Honest opinions on your Fascinates Battery Life!

[MJMcMahon]

Removed the ATK and loaded system panel, I am well over 50% battery at 8pm (never before) on the D1. I am beginning to think all of that task killikg was using a lot of battery.

That was my experience as well....I didn't reinstall ATK after a system wipe trying to get the patch installed and my battery life has increased substantially!

 

[gingergirl]

mine is baaaaddd. I know I run live wallpapers... but geeze.... that's just about ALL i do... and like SirKronan mentioned... I, enjoy them..don't want to give me 'em up..

 

[SirKronan]

mine is baaaaddd. I know I run live wallpapers... but geeze.... that's just about ALL i do... and like SirKronan mentioned... I, enjoy them..don't want to give me 'em up..

You running ATK? I know that some phones are weak enough they really start to lag after a bit, and ATK (or similar task killers) might help them feel more responsive. They can definitely drain the battery though. Reports are mixed, but I definitely see enough comments and user experiences (including my own experience) that provide a good bit of evidence that it's at least likely to have a detrimental effect on battery life. It makes sense that it would.

 

[jamesnmandy]

mine is a little better than the LG Ally i had, i was getting 8-10 hours from it

im getting 10-12 hours out my Fascinate, one or two 2 minute calls talk time, and i have GPS, WiFi, BT turned off. I did turn the screen brightness up a bit, under half (default) was not doing it justice, cranked way up is blazingly bright, too much so i settled on about 65%, also increased screen timeout to 2 minutes

i stream Pandora several hours a day, using headphones when i can to lessen the drain the loudspeaker would be on it. i also have Gmail and my corporate exchange push mail server set up so i get instant email from both accounts all day. i also use Google Talk exclusively as my chat client, dont use standard text messaging

......on top of all that the signal strength is in the 1-2 bars area but with 3G at work so the radio is constantly having to push hard to maintain signal integrity

and i have not had any signal issues with my Fascinate. i think people see one or two bars and instantly assume the radio is bad, but what matters is does the phone drop calls? mine hasn't dropped any yet

im extremely happy given what i put this thing through, much happier than with the Ally

 

[saps]

Brightness affects battery life of course as well. At most use the auto feature that generally keep it bright enough to see while saving a bit of juice. Myself I've learned to live with it at the very lowest setting.

 

[Mazeraski]

When I first got the phone, I thought I was having great battery life. Now I'm not entirely sure. I unplugged at right around 7a.m. this morning. I don't use it much at work at all, just before and after, which I would describe as light to moderate use. I don't use live wallpapers. My accounts are set to manual sync (FB, last.fm, etc.). Brightness is set to auto. Screen timeout is set to 1 minute. I use launcherpro. I use noled. I do have ATK installed, however auto-kill is disabled (I manually kill things ~5 times/day). I don't have BT, GPS on. I do occasionally leave Wi-Fi on only if I am using it (don't use it at work; use it at home) or I forget to turn it off.

Before work:
-eating breakfast; browsed/read NYtimes articles w/the app. (~15-20 minutes)
-driving to work today (~25-30 minutes) played music player (w/screen off mostly)
-arriving at work today; used foursquare for a minute or two
adjusted volumes using audiomanager

During:
-sent/received ~6 texts

After:
-adjusted volumes using audiomanager
-made about a 3 minute phone call
-driving home (~25-30 minutes) played music player (w/screen off mostly)
-browsed the phandroid app reading articles (~30 minutes)
-browsed the market (~20 minutes)
-watched a youtube video (~5 minutes)

Currently as I am posting this, the batterylife widget says I have 21% left with the phone having been unplugged for 14h 50m. Does this sound about right to those more experienced than I in Android smartphones? This is probably a typical day of usage during the week for me. The battery on average I would say is lasting between 15-17 hours (depending on usage). I feel like I'm not using it as much as some other people on the boards, yet I'm not getting as great of battery life as they are.

 

[saps]

Currently as I am posting this, the batterylife widget says I have 21% left with the phone having been unplugged for 14h 50m. Does this sound about right to those more experienced than I in Android smartphones? This is probably a typical day of usage during the week for me. The battery on average I would say is lasting between 15-17 hours (depending on usage). I feel like I'm not using it as much as some other people on the boards, yet I'm not getting as great of battery life as they are.

