Strange battery occurance.

[BrianR]

I started a new thread since, although there are a ton of "get better battery life" threads, this doesnt really fit. And which one should i put it in?

Yesterday, I unplugged my phone from the wall at 3pm. I performed many tasks on it through the day, never any prolonged activity. A few phone calls, occassional Twitter checks, some email (gmail) checks, and maybe 45 minutes of sustained web browsing while I watched TV.

The phone showed "49%" battery left.
I went to bed at 4am (F'ed up sleep schedule), rebooted the phone to clear any background apps that might be running, made sure that wifi and gps were switched off, plugged the phone in and went to sleep.

I woke up this morning at 8, left the phone where it was, and at 9am, the phone beeped. I though it might be an alarm that was set, but it was a beep notifying me that the battery was dead. It turns out, the plug had come out of the wall socket, so the phone wasnt getting any power.

Fine... I'm an idiot...but what I dont get is how the phone lasted 13 hours making phone calls and browsing and app playing, etc., and only got down about 50%, then in 5 hours just sitting there, it drained the remaining battery.

Something was happening. (I had no twitter, email, calls, or SMS over the night.) I just dont know if the battery meter is off, if BatteryLife app is off or whatever else the problem might be. It no big deal that it happened NOW, but bad battery life or night, I need to at least be able to trust the power information I'm given.

Any ideas?

 

[305Cane]

Any ideas?

Gnomes.

 

[nick325i]

I use the BatteryLife widget as well and I find it extremely reliable.

Sometimes I experience spikes in battery usage making it seem like it burns more battery when i'm not using it than when i am.

I have one recommendation. Use the app called "Close everything" instead of rebooting. I have had it since I got my hero and love it. Sometimes after a reboot I have 4-6 things running that I never touched. I know it's strange but it is true.

 

[BrianR]

Thanks. I'll give Close Everything a try, but in all the reading I've done, both on this site and many others, the concensus seems to be that "task manager" apps are not only unnecessary due to the way linux handles apps, closure, and memory clearance. That the apps would mess with it's own more reliable way of handling things.

I know NOTHING about these things and must rely on what I read. Sadly, for every person saying "You MUST do xxxxx..." there are just as many people saying "You must NEVER do xxxxx...".

Makes it hard to figure out what to do.


(All that said, this: "Sometimes after a reboot I have 4-6 things running that I never touched." is exactly what I was looking for. I rebooted because it SEEMED like it would be good, but I'm not at all sure that it is.)

 

[305Cane]

Thanks. I'll give Close Everything a try, but in all the reading I've done, both on this site and many others, the concensus seems to be that "task manager" apps are not only unnecessary due to the way linux handles apps, closure, and memory clearance. That the apps would mess with it's own more reliable way of handling things.

I know NOTHING about these things and must rely on what I read. Sadly, for every person saying "You MUST do xxxxx..." there are just as many people saying "You must NEVER do xxxxx...".

Makes it hard to figure out what to do.


(All that said, this: "Sometimes after a reboot I have 4-6 things running that I never touched." is exactly what I was looking for. I rebooted because it SEEMED like it would be good, but I'm not at all sure that it is.)

ok, since Gnomes werent a sufficient answer for you i have some advice.

as you mentioned yourself, a large group of members of this forum support the idea of not using task managers. i used to use them but most of the time, when people use them, they cause more issues than fixes, and its what happened to me. my phone has been great since i stopped using them and i make sure to reboot every few days to reset things a bit.

have you been able to replicate the issue? i would say its best to replicate the issue additional times to make sure that its not an isolated issue.

 

[cooolone2]

I liked the Gnomes answer...

although I thought they were little unseen mobile handset Demons who like to torture us and cause havoc!

8D

 

[nick325i]

Close everything really isn't a task manager. It doesn't run in the background or monitor anything. You open the program, tap "Try to close all applications". It lists what it closed if it does and its done.

I understand how android specifically manages the pausing and resuming of programs and why we "SHOULDN'T" need things like this, but I (last time I checked) do not live in a perfect world.

 

[BrianR]

@305Cane

Thanks for the updated bit of help. While gnomes made me chuckle, it wasnt much help. Regarding replicating the issue, I agree, that would be the best way to check what is going on, but having a dead battery on my phone is a bad idea considering I need to receive calls. I'll see what I can do, though.


@nick

Understood. Is it possible for Close Everything to close things that shouldnt be closed? Again, I dont want to miss an important call because it has close some process necessary to receiving calls or the ringer to sound, or whatever.

I'm not looking for PERFECTION, just looking for something that WORKS and I can RELY on.

 

[nick325i]

I have never seen close everything, close anything integral to the Hero's usage. I've never missed a call or text or had problems launching anything because of it. I use it probably 3-5 times per day. Its free so I would suggest downloading it and checking it out for a day or two. If its not your cup of tea, dump it.

 

[erjent]

How's the coverage at your house?

I have a bad signal at my home. When I keep it next to my bed during the night it tends to lose battery very fast. I assume it is from syncing during the night and not having a good connection. When I'm on the road the battery life is perfect. I lose almost no battery while I sleep.

 

[305Cane]

@305Cane

Thanks for the updated bit of help. While gnomes made me chuckle, it wasnt much help. Regarding replicating the issue, I agree, that would be the best way to check what is going on, but having a dead battery on my phone is a bad idea considering I need to receive calls. I'll see what I can do, though.

well silly, i mean try to replicate it overnight go through normal usage and leave it off charger again tonight and see what happens. theoretically it should last all night again. charging from a socket will be fast so you can recover froma low battery in not much time. do you see abnormal drain on the phone when you leave it idle during the day?

 

[BrianR]

Coverage at my house is 4/5 bars. Very good. (I'm in a pocket in LA that got only 0/1 with ATT. Not good to have no phone at home. I had great coverage w/ ATT other than small spots.)

@305

My schedule was set back 1.5 hours this morning due to needing to charge before leaving the house, so waking up with a dead battery isnt good. When I have a chance to replicate, I'll post those results.

Thanks guys for all the help.