What should I EXPECT from the DNA's battery?

[Newamericanclassic]

I tried to post this on another android forum, but was fanboys didn't offer any actual help (just a lot of 'EWW WHO USES THEIR PHONE FOR THAT LONG?? YOU SPENT TWO HOURS WEB BROWSING??). I have the DNA and it's a great device--stunning display, fast 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, etc. What's not to love?

Well for starters, the battery. Before I purchased the phone, I made sure that it would at least last say, a day's worth of light/moderate usage; everyone who had it kept denying that the battery was an issue. So now I can't tell if my usage habits are extremely abnormal, or if my specific DNA's battery is weird. I always have unnecessary signals off--I never use the GPS, I don't have BT on when I'm not using it, I turn wifi/4G off when I'm not using the web, etc. I keep the screen on auto-brightness, but I assume that's not ridiculously extravagant on my part.

I commute to work--it's about an hour each way. This morning, I listened to music for ~40 minutes, and 30 minutes of that time was spent reading a book on the kindle app (all networks disabled, brightness on auto). That in itself consumed 8% of the battery. At that rate, if I were to use it for the entire 2-hour commute, I would have like 65% battery remaining--not terrible, but taking into account the rapid battery decline when asleep, and the occasional text message/call, it doesn't leave much for after work. And on a day I'm not working and I'm out of the house, and don't have a charger with me, I can't trust it would last me the whole day.

This isn't even on wifi or 4G. Web browsing on wifi (consecutively, not even taking into account standby battery decay), I get 3-4 hours' screentime, max. Sounds like a lot if you never use your phone for anything other than texts/calls, but if I'm out of the house I want a battery that--with moderate usage--won't be at 4% by 8PM. God forbid I was a student again, and used this for taking notes (I have a mini folding bluetooth keyboard, my little setup worked great with my tablet--which could last easily 6 hours of moderate multitasking on wifi. I mean as long as you have something to type on, and you are a diehard minimalist, you could just use a smartphone lol).

If this was a phablet, there would be outrage--but the general response is "eww use your phone for just a phone". How can I tell if there's something wrong with my device specifically? What are your usage habits, and how do you feel about the battery? If there's something wrong, is HTC pretty responsive in regard to their factory warranty? Thanks!

 

[Newamericanclassic]

Just more info: I haven't rooted the device, but I have Widget Locker and Nova Launcher replacing the stock launcher/locker. My homescreen has HD Widgets, and my other screen has the gmail widget and Play widget. I'm also using SwiftKey instead of the stock keyboard.

Do all these modifications explain the battery drain I'm experiencing? Should I give up my beautiful launcher/locker for extra battery life?

More battery stats: 1hr56m on battery from 98% charge--I was playing an app for almost two hours, and by the end of it the battery was down to 30%. My sibling's puny iphone 4s lasts her a full day of heavy usage--I understand the screen is bigger/better, but when I can only squeeze out a few hours' of consecutive usage, it's a little frustrating.

 

[Psykho]

I dont know what you would call my usage but I unplug my phone at 6 am and drive to my shop 40 minutes away using pandora over 4g then I get in a van with a crew of guys and I usually have to use my phone for gps for an hour average even if I'm not driving because everyone is worried about their battery so I run that in the background while I check texts, emails, facebook, and play some games. Then when I get to the job I don't touch it for 3 hours until lunch. At lunch I do the check texts, ect, ect again for an hour then put it down for another few hours then its time for the ride to the shop where again I check stuff and play games.On my ride home I listen to pandora again. When I get home I put it on wi-fi and I'm usually around 40 percent. At home I probably use it to check stuff and play games another 2-3 hours and go to bed around 11 with 15 percent left. All this with screen set to full brightness and 4g on at all times except at home. It gets me through an average day and if it ever becomes an issue i've got car and wall chargers with me at all times.

 

[rndchef]

I would get battery monitor widget and see what is causing spikes on the mA graph. I am rarely above 200 - 300 mA will using it and I am stock unrooted. Yes widgets use battery especially when they update. I found the stock lockscreen better that WL and I used WL on my last three phones. You have to manage the battery and the most savings I have found are getting on Wifi at work and home and using Automatelt to turn data off when my screen goes off and back on when my screen comes on. This stops emails from updating until you turn the screen on but saves huge on the battery. I can end a day with medium usage and wifi at work with 65%. It ain't so bad not having emails pinging all the time.