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The Ultimate Hero Battery Life Thread (Tips & Discussion)

nick325i

Android Enthusiast
Nov 11, 2009
491
189
I wanted to put together a collective for all of you Hero users out there having trouble with poor battery life or if you are looking to get a little bit more. Feel free to add your thoughts and discuss. I will add suggestions as they come in as well. I have broken it into two sections, the first list won't really affect your usability of the phone. The second list will disable features that help the phone auto update or pull e-mail.

First and foremost, please make sure you have the Sprint 1.5 Maintenance Release already installed.

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Brightness - Disabling the Auto Backlight feature and setting your brightness to an acceptable low level.
Menu > Settings > Sound & Display
(I have mine halfway between middle and lowest and i'm considering going farther yet as the screen is still pretty bright down this low.)
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Screen Time-out - Set this as low as you can live with it.
Menu > Settings > Sound & Display
(I have mine at 30 seconds and make a habit to turn the screen off before I set it down)
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E-mail polling - Other than your GMail, if you are using the phone for e-mail, it helps to set it to check for new mail on a longer interval 20 minutes.
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Self Updating Widgets - The HTC Flipclock has been called out as a battery hog as well as some weather widgets.
(I try to keep it to one self updating widget per home screen.)
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On/Off Toggles - For Sense UI, HTC has widget toggles for GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I toggle them all when needed. The extra 2 seconds it takes for them to turn on does nothing to impact my usefulness of the features.
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Location - Location Setting enabled but "Use Wireless Networks" disabled. When needed I toggle on my GPS. Also this will provide a much more accurate location for Google Maps and Sprint Nav.
Menu > Settings > Location
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Automated Task Killers not so good - They run in the background closing out your tasks that you leave open. Two things here that contribute to the bad battery life. If you have to re-open everything from scratch all the time it uses more CPU time. Since android apps enter a pause state when you are not using them the CPU is not being utilized.
(For this I recommend "Close Everything" you open it and hit close everything and if something is open that shouldn't be or what not it closes it. Also good for programs that don't force close on error or back key press.)
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HTC Weather - Turn of the automatic updates if you are using the weather widget from HTC. Possibly consider switching to another app/widget where you can set your update frequency.
App List > Weather > Menu > Settings
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Facebook and other Social Apps - Turn the update frequency down to an hour or more. FaceBook > Menu > Settings
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PRL Update - Your phone can struggle if you are in between towers or have a constant weak signal. As more towers are built or updated so should your PRL list be updated. Try to remember to update this once and a while incase something has changed in your local tower network.
Menu > Settings > About Phone > System Updates > Update PRL
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Disable Haptic Feedback on KB - This may be a smaller gainer but its still a gain. Disabling the vibration on every key press, especially if your a heavy text'r or tweeter.
Menu > Settings > Locale & Text > Touch Input > Text Input > Vibrate when Typing

The following tips will incur feature loss with the Hero


Disable Always on Mobile Network - This will make it so you have to manually update most of your widgets and applications.
Menu > Settings > Wireless controls > Mobile network settings
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Disable Background Data - This will disable all automatic sync of Gmail, Google contacts and calendars. If you do not use any of these, feel free to disable.
Menu > Settings > Data synchronization > Google > Background data


In addition to the above tips try charging your phone while its off for a much faster charge!

12/28/2009 Update : 3500mah battery availble for Hero
http://www.seidioonline.com/product-p/bacy35hhrs-bk.htm
 
cool, thanks.

how much of a power hog is the htc flipclock? I like that it shows the current weather with it, although if its a huge battery hog I wouldn't mind finding a replacement.

Theres an app in the market called "clock/weather widget" and its exactly the same app, only it requires you manually update your location every time you turn off your phone. But looks exactly the same.
 
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Location - Location Setting enabled but "Use Wireless Networks" disabled. When needed I toggle on my GPS. Also this will provide a much more accurate location for Google Maps and Sprint Nav.
Menu > Settings > Location

So "Use wireless networks" and "Enable GPS satellites" should be unchecked, leaving "Location Setting" the only thing that is checked? (I only turn on GPS when I need it).

cool, thanks.

how much of a power hog is the htc flipclock? I like that it shows the current weather with it, although if its a huge battery hog I wouldn't mind finding a replacement.

