The Official Battery Life Thread

[mjforte]

3rd test completed, got antsy with 20% still left.
Wifi off
Bluetooth off
FB and GMail Sync only
Battery on 15min Saver Mode

3-5min calls 4 of them
50+ txts

unrooted stock

If I may ask, press on the display under battery use and tell me what the screen on time was.

 

[Jasper]

3rd test completed, got antsy with 20% still left.
Wifi off
Bluetooth off
FB and GMail Sync only
Battery on 15min Saver Mode

3-5min calls 4 of them
50+ txts

unrooted stock

How is this possible? I am at 40% after 4 hours of light to moderate use. I don't get it. Do you use any widgets or weather apps?

 

[KillerG]

I'm a little irked that people keep suggesting "turn off all radios and wifi" to fix the poor battery issue. When I pay $300 for a phone, I expect to be able to use it as I wish. I don't think I should have to basically reduce it to a glorified PSP to be able to get decent battery life out of it. I'm not asking for anything crazy...I have NO problem having to charge my phone every night. That being said, I should be able to make it 14-15 hours of inactivity coupled with moderate use (which I'm not even getting close to) without having it approach 0%.

Lol I laugh at your glorified PSP comment. I'd be lucky to get the battery life this thing has on my PSP (which is currently my MP3 player until I get this). I can use my PSP without playing any games (i.e. playing music, on the internet browser [for some reason I will never know], etc.) for maybe 6 hours before I need to plug it in. Let's face it, that's terrible, and I don't keep the brightness all the way up either. And the Bionic eats a PSP's specs for breakfast...I can't even get my PSP to load a youtube video correctly (using a youtube homebrew app because Sony is ******ed and doesn't understand that this thing IS Youtube capable and people want that feature). Yet I can play a game on it for about 3-4 hours that an Android device could easily run (and Sony noticed that. Hope this thing can either be modded to or get Playstation certified. But I doubt Sony will ever certify anything but a Sony device)

 

[alphanu22]

If I may ask, press on the display under battery use and tell me what the screen on time was.

2h 19m 31s

 

[Jasper]

2h 19m 31s

Oh wow, okay. Our definitions of light or moderate use are way off.

 

[alphanu22]

Oh wow, okay. Our definitions of light or moderate use are way off.

what would u call 2hr 19m 31s
ultra light use?

 

[mjforte]

2h 19m 31s

Wow that's pretty good...after 8 hours on mine with 1 hour and 45 minutes of screen on time my Bionic was at 30%.

 

[Droid800]

Wow that's pretty good...after 8 hours on mine with 1 hour and 45 minutes of screen on time my Bionic was at 30%.

Mine's been off charger since 9:30 am, and its only at 60%. That's with an hour of moderate use and then pushing data, etc. 11 hours and only a 40% drop isn't half bad. I almost picked up the battery/charger dock today at the Verizon store, but with this battery life its not needed.

 

[Scout_313]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this, but the extended battery is on sale online on Verizon's website for $24.99. It shows up at $49.99 but if you add it to the cart, the price is 50% off. Hope this helps someone.

 

[ManBearPig618]

Lol I laugh at your glorified PSP comment. I'd be lucky to get the battery life this thing has on my PSP (which is currently my MP3 player until I get this). I can use my PSP without playing any games (i.e. playing music, on the internet browser [for some reason I will never know], etc.) for maybe 6 hours before I need to plug it in. Let's face it, that's terrible, and I don't keep the brightness all the way up either. And the Bionic eats a PSP's specs for breakfast...I can't even get my PSP to load a youtube video correctly (using a youtube homebrew app because Sony is ******ed and doesn't understand that this thing IS Youtube capable and people want that feature). Yet I can play a game on it for about 3-4 hours that an Android device could easily run (and Sony noticed that. Hope this thing can either be modded to or get Playstation certified. But I doubt Sony will ever certify anything but a Sony device)

I meant in a general sense...cutting all syncing and radio would render the device basically a very, very advanced handheld. My larger point was I shouldn't be forced to sever the device's connectivity just to get decent usage out of it.

 

[stangger]

For those with very bad battery life, are you charging on a home charger, car charger, or both?

I picked mine up Thursday with only 20% battery life and nursed it until 7 or so when I pluggd it up at hom for an overnight charge. Took it off Friday at 5AM and used it a bunch on Friday...didn't screen cap the usage statistics but I probably had 3 hours of talk(all on blue tooth), 10-15 text messgaes, sent 30 or so emails, a good bit of web browsing (4G), downloaded some free games and played them about an hour or so...got home Friday night to 35% battery life and intentionally didn't plug it up that night still had 15% mid morning Saturday.

We headed out to a college football game, and I charged it in the car for 1.5 hours which gave me the fully charged notice. That 100% lasted less than a full game just checking a few scores and responding to a few texts, etc. it literally shut down (got extremely hot also btw and a quick check then reveald maps using 65%...still monitoring that not what is up).

