Battery Life - The Good The Bad and The Ugly

[JohnJSal]

I took it off the charger, had everything obvious off that could drain the battery, went to the gym, and never used it. Then I got to my friend's house connected to his Wifi, went to the android market place once or twice, turned off background data refresh, checked my email or whatever in the middle of games, and texting. That's about it.

Wow, and that drained your battery 50% in 5 hours? That seems a bit excessive.

 

[rchacin]

I solved my battery problems like this:

Advanced Task Manager
Battery usage (to monitor who's the biggest offender), then:
REMOVE Fancy Widget!!!
Extended Controls, mainly to keep 3G to start without asking me or easy downgrade to 2g
Auto Wi-Fi (I`m sitill waiting to confirm this one really helps on battery)
and last, but FIRST: SetCPU.

I unplug my Motorola Milestone at 6:30 am, and browse (wifi mainly, some 3G), text, call, and play and it ends at 11:00 pm with 30% battery. Since if I need GPS I'm on the car then I plug to the car to start sattelite.

 

[Vipfreak]

That makes more sense. Because I've been seeing people claiming 31 hours of battery life. I really dont think on the Evo you can have background data/auto sync enabled and get that kind of battery life. I turn off the mobile network sometimes when im driving but i cant see myself disabling those features which I use quite oftenly.

I don't get why having every thing off would drain faster than having wifi on, background data on, and surfing the net though... ?

Wow, and that drained your battery 50% in 5 hours? That seems a bit excessive.

I didn't feel it was THAT bad coming from my Palm Pre... The bottom line is I've gone full days and not had to worry about panicing to find a charger or wondering if it will die before I get home. It's for the most part been better.

 

[gringojason]

I can usually get my EVO to last a whole day without recharging, but when I turn on 4G, the battery is dead in 2-3 hours. I get a strong 4G signal at home and at work...this is NOT a case of the phone searching for a 4G signal. Is this normal? Any work around? I havent rooted...I see no need, unless it can improve my battery life significantly. It is such a shame because 4G is so fast, I hate to not be able to use it. Thanks...

 

[toomuchgame441]

I don't get why having every thing off would drain faster than having wifi on, background data on, and surfing the net though... ?

Yes, must overlooked that... unless he had the screen on for like 4 hrs out of that 5 hours, playing with the phone.

 

[Vipfreak]

You mean me? I wasn't using the phone at all for the 5 hrs. I was at the Gym and maybe occasionally looked at the time or whatever during the 5 hrs. Nothing that would make it drain THAT fast.

 

[brownhornet]

As of today.....

Data sync on, tweetdeck set to refresh every 5 minutes, facebook sync 30 minutes... 74 texts and about 20 emails. 2 phone calls... still over 50% left. I really dont get how in the world some of you get battery life of like 5 hours from unplug to dead.

 

[sikclown]

I can usually get my EVO to last a whole day without recharging, but when I turn on 4G, the battery is dead in 2-3 hours. I get a strong 4G signal at home and at work...this is NOT a case of the phone searching for a 4G signal. Is this normal? Any work around? I havent rooted...I see no need, unless it can improve my battery life significantly. It is such a shame because 4G is so fast, I hate to not be able to use it. Thanks...

Yes unfortunately it is the technology... this is very normal. Sprint and HTC have said as much.

 

[toomuchgame441]

Data sync on, tweetdeck set to refresh every 5 minutes, facebook sync 30 minutes... 74 texts and about 20 emails. 2 phone calls... still over 50% left. I really dont get how in the world some of you get battery life of like 5 hours from unplug to dead.

When did you unplug and how long was it unplugged for your battery fall to 50%?

 

[gringojason]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully that is something that can be fixed in the future.

 

[Ze2o]

Yeah it sucks but that's why I usually have a charger wherever I'm at. Work, home, car, bathroom.........just in case.

 

[brownhornet]

When did you unplug and how long was it unplugged for your battery fall to 50%?

Look at the top of the first pic... 7 hours 26 mins. And im also streaming pandora lol... everytime i've had battery issues the culprit has been my phone not going to sleep when it should. EVERY single time. And it was just a matter of finding what it was that was causing it to stay awake.

