This battery is killing me.

[mynamesjose]

My battery will not even last 8 hours under medium use. What the heck is going on? I can't find what is sucking my battery. My battery status says it's good. Any suggestions?

 

[Abe21599]

My battery will not even last 8 hours under medium use. What the heck is going on? I can't find what is sucking my battery. My battery status says it's good. Any suggestions?

get rid of any task killers - turn down display brightness - turn off wifi if you dont need it - use plane mode when there is no signal (searching for signal really kills the battery)

those are just some basic tips - gotta give more about WHAT you do with ur droid for anyone to be able to help further

 

[andyc]

Display and things like WIFI and GPS use the **** out of your battery. WIFI and GPS are almost never necessary so turn both off. I usually have my brightness set to the minimum all the time. Only in bright daylight is it ever an issue. Also streaming apps like Pandora will eat battery much faster than playing tunes straight off the phone SD card. I also had problems with the phone dimming when I was using it, making me turn the screen on and enter my pattern repeatedly. Download screebl. It's an app that helps conserve battery by not dimming and turning the screen off while you're using the phone (depends on user-specified orientation of the phone).

All of the above should make your battery last much longer. I still charge mine fully when I go to bed overnight, but never run out between charges anymore.

 

[hookbill]

Don't worry about GPS. It isn't on all the time it comes on when you use it. Same thing with wifi, though I usually turn that off unless I'm at home and using the internet.

 

[hinky]

Screebl isn't supposed to do wonders on the Droid. Regardless, my battery life is very poor too. 2.1 should have numerous battery management tasks like the ones the people get rooting their Droid. Battery life is not good and I wonder if EVDO usage will do 5 hours like an iPhone. I know that music and video is less too. Something needs to be done.

 

[SSHGuru]

Thank you for stating what everyone should know.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS - They don't take ANY significant amount of power unless you are actively using them. Don't bother turning them off and on - that likely takes more power than you would use.

As far as 8 hours - that's not bad if your using it alot. Why not buy a dock and put it in the dock when it's not actively being used.

Don't worry about GPS. It isn't on all the time it comes on when you use it. Same thing with wifi, though I usually turn that off unless I'm at home and using the internet.

 

[hinky]

Thank you for stating what everyone should know.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS - They don't take ANY significant amount of power unless you are actively using them. Don't bother turning them off and on - that likely takes more power than you would use.

As far as 8 hours - that's not bad if your using it alot. Why not buy a dock and put it in the dock when it's not actively being used.

ALWAYS turn GPS off. Nobody has any clue when what is used when with an Android device. perhaps some background app is using something. I always turn off GPS, WiFi (stops searching for access points on the road) and radio (same) when not using the items. If I could say safely they weren't being used, I wouldn't turn them off but I definitely get better battery life turning them off.

 

[pyro6128]

I don't think task killers necessarily kill the battery. In fact, i've noticed my battery has improved significantly by adding all of the android processes I want running to my ignore list (gmail, email, messaging, weather widget donate, etc). Then I used atk to see what apps kept opening up. I noticed that droid coupons and weather bug would always open themselves up after killing. I uninstalled both of them. I replaced weatherbug with weather channel. I'm pretty sure weatherbug is a bit of a resource hog. Now I never have any other apps running besides the ones on my ignore list. This has improved my speed and battery life significantly. You then just have to use your task killer to kill any apps that youre simply done using and don't want running in the background.

I also keep my screen brightness on the lowest setting, unless I'm in bright daylight, or showing my phone off to someone. You have to show the droid screen in all its beauty haha. Like everyone else said, turn off your display when youre not using it. I make it a habit of turning the screen off whenever I'm going to put it away. Doing these things, I'm able to watch movies on my droid, listen to music, droid live lite, and mess with other programs from when I wake up at 7am to around 10 pm comfortably. A couple of days ago after messing with my task list I went from 7am to 11:30pm and still had 80% battery left and did a decent amount of music listening throughout the day, as well as droid live lite. I would also recommend getting into the habit of charging it whenever you can. Whenever I'm around my dock and not using my phone, I have it charging.

 

[ShowTime]

Thank you for stating what everyone should know.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS - They don't take ANY significant amount of power unless you are actively using them. Don't bother turning them off and on - that likely takes more power than you would use.

As far as 8 hours - that's not bad if your using it alot. Why not buy a dock and put it in the dock when it's not actively being used.

ALWAYS turn GPS off. Nobody has any clue when what is used when with an Android device. perhaps some background app is using something. I always turn off GPS, WiFi (stops searching for access points on the road) and radio (same) when not using the items. If I could say safely they weren't being used, I wouldn't turn them off but I definitely get better battery life turning them off.

SSHGuru is right. No need to turn GPS off. You can tell that GPS isn't being used when you don't want it to be.... no GPS icon in the notification bar = no GPS being used. Simple.

And pyro, do you just use the stock battery indicator? Ever actually tested your battery status/output with an outside app? I ask because 80% battery left after 16.5 hours, even with little usage, does not sound right. I know I've heard of people having problems with their stock battery status (and market apps too actually) misreporting what % life they had left. If you really are getting that kind of battery life, you must have one ideal setup workin for you.

Oh and to the OP, what does your phone say is using the battery? (menu > settings > about phone > battery use)

 

[pyro6128]

I suppose it could have been a glitch, but if it was, my phone seems to be reporting the battery info correctly now. Now that I think about it, it prob was wrong being that I don't regularly get battery life that long. But again, I can make it to the end of the day comfortably. In any event, whether it was a malfunction or not, doing those things will help improve your battery time.

 

[SSHGuru]

Thank you. I don't know why people don't pay attention to the notification bar. If the GPS icon isn't showing up it's not using anything at all. WIFI and Bluetooth will still search when they are on but the search is so minor that it takes little or no battery - why do I know? Because I look at what eats the battery all the time.

When you are driving with the GPS on... now that will drain the hell out of your battery. If I were using that all the time I would need a car charger.

Thank you for stating what everyone should know.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS - They don't take ANY significant amount of power unless you are actively using them. Don't bother turning them off and on - that likely takes more power than you would use.

As far as 8 hours - that's not bad if your using it alot. Why not buy a dock and put it in the dock when it's not actively being used.

ALWAYS turn GPS off. Nobody has any clue when what is used when with an Android device. perhaps some background app is using something. I always turn off GPS, WiFi (stops searching for access points on the road) and radio (same) when not using the items. If I could say safely they weren't being used, I wouldn't turn them off but I definitely get better battery life turning them off.

SSHGuru is right. No need to turn GPS off. You can tell that GPS isn't being used when you don't want it to be.... no GPS icon in the notification bar = no GPS being used. Simple.

And pyro, do you just use the stock battery indicator? Ever actually tested your battery status/output with an outside app? I ask because 80% battery left after 16.5 hours, even with little usage, does not sound right. I know I've heard of people having problems with their stock battery status (and market apps too actually) misreporting what % life they had left. If you really are getting that kind of battery life, you must have one ideal setup workin for you.

Oh and to the OP, what does your phone say is using the battery? (menu > settings > about phone > battery use)

 

[aaf709]

I find that 16 hours is what I get normally. Today I turned off BT, WiFi and GPS, but didn't see any improvement.

 

[thebourbonnflip]

im running on my battery 1d-14hrs on single charge..its nice..i once had the display down to 5%

 

[pyro6128]

damn, now that is impressive

 

[cisco0910]

im running on my battery 1d-14hrs on single charge..its nice..i once had the display down to 5%

my phone won't stay in standby that long. sounds suspect. jk