Got home charged over night on the home charger and have used it hours today On screen time 6 hours 45 mins and its still at 65%....

So for now I am thinking its either maps or the car charger and will run some tests to try and narrow it down.

 

[alphanu22]

So for now I am thinking its either maps or the car charger and will run some tests to try and narrow it down.

combo of both. when the screen is on and is connected to a power source home or car charge, the phone will get hot. my DX did this alot and so does my Bionic. With Maps running the GPS is also running making the use of the charger even more. I got the Universal Vent Cell holder from VZW for 20bux. DX is being charged while running Maps/GPS while it sits in from for the AC-

 

[mjforte]

For those with very bad battery life, are you charging on a home charger, car charger, or both?

I picked mine up Thursday with only 20% battery life and nursed it until 7 or so when I pluggd it up at hom for an overnight charge. Took it off Friday at 5AM and used it a bunch on Friday...didn't screen cap the usage statistics but I probably had 3 hours of talk(all on blue tooth), 10-15 text messgaes, sent 30 or so emails, a good bit of web browsing (4G), downloaded some free games and played them about an hour or so...got home Friday night to 35% battery life and intentionally didn't plug it up that night still had 15% mid morning Saturday.

We headed out to a college football game, and I charged it in the car for 1.5 hours which gave me the fully charged notice. That 100% lasted less than a full game just checking a few scores and responding to a few texts, etc. it literally shut down (got extremely hot also btw and a quick check then reveald maps using 65%...still monitoring that not what is up).

Got home charged over night on the home charger and have used it hours today On screen time 6 hours 45 mins and its still at 65%....

So for now I am thinking its either maps or the car charger and will run some tests to try and narrow it down.

That is insane...6 hours and 45 mins of screen time and still at 65%? Please share your secret!

 

[KillerG]

I meant in a general sense...cutting all syncing and radio would render the device basically a very, very advanced handheld. My larger point was I shouldn't be forced to sever the device's connectivity just to get decent usage out of it.

You don't have to cut off all the syncing or radios...just turn off radios when you're not using them, keep the 3G radio on and turn on less autosyncing.

 

[vanly21]

In the help center app, it recommends not leaving the phone connected to a charger when its fully charged (something about hurting the battery life). Do any of you guys do this? I've been charging it when I go to sleep so I don't disconnect it until I wake up. It ends up being connected to the charger when its already at full charge for a few hours.

 

[DroidST]

In the help center app, it recommends not leaving the phone connected to a charger when its fully charged (something about hurting the battery life). Do any of you guys do this? I've been charging it when I go to sleep so I don't disconnect it until I wake up. It ends up being connected to the charger when its already at full charge for a few hours.

See Page 54 in the 875 Bionic Manual (bottom right under "Battery Charging"):

"Motorola batteries and charging systems have circuitry that protects the battery from
damage from overcharging."

I suggest you do use all Motorola branded usb chargers and docks

 

[YourMobileGuru]

In the help center app, it recommends not leaving the phone connected to a charger when its fully charged (something about hurting the battery life). Do any of you guys do this? I've been charging it when I go to sleep so I don't disconnect it until I wake up. It ends up being connected to the charger when its already at full charge for a few hours.

Lithium Ion batteries can not be overcharged and are NOT line NiMh (like your cordless phone likely has) and need to be drained from time to time to maintain battery life. Never let them drain completely if you can help it because they only have just so many discharge cycles until the battery will not hold a charge anymore.

Charge the battery whenever you like for as long as you like, if the battery is low mid day put it on the charger for a bit at lunch or in the afternoon when you get home before going out for the evening. Leave it on the charger at night this will NOT hurt it. Any notices you get from the phone about unplugging it because the battery is fully charged are because they suggest you conserve energy but if you do that at night you will loose a good chunk of your battery by morning.

Yes it is a good idea to use only name brand accessories. I personally buy the dock or multimedia dock accessories for most of my phones they turn the phone into a nice clock and save on ware and tare of the USB cords.

 

[vanly21]

Thanks guys. the bionic is my first smart phone so its beating my old one in every department.. I just gotta learn how to maximize the battery life. Appreciate the help.

 

[Yiannis]

I use the original charger and LTE all the time. No I won't change it to WiFi. I shouldn't have to. I get 4 hours and 30 minutes of battery life independently of the background processes running and during all five full charges I've given this battery.

Ordered the end extended one tonight.

 

[wpwoodjr]

I use the original charger and LTE all the time. No I won't change it to WiFi. I shouldn't have to. I get 4 hours and 30 minutes of battery life independently of the background processes running and during all five full charges I've given this battery.

Ordered the end extended one tonight.

Something is using up your battery. Get System Panel and put it in history mode... maybe you can figure out what's going on. Mine's been on all day still have 60% left.