Battery Life

[Sohcahtoa]

I'm under the strong impression that people have different definitions of what "light" usage is, as well as incredibly different ideas on how long a battery SHOULD last.

Remember, the display is a HUGE drain on the battery. I know that on my OG Droid, the display alone will drain the battery in about 5 hours. That means playing games, going on Facebook, texting, etc. will drain the battery in about 3 hours once you add in the network and CPU usage. While the Droid 4/RAZR have a larger battery than the OG Droid, they also have more powerful CPUs, more RAM, and faster network capabilities. In the end, it probably breaks even.

I'm getting about the same battery life with my Droid 4 as I did with my OG. I will read Rage Reader during the ~hour and fifteen minute ride to class, then hop on Facebook/text people between (and sometimes during) class, and at my battery is at 20% or less when I leave my last class. I don't consider this to be poor battery life. It adds up to at least 2 hours of screen time, plus CPU/network battery usage.

 

[rjeatkrconley]

I'm under the strong impression that people have different definitions of what "light" usage is, as well as incredibly different ideas on how long a battery last.


I would agree with these statements. In my case light usage was just that. I drive a city bus. The management tends to frown on the use of cell phones at work. The whole driving a 30,000lb lethal weapon thing. So in my case, in 8 hours I had literally used the phone for maybe 10 minutes and was at less than 20%. I would say that's pretty crappy battery life and my battery should last longer than that.
Just saying...


Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[LadyHottShott]

I had a similar experience when I purchased the Droid 4 on its release day. I went in to a local store and immediately asked the first guy I saw about the Droid 4 and got a blank stare in return. "The Droid 4?" he asked. "Yes", I said, ..."it was released today." Then he goes, "Oh, let me go check to see if we have any in the back." After he got the phone out for me from the back he put in the 4G LTE sim-card I said, "the battery is non-removable, right? He was adamant that it was and tried to pick at the battery with the lock to open the back cover! I told the guy, "I don't think that's removable." It's a good thing the day before I purchased this bad boy I saw a "first-look" blog about the phone with an up-close photo of the WARNING STICKER on the battery itself, telling the consumer that it cannot be removed. Why didn't this half-wit know this? It's a pretty standard thing you should know about a phone. He is a Verizon Wireless salesman, after all. I was awe-struck, to say the least.

I much rather buy my phones online than at the verizon stores. I'm sorry, no offense to the employees because they probably aren't trained - but they have no clue about a lot of things. When I first started shopping around, I asked to compare the Razr with the Razr maxx, the lady handed me one Razr in its original color and then another in the purple color and kept telling me that the purple one was the Maxx, lol. I spent a half hour trying to explain to her the difference. And she just starred at me like oh I didn't know there was a new one. Then when I asked about the Droid 4, she looked at me like I was making it all up, lol

Yeah, never again will I waste my time going to a store.

 

[fingaz]

I much rather buy my phones online than at the verizon stores. I'm sorry, no offense to the employees because they probably aren't trained - but they have no clue about a lot of things. When I first started shopping around, I asked to compare the Razr with the Razr maxx, the lady handed me one Razr in its original color and then another in the purple color and kept telling me that the purple one was the Maxx, lol. I spent a half hour trying to explain to her the difference. And she just starred at me like oh I didn't know there was a new one. Then when I asked about the Droid 4, she looked at me like I was making it all up, lol

Yeah, never again will I waste my time going to a store.

I totally agree. The people at the Verizon stores are sales people, not cell phone people. All they try to do is sell you on whatever product they are pushing today. I came in, knew I was getting the D4, but the guy kept talking about every other product there. What should have been a 20 stop at VZW took over an hour because he had to bull**** about everything. I know they have a business to run... but its annoying, I have a life I have to get back to.

When I finally got my phone, the guy was looking all over for the battery. I was telling him that its non-removable, but he didn't believe me. Then he almost broke the battery case when he went to put it in... I was arguing with the guy to have him let me do everything. The guy was clueless when it came to this phone. I def didn't feel safe with it in his hands. The sales people really don't know anything about the products they are selling.

 

[mccompunerd]

I much rather buy my phones online than at the verizon stores. I'm sorry, no offense to the employees because they probably aren't trained - but they have no clue about a lot of things. When I first started shopping around, I asked to compare the Razr with the Razr maxx, the lady handed me one Razr in its original color and then another in the purple color and kept telling me that the purple one was the Maxx, lol. I spent a half hour trying to explain to her the difference. And she just starred at me like oh I didn't know there was a new one. Then when I asked about the Droid 4, she looked at me like I was making it all up, lol

Yeah, never again will I waste my time going to a store.

