Increased Battery Life

[alleycat58]

No, you do not need a task killer Froyo manages its memory and running applications perfectly fine.

Yeah, I've never had a problem with mine. I'd heard the same thing, but when I got the phone I noticed that task management really wasn't a problem. Background data seems to be the killer when it comes to batteries.

 

[BigDreZ28]

No, you do not need a task killer Froyo manages its memory and running applications perfectly fine.

Thank you. Im on the droid now..battery life greatly improved. Just wondering about auto brightness...how do I set the peels to change from indoors to outdoors?

 

[vikki]

I'm having horrible battery life problems with my Droid 2 Global. I followed this how-to to a T and I'm managing to get ~8 hours of totally stand by time, no use at all. With light use, it drops to a little under 6 hours, with "average" use the battery goes from 100% to dead in 4 hours or less, usually less.

Any ideas?

I otherwise like the phone, but having to be tethered to a charger almost constantly is making me seriously consider taking the phone back and getting something else.

I'm new to all of this so, please be patient with me. I have a droid 2 global for almost 3 weeks now. Out of the box the phone's battery life seem to be so-so. I'd get though 6 hours with some moderate/light use (a little surfing/gaming and a couple of calls). Finally a few days ago, I downloaded the Advanced Task Killer and used to to have a look at was was running on my phone. I was surprised to find quite a number of stuff running that I didn't know was running. Some of them are apps that I've hardly touched or *never* run.

I'm not sure if this advice will work for you guys, but if I see stuff running in the background that I don't need, I kill it. Later in the day I'd look at it again and find some of those programs back on the task list. Some of them are I guess what some called "bloatware" - stuff that cell carriers install and you can't get rid of them. But some of them are programs that I downloaded and neither found useful or kind of forgot about. These are programs IMO, should be looked at a closely and you need to decide if you really need them. IMO, these programs shouldn't be sitting in the background after I get rid of them. Today, my D2G has been running for 8h16m with 70%. I'm not totally sure if it's a fluke, but I'm going to keep an eye on it.

I've noticed that many programs I've downloaded don't have an "exit/quit". They just stay here, running in the background. Is this bad programming or the writers believe their programs should run despite what I want it to do?

I really think when we get a new phone we get a little wild and want to see what it can do - I know I did. For me, I need a reliable phone with a calendar, and access to my e-mail. Anything else I put ontop of that is a luxury.

One thing I wish I could do is to get rid of that annoying shake everytime I push one of the buttons at the bottom of my D2G. I know I can't, but IMO that is another battery eater.

Has anyone tried using the extended battery? That is something I'll probably look into, especially when I'm on travel. I know there are two extended batteries. One from Motorola and another from Seidio (?). I've heard the Seidio last longer, but the D2 can't read the status of the battery and so you'll have to restart your phone which IMO is unacceptable. Has anyone had any success with the Motorola extended battery or any other 3rd party extended batteries?

 

[jradicle11]

There's a large debate over task killers. While they do in fact kill off programs that you're not using, some of those programs will start back up right after. When these programs start back up, it's believe they use more battery than if they were to remain dormant in the background.

 

[Super_Six_Two]

You need to realize that Android does not work like a desktop OS. It keeps things in memory that it thinks you will need. They are not running in the Windows sense of things. There are no exit buttons because the apps were designed that way. There are many much more detailed articles out there that can explain this better.

 

[vikki]

You need to realize that Android does not work like a desktop OS. It keeps things in memory that it thinks you will need. They are not running in the Windows sense of things. There are no exit buttons because the apps were designed that way. There are many much more detailed articles out there that can explain this better.

Android may not work like a desktop OS, but most people know fairly well what shouldn't or what they don't want running, better than the OS. In my case, I don't need my Bible app showing up in my task list after I've killed it. I found this very annoying and uninstalled it - forever. Although I enjoy being able to multi-task, I'd like to have a say what I want running.