Not sure how much of a power hog it is but I just realized the other day that having the clock set to "current location" might also hurt the life because it's always checking for the location. I just set it to my home town because I very rarely travel to a different time zone.
 
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Theres an app in the market called "clock/weather widget" and its exactly the same app, only it requires you manually update your location every time you turn off your phone. But looks exactly the same.

Does it seem to use less battery? Also, what exactly do you mean it requires you to update your location? It won't let you shut off the phone until you do? or it prompts you asking if you'd like to?

Does it give weather for one spot only, or does it follow you around like the current widget does? Also, who is the author of the app you talk of, I want to make sure I get the right one...
 
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Why does everyone feel the need to have a weather widget that tells them what the weather is at your location? If your there already, cant you look outside and find out on your own?

I use the 1x1 weatherbug widget because I like to know what the temperature is outside in the morning for assessment of layers of clothing and proper jacket(I live in Wisconsin). Also when the season is proper I plan after work golf or snowmobiling with quick access to radar and forecasts from the widget.
 
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Does it seem to use less battery? Also, what exactly do you mean it requires you to update your location? It won't let you shut off the phone until you do? or it prompts you asking if you'd like to?

Does it give weather for one spot only, or does it follow you around like the current widget does? Also, who is the author of the app you talk of, I want to make sure I get the right one...

Its called weather widget by android apps. To update it asks you to enter either your zip code or city, every time you turn it off, or you can set it to update starting from 1 hr to every 24 hrs. I don't think it drains batt life at all imho.

And yep it will change locations depending on your travels. I know it changes between my job and home. Its free also.
 
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So "Use wireless networks" and "Enable GPS satellites" should be unchecked, leaving "Location Setting" the only thing that is checked? (I only turn on GPS when I need it).



Not sure how much of a power hog it is but I just realized the other day that having the clock set to "current location" might also hurt the life because it's always checking for the location. I just set it to my home town because I very rarely travel to a different time zone.

So you set the clock/weather widget that came with the phone on your home town rather than location? I can't seem to set it to a hometown. How do you do that?
 
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Everyone talks about turning off GPS on the Hero and Moment. However, if you do that how does "Emergency Location" and/or "E911" service work?

Tony

Tony,

It would help if you actually open the location settings options and look at the three. Hero has three separate lines, "Use Wireless Networks", "Location Setting" and "Enable GPS Satellites".

Turn off the first and last. Now, REMOVE check from the second one and READ THE FRIGGIN MESSAGE.
 
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This thread is relevant to my interests :)

Any opinion on the twitter widget? I set it to update every 24 hours, I'm hoping that is sufficient.

I don't see that Facebook setting, is that for a Facebook app?
acp, Swift was released in the Market and I have been testing it all day. Features and speed are unsurpassed. Set it to update every 5 minutes for testing purposes and has been easy on my battery. I'll let you know what I see for the next couple days.

Being a big Twitter user, this app rocks better than any other I've seen so far. Yes even Twitdroid, and it's free ;)
 
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Tony,

It would help if you actually open the location settings options and look at the three. Hero has three separate lines, "Use Wireless Networks", "Location Setting" and "Enable GPS Satellites".

Turn off the first and last. Now, REMOVE check from the second one and READ THE FRIGGIN MESSAGE.

Thanks for getting back to me TF1984. Of course it would help if I actually had a Hero or a Moment to test that on but I am currently using a Blackberry and have been watching the forums to determine which Android device I want to buy before I make the switch.

Your excellent and calm demeanor tells me it might be better to go with a Moment instead of a Hero as those users tend to be more polite and less dramatic when someone asks a question. They also don't appear to be so assuming either and ask additional questions to frame a question. However, since I don't have a unit yet I downloaded the PDF manual and could not find the "FRIGGIN MESSAGE" referenced anywhere in it. Perhaps it is a technical term only you understand and less trained people such as myself can only aspire to have in our vernacular some day. So, as you go to the podium to collect your employee of the year award for excellent customer service - Thanks again.

Tony
 
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Thanks for getting back to me TF1984. Of course it would help if I actually had a Hero or a Moment to test that on but I am currently using a Blackberry and have been watching the forums to determine which Android device I want to buy before I make the switch.

