Help Battery life and battery management

[novox77]

Engadget slams the battery life saying they were "hardly doing anything" on the phone. Except for taking 80 photos (most in 3D), which in ALL the reviews has been shown to be one of the largest drains on the phone's battery. And it still lasted 14 hours.

Too much misunderstanding by this Engadget reviewer.

Camera app on Evo 4G was also a HUGE battery drainer. It's the nature of the live view processing. It's a huge battery drain on dedicated digital cameras as well.

The fact that the phone took 80 pics (duration of this photoshoot is unknown but is more important than the number of photos taken) and still lasted that long is actually impressive.

Glad to see others around here not taking these reviewers at face value.

 

[kenn]

As a point of reference, the HTC Droid Incredible didn't exactly have stellar battery life out of the box. In fact, most said it was "poor" at best.

Rooted on CM7 (gingerbread) and not using social apps, I used my phone "moderately" and could very, very easily go a day and a half or more... The amount of control you have once rooted is astonishing. I had an aftermarket kernel that was undervolted. The phone used almost zero battery at night while sleeping with wifi turned on...

 

[EarlyMon]

Too much misunderstanding by this Engadget reviewer.

Camera app on Evo 4G was also a HUGE battery drainer. It's the nature of the live view processing. It's a huge battery drain on dedicated digital cameras as well.

The fact that the phone took 80 pics (duration of this photoshoot is unknown but is more important than the number of photos taken) and still lasted that long is actually impressive.

Glad to see others around here not taking these reviewers at face value.

They also did the exact same thing they did with the Evo last year - from the review - they left ALL the radios on except Bluetooth, the whole time.

Want to see an Evo (or even a Thunderbolt, using a totally different tech for 4G) have its battery life spike up?

Turn off the 4G radio when not using it.

This reputation plagued the Evo last year.

And Engadget says this is really no improvement.

Evo owners - note the review said the battery had some life after 8 hours. Show of hands - how many of your Evos last 8 hours with WiMAX on?

Exactly.

 

[evotitans]

To add onto what Earlymon just said, I posted this in the review thread:

From that PC Mag Review

"
Battery life is an interesting poser here. The EVO 3D gets eight hours of talk time, which is great. But heavy 3D or 4G use will kill the 1730 mAh battery; if I left 4G on, or took a lot of 3D videos, the phone could be dead after about 12 hours of use."

I for one do not leave 4G on all day at work, so I'm assuredly going to get more than 12 hours. And im pretty damn sure I will not be taking 3D videos at work.

Considering, with my EVO, my 9+ hour work day, it truly depends on the day as to what my EVO's battery will be at.

I can tend to be a heavy text user while at work, medium web browser...and I have my work email pushed to my phone. It varies on the day and usage.

Some days I can leave work and my battery be at 70%, some days at 30%. Truly depends on what you are doing that day.

As long as the 3D can beat that...and by that PC Mag post, it looks like it can...Im a sure deal of getting the 3D.

 

[Putty]

Not looking good as far as battery goes. DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sikclown]

Not looking good as far as battery goes. DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I disagree. I get over 24 hours with my Evo4g non rooted and stock and all indicators are that the 3d has a better battery life than the 4g. If you currently have an Evo 4g you should be very pleased with the 3D's battery life using the same tweaks.

 

[Spartanzz]

Iv had my evo 4g since about a week after it came out mine is rooted and i do regulate whats on when needed and whats not. Currently i can go almost two days off medium usage mostly texting and data usage and it will be at 30% left at 1 day 22 hours. I live in a family that only own macs grandfather has an iphone 4 3 other macs an ipad and same goes for my parents. They all hate me because of the battery life of my evo. Then me and my uncle got talkin (who is also a PC pro man) we strongly argue that macs now a days are basicly what "cool" they arent the best, they are some of the most expensive devices you can buy, and they dont allow you to control much. So even my parents and grandparents only give me one answer when i ask them "Why did you guys buy all this stuff from apple?" They answer with "Because its apple."

 

[Halfbaked]

Well you do know most newer cars do keep at least part of the headlights on when the car is on whether its day or night right? And I could use your same rhetoric and say who walks around with 3G on all day. I would venture to say MOST people do. As far as 4G, I dont turn it on at all because with the penetration issues its pretty worthless for me. But even without it, I could turn the screen on on my Evo right now, browse the web for a few minutes and just watch my battery trickle like a balloon with a hole in it. THATS my complaints.

And YOU may not need social networking, but TONS of people do.. thus the main reason twitter and facebook are IMPLEMENTED into the phone.

