Do I need a new battery?...

[Ralffers]

Got my droid x on July 16, & although I love the phone itself, the battery life is HORRIBLE! - that's my only complaint. I know that smartphone batteries don't last long in general, but mine seems to drain double time (I'm not using the phone all that much either) - and I can't help but wonder if this is because how I charged it when I first got the phone... The phone came 80% charged out of the box, & the instructions simply said to charge it - not to charge it for 8 hours, not to let it completely die 3 times & charge it (which is what a VZW rep told) - no, the structures only said to simply charge it. Again, I love the phone, but having to charge it 2-3 times a day sucks donkey balls.

I called Motorola to have them send me a replacement battery under warranty, but a rep came on & said that there was a 45 minute wait to get a tech, thus they would call me back - and they never did.

On a side note - another VZW rep told me when android 2.2 is released that the battery life on the X will be much, much better. Are there any indications of this being true?...

Edited to add: I read last night that android 2.2 will now be released in early SEPTEMBER for the X....that BLOWS! Especially since just yesterday I called VZW & was told that froyo should be released next week...

I'm thinking of buying the extended battery - but it only has 300 more miliamps than the standard battery - how much of a difference could that make?

 

[YankInDaSouth]

Not too sure about the 2.2 comment. But I have read on other X threads something about the GPS being on constantly . I don't have an X and didn't pay too much attention, but I am sure if you look deeper in the forums you'll find it.

 

[Ralffers]

Success!

Just ordered a brand new battery, lets hope it makex the phone last longer. Speaking of which, what is the appropriate way to go about charging the battery? - meaning, does it have to be charged for 8 hours the first time; does it need to go dead 3 times? etc, etc...

 

[jefbystereo]

Wow, 2-3 times a day is definitely high. Might also want to go into the battery usage(menu-settings-about phone-battery use) to double check that something isnt wrong and using too much battery. A few months ago, some app (gmail i think) got stuck in sync and was draining my battery like crazy.

 

[hookbill]

Lithium batteries do not have memory, so therefore they don't require any type of special treatment. Basically charge it until it's full to start and recharge it whenever you feel like it.

Now let me just say this about your battery issue. These phones will draw a lot of power from the battery. I usually have mine in a dock charging through the day, I have a spear fully charged battery and by 11:00 at night I usually end up putting the spare in the phone. So my best advice to you is accept that it's probably going to be like that. Get a battery charger or a docking station for your Droid when you don't have it in use.

It's not very expensive to do these things and it will increase the enjoyment of your Droid.

 

[Ralffers]

Wow, 2-3 times a day is definitely high. Might also want to go into the battery usage(menu-settings-about phone-battery use) to double check that something isnt wrong and using too much battery. A few months ago, some app (gmail i think) got stuck in sync and was draining my battery like crazy.

Yeah, I told the same thing about charging 2-3 times a day, & they said that was pretty much normal (as others have also indicated in this thread) - so I guess it is pretty much normal.

On another note, but related to battery use - the advance task killer doesn't work for me. I go in, kill all the apps, but than when I exit out of ATK, but go right back in without doing anything, a whole bunch of nonessential apps are running... I can't figure it out.

 

[TheJester34]

2 to 3 times a day is NOT normal. I couldn't figure out why my battery life was kinda crappy for a few days after I got my phone (mind you, crappy to me was unplugging it at 9 AM and having 10% left when I got home from work around 10 PM). I drained my battery completely, charged it overnight with the phone off, got rid of a couple widgets (The Weather Channel widget updates every 5 MINUTES, wth?), and installed System Panel Lite to kill individual tasks when they don't seem to exit right (browser, Facebook, etc.). Now I'm going 9 AM to 10 PM and having 50% battery left most days with moderate use (browsing, texts, some calls, FB and Twitter constantly). The only widgets I have up are Last.FM (used on occasion), the Power widget (with shortcuts to Wifi, GPS, etc), and Tech Buzz updating every 30 minutes. Hopefully a new battery will fix your problems. I know the Lithium batteries don't need drained and recharged, but it doesn't hurt anything to do it so why not? Just tinker with refresh rates on widgets and apps, email to push (seemed to have helped my battery life), and if you really feel the need to invest in a second battery. A little lower battery life shouldn't deter you from enjoying this incredible phone. Tinker a bit and enjoy.

On another note, but related to battery use - the advance task killer doesn't work for me. I go in, kill all the apps, but than when I exit out of ATK, but go right back in without doing anything, a whole bunch of nonessential apps are running... I can't figure it out.

I think the Task Killers end everything, but Android just starts a bunch of stuff back up. Again, I use System Panel Lite to kill individual tasks every now and again and it works great. Also seperates into active and cached applications so you know what's using processor cycles and what's not. Free too

 

[aminaked]

This could be a huge issue on the X:

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...6788-droid-x-battery-problems-discovered.html

Battery Drain due to Software Bug w/GPS? - Android Forums

And don't kill tasks or use antivirus

 

[Mikey311]

you gotta treat these phones like laptops. you gotta understand that there are a lot of things running in the background when you lock the phone. what i do is turn off background data and every connection (such as wifi, gps, bluetooth, etc.) and i also keep the brightness down all the way. battery goes down 50% by the end of the day.

hope that 2.2 battery comment is true

 

[aminaked]

you gotta treat these phones like laptops. you gotta understand that there are a lot of things running in the background when you lock the phone. what i do is turn off background data and every connection (such as wifi, gps, bluetooth, etc.) and i also keep the brightness down all the way. battery goes down 50% by the end of the day.

hope that 2.2 battery comment is true

I have to disagree. I usually use the original droid and I leave wifi, gps, bluetooth, and background data on all the time. I NEVER shut them off and I think that this is the way the phone is designed to work. As long as you close out of apps, such as Navigation, after using GPS then it should be all good.

If the droid x really has this GPS/no sleep bug then it needs an update badly.

 

[wmscottmc]

What is the "background data" setting that you talking about?

 

[Mikey311]

What is the "background data" setting that you talking about?

setting> data manager > data delivery

when you uncheck it you can't use the marketplace, but it'll tell you to turn it on when you open the marketplace. there's also a widget you can get called "sync settings" which opens the background data screen quick and easy

 

[wmscottmc]

What is the "background data" setting that you talking about?

setting> data manager > data delivery

when you uncheck it you can't use the marketplace, but it'll tell you to turn it on when you open the marketplace. there's also a widget you can get called "sync settings" which opens the background data screen quick and easy

ok thanks, I was wondering what that was used for. Is the market the only app/service that uses this? If so, Ill disable it.

 

[Mikey311]

ok thanks, I was wondering what that was used for. Is the market the only app/service that uses this? If so, Ill disable it.

it also disables auto sync, which means you won't get email and facebook notifications and stuff like that. the only thing i've noticed, other than auto sync, is the marketplace. it could effect other apps, but i haven't noticed

 

[aminaked]

I'll just step in again and say that you should leave background data on. What's the point of having a smart phone if you're going to hobble it? Leave that on and leave wifi on. The exceptions would be if you don't get email on your phone or don't have access to wifi.

Droid X users should be able to leave GPS on but there seems to be a bug, so you'll probably have to wait until after the 2.2 update and then you can turn it on and leave it on.

background data...uses very little battery power
wifi...uses less power than 3G so use it when you can
GPS...doesn't use power unless an app or widget is actively using it*

*except on droid X where there's a bug. wait for 2.2