battery life

[[email protected]]

I'm having problems with battery life hardly can make it threw the day (and I'm holding back I would use it a lot more if I could)the number one question is my display is using the most battery... is there anyway or any app to turn the brightness down even more to conserve battery life?

Also when I got the phone I had to use it right when I got it so I had no chance to charge it ... I have heard this is really really bad is this really that bad?

By the way I have gps, wifi, bluetooth, email sync, everything I could think of off... I do not use an app killer because I hear its bad... so I stay away. I text a lot, and use some web browsing with dolphin browser I do not think I have that many apps but I do have weather channel and stuff which I guess is a battery sucker but I can't not have it

 

[cephas003]

I was having the same issues but I downloaded "Quick Settings" where I make sure GPS and Wifi is off when Im not using them and App Killer and I noticed a pretty significant different in battery life afterwards.

 

[[email protected]]

I have heard app killers are bad and slow down your phone and android just does all the work for you about app killers

 

[Benton]

I had my phone on charger to 100% until 1:30 today. A bit of texting, some web surfing, a couple of games then out snowmobiling for 3 hours. While outside took 21 pictures and sent three via MMS. GPS on, wifi off all day. Now at 10:30 showing 90% charge. This is a better result than most days and believe it is a result of what apps are open which would seem to indicate an app's code is important to the device power efficiency. Anyone else have similar experiences or thoughts?

 

[[email protected]]

That is truely amazing battery life... I can barely make it threw the day...

My android system seems a little bit high at 15% of battery is that high? If it is high how can I reduce it?

 

[LrdElderon]

yeah you shouldn't need a task killer for anything but the odd bad coded app that won't close properly and release it's resources, if I understood correctly.

Not that I advise you to hack your phone, but I think on alldroid.org (am I allowed to say another forum? I know some forums frown on it?) there is a hack or app or something that lets you reduce your phones brightness below even the minimum brightness the phone has by default and they are working on getting it even lower.

Also depending on where you are and your signal strength and coverage you could turn certain things on and off i suppose. If your in a building with low reception just put your phone in airplane mode or off cause your battery will drain super fast while your phone keeps trying to get a signal...etc

also not sure what difference it makes but i just go into settings display and sound and at the bottom i have automatic brightness on. I know some folks don't like it but it works for me.

 

[Martin030908]

I leave my brightness on 'auto'. No task killer (not needed) and no anti-virus. The display should be the top battery user on your device.... just make sure GPS and wifi are toggled off if you're not using them. Also adjusting the screen time out can help save battery.

 

[hookbill]

I wonder how many people discussing the battery came from another smart phone? It's my experience that battery life on the Droid is comparable to either Storm 1 or Storm 2. On a regular days use I end up with 40% by end of day. I don't make a lot of calls and use it for surfing the web, texting. I'm usually in my house so wifi is always on. Never have changed brightness settings.

Now if you use the phone a lot and you surf the web frequently then you can probably expect 5% battery life by end of day, but that's quite normal for these type of phones. They use a lot of battery.

If you're experiencing problems beyond one day use then you probably want to invest in a second charger. It more then likely has to do with how you use your phone.

 

[TheDJ]

Yeah "Quick Settings" is nice as cephas003 mentioned. It is a quick way to turn off wireless and GPS if you are not using them, which saves battery life.

I have had my phone unplugged for 10 hours and am at 70% battery life. I have not used it much during that time, and as previous people have said, the more you use it, the more quickly battery life drains.

 

[[email protected]]

yeah you shouldn't need a task killer for anything but the odd bad coded app that won't close properly and release it's resources, if I understood correctly.

Not that I advise you to hack your phone, but I think on alldroid.org (am I allowed to say another forum? I know some forums frown on it?) there is a hack or app or something that lets you reduce your phones brightness below even the minimum brightness the phone has by default and they are working on getting it even lower.

Also depending on where you are and your signal strength and coverage you could turn certain things on and off i suppose. If your in a building with low reception just put your phone in airplane mode or off cause your battery will drain super fast while your phone keeps trying to get a signal...etc

also not sure what difference it makes but i just go into settings display and sound and at the bottom i have automatic brightness on. I know some folks don't like it but it works for me.

I have rooted my phone... do you know exactly where this hack is for the phone?

 

[johnnyvol]

I'm not familiar with "quick settings", I assume that is something from the market. I found today while playing around that if you long hold a blank area of the home screen and bring up the "add" menu there is a power settings widget that allows one touch toggle on/off of wifi, gps, sync, brightness and bluetooth.

Now, its a big icon, filling an entire row on one screen, but it works just like any of the programs I've seen recommended in the market.

Hope this helps.

 

[neemo6]

I have horrible life too w/ this phone, Voice Calls believe it or not are by far worst battery eater. For example Im currently at 60% battery and battery usage is showing that 50% of that have been for Voice calls. 37 min 16s worth of calls. This is with gps, wifi, bluetooth turned off, no texts sent or recieved 4 minutes of web browsing to check my bank balance, brightness turned to 25%, that is all the phone has been used for today.Like the op i tend not to use the phone as I intend to due to wanting to conserve battery. Going to Verizon this week sometime to see if i can get a new battery, if this is typical life on this phone looks like I will have to get a new phone if it cannot keep up w/ me. Previous TouchPro 2 phone lasted easily 24+ hours with heavy use and bluetooth on all day,WinMo I760 would last 2 days w/o a charge.

 

[LrdElderon]

Yes making calls is one the most battery intense things to do I believe, but that seems extreme. I've made multiple calls and barely dropped. Maybe bad battery or weak signal so its using more power to make a connection?

 

[powerwagon]

I probably make on average 20-30 mins of calls a day, receive/check 20-30 emails a day, send 30-50 text a day and surf the internet/check apps for 30min-1 hour a day and after 12 hours off the charger I am usually at 40-50% battery life remaining. I do have Advanced App. Manager installed and have it set to kill background apps. every 30 mins. The only apps I have excluded from this auto kill are gmail and my alarm clock. For those of you who say this is not needed...you are just flat out wrong. Maybe in theory this is not needed, but in reality the Droid slows significantly within 20 mins of not having this installed and running. I uninstalled to test this in hopes that I would not need it, but my phone would stutter when moving from screen to screen and apps would take twice as long to open. I think this app./task manager has a lot to do with what I would consider excellent battery life for me.

 

[Martin030908]

I'm not familiar with "quick settings", I assume that is something from the market. I found today while playing around that if you long hold a blank area of the home screen and bring up the "add" menu there is a power settings widget that allows one touch toggle on/off of wifi, gps, sync, brightness and bluetooth.

Now, its a big icon, filling an entire row on one screen, but it works just like any of the programs I've seen recommended in the market.

Hope this helps.

Quick Settings is an app that basically takes the options from the power bar widget and puts it all on one screen, in an icon, without the big power widget. It also has controls for brightness and ringer setting.