Incredible's battery life is not incredible

[phire]

I think the biggest battery drain is software/OS related, so I'm willing to bet the next OS update will really help battery life. I mean it's not like the battery is just powering a standard phone that can't multitask - it's still a powerful smart phone with a 1GHz processor that can multitask 20 apps without flinching, and that alone is going to eat the battery up regardless of what you're doing with the phone. Keep us posted on your battery life. 23 hours is pretty freaking awesome, and I definitely wouldn't complain w/ those numbers.

 

[ffej89]

From what i here from the limited amount of folks that got the 2.2 update on the Evo yesterday it does improve battery life. How much is still being tested. I agree with some of the tips from phire except the task killer. Android does not need a task killer

 

[jrv331]

I didnt know there were early verisons, how can I check to see if I have the latest version? Have done the *228 multile times so my software should be up to date.

Reil, how would one go about installing standard Android? Do you have to remove the HTC sense ui?
Thanks
John

Edit: I just checked and have the 1.xxxxxxx radio version. Would it be advantageous to see if I can get a replacement with the 2.xxxxxx version? Will the up coming OTA take care of that for me?

 

[slinky]

So how badly should I regret not getting my Droid 1 replaced? It broke yesterday, much to my disappointment, and Assurion said they had none in stock. The phones they wanted to provide were total garbage and it was unacceptable. I was given the choice of an Incredible and I didn't really have any other remedy.

The Moto Droid's battery life isn't that great. If I kept the brightness down to the bottom, I was fortunate to get 1 day's charge on moderate to heavy use, using k9 email. It isn't many total hours of usage straight, perhaps just 3-4 straight if you want to measure consecutively. But from what I see, the Incredible appears to be even much less than that! Not sure about the extended battery (Sedio 1750) and whether that even makes much of a difference. This has me worried.

 

[aminaked]

Hey, I don't have an Incredible. I have a Droid 1 and a Droid X. The Droid X battery life sucked. We finally figured out that the problem had to do with a software lock that wasn't being given up by the system.

I don't know if this will work for Incredible users. I apologize if you've already tried this.

From what I learned, it is the network location. If you just turn it on, the phone will sleep just fine - until you trigger it (by using maps, for example, which will first try to get network location while trying to get satellite data). Network location service will never release the lock, and you won't see anything in logcat, because nothing is happening: noone is requesting anything from location service, it is not doing anything - excepting holding the lock until you reboot the phone. First use of location services after reboot => no sleep again.

Forget running task killers. Stuff sitting idly in memory doesn't use battery power. You should be able to leave GPS on, wifi on, sync on IF this works. It seems like every Android's settings are a little different. Do you have settings > Location & security > use network location ? Try UNCHECKING it.

 

[blabsalot1]

It's been all of 1h 19m since I unplugged my phone (fully charged) and I'm already at 88% battery. I haven't even placed a call! :icon_evil:

Battery use shows:

• Cell standby 43%
• Idle 41%
• Android system 9%
• chompSMS 4%
• Display 3%

Did the *228 and restart as suggested. I have barely used it in the last 90 min, and no calls. Now 1h 28m later, I am at 91% battery:

• Cell standby 47%
• Idle 46%
• Android system 5%
• Display 2%

<sigh>

You are SO LUCKY if your phone only goes to 91%! I unplug my phone at 6:45 and it's down to 70% by 7:30.. it doesn't even make it through school when I'm not using it. I have to charge it in class. I'm not using it. I can't play a game for more than 15 minutes. Using the internet is just out of the question. And idk what to do anymore. I've already reset my phone.. twice..

 

[phire]

If I turn background data off, I can unplug my phone at 8:00AM and it's only down by about 3-4% by 5:00PM. So, that tells me the excessive battery use isn't really a design flaw with the phone, but rather excessive applications using data in the background.

With that said, I don't have a lot of things syncing in the background and I don't really play games through the day; just reading email a few times per day and a few text messages and from 8:00AM to 5:00PM, with background data on, I use approximately 20% battery life.

 

[blabsalot1]

But how?! I use my phone for texts and occasional emails. My phone sits unused for 75% of my day and it still won't last 8 hours. I don't have any apps from resetting my phone and everything is off and nothing is syncing. It doesn't make sense.

 

[phire]

But how?! I use my phone for texts and occasional emails. My phone sits unused for 75% of my day and it still won't last 8 hours. I don't have any apps from resetting my phone and everything is off and nothing is syncing. It doesn't make sense.

Turn background data off for an entire day and see what your usage is. If it's down any more than 5-10% then your phone has a problem. Unless you're constantly sending texts all day then it probably will drain fast with the screen on and data connection being used.

I have been turning background data off while I'm not using my phone and battery life has improved significantly (20-25% drain over 8 hours to 3-5% drain).

 

[Coltrane]

I've hadmy Incredible 2 since Tuesday and the battery life is also short. But Display is using 53%. How do you turn the background data off?

 

[phire]

I've hadmy Incredible 2 since Tuesday and the battery life is also short. But Display is using 53%. How do you turn the background data off?

You know, I'm not even sure anymore. I haven't had HTC Sense (default ROM from the factory) in a year or more. I'm using MIUI and loving it. Just poke around in your phone settings and I'm sure you'll find it. Also, if you're not having much lucky finding it, try installing a free power bar widget as most of them will have a toggle to turn data on and off.

 

[Coltrane]

Thanks! I'll try it. Now on to other issues!