They are called daytime running lamps and I have them on my Accord. Have nothing to do with the light bulbs used for night time driving. And I've had people honk at me thinking I left my lights on driving around during the day time. I've had my Accord since 2006 and the daytime running lamps have not burned out because they were built for running during the daytime.

The 4G was not built thinking people like you would walk around with every radio turned on. I know this because I owned the first HTC touch phone called the Touch. Battery life sucked unless you turned off 3G.

Everyone who works in buildings with pretty thick walls, take the subway, or fly in pvt planes know to turn 3G or 4G off because it will kill your battery. Nobody that works in my fortified building at work complains about turning 3G off on their EVOs and I know 5 people who have a 4G.

Your just not thinkin correctly if you think I can take a satellite phone to Iraq and think I can leave it connected to a satellite all day long and think it won't drain the phones battery. Just like a cell phone connecting to a tower a sat phone has to connect to a satellite. That takes battery power.

 

[novox77]

Personally, I rarely use 4G. Why? Because I'm a working stiff. I'm at my office for 8-10 hours a day, and the company has wifi. That wifi is very easy on my battery and it's faster (especially upstream) than any 4G in this country. At home, my wifi on Fios is even faster.

So, the time in between work and home is my commute. My phone is in my pocket when I drive, so I really don't need ANY data connection. That's why my 3G is off.

Now, the only time I might need data is if I'm out and about on the weekends. And even then, if I were to use data, it would be to check my email or casually browse the internet. Neither of these tasks require a super fast connection like 4G.

If, some day, I had to transfer a big movie from my home PC to my phone, and I was out and about, then I would consider turning on 4G to speed up that transfer. But that use case is so infrequent.

Therefore, when someone says that a phone's battery sucks when on 4G, I say, "so what?"

 

[Halfbaked]

The HTC Evo 3D ships with a bigger 1,730mAh lithium ion battery than the Evo 4G and has a rated talk time of 6 hours. Though we’re still conducting our battery drain tests, we’ve already noticed better battery life in day-to-day use. Starting with a full charge in the morning and with moderate to heavy use (including playing 3D games and video), we were able to go a full day, sometimes early into the next day, before needing to recharge. As soon as we complete testing, we will update this section with our battery talk time results. According to FCC radiation tests, the Evo 3D has a digital SAR rating of 0.885W/kg and a Hearing Aid Compatibility Rating of M4/T3.

Now that is a site doing some battery testing folks! Battery myth debunked!
HTC Evo 3D (Sprint)

 

[sikclown]

Personally, I rarely use 4G. Why? Because I'm a working stiff. I'm at my office for 8-10 hours a day, and the company has wifi. That wifi is very easy on my battery and it's faster (especially upstream) than any 4G in this country. At home, my wifi on Fios is even faster.

So, the time in between work and home is my commute. My phone is in my pocket when I drive, so I really don't need ANY data connection. That's why my 3G is off.

Now, the only time I might need data is if I'm out and about on the weekends. And even then, if I were to use data, it would be to check my email or casually browse the internet. Neither of these tasks require a super fast connection like 4G.

If, some day, I had to transfer a big movie from my home PC to my phone, and I was out and about, then I would consider turning on 4G to speed up that transfer. But that use case is so infrequent.

Therefore, when someone says that a phone's battery sucks when on 4G, I say, "so what?"

I am in the same boat. 90% of my average day I am around a much faster Internet connection and use WiFi. Some people think "Well I pay for 3G/4G so I am only using that" where as I am just all about the fastest available connection. Now when I am out and about in the field I use 3G and 4G but know that if I am going to use 4g I better be charged up. And on occasion I meet friends out and laptops or tablets need internet and I turn on 4G and my Hotspot and watch everyone's mouths drop. Unless there is a damn Thunderbolt in the crowd. LTE smokes WiFi here.

 

[Halfbaked]

I agree with both of you. Only really use 4G if I'm around town and i need to download something pretty quickly. Otherwise, every place I visit has free WiFi.

 

[Putty]

I disagree. I get over 24 hours with my Evo4g.

Well, your usage is most likely next to none. Are you even reading the reviews....I'll quote

"HTC gave the EVO 3D's battery a significant boost over the original EVO 4G, increasing its capacity from 1500mAh to 1730mAh. Sprint said they believed that the increase would help squash the well-deserved complaints about the EVO 4G's battery life. While there is a definite improvement, the EVO 3D still does not have what I'd call "good" battery life. Where the EVO 4G barely lasted through lunch time, the EVO 3D at least makes it past 5PM consistently. Under WiMax coverage, it definitely died off in about 10 to 12 hours. In 3G-only coverage regions -- with the WiMax radio turned off -- the EVO 3D performed only marginally better. Ranging instead between 14 and 16 hours from full charge to dead. Bottom line: charge it every night, and make sure you have a USB cable handy at all times."


