• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Battery health

mc48

Android Enthusiast
Jan 17, 2010
480
36
so. east, usa
I started using Spare Parts a couple of weeks ago. With it you can check the health of your battery. Mine, since I've checked it, has always said "good".

My question is, I've only had my Eris since November. Shouldn't it still be (if it every was) in "excellent" health? I have always gotten crappy battery life. By the end of the day, it is always down to well below 40 or 30% sometimes less if I use it more than usual. I don't stream Pandora all day, I don't have BT or wifi or gps on except when I need it. But I haven't turned sense off and I still get notifications for FB and twitter and emails, etc. because I figured if I wanted a non-smart phone I would have bought one. My awake time is usually not bad, right around 25-30%. It may be all in my mind, but it seems to have gotten worse, a 20 minute drive to work this morning listening to a podcast brought it down form 100% to 80%. I also recently uninstalled ATK.

I have pretty much just resigned myself to the fact that battery life is going to be crappy and I bought a charger for work and another for the car. What health does everyone else have? Especially the ones that say they get 2 days or more out of their batter?
 
I think 'good' is all there is.

You and I define 'crappy' battery life differently. If the battery gets me from the morning when I unplug it from the charger, to at night when I go to bed and plug the phone back in, then the battery life is just fine - regardless of how much charge is remaining. I knew before I bought the phone that it would require a charge every night - so that's not an issue for me. Also, it's been remarked several times on the forum that the last 15% of the battery seem to last much longer than the first 15%.

My suggestion, stop worrying and enjoy your phone. :)
 
Upvote 0
Well I meant to say down to 25-30% by the end of the work day. Usually by time I get home, its in the orange and in need of charging, which is fine if I'm home for the rest of the night. But you are probably right, smart phone = crappy battery life. I should stop being so anal about it and really I have just resigned myself to that fact. But i read the comments on here with ppl that get 2 or 3 days on a charge and Know there is no way. But if "good" is the best I am fine with that. I was just wondering if maybe I had a defective battery.
 
Upvote 0
Just a thought, it's not in NEED of a charge until it tells you that it is.
Granted, that orange colored battery indicator makes you (and me) want to run and plug it in to a charger. But I've learned to fight that urge and just keep using the phone until I either go to bed or the phone insists that I plug it in.

I do that at 48% sometimes.:D Then I remind myself that the world won't end and I move on.
 
Upvote 0
i agree 48hr sounds unreal whats your secret

I'm on my second day of single charge so far. Testing how far I can stretch it cause I'll be traveling in a couple days. I don't want to have to pull over somewhere at the airport to plug in.

It's simple, turn stuff off (wifi,gps,3g) when you're not using it, diligently!

And no task killer either. Currently at 70% as of yesterday morning 4am when I woke up.
 
Upvote 0
This might be another one of those definition things. What one person considers moderate use, might be heavy (or light) use for someone else. I think you should read those statements with an implied 'for me'. Moderate use FOR ME is perhaps quite different than moderate use for anyone else.
Unlike Sreennamie and others that have made the same comment, I'm not inclined to continually turn on and off WiFi and 3g. I agree that would make a difference in battery life, but those things I pretty much expect to just 'be there'. Not saying that's wrong, just saying it's not my way - and I pay the price in battery usage.
 
Upvote 0
i agree 48hr sounds unreal whats your secret
yea, basically i shut stuff off when not needed. i dont let stuff sync automatically, turn background data off when im not using it, no bluetooth, no wifi, not connected to FB (cuz i hate all the updates on it, i just use the FB app instead).

ive noticed i get better battery life if i dont let it drain all the way to the point of powering off. i let it get to 10% and plug it in.

i have a task killer (OMG!!) and i only use it right before i go to bed. my awake time is usually under 10% most times.

oh yea, i also disabled auto screen adjust.
 
Upvote 0
I usually get about 48 hours out of my phone. WiFi and blutooth off (don't want those radios constantly searching for a link). No auto-updates on anything, but I do still get App updates.

Usually usage would be facebook 5 or 6 times a day, google maps, and maybe some gameplay during lunch
yea, subtract 4 times of FB, add some phone calls, web browsing, and texting to the mix and i get the same amount of time.
 
Upvote 0
I've gone well over 60 Hours on this phone w/o having to charge, and without loosing background data service: The key to this is on this forum.

I used to have the 8 hr charge problem, there are a few things todo to change this.

turn off Bluetooth and GPS when not using those servces, Beautiful Widgets has a nice set of buttons todo this quickly with one click.

Under settings > Wireless Controls > Mobile Network settings > Disable Always on Mobile network. This will give you ur Gmaul syncs and background data transfer, but turn it back off when ur done

Disable Auto backlight, and set a comfortable brightness.

Most Inportantly, disable the stock messaging apps notifications. Then DL Handcent or ChompSMS. There is a bug in the notifications program of Native SMS.

Now Restart the phone, let it boot then shut the phone off for a few minutes. After about 10 minutes goto Settings > About Phone > Status , scroll down to the bottom. There should be two timers, "Uptime" and "Awake Time" with a noticeable difference between the two. If there isn't then U have an installed app ( or the Notifications program of native SMS) eatting ur battery / using CPU time. This is where u should use a task manager to stop suspected apps ( usually non-stock apps installed from the market) and shut the screen off for 10 minutes and recheck the timers.

Doing this I've gone 8 straight hours off the charger and not lost 1% off the batter ( not supposed to used @ work sooo I wasn't using that day!) My typical Awake ( CPU in Use time) is about 10-15%. With light useage, couple of phone calls some texts little web browsing, I can get 60 Hours easy.

Granted this worked for me, but you may not get the same results. A lot of things come into play here like location, signal strength and how much power the phone has to use when contacting towers / using radio communications ( crappier the signal more power is used).
 
Upvote 0
since doing all the things suggesting on this forum and others (handcent,wifi off gps off,ect) and getting the seidio 1750 battery i have no battery issues anymore... sometimes i have 50% at the end of he day, sometimes 20 or 30% but now my phone makes it threw when i wake up till i charge my phone at night...its nice not checking my battery charge everytime i now use my phone!!!!
 
Upvote 0
how do you turn 3g off? if you turn 'mobile' off wouldnt you stop receiving calls and text messages? is there anyway to just turn off "internet" (not talking about wifi)

3g is "Internet". if you turn that off then your phone is not connected to it. your phone is always able to receive calls and texts unless airplane mode is on.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones