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Long Battery life - Happy, but can't explain.

Lymbo

Newbie
Oct 30, 2010
24
4
Recently my HD has been giving me amazing battery life, and i dont know why. It used to last me about a day on one charge (morning to night, around 12-14 hours)
Now i'm getting way over a whole day. Right now my battery info reads 1day & 18 hours since unplugged, with 17% left.
(i took a photo, will upload it soon)
Previously, even barely using the phone would never give me such long usage.

I haven't changed anything in the settings. Apart from installing apps every now and then, the ONLY thing different in the phones setup is that i recently added a live wallpaper. I was fully expecting the battery life to drain faster, so you can understand my surprise.

I'm extremely happy about all this, but baffled as to why, and i want to know.
I'm considering changing the wallpaper back to a still image just to test, but i am worried i'll lose this little benefit forever!

Or is it possible that this is a bug, but a positive one??
Again...am worried the bug will be `fixed'. :p

Anyone else had similar things happen?
or is this kind of battery life normal?

(for the record, i've had the phone since launch, so i'm way past the `new toy' overuse period)
 
This type of evidence-free post is infuriating.

How does this make you angry?? He asked for an opinion and I gave it... If you've read the other battery threads then you would have known that I explained my battery usage before...

I'm a moderated and get 40+ hours out of one charge, like I said before I leave my wifi and network-data off unless I need it.

By the way what did you actually contribute to this thread???
 
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I was struggling to get 12 hours out of my battery with little use,so I did some research and did 2 things
I read about ticking the USB debugging in the advanced menu so I did that
I installed green power battery app and set it to use wifi and data for only 1 min every 25 mins,my battery has now gone to over 30 hours,I know some people knock these apps but it has transformed my phone
 
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It should be normal... I'm getting about 2 days on one charge!

this is unhelpful for a number of reasons.

Firstly the term normal is essentially worthless. Normal for whom? You? Me? Everybody? Do you mean average use? What data are you using to make a claim for average use across the diverse spectrum of smartphone usage?

Secondly the duration given of "2 days" is disconcertingly vague. Do you mean 48 hours (two actual days)? Or perhaps 24 hours (two 12 hour days)? Or how about 16 hours (two 8 hour working days)?

Thirdly you make no mention whatsoever about what your so-called normal usage actually entails. Do you use the phone to make calls, send texts, surf the net, capture and view multimedia, listen to music, stream video and navigate? Or do you have it sat on a desk on standby for 99% of the two day stretch?

One thing is certain - if one actually uses their cellphone to do stuff (you know, screen on kind of stuff) it will not last "2 days".
 
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this is unhelpful for a number of reasons.
Firstly the term normal is essentially worthless. Normal for whom? You? Me? Everybody? Do you mean average use? What data are you using to make a claim for average use across the diverse spectrum of smartphone usage?
You're taking my reply out of context here... It was a reply to the guy who started this thread and he mentioned that he isn't a new out-of-the-box user anymore... so to me that makes him an average or even less than average user. So yes the "normal" was a reply to that.

Secondly the duration given of "2 days" is disconcertingly vague. Do you mean 48 hours (two actual days)? Or perhaps 24 hours (two 12 hour days)? Or how about 16 hours (two 8 hour working days)?
Yes at school they teach you that a day is 24hrs, otherwise I would've stated it otherwise. If you've read my other replies then you would've known that my phones batterylife is around the 40hr mark.

Thirdly you make no mention whatsoever about what your so-called normal usage actually entails. Do you use the phone to make calls, send texts, surf the net, capture and view multimedia, listen to music, stream video and navigate? Or do you have it sat on a desk on standby for 99% of the two day stretch?
I do all the above except streaming media. (although I need to honest if i use navigation i my battery wouldn't last that long, but everyone knows that so yes I didn't include that in my "normal use".

One thing is certain - if one actually uses their cellphone to do stuff (you know, screen on kind of stuff) it will not last "2 days".
I don't see a reason why I would be lying here, what would be the point in that? If ones opinion isn't appreciated here then I'll just leave. I've been on way to many fora with crap like this...

cheers
 
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I do all the above except streaming media.

Next time you are just about to charge (close to your time of 40 hours) could you do the following:

Settings>About phone>Battery>Battery use>Display and then take a picture of that screen.