Yeah your assessment seems right. The silver lining is for you and your usage its enough from wake to sleep for you. However, given your usage and unless your battery widget is grossly inaccurate, I'd venture a guess that most people with a good SF battery could triple the usage you had and have the same drain.
Have you had the phone more than a week? That is, has it been thru 4-5 drain cycles? Many people notice small incremental improvements in battery life after a few cycles. Also are you ever in a low reception zone, like a work where you might be going back and forth from 1X to 3G?

 

[Don S]

... Myself I've learned to live with it at the very lowest setting.

I struggle with battery life too, but it's hard to imagine getting this phone with this great screen and having to "learn to live with it" at the lowest setting. I know there are battery trade offs, but this would never, ever be acceptable for me. The great screen is about 1/2 the draw for me, and if I can never really see the pop from it, it greatly reduces its value for me.

Everyone is different of course, and many will value the battery life much more, but that really seems more than I would put up with ..

 

[tats_06]

I would advice against any task killers/managers...My phone is running well and I have not used any task managers since I purchased the phone...(it was same for incredible too). I found they android runs better on its own.

 

[makemehavefun]

Mazeraski, in my experience I'd estimate about 55% to 45%-absolute minimum battery left from your use. As Saps asked, have you had yours more than a week charging it daily? I know what you're probably thinking and if the shoe were on the other foot I'd probably be thinking the same too... that people are exaggerating(not necessarily on purpose) their battery life and corresponding usage. I didn't notice anything special the first 3-4 days as far as battery life. In fact, I was somewhat disappointed compared to the anecdotes I've read here. But, it just happened overnight it seems(well, maybe two "overnights")... it hit me just how I lasted with a "moderate" use day like yours. Even a bit more, working the GPS around 30 minutes and watching 15-20 minutes worth of a couple of movies I put on the SD and a LOT of time browsing/d/l'ing apps from the Market. As I said earlier, I ended up with 35 hours unplugged. Maybe I just got lucky with a really exceptional battery for whatever reason.

But I do have to qualify all that with the minimalist settings; completely black static wallpaper, brightness set to 0 unless I'm watching a movie, BT, WIFI, and GPS turned off when not needed. No task killer/manager from the market. I turn off everything in "Running Applications" that I know I won't use like Bing, the hotspot app, and a couple of other apps d/l'ed from the Market that starts itself up on boot-up.

I dunno. Maybe, it's a result of me having constantly charged the battery every chance I had those first few days. I actually carried around the travel adapter and usb cable with me everywhere I went, lol. That's because I was and still am totally new to smart phones and thus totally new and inexperienced with their batteries too. So, I was scared to run outta juice midday to early evening. I'd top it off whether I was at 80% or 30% if I had the time.

I say don't try to conserve. Go all out, do what you want, exactly how you want for a couple of days regardless if it looks as if you'll run outta juice even by midday. See, if that makes an improvement by the third or fourth day from lots of use and charging.

btw, I don't have a battery widget that I quite trust anymore... unless someone can recommend one to me besides VizBattery.

 

[makemehavefun]

I struggle with battery life too, but it's hard to imagine getting this phone with this great screen and having to "learn to live with it" at the lowest setting. I know there are battery trade offs, but this would never, ever be acceptable for me. The great screen is about 1/2 the draw for me, and if I can never really see the pop from it, it greatly reduces its value for me.

Everyone is different of course, and many will value the battery life much more, but that really seems more than I would put up with ..

I'm another one who typically sets brightness down to 0%. I also completely agree with you for the most part. I leave it at 0 for just browsing the Market, scrolling through menus, listening to music, GPS apps, etc... However, when I watch a movie or a youtube vid that warrants it, I'll set it 50+ no problem.

 

[bradmatic]

I posted this in another thread earlier. But now I'm at 12 hours unplugged.

26% left

Display.. 41%
Cell Standby.. 21%
Idle.. 14%
Android System.. 6%
LauncherPro.. 6%
Email.. 3%
Wi-Fi.. 2% (even though it's been on 12 hours)
Android OS.. 2%
Digital Clock Widget.. 2%

###

So, wht do you think. I'm am rooted, SetCPU to 1GHz, auto display brightness, lagfixed.

