Ok. I love this phone except for the battery sucks..I can be at work all day,sent 5 texts and have half a battery at the end of 8 hr shift. I noticied it has the sync symbol on top of the screen often but I have all sync items off
I also can't download any apps without going on wyfi or update apps..I never had to when I had a droid x
Any ideas out there,,
Thanx,
Becky
I appreciate your feeling as though the battery is not able to carry you through a day when you've barely used it. However, I would like to ask you just a couple questions.
- When you got the phone, did you get it through the mail or at a retail location?
- If you got it at a retail location, did the rep hand the phone back to you already powered on?
- If so, did you then begin using it even though it only had a partial charge?
- If not, did you take it out of the box and power it up immediately and then activate it?
- If so, did you then use it for a while before charging it?
- Did you ever perform the initial FULL CHARGE to 100% with the power off as the instructions indicate?
Many of the problems people face with these phones relating to displayed power consumption are NOT due to a poor battery life, but to improper charging practices. These phones ship with a partial charge, NOT so you can immediately activate and use them, but so that the batteries don't self-discharge too low and slip into an irreversible protection mode. The instructions recommend you charge fully before using. This is something MOST people ignore, and it sets you up for a myraid of potential problems, the least of which are what you are experiencing, and the worst of which are completely unresponsive phones that will no longer take a charge.
It is related to the "meter" which displays the perceived charge level, versus the actual level which can be far different. In other words, your phone may be telling you that you have only 50% of the capacity of the battery left, but you may actually have either significantly more or significantly less. It may also tell you that it's fully charged once it's been plugged in and charging while still powered on, yet it may never have actually reached full saturation. Both problems are due to a tracking error that causes the meter to incorrectly represent the relative remaining charge, and due to how the metering system's data can be corrupted, or "fooled" into believing the battery has reached 100% of capacity due to the parasitic load that the phone places on the charging system when it is charging while powered on.
To be SURE you have both a fully charged battery, and also a meter that accurately represents the true State of Charge (remaining charge level versus actual capacity), you need to do the following:
Power the phone off. Then, plug the cable that came with the phone into the wall adapter that came with the phone, and plug them into the wall outlet. Next, plug the other end of the cable into the phone.
The phone will boot into Charge-Only mode, where initially the phone will display the familiar red circle with white M logo and appear to be booting normally, however, the phone will eventually display a large battery icon that is animated and shows a moving liquid level and number in percentage to represent the current perceived level of charge. Don't believe this charge level immediately as it still can be misrepresenting the true state of charge. This icon will display for 10 seconds or so, then the screen will go Black. Allow the phone to remain plugged in for at least 3-4 hours, or until the large display shows 100%.
To see how far along the charging is at any time, tap the power button very briefly and release. It will take about 3 or 4 seconds before the battery icon displays. Only use the meter during this initial charge to let you know either when it has reached 100%, or that it hasn't yet reached 100%, but ignore where it tells you it is along the process. Let it time out to a Black screen again and check back later if less than 100%. If the phone should accidentally revert to a normal boot due to pressing the power button too long, simply power the phone back down and let it reboot back into the Charge-Only mode to complete the Full Saturation Charging process.
Once the phone reaches the 100% capacity level as indicated by the large animated battery icon, go ahead and remove it from the charger and power it up normally. Now, use the phone as you would during the day, but don't plug it into either a charger or USB plug on a PC throughout the entire day. Continue using it on battery power only, until it reaches the "Low battery" warning at 15% level.
Important: Don't ever let the levels approach 0% under nearly any circumstance if at all possible, but if it does, power it down immediately and wait until you are near a charger to plug in and charge completely before powering back up again.
Now, power the phone down and start the power-off charging sequence again. Once you've completed the power-off charging sequence the second time, the phone will now be properly calibrated to the battery's ACTUAL capacity (which is ALWAYS different than what the battery is initially rated for), and you may be surprised to find that your 8 hour day with 50% used could be 8 hours with only 30% used.
This procedure should be performed about once every 3 to 4 months, or every 40 charges or so. Once it has been completed, there is no need to do so again until that time elapses as I just mentioned, and instead you can use, charge partially and use again to your heart's content. In fact, the battery actually performs more efficiently if it is partially charged several times than if it is fully charged and fully discharged. The process of a full charge and discharge should only be performed to "train" the battery meter to the actual capacity of the battery which, over time gets less and less. If this procedure is not performed on a regular basis, the actual capacity and the represented capacity will diverge and you may be faced with an apparent "sudden battery failure" where it will seem to have lost a large portion of its capacity over night, for instance.
There is a ton of information about these batteries and scientific evidence of the issues I have described above, on the
Basic to Advanced Battery Information from Battery University website, under Lithium Ion Polymer Batteries, but I am always here as well to help keep at least OUR forum members taking proper care of their batteries.
Remember, Batteries are people too! Good luck!
