"Official"? Bionic battery life thread

[revelated]

The car estimations are rated by the epa and everything that is done is a standard for every car. That's why epa numbers are different than manufacturer numbers.

Right, which is why the theory that Motorola is doing something untoward is just not fair. The battery life is based on optimal conditions, always, same with car MPG.

I think JD does it.

It does, but poorly. It does not have a single widget-based toggle for switching between data types. It also does not allow you to create custom profiles like I described, and it's not smart enough with the Wi-Fi whitelisting. You can toggle data on and off, but that's not the same thing. Sometimes I might just want to go to 3G instead of 4G; Juice Defender doesn't appear to allow you to do that. I haven't paid for the $5 version to see if it does, but I know Plus doesn't. Also the data whitelisting was extremely inaccurate - I allowed SpeedTest.net to access data anytime, but yet I would run it and JD would not open up the data. Same with Maps, same with BeatTheTraffic...it just isn't smart enough, thus the preference for a toggle rather than some AI that can't act the way I need it to.

Data enabler widget does it.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

Data Enabler widget does enable and disable data which is good. But I'd still like a single toggle that enables/disables services all at once. I still end up toggling things separately which is just not efficient. At least it's something...but I'd still prefer what I described above. Something extremely simple.

 

[Psychlone]

I have to agree with everything that revelated has said in his videos (good job by the way).

IF you go back a couple pages, you'll see the battery settings template that I created so we all would be comparing in a standardized way... and I believe that every setting I put in the template directly reflects what revelated mentioned... I use my phone much like revelated does and fully understand the implications of bad habits like checking in on [insert social media here] all the time, as well as every other point.

Fact is, we ALL are going to use our phones differently and we ALL are going to get different battery life. What I believe that revelated and myself are trying to say, is that if you can live without a couple "features", you'll get much longer battery life out of your phone.
There are no tricks, no magic, no automatic battery saver; all in all, it's ALL about how the phone is used as evidenced by my template from pages ago.

(Original post from 9/22/2010)

Wireless Networks
	Airplane Mode	[OFF]
	WiFi	[OFF]
	Bluetooth	[OFF]
>	Mobile Networks
		Network Mode	[CDMA ONLY]
		System Select	[HOME ONLY]
Display
	Brightness	[MIN]
	Animation	[OFF]
	Screen Timeout	[30 Seconds]
Battery & Data Manager
	Battery Mode	[Custom]
	>	[CUSTOM SETTINGS]
			Off-peak hours	[10:00pm] to [8:00am]
			Turn off data after	[15 Minutes]
			Peak hours data off after	[Always On]
			Display brightness	[MIN]
	Data Saver	[OFF]
	Data Delivery
	>	Background Data	[ ]
		Data Roaming	[ ]
		Data Enabled	[X]
		Social Applications
			Sync over Wi-Fi Only	[X]
			Data deliver frequency	[60 Minutes]
Backup Assistant
	Recurring Sync	[Late Night]
Location & Security
	Google Location Services	[ ]
	Standalone GPS Services	[ ]
	VZW Location Services	[X]
	Share Picture Location	[ ]
	Allow Bluetooth Bypass	[ ]
Privacy
	Back Up My Data	[X]
	Automatic Restore	[X]
Date & Time
	Automatic	[X]
		USAGE
TEXTS	CALLS (in minutes)	INTERNET TIME (min)	GAMES (min)	MISC (Apps in min)*
48	120	30	0	120*
		BATTERY LIFE to total discharge
		37 hours		* no GPS or internet based apps were used

Now, if EVERYONE could use this same template and insert their own values into it, we'll be doing a standardized comparison that actually matters.
(by the way, these are my actual settings)


PLEASE copy this template into your next posts, fill in the fields with YOUR personal settings, follow it up at the bottom with YOUR personal usage and how long your battery lasted. This way, everyone that comes to this page (now and forever) will have a standardized way to see what's working for some people and what isn't.
I fully realize that everyone's needs are going to be different, but this is for those people that just might think "hey, I don't need [insert setting here] running all the time!" ...

