"Hypermiling" your Captivate's battery

[el frugalista]

Just like the automotive hybrid enthusiasts who attempt to garner unheard of miles-per-gallon from each tankful, I'm wondering if there's any Captivate owners who are getting above-average battery life when using a power management program on their Android device.

As of this morning, I have 109 hours unplugged with light phone, email and surfing usage (photo attached).

What are others getting? Can you post a photo?

 

[ScaGin]

Just like the automotive hybrid enthusiasts who attempt to garner unheard of miles-per-gallon from each tankful, I'm wondering if there's any Captivate owners who are getting above-average battery life when using a power management program on their Android device.

As of this morning, I have 109 hours unplugged with light phone, email and surfing usage (photo attached).

What are others getting? Can you post a photo?

What Power Management app are you using?

 

[el frugalista]

What Power Management app are you using?

I tried several apps before buying UltimateJuice. I'm not 100% satisfied with its user interface and some settings are a bit kludgy to adjust, but the life I'm getting makes me think I'll keep it.

One, albeit minor, complaint is the "WiFi off when distance is greater than" doesn't allow me to set a relatively short distance. It starts off about 50 meters then changes itself to 2,000 meters or something.

 

[noc]

109 hours!! may i ask what's the climate like in your area?

 

[Infinite-t]

109 hrs? Jesus wept! The best i have gotten out of mine was like 28 hours, but ill be honest, i cant put mine down for longer than 5 minuts!

 

[TDQuiksilver]

Do explain. Seems a bit fishy.

 

[randy_c]

Mine less than 8 hrs with having using task advance all the time

 

[mesasone]

I gave Juice Defender a try, but I actually ended the day with LESS battery life. Usually I unplug at 7:00 AM and at 4:30-5:00 PM I have between 60 and 65 percent remaining. Today I ended up with 55%. I think it's basically using the default settings, with 3G scheduled for 15/1 cycles. The notification claims I'm seeing an 84% (1.84) increase in battery life, but that is definitely not the case.

I do listen to music on mine for 5-6 hours a day.

 

[St_G]

8 hours seems way too short. I futz with mine every few minutes at work, and then surf the web for long periods at home on the couch (have barely touched my netbook since I got the Captivate) and see about twice that.

 

[el frugalista]

I'll answer some of the questions posters have made:

NOC - I'm in Texas where we're currently having a nice 100 degree heatwave. The phone is inside 90% of the time and is not left exposed to the sun or in any enclosed space that isn't climate-controlled.

TDQuiksilver - I'll list my Ultimate Juice settings below so that other users can try it.

Usage habits vary from one person to the next and all forum readers should bear that in mind. My usage pattern and power settings may not meet the needs of some users. My usage tends to be relatively moderate however I don't play games on it, don't use the camera too much and rarely shoot video. I am a moderate email user and do not have GPS enabled. I don't play much music on it but do make about an hour to an hour and a half of calls on it typically.

I turn off the WiFi and Data at night when I'm sleeping. I could care less if a message comes in at 2:37am....if I'm sleeping the phone can be in an idle state.

Here are the settings:

• Timeout: Do nothing
• Schedule: Enable Data/Wifi for 2m every 30m
• Night: Keep Data/Wifi disabled 9pm>5:30am
• Battery: Keep Data/Wifi disabled while below 15%
• Traffic: Leave Data/Wifi enabled while >50/15s
• Peak: Do nothing
• Apps: Do nothing
• Screen: Leave Data/Wifi enabled while screen unlocked
• Location: Keep Wifi disabled while distance >6049m (wish I could set this to less than 500m)

I initially tried the apps Power Manager and Locale but weren't totally satisfied with them. I then downloaded Juice Defender and I liked it although some of the settings are a bit difficult to toggle with the slide bars, but found the free app limited so I coughed up the money to buy the UltimateJuice version. Because I'm a tightwad I will likely stick with the app unless some other app comes along that totally blows this one away.

 

[St_G]

When I tried Juice Defender, the (totally common sensical) settog of turning off WiFi while the screen was off and only polling 3G once every 15 minutes seemed to introduce weird connectivity issues while awake.

