I'm impressed with the battery life of this phone

[Matth3w]

That's right, you read the title correctly, it's not an error.

It's now 7pm my time...so my phone has been off the charger for 13 hours today. So far today I have:

- Had Bluetooth service turned on all day
- Made about 30 minutes of voice calls, all of which actually used the BT service
- Sent/received about 100 or so text messages
- Downloaded two new programs and updated a bunch from the market
- Had WiFi turned on for about 7 hours
- Used WiFi tethering at work without charging for an hour and a half
- Have LiveScores on to update me on the progress of NHL games around the league
- Browsed the internet for about 20 minutes this morning
- Have my phone overclocked to 1GHz
- Have 6 widgets running in the background that use the phone to update on a regular basis, 7 if you count the news/weather widget as two widgets
- Sent about 10 emails from GMail
- Showed an avid baseball fan that owns an Eris one game of Homerun Battle 3D
- Screen is on auto brightness with 1 minute timeout


And I still have 20% battery life left.

For what this phone does, the battery rocks if you know what you're doing and are diligent about shutting off the screen when not in use. I have a spare battery sitting out waiting to swap but it looks like I might be able to get through most of the rest of the night without it.

[spazma7ik]

Wow that sounds too good to be true.

[Matth3w]

All you have to do is know that you should turn off your screen whenever you are done using it. I send a text and immediately lock the phone out of habit. So my screen is on a minimal amount of time, except for WiFi tether it was on max brightness the entire time.

Also, I got a spare battery off of eBay for like 4 bucks.

Lastly, occasionally I will allow the battery to completely drain and then recharge all the way to "condition" the battery. Also important to do this when you first get it.

[cereal killer]

Heavy to moderate I get a full day 12-13 hours as well. Plug in at night at 40-30% average.

I also out of habit just lock it as soon as I'm done.

I get WAY better battery life on my Droid than I did with my BB Tour. So I'm pleased
No complaints.

[Matth3w]

Usually I plug it in with 30-40 left as well, but the WiFi tether with the screen on auto brightness I'm sure put a huge strain on it this morning.

[natediddy1120]

You don't have to condition lithium ion batteries

[cereal killer]

Usually I plug it in with 30-40 left as well, but the WiFi tether with the screen on auto brightness I'm sure put a huge strain on it this morning.

no doubt.....

I have yet to use wi-fi : )

can you believe that? dang.

[solorca]

My battery life seems to be hit or miss. Phone calls definitely drain it more than anything else.

I took about an hour of phone calls today and used GPS to get to a location about 10 miles from here. That pretty much drained my battery.

On the other hand, I had Pandora playing for 8 hours yesterday, along with casual browsing, and it lasted 16 hours.

[Matth3w]

You don't have to condition lithium ion batteries

Some people agree with you and some say different.

From batteryuniversity.com:

How to prolong lithium-based batteries (BU34)

Battery research is focusing heavily on lithium chemistries, so much so that one could presume that all portable devices will be powered with lithium-ion batteries in the future. In many ways, lithium-ion is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistries and the applications for lithium-ion batteries are growing as a result.

Lithium-ion has not yet fully matured and is being improved continuously. New metal and chemical combinations are being tried every six months to increase energy density and prolong service life. The improvements in longevity after each change will not be known for a few years.

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.

Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate. (Read more in 'Choosing the right battery for portable computing', Part Two.)

Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance caused by oxidation. Eventually, the cell resistance reaches a point where the pack can no longer deliver the stored energy although the battery may still have ample charge. For this reason, an aged battery can be kept longer in applications that draw low current as opposed to a function that demands heavy loads. Increasing internal resistance with cycle life and age is typical for cobalt-based lithium-ion, a system that is used for cell phones, cameras and laptops because of high energy density. The lower energy dense manganese-based lithium-ion, also known as spinel, maintains the internal resistance through its life but loses capacity due to chemical decompositions. Spinel is primarily used for power tools.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge. Figure 1 illustrates the capacity loss as a function of these two parameters.

[audioman42]

You don't have to condition lithium ion batteries

Some people agree with you and some say different.

From batteryuniversity.com:

How to prolong lithium-based batteries (BU34)

Battery research is focusing heavily on lithium chemistries, so much so that one could presume that all portable devices will be powered with lithium-ion batteries in the future. In many ways, lithium-ion is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistries and the applications for lithium-ion batteries are growing as a result.

Lithium-ion has not yet fully matured and is being improved continuously. New metal and chemical combinations are being tried every six months to increase energy density and prolong service life. The improvements in longevity after each change will not be known for a few years.

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.

Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate. (Read more in 'Choosing the right battery for portable computing', Part Two.)

Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance caused by oxidation. Eventually, the cell resistance reaches a point where the pack can no longer deliver the stored energy although the battery may still have ample charge. For this reason, an aged battery can be kept longer in applications that draw low current as opposed to a function that demands heavy loads. Increasing internal resistance with cycle life and age is typical for cobalt-based lithium-ion, a system that is used for cell phones, cameras and laptops because of high energy density. The lower energy dense manganese-based lithium-ion, also known as spinel, maintains the internal resistance through its life but loses capacity due to chemical decompositions. Spinel is primarily used for power tools.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge. Figure 1 illustrates the capacity loss as a function of these two parameters.

That doesn't make the battery last any longer, it just makes the reading a little more accurate.