"My biggest gripe with the EVO 3D is the wireless performance, It's bad enough that the WiMax radio barely worked, but add to that poor 3G performance, and poor voice performance, and you've almost killed off all the reasons to buy any phone. Crummy battery life doesn't help, either".

This has been consistent with most of the reviews..everyone isnt picking on the 3vo..personally, I am buying the phone anyway, but if I find the batt life is horrid, it's going back...simple as that. No way I'm locking myself back into 2 years and deal with 4g type batt life...I'll wait and get a vzw iPhone 4s/5

 

[novox77]

When a reviewer says that this doesn't qualify as good battery life, the problem is that they have an inaccurate expectation of how much power 3G requires. It's that simple.

If you leave an iPhone 3G, 3Gs, 4 on 3G all the time, you have to charge it every day. Same with my Evo.

If your expectation is a 2-day phone, surely you don't need 3G while you are asleep? Android has apps that allow you to schedule your toggles. You can have 3G auto-shut off and on based on time, location, etc.

And you can use wifi during the day and night as well, which nets you a MUCH faster transfer rate and MUCH improved power consumption. Why WOULDN'T you use wifi where available...

3G draining battery (along with 4G draining battery) is only a problem for people who expect a 2-day phone with 3G always on.

 

[evotitans]

When a reviewer says that this doesn't qualify as good battery life, the problem is that they have an inaccurate expectation of how much power 3G requires. It's that simple.

If you leave an iPhone 3G, 3Gs, 4 on 3G all the time, you have to charge it every day. Same with my Evo.

If your expectation is a 2-day phone, surely you don't need 3G while you are asleep? Android has apps that allow you to schedule your toggles. You can have 3G auto-shut off and on based on time, location, etc.

And you can use wifi during the day and night as well, which nets you a MUCH faster transfer rate and MUCH improved power consumption. Why WOULDN'T you use wifi where available...

3G draining battery (along with 4G draining battery) is only a problem for people who expect a 2-day phone with 3G always on.

I HIGHLY agree. I wonder what people do all day at work, that they are constantly on their phone like that?

I get a normal 18hr( I sleep about 6 a night) day out of my EVO. Obviously from 9 to whenever, I am at work. Why would I have my EVO on 4G all this time if its not in use? Hell I have my 3G set to sleep when the phone is not "up". It only grabs data when it needs it.

During the work day, all I get is texts, and emails from my non work accounts. My exchange account is set to pull every 30 mins. Why? Because if I'm in front of my laptop, why do I need my work mail pushed to my phone?

I give my EVO some regular juices in the car, during lunch, and on my way home and I still make it thru the day just fine.

If what the reviewers are saying are right about the 3D's hours, I will do just fine with that battery. And I suspect that the Data issue is not hardware radio, and can be atleast software fixed.

 

[sikclown]

Well, your usage is most likely next to none. Are you even reading the reviews....I'll quote

"HTC gave the EVO 3D's battery a significant boost over the original EVO 4G, increasing its capacity from 1500mAh to 1730mAh. Sprint said they believed that the increase would help squash the well-deserved complaints about the EVO 4G's battery life. While there is a definite improvement, the EVO 3D still does not have what I'd call "good" battery life. Where the EVO 4G barely lasted through lunch time, the EVO 3D at least makes it past 5PM consistently. Under WiMax coverage, it definitely died off in about 10 to 12 hours. In 3G-only coverage regions -- with the WiMax radio turned off -- the EVO 3D performed only marginally better. Ranging instead between 14 and 16 hours from full charge to dead. Bottom line: charge it every night, and make sure you have a USB cable handy at all times."


"My biggest gripe with the EVO 3D is the wireless performance, It's bad enough that the WiMax radio barely worked, but add to that poor 3G performance, and poor voice performance, and you've almost killed off all the reasons to buy any phone. Crummy battery life doesn't help, either".

