Here's some good suggestion that NoBloatware made a while back here on DF. I think these are aimed specifically at GingerBread:
Battery Life – BY: NoBloatware on DF
consider doing a factory reset. Do not sync apps, wifi connections, etc. with Google services as that may cause a problem. Install all apps and wifi connections from scratch. A bit of a pain, but not too bad.- install a home/launcher replacement. I use Go Launcher EX, which is free, and I love it. No reason not to try out an alternative launcher as you can always go back to how you had it.
- don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.
- weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can.
- don't use antivirus
- the DLNA app pops up a dialog box that will set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off" and I personally think that this setting is the best thing for battery life. Under wifi settings view your connections then hit menu to see "Advanced options" where you can set the sleep policy
- if you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. This is different from the sleep policy.
- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.
- when you get a new battery, do a factory reset, or an OS upgrade run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will callibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.
- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.
- set screen brightness to "Automatic"
- under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"
- if you never use bluetooth then toggle it off. If you do use it sometimes, it's fine to leave it toggled on all the time.
- consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.
- turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps
- set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you're done using the phone. I use an app to lock the screen so I don't wear out my power button...as happened on my original droid.
- turn off in-pocket detection
- keyboard: turn off vibrate on keypress and sounds for any keyboards you use
- use a red screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Droid 3 screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed. Anyone know if this still holds true?
- camera app: i like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.
- in stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.
- charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone.
Here's a list I wrote a long time ago. Some items may still be useful:
Here's my tips (Individual items may not apply your phone):
1. Go to settings/wireless & networks/mobile networks/Enable always-on data. Uncheck always on data. Your phone will still receive email, text, & phone calls as before as well as internet usage but your battery will last a lot longer.
2. Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail. Go to the Google Gmail inbox on your computer and log into the Gmail account. On the top right of the screen is an option called Settings. In there is an option to have the Gmail program poll your regular, non-Gmail accounts (From the inbox; Settings/Accounts & Import/ Check mail using POP3). Provide the email address and the password. The Google Gmail program will then poll your other accounts on a frequency from 1-5 minutes and push the email immediately to your phone. The polling frequency is determined by each account's activity - more emails = faster polling. This saves battery power because on the android OS pop3 accounts are polled at a frequency of 1-30 minutes and that really eats battery. Because the phone goes and checks those accounts for mail whether there is mail there or not.
3. If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!
4. Use wifi any time it is available. It uses a lot less power than 3G and it is much faster.
5. If there are widgets that automatically update (facebook, weather, etc.) change their update frequency in their settings menu. Set them to 30mins or 1 hour. Or, "Get rid of widgets that update automatically. Add a shortcut to the app instead". It takes just as long for the app to open as it does for it to update.
6. Oh, almost forgot, get the extended battery from Verizon.
7. Turn off the GPS unless you are actually using it. There are some background apps that can burn a lot of power via a live gps.
8. The Power Control Widget is a good tool for easily turning on and off some of these features (gps, wifi, screen brightness, etc.).
9. From the home screen do the following: menu/settings/About Phone/Battery Use. This graph will show the 10 biggest power users on the phone. It should always be Screen as the top user and the android os, android system, phone standby and phone idle should be the other top users. If there is an app listed you should determine if it’s an app you actually use a lot or do you have a rogue app that needs to be uninstalled.
10. Get Screebl. It will turn your phone off anytime you are not actively using it.
11. If you have either a task killer or an anti-virus app installed, you should uninstall.
12. Go to data>system>and delete batterystats.bin after you've charged your phone to 100%. You should let your battery deplete completely, then charge it up to 100% again. This will recalibrate your battery for your current setup. It’s a good practice to do this with any new ROM install. If this doesn’t work for you, then it may be time for a new battery. This will help with battery meter accuracy.
13. D2G - go in to settings, wireless and networks, mobile network and change the network type from global to CDMA only. The d2g is locked out from using the local GSM networks in the US. You don't need global radio turned on in the US just overseas. Go into Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > and turn off the default setting of Global and turn on CDMA. This assumes you are in the US.
14. If you have ad blocker, turn it off.
15. If you are using Launcher Pro, try switching to ADW or Zeam for a while.
16. Reboot you phone every day or two.
