Battery usage

[mynameiserich]

I have read multiple threads about battery life. I am not sure if I have a "bad battery" or if it is just the nature of my use. Let's put it this way...I woke up at 1030, have played with the phone basically for the straight hour with minor web browsing, and just using apps. I am using locale (although it is only supposed to determine location every ten minutes and just for a brief second), and have had wifi turned on the whole time. My screen brightness is always turned all the way off. The battery is already down to 80% in that short period of time....is this normal or should I get to Verizon and push to get a new battery?? Or I am just really using it intensely enough that it drains pretty quickly....what are others experiences???

 

[New2u]

it depends, did it just hit 80% or has it been sitting at 80% the whole time? I've seen some people complain about locale eating battery, but i don't know if that's confirmed or not.

 

[mynameiserich]

yeah i mean it just went from 100 and hit 80 in about the hour of heavy use. I've been monitoring locale and its gps use using an app and it seems to be only using a very little amount of gps...it really only turns on every 10 minutes for about 5 seconds to get a location...seems pretty minimal....maybe this is just normal??

 

[New2u]

Well with heavy use, JUST hitting 80% is pretty decent. I'm not 100% sure of this but i do believe that it will show 80% even if your at 89%.

 

[TomN]

Let me know because mine is the same way.

 

[mynameiserich]

Another hour and a half and the battery level is down to 70% - this is with wifi now off....seems to drain too fast....what are others experiences with battery life? Should I be going to Verizon to try and get a replacement???

 

[New2u]

OK with heavy use, the phone is NOT going to last 12 hours. Lets just get that out of the way first. It all depends on WHAT you are doing on the phone. Are you watching movies, surfing the net, listening to music?

 

[cereal killer]

Well with heavy use, JUST hitting 80% is pretty decent. I'm not 100% sure of this but i do believe that it will show 80% even if your at 89%.

yes you are right about this BUT what I would like to know is when exactly does the 10% drop take place.

I mentioned this in another thread as well. 10% drop is a huge incremental drop and not a very accurate representation.

 

[JoeeDB]

Sounds perfectly normal to me. Mine is the same way.

 

[mynameiserich]

Well in the past hour and a half that it dropped 10% I really haven't used it much. Checked the weather, checked my facebook, etc. but briefly...I am fine with the battery life as long as I know other people have similar experiences. If you use the phone on an average daily basis just doing basic things like light browsing, etc. will your battery last a full day and not have to plug it in until bed?? I don't think mine will...

 

[mynameiserich]

JoeeDB: Thank you...I was just looking for someone to give me a straight forward answer. don't want to go to Verizon and try and get a new battery if the battery is lasting as long as it does. I'm hoping for an extended battery, otherwise I might just buy a second battery to carry. Any idea if an extended battery will be available?

 

[New2u]

Well in the past hour and a half that it dropped 10% I really haven't used it much. Checked the weather, checked my facebook, etc. but briefly...I am fine with the battery life as long as I know other people have similar experiences. If you use the phone on an average daily basis just doing basic things like light browsing, etc. will your battery last a full day and not have to plug it in until bed?? I don't think mine will...

it really depends, certain things you do on the phone of course take up alot more battery life then others. The best thing you can do is go into the menu > settings > about phone > battery usage... check there after you've used it for about an hour of heavy usage. It will give you an idea of what things use the most battery.

If you have something at like 45% battery usage, and you only had the program open for like 5 minutes of that hour. Then that will of course be something you might want to shy away from if your trying to make the battery last.

 

[freakboy2539]

Mine will drop 10% rather quick. I also checked verizons site for usage time they estimate and to be honest its not promising

Usage Time: Up 385 minutes OR
Standby Time: Up to 270 hours

385 minutes is a little over 6 hours. so im assuming if you use the phone non stop you will get 6 hours of use on a single charge. They dont give specifics for talk time though.

 

[ezeddiekun]

I get to 80 with just txting with wifi turned off and auto brightness.. wtf

 

[RedTarget]

First off, here's what my usual (average) usage is on my Droid:

2 email accounts - Gmail (push) and another personal account which syncs every 30 minutes. Pandora running between 1 and 2 hours a day. Web browsing for another hour or so, this fluctuates. Sending/Receiving txt msgs (varies by the day)... I have Google Talk open and chatting with my wife and a few other friends throughout the day. PhoneMyPc usage of about 20-30 minutes daily. And about an hour of talk time per day. Not to mention I also have Locale running at all times to set my sound and notification preferences throughout the day.

Wifi is OFF. Bluetooth is OFF. My Cellular Signal while at work for 9-11 hours a day is around -95 dBm. The rest of the time if I am at home it is usually -64 dBm (tower is visible from my house).

Now, I have 2 batteries. One that came with the phone, and one I ordered from VZW a day after I purchased the droid. I also have the single battery charger which I use to charge my batteries. I put a freshly charged battery in my phone daily at 6am. I then take the battery that was in the phone, and leave it sit all day. Right before I go to bed, I put the battery on the charger so that it is ready in the morning.

The battery that came with the Droid will be at around 50% at 11pm, and usually around 40% when I wake up in the morning. The 2nd battery will be at 80% at 11pm and maybe 70% the next morning. Since today was not a work day, I have left the 2nd battery in since yesterday at 6am and just now it is sitting at 30%.

I think there may be some batteries that are not quite up to par and this is to be expected. My original battery has been getting better, as I have only had the phone for 2 weeks now. However it just can't touch the 2nd battery. For a smartphone, this is still not bad. The WinMo phones I've had in the past were usually lucky to make it 10 to 12 hours before it was completely drained. However the blackberries I've had usually lasted anywhere from 3 days to 7 days (yes, 7 days of use!). However looking at what the Droid can and is doing, getting almost 2 days out of a battery is just fine with me.

I recommend those suffering with less than 16 hour battery life should see if they can get the batteries replaced. Unless you are a super user and on the phone constantly from morning til night, you should be able to make it a whole day without needing to charge. Again, everyone's use will vary thus will battery life.

Happy Droiding!