Battery Life?

[n8sco]

Is anyone else experiencing really poor battery life? I've literally had it in my pocket for 3 hours from a full charge and I'm already down to 50% battery. Granted I've taken it out a couple of times to look at the usage and download a couple of apps but there's no way it should be draining this quickly.

This is what it says in the Battery Manager:
3 hours 34 minutes usage
Cell standby: 32%
Phone Idle:29%
Android OS: 21%
Android System:15%
Display: 5%

I have the screen set to auto brightness, timing out in 30 seconds and I've barely used it. No widgets or live wallpaper either.Not sure if the info helps but the back of the phone felt quite hot when I was using it for the first time yesterday. Any suggestions or guesses as to what may be wrong?

 

[guidot]

Looks to me like the radio has been losing signal a lot.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[n8sco]

Thanks for replying so quickly. If you don't mind my asking, what led you to that conclusion? Was it the high standby and idle percentages? Admittedly despite my love of technology I'm no expert in matters such as this. And if it is the case that the radio is acting up, should I turn on wifi when I'm at home to try and counteract it?

 

[dancingcrab]

Thanks for replying so quickly. If you don't mind my asking, what led you to that conclusion? Was it the high standby and idle percentages? Admittedly despite my love of technology I'm no expert in matters such as this. And if it is the case that the radio is acting up, should I turn on wifi when I'm at home to try and counteract it?

Wifi is always a better alternative to 3G (and obviously 4G) in terms of battery, in my experience. So yeh, try wifi.

 

[Chillson]

This is going to be the most important factor if I get this phone for someone else or not.

 

[Yonnor]

I'm sure we'll be getting some sort of update within the next month or so (I hope so atleast), and some fixes will be rolled out :/

 

[n8sco]

Thanks for replying so quickly. If you don't mind my asking, what led you to that conclusion? Was it the high standby and idle percentages? Admittedly despite my love of technology I'm no expert in matters such as this. And if it is the case that the radio is acting up, should I turn on wifi when I'm at home to try and counteract it?

Wifi is always a better alternative to 3G (and obviously 4G) in terms of battery, in my experience. So yeh, try wifi.

Ok, I will. Thank you.

 

[n8sco]

Not sure if this matters but I just thought of it... Droid 3 is a global phone and I noticed when I was looking through the wireless settings that under Network Mode(in Mobile Networks) it has the choice of Global, CDMA or GSM/UMTS. Now it's set to Global by default. Would changing it to CDMA make any difference?

 

[Chillson]

Not sure if this matters but I just thought of it... Droid 3 is a global phone and I noticed when I was looking through the wireless settings that under Network Mode(in Mobile Networks) it has the choice of Global, CDMA or GSM/UMTS. Now it's set to Global by default. Would changing it to CDMA make any difference?

Absolutely, not sure of how huge of a difference, but it definitely helps if you set it to CDMA.

 

[Insidious]

Also I noticed with the X2 the first time you use it and the first charge does not last long because (im guessing) not enough battery stats have been collected to optimize how the milliamps are used. Let it run down and charge it again and it should be good.

Sent from my Droid Bionic!

 

[colbyb25]

I have been getting pretty good battery life so far. Although I did purchase the extended battery. Either way it takes a few charges and complete discharges to get good battery stats going. Pulling it out of the box and expecting it to be accurate is not smart.

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[n8sco]

Also I noticed with the X2 the first time you use it and the first charge does not last long because (im guessing) not enough battery stats have been collected to optimize how the milliamps are used. Let it run down and charge it again and it should be good.

Sent from my Droid Bionic!

So the first few times I should let it die completely? Now that I think of it I'm pretty sure I let my OG Droid reach zero a few times when I first got it. I'll try that and hope it helps. Right now it's the only thing I don't love about the phone.

 

[Immolate]

Here's a post I researched back when the DX came out:

This is what I've compiled through the process of a lot of reading...

Your Lithium Ion battery has a life span just like you and me. Its life span is measured in cycles. One cycle is a complete charge and recharge of the battery. Depending on the battery, and this changes all the time with size, quality and technology, your battery’s life span is probably somewhere between 300 and 700 cycles.

If you wake up in the morning, pull your battery off of your charger and then proceed to use 65% of the charge that day, and then put it back on the charger that night, you’ve just completed 0.65 cycles. So for most of us, a cycle is longer than a day. For many, not so much.

Partially discharging and then recharging your battery does not damage it. But each of these sub-cycles does have one negative, albeit minor effect: it makes the battery’s internal circuitry just a little less accurate.

Now you’d think that a battery would know how much juice it has, but think about it. From the day you start using your battery, it begins a long, slow process of decline. It is dying a little bit each day. Sad, but the same is true of you so don’t feel too bad for it. Now… do you expect your battery to keep up with this ever-changing process of decay with pinpoint accuracy?

