in a dual core 4k LTE smartphone with a 4.3 inch screen.

I'm amazed at how good it is considering and I don't do anything to save the battery - if it gets low I plug it in.

We are still a year or two away from longer term battery solutions but for now you can't expect to get better.

 

[bigsmoove]

You know, I think many of you have expectations that are too high for how long a battery will last in a dual core 4k LTE smartphone with a 4.3 inch screen.

I'm amazed at how good it is considering and I don't do anything to save the battery - if it gets low I plug it in.

We are still a year or two away from longer term battery solutions but for now you can't expect to get better.

i tend to agree...and i'm one of those..coming from the DroidX, i guess i was a bit spoiled. i just would hope i'd get an updated/upgraded phone...and not have to set the 4g down to 3g to get a long battery life...meaning, that, its a 4g phone..so be it. but i'm still liking the phone. and will keep it most likely.

 

[shadowsjc]

You know, I think many of you have expectations that are too high for how long a battery will last in a dual core 4k LTE smartphone with a 4.3 inch screen.

I'm amazed at how good it is considering and I don't do anything to save the battery - if it gets low I plug it in.

We are still a year or two away from longer term battery solutions but for now you can't expect to get better.

How long would you expect the Bionic to last with the screen off and with the 4G off (i.e., just in 3G mode)?

As long as a comparable 3G only phone? Somewhat near (but less than) a comparable 3G phone?

In practice, even with all the bells and whistles turned off, the phone regularly cannot make it past a working day - sun up to sun down (except for one or two outliers who I have trouble believing). For the most part, the battery life in this phone simply does not cut it.

 

[mjforte]

Did a 3G battery life test today. Only used 4G for about 30 minutes. If I had used 4G all day I'm sure my battery would be at 40% or 50% instead of 60% so it looks like 3G only saves the battery somewhat.

 

[LDubs]

pulled my battery off the charger this am at 7:00a and it dropped to 15% and demanded to be charged at around 2:30-3:00p. Granted, this is day 1 with my Bionic, and I had it download dozens of apps, but other than that haven't really done all that much - 3 very short phone calls, a few texts, emails using MailDroid, played around with the settings a bit and changed around one home screen. on strong 4G signal all day, haven't left my house. Haven't really taxed it at all. Not too excited about that. Extended battery is coming Monday (was supposed to arrive today but was backordered at vzwireless for a couple of days).

 

[ManBearPig618]

I don't know...maybe I'm just picky, but if the phone is basically screen off all day, there really isn't a reason why I should see it drop so much battery. I get that in heavy use it's going to drop, but losing heavy %'s from just idling?!? No thanks.

 

[bplewis24]

How long would you expect the Bionic to last with the screen off and with the 4G off (i.e., just in 3G mode)?

As long as a comparable 3G only phone? Somewhat near (but less than) a comparable 3G phone?

In practice, even with all the bells and whistles turned off, the phone regularly cannot make it past a working day - sun up to sun down (except for one or two outliers who I have trouble believing). For the most part, the battery life in this phone simply does not cut it.

This is my experience as well. You can't tell me my expectations are too high. With 4G off, screen off and just checking my notifications I can't ever make it past 1PM (today it made it to 1PM, which was a rarity).

Brandon

 

[DroidST]

not even past 1PM?

I had or court appointment this morning with my wife on a business matter of ours, left the house at 7:30am.. LTE on, wifi and BT off, brightness on auto.. streamed some slacker via BT on the way to Court (arrived at 8am)

I did some forum browsing, emails etc with 3G only in the courtroom until about 10am which was our time (LTE available outside of the Courtroom though).. Court over at 11:30am.. did some streaming with slacker and BT a bit on the drive back without the Car Dock since I put it in our Acura...Jag Check Engine light came on, Jag went into 'Limp Home" mode which I don't see how you can drive home with that, maybe to a safe place.. called AAA for tow.. plenty of surfing while streaming slacker (LTE) in the 55 minutes it took for the Tow truck to arrive.. once home, took 3 calls on the phone and let it sit on the table without being plugged in until I just checked your Post at 6:27pm.. ..


... my battery is at 59% (according to Circle Batter)..60% with standard bat status..

don't have to believe it but that is where it is at and it's lasting much longer than the TB it replaced.

I use the gmail app, never touched the social location app (thank god)... did do 2-3 speed tests (activates GPS), 2 sitting in court, another waiting for tow. I have the Koi Pond Live wallpaper as well.

EDIT: Standard Battery - I got the Costco Deal, 2nd Standard Battery unused....