new droid, new to forum posting...

[Bethaney]

Just got my droid last week, I love it... almost. This is my first smartphone too. The battery life is the worst, don't know if I can deal with worrying it will die on me! I already turned my auto screen brightness off and down to lowest level, but no chance I can shut my phone off for 24hrs to charge, lol.
I plan to get an extra $40 battery everyone is talking about, and I wish there was a seperate charging dock so I don't need to charge in the phone then I can let it charge the 24hrs.
Anyway, I just joined this forum to stay updated with droid news and my first question is
Is there an app or faster way to get to my yahoo email account without using the browser search for yahoo??

[Dan_Droid]

Sounds like your phone, battery, or charger may be screwed up. My Droid takes about 2-3 hours to fully charge from completely dead to 100%. It certainly shouldn't take anywhere near 24 hours to charge.

Also, there is no way to turn it off when you are charging it, because it automatically turns on when you plug in the microUSB cable, so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Most of the battery drain comes from three things: Screen, GPS, and Wifi in that order (although it will vary depending on how you use your phone). To maximize your battery life:

- Make sure the screen is set to auto-dim.
- Make sure the phone is set to sleep after a minute or two of inactivity
- Turn off GPS when you are not using it (I only use mine when I'm trying to navigate somewhere)
- Set wifi so it shuts off when the phone goes to sleep (it will come back on when the phone wakes up).

Doing these four things, my phone easily lasts 12-18 hours on a single charge with moderate to heavy use, which is pretty good for any smartphone. You have to remember that these types of phones are more like laptop computers than plain old cell phones.

To see what things on your phone are using your battery the most:
- Go to your Home screen
- Click the soft Menu button
- Go to Settings -> About Phone -> Battery use
This will show you what has been using the battery since the last time you unplugged the phone.

Hope this helps.

[BillTheCat]

Welcome to the forums, Bethaney. FYI, there IS a small charging dock just for a spare battery. And to back up what Dan said, my Droid takes only a couple of hours to charge from fully drained to fully charged. FYI, it will help battery life in the long run if you let it drain completely several times in the first couple of weeks.

As for Yahoo mail, you can set up your Yahoo mail using the Droid's e-mail application, and it will download & notify you of new mail. There is a discussion in this thread:

Yahoo Mail?

The short info is in the 3rd post down, and there is continuing Q&A after that.

Enjoy!

[JimMariner]

Just got my droid last week, I love it... almost. This is my first smartphone too. The battery life is the worst, don't know if I can deal with worrying it will die on me! I already turned my auto screen brightness off and down to lowest level, but no chance I can shut my phone off for 24hrs to charge, lol.
I plan to get an extra $40 battery everyone is talking about, and I wish there was a seperate charging dock so I don't need to charge in the phone then I can let it charge the 24hrs.
Anyway, I just joined this forum to stay updated with droid news and my first question is
Is there an app or faster way to get to my yahoo email account without using the browser search for yahoo??

!!! Welcome "Bethaney" to DroidForums !!!

Go have a look in the FAQ section, it might help you. Or do a search of the forums to help you with the battery problem.

There is also a FAQ on Yahoo Mail too there.

Great to have you here, we hope you enjoy your time in the forums !