 

[el frugalista]

When I tried Juice Defender, the (totally common sensical) settog of turning off WiFi while the screen was off and only polling 3G once every 15 minutes seemed to introduce weird connectivity issues while awake.

Fortunately I haven't experienced this issue. There is some lag between when the Data turns back on and Wifi takes over, but it isn't too bad. Again, the product could use some refinement. Truly is a shame that Android doesn't come with its own power management suite that would do the same things...

 

[mterrence5]

Do you text/email? How many a day would you estimate. I estimate 45 texts a day and 50 emails (I delete most and only read 4-5). This along with 16mb of web I can't get past 17hours.

I too downloaded the free app but found it to be useless and did not want to pay without good reviews of it.

 

[el frugalista]

Do you text/email? How many a day would you estimate. I estimate 45 texts a day and 50 emails (I delete most and only read 4-5). This along with 16mb of web I can't get past 17hours.

I too downloaded the free app but found it to be useless and did not want to pay without good reviews of it.

I use Google Voice to text; I'm not handing over $ to AT&T when clearly Google Voice will suffice. As to how many, probably 10 to 15 a day maximum.

As for emails I have Gmail and Yahoo mail and my Gmail account receives at least 60 emails (many of which are Google Alerts).

My recommendation is to continue to test out different apps and see which one works best for you. In my case the app has proven that extended battery life in an Android device is feasible. The extent of that additional battery life hinges upon the usage habits of the phone's owner. As the old saying goes "your mileage may vary."

 

[el frugalista]

Managed to extend my battery life a bit more but this time I used it even less than I had the week prior. I definitely see more power usage when updating apps and surfing, not as bad with email.

138 hours unplugged with extremely light usage. Less than 20 minutes phone activity.

Sorry for the blurry image; it was taken with my iPhone 3G.

 

[cbk.o4]

macro settings on that cam is your friend.

but in all seriousness, those are amazing uptimes. i think my longest was around 49 hours.

 

[born_fisherman]

I've gotten over 96 hours with my phone- I don't use any program either..I have about 30min of voice calls/day, 30 texts, web browsing, emails, etc. And if I'm feeling crazy, some Crazy kart racing!

Before going to bed, I turn off "use background data" Overnight, my phone STAYED at 61%. I also turn off GPS and WiFi as well..

I found if I leave background data ON, the battery will drain about 2% overnight (8 hours +/-) - no use for these things to be "on" while I'm asleep.. if its an emergency I get a phone call, not an email

I think everyone needs to stop worrying so much about their battery life!@ It's a smartphone with a BRILLIANT, Bright display! And to enjoy it, yes, you must sacrifice battery life! I've had my share of Captivates over the last 40 days, so I speak from experience when I say this - If you are not getting at least 1 day out of the battery, than A. You are using it way too much!, or B. You need to replace the battery. Simple as that!

 

[TnTahoe]

Only way im seeing the times that you all are posting is if i dont touch my phone, I at least have to charge it twice a day, but i text alot, read twitter & facebook. and basically talk about 2 hours, sometimes my battery will lose 2% in a few seconds from just texting

 

[yahoowizard]

I used Juice Defender and ATK. I charged from 1 PM to 5 PM. I then removed it and by the time I went to sleep at 10, it was near 50something percent. I used JuiceDefender to turn off everything like Data, Wi-Fi, as well as put on airplane mode when I was sleeping. I woke at 5 AM up to 30 percent of battery left. And Juice Defender claims I'm getting x 1.84 the battery I normally get....yeah...not really working out here.

 

[mratlndmrk]

I have to ask....why does everyone leave their phone on at night? I mean I know some people run syncs and/or data checks at night or use the phone as an alarm clock but if you're not running those items why would you leave it on? I personally have never left my phone on at night so obviously my battery life is typically extended.

 

[NJR]

I have found one of the biggest battery savers is to install the Power Control and keep the 3 position brighness setting off unless you need it such as outside in bright sun etc. Since the display is typically the biggest user this seems to really add hours to the life.