 

[alleycat58]

God I would love to see 70% battery life after 8 hours. I have 2 new Motorola batteries on the way, I really think I just got a dud stock battery.

 

[vikki]

God I would love to see 70% battery life after 8 hours. I have 2 new Motorola batteries on the way, I really think I just got a dud stock battery.

That was just yesterday, I'm going to see if that was a fluke, because last night with a l little more heavier usage, it was at 40% after 6 hours. Might be because I was gaming more, or where I live - bad cell coverage.

 

[cableguynoe]

I don't need my Bible app showing up in my task list after I've killed it. I found this very annoying and uninstalled it - forever.

forgive him, for he knows not what he does...

I just learned to not pay attention to what is apparently running in the backround.
I carry a cheap $4 ebay battery in my pocket. The d2 can't tell what how much juice it has, but it gives me a few hours of use.

 

[vikki]

I just got a tip from one of my contacts on twitter. The suggestion is to turn off the global mode on the D2G, unless you are actually plan on using GSM. Right now I honestly don't know if this will actually help, but to me it makes sense.

 

[vikki]

forgive him, for he knows not what he does...

I just learned to not pay attention to what is apparently running in the backround.
I carry a cheap $4 ebay battery in my pocket. The d2 can't tell what how much juice it has, but it gives me a few hours of use.

LOL - There are other better Bible apps

I'm thinking about getting an extended battery (I don't know which one yet) and keeping the standard battery in a little plastic bag in my purse.

 

[alleycat58]

I just got a tip from one of my contacts on twitter. The suggestion is to turn off the global mode on the D2G, unless you are actually plan on using GSM. Right now I honestly don't know if this will actually help, but to me it makes sense.

It should help. That was the first thing I turned off, so I have nothing to compare it to battery life wise. Trying to compare background data on and background data off right now. Seems to be a toss up, I'm getting just about the same battery life as I was getting with it turned off. Seems to help that I turned the e-mail address I don't use to only check e-mails manually. And I increased the time interval on my other e-mail address so that it doesn't check as often, but I still get the e-mails I need to get throughout the day.

 

[vikki]

FYI: Last night I decided to get the Motorola extended battery (BP7X). After reading this forum and a few others and trying suggestions on my phone, I think I've gotten a better idea on how to manage my phone's power. I'm going to shut off back ground data. It's really nice to get notices of emails and news, but I need my phone for more important things, calling and being able to be reached. All those other services I can get updates manually and my desktop gets me notifications of my email. I think I've finally settled down and decided realistically what I need/want my phone to do.

Back to the extended battery, I don't understand why Motorola didn't stock their phones with this battery to begin with. It's only a tiny bit thicker - enough that you need a new cover. Yes, the cover matches the rest of my phone (sapphire, in case if you're wondering). Now with the extra added thickness to the phone actually has a hidden benefit. I don't have to worry as much when I set my phone down on a table and worry about the camera lens getting scratched. It raises the lens just a tiny bit higher. I'll let you all know how well it works.

I'm also looking into what I would need to do to make sure my PB6X works with the new cover. Since it is thinner, I'm gonna need to find a bit of metal I can fix/glue on top of the battery to make sure the it dissipates heat properly and doesn't shift.

 

[BigDreZ28]

I have timeout set for 2 minutes and animations off. And brightness down to the lowest level. Under battery manager it always says display is accounting for 50 to 60% of battery consumption. Is this normal?

 

[cableguynoe]

I have timeout set for 2 minutes and animations off. And brightness down to the lowest level. Under battery manager it always says display is accounting for 50 to 60% of battery consumption. Is this normal?

