Battery Life - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[twospirits]

I am merging all battery threads into one major thread to keep the forum more streamlined.

TS

 

[reneeb]

I know this is totally subjective based on your usage, but what is the average life I can expect? Do you think it will last all day? I really dont want to have to carry power cords and stuff with me.

Thanks!

 

[neodorian]

You hit the nail on the head. What kind of usage? Sure, idling in strong signal areas will last all day easily. Heavy web and GPS use in weak coverage areas where you constantly search for signal will kill that battery in a matter of hours.

Personally, I keep a charger by my bed and a micro-USB plugged into my computer at work. If I am using it a lot I can just put it on the USB at work to top it off throughout the day. Otherwise, I charge overnight and I am fine with like 20-30% left by bedtime the next night.

Now, this is a different phone so it may not carry over. I would imagine that battery life is roughly as good as any other modern smart phone with a big screen and multiple radios. 4G will probably use a little more than 3G and searching for 4g (or 3g for that matter) will kill your battery.

Make use of the radio widgets!

 

[reneeb]

I always thought charging your phone when it wasnt nearly drained would impair the battery in some way or not make it last as long as it should. I may be crazy thinking that...not sure. Anyways, the EVO is my first smart phone so I'm not used to having to charge every night. I currently have the Lotus and sometimes I can go 4-5 days without charging.

 

[neodorian]

Older battery tech did indeed show that kind of behavior. On these newer batteries, after the first few cycles I think you are fine with topping off.

A regular flip phone doesn't have all of the things that use up battery. This phone has a processor running at 1ghz. There are netbooks that aren't much faster than that so that eats up some juice. Big touch screens eat up power, as do 3g, 4g, wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc. Basically we keep adding power-draining features without drastically changing the basic technology of batteries. This is all while demanding the thinnest and sexiest phones possible.

You can see where eventually you hit a wall and have to compromise. Luckily, you can get spare batteries for emergencies, simple USB cables for cheap computer charging, and extended batteries which may make the phone bulky but will also save your ass on a long stretch without an outlet.

 

[Android 17]

I know this has been asked before, but some people were skeptical, would a Hero battery work on this phone? It's also 1500 mah so I don't see why not, but I had read someone mention the dimensions may be different on the battery.

 

[RyboCollier]

Im planning on having two different chargers. One for the car, and one beside my bed at night. I'm going to tweak the phone to ensure I get the most out of my battery. Some things im going to do is turn down the brightness, turn of GPS when i'm not using it, turn of 4G because I wont be able to use it any time soon, and lock the phone whenever im not using it so that I'm not accidentally wasting power by hitting buttons while I'm walking. Of course there is more you can do to get more out of the battery but those are some things that I'm going to do right off the bat.

 

[katmandoo122]

Based on the comments of Sprint and/or HTC employees on online videos, I would guess that you will barely make it into the evening without a charge. This is becoming very typical now for smart phones other than the iPhone and BB.

The only reason the iPhone is better is because Steve gimps it so much. With multitaksing, huge, energy sucking screen, data, voice, multimedia, and everything else, plus a removable battery, plan on have a car charger or desk charger most days.

BlackBerry can get away with it because, although their email stuff rocks, the rest of the phone sux.

 

[TheBlackPrince]

Yeah I'm predicting that we'll be charging every night. Hopefully a higher capacity battery comes out around launch day.

 

[sag7392]

BlackBerry can get away with it because, although their email stuff rocks, the rest of the phone sux.

Lol, hey I'm a current Blackberry owner...hahahaha!

Anyhow, even with a Blackberry's stellar battery, I always charge it at night while I'm in a fetal position imaging why I have a phone that sux, lol.

 

[RedWingsFan]

I just keep a charging dock on my nightstand and put my phone it in every night regardless of battery level.

I also keep a charger in my car just in case.

Finally I have a dock on my desk at work. So i'll throw it in there throughout the day if I remember.

Since i've had my blackberry, I have only once been concerned about the battery level. That is because I drank too much and forgot to throw it on the charger at night and the next day I was out the door early and no where near a charger.

 

[JPHunter]

Would be nice if it came with a spare battery and battery charging case like my Instinct has. That is one feature of that phone that I LOVED. Always had a battery ready to go when I needed it.

 

[katmandoo122]

Lol, hey I'm a current Blackberry owner...hahahaha!

Anyhow, even with a Blackberry's stellar battery, I always charge it at night while I'm in a fetal position imaging why I have a phone that sux, lol.

LOL...sorry I was so harsh! I carry a BB too (for work) but you have to admit, when it comes to a full-feature, multimedia smart phone, the BB sucks. Even the Bold, while a beautiful form factor, pales in comparsion to the iPhone, HD2, Inc, Palm Pre, etc.