Psychlone

For the record, I've cleared the 48 hour mark on a single charge on the STANDARD BATTERY using the settings from days ago coupled with JuiceDefender/UltimateJuice.
Granted, I don't use my phone as much as some of you do, but clearly do use it what I consider moderately with 2 hours of calls, ~50 texts, half hour of internet, etc. The phone isn't just sitting there, but I'm not always messing with it either - no games, no social media, no data transfer... I have computers for that.


Anyway, I think that revelated has created some GREAT videos that fully compliment the standardized template for battery saving settings that I created days ago. The template isn't for everyone to switch their settings to what mine are, it's so people might be able to see that I'm getting GREAT battery life with these specific settings with my specific usage. I created that template in hopes that everyone posting in this thread would copy/paste it at least once with their own settings and usage so everyone could see what kind of battery life THEY are getting...



Psychlone

 

[grrouchie]

The thing is, that right now I have the extended battery in and I have only completely drained the battery once and that was because I was trying to kill it before I went to bed.
I get up at 6 am and take it off the charger - by the time I am looking to get some sleep around 10pm or so I always have a good amount of battery left (ranging between 20-40% depending on how much I used it during the day).

Unless you can convince me that me recharging my battery every night over night lower's it's expected life cycle then I'm not sure I could be convinced to change my data/phone settings/usage so that it lasts me 2 days instead of one.

However, (i just moved) once I find my standard battery I am going to put it in and charge it up and at that point I might use it normally for a week and then try out your settings and see how much of a difference it makes.

I do enjoy your enthusiasm.

Mind if I ask what specific items you decided not to turn off? I'm quite confident I can convince you otherwise. It makes sense when you really sit down and think about some of the settings.

 

[revelated]

The thing is, that right now I have the extended battery in and I have only completely drained the battery once and that was because I was trying to kill it before I went to bed.
I get up at 6 am and take it off the charger - by the time I am looking to get some sleep around 10pm or so I always have a good amount of battery left (ranging between 20-40% depending on how much I used it during the day).

Unless you can convince me that me recharging my battery every night over night lower's it's expected life cycle then I'm not sure I could be convinced to change my data/phone settings/usage so that it lasts me 2 days instead of one.

However, (i just moved) once I find my standard battery I am going to put it in and charge it up and at that point I might use it normally for a week and then try out your settings and see how much of a difference it makes.

I do enjoy your enthusiasm.

If the extended works for you that's fine. Don't go out of your way to change anything if you have the extended. The purpose of the settings I outlined in the video are simply to stress that even small changes can make a world of difference without affecting existing workflows.

For example, as I said before, If a person is going to be on Wi-Fi for an extended period, they should disable Data, because the Bionic doesn't do that on its own like it should. That small of a change will be a significant battery improvement.

But as I also stated, the videos will be of no value to those who refuse to do anything to change their usage of the phone. I only counter with the statement that refusal to change one's workflow for better battery life does not and should not entitle them to bash Motorola or the Bionic. It is an efficient battery for those that care.

 

[chowyenfats]

I have been hitting the bionic hard today and noticed that the pentile screen had used little battery, I think the pentile screen is serious underrated.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[grrouchie]

First thing I want to say is man, this phone sure does feel different/smaller with the regular battery in it instead of the extended.

going through the video's this is what I have decided to change/start using that I was not before.
Turned on Data Saver
Turned off Background Data
I will start trying to remember to turn off 4g and turn on WiFi when I get home from work and have a wireless network to take advantage of instead of 4g.
I added a good amount of apps to Auto-End in the Task Manager
Turned off Automatic Brightness


I will use my phone like this with the standard battery for the next couple of days and see how my battery goes.
Depending on if any of the settings get too annoying because I am so used to having my phone vibrate when I get a new text or email or whatever, I will maybe adjust at that point.

