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Expected Battery Life

MikeC1408

Android Enthusiast
Oct 19, 2010
260
28
Essex
So before the order for the Desire is placed, I'm interested in the battery life I can expect with the below settings after the charging tip is done from new.

Seen plenty of people say they get 6 hours and others getting 2 - 3 days but no usage info included.

Phone will be SLCD Model running 2.2

No App Killer (Thanks for the links in my other thread)

WiFi - Off
Bluetooth - Off
GPS - Off
Friend Stream - Off
Weather App - manual Sync (Can you have it auto sync just once a day? I'll look out the window for up to date weather :D)
Screen brightness - 50% (or is auto better)
Contacts & Calendar - manual sync
3G - On
Haptic FeedBack - Off

3 email accounts (1 GMail, 2 None GMail) all forwarding to GMail account so only the GMail account syncing (for incoming and replies, I hope I'm correct that replies will go out as per receiving address once set up correctly). Will use other email client for creating & sending new mails for 2 non GMail accounts but nothing else, all replies from GMail App.

Always On Mobile Data - Off (Am I correct in thinking that GMail app will only sync as per the settings, say every 15 minutes, once the phone is asleep otherwise no difference)

Emails - probably about 20 incoming 10 outgoing a day
SMS - Approx 10 a day
Phone - Approx 15 - 20 Minutes a day
Internet - 20 - 30 Minutes a day

All on average figures, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Thanks in Advance
 
I think people still think phones like this are just phones. They aren't, they're basically mini computers...so battery life isn't always as good.

I'd say my useage isn't far off what you intend to use it for, and right now my battery is at 55% and i went to work with it on at 84% this morning...

Swings and roundabouts though.

If you root your phone, most roms also give much better battery life and it's a lot easier to manage with apps like setcpu.
 
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Just need at least a day and a half to make it worth while. I know it will never come close to the 9700 not a lot will.

Just need to be able to forget to plug it over night, as you do when drunk :D, and be able to get to work the next day to plug it in as I run my own company and always need the phone.

Had iPhone before and always Jailbreaked them so would be happy rooting, where can I find out more info on different roms available?
 
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The "ALL THINGS ROOT" subforum here is a good start ;)

I rooted. I easily get a day. If you put it into airplane mode at night, you may get 2-3 hours out of 1% of battery. You can download apps to do this automatically.

I'm rooted, overclocked, turn wifi off when out of the house. With what I term "Heavy usage" I can easily have 30-40% battery left. I have set cpu Underclocking to lowest value when the screen is off.

With the usage you describe, with my set up, I'd be confident of getting a day and a half.

Also, Gmail doesn't sync at intervals. It's push (like BIS) so you only get sync when gmail actually receives an email.
 
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Also, Gmail doesn't sync at intervals. It's push (like BIS) so you only get sync when gmail actually receives an email.

I realise it's push when the phone is awake, but my understanding is once the phone is asleep (if always on mobile data is switched off) it is no longer receiving push mail as such, but instead connects to your account at intervals set in the GMail settings.

Or am I way off the mark on this :thinking:
 
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Mike I cant say what YOU will get from your phone but what I can do is tell you exactly what I get from my phone now cause my usage is almost identical to what you wrote.

Just stuck it on charge, it had 23% left but it had been running with 3G on, HTC mail sync every hour, 2 hours of internet, some txts, around 40 mins of calls, listened to a couple of albums and the stats said 1 day 19 hours! With 23% left it would easily have went over 2 days, so I am more than happy with that :)

For Gmail to sync you need to have auto sync (menu>settings>accounts/sync) ticked. Then you can set what google services you want to sync. I have always on mobile unchecked btw and it doesnt affect the gmail/mail sync in any way....Any emails I get sent come in almost instantly NO matter what state the phone is in!

I'm in the process of testing what effect on battery life having gmail auto sync has on my setup so I'll let you know in a day or so ;)

As for brightness level, well all I will say on that one is when I first got my Desire I had it set to low as someone said it would increase the battery life *shrugs*, then I had to get a replacement Desire and I didnt change the brightness level at all (totally forgot about it tbh :eek: ). I didnt notice ANY difference in my battery life.

So I ran some tests and tbh the gain is minimal in % terms, so I'd just stick it on auto and forget about it. The Desire is pretty good at managing the brightness levels, plus you will be able to use it, without having to mess around with controls/settings, when it is bright outside :D
 
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Will do mate......I'm very interested to see how much battery having gmail sync actually eats up. What I cant find though is a setting that will allow me to change the frequency of syncing for Gmail, you can for the HTC Mail app but (unless it is hidden inside a myriad of other settings) I cant see it for Gmail :( At this rate I will have used up most of the battery tinkering :D

Note to self, put the phone down and leave it!
 
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I realise it's push when the phone is awake, but my understanding is once the phone is asleep (if always on mobile data is switched off) it is no longer receiving push mail as such, but instead connects to your account at intervals set in the GMail settings.

Or am I way off the mark on this :thinking:

There are no settings other than on or off. There's HTC mail which has peak and off peak settings and different intervals for both. You can set gmail up in there but you still get push in gmail so it would be detrimental.
 
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So what does Always On Mobile Data actually do then?????

think I'll forward the other 2 email accounts to GMail and only poll GMail. I can use GMail to reply and the recipient will see the original email address and not GMail (Company Email Account).

Just use the HTC Mail client for generating new mails from the non GMail accounts, nothing else.
 
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It turns off the data connection when its not being used but as soon as something wants to connect it will.turn.on again.

You say poll but at the risk of sounding pedantic, it doesn't poll. Push literally pushes the email to the device. You receive no mail, gmail uses no data connection for polling, unlike an app that does poll.