Your excellent and calm demeanor tells me it might be better to go with a Moment instead of a Hero as those users tend to be more polite and less dramatic when someone asks a question. They also don't appear to be so assuming either and ask additional questions to frame a question. However, since I don't have a unit yet I downloaded the PDF manual and could not find the "FRIGGIN MESSAGE" referenced anywhere in it. Perhaps it is a technical term only you understand and less trained people such as myself can only aspire to have in our vernacular some day. So, as you go to the podium to collect your employee of the year award for excellent customer service - Thanks again.

Tony
LOL...i wouldnt base getting a different phone off of this tho....
 
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Automated Task Killers not so good - They run in the background closing out your tasks that you leave open. Two things here that contribute to the bad battery life. If you have to re-open everything from scratch all the time it uses more CPU time. Since android apps enter a pause state when you are not using them the CPU is not being utilized.
(For this I recommend "Close Everything" you open it and hit close everything and if something is open that shouldn't be or what not it closes it. Also good for programs that don't force close on error or back key press.)
-

Nick,

I tried your advice yesterday and wanted to add one thought (in my experience). I wondered about the task killer battery drain possibility. I personally use Advanced Task Manager (paid). Gerenally I have it auto start, run all the time and Auto end every 30 mins, all apps except excluded list.

Seeing your post I wanted to try a day without, so I did. My battery life was cut by a third without the ATK running. I used my phone 50% less than normal as well. So IMO and experience, I would say that at least having the auto end running in background will save a substantial amount of battery life. For me at least.
 
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Nick,

I tried your advice yesterday and wanted to add one thought (in my experience). I wondered about the task killer battery drain possibility. I personally use Advanced Task Manager (paid). Gerenally I have it auto start, run all the time and Auto end every 30 mins, all apps except excluded list.

Seeing your post I wanted to try a day without, so I did. My battery life was cut by a third without the ATK running. I used my phone 50% less than normal as well. So IMO and experience, I would say that at least having the auto end running in background will save a substantial amount of battery life. For me at least.

Excellent Test!
I do have a question for you though...

When you leave your applications to go to home screen or switch to a different app etc, what button do you press on your phone. Do you press the home button or do you use the back arrow.

It is my current understanding that if you use the back arrow the program closes and if you use the home button the program is left open.
 
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Excellent Test!
I do have a question for you though...

When you leave your applications to go to home screen or switch to a different app etc, what button do you press on your phone. Do you press the home button or do you use the back arrow.

It is my current understanding that if you use the back arrow the program closes and if you use the home button the program is left open.

I heard that too, I'm not sure I buy it.

With Dolphin I hold back and it exits and clears cache, but with most others I usually just hit home. But my Advanced Task Manager auto-ends apps every thirty mins. so it takes care of that for me. Plus I have a real addiction to tapping my ATK widget on home screen to force close the non-excluded apps.
 
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I heard that too, I'm not sure I buy it.

With Dolphin I hold back and it exits and clears cache, but with most others I usually just hit home. But my Advanced Task Manager auto-ends apps every thirty mins. so it takes care of that for me. Plus I have a real addiction to tapping my ATK widget on home screen to force close the non-excluded apps.

I buy it because i've tested it. If you open a bunch of crap and press home after you open each one go look in your task manager. Close it all then open a bunch of stuff and use back to get back to your home screen and see how much is still open.

My point is our difference in battery over the same time frame is the fact that I never use the home button. I always use back to close the apps. Then I run my "Close Everything" about 2-3 times a day for the other stuff that doesn't close when its done or has hung and not FC'd.
 
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I buy it because i've tested it. If you open a bunch of crap and press home after you open each one go look in your task manager. Close it all then open a bunch of stuff and use back to get back to your home screen and see how much is still open.

My point is our difference in battery over the same time frame is the fact that I never use the home button. I always use back to close the apps. Then I run my "Close Everything" about 2-3 times a day for the other stuff that doesn't close when its done or has hung and not FC'd.

Gotcha. I missed the point that you use back button instead of home button. That makes sense.

So using back DOES close the app? I have to remember that.
 
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