This has been consistent with most of the reviews..everyone isnt picking on the 3vo..personally, I am buying the phone anyway, but if I find the batt life is horrid, it's going back...simple as that. No way I'm locking myself back into 2 years and deal with 4g type batt life...I'll wait and get a vzw iPhone 4s/5

No my battery life is the norm for those of us that have tweaked the 4g to our benefit. . I have my brightness set to 30% or below, I have Always On Data Unchecked, and I use WiFi whenever I am near it. Also I changed my account sync schedules so they aren't always running. The biggest battery savers are the display brightness (especially after GB upgrade) and disabling always on 3G. Also the GB update really gave the battery idle power savings Steroids. So common sense dictates that if I do all of the following on the 3vo, which all reviewers said had slightly better to noticeably better battery life than the original, than I will enjoy some decent life on a day to day basis. Of course the first few weeks I will drain the battery with non stop testing and playing.

 

[novox77]

And just a reminder that on CDMA phones, voice calls and SMS are 2G only. Always. So if your 3G is off, you still get calls and texts.

 

[jerofld]

And you can use wifi during the day and night as well, which nets you a MUCH faster transfer rate and MUCH improved power consumption. Why WOULDN'T you use wifi where available...

3G draining battery (along with 4G draining battery) is only a problem for people who expect a 2-day phone with 3G always on.

I know you meant secure Wifi...but others reading your posts may not pick up on that. I'd never connect my phone to coffee shop wifi. Or any other public wifi, for that matter.

 

[NeoteriX]

I know you meant secure Wifi...but others reading your posts may not pick up on that. I'd never connect my phone to coffee shop wifi. Or any other public wifi, for that matter.

Seconded. With FireSheep and other variants floating around, until phone apps do a better job of using SSL connections (do any?), I think it is way too dangerous to be having apps log into accounts and sending unencrypted user/logins over public wifi.

 

[novox77]

I know you meant secure Wifi...but others reading your posts may not pick up on that. I'd never connect my phone to coffee shop wifi. Or any other public wifi, for that matter.

well I don't make it such a hard rule, but definitely use some common sense. In general, when I'm not on my home or work wifi (where I know no one is monitoring), I'll avoid going to sites that require me to log in.

If I'm just googling or surfing, there's very little risk from using an unsecured wifi connection via a phone.

The concern with open wifi hotspots is that someone can sniff your packets. So if you're reading email, those email messages can be intercepted. If you log in, your user/pass can be seen. With a rooted Android and some advanced tinkering, you can do everything through a secure pipe, either via VPN or a clever port forward for SSH tunneling.

When in doubt, assume someone can see everything you're doing.

 

[apinkel]

And just a reminder that on CDMA phones, voice calls and SMS are 2G only. Always. So if your 3G is off, you still get calls and texts.

Sorry to be OT... but how do force a CDMA phone to 1X? I haven't found a way to toggle this easily.

 

[EarlyMon]

Just so we're clear - 1x is still 3G.

 

[apinkel]

Just so we're clear - 1x is still 3G.

1x is CDMA but this is the first I'd heard it was 3G. Is that true?

Edit: I think I see what you are saying... that CDMA2000 is a 3rd generation network technology which encompasses 1x as well as EVDO rev 0/a/b. So what I probably should have said was how can I switch between EVDO and 1x (and for that matter does that provide any battery life benefits).

 

[Putty]

I must say I have never...never turned my 3G off. The 4G, off all the time. Here's my problem...I have a 4g phone that I have to turn the 4g off and even the 3G in order to get good batt life. To me, that is unacceptable. The verdict here is that batt technology has not caught up to phone tech. I did the screen brightness, always on, sbc kernel, etc and my 4g is horrid! Granted I have apps on that are checking constantly, but I am in a position in my life where I need informed I have an email, right away.
Also, I find it hard to compare an iPhone to these androids. My 3GS would go an entire day and into the next with the same level of use...no problem. Is 18+ hrs possible..totally, but to get that, I have to basically not use my phone the way I need to.
The fact that this was the biggest complaint with the 4g, htc should have used a 2500 battery...lol. There should be a no question difference...just my .02

 

[EarlyMon]

1x is CDMA but this is the first I'd heard it was 3G. Is that true?

According to the ITU, the standards body that decides which G is what, yes. You can find wags still calling it 2.5 - but it's 3G.

It's simply a data rate calculated at 1 times radio frequency, whereas updates after that performing multiplexing tricks got a faster data stream through that same frequency.

Edit: I think I see what you are saying... that CDMA2000 is a 3rd generation network technology which encompasses 1x as well as EVDO rev 0/a/b. So what I probably should have said was how can I switch between EVDO and 1x (and for that matter does that provide any battery life benefits).

No power benefit, it's a matter of what the radio hardware and firmware will support, and again, that's a matter of implementation. Your radio supports 3G as either 1x or EVDO, the way to get any power benefit is turn off that radio.