A Battery Question

[mk51]

I just ordered a new SGSIII for my upgrade and I have a question about the battery. I have been looking at Samsung's user manual in advance and it states: "The battery comes partially charged. You must fully charge the battery before using your phone for the first time." (Page 10)

I don't know if it's been brought up on here before, if so I'm sorry. But my question is after you the setup the phone, do you plug the phone in right away or let the battery die and then charge the phone? Or does it even matter?? What would you suggest? Reason why I ask is because I want to make the best out of the battery life.

 

[beyeond]

From what I've read, you should let it die, pull battery, put it back in and charge to 100% while the phone is off. This I think calibrates it in some way.

Sprint Galaxy S3 - JB/Stock ROM rooted

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I just ordered a new SGSIII for my upgrade and I have a question about the battery. I have been looking at Samsung's user manual in advance and it states: "The battery comes partially charged. You must fully charge the battery before using your phone for the first time." (Page 10)

I don't know if it's been brought up on here before, if so I'm sorry. But my question is after you the setup the phone, do you plug the phone in right away or let the battery die and then charge the phone? Or does it even matter?? What would you suggest? Reason why I ask is because I want to make the best out of the battery life.

I have absolutely zero advice I could give that I can backup with actual, factual, technical evidence...but I always just fire up my device when I get it, plug it in once it boots up and and set it up while it's charging. Then, once charged, I just use it normally. I've never done the whole "discharge to zero than recharge then stand on head while chewing gum" routine. Just this past weekend I got 36 hours out of a single charge and still had 14% left when I was finally able to plug in...so it doesn't seem to have had any long-term effect either.

 

[goin_nil]

Just this past weekend I got 36 hours out of a single charge and still had 14% left when I was finally able to plug in...

36 hours? Really? I've never seen that on mine. I typically get about 10 - 12 hours with fairly heavy usage.

Even when I tried real hard to extend the battery life (keep airplane mode on for 55 min out of ever hour, toggle airplane mode off for 5 min) I could only get about 22 hours.

How in the world do you get 36 hours? What's your secret? Does your phone just sit there all day and you don't use it?

Can you post a screen shot of your battery stats?

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

36 hours? Really? I've never seen that on mine. I typically get about 10 - 12 hours with fairly heavy usage.

Even when I tried real hard to extend the battery life (keep airplane mode on for 55 min out of ever hour, toggle airplane mode off for 5 min) I could only get about 22 hours.

How in the world do you get 36 hours? What's your secret? Does your phone just sit there all day and you don't use it?

Can you post a screen shot of your battery stats?

I don't have a screenshot of this past weekend, so you'll have to take my word for it, but I'll attach a screenshot I did take a few weeks ago which feel at least makes my claim credible.

Honestly, in both the case of the attached screenshot incidence and this past weekend, it was just a case where I was at home almost all weekend (and thus on wifi almost all weekend), and busy doing stuff that precluded me from having to use the phone all that much. Did I check email? Sure. Did I respond to texts? Sure. But I wasn't playing any games, watching any videos or doing any real intensive stuff, so that certainly helps. I will say though that the phone was turned on at all times and data was enabled at all times. When I went to bed Saturday night, I almost plugged it in, but then figured, "wow, there's still over 60 remaining...let's see how far we can push it through tomorrow".

All I can say is..."Clean ROM".

 

[Zombieheadshot]

From what I've read, you should let it die, pull battery, put it back in and charge to 100% while the phone is off. This I think calibrates it in some way.

This is not the way to handle the newer LiION batteries that are in the smartphones of today. The older batteries from back in the day were a different nickel based battery technology that required you to let them drain all the way (to combat the nasty memory affect) then charge all the way up. Today's LiION batteries do not need to go through a "drain charge cycle" it actually hurts the battery to let it drain all the way. Just charge your phone when you open the box while your setting things up and when you get it charged enough to last you without it dieing you can unplug it. It is MUCH better on the battery to keep the charge topped off throughout the day then to let it drain all the way then do a full recharge.

Although i've read on a tech website that these LiION batteries do better when kept between 40-80% and not kept at 100% all the time, but that's debatable in my opinion.

Hope this helps,

Matt

 

[randomdude]

i was able to get close to 48 a couple weeks ago

 

[n0ve]

i was able to get close to 48 a couple weeks ago

Wow...if you were living in an area with better signal coverage technically this be getting at least another 25%, cell standby is second most draining property to screen as first.

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk 2

 

[randomdude]

what's weird is i live in downtown houston

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I don't claim to be an expert on battery technology, charging techniques, or anything else. But I've read in several different places, aimed at different uses (e.g., handheld electronics, electric cars), that LI batteries do not like being fully discharged, and doing so will shorten their life appreciably. Electric cars using LI batteries are designed to operate with the charge between 25% and 75%. (They don't really like to be fully charged, either) to maximize battery life.

Now then, the battery pack in a Tesla Roadster costs a heck of a lot more than a battery for your phone, so it makes sense to design the charging system to maximize battery life. It doesn't matter nearly as much for your phone. And I doubt that a one-time discharge to near zero will cause significant issues.

But when I know I'm going to be at my desk all day, I only charge the battery to 75%, then top it back up to that level when it drops below about 50%. If I'm going to be more mobile, I just charge it to the top and don't worry about it. I also, usually, charge off my computer rather than the higher powered AC charger. The battery gets hotter during a fast charge, and heat is the enemy of battery life.

 

[MrDoh]

Wow...if you were living in an area with better signal coverage technically this be getting at least another 25%, cell standby is second most draining property to screen as first.

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk 2

Before the Jelly Bean update the "Cell Standby" thing under "Battery" was not computed correctly. I noticed with my phone before the JB update that Cell Standby was way too high, even higher than "Screen", so I looked into it. Now, after the JB update, my Cell Standby is much lower, and looks normal like it should. Since the screen capture is from about 2 weeks ago (pre-update), I'm not surprised to see how high the Cell Standby is in it (incorrect). Glad that's fixed now, anyways.

 

[MrDoh]

This is not the way to handle the newer LiION batteries that are in the smartphones of today. The older batteries from back in the day were a different nickel based battery technology that required you to let them drain all the way (to combat the nasty memory affect) then charge all the way up. Today's LiION batteries do not need to go through a "drain charge cycle" it actually hurts the battery to let it drain all the way. Just charge your phone when you open the box while your setting things up and when you get it charged enough to last you without it dieing you can unplug it. It is MUCH better on the battery to keep the charge topped off throughout the day then to let it drain all the way then do a full recharge.

Although i've read on a tech website that these LiION batteries do better when kept between 40-80% and not kept at 100% all the time, but that's debatable in my opinion.

Hope this helps,

Matt

From what I've read, the above is pretty much right on. All the battery draining that people are doing with these li-ion batteries to try to get better battery life just causes more wear. But I guess if it makes people feel better, then that's worth it, anyways *smile*.

 

[mk51]

Thanks for the replies! I am just kind of worried that I'll mess up the battery after the experience I had with the Thunderbolt. :-! Thank god my phone will be here tomorrow and I can finally enjoy ICS/JB!