Question about the battery.....

[Deleted User]

Everyone knows the G1's battery sucks. It's all over the forums, comments, people talk about it, people read about it, people (like ME) experience it.

The question is: why the hell does it suck so bad?

I don't even want to believe it's the capacity. From what I've read, I think it's 1100 or 1000mAh. The iPhone's battery, from what I've read, is 1400mAh. Is it more? Yes. Is it a lot more? Hell no.

My friends have iPhones. I'm a senior in high school and my G1 runs out of charge sometimes by my last period. My web design teacher and one of my friends in that class make fun of me because they have iPhones and they're still at like 80-90% by the last period of the day.

(Now don't get me wrong. I didn't get the G1 and expect to get an iPhone-clone with a keyboard. I like the iPhone, but I like the G1 better. I just want a better battery, or at least an explanation).

One could possibly argue that the poor battery life has something to do with running apps in the background. The problem is this: today I went to school and before first period even started (about 2 hours after I took it off the charger on a full charge) it was at 67%. I had NO background apps running and I rarely do. I never have GPS on (because the battery sucks), I only have Wi-Fi on when I'm at home, my screen brightness is set to 0%, I didn't watch any YouTube videos, and I possibly visited a website or two. That's just ridiculous, honestly.

I don't mean to be on a rant, really. I don't entirely mind carrying a USB cable to school for my last period, and I don't mind recalibrating the battery every once in a while for a quick boost of battery life. What I do mind, though, is having a phone with amazing features that I simply won't use because the battery will die so quickly. I also mind iPhone users making fun of me My web design teacher made this joke today (he says the G1 gets extremely hot) - he said "If you weren't a vegetarian, you could probably cook an egg on that thing except it would die in five minutes before it could finish." Hilarious joke? Absolutely. Hilarious truth? Not at all (although I don't find the phone hot).

So again, what's the deal with the battery? Is it really that extra 300-400mAh that the iPhone has, is it an inefficient OS, background apps, a supposed "leak" in the battery that I've read rumors about, or what?

Thanks for reading...
Gerard

 

[punkzanyj]

well, apparently your teacher (who's an unprofessional jerk for insulting students, BTW) and friends appear to be some of the lucky ones with battery life:

http://iphone.click2creation.com/20...-your-iphone-battery-sucks-using-it-too-much/

http://iphoneindia.gyanin.com/2008/...-sucks-how-to-improve-battery-life-of-iphone/

http://iphone.click2creation.com/2008/11/a-case-for-filling-the-iphone-3g-power-vacuum/

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?blogid=2&entryid=345

http://www.modmyi.com/forums/general-iphone-chat/236181-iphone-3g-battery-sucks.html

http://www.1888discuss.com/cell-phones/t-i-hate-the-iphone-battery-it-sucks-271.html

Now some thoughts.

In settings, data synchronization, are you syncing everything automatically? I don't have contacts and calendar syncing. I do that manually when it needs to be done.

What's the timeout on your screen? I have it set at 1-minute.



Today I had phenomenal battery life. I'm at an assignment where there's literally no privacy at my desk at work. So, I just turn my phone off except at lunch and on my breaks. I left for work at 745am and at 5pm when I turned it on, it was still mostly charged, a phone call and some surfing on my way home and it was at 74%. I know that's not the answer you're looking for....but considering you're at school, do you really need your phone on the whole day?

I know, I know, someone is going to say "turning off your phone??? Oh NOEZ! That's crazy talk!!" But is it really? Most of us are at school or work -- and isn't that where our minds should be, school and work, not playing around on our phones?


The bootup time on my T-Mobile Wing was ridiculous. Like 5-minutes at least before you could do anything. Plus an annoying chime while you wait.(until I disabled it in the registry). The G1 isn't nearly that bad. Boots up in a minute, no chime, connects to data within a minute after that. That's enough time to pee and get some coffee.

From what I understand, battery life is a concern of Android/HTC, so hopefully a fix is on the way. The rumor is replacement batteries for all of us, but that hasn't been confirmed, no dates or anything.

 

[dkaufman1]

Your rant is appropriate. I agree on the battery life. I have friends ask why have 3G if you run in Edge all the time for fear of battery issues. Same for GPS.

Until they iron out the leaks or provide the user even more ability to manage the issues the jabs will continue.

While that rumor of a "free battery" is about as likely as free anything from Tmobile, I could see Google updating Android and giving us all more battery life.

 

[Dont make me +5 you]

Had my G1 less then a week and already have it set up so I can charge via USB at work and regular wall charger at home. Its pretty annoying.
My BlackBerry 8320 never had this much trouble and I could play brickbreaker all day without charging. lol.
I still <3 this phone, though =]

 

[Babaki]

when the iphone 3g first came out the battery life sucked. a few updates later and its much better. the problem i believe is with the 3g which was the problem with the iphone. Something about the OS calling more power than was needed to hang on to the 3g signal. it sucks for now but im sure it will get ironed out soon enough. there is 1400mah battery from seido that is the same size as the OEM battery out right now. i think im gonna get it.

 

[six41]

i ran three overnight trials to check on battery reduction when not in active use. bluetooth, gps, and wifi were off in all cases.

night 1 = g1 in 3g mode = 15% loss
night 2 = g1 in 2g mode = 12% loss
night 3 = g1 in airplane mode = 0% loss

like everyone else, i am hoping for an improved battery solution soon.

