Quick Tip For New Droid Owners

[TopperHarley]

I recently got a new Droid and I wanted to say a couple of quick things for any other new owners/users out there.

First of all, the battery is the worst I've had on a cell phone yet. I mean BAD!!! I don't use it at all during the day at work and I was amazed at how much it was going down still. So I got on here and searched around and tried a few things. The best advice I could give to get the most out of your battery is to definetly turn the wifi and bluetooth off (Noticed a HUGE difference with the bluetooth alone). The next best thing you could do, is get an app called JuiceDefender. I really noticed a difference with that!! I'm on my 3rd day now without charging. It really is a night and day battery difference just doing those couple of things.
Also a couple must have apps:
-Handcent
-Shazam
-My Verizon
-Superpages
-Calorie Counter
-Apps Organizer
-Droidlight

 

[TopperHarley]

Also the Seidio case is by far the best case out there IMO

 

[joker402]

Hey dude I like your tips on the apps but I have my droid oc to 800 and still get a full day and I'm on it like white on rice so the battery is not as bad as you say and 3 days without charging? Now I haven't seen that yet but I'm down to be proven wrong.

 

[TopperHarley]

Well during the first 3 days of the week I work 12-14 hour days so I dont really use my phone for texting or anything really all that much. Thats why it lasts. I was just shocked at how much the battery would drain on standby without turning things off.

 

[joker402]

That just still seens odd to me. And still haven't tried that case yet but stay away from the body glove, it splits phones in half.

 

[Darkseider]

Also don't forget to hug it and tuck it in at night before you go to sleep. We all know the Droid is self aware and appreciates the extra attention.

 

[Fischer]

I got the Seideo Case and I love it as well. I haven't tried out their docking station or car mount but I ordered one of each to give them a whirl. I actually have 2 droid phones since my work also recently issued me one. Keeping both charged is definitely an issue.

 

[jsh1120]

Over the last five months, or so, I've noticed a common pattern. "A" buys Droid. "A" loves Droid. "A" uses the Droid for a week or so and downloads from five to fifty apps. "A" posts a comment that the battery use is "terrible." "A" posts a message saying that adding "X" app or turning off "Y" has radically improved their battery use.

Not to disagree with anything Topper Harley says above. He's right that asking the phone to look for a bluetooth connection when one isn't available is a battery killer. Same with GPS and Wifi. He suggests "Juice Defender." I use "Y5" to control the wifi seeking. Both are good.

But I'd also suggest that....

() one's battery life improves greatly after the initial fascination with looking at that beautiful bright screen for hours and hours diminishes. It's also true that when the initial fascination with navigation wears off you won't use it to go to the grocery store (as you did in the first few days.) And that will have a huge impact on battery use.

() downloading applications is a battery killer. I took my wife's new droid from 100% to 20% in two hours when I downloaded 35 applications to her phone.

() battery monitors are both somewhat unreliable and they improve as they calibrate. When a droid is first purchased (or a new battery is installed) I've found that doing nothing will still result in improved battery life over a week or so.

() although it seems counter-intuitive, there is a huge difference between 100% and 90% and 50% and 40%, for example. I've used various battery widgets over the last few months and have found that (at least according to the monitors) the Droid will drain very quickly from 100% to about 70-80% compared to the drain from 70% to 40%, for example.

 

[AnneDroid]

Over the last five months, or so, I've noticed a common pattern. "A" buys Droid. "A" loves Droid. "A" uses the Droid for a week or so and downloads from five to fifty apps. "A" posts a comment that the battery use is "terrible." "A" posts a message saying that adding "X" app or turning off "Y" has radically improved their battery use.

Not to disagree with anything Topper Harley says above. He's right that asking the phone to look for a bluetooth connection when one isn't available is a battery killer. Same with GPS and Wifi. He suggests "Juice Defender." I use "Y5" to control the wifi seeking. Both are good.

But I'd also suggest that....

() one's battery life improves greatly after the initial fascination with looking at that beautiful bright screen for hours and hours diminishes. It's also true that when the initial fascination with navigation wears off you won't use it to go to the grocery store (as you did in the first few days.) And that will have a huge impact on battery use.

() downloading applications is a battery killer. I took my wife's new droid from 100% to 20% in two hours when I downloaded 35 applications to her phone.

() battery monitors are both somewhat unreliable and they improve as they calibrate. When a droid is first purchased (or a new battery is installed) I've found that doing nothing will still result in improved battery life over a week or so.

() although it seems counter-intuitive, there is a huge difference between 100% and 90% and 50% and 40%, for example. I've used various battery widgets over the last few months and have found that (at least according to the monitors) the Droid will drain very quickly from 100% to about 70-80% compared to the drain from 70% to 40%, for example.

Agreed. For those of you concerned with batterty life, samiusmc posted this a few days back:

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...55-no-joke-how-i-doubled-my-battery-life.html

 

[TopperHarley]

Over the last five months, or so, I've noticed a common pattern. "A" buys Droid. "A" loves Droid. "A" uses the Droid for a week or so and downloads from five to fifty apps. "A" posts a comment that the battery use is "terrible." "A" posts a message saying that adding "X" app or turning off "Y" has radically improved their battery use.

Not to disagree with anything Topper Harley says above. He's right that asking the phone to look for a bluetooth connection when one isn't available is a battery killer. Same with GPS and Wifi. He suggests "Juice Defender." I use "Y5" to control the wifi seeking. Both are good.

But I'd also suggest that....

() one's battery life improves greatly after the initial fascination with looking at that beautiful bright screen for hours and hours diminishes. It's also true that when the initial fascination with navigation wears off you won't use it to go to the grocery store (as you did in the first few days.) And that will have a huge impact on battery use.

() downloading applications is a battery killer. I took my wife's new droid from 100% to 20% in two hours when I downloaded 35 applications to her phone.

() battery monitors are both somewhat unreliable and they improve as they calibrate. When a droid is first purchased (or a new battery is installed) I've found that doing nothing will still result in improved battery life over a week or so.

() although it seems counter-intuitive, there is a huge difference between 100% and 90% and 50% and 40%, for example. I've used various battery widgets over the last few months and have found that (at least according to the monitors) the Droid will drain very quickly from 100% to about 70-80% compared to the drain from 70% to 40%, for example.

knowledge :blackdroid:

 

[Droids]

My battery life is fine and I leave all the services running 24/7. BT, GPS, WiFi, everything. This has been discussed so many times. task killers typically hurt battery life more than they help. If you never have a need for BT or GPS, fine, turn them off, It'll help some. The screen brightness is the biggest battery killer, so if you leave your phone locked and rarely use it for anything but the occasional phone call you can probably get 3 days out of the battery. I constantly use my Droid for both work and personal life, so it does need a charge in the evening.

 

[flyboy472]

...when the initial fascination with navigation wears off you won't use it to go to the grocery store (as you did in the first few days.)...

LOL I'm glad I wasn't the only one.