It should contain a phone icon, a bar indicating battery level and most importantly a Time on number.

It would be great to see how long you have your screen on in that 40 hour period.
 
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Next time you are just about to charge (close to your time of 40 hours) could you do the following:

Settings>About phone>Battery>Battery use>Display and then take a picture of that screen.

It should contain a phone icon, a bar indicating battery level and most importantly a Time on number.

It would be great to see how long you have your screen on in that 40 hour period.

I get around the 40 hour mark as well. I haven't taken a picture, but I think you will believe me when I say that my phone will have had a screen on time of about 2-3 hours, varying on how much I have used the phone (if it approaches 3 hours, I will admit my phone might only lasts for 38 hours or so). However, I use my phone as a PHONE. I don't surf much with it. I have computers for that :D. Bigger screens, better keyboard. However, I do surf with it when I have to and/or want to, and don't have a computer around. Other than that, I just use it for calendar, some facebook, spotify (for music), gmail, etc. (mostly normal stuff that normal people would use their phone for, and not the "oh it's a new smartphone period").

But I constantly have data communications on, and I use a ATK :)
 
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Hi guys. Thanks for the replies.
Just for the record, when i said `normal' usage, i did mean `average'.
By that i mean a bit of everything. Few phone calls, some web browsing, some texting, a game or two, checking friend stream, etc..
If the word `average' is still too vague for you, just ignore it, lets not start splitting hairs. Most people know what i mean.
Anyway..
I took a pic of my battery info before i was about the start charging it again.
I'd be interested to see other peoples times.

As i said in my first message, i wasnt getting even close to this kind of time before, and i dont know why i am now! :)
 

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Here's is the picture you've asked for Widehead...
Uptime here was about 36hrs and I used my gps today for about 20 minutes...

Cheers

Up time of 36 hours and usage of 5 hours plus on screen :D.

Great battery life, but I doubt you have used much data communication during that time, except for some Wifi and the GPS you stated :p.

I chose to use my DHD as a phone though, but that is my choice :D
 
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That's where you're wrong in my opinion, I use my data communication quite often, but I only turn it on when I need it... I don't see the point in leaving it on 24/7 anyway.

You're trying to convince people to use ATK to get a better battery life, but I'm pretty sure your wifi/3G is using a lot more power than ram-memory. I personally prefer performance above constant data-connections!!!

cheers
 
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I doubt you can have had the data-communcations on for a long time in total, your screen has used most of your battery.

What's the point of having a smartphone if it cannot automatically update its functions, like check for your emails and sync your calendar, etc.?

And I might have phrased that last not too well. Ofc you still have the actual phone function on. I did mean it as a mobile data communicator to check for mails and calendar appointments. If I didn't want those things, I might just as well bought a basic Nokia, and just used my computer to check for mails and appointments once in a while :).

But where the hell did ATK come in here? I just commented what I believe is your type of use. I didn't mention anything about ATK there... I just stated I think you got a good battery life, so chill ...

As for Wifi/3g being more power consuming than RAM per usage, I don't doubt that. However, it depends on how you use it. As for you, I'd say your RAM is taking more power than necessary, and it's taking more than your data-communication power combined (either wifi/3g). As for performance, I honestly can't say there is much difference on such a powerfull phone as the DHD, and I did run my phone for 5 days with no ATK. That should be plenty of time for the system to become "stable" as some people claim it has to be to get a performance difference. If it is more than 5 days, then I must admit I retract my earlier statement that Android is well written...

But what do you actually use your phone for, with a almost 6 hour screen on time, and it still only used under 60%, with an uptime of 36 hours?