Just sayin!

 

[sag7392]

@kat

It's all good...I thought it was funny, but also true. That's why I'm switching teams.

 

[chum1600]

I don't think the blackberry battery is awesome. I have a Tour and never make a full day. I don't talk much, but I do alot of texting and web. I can't wait to have a screen I don't have to squint at all day! I am ok with limited battery for the bigger screen because my battery life already sucks.

I have a wall charger at work as well as at home. Constantly charging around 3 in the afternoon now, why should that have to change.

 

[neodorian]

This is becoming very typical now for smart phones other than the iPhone and BB.

Are you kidding? I go out with friends to the bars in the evening a lot and lots of my iphone using friends have to take chargers *to the bar* because their phones are dead by 8 or 9 pm. I've found the current iPhones to have almost identical battery life compared to, say, my Pre or Touch Pro. Basically from the time I get up until maybe 8 or 9pm I am good. If I plan on going out, I try to charge at home first.

 

[LS1]

I don't think the blackberry battery is awesome. I have a Tour and never make a full day. I don't talk much, but I do alot of texting and web. I can't wait to have a screen I don't have to squint at all day! I am ok with limited battery for the bigger screen because my battery life already sucks.

I have a wall charger at work as well as at home. Constantly charging around 3 in the afternoon now, why should that have to change.

My blackberry battery lasts on average 2-3 days.

 

[sag7392]

My blackberry battery lasts on average 2-3 days.

I can get about 2 days out of mine with moderate use. But, I'm also working off of EDGE on T-Mo's network.

 

[ayman86]

Are you kidding? I go out with friends to the bars in the evening a lot and lots of my iphone using friends have to take chargers *to the bar* because their phones are dead by 8 or 9 pm. I've found the current iPhones to have almost identical battery life compared to, say, my Pre or Touch Pro. Basically from the time I get up until maybe 8 or 9pm I am good. If I plan on going out, I try to charge at home first.

im with you. all my buddys iphones can never last day.

im just hoping its better than my palm pre.

 

[sean76]

IPhone 3Gs is great on battery life, EVO will be a hog! But thats ok, gonna rock

 

[Diesektor]

Someone was telling me awhile ago that with smartphones it's best to totally deplete the charge when you first get it, then get a full charge and do it again, then you should be good with spot charging etc. Any truth to this?

 

[Dose]

Ok, like most of you I have probably read every review out there on the Evo. And since recently there are a few floating around I am starting to see more and more reviews stating that the battery life is horrible. So I need the "real" people out there that have their hands on the Evo to let us know....is it really that bad, is it doable, or what? I have used ppc 6700, Mogul, HTC touch Pro, Instinct, Palm Pre, and recently Hero. With the Hero, out of the box battery life sucked, and we all had the initial 100% wake time, but with some tweaks my hero battery lasts from 6am till I go to sleep, and I use it alllllll day long. So I am wondering if these bad battery life reviews are coming from ppl that are not tweaking there phones, i.e.. turning auto backlight off, turning 4g off when not in use, making FB and twitter autosync all the time etc..etc... Ive been waiting for this phone, and I am getting somewhat hesitant now. Not just because of the battery, but also because I know there will be another GREAT phone coming out at the End of the year. So if you have an Evo, just let us know...Do we need a bedroom, livingroom,car,and work phone charger(oh wait I already have that)...but do we need it. Thanks Guys

 

[NiCK Crush]

As long as you are getting a day out of it with moderate usage, I don't think anyone can complain too much. This day and age, these phones are so powerful that battery life is always in question. If you use your phone constantly, like myself, then just be sure you have yourself a car charger and maybe an extra charging cable at work.

 

[Bek]

I would argue that people have too high of an expectation, for battery life. People seem to expect that your phone can stream data from the Internet, firing it off over bluetooth, and display a movie for 8 hours straight, and still have 50% battery life.

That being said, I would argue that the Evo has "average" battery capacity.

Think of it more like a car. If you have a low-end V4, you're going to get a lot of MPG no matter what your driving style and conditions may be. But if you have a V8, your gas mileage will RELATIVELY suck - relative being the key word here.

But then, the difference here is performance.

 

[Dose]

As long as you are getting a day out of it with moderate usage, I don't think anyone can complain too much. This day and age, these phones are so powerful that battery life is always in question. If you use your phone constantly, like myself, then just be sure you have yourself a car charger and maybe an extra charging cable at work.

Yeah I know. But some reviews are saying that the battery is only lasting a few hours. If this battery lasts 8-10 hrs I'll be super happy, if it lasts 4...not so much.