I want to like.my razr but 2 big issues video and battery need help!

shutterbunny

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got my razr 5 days ago...took 2 days for 3G to work...dealt with it using wifi....battery is discharging from 100% to 15% in 2 hours. I know it isn't a maxx but 2 hours? Latest issue, every video I take freezes and stops and starts. What it's point of 1080p if the video it's unwatchable? Now streaming video stops and starts...3g 4g wifi all slow...bad phone or bad choice? Please help!
 

TisMyDroid

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shutterbunny said:
got my razr 5 days ago...took 2 days for 3G to work...dealt with it using wifi....battery is discharging from 100% to 15% in 2 hours. I know it isn't a maxx but 2 hours? Latest issue, every video I take freezes and stops and starts. What it's point of 1080p if the video it's unwatchable? Now streaming video stops and starts...3g 4g wifi all slow...bad phone or bad choice? Please help!

It definitely sounds like a bad phone. Even the Razr should last about 10 hours and I've seen reports of longer. Take it to a Verizon store and see if they can troubleshoot for you. The ridiculously short battery life could be due to the phone trying to search for 3g 4g service. Even on Wi-Fi the phone will try to search and connect to 3g or 4g and if you have a 3g connection but not in a 4g area, the phone will continue to search for 4g. Searching, switching from 3g to 4g, poor 3g or 4g signal sucks a lot of juice out of the battery.

Although unsure, it could also be why your videos are choppy... bc the phone is working and using resources to lock onto a signal.

To save on battery life, when you are in a non 4g area put the phone on 3g only mode (cdma), found in settings, data connection. Also you can add more time to your charge if you turn off data while on Wi-Fi, although there are some functions you will still need data for even if on Wi-Fi ( receiving mms for example).

The number one thing you want to do is find out why you are having problems getting a decent data connection.. if you can not solve that, you will want to get a new replacement before your 14 days are up.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums
 

FoxKat

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got my razr 5 days ago...took 2 days for 3G to work...dealt with it using wifi....battery is discharging from 100% to 15% in 2 hours. I know it isn't a maxx but 2 hours? Latest issue, every video I take freezes and stops and starts. What it's point of 1080p if the video it's unwatchable? Now streaming video stops and starts...3g 4g wifi all slow...bad phone or bad choice? Please help!

The rate of consumption is beyond excessive, but I am wondering if there isn't perhaps something else going on here. If the charging meter gets out of whack, it can "appear" to show dramatic loss in a very short period of time, but then seemingly last forever with very little charge left. There is a thread here where someone's phone ran for 7 hours playing music while it displayed 5% the entire time! The following put their phone back on track.

Did you do the initial charge with the POWER OFF? If not, press and hold power, when the menu appears, choose "Power off". Then once powered off, plug the phone into the charger and leave it alone for 3 hours or more. When you come back, tap the power button briefly and release. In 3 seconds, you should see a large Battery Icon and the charge percentage. If it says 100%, then go ahead and remove from charge, power up and use. Continue using till it hits 15% (low battery), no matter how long or short of a time it takes to reach that level - but be sure it reaches 15%, then POWER OFF again and charge as before.

This technique puts the battery's actual capacity and charge/discharge rates into the phone charger's memory banks and allows the meter to accurately represent the level of charge while using during the day. See if that doesn't change things for you a bit.
 
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DethDroid

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The rate of consumption is beyond excessive, but I am wondering if there isn't perhaps something else going on here. If the charging meter gets out of whack, it can "appear" to show dramatic loss in a very short period of time, but then seemingly last forever with very little charge left. There is a thread here where someone's phone ran for 7 hours playing music while it displayed 5% the entire time! The following put their phone back on track.

Did you do the initial charge with the POWER OFF? If not, press and hold power, when the menu appears, choose "Power off". Then once powered off, plug the phone into the charger and leave it alone for 3 hours or more. When you come back, tap the power button briefly and release. In 3 seconds, you should see a large Battery Icon and the charge percentage. If it says 100%, then go ahead and remove from charge, power up and use. Continue using till it hits 15% (low battery), no matter how long or short of a time it takes to reach that level - but be sure it reaches 15%, then POWER OFF again and charge as before.