If anyone else can replicate these conditions, with "normal" usage, meaning having some type of data-communications on for short periods of time, but use the screen that much and not an ATK, and say they have a uptime of 36 hours, I'll be amazed :)

Just checked how much data I have used over the last week while I also had the test running. I downloaded a grand total of 76 MB :p. Honestly I don't think I will save much on shutting of data-communcations. I have disabled "always-on communications" under network options :). Meaning my phone should only use battery on actual downloaded amounts :)

PS! Could of course try seeing how much battery life I would have by shutting off my data-communications at some points during the day :D! I'll do that experiement as well :). Guessing I will shut it off mostly during the night when I sleep :p. Then I'll see how much extra battery I get

Btw, just realized your profile says you have rooted your DHD? You are using a costum ROM? Ofc you should be getting much more battery time then. HTC Sense is power consuming compared to other ROMs. I'd say you might be saving as much as 60-70% on a costum ROM :) However, a huge reason I wanted a DHD, was for the HTC Sense ROM :D, in my opinion one of the best that exist
 
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What's the point of having a smartphone if it cannot automatically update its functions, like check for your emails and sync your calendar, etc.?
I'm not a prime minister or whatever so I don't really need real-time mail delivery and definitely no calendar updates :)... Unless you use the push-email function of gmail, how often does your mail get checked, once an hour? Well I pretty much turn my data on every hour to check my mail, so I don't see how I'm not using the benefits of my smartphone. And this remark coming from a guy who uses his phone only one hour a day is a bit hypocritical don't you think? I personally think it's a waste of energy leaving our data on, but like I said that's just an opinion.

But what do you actually use your phone for, with a almost 6 hour screen on time, and it still only used under 60%, with an uptime of 36 hours?
I use my phone most of the time for mails and txt messages, reading rss-feeds, and occasionally play a game.


Btw, just realized your profile says you have rooted your DHD? You are using a costum ROM? Ofc you should be getting much more battery time then. HTC Sense is power consuming compared to other ROMs. I'd say you might be saving as much as 60-70% on a costum ROM :) However, a huge reason I wanted a DHD, was for the HTC Sense ROM :D, in my opinion one of the best that exist
Did I ever say I wasn't using a custom ROM?? Have you ever tried using costum ROMS??? Apparently not... Otherwise you would have know that with most of those roms you can actually chose to use htc sense UI or not. So in my case htc sense is ON. But even then most of those ROMS offer a better battery improvement.

Cheers
 
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I'm not a prime minister or whatever so I don't really need real-time mail delivery and definitely no calendar updates :)... Unless you use the push-email function of gmail, how often does your mail get checked, once an hour? Well I pretty much turn my data on every hour to check my mail, so I don't see how I'm not using the benefits of my smartphone. And this remark coming from a guy who uses his phone only one hour a day is a bit hypocritical don't you think? I personally think it's a waste of energy leaving our data on, but like I said that's just an opinion.


I use my phone most of the time for mails and txt messages, reading rss-feeds, and occasionally play a game.



Did I ever say I wasn't using a custom ROM?? Have you ever tried using costum ROMS??? Apparently not... Otherwise you would have know that with most of those roms you can actually chose to use htc sense UI or not. So in my case htc sense is ON. But even then most of those ROMS offer a better battery improvement.

Cheers

I got gmail push. All my other emails are forwarded to gmail. I need to be in real-time, as I can get class schedule updates as close as 30 min-1 hour to my lectures. Also for projects and assignments I need information fast.

As for your remark, of using the phone for only 1 hour a day, that is plenty of time for stuff I use the phone for. I like to read my news on a nice big computer screen :). Also I send most of my emails from the computer when I can, but it is nice to have a system to get my emails fast if I'm out.

If the phone is used MORE than 2 hour a day, I'd really consider my mobile phone habbits :eek:.

As for your remark on the energy, its my choice to be in real time, thus I think it's a waste to keep the RAM filled up. But honestly, can we stop this "angry" hunt? It's just stupid, and we are only expressing our own opinions. My post here related to you earlier was only happy/kindly meant and stated that you had a good battery life. My only remark, was that I thought you might not use your data much (meaning you are in real-time need of information), which was in the context of how I meant it correct. It was not meant badly at all :thinking:, so I don't see why you had to attack me back.

As for the ROM part, I think you miss understood me. :rolleyes: I think I'll try to maintain my happy tone. The thing is (as we both agree) you get a lot of juice saved from costum ROMs. However, there are advantages I find in having the HTC ROM. An example of that is the fast boot. I have not had costum ROMs, you are right, but I do know quite a bit about them ^^. So maybe don't frontal attack me before you know what you are up against :p :). Because I did say the advantage I wanted was the HTC sense ROM. Not HTC sense UI :)
 
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