 

[revelated]

First thing I want to say is man, this phone sure does feel different/smaller with the regular battery in it instead of the extended.

going through the video's this is what I have decided to change/start using that I was not before.
Turned on Data Saver
Turned off Background Data
I will start trying to remember to turn off 4g and turn on WiFi when I get home from work and have a wireless network to take advantage of instead of 4g.
I added a good amount of apps to Auto-End in the Task Manager
Turned off Automatic Brightness


I will use my phone like this with the standard battery for the next couple of days and see how my battery goes.
Depending on if any of the settings get too annoying because I am so used to having my phone vibrate when I get a new text or email or whatever, I will maybe adjust at that point.

Background Data is fine to leave on if you're on Wi-Fi as long as you disable the 3G/4G. It's the combination of Background Data and Data Enabled that is the battery destroyer. Background Data over Wi-Fi only won't even make a dent. But GMail won't auto-pull emails that way for some reason unless you access it from the Mail app instead, which lets you control the sync schedule.

Text messages should still come through instantly, that's phone radio, not data. Unless you're using Google Voice, in which case you can have it send you a text message to your IM app when you get a new message which does the same thing.


On a side note, my battery life estimates peaked at a rather shocking 57 hours on the standard battery and has finally started to go down some. I haven't charged it since Saturday morning and still have 40% remaining.

This has been quite the experiment. I'm having fun with this phone. It's like maximizing gas mileage in a car, actually.

My next test with the phone will be to run the screen at full brightness, no timeout, full animations, and stream audio from Amazon Cloud Player over Wi-Fi until I'm ready to go to bed. That will confirm for me the working theory: that the screen just doesn't really do much to the battery, and that the Wi-Fi radio is significantly less battery hungry than the 3G/4G radio.

 

[Psychlone]

@ Grrouchie: You should record your current settings in the battery settings template for good measure - at least you'll be able to see a difference between what you had and what you're doing on the same phone - that's EXACTLY what that simple template is for!
Simply copy/paste the template into your post, change the values in it to YOUR values and follow it up with your best guess on usage at the bottom and then your total time to discharge.
After a couple days, post up the changed settings (the ones you just changed) along with your usage and time-to-discharge and see what the difference is...

I completely envisioned many people doing the same with the template - if everyone would just pitch in 2 minutes of their time by copying their own settings into the template, we'd ALL get to see what's working for some and what's not working for others.


@ revelated: I'm looking forward to your followup tests on the display and WiFi radio. I've been wondering the same exact thing, and I believe that you've hit it on the head; only time will tell though.


To everyone else: Anyone seriously wondering what your battery is doing should purchase the Battery Monitor Widget Pro from the market. It will output complete graphs after a couple days of power cycles and is pretty accurate. This way, you can see with your own eyes what your new and changed settings are doing for you!



I'd really appreciate it if any/all of you would just copy/paste YOUR settings into the basic template along with YOUR usage and YOUR time-to-discharge so everyone can compare settings to usage to TTD.

 

[Jaycea22]

Revelated, what battery widget are you using?

 

[TeeX]

it's frustrating that in Battery Mode, I have always kept my phones on "Maximum Battery Saver" mode, but on the Bionic it has a bug (for me and I've read for others) that it sometimes drops the 3G/4G signal completely. The fix is to have the battery mode set to "Performance" mode, which obviously uses more battery.

My question, is: How much more battery does it use having it on this setting?

 

[grrouchie]

I am putting your template into a spreadsheet - this way I can record the information and update it over time to see how what I'm doing affects battery life.

I have created a GoogleDoc Spreadsheet for the information and Published it to the web.
It will update every time I make a change, but I will put a post in this thread with another link to that people can see my performance over time.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...iEdGRJQi1iX3dmUzRaX1RON05haUVUU1E&output=html

@ Grrouchie: You should record your current settings in the battery settings template for good measure - at least you'll be able to see a difference between what you had and what you're doing on the same phone - that's EXACTLY what that simple template is for!
Simply copy/paste the template into your post, change the values in it to YOUR values and follow it up with your best guess on usage at the bottom and then your total time to discharge.
After a couple days, post up the changed settings (the ones you just changed) along with your usage and time-to-discharge and see what the difference is...

