Substantial battery life drop. First thing in the morning.

[revelated]

So my ritual goes like this. Has for every phone I've owned, though the Thunderbolt seems to be worst impacted.

1: Use phone all day. I don't do phone calls. Occasional web browsing, infrequent GPS/maps/traffic, lots of email and calendar.

2: When I'm ready to go to bed I plug the phone in. It then serves as my alarm clock. Does this reasonably well - though pale in comparison to the Fascinate with the dock, but that's another issue.

3: Wake up in the morning, the phone is fully charged according to all indicators. Unplug it, the screen goes off. It's 6:20AM or thereabouts. Do my usual morning prep.

4: 7:45AM, I'm in my car, check my calendar. I notice the battery has dropped from what I thought was fully charged to 75%.


Haven't touched it for that hour. Screen is off so I know it's not that. Full wireless but no data. Sync is set not to automatically do anything until 8AM. No streaming anything, no Bluetooth, no GPS, nothing.

For the life of me I have no idea what could possibly be eating the battery that much.

 

[JVince]

Has to be background data right? Did you try any of the battery tricks from the other thread? The Blockbuster app update helped a lot with my battery life.

 

[FrellingFrakker]

My stock TBolt has been off the charger for about 3 hours and I've used it more than usual this morning and it's at 77%. I agree that something must be syncing a lot in the background or maybe your screen is too bright.

 

[revelated]

Has to be background data right? Did you try any of the battery tricks from the other thread? The Blockbuster app update helped a lot with my battery life.

Blockbuster app is frozen from Titanium.

My stock TBolt has been off the charger for about 3 hours and I've used it more than usual this morning and it's at 77%. I agree that something must be syncing a lot in the background or maybe your screen is too bright.

During the day - after 8AM - I expect some steep degradation. My work email is pushed and must be, because 5 minutes is unacceptable in my line of work. But I only push between 8AM and 5PM which are my working hours. We're talking in the 1 hour between when I wake up and when I'm in my car after getting ready. And the screen is not on at all during that time.

What I have decided to do - and I want to find an app to do this - is to simply disable the radio and use WiFi only when I'm at home. Then I want to swap and disable WiFi and use radio only when I'm off to work until I get back home. That's basically what my Storm 2 did, and I need that functionality. That should then help somewhat.


EDIT: So a small "bump charge" seems to have resolved the issue to my satisfaction. I've been up for an hour and a half working on my computer - we have the day off today for the Good Friday holiday - and it was 97% when I unplugged it, still 97% now and that's with the push email and a phone call I just got. That's more in line with what I expect to see. Didn't do the full on bump charge, just did it once, as I don't want to damage the battery unnecessarily.

For those who are curious:
- plug in and charge the battery until it's full - green LED full.
- Unplug the device.
- Power off, then pull the battery, put back in (This turns the phone fully off. Just doing power down puts it into a hibernate mode)
- Plug the device back in, the light will probably show amber. This means the battery did not get fully charged as indicated in the first step.
- Device will vibrate then power up fully. LED will go out, it's normal. Once booted it will start charging whatever it needs to. This will take longer than usual. In my case it sat at 97% for at least an hour before it was fully charged.
- Should be good to go now. For good measure I left it on the charger overnight as I normally do.

 

[revelated]

Ok, I feel like I'm in a group meeting for some addiction. But I got my phone operating the way it should, I think. It's been over 18 hours since my last charge, and at 49% battery, on the standard battery. That's a LOT closer to what I expect my phone to be giving me. Side note, I don't see much power savings in CDMA Only mode vs. LTE or CDMA/LTE. I'm convinced that if the WiFi radio does not get a hit, it eats up more battery than the LTE or CDMA radios do. Bluetooth seems not to take much at all.

Let me run down what all I did to rectify the problem. For the record I am rooted and I think honestly that rooting is mandatory to get the best out of this phone.