This technique puts the battery's actual capacity and charge/discharge rates into the phone charger's memory banks and allows the meter to accurately represent the level of charge while using during the day. See if that doesn't change things for you a bit.

Hey FoxKat can this be done anytime or only when the phone is new? Mine is about a month old and I have not done the 15% thing but I do charge with power off.
 
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shutterbunny

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It definitely sounds like a bad phone. Even the Razr should last about 10 hours and I've seen reports of longer. Take it to a Verizon store and see if they can troubleshoot for you. The ridiculously short battery life could be due to the phone trying to search for 3g 4g service. Even on Wi-Fi the phone will try to search and connect to 3g or 4g and if you have a 3g connection but not in a 4g area, the phone will continue to search for 4g. Searching, switching from 3g to 4g, poor 3g or 4g signal sucks a lot of juice out of the battery.

Although unsure, it could also be why your videos are choppy... bc the phone is working and using resources to lock onto a signal.

To save on battery life, when you are in a non 4g area put the phone on 3g only mode (cdma), found in settings, data connection. Also you can add more time to your charge if you turn off data while on Wi-Fi, although there are some functions you will still need data for even if on Wi-Fi ( receiving mms for example).

The number one thing you want to do is find out why you are having problems getting a decent data connection.. if you can not solve that, you will want to get a new replacement before your 14 days are up.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

Thank you TisMyDroid, I did worry about it searching for 4g as I don't think I have it though my work has it and amazingly the area where my barn is has it. But I did switch it over to cdma only when I first got it thinking that might help it find the 3g signal (which has always been strong) still wouldn't find it Verizon said it just might take time...as it finally acquired it I assumed things were fine. But it is slow. I wondered if that was affecting video and would understand it affecting streaming but not video I'm recording on the phone...would it affect recording?
 
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shutterbunny

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:happy3:
The rate of consumption is beyond excessive, but I am wondering if there isn't perhaps something else going on here. If the charging meter gets out of whack, it can "appear" to show dramatic loss in a very short period of time, but then seemingly last forever with very little charge left. There is a thread here where someone's phone ran for 7 hours playing music while it displayed 5% the entire time! The following put their phone back on track.

Did you do the initial charge with the POWER OFF? If not, press and hold power, when the menu appears, choose "Power off". Then once powered off, plug the phone into the charger and leave it alone for 3 hours or more. When you come back, tap the power button briefly and release. In 3 seconds, you should see a large Battery Icon and the charge percentage. If it says 100%, then go ahead and remove from charge, power up and use. Continue using till it hits 15% (low battery), no matter how long or short of a time it takes to reach that level - but be sure it reaches 15%, then POWER OFF again and charge as before.

This technique puts the battery's actual capacity and charge/discharge rates into the phone charger's memory banks and allows the meter to accurately represent the level of charge while using during the day. See if that doesn't change things for you a bit.

FoxKat. I read that post and yep my battery really is at 15% per the meter when phone is off and charging. I did have a couple of issues the first night getting it to show it was charging, but after powering it on and off a couple of times it seemed to fix itself there. I had phone off over night and charging and have done nothing but answer these two posts and battery it's already down to 80%... It also gets very hot while using it.I guess I need to exchange :(
 

TisMyDroid

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shutterbunny said:
:happy3:

FoxKat. I read that post and yep my battery really is at 15% per the meter when phone is off and charging. I did have a couple of issues the first night getting it to show it was charging, but after powering it on and off a couple of times it seemed to fix itself there. I had phone off over night and charging and have done nothing but answer these two posts and battery it's already down to 80%... It also gets very hot while using it.I guess I need to exchange :(

Sounds like it is doing something in the background, working overtime. Look at your battery stats and see what it says is using up your battery. Anything unusual listed. Another thing you could try is a factory reset, load any apps you installed one at a time to see if it might be a problem w a particular app. I know a factory reset is a pia but be being so new, it won't be so bad. Your phone should not take a couple days to find 3g or 4g. I have never heard of that. I think Verizon was grasping at straws on that one. If you still have any of the same problems then I would guess you have a bad phone and exchange it within your 14 day period.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums
 