Also.. one thing that I notice when flashing the newest rom that im using... when I flashed the rom, my phone wouldnt go to sleep because the market was steadily trying to update and refresh to show all of the apps that I restored with titanium backup. It took them about 3 days to show up in my downloads and during that time my phone would NOT go to sleep. As soon as they showed up and freshed my phone went to sleep as normal.

Im willing to bet that the majority of battery issues here are either poor reception or the fact that your phone isnt going to sleep when it should be. If I turned off the data sync I could go over a day easily but im not disabling ANYTHING that the phone came with that I SHOULD be able to use. Even with that im still able to go 15-16 hours easily with moderate usage as you can see in the pic above. Im on track to get 15ish hours today.

 

[JohnJSal]

You mean me? I wasn't using the phone at all for the 5 hrs. I was at the Gym and maybe occasionally looked at the time or whatever during the 5 hrs. Nothing that would make it drain THAT fast.

I'm confused. So do you think that 50% drain was good or bad? First you said it wasn't that bad, but in the above quote it sounds like you think it is. Besides, draining 50% when you barely used it seems awful.

 

[Vipfreak]

I'm confused. So do you think that 50% drain was good or bad? First you said it wasn't that bad, but in the above quote it sounds like you think it is. Besides, draining 50% when you barely used it seems awful.

5hrs to 50% is bad yes, but my phone still lasted and was at 44% by the end of the day when I went to charge it so OVERALL I don't feel it was THAT bad.

I really dont get how in the world some of you get battery life of like 5 hours from unplug to dead.

I have people telling me they do 44 mpg in their Toyota Matrix while in mine I only get 32 mpg... I'm not going to worry about it.

Also, that's like me saying... I don't know how someone goes through 5 of the same phone and STILL have problems. I blame the battery not being consistently made.

 

[wkufan]

Guys, I did these tips and it really helped but now I do not receive new email notifcations. How do I turn these back on?

 

[JohnJSal]

Guys, I did these tips and it really helped but now I do not receive new email notifcations. How do I turn these back on?

If you use Gmail, go to Menu > Settings > Accounts & sync and make sure both Background data and Auto-sync are checked, then tap the Google option and make sure "Sync Gmail" is checked.

If you use the Mail app with some other type of email, still make sure those first two things are checked. Then go to Settings > Display > Notification flash and make sure Email is checked.

Now, I don't use the Mail app, so you may have to go to its settings as well and make sure it is still set to auto-sync. (Or perhaps it will be listed in your Accounts & sync settings -- it's not for me because I don't use it.)

 

[toomuchgame441]

I really hate the idea of turning off the sync feature. I like using the friendstream widget and having my weather, gmail, facebook and Twitter sync at reasonable levels. But it seems like of I ever want some decent battery life out of this thing I will have to disable these features. Not feeling that. Should I just live with this? Seems like I just might have to.

 

[JohnJSal]

I really hate the idea of turning off the sync feature. I like using the friendstream widget and having my weather, gmail, facebook and Twitter sync at reasonable levels. But it seems like of I ever want some decent battery life out of this thing I will have to disable these features. Not feeling that. Should I just live with this? Seems like I just might have to.

Nah, you don't need to turn off auto-sync, just be reasonable with your sync frequencies. Every 30 minutes for everything will kill you, but auto-syncing some things (like Gmail and weather) and maybe manually updating FB and Twitter as you use them is fine.

 

[wkufan]

Please forgive me for asking such a basic question but if I want only my email to sync automatically and have everything else manually updated such as facebook & twitter, how do I set this up? Also, where do I set up how often I want my email to sync?

 

[JohnJSal]

Please forgive me for asking such a basic question but if I want only my email to sync automatically and have everything else manually updated such as facebook & twitter, how do I set this up? Also, where do I set up how often I want my email to sync?

Go to Menu > Settings > Accounts & sync and you can change all the syncing options.

 

[And Roid]

I tried the "battery trick" on my Evo (with Seidio 3500mAh) and noticed that the "10% Drop" issues (between 100% and 90%) seems to have improved for the better. Instead of taking about an hour or less to go from 100% to 90%, it has taken about 2.25 hours under the same conditions.