First the apps:

• Watchdog Lite: This allows me to keep tabs on "runaway" apps or processes that start eating CPU unnecessarily. It alerts me when there is an app that is chugging my device, and it turns out Tune-In Radio was upwards of 78% CPU when streaming, so I got rid of it and went to Xiia Lite instead.
• SetCPU: Allows me to set rules around the CPU. When the screen is off the processor drops to the bare minimum since it doesn't need to be running full force if I'm not doing anything with it. Also maximizes the processor when charging, so if I'm streaming something I'll be plugged in. Requires root though.
• AdFree: blocks most ads on the web including Flash ones and ones that load all sorts of stuff which was causing the browser to use more processor and RAM than it needed.
• Titanium Backup PRO: Of course, the key to locking down the apps and processes I don't want. This was and is the leader of the pack, IMO. Does require root.
• Power Schedule: Lets me set schedules around the mobile data and WiFi usage. For me, mobile data should only be on if I'm not at home, which is basically 7:30am to 6:00pm during the week. I only ever need one or the other depending on whether I'm at home or not, so this allows me to disable the other during the times I don't need it. I then do manual switching on the weekends if I go out and get something or go somewhere - WiFi only when at home, Mobile Data only when not at home. Works perfectly.

The key was some of the processes that were running that didn't need to be. That's where Titanium Backup PRO came in. I froze the following:

• Bitbop
• Black Board
• Blockbuster
• City ID
• Facebook
• Flickr
• FM Radio
• FMRadioWidget
• Footprints 1.0
• Footprints 2.00
• Friend Stream
• Friend Stream Widget
• Lets Golf
• Mobile IM (use Google Voice)
• Mobile Instant Messaging Widget
• Peep
• PVMtpServiceStart (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• PVWmdrmService (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• Rhapsody
• Rock Band
• Slacker
• Stocks
• Stocks Widget
• TuneWiki
• Twitter widget
• V CAST Apps
• V CAST Media Manager
• Visual VM (Use Google Voice)
• VZ Navigator (Use Google Maps)

I am now liberated and my Thunderbolt behaves the way I need it to.

 

[SquireSCA]

Ok, I feel like I'm in a group meeting for some addiction. But I got my phone operating the way it should, I think. It's been over 18 hours since my last charge, and at 49% battery, on the standard battery. That's a LOT closer to what I expect my phone to be giving me. Side note, I don't see much power savings in CDMA Only mode vs. LTE or CDMA/LTE. I'm convinced that if the WiFi radio does not get a hit, it eats up more battery than the LTE or CDMA radios do. Bluetooth seems not to take much at all.

Let me run down what all I did to rectify the problem. For the record I am rooted and I think honestly that rooting is mandatory to get the best out of this phone.

First the apps:

• Watchdog Lite: This allows me to keep tabs on "runaway" apps or processes that start eating CPU unnecessarily. It alerts me when there is an app that is chugging my device, and it turns out Tune-In Radio was upwards of 78% CPU when streaming, so I got rid of it and went to Xiia Lite instead.
• SetCPU: Allows me to set rules around the CPU. When the screen is off the processor drops to the bare minimum since it doesn't need to be running full force if I'm not doing anything with it. Also maximizes the processor when charging, so if I'm streaming something I'll be plugged in. Requires root though.
• AdFree: blocks most ads on the web including Flash ones and ones that load all sorts of stuff which was causing the browser to use more processor and RAM than it needed.
• Titanium Backup PRO: Of course, the key to locking down the apps and processes I don't want. This was and is the leader of the pack, IMO. Does require root.
• Power Schedule: Lets me set schedules around the mobile data and WiFi usage. For me, mobile data should only be on if I'm not at home, which is basically 7:30am to 6:00pm during the week. I only ever need one or the other depending on whether I'm at home or not, so this allows me to disable the other during the times I don't need it. I then do manual switching on the weekends if I go out and get something or go somewhere - WiFi only when at home, Mobile Data only when not at home. Works perfectly.