 

[revelated]

Revelated, what battery widget are you using?

The Advanced Clock Widget has a text-based readout with remaining estimate. I use that primarily. The other one is just called "Battery Widget". I don't use it much, but I keep it around because it gives you Temperature, Voltage, and Health indicators when you tap it. That way if I ever start seeing bizarre behavior I can confirm if the battery is dying.

it's frustrating that in Battery Mode, I have always kept my phones on "Maximum Battery Saver" mode, but on the Bionic it has a bug (for me and I've read for others) that it sometimes drops the 3G/4G signal completely. The fix is to have the battery mode set to "Performance" mode, which obviously uses more battery.

My question, is: How much more? battery does it use having it on this setting?

Performance mode is basically non-stop sync UNLESS you have disabled Background Data or if you're using Wi-Fi primarily. My phone has been off the dock for 41 minutes; Wi-Fi with Background Data has been chugging continuously on something for 34 of those minutes. So you can imagine the kind of battery hit you'd take if you were on 4G. If you're on Wi-Fi, Performance Mode won't make a dent, I've had it on for the entire weekend. If you have 4G enabled, it will kill you unless you turn off Background Data.

In my personal experience 2 weeks back, if Performance Mode is on with 4G and Background data, assuming no social media apps and minimal data-hungry widgets, your battery is likely to be in the 10-12 hour range.


Side note:

So I did the full display brightness, no timeout, full animations, streaming Amazon MP3 over Wi-Fi only for an hour and a half straight. Didn't make a dent. The graph showed a slight dip but nothing along what I would have seen over 4G.

I think what I may do in another video - I've got an "Aftermath" video that I need to process first - is on one Saturday, I will wake up early, set up 4G with no Wi-Fi, full Background Data, screen off, and find out how much battery that kills to prove to folks that the Background Data is the murderer.

 

[TeeX]

Performance mode is basically non-stop sync UNLESS you have disabled Background Data or if you're using Wi-Fi primarily. My phone has been off the dock for 41 minutes; Wi-Fi with Background Data has been chugging continuously on something for 34 of those minutes. So you can imagine the kind of battery hit you'd take if you were on 4G. If you're on Wi-Fi, Performance Mode won't make a dent, I've had it on for the entire weekend. If you have 4G enabled, it will kill you unless you turn off Background Data.

In my personal experience 2 weeks back, if Performance Mode is on with 4G and Background data, assuming no social media apps and minimal data-hungry widgets, your battery is likely to be in the 10-12 hour range.

thanks for your reply. I always have Background Data turned OFF unless I need it. The only time I check/ turn ON Background Data is if I am accessing the marketplace or need it for anything specific. So hopefully having Background Data always off (unless needed) won't give me much of a battery hit since I've set the battery mode to "Performance"...

 

[Jaycea22]

Revelated, I have configured my phone to mimic yours. I am losing 1% battery every 5 mins while the phone is idle. Is that happening to you as well?

I'm happy w the 20+ hours I get w moderate to heavy use but I am astounded with the 40-50 hours some are getting w the standard battery. I am on the extended battery.

Only widget I am running is beautiful widegets small.

With an hour straight use I go from 100 to 85%.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums

 

[CurtCharlesPDX]

Stock battery is pathetic. With the phone not in use (screen off) but powered up (ready to receive a call) I left it at 11:15 PM with 100% battery. When I checked it at 9:00AM the next morning, the battery was dead. I leave home at 7:00 with a fully charged battery, but with very modest use (no calls, just a few Facebook visits and an dozen e-mails) the battery is at 50% by noon. Turning LTE off doesn't seem to make any difference. Cell standby (32%) and phone idle (28%) tell me who the hog appears to be. Have others seen this?