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shutterbunny

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Sounds like it is doing something in the background, working overtime. Look at your battery stats and see what it says is using up your battery. Anything unusual listed. Another thing you could try is a factory reset, load any apps you installed one at a time to see if it might be a problem w a particular app. I know a factory reset is a pia but be being so new, it won't be so bad. Your phone should not take a couple days to find 3g or 4g. I have never heard of that. I think Verizon was grasping at straws on that one. If you still have any of the same problems then I would guess you have a bad phone and exchange it within your 14 day period.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

Checked and top is d isplay (on power saver mode) at 56% browser 17% (only used for this forum this thread) voice calls (made two less than two minutes each) scramble (2 games), Android OS, and Swype 5% Android system, cell stand by, media (not sure what that would be) google play store and words with friends 2%...so big one is display which I would expect. Battery has been on for just under 2 hours and battery info says I'm at 50% and answering a few posts, sending one text message making two phone calls (both short!) and2 games of scramble seems like minimal use!:mad:
 

FoxKat

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:happy3:

FoxKat. I read that post and yep my battery really is at 15% per the meter when phone is off and charging. I did have a couple of issues the first night getting it to show it was charging, but after powering it on and off a couple of times it seemed to fix itself there. I had phone off over night and charging and have done nothing but answer these two posts and battery it's already down to 80%... It also gets very hot while using it.I guess I need to exchange :(

Checked and top is d isplay (on power saver mode) at 56% browser 17% (only used for this forum this thread) voice calls (made two less than two minutes each) scramble (2 games), Android OS, and Swype 5% Android system, cell stand by, media (not sure what that would be) google play store and words with friends 2%...so big one is display which I would expect. Battery has been on for just under 2 hours and battery info says I'm at 50% and answering a few posts, sending one text message making two phone calls (both short!) and2 games of scramble seems like minimal use!:mad:

OK Shutterbunny, let's go over the items mentioned above. First, even though it said 15% while powered off and per the Charge-only battery meter (the animated battery), that doesn't mean it was actually AT 15% (I'll explain later in this post). These phones are shipped with a partial charge from the factory. The charge level out of the box is maximum 40%, and decreases gradually while on the way from the factory to the stores and while sitting on the shelves in inventory. It is necessary for these battery types to have a partial charge while sitting unused to prevent the battery from shutting down completely due to a protection circuit built onto the battery.

Now, the battery is not like a fixed capacity tank (like your car's gas tank for instance), where each time you fill it, the same amount is there when full is reached. These batteries (as all batteries to a lesser or greater extent) will get older and when they do they hold less and less charge over time. As a result, unlike your car's gas tank, 3 years later the battery in your phone may only hold 50% -70% of its original capacity. Imagine your car's gas tank shrinking over the 3 years. If it did, your gas gauge would either never reach full again, or it would say you have plenty of gas left when you're empty and sitting on the highway. This obviously isn't the case with your car, but it would be with your phone if the meter wasn't "intelligent" and able to "learn" the newer, shrinking capacities of aging batteries. Since the maximum charge level will decrease over time, the metering and charging circuits must adjust accordingly and they do so by "learning" the newer, reduced capacities with infrequent repeated 100% charge with power off and low battery discharge cycles (the three step process I've described below).

When you receive the phone, whether it be through the mail or at a phone center store, the FIRST thing you SHOULD be doing - BEFORE POWERING IT UP INITIALLY is to plug it into the charger and allow it to fully charge with the POWER OFF (100%). This sets a "flag" to tell the phone's charging and metering circuitry what a full charge looks like (fully saturated voltage and reduced current draw by the battery). After that first flag is set, the phone knows the maximum capacity of the battery. That's only part of the battle since the phone also sets a second "flag" for low battery at 15%. Trouble is, if it never knows what the TRUE maximum capacity is, and you set the low battery flag at 15%, it gets confused and can result in dramatically inaccurate charge level readings. Same can happen in the reverse.