 

[saps]

The more you use it the faster the battery drains. In reality the battery, fully conditioned, is probably only worth about 6 hours [I used to say 5 but mine seemed to get better] of straight constant screen lit usage. Now mind you thats 6 hours with screen on and doing something anything on it WiFi, apps, games, DLing anything, sending and receiving data/email/text whatever. Using it basically. So if you got to 26% after 12 hours that suggests to me that you are on it about what 20-25 minutes per hour? If its more than that than you're doing well. If its less than that than you might need some tweaking

 

[PJnc284]

Any previous android owners noticing that Cell Standby seems higher with the Fascinate. I had the Droid and it was usually fairly low and listed no time without signal. With the Fascinate, it always shows 15%+ without signal when you select Cell Standby and it's even higher if I'm not using wifi. Haven't noticed a significant impact on battery life from it but it's a little odd.

 

[saps]

How's your reception? If you are on the verge of dropping between 1X and 3G its going to be higher. Also many people believe the SF has inferior reception to many Motos

 

[PJnc284]

usually have 2-3 bars which is about on par with what I had on the Droid. I've been on wifi all day so it shouldn't be switching from 3G to 1x. Who knows. Haven't had any issues with dropped or missed calls so I'm not too worried.

 

[SirKronan]

Any previous android owners noticing that Cell Standby seems higher with the Fascinate. I had the Droid and it was usually fairly low and listed no time without signal. With the Fascinate, it always shows 15%+ without signal when you select Cell Standby and it's even higher if I'm not using wifi. Haven't noticed a significant impact on battery life from it but it's a little odd.

That's been the case for me as well. I don't think talk time is as high on the Fascinate as it was on my Droid X, but standby time is actually higher.

 

[makemehavefun]

I posted this in another thread earlier. But now I'm at 12 hours unplugged.

26% left

Display.. 41%
Cell Standby.. 21%
Idle.. 14%
Android System.. 6%
LauncherPro.. 6%
Email.. 3%
Wi-Fi.. 2% (even though it's been on 12 hours)
Android OS.. 2%
Digital Clock Widget.. 2%

###

So, wht do you think. I'm am rooted, SetCPU to 1GHz, auto display brightness, lagfixed.

From my experience, I'd have expected a bit more if I were you. How long have you had the phone?

Edit: This doesn't show the time I've spent in the Market, games I've played(maybe 15-20 min total), several text messages or time browsing on the web here and there throughout the day.

Was hoping for another 30+ hour run... but not this time.

 

[PJnc284]

It's hard to judge since he didn't mention what type of usage it was. Next time, go into Display and see how long the screen has been on. I used mine heavily for a couple days and barely eeked out 10hrs before I got the 15% left message. I was really bored those days and with all of the browsing and texting, the screen had been on for over 3.5hrs. Today was a relatively light day with only a few calls and minimal browsing and I'm still at 70% after almost 13 hours off the charger using wifi only. So it can vary greatly.

 

[makemehavefun]

It's hard to judge since he didn't mention what type of usage it was. Next time, go into Display and see how long the screen has been on. I used mine heavily for a couple days and barely eeked out 10hrs before I got the 15% left message. I was really bored those days and with all of the browsing and texting, the screen had been on for over 3.5hrs. Today was a relatively light day with only a few calls and minimal browsing and I'm still at 70% after almost 13 hours off the charger using wifi only. So it can vary greatly.

Right, which is why I took a screen capture of everything to show 'battery use details'.
I re-sized them and they still won't take and for some reason I can't upload pics to photobucket or flickr. On top of that, I keep getting 'database error' on the forum. It's driving me crazy.

 

[PJnc284]

yeah, I think they're having issues on the back end. I've been getting database errors out the wazoo the past few days when trying to post.

 

[Mazeraski]

Yeah your assessment seems right. The silver lining is for you and your usage its enough from wake to sleep for you. However, given your usage and unless your battery widget is grossly inaccurate, I'd venture a guess that most people with a good SF battery could triple the usage you had and have the same drain.
Have you had the phone more than a week? That is, has it been thru 4-5 drain cycles? Many people notice small incremental improvements in battery life after a few cycles. Also are you ever in a low reception zone, like a work where you might be going back and forth from 1X to 3G?

Yeah, I mean it gets through the day just fine, I just figured it would be a bit better with all of the positive accounts of battery life that I have heard/seen.