The key was some of the processes that were running that didn't need to be. That's where Titanium Backup PRO came in. I froze the following:

• Bitbop
• Black Board
• Blockbuster
• City ID
• Facebook
• Flickr
• FM Radio
• FMRadioWidget
• Footprints 1.0
• Footprints 2.00
• Friend Stream
• Friend Stream Widget
• Lets Golf
• Mobile IM (use Google Voice)
• Mobile Instant Messaging Widget
• Peep
• PVMtpServiceStart (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• PVWmdrmService (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• Rhapsody
• Rock Band
• Slacker
• Stocks
• Stocks Widget
• TuneWiki
• Twitter widget
• V CAST Apps
• V CAST Media Manager
• Visual VM (Use Google Voice)
• VZ Navigator (Use Google Maps)

I am now liberated and my Thunderbolt behaves the way I need it to.

That is absolutely unacceptable that you have to go to such lengths to get the phone to operate like it is supposed to out of the box.

Imagine buying a Corvette and having to unplug half of the spark plug wires and stuff an old sock into the air intake in order to get it to run long enough to get you to work. Why would you?

My girlfriend left ATT/iPhone because she got tired of dead spots and 6-10 dropped calls a day. She now has a great phone with amazing LTE speed, but she has to charge it every 4 hours.

Screen brightness set to 25%, screen timeout at 30 seconds, sync turned off, all the usual tweaks. She got up yesterday at 100%, it having been charging all night, and within an hour it was down to 40%, and she was only using the phone for about 10 minutes in that time.

She finally got fed up and called Verizon and they said that they get calls nonstop, because in the tech's own words, "The battery life on the TB sucks". LOL

So they sent her an extended battery for free, which will not solve the issue of why it drains so fast, but at least it will last longer, and when they release a software patch to "fix" the problem, she should have crazy battery life with the 2600mAh battery.

I cannot imagine that VZW was unaware of this issue before they sold the phone. That is what irritates me. That they knew about it, and released the phone anyway.

 

[neoterixx64]

You could also use juice defender
That has helped me tremendously. It shuts off all radios except for text and cell and checks your email just not as frequently. I noticed a big difference. Get the beta version.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums

 

[Beardface]

Yeah, I'm not noticing any kinds of drain like that... Something tells me you're either being too obsessive, or you have a bad battery, or an out of control app running in the background.

I have my Wifi on constantly, and get great battery life. I can go all day for the most part and not see the phone drop below 50% battery because I pick up Wifi most of the day. I don't live in a 4G area (for now) and once I deactivated the LTE radio, the battery life when it was living off data only improved greatly because it was no longer constantly searching for a 4G signal. I set the display down to 20% (which, interestingly, I am still able to see outside... wonder why they even allow it to get 5 times as bright) and deactivated all Syncing with Widgets and Apps I don't use. I set the Backup Assistant to only run at night when I have it plugged in, and it works great. Right now, my phone shows its getting about 15 hours per charge, but that is a huge underestimate, as it was thrown off by a day where my roommates crappy Belkin router wouldn't allow the Bolt to connect, and it was constantly trying to hook up to it and drained fast (the same thing happens to all our devices in this place... Only way to stop it is to kill power to the Belkin device and reboot it). Other than that, I haven't had any issues at all with this phone.

 

[revelated]

Ok, I feel like I'm in a group meeting for some addiction. But I got my phone operating the way it should, I think. It's been over 18 hours since my last charge, and at 49% battery, on the standard battery. That's a LOT closer to what I expect my phone to be giving me. Side note, I don't see much power savings in CDMA Only mode vs. LTE or CDMA/LTE. I'm convinced that if the WiFi radio does not get a hit, it eats up more battery than the LTE or CDMA radios do. Bluetooth seems not to take much at all.

Let me run down what all I did to rectify the problem. For the record I am rooted and I think honestly that rooting is mandatory to get the best out of this phone.