It can’t, but here’s what you can do to help it stay sharp—about once every 30 days, starting with when you first get it and thereafter, drain your battery completely. This does cycle your battery, so don’t do it a lot or you’ll wind up killing it off early. Once a month is what the rocket scientists recommend. When you do drain your battery, you’re in effect recalibrating it. Now it knows exactly how much juice it has… and promptly starts slowly drifting off target again. That’s okay—good enough is good enough.

So these monthly drains make the battery meter a little more accurate each time, and that’s good and necessary. The initial drain can have a far more dramatic effect however. Your brand new battery got a factory charge before it was shipped out to you, but it’s never been drained. It is an unqualified idiot and it can’t even count toothpicks or make unintentionally poignant witticisms. To paraphrase, a new battery is like a box of chocolates: you never know what it’s going to tell you. Draining it the first time is sending it to school.

Remember, you’re not changing your battery’s capacity in any way. You’re simply enabling it to give you better information about its status, and that eases your mind and makes you feel better. Nobody likes buying a brand-new (and expensive) electronic marvel just to see some vital part of it’s functionality immediately crash and burn.

Other things to know…

Heat kills your battery. Don’t leave your phone in a hot car or inside a nuclear reactor.

Time kills your battery. If you buy one and leave it lying around, it’ll die lying there.

Inactivity kills your battery. If you do buy a spare, swap it in occasionally.

An inactive Lithium Ion battery will last longest if stored in the refrigerator at 40% charge.

Lithium Ion batteries can be made to explode, but they are not a suitable substitute for C4.

You can’t overcharge your Lithium Ion battery. The internal circuitry prevents it.

Take care of your battery and it will take care of you. Not because it likes you though. It’s just a piece of lithium with some ions sprinkled on top.

Battery University
Apple on Batteries
Blackberry FAQ
Power Electronics

 

[pyrofreak]

I have the same cell signal % but if you click on it it says that the radio has spend 0% of the time out of service or searching for service. It honestly seems like its using more battery in my pocket then when im using it.

 

[n8sco]

Here's a post I researched back when the DX came out:

This is what I've compiled through the process of a lot of reading...

Your Lithium Ion battery has a life span just like you and me. Its life span is measured in cycles. One cycle is a complete charge and recharge of the battery. Depending on the battery, and this changes all the time with size, quality and technology, your battery’s life span is probably somewhere between 300 and 700 cycles.

If you wake up in the morning, pull your battery off of your charger and then proceed to use 65% of the charge that day, and then put it back on the charger that night, you’ve just completed 0.65 cycles. So for most of us, a cycle is longer than a day. For many, not so much.

Partially discharging and then recharging your battery does not damage it. But each of these sub-cycles does have one negative, albeit minor effect: it makes the battery’s internal circuitry just a little less accurate.

Now you’d think that a battery would know how much juice it has, but think about it. From the day you start using your battery, it begins a long, slow process of decline. It is dying a little bit each day. Sad, but the same is true of you so don’t feel too bad for it. Now… do you expect your battery to keep up with this ever-changing process of decay with pinpoint accuracy?

It can’t, but here’s what you can do to help it stay sharp—about once every 30 days, starting with when you first get it and thereafter, drain your battery completely. This does cycle your battery, so don’t do it a lot or you’ll wind up killing it off early. Once a month is what the rocket scientists recommend. When you do drain your battery, you’re in effect recalibrating it. Now it knows exactly how much juice it has… and promptly starts slowly drifting off target again. That’s okay—good enough is good enough.

So these monthly drains make the battery meter a little more accurate each time, and that’s good and necessary. The initial drain can have a far more dramatic effect however. Your brand new battery got a factory charge before it was shipped out to you, but it’s never been drained. It is an unqualified idiot and it can’t even count toothpicks or make unintentionally poignant witticisms. To paraphrase, a new battery is like a box of chocolates: you never know what it’s going to tell you. Draining it the first time is sending it to school.

Remember, you’re not changing your battery’s capacity in any way. You’re simply enabling it to give you better information about its status, and that eases your mind and makes you feel better. Nobody likes buying a brand-new (and expensive) electronic marvel just to see some vital part of it’s functionality immediately crash and burn.

Other things to know…

Heat kills your battery. Don’t leave your phone in a hot car or inside a nuclear reactor.

Time kills your battery. If you buy one and leave it lying around, it’ll die lying there.

Inactivity kills your battery. If you do buy a spare, swap it in occasionally.

An inactive Lithium Ion battery will last longest if stored in the refrigerator at 40% charge.

Lithium Ion batteries can be made to explode, but they are not a suitable substitute for C4.

You can’t overcharge your Lithium Ion battery. The internal circuitry prevents it.

Take care of your battery and it will take care of you. Not because it likes you though. It’s just a piece of lithium with some ions sprinkled on top.

Battery University
Apple on Batteries
Blackberry FAQ
Power Electronics

Thanks for the info. I'll let it drain today and that will be my one time for the month.