In regards to reply address, not sure in that. When I set up my domain, I set up a Google partnership so gmail handles Dan@mydomain.com. then when I got this phone, it allowed me to add it as a gmail. Pretty cool really.
 
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In regards to reply address, not sure in that. When I set up my domain, I set up a Google partnership so gmail handles Dan@mydomain.com. then when I got this phone, it allowed me to add it as a gmail. Pretty cool really.

Interesting.

i have a mike@mydomain.co.uk (too tight to get .com as well for a small company :D)

I know in GMail you can add an email address as a reply from address and any email received from that address will be sent from that address when you reply. You just can not select the mike@mydomain.co.uk as the address to send from for a new mail. The work around is to send yourself a blank email and then use this to forward (removing all traces of the initial email)

Will look into this partnership thing.
 
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Seen plenty of people say they get 6 hours and others getting 2 - 3 days but no usage info included.
I've posted my usage with details several times, and I can get 24-48 hours depending on how much GPS or internet I use. Typically I charge once a day to keep the battery topped up rather than run it down since that's better for Li-Ion than depleting them.
WiFi - Off
Bluetooth - Off
GPS - Off
Friend Stream - Off
Weather App - manual Sync (Can you have it auto sync just once a day? I'll look out the window for up to date weather :D)
Screen brightness - 50% (or is auto better)
Contacts & Calendar - manual sync
3G - On
Haptic FeedBack - Off
Always On Mobile Data - Off
I have GPS, 3G, haptic, and mobile data turned on all the time. WiFi and Bluetooth and Friendstream are always off. But contrary to what many think, having GPS and mobile data on do not consume battery unless they're actively being used. So if you're not running a GPS app or using the internet, there is virtually no battery drain from those features. Even the weather app doesn't use GPS unless the phone can't get an approximate location since it doesn't use your exact position for weather, just the area, and wireless location is more than accurate enough for that. I have my weather widget updating every hour, but I have News and Stocks updating manually a couple of times a day.
Emails - probably about 20 incoming 10 outgoing a day
SMS - Approx 10 a day
Phone - Approx 15 - 20 Minutes a day
Internet - 20 - 30 Minutes a day
Based on that kind of usage, you should get a day out of it. The biggest battery drains are the display screen, and heavy CPU/GPS usage. As long as you don't go crazy with GPS use, and you turn the screen off when you're not using it, it shouldn't be too bad.

Just remember that the first few days will seem to have poor battery life as you use the phone heavily while playing with all the new features. And no, the myth about Li-Ion batteries lasting longer after a few cycles is just that, a myth. Have fun!
:D
 
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So before the order for the Desire is placed, I'm interested in the battery life I can expect with the below settings after the charging tip is done from new.

Seen plenty of people say they get 6 hours and others getting 2 - 3 days but no usage info included.

Phone will be SLCD Model running 2.2

No App Killer (Thanks for the links in my other thread)

WiFi - Off
Bluetooth - Off
GPS - Off
Friend Stream - Off
Weather App - manual Sync (Can you have it auto sync just once a day? I'll look out the window for up to date weather :D)
Screen brightness - 50% (or is auto better)
Contacts & Calendar - manual sync
3G - On
Haptic FeedBack - Off

3 email accounts (1 GMail, 2 None GMail) all forwarding to GMail account so only the GMail account syncing (for incoming and replies, I hope I'm correct that replies will go out as per receiving address once set up correctly). Will use other email client for creating & sending new mails for 2 non GMail accounts but nothing else, all replies from GMail App.

Always On Mobile Data - Off (Am I correct in thinking that GMail app will only sync as per the settings, say every 15 minutes, once the phone is asleep otherwise no difference)

Emails - probably about 20 incoming 10 outgoing a day
SMS - Approx 10 a day
Phone - Approx 15 - 20 Minutes a day
Internet - 20 - 30 Minutes a day

All on average figures, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Thanks in Advance

One thing that I found controlled my Android mileage was that a lot of my time is spent in areas of borderline 3G connectivity (results in apprx 16 hours battery life), so I often put the phone in GSM only mode (two days battery now!).
I turn 3G back on for internet browsing, navigation etc, 2G/GSM is fine for mails and such.
 
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I use the following and get 20-30 hours usage every day.

Screen brightness: Auto
Wifi - On always
3G - On always
GPS - Off
Bluetooth - Off

Weather - Updates hourly
Twitter, FB, Flickr - Update every 4 hours
Email - One account, updated every 2 hours during the day
Calendar - Manual sync

SMS - about 10 a day
Calls - about 30 mins a day
Internet - about 1 hour a day
 
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I use the following and get 20-30 hours usage every day.

Hehe, Mubble I assume you mean per charge? I dont have a time machine so I think 30 hours usage per day, for me anyway, is a no-go :)

A quick update for Mike, having had Gmail sync on since yesterday and having done an hour or so of internet, some txts, some calls and a few emails my battery is sitting pretty at 67% after nearly 19 hours - All with 3G on.

Gmail updates mails as soon as they are sent/available. I suppose the amount of emails you get sent would have an effect on battery usage as you would be using the screen more, but so far I am really impressed and at this rate I see NO real reason (in battery saving terms that is) for having 3G turned off.

I still dont understand the need to have Wifi/3G always on though? Surely it is a massive security risk to have your data readily accessible over what is a very insecure connection?

I really dont understand why anyone can have a go at this phone :( It is easily THE BEST phone I have ever owned - and I have had almost all of the main protagonists at one time or another!

Sure it is NOT perfect, but with a bit of nous and some tinkering under the hood (I've found no need to root at all) you can get it setup and running to YOUR specifications WITHOUT having to do too much in the way of compromise!
 
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