Droid X battery problems discovered!!!!!!!

[pilot25]

Here's the most simple way to explain it.

If you use any program that accesses the GPS, after that time, the phone will no longer go to "sleep", even if you fully close (or even force close) the app that started the GPS.

Typically. when you hit the power button or let the screen timeout, the phone will go into a power saving sleep mode shortly thereafter.

In the case of the Droid X, after a GPS program is used (assuming that user doesn't then toggle off the GPS entirely), the phone never goes into sleep mode and uses more battery power than it should.

Open Spare Parts, click on Battery History, third line down is "running". You'll see that gets pegged at 100% after the GPS has been accessed. That means the phone is never sleeping. You should plug in the phone and then unplug just before your test so the counters reset.

Someone at Motorola needs to investigate this ASAP. It seems to be a major bug that's decreasing battery life for all Droid X users

 

[tmoney2007]

I turn off GPS when I'm done using it. Programs that use geolocation will poll the gps to keep the location updated.

 

[Lukerative]

I checked this on my DX that is getting less battery than I would like, and it didn't show up like expected. GPS was only used a total time of 42 seconds out of 26+ hours of being on. My WiFi however, was using 60% of my battery, so I turned that off to see if that will change anything.

Honestly just hoping deep down that Froyo adds some stability to the issue...

 

[Sydman]

Yeah same here wifi and sync both turned off at work since they are not needed while near computer.

 

[wmscottmc]

I'm not convinced that leaving GPS on drains the battery, but one thing that does seem to drain my battery is being in a location with poor service. When I am at work, I dont get 3g and the phone drains the battery within 8 hrs. Seems that searching for a signal uses more power.

 

[Lukerative]

I'm not convinced that leaving GPS on drains the battery, but one thing that does seem to drain my battery is being in a location with poor service. When I am at work, I dont get 3g and the phone drains the battery within 8 hrs. Seems that searching for a signal uses more power.

I believe that completely. With any phone. The problem is that handheld computers can be so darn inconsistent.

 

[LexusBrian400]

I'm not convinced that leaving GPS on drains the battery, but one thing that does seem to drain my battery is being in a location with poor service. When I am at work, I dont get 3g and the phone drains the battery within 8 hrs. Seems that searching for a signal uses more power.

This has always been the case. With almost ALL cell phones. Not just those running Android.

And to the OP, my phone goes to "sleep" just fine without extra battery use after using the GPS (Which I do, daily).

I'd say you have a rogue app thats not shutting the app down the correct way. When leaving GPS programs, and ALL APPS FOR THAT MATTER, USE THE "BACK" BUTTON! When you use "Home", the app just keeps running in the background.

ALWAYS USE THE "BACK" KEY FOLKS

 

[pilot25]

It's not the GPS that drains the battery it's the phone not going into "sleep mode". The GPS is just the trigger. The screen will go dark but it's still running. Check spareparts.

 

[aminaked]

People with droid x's are able to reproduce this problem. See:

http://androidforums.com/support-tr...428-battery-drain-due-software-bug-w-gps.html

Everyone needs to listen to pilot25. He knows what he's talking about. On the original droid, you can leave gps and wifi on all day every day. I do. On the droid x there appears to be a bug with gps. The solution for now is to turn off gps.

The phones are designed to leave all of that stuff ON but until they fix the bug on the droid x, turn gps off to get better battery life.

To add confusion to this issue, the Facebook app/widget appears to be causing a similar problem...but not just on droid x.

 

[Lukerative]

On my DX that is getting rather good battery life, my phone has been "running" for 98% of the time since I've had it. Damn. I will be testing the GPS switch tonight when I plug it in. However I just ran the quick plug in, switch, plug in again, etc test on another DX that is getting about 5 hours per charge and I cannot reproduce it. In other words, it's working like it's supposed to but still getting shotty battery life compared to the one that's been "running" for 1d 19h.

ugh.

 

[Droiduga]

I found that GPS and WiFi were running my battery down faster. I just turn them both off for now.

 

[pilot25]

Matt the Motorola forum moderator has been engaging on the battery thread over there. We are attempting to get him to understand how to reproduce the problem. However, he only checks in intermittently.

/if you go into spareparts and click on the "running" bar within "other usage". It'll tell you how long it's been awake. For a good test: Before bed - Reboot your phone then hit the gps on. Select maps and then exit out of it. Let it go blank and don't plug it in. When you get up check how much battery you have. go into spareparts and click "other usage" - "running" and see how much wake time you have had. It should say less than 5 minutes if it is working properly. However, betting a dime to a dollar you will have hours of wake time

 

[aminaked]

I don't think wifi is a huge battery hog. You might want to try leaving it on.

 

[pilot25]

Good News!!

The moto forum manager has done the spareparts test and confirms what we are talking about. He is reporting the problem and running some tests himself with the battery manager on the phone. I don't know what he is looking for but good news is it appears some engineers will be testing the phone for this specific problem

 

[aminaked]

People are speculating that it's already fixed in 2.2

So, just wait a month...great...