First day with Desire

[degadeth]

Hi, I'm new to all this so please excuse my ignorance. I recently bought a HTC Desire, which I'm still waiting to be delivered, and will be a huge upgrade on my current phone, a Sony Ericsson K800i, which is just over 3 years old.

Atm I'm very happy with all the things i've read about the Desire, apart from the battery life. I'm used to getting around 8 days heavy use out of the K800i, and I know that I will never get anywhere near that with the Desire, but what tips could you give me in order to get the most out of the battery life?

I've already read to charge it for around 3 hours before you turn it on (might do it for 4-5 instead) and I was planning on letting the phone turn itself off and charging it fully for the first 3-4 cycles, and doing it about once a month. Any other tips you can give me (apart from turning off wifi etc unless I need it)?

And one last question, I'm on o2 Unlimited P&G in the UK and I am looking at bolt ons to get internet. Could I use the Blackberry bolt on for

 

[GrenW]

Be prepared to charge it every day. I plug mine in every night.

For battery saving the best advice is to turn the screen brightness down (I use 30% - its still bright) and the screen off timer down. Also all you email, facebook, news checks etc - makes them as infrequent as you can handle. Don't use live wallpapers either - fun to show off to your mates but they burn battery.

The biggest battery drainers for me are screen and cell signal. Wi-fi uses a whole lot less power but obviously switch it and bluetooth off if you're not using them. I use an app called Phoneweaver (like Locale and Tasker) that automates volumes, brightness, wifi etc based on where I am, what time of day it is, my calendar etc so I don't need to worry about that stuff.

 

[SUroot]

I was planning on letting the phone turn itself off and charging it fully for the first 3-4 cycles, and doing it about once a month.

Li-On batteries do not need this conditioning.

 

[EddyOS]

As said, everything that makes the phone what it is drains the battery - if you want it to last a week get a dumb phone not a smartphone!!

I have my phone Wi-Fi on at all times so when at home/work it's using that and not having to scan to find the best 3G signal it can - with this setup (and a few other choice mods in my own ROM) I can easily get 48hrs on a charge

 

[degadeth]

As said, everything that makes the phone what it is drains the battery - if you want it to last a week get a dumb phone not a smartphone!!

I have my phone Wi-Fi on at all times so when at home/work it's using that and not having to scan to find the best 3G signal it can - with this setup (and a few other choice mods in my own ROM) I can easily get 48hrs on a charge

Lol I know I'll never get the same battery life, but I just needed tips on how to make it last for at least 24 hours.

@ SUroot; I know that Li-On batteries don't need the conditioning like older batteries, but surely it wouldn't hurt to try it on the first couple of charges

 

[SUroot]

It shouldnt hurt as the desire has a built in protection whereby it turns the phone off before the battery runs dry to prevent battery damage (If li-on battery goes dead, it damages it severely).

With this in mind, letting the phone drop to 10% and turn itself off is of absolutely no more advantage to letting it drop to 50% and it not turning off.

Best advice. Charge it as and when needed. If it can be avoided, dont let it run down to 10 (or 15%)

 

[BurnCK]

I found that the battery life improved slightly over the first couple of weeks. I've heard others say the same, but then that may be down to the fact that you'll be constantly fiddling with it for the first couple of weeks after getting it.

I was on O2 P&G about 6 months ago before I switched to a contract and I had a

 

[kiwi-di]

I have my phone Wi-Fi on at all times so when at home/work it's using that and not having to scan to find the best 3G signal it can - with this setup (and a few other choice mods in my own ROM) I can easily get 48hrs on a charge

I haven't had 48 hours from a charge yet (I've had my phone about a week). I've done all the tricks - HTC Desire battery life booster trick Eurodroid but am not sure it's made any difference.

Whenever I'm at my desk I plug phone into my computer and that keeps the battery charged all day. However, I am concerned about when I'm on holiday and don't have access to computer or power point to recharge. If I want to use internet or 3G I suspect I will have to be careful.