Yes, the display will always be one of the biggest battery eaters. You alreday have the best settings, so not much else you can do.
Battery will drain.. it's what it does

 

[BigDreZ28]

Yes, the display will always be one of the biggest battery eaters. You alreday have the best settings, so not much else you can do.
Battery will drain.. it's what it does

ok sounds good. thanks

 

[vikki]

BP7X - Motorola's extended battery for the droid 2

Well I've had the battery for almost a week and I must say that it much better than the stock BP6X. The battery ran fine with light/moderate use. A couple of five minute calls, a little surfing on the web, playing a few of the Storm 8 web like games and checking my twitter messages. Background data was shut off and I have Advance Task Killer running. End result, was about 10.5-11 hours of battery with 15% remaining and telling me to recharge my battery.

During my most busiest week, I'd say I'm a moderate user. I haven't been able to pay too much attention to how well the battery works while I'm at work. I don't know if this testimony will help anyone, but if you have a droid 2/2g consider getting the extended battery.

 

[motodroid10]

How do you put your battery in smart mode and how do you change the date time out. I have a motorola droid 1 and would love to know. I have no task killer on my phone because I read up and dont beleive in them so now just trying to find a way to save more battery.

 

[jradicle11]

How do you put your battery in smart mode and how do you change the date time out. I have a motorola droid 1 and would love to know. I have no task killer on my phone because I read up and dont beleive in them so now just trying to find a way to save more battery.

I've never really used the original Motorola Droid so I will not be able to help you, unfortunately.

You'll probably have more luck getting and answer in the Motorola Droid forum. Search here for battery tips for the original Motorola Droid.

 

[oaks]

I have a D2 Global and I just thought I'd throw my two cents in here.

If you managed to root your D2, if you grab SetCPU, you can set a profile up to automatically underclock your processor while your screen is turned off. I found this to be a major battery saver. Personally I have both the Max and Min set to 300 while the screen is off.

 

[JDunc]

I have a D2 Global and I just thought I'd throw my two cents in here.

If you managed to root your D2, if you grab SetCPU, you can set a profile up to automatically underclock your processor while your screen is turned off. I found this to be a major battery saver. Personally I have both the Max and Min set to 300 while the screen is off.

I do this and keep JuiceDefender on most the time. It turns 3g off when screen is off plus you can have it turn off at night or when yout battery is low. These are just a few of the options but I recommend the paid version.

 

[aelydaIII]

Running the battery all the way down on these types of batteries won't help, doesn't improve battery life...battery life will generally improve after a few cycles, but you don't need to run it down to out or almost out.

You can drain it all the way every few months to sync the battery level meter, but don't need to do it to "condition" the battery.

You'll get the longest life out of your battery overall if you don't run it down much past 30% or so on a regular basis.

this is actually what i read in the manual. draining the batteries has been recommended in the past but the batteries that we have now on the D2s would last longer if charged sooner than 30%, 70% was actually the recommended limit. and these newer batteries are supposedly protected against overcharging now so we can actually sleep while our droids are charging! yey! but i could be wrong so please correct me, if i am...

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

I spent like an hour today doing a writeup of how I achieve battery life like this

You can find it here

 

[JohnnyB3777]

Just to alert you all, there IS a problem with certain apps and system process just sitting on your phone that decreases battery. Ive proven this on my own phone, however, which apps they are exactly I have not been able to determine. Just knowing that i have better battery life now was enough comfort. I have Titanium Backup Pro version as well as Battery E.T.A. and what BATT ETA reports is usually quite accurate (even though it can only read every 10% thanks to Motorola). What you want to look for is your current discharging velocity. the lowest I've gotten this to, I believe, was 4.2, which estimated over 20+ hours total time, and around 9 hours at just %40 battery life. Now i have not bee able to lower my current discharge rate by anything other than "freezing" apps using titanium back-up pro. I never changed any settings (brightness is always set to 0, mobile network and background data is usually off, no GPS or Bluetooth on usually, Wi-fi is on when I'm at home though) and i noticed after a factory reset, because of signal problems which had never once occurred before, i reflashed all apps the way they were previously backed up with TB. My new discharge rate shot up to 8.3 (estimate of about 10 hours 50+ minutes) and then shot up to 13.6 (estimate of 6 hours 40 minutes +) I got it to lower back to 8.3 by deleting apps i didnt use regularly but had because i MIGHT decide to use them (mostly games and bibles, i had about 5 of those) it dropped down to 7.2 (idr the estimate here sorry) so i took it a step further and froze all apps and system apps that i do not use.