So once you've done the initial 100% saturation charge, and then immediately thereafter allowed the phone to deplete to 15% (you MUST see the Low Battery warning), the last step is to charge again with power off, and this time it confirms with the meter the RANGE of charge and helps it to show interim levels of depletion (90%, 80%, 70%, etc.). Also powering the phone on and off won't "fix" the problem.

The issue of the phone heating up is tough to address because what you feel is "hot" I might consider "warm". It's normal for the phone to heat up during use. The more you use it, and the more components you use (3G, 4G, screen, Bluetooth, background apps, streaming, syncing of Facebook, weather widgets, etc.), the more it will heat up. This is a VERY THIN phone and there is almost no open space inside to allow for heat transmission, so the heat will radiate quickly to the surfaces of the phone and feel hotter at specific points, such as directly over the 3G/4G chips, over the processor, etc.

The amounts of consumption you listed above are not unusual, though to have it "appear" to use 50% of charge in the time you mention is unusual. Remember, those percentages of use are a percentage of the total consumption, so in the case of the display, it used 56% of the 50% of total battery consumption, or about 28% of the battery's power in that 2 hours. Still, unless the meter is accurately displaying actual charge level, the 50% may be 80%.

Finally, about 90% of all phone batteries returned to manufacturers as "defective" test out fully operational, and a great percentage of phones sent back as defective also test out fine. It's usually the unique combination of apps and usage patterns, as well as improper charging and maintenance of the batteries, coupled with using low quality non-OEM chargers that results in the warranty claims.

Please keep us posted with your battery training results. Good luck! :biggrin:
 
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shutterbunny

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Ok FoxKat--in response to:

Please keep us posted with your battery training results. Good luck! :biggrin:[/QUOTE]

The phone finally powerd down to the warning (plug it in you are at 15% or less--or whatever version of that the phone gives) at 4 hours and 2 minutes--over an hour of which was the phone sitting idle while I got ready for work...I plugged it in at work (on the charger that came with it so no OEM charger here) and it took about 2 hours to fully charge back up (I powered off while charging). I turned it back on and it sat idle on my desk all day (at work--have to be good and not use the phone!) and then I came home and used it browse through a website or two (shopping) and played a few games of scramble and words with friends and voila it gave me the not so subtle warning to charge b/c I was out of juice...while the phone was unplugged from the charger and turned on for 6 hours, I have only been home using it for 2...so I don't know how to factor that all in. I really only have 3 apps that I put on the phone--words with friends and scramble and droid light (all of which were on my old droid--which had far better battery life!) everything else on the phone is the bloatware that came with the phone--and you can't uninstall those. I've checked to insure I'm really on cdma only, and I am. I checked to be sure the screen is on power saver mode and it is...so the battery is concerning, but I have another week + before I have to give up and make a decision to keep it or exchange it...so I'll keep trying.

HOWEVER, I would like to know if the slowness issue (I would have had app 4 on the phone tonight--skype--but the 14mb app was still at less than 50% loaded after 3.5 minutes so I gave up) and the video issue (which is easily as annoying as the battery issue) might be connected to the battery issue. I have kids and videos for grandparents are a requirement these days--everything I try to record is choppy and horrible--it is so irritating. I would like to know if all of this is connected, if any of it is normal and if so what can I do about it--if it is all connected to the battery, we'll see if battery training helps it out.

Sorry for the babble--I made such a big deal about how I've never paid so little for a phone before--I think the "you get what you pay for" motto is ringing loud and clear in my head.
 

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DethDroid said:
Hey FoxKat can this be done anytime or only when the phone is new? Mine is about a month old and I have not done the 15% thing but I do charge with power off.

This can be done at any time. And infact should be done every 2-3 months for a razr, and 3-4 months for a maxx. Hope this helps??

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!
 

FoxKat

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This can be done at any time. And infact should be done every 2-3 months for a razr, and 3-4 months for a maxx. Hope this helps??

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!

One of my disciples! Spot on!


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk with speech to text translation. Please excuse any minor grammatical/punctuation/spelling errors.
 

94lt1

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FoxKat said:
One of my disciples! Spot on!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk with speech to text translation. Please excuse any minor grammatical/punctuation/spelling errors.

I'm gonna put disciple of FoxKat in my signature lol.

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!
 
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