I wonder if you have to go through this battery trick for every charge. THAT would be a pain.

 

[rixa001]

Hi everyone,



I got my Evo a little over 2 weeks ago (coming from the Hero) and loving it. Like everyone else who has addressed battery issues/concerns, I wanted to bring mine to make sure I’m not putting too many expectations regarding battery power. I’ve installed a few games/apps (didn’t put last.fm/Pandora on yet; haven’t used the live wallpaper and don’t use 4G).

After 90 minutes on (off the charger) and ‘little’ use (that is, checking email notification in the morning once or twice (about 2 minutes), no web browsing and no calls, Bluetooth not turned on), I checked my battery status and it showed 81%. 19% drop after 90 minutes (mostly being idle)? After 5 hours (my lunch break where I do about 20 minutes of web browsing and about 10 minutes of youtube videos), it reads around 55%. So a 45% drop after 6 hours? When I get home from work (after 9 hours), it still hovers around 50%. Because I use ‘wifi’ at home, power stays in the 45-50% range (then I recharge). This is the routine Monday through Friday.

Obviously, I’m wondering if that’s normal? I know that having a faster processor, a larger screen and all the bells and whistles (apps) will require more power usage/utility. But I’m uncertain if this is abnormal. I did notice that the ‘3G notice’ at work ‘fluctuates,’ so I’m hoping that a cause is that the 3G is so bad at work (building & signal) that the phone uses power to search for a 3G connection.

Also, I did download an ATK like I had for the Hero (I know…after reading the posts here that it’s unnecessary and will remove). But I noticed that there were background programs/apps showing as on. Even when I had them shut down, a few minutes later, they still showed back up. Do ATK give false readings? And what comes up often is ‘maps’ ‘music,’ ‘sprint zone’ & ‘Amazon MP3.’ Are there programs that always update (or stay on)…regardless (I can understand v/m showing as on/active). Is there a way to shut those other programs down?
P.S. I have read many of the tips/suggestions from everyone here (thanks all). Turning off the ‘enabled always on mobile data’ & ‘background data’ has helped. But I’m wondering has anyone done everything (including battery calibration) and yet had a large drainage? 1-5% drop per hour being idle is ok with me, but 10% per hour and being almost idle?? I read a few post from those that did a hard reset and was wondering if I should do so as a last resort (after a few more weeks of ‘trials&#8217. I may be paranoid, but I just want to maximize battery power and utilize its features and not think that I have a problem with the phone when it’s operating efficiently under the circumstances/fluctuations.

[FONT=&quot]Anyway, I do have spare batteries (from the Hero) as a backup so I’m not without power (as well as leftover chargers/USB).[/FONT]

 

[drlake67]

I have been using Juice Defender/Ultimate Juice along with Power Manager Full and I have been getting excellent results. With moderate use, I got 30 hrs and still had 16% battery life before I recharged it.

 

[toomuchgame441]

Another little tip that I think is important and discovered today is about the Qik app, I always "kill" this app using my task killer, but today I actually tried doing a video conference with my brother. I was already logged in, and checking some setting. Well I came to find out that I was checking for "Video Messages" every 15 minutes, I immediately disabled the checking of msgs and logged out of Qik when I was done using it. (By the way, Qik worked pretty damn well... love my Evo even more).

 

[rockinbboy]

At work, I don't get a very good signal so I often find myself with 30-50% time without a signal which can drain battery life. By the end of the 8 hour day, I'd have to plug my car in the charger as I head home.


So lately, I noticed that the battery life on my phone has been awesome. Maybe I am using it less than I used to but I can leave work and get home with well over 30% charge, so at this point we are talking about a 10-12 hour day of battery use before I plug the evo.

Right now my phone has been on for
1d, 2hs, 47m, 36s.
Cell standby 38% (with 15% without signal while at work)
Phone idle 38%
bluetooth 11%
Android System 7%


battery life at 25%



Maybe this thread is just usless and I am not using my phone that much...lol.

My latest update includes the OTA frame rate update. Never rooted.