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Just got my bionic
- Thread starter Fresnodog
- Start date
crxlsturbo
Member
Get the extended battery and also order the tpu extended battery case. You'll love the battery life with the extended battery. I can easily get 30-48 hours of us with moderate use. But I have my data delivery turned off and nothing syncing.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC
Sent from my DROID BIONIC
Welcome to the forums! Be sure to check out our Droid Bionic Forum also! 
B
bens42608
Guest
+1 definitely get the extended battery. Only $25 at Verizon and you will need it if u plan on using 4g at all.
Yes it is a bit bigger and heavier and comes with the right cover.
Here's my recipe for the perfect Bionic (some good battery saving tips too). Look through this list and try the items that seem to fit with the way you are using your phone. Not every item will appeal to every user:
- Try some of the replacement home screen apps: Go Launcher, Launcher Pro, Zeam, ADW, SPB Shell 3D, etc. They all offer more customization than the stock home screen app. Download Home Switcher from the market as it lets you easily switch between different launchers.
- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign. And remember when a app is loaded into rom, it is not really running as you may be used to in an OS such as windows. In Android, loaded in rom does not = running.
- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.
- Don't use antivirus
- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.
- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.
- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.
- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.
- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.
- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"
- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"
- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.
- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.
-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps
- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.
- Turn off in-pocket detection. This new function seems to cause more issues than it could possibly be worth.
- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use
- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.
- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.
- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.
- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.
- If you are having battery issues with the stock home screen app running, consider installing the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):
Battery Saving Video
Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]
- Try some of the replacement home screen apps: Go Launcher, Launcher Pro, Zeam, ADW, SPB Shell 3D, etc. They all offer more customization than the stock home screen app. Download Home Switcher from the market as it lets you easily switch between different launchers.
- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign. And remember when a app is loaded into rom, it is not really running as you may be used to in an OS such as windows. In Android, loaded in rom does not = running.
- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.
- Don't use antivirus
- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.
- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.
- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.
- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.
- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.
- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"
- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"
- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.
- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.
-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps
- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.
- Turn off in-pocket detection. This new function seems to cause more issues than it could possibly be worth.
- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use
- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.
- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.
- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.
- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.
- If you are having battery issues with the stock home screen app running, consider installing the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):
Battery Saving Video
Part 1: [video=youtube;cvWg7SbUgsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI[/video]
The stock battery weighs 1.1 oz while the extended battery tops the scales at a staggering 2.1 oz (adding 1 oz to the total weight of the phone).
As for thickness, the extended battery changes the thickness from approx 1/2" to 5/8". This is with the cover that comes with the extended battery.
Last edited:
Concistency
Member
I just go the extended battery last week, it has to be a must have. Order it from Verizon's website, it say's like 50 bucks or whatever, but then when you add to card it drops half price to $24.99 with free shipping. It comes with a backpiece to fit the extended battery. You will love the battery and the amount of time it lasts compared to the original stock battery.
Only problem I had with extended battery when I got my Bionic was that the Otterbox case I got does not fit with it. I figured between having a charger at home, car, and at work I have my bases covered so went with the original battery and kept the otterbox. Love the Bionic and have owned it since September. Only 3 battery pulls which I am happy with since my Original Droid was doing that per week near the end before I got the Bionic. Though with the Bionic in the Otterbox it is sort of like breaking into fort Knox to pull the battery.:biggrin: