Battery life

[mikeinctown]

OK, this is getting frustrating. My battery drains at the speed of light on this thing. I have the screen brightness turned to the lowest, and I'm continually trying to force close apps. I charged it last night, used it on the forum a bit. When I woke up it was at 30%. I haven't used it all morning and now battery is at 10%. My og got better life even after 2 years. This is insane.

And I'm getting angry at apps that keep self opening. tired of constantly force closing. Also, the weather widgit sucks rocks as it doesn't update unless you touch it and open it. Then the temperature finally updates.

If the nexus ships with 32 and I can find a deal for best buy to match I may take this thing back.

Sent from my Rezound using DroidForums.

 

[Droid Firefighter]

Do you have any email accounts set up? With my dinc2 I was only getting about six hours out of the battery. I looked into the settings for email and the time was set to check for new emails every 15 minutes. I changed it to manual and had a significant increase in battery performance. I now get 12 to 15 hours with moderate to heavy use. Also try increasing the refresh rates on any social networking apps. Good luck!

This post is Incredible 2!

 

[mikeinctown]

I just removed the weather widgit and stopped any calendar sync with facebook as well as contact sync. I'll also change the e-mail push to maybe once every 2 hours. I think it is at 15 minutes right now. HTC Sense is now non-Sense for me. grrrr. They advertise such a great experience but don't have a battery that will last more than an hour or two with use.

When I woke up I didn't use the phone at all, just went to work... Went on the forum here, sent a few text messages and the phone shut down on low battery. Charging it now to 100% I hope and see if that helps at all. Been letting it run low for the last two days and the life just sucks.

<edit>ok now I can't find the setting where I can change it to not auto sync/push mail. I know I saw it yesterday... I want my OG back. lol

 

[didiwags]

I am honestly not sure why you are getting such bad battery life. I have my emails on push, my brightness is auto and with moderate use I get 13-16 hours out of this phone. Moderate to heavy about 9 hours. Do not force kill apps. This is android and you should not kill apps all day it will drain the battery.

Sent from my Rezound

 

[mikeinctown]

I'll not force kill then. i assumed them constantly running in the background was what was killing the battery life.

I also noticed I had 2 of the three GPS settings on, so I disabled those as well. I only want GPS on if I need to use google maps.

Yeah, something not right. If i play with the phone and don't put it down I can go from 100 to almst noting in 2 hours.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

This list was written for the Bionic, but I think most, if not all, will still apply to your phone. Just go through the list and pick the items that fit the way you want to use the phone and ignore the others:

If you are having short battery life:

Consider doing a factory reset. Do not sync apps, wifi connections, etc. with Google services as that may cause a problem. Install all apps and wifi connections from scratch. A bit of a pain, but not too bad.- install a home/launcher replacement. I use Go Launcher EX, which is free, and I love it. No reason not to try out an alternative launcher as you can always go back to how you had it.

- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.

- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.

- Don't use antivirus

- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.

- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.

- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.

- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.

- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.

- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"

- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"

- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.

- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.

-T off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps

- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.

- Turn off in-pocket detection

- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use

- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.

- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.

- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.

- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.

- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.

This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):

Battery Saving Video

Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]

 

[mikeinctown]

Thanks for that huge list. I don't know if it is Android, or Sense but you can't turn off sync for only one app. For some reason you seem to only be able to disable the auto sync feature for all or none.

Most of that stuff was already done. I have let the battery run to 5% and 10% before but this morning it totally shut off. Wifi isn't easily accessable in my area so I have that turned off as the phone was constantly asking me where to connect to. What a PIA. (plus when I got my droid the guy told me the phone runs way faster and better when wifi was turned off. Maybe that changed...

 

[didiwags]

I do about 75% of the things on that list!! My guess is your battery might be faulty if you continue to have issues!! It should not drain that quick!!

 

[sn2hotty]

I'll not force kill then. i assumed them constantly running in the background was what was killing the battery life.

I also noticed I had 2 of the three GPS settings on, so I disabled those as well. I only want GPS on if I need to use google maps.

Yeah, something not right. If i play with the phone and don't put it down I can go from 100 to almst noting in 2 hours.

Here is an excellent article that explains why you shouldn't use task killers (or kill tasks manually).
http://lifehacker.com/5650894/andro...ed-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them


Sent from my ADR6425LVW using DroidForums

 

[jeffe65]

Good article; the biggest problem I've run into are well-meaning Verizon employees pushing the task killers in the first place. I was having less than stellar battery performance, until I did most of the things on the list above. The biggest was turning off WiFi; my router has been giving me fits and the phone is constantly trying to reconnect to it. When I realized my download speeds were faster with 4G, I shut off WiFi along with a lot of the auto-sync features, and my battery life is much better.

 

[whatuseekisfire]

This list was written for the Bionic, but I think most, if not all, will still apply to your phone. Just go through the list and pick the items that fit the way you want to use the phone and ignore the others:

If you are having short battery life:

Consider doing a factory reset. Do not sync apps, wifi connections, etc. with Google services as that may cause a problem. Install all apps and wifi connections from scratch. A bit of a pain, but not too bad.- install a home/launcher replacement. I use Go Launcher EX, which is free, and I love it. No reason not to try out an alternative launcher as you can always go back to how you had it.

- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.

- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can&rsquo;t do without it, lengthen it&rsquo;s refresh time.

- Don't use antivirus

- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.

- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.

- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.

- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.

- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.

- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"

- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"

- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.

- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.

-T off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps

- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you&rsquo;ve finished using the phone.

- Turn off in-pocket detection

- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use

- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.

- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.

- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.

- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.

- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.

This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):

Battery Saving Video

Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]

I like this list..btw is Juice Defender any good? I feel like it drains my battery..or i might be using it wrong..cuz everyday im looking for a way to save battery..thanks in advance...

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[jeffe65]

I like this list..btw is Juice Defender any good? I feel like it drains my battery..or i might be using it wrong..cuz everyday im looking for a way to save battery..thanks in advance...

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

From what I've read on their Website, Juice Defender runs in the background constantly doing all the things you're asking it to stop other programs from doing. I've also used JD in the past, and it was a resource hog. While it may be useful for some, if you're seeing a battery drain from using it, uninstall it. Same for any program you've downloaded from the Market; if you notice "bugs" or other issues after installing an app, that's probably what's causing it. The most useful thing I ever did when I was using my OG Droid was rooting it - I could remove or "freeze" any application I thought was causing problems to isolate it, without affecting anything else. Because the Droid was short on resources to begin with, rooting became a necessity.

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

I've not found any battery optimization app that didn't use more juice than it saved. YMMV

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[whatuseekisfire]

From what I've read on their Website, Juice Defender runs in the background constantly doing all the things you're asking it to stop other programs from doing. I've also used JD in the past, and it was a resource hog. While it may be useful for some, if you're seeing a battery drain from using it, uninstall it. Same for any program you've downloaded from the Market; if you notice "bugs" or other issues after installing an app, that's probably what's causing it. The most useful thing I ever did when I was using my OG Droid was rooting it - I could remove or "freeze" any application I thought was causing problems to isolate it, without affecting anything else. Because the Droid was short on resources to begin with, rooting became a necessity.

Yeah i figured that..sucks since i paid for JD ultimate..

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[mjones73]

I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there.

Because the phone will use tower triangulation first to get an idea where you are then it can pinpoint faster on GPS. It also allows it to get a location when you're not in view of the GPS satellites. Not sure how much of a difference it makes, just stating what that service is for. I'd be curious how quick it's locking onto your location on GPS with this on vs off.