First the apps:

• Watchdog Lite: This allows me to keep tabs on "runaway" apps or processes that start eating CPU unnecessarily. It alerts me when there is an app that is chugging my device, and it turns out Tune-In Radio was upwards of 78% CPU when streaming, so I got rid of it and went to Xiia Lite instead.
• SetCPU: Allows me to set rules around the CPU. When the screen is off the processor drops to the bare minimum since it doesn't need to be running full force if I'm not doing anything with it. Also maximizes the processor when charging, so if I'm streaming something I'll be plugged in. Requires root though.
• AdFree: blocks most ads on the web including Flash ones and ones that load all sorts of stuff which was causing the browser to use more processor and RAM than it needed.
• Titanium Backup PRO: Of course, the key to locking down the apps and processes I don't want. This was and is the leader of the pack, IMO. Does require root.
• Power Schedule: Lets me set schedules around the mobile data and WiFi usage. For me, mobile data should only be on if I'm not at home, which is basically 7:30am to 6:00pm during the week. I only ever need one or the other depending on whether I'm at home or not, so this allows me to disable the other during the times I don't need it. I then do manual switching on the weekends if I go out and get something or go somewhere - WiFi only when at home, Mobile Data only when not at home. Works perfectly.

The key was some of the processes that were running that didn't need to be. That's where Titanium Backup PRO came in. I froze the following:

• Bitbop
• Black Board
• Blockbuster
• City ID
• Facebook
• Flickr
• FM Radio
• FMRadioWidget
• Footprints 1.0
• Footprints 2.00
• Friend Stream
• Friend Stream Widget
• Lets Golf
• Mobile IM (use Google Voice)
• Mobile Instant Messaging Widget
• Peep
• PVMtpServiceStart (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• PVWmdrmService (even if you freeze Blockbuster, you must freeze this separately or it will still run)
• Rhapsody
• Rock Band
• Slacker
• Stocks
• Stocks Widget
• TuneWiki
• Twitter widget
• V CAST Apps
• V CAST Media Manager
• Visual VM (Use Google Voice)
• VZ Navigator (Use Google Maps)

I am now liberated and my Thunderbolt behaves the way I need it to.

That is absolutely unacceptable that you have to go to such lengths to get the phone to operate like it is supposed to out of the box.

Imagine buying a Corvette and having to unplug half of the spark plug wires and stuff an old sock into the air intake in order to get it to run long enough to get you to work. Why would you?

My girlfriend left ATT/iPhone because she got tired of dead spots and 6-10 dropped calls a day. She now has a great phone with amazing LTE speed, but she has to charge it every 4 hours.

Screen brightness set to 25%, screen timeout at 30 seconds, sync turned off, all the usual tweaks. She got up yesterday at 100%, it having been charging all night, and within an hour it was down to 40%, and she was only using the phone for about 10 minutes in that time.

She finally got fed up and called Verizon and they said that they get calls nonstop, because in the tech's own words, "The battery life on the TB sucks". LOL

So they sent her an extended battery for free, which will not solve the issue of why it drains so fast, but at least it will last longer, and when they release a software patch to "fix" the problem, she should have crazy battery life with the 2600mAh battery.

I cannot imagine that VZW was unaware of this issue before they sold the phone. That is what irritates me. That they knew about it, and released the phone anyway.

Here's the thing though. The Thunderbolt's battery life DOESN'T suck. The problem is the bloatware, which I'm given to understand comes from Verizon. If they would provide cleaner roms the Thunderbolt is as solid as any other phone in the same category in terms of battery life. I speak from experience when I say that if you don't root your Thunderbolt, the extended battery is just going to make the phone last a day. For some that's fine. For me, I want the extended to last at least two days without a charge; the standard battery should last the day.

They don't need a "patch", just a clean rom. Instead what they'll do is just release the Droid Bionic and have the same complaints.

