Where did my battery life go?

[eibbed0001]

I have left my phone turned off and plugged into the charger overnight several times and my battery life isn't that great. It might be good to let it get under 20% or so and then fully charge it uninterrupted but that probably would not solve her problem. But I'm no expert...

 

[worwig]

That when her Fascinate tells her that the battery is completely charged it's actually a "false reading" and that it just means it's "almost got a complete charge."

Yes, that is a load. When the Fascinate reaches 100%, it turns off the charge current. When it falls back to about 96%, it turns it back on. And so it repeats, over and over, never to exceed 100%.

But she IS plugging it in overnight and for long periods whenever possible, right? That is the best thing to do normally, and keep it near 100%.

BTW, some device chargers actually do have a more analog taper to the charge circuit. Not an 'off at 100%, on at 96%' like the Samsung. With those, if you leave them plugged in longer, or even cycle the power when at 100%, they may actually creap up a bit over 100% indicated. But it is just a couple percent and of little value to overall battery life.

 

[Landshark]

Speaking of battery life on a Fascinate, maybe someone can verify this for me. My girlfriend has the Fascinate, and battery isn't lasting that long, about 2 to 3 hours max. So she goes to our local VZW store and they tell her that she's been charging her battery wrong. The "Device Specialist" they had there told her that she needs to charge the battery for a full 7 to 8 hours. That when her Fascinate tells her that the battery is completely charged it's actually a "false reading" and that it just means it's "almost got a complete charge." The device specialist wouldn't ok the exchange for a new battery and just told her to charge it for a full 7 to 8 hours and she'll see a drastic improvement over the battery life.

So does this sound right? Honestly I think it's a load, I was shocked when she called me and told me what their so-called device specialist said. I'm going to go down tomorrow and speak with the store manager about this, but before I do. I just want to know if this is true. I'm not all that techie but I would think if a device tells you it's got a complete charge, it's got a complete charge.

At most, what your phone is showing as the current charge on the battery, and what the actual charge on the batter is, will be about 5%. And for further info so you can go in there well prepared, the battery in our phones actually has a computer of it's own inside it that regulates the charge to prevent overcharging. This is why you can leave the phone on a charger and not worry about it. When the battery gets to 100% charge the computer does not let the battery accept a charge anymore until the charge on the battery gets to about 95%, then it allows the charge until the battery reaches 100% again, and the battery just cycles like that until you pull the charger out. That is why if you leave the phone on the charger overnight, get ready to leave in the morning, see that your phone is fully charged and may initially show 100%, then like 2 seconds after you pull it off he charger it drops to anywhere from 95% to 99%.

 

[Unknown User]

Thanks for the info guys, maybe it will help out when I speak to the store manager about the BS that my girlfriend got today about her battery. I'll just give them 2 choices, either replace the battery or the phone. Cause if I have a phone that is giving me a "false reading" like that witless device specialist said then I have a defective phone, and I didn't pluck down my hard earned money for a defective product.

 

[smokie11]

I get what I consider to be good battery life, my phone has been unplugged for 13hrs & 41 min. I have 70% left.

My Display has used 29%
Cell standby 27%
Voice calls 24%
Phone idle 15%
Maps 3%
Android System 2%

I work outdoors, a lot of driving. My wife's phone battery dies after 7-8 hours unplugged, without actually using it. Only difference is she works in a building with no reception. I believe that is what kills her battery.

On the weekends, away from work her battery usage is similar to mine.

 

[uglyyeti]

Eventually you may see a change and that would identify the cause. Depending on what it was, it may turn out to be the cause of your battery drain.

JD seems to have a handle on whatever is hammering my battery - after 7 hours unplugged with moderate use I'm still at 65%. Massive improvement! I've been hitting 15% in just 1-2 hours the past few weeks.

I haven't tried deleting any apps yet - wanted to see what JD could do by itself. Reminds me of a PC problem I had several years ago where Real Player was beating on my firewall like a caged animal - PC was useless until I was able to kill it from DOS.

The one thing I don't like about JD is the lag in email delivery - the free version only goes down to a 15 minute interval - does the paid version unlock the 5 minute? I've liked the fact that this phone picks up most emails before they hit my PC. I'll live with it until I isolate the real cause of the problem - a delay is better than a dead battery.