In my office I'm very close to a free wi-fi point. One thing I have noticed is that when the phone is plugged in (charging) the wi-fi signal is strong enough to use. When it's unplugged I need to go out of the office to use wi-fi - or change to 3G.

 

[degadeth]

I found that the battery life improved slightly over the first couple of weeks. I've heard others say the same, but then that may be down to the fact that you'll be constantly fiddling with it for the first couple of weeks after getting it.

I was on O2 P&G about 6 months ago before I switched to a contract and I had a

 

[EddyOS]

I haven't had 48 hours from a charge yet (I've had my phone about a week). I've done all the tricks - HTC Desire battery life booster trick Eurodroid but am not sure it's made any difference.

Whenever I'm at my desk I plug phone into my computer and that keeps the battery charged all day. However, I am concerned about when I'm on holiday and don't have access to computer or power point to recharge. If I want to use internet or 3G I suspect I will have to be careful.

In my office I'm very close to a free wi-fi point. One thing I have noticed is that when the phone is plugged in (charging) the wi-fi signal is strong enough to use. When it's unplugged I need to go out of the office to use wi-fi - or change to 3G.

I'm rooted and running my own ROM, though, so I have baked in some power saving mods

 

[BurnCK]

I haven't had 48 hours from a charge yet (I've had my phone about a week). I've done all the tricks - HTC Desire battery life booster trick Eurodroid but am not sure it's made any difference.

Most I've had is about 40hrs. I was abroad for a couple of days and didn't take my charger. I had 3G off anyway as not to incur any ridiculous charges, and my Wi-fi was off too. Apart from the occasional phone call, several text messages and using it as an Alarm clock I didn't use it for much else.

My normal usage see's me unplug it from the charger at about 7am and it'll be pretty much dead before I go to bed around 11pm, but to be fair it does get alot of use during the day.

 

[partridge]

Buy a car charger and a charger for where you work (usb or mains) then use your phone to your hearts content with Live Wallpaper, wifi and 3G on, etc, etc.

There is no need to adopt OTT battery saving procedures if you are able to top up the battery every now and then.

I use my phone, that is to say I don't treat it with kid gloves and nurse it through the day praying the battery will last. You will use your phone more now than you will in a couple of weeks and once you settle into a "routine" you'll probably find your battery lasting just fine even without topping up - I do.

The best piece of advice I'd give you is don't install any apps that you don't think you'll use. It's easy to add loads of rubbish apps; but if you don't use it, ditch it.

Enjoy your phone; it's a fantastic bit of kit

 

[SUroot]

I charge at bed time. Its rare nowadays with my usage that I need to charge between inbetween bed times.

 

[BurnCK]

Yeah, saying its my first smart phone i'd say i'd be messing around with it constantly for the first couple of weeks, so having crap battery life during that period isn't an issue. My question was more to do with what measures you can take in the first couple of days to maximise the battery life further down the road...if that make any sense lol.

And was that bolt-on the Blackberry specific one? I see that the Blackberry one is

 

[degadeth]

No it wasn't the Blackberry one, but I just remembered that I was on O2 simplicity. If you spend about

 

[BurnCK]

I was thinking about switching a while ago, but on my current tariff (o2 Unlimited), I get unlimited calls and texts to o2 numbers everytime I top up by

 

[MikeC1408]

The blackberry one won't work. It's for bb's only. Something to do with all data going through RIM's own servers in Canada.

I switched from a bb bold to desire and had to change my bolt on.

 

[degadeth]

The blackberry one won't work. It's for bb's only. Something to do with all data going through RIM's own servers in Canada.

I switched from a bb bold to desire and had to change my bolt on.

Ah, well that ends that idea then .

Just another thing tho, would the Desire already be upgraded to Android 2.2 or would I have to manually do it myself?

 

[SUroot]

The blackberry one won't work. It's for bb's only. Something to do with all data going through RIM's own servers in Canada.

I switched from a bb bold to desire and had to change my bolt on.

Exactly it connects to BIS (Blackberry internet Service).