You could also use juice defender
That has helped me tremendously. It shuts off all radios except for text and cell and checks your email just not as frequently. I noticed a big difference. Get the beta version.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums

That defeats the purpose. I got the Thunderbolt because of the blazing fast internet speeds. I'm not going to be shutting it off when quite frankly, it doesn't save much on the battery anyway compared to the adjustments I made above. In my scenario, you can leave basically whatever radio you want on - including GPS - and you'll see the same substantial increases. Also, as I said, push email is imperative for me during the week. I do IT support and even a 5 minute delay is not acceptable. Doesn't matter, because quite frankly my GMail is pushed 24/7 and I still got the same battery improvements.

• Push Email does NOT kill the battery.
• Bluetooth does NOT kill the battery.
• GPS does NOT kill the battery unless a map app is using it.
• LTE does NOT kill the battery unless you're not in an LTE area (which I almost always am)
• Screen brightness does not kill the battery much. It has an effect, but not nearly as much as the bloatware running.

Your battery killers are, IMO, in this order:

• Bloatware (especially the PVM and PVW services, it seems)
• Disconnected, but enabled, WiFi
• Calls (which I almost never do from this phone)
• Unchecked processes that use CPU when they shouldn't (Which you'd only know by running Watchdog. Just yesterday I saw Soundhound using 40% CPU when I wasn't even using it. Why? So I killed it manually.)

 

[Jizzle_TB_L0ud420]

how do you make sure your email is pushed instantly...does it have to be gmail client to be pushed...? my email just syncs i think every hour and how often I open it...but is there an actual option to where once it hits my mailbox then it will hit the phone at the same time...? blackberry used to this automatically

 

[revelated]

how do you make sure your email is pushed instantly...does it have to be gmail client to be pushed...? my email just syncs i think every hour and how often I open it...but is there an actual option to where once it hits my mailbox then it will hit the phone at the same time...? blackberry used to this automatically

I do use the GMail app, and it comes to the handset frequently before it hits the computer - same as with the Blackberry.

On the regular Email app (Which is where my company email comes), it's under Menu --> Settings --> Send & Receive --> Update schedule. During the week it's push from 7:30 am to 6pm, every other time and on the weekends it's once per hour. Basically, during my working hours, it's push. When I'm home and not on the clock, it's per hour.

 

[BennyJr]

You could also use juice defender
That has helped me tremendously. It shuts off all radios except for text and cell and checks your email just not as frequently. I noticed a big difference. Get the beta version.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums

That defeats the purpose. I got the Thunderbolt because of the blazing fast internet speeds. I'm not going to be shutting it off when quite frankly, it doesn't save much on the battery anyway compared to the adjustments I made above. In my scenario, you can leave basically whatever radio you want on - including GPS - and you'll see the same substantial increases. Also, as I said, push email is imperative for me during the week. I do IT support and even a 5 minute delay is not acceptable. Doesn't matter, because quite frankly my GMail is pushed 24/7 and I still got the same battery improvements.

• Push Email does NOT kill the battery.
• Bluetooth does NOT kill the battery.
• GPS does NOT kill the battery unless a map app is using it.
• LTE does NOT kill the battery unless you're not in an LTE area (which I almost always am)
• Screen brightness does not kill the battery much. It has an effect, but not nearly as much as the bloatware running.

Your battery killers are, IMO, in this order:

• Bloatware (especially the PVM and PVW services, it seems)
• Disconnected, but enabled, WiFi
• Calls (which I almost never do from this phone)
• Unchecked processes that use CPU when they shouldn't (Which you'd only know by running Watchdog. Just yesterday I saw Soundhound using 40% CPU when I wasn't even using it. Why? So I killed it manually.)

[/QUOTE]

Well sir i would have to disagree with u. Juice defender works GREAT. yea it shuts it off but only when ur screen is off or when u have it set to turn it off at a certian time. When u need it, u can turn it on quickly. It has doubled my battery life and i think u should give it an honest shot.

To the OP u should try a bump charge. Let the phone get close to dying and charge it completly. Then turn off the phone and plug the charger back in. And let it charge again till the green light comes on. BUT dont unplug it. Leave it for a couple hours. This will help calibrate the OS to the battery life