 

[noonehereyet]

i ran three overnight trials to check on battery reduction when not in active use. bluetooth, gps, and wifi were off in all cases.

night 1 = g1 in 3g mode = 15% loss
night 2 = g1 in 2g mode = 12% loss
night 3 = g1 in airplane mode = 0% loss

like everyone else, i am hoping for an improved battery solution soon.

I've done this too and my frustration with the battery forced me to call customer care again... According to the lady I spoke with I had two options battery swap or handset swap but they are NOT offering a new extended free battery at all! Being that I know the battery life sucks there is no point in swapping a bad battery for the same newer bad battery and my handset does not creak or have any screen issues so that is out of the question.... so looks like this will be our only viable option for the time being.... and if ANYONE truly has spoken to customer service and gotten a different answer I would like to know because this is the second time I have called about it....

 

[crater]

I must have gotten really lucky with my g1. My battery works great, I've gone from 7 in the morning, going to work till 5, going out for dinner and a movie, and i get home and still have plenty of battery left.

I text all day long too, so it's not that it is sitting off all day long.

 

[ChilledMatt]

I must have gotten really lucky with my g1. My battery works great, I've gone from 7 in the morning, going to work till 5, going out for dinner and a movie, and i get home and still have plenty of battery left.

I text all day long too, so it's not that it is sitting off all day long.

Do you browse the web, use gps, make many phone calls? If I only used my phone for text messaging I am sure my battery would be adequate too.

 

[dkaufman1]

I must have gotten really lucky with my g1. My battery works great, I've gone from 7 in the morning, going to work till 5, going out for dinner and a movie, and i get home and still have plenty of battery left.

I text all day long too, so it's not that it is sitting off all day long.

Left my phone home once unplugged and when I came back it had all my texts, about 30, and was going strong battery wise.

I think txt "all day long" could mean a few or non-stop.

 

[crater]

Do you browse the web, use gps, make many phone calls? If I only used my phone for text messaging I am sure my battery would be adequate too.

Left my phone home once unplugged and when I came back it had all my texts, about 30, and was going strong battery wise.

I think txt "all day long" could mean a few or non-stop.

I meant it as pretty non-stop. I don't have a very busy day, and i use it to fill the 8 hours at work, when servers are not on fire that is.

I make calls, not very many though. I don't use GPS all day, because I'm at work, i have no use for GPS when sitting at my desk... I don't need directions to the Server Closet. To be honest, I actually don't have a huge use for GPS ever. If i need quick directions i just use the triangulation in Google maps to get the general area from my location, and it is almost always spot on. If i'm really driving and need turn by turn, i have a Garmin.

I will look things up on google, and use apps like twitdroid and shazam, occasional youtube video. I primarily Text, Email, and make short calls.

 

[noonehereyet]

I meant it as pretty non-stop. I don't have a very busy day, and i use it to fill the 8 hours at work, when servers are not on fire that is.

I make calls, not very many though. I don't use GPS all day, because I'm at work, i have no use for GPS when sitting at my desk... I don't need directions to the Server Closet. To be honest, I actually don't have a huge use for GPS ever. If i need quick directions i just use the triangulation in Google maps to get the general area from my location, and it is almost always spot on. If i'm really driving and need turn by turn, i have a Garmin.

I will look things up on google, and use apps like twitdroid and shazam, occasional youtube video. I primarily Text, Email, and make short calls.

Try this....Use the internet for 30 minutes starting with your charge at 100% when you are finished check the charge.... this should be a significant drain should also tell you how long the charge would last with constant real usage text messages and quick calls are not the issue it's when you put the phone to the test that you feel it...

 

[Ageless Stranger]

Now this is odd, very odd indeed.

I last charged by G1 on Friday night, and since charging it I turned on wireless and did some random smufing of the web, checked the market a few times, wrote some emails and made a few phone calls.

Saturday I did pretty much the same thing, played a couple of games too.

Today, now today is sunday and I picked up my G1 expecting the battery to be flatter than a family of hedgehogs making their way across the fast lane of the motorway, but no not even close, I have 50% battery remaining. So I did some more smurfing, checked and downloaded some apps from the market and deleted them, the battery is still fine and holding.

what is going on? am I writing this in some strange and bizarre dream, or has something gone seriously wrong with my battery and it is holding its charge?

edit: I have the stock battery, and the stock OS

 

[SK.]

Nope I have the same effect. wireless signal is constant so the phone has to work less to find a network signal (all that switching between 2g/3g) and 3g is a battery drainer. If you are in a weaker signal area then the phone works harder to lock onto a decent signal/strongest ergo the battery drains more.

Now I must admit that I haven't had the performance that you have had but my battery lasts significantly longer if I use wifi all the time for browsing etc than relying on the phone network.

 

[ChilledMatt]

Nope I have the same effect. wireless signal is constant so the phone has to work less to find a network signal (all that switching between 2g/3g) and 3g is a battery drainer. If you are in a weaker signal area then the phone works harder to lock onto a decent signal/strongest ergo the battery drains more.

Now I must admit that I haven't had the performance that you have had but my battery lasts significantly longer if I use wifi all the time for browsing etc than relying on the phone network.

I agree. Also browsing on wi-fi seems a lot less heavy on the battery than 2g or 3g. I know when my phone is using a lot of battery because it heats up on the right hand side of the keyboard. Does everyones do this?

 

[SK.]

yup mine does heat up and I think I have seen others report the same, it's just the phone under heavy load