I dropped by the VZW store to check the D4 out last Friday. Thankfully the first rep I saw actually knew the phone and took me straight to the demo unit, and he didn't hover when I told him I just wanted to get a feel for it.(likely helped that I spouted specs) Had 3 other reps come up and try to get me to look at other devices in less than 20 minutes. I only use the local store to get a hand on the phones before I buy online. Have done the same with my last 3 VZW devices.

 

[Sohcahtoa]

I would agree with these statements. In my case light usage was just that. I drive a city bus. The management tends to frown on the use of cell phones at work. The whole driving a 30,000lb lethal weapon thing. So in my case, in 8 hours I had literally used the phone for maybe 10 minutes and was at less than 20%. I would say that's pretty crappy battery life and my battery should last longer than that.
Just saying...

Either you have a ****ty battery, or there's something running in the background eating CPU time or data transfer, considering as I said above, I can go for 8 hours with decent usage and still have 30%.

However, I've also rooted my phone and use SetCPU to underclock the CPU to 300 MHz when its not in use.

 

[aqworldthunder]

Mine is lucky to run 6 hours on or off D=

-AqworldThunder ^…^ ¶.¶ *.* Thank me if i helped please!

 

[RoninX]

I can definitely see how battery life is going to depend entirely on how you use your phone.

On a normal day, I can probably get 20 hours of use on 4G and WiFi, without turning off anything. That includes frequently checking email, some light web browsing, occasional calls and texts, and using various simple apps.

On the other hand, I was able to burn through 50% of my battery charge in 2 and a half hours by streaming YouTube HQ video via 4G and playing Dead Space. So I can see how someone who is using 4G heavily for media streaming or playing hardcore 3D games could get only 5-6 hours per charge.

 

[snowman]

yeah I'm about 20 to 40 hours of use but if your streaming or heavy use anything I'd think it would be common sense it's gonna go quick

 

[sangelopez]

My battery life is terrible. I charge it when its down to 20% all the way to full charge. And like 10 min later after its full charge it says 90%. I only get about 3 1/2 hours with low usage. I had the DROID 3 with low usage it would last me like more than 10 hours and with high usage I would get about 5 to 6 hours. But this DROID 4 seems to die fast. Should I give it some time? I got this on Friday.

 

[DocWalt]

I'd personally fully charge the battery then run it all the way to zero to recalibrate the battery meter. If that doesn't work, then I'd take it back and ask for another one, it should last significantly longer than that. I've been able to watch a couple hours of streaming videos and only dropped to 30-40%

 

[sangelopez]

I'd personally fully charge the battery then run it all the way to zero to recalibrate the battery meter. If that doesn't work, then I'd take it back and ask for another one, it should last significantly longer than that. I've been able to watch a couple hours of streaming videos and only dropped to 30-40%

Alright thanks I'll try that.

 

[dopeismarcus]

I totally agree. The people at the Verizon stores are sales people, not cell phone people. All they try to do is sell you on whatever product they are pushing today. I came in, knew I was getting the D4, but the guy kept talking about every other product there. What should have been a 20 stop at VZW took over an hour because he had to bull**** about everything. I know they have a business to run... but its annoying, I have a life I have to get back to.

When I finally got my phone, the guy was looking all over for the battery. I was telling him that its non-removable, but he didn't believe me. Then he almost broke the battery case when he went to put it in... I was arguing with the guy to have him let me do everything. The guy was clueless when it came to this phone. I def didn't feel safe with it in his hands. The sales people really don't know anything about the products they are selling.

lol sorry for your trouble but thats pretty funny.

 

[r314bd]

I posted this in another thread as well but I get excellent battery life on the Droid 4. 20 hours on battery with over 50% battery remaining. My phone is rooted and most of the bloatware has been frozen which probably helped.

Also I will echo what others have said about buying online >>> buying in store. In this day and age there's really no reason why you should ever have to go to the VZW store except when trying the demo phones out. I don't understand why reps need to open the box and activate it in store; I can't think of any other tech product you can buy that has to be opened by someone else first. It's incredibly annoying.

If you buy online it's cheaper, you don't get an obnoxious sales pitch, and your device arrives in a day or two in unopened retail packaging.

 

[RoninX]

I bought at the Verizon store because I wanted to make sure my unlimited data was grandfathered to my new contract.

I walked in, played with the demo unit for a few minutes, and then told the salesman, "I want to upgrade to a Droid 4."

He was like, "A man who knows what he wants," and he didn't bother me with the sales job. It did take him about half an hour to set up the phone, though.

The funny thing was that during that time, no one else even looked at the D4, until another guy walked in, played with the demo unit for a minute, then walked up to another salesperson and said, "I want a Droid 4."

Meanwhile, the rest of the customers were wandering around, confused, and asking questions like, "Oooh, what colors does the iPhone come in?"

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