I've had the phone since September 12th and I'm pretty sure I've done 4-5 drain cycles (right around there at least). Yeah I am occasionally in weak signal area (which I did think about before). My whole house isn't exactly great for signal, however, it's especially bad in my room. Granted, it doesn't switch to 1X much, but it commonly will display 0 out of 4 bars and the signal widget I have ranges mainly between -96 and -106dBm (at my house)

Mazeraski, in my experience I'd estimate about 55% to 45%-absolute minimum battery left from your use. As Saps asked, have you had yours more than a week charging it daily? I know what you're probably thinking and if the shoe were on the other foot I'd probably be thinking the same too... that people are exaggerating(not necessarily on purpose) their battery life and corresponding usage. I didn't notice anything special the first 3-4 days as far as battery life. In fact, I was somewhat disappointed compared to the anecdotes I've read here. But, it just happened overnight it seems(well, maybe two "overnights")... it hit me just how I lasted with a "moderate" use day like yours. Even a bit more, working the GPS around 30 minutes and watching 15-20 minutes worth of a couple of movies I put on the SD and a LOT of time browsing/d/l'ing apps from the Market. As I said earlier, I ended up with 35 hours unplugged. Maybe I just got lucky with a really exceptional battery for whatever reason.

But I do have to qualify all that with the minimalist settings; completely black static wallpaper, brightness set to 0 unless I'm watching a movie, BT, WIFI, and GPS turned off when not needed. No task killer/manager from the market. I turn off everything in "Running Applications" that I know I won't use like Bing, the hotspot app, and a couple of other apps d/l'ed from the Market that starts itself up on boot-up.

I dunno. Maybe, it's a result of me having constantly charged the battery every chance I had those first few days. I actually carried around the travel adapter and usb cable with me everywhere I went, lol. That's because I was and still am totally new to smart phones and thus totally new and inexperienced with their batteries too. So, I was scared to run outta juice midday to early evening. I'd top it off whether I was at 80% or 30% if I had the time.

I say don't try to conserve. Go all out, do what you want, exactly how you want for a couple of days regardless if it looks as if you'll run outta juice even by midday. See, if that makes an improvement by the third or fourth day from lots of use and charging.

btw, I don't have a battery widget that I quite trust anymore... unless someone can recommend one to me besides VizBattery.

Yeah, I will normally either charge it overnight before it has died, or wait for it to die completely and then charge it. I don't really think many people are exaggerating in terms of the battery life they have reported. I mean, really, what would honestly be the point? Perhaps I'll try running/using it a lot just to see if it makes a difference.
So far today, my battery life has been better than the previous day. 15 hrs 0 mins since unplugged but the indicator says 35% and I've used it more heavily than yesterday (and just realized screen brightness was set to 100% for the whole day somehow). The funny thing is that last night I ran it until it died and then charged it and I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it. Needless to say I'll be playing around with it to see how my battery will respond.

Any previous android owners noticing that Cell Standby seems higher with the Fascinate. I had the Droid and it was usually fairly low and listed no time without signal. With the Fascinate, it always shows 15%+ without signal when you select Cell Standby and it's even higher if I'm not using wifi. Haven't noticed a significant impact on battery life from it but it's a little odd.

I did notice this between the Fascinate and the Droid X, although mines usually under 10% on the Fascinate. It just tended to be lower on the Droid X.

 

[PJnc284]

Well, after about 6.5 hrs of heavy use, I'm down to 31% battery left. Screen has been on for just over 2 hrs at max brightness with heavy 3G web browsing and used 47%. 15min worth of Voice Calls used 24% Cell standby is only at 9% of the total but shows 40% of the time without a signal.

 

[brug]

I'm really impressed by my SF's battery life. I am live synched to corporate email all day long (and into the evening), take multiple conference calls per day, still using the live wallpaper, and do some light web browsing/app use as well, and I haven't run out of battery once during the day. Today I'm still at 44% remaining after a full work day. Very impressive, especially coming from a crappy windows mobile 6.1 device before the SF.

 

[makemehavefun]

Well, after about 6.5 hrs of heavy use, I'm down to 31% battery left. Screen has been on for just over 2 hrs at max brightness with heavy 3G web browsing and used 47%. 15min worth of Voice Calls used 24% Cell standby is only at 9% of the total but shows 40% of the time without a signal.

That's right in the neighborhood of what I've gotten with around 6-7 hours, give or take, of heavy use; the kind of which you described.

But you got that with max brightness...

That's pretty good.