Be careful with freezing system apps ( i only disabled things that i knew what they did such as sync, voice (all of them), weather, news, TTS, Swype, Talk1.3, etc. i disabled all keyboards except shapewriter (the best swype-type keyboard in my opinion although i haven't tried the newest swype)

Now i am back down to 6.2 discharging velocity whch estimates a total of 14:41:11 which is pretty accurate. When the phone sleeps however, the phone apparently has a lot less discharge as time remaining doesn't increase but it stays the same, however the estimated time it would fully discharge is further away.

Let me explain. Say you have %100 battery with a discharge of 6.2. it is now 12 a.m. your estimated depletion is at 2:42a.m. and it says you have 14:41:11 worth of runtime. If your phone sleeps for 2 hours, when you turn your phone on, BATT ETA will update the estimated time of depletion in the notification bar (unless you turn this off) which shows that your new estimated time of depletion is now almost, if not, 2 hours further away with the same amount of runtime available. This shows that when the phone is in sleep mode you should be using little to no battery. If you notice a percentage change in battery while it is in sleep mode, more than likely you have a problematic app. I have in no way studied this but these are my observations over my extensive use of this battery.

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BTW Folks I wanted to say this
I ordered 2 stock batteries on Amazon for $3.75 I have had them about a week and I also bought just the battery charger for around $8-$10 ( you might want to go with a socking station/battery charger as you can charge two at once without the extra cords). The battery's times are fairly identical so i vouch for it and say it's not a fake. One battery was EXACTLY the same as the battery that came with my phone with the exception of a different manufacture date and a few other numbers, the second came pretty close with the exception of the date and some extra chinese symbols. All in all my battery lasts about 14 hours each, and with $4 you can have another one which is 28 hours worth of battery with constant use. Who needs an extended battery? I do however have the 3500mAh battery fro Gorilla Gadgets which does not fit my body glove (i knew this ahead of time) which i JUST received today and i have it charging. I can't speak on that battery yet but in other reviews i read that it the phone reports its battery just as the stock but when you restart your phone it should read full battery (which means it treats your extended 3500mAh battery as if it was a stock 1300mAh battery and reports battery life as such which is wrong)

Hope this info helped SOMEONE goodluck with battery saving and if that doest work buy 4 stock batteries for $3.75 each, with shipping and handling added to that it should still be cheaper than the $25 3500 battery and provide a longer charge I'm sure I however currently own 3 stock batteries and 3 3500 batteries wit the intentions of returning 3 of the 3500mAh batteries (first two ordered was a mistake)

EDIT: BTW if you long-press on the home screen and go to Shortcuts>Activities>Data Manager you can find 2 quick places to turn data off quicker (1 of those is just a shortcut to data manager and the other is not found in any other settings *DataSaverMode* be advised with Data saver mode enabled you can usually NOT download ANYTHING unless you have a strong 3g connection or are on wi-fi. this is because it waits until you have a strong connection before doing these things as to save battery so if you download alot you might want to keep this handy.

EDIT2: As mentioned before SetCPU is a big battery saver
Whenever my screen is off i have it set to 300 min and max as well as other profiles for when the temperature is getting higher. I am running stock (NO ROMs) but I am rooted (as much as one can be on a D2) whc=ich is needed for both SetCPU and Titanium Backup.

 

[Goodspike]

FYI: Last night I decided to get the Motorola extended battery (BP7X). . . . Back to the extended battery, I don't understand why Motorola didn't stock their phones with this battery to begin with.

Motorola has a long history of doing this. The original Startac phones also had an extended battery option. With that device the battery was rather small, and so the extended battery bump was also pretty small, but it still came with a normal battery without the bump.