Help EVO's battery life discussion/debate

[blksith0]

I hate my evo because my Recovery is broken, and I cant fix it. The battery life is pretty bad too. Useless thread is useless.

 

[Slick1020]

I hate my evo because my Recovery is broken, and I cant fix it. The battery life is pretty bad too. Useless thread is useless.

The EVO doesn't have a battery problem. Blame the user....if you need that much juice for a cell phone, plug the phone into a wall outlet like you would do for a laptop.

 

[lordofthereef]

The EVO doesn't have a battery problem. Blame the user....if you need that much juice for a cell phone, plug the phone into a wall outlet like you would do for a laptop.

A phone that loses updwards of 40% juice while sitting idle for 24 hours (when HTC's stats say it should idle for 7 days) is a problem. The end user shouldn't have to tweak a single thing to make their battery last, sitting idle, out of the box.

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't hate my evo, but the things I dislike about it, the keyboard sucks! it lags, and is inaccurate, real pain, and there seems to be some weird glitch, sometimes it magically switches to the camera app, odd... today on the phone, accidentally dialed someone while talking on the phone, how does that happen?

Have you tried another keyboard? There are tons of free (and paid) ones on the market.

I too have had the magical camera pop-up, but only ever right after unlocking my phone. Probably 5% of the time or less. Still annoying though.

Never had issues with face dialing though my girlfriend always fce dials using my phone and hers (she has a DInc). Maybe I am somehow using the phone differently? IDK.

 

[dan330]

A phone that loses updwards of 40% juice while sitting idle for 24 hours (when HTC's stats say it should idle for 7 days) is a problem. The end user shouldn't have to tweak a single thing to make their battery last, sitting idle, out of the box.

40% in 24 hrs.. is great! for a smartphone.


the stats are true if you want it to last 7 days... it can.
they never said how.. just that it can be in standby.
turn off.. all radios... all connections.
dont keep checking the battery .. by waking it up.
but what good is that???

 

[Evulution]

A phone that loses updwards of 40% juice while sitting idle for 24 hours (when HTC's stats say it should idle for 7 days) is a problem. The end user shouldn't have to tweak a single thing to make their battery last, sitting idle, out of the box.

HTC doesn't do that because some smartphone users are actually dumb and wouldn't be able to figure out how to turn stuff on. Look at some of the questions on this forum. It's easier to give people their phone with everything turned on opposed to turning it off. A vast majority of the people who get an EVO or Thunderbolt and don't know why the battery is draining. In this forum we have to constantly explain how the phone works.

Someone wanted to know why their phone was draining so quickly during a call. I was like dude are you leaving 4G on your Thunderbolt on? He said yes and he shouldn't have to cut it off. If you are talking on your phone and playing on 4G or WiFi at the same time what do you think is going to happen to your battery? Just common sense stuff.

People need training on these phones and I know Sprint was giving classes on the EVO after the launch. But some people had an Android phone before the EVO and think they know it all....task killers for example.

 

[novox77]

A phone that loses updwards of 40% juice while sitting idle for 24 hours (when HTC's stats say it should idle for 7 days) is a problem. The end user shouldn't have to tweak a single thing to make their battery last, sitting idle, out of the box.

Bad 3G reception is the culprit. Put an iPhone (known for supposed insanely good battery life) in an area of poor 3G reception and it will die just as fast. Can't blame the phone here.

Proof: turn off the 3G radio on your Evo, and you will get 7 days of standby, easy. I drain 1% every 4 hours when screen is off and 3G is off. That's 6% in 24 hrs. So my standby time is 16 days. (I'm rooted, so I have other battery saving stuff in place). But I can also drain my battery in under 2 hours using the stock capabilities of the phone.

I just don't see a problem with battery life. If you leave a light on, you're using power. It's not too much to ask to turn off the light (3G) if you're not using it. Especially when there's a toggle for it built in.

 

[ToxicToastKatz]

Bad 3G reception is the culprit. Put an iPhone (known for supposed insanely good battery life) in an area of poor 3G reception and it will die just as fast. Can't blame the phone here.

Proof: turn off the 3G radio on your Evo, and you will get 7 days of standby, easy. I drain 1% every 4 hours when screen is off and 3G is off. That's 6% in 24 hrs. So my standby time is 16 days. (I'm rooted, so I have other battery saving stuff in place). But I can also drain my battery in under 2 hours using the stock capabilities of the phone.

I just don't see a problem with battery life. If you leave a light on, you're using power. It's not too much to ask to turn off the light (3G) if you're not using it. Especially when there's a toggle for it built in.

gotta agree with this. during a typical day's use (off charger at 7am, at work by 8am, back at home by 5:30pm....all with WiFi connectivity) which includes having Wifi on, GPS on, all the typical background stuff running (Facebook, Weather, Gmail, etc) updating at reasonable intervals, misc internet browsing throughout the day and at least 1 hour of Live Hold Em Poker at lunch, I can get 18-20 hours before I am looking for a charger. I also get really good 3G in my area.

I go to my parent's house, which for some reason doesn't get good 3G data speeds at all (which is really weird for Sprint) and I'll lose 40-50% in the few hours I'm at their house.

All this being said, I am unrooted and I have made several of the known tweaks found on various websites in order to conserve battery. None of the tweaks made, however, take away any of the functionality of the phone (i.e. my tweaks don't include turning everything off and essentially making it a "dumbphone").

 

[Evulution]

gotta agree with this. during a typical day's use (off charger at 7am, at work by 8am, back at home by 5:30pm....all with WiFi connectivity) which includes having Wifi on, GPS on, all the typical background stuff running (Facebook, Weather, Gmail, etc) updating at reasonable intervals, misc internet browsing throughout the day and at least 1 hour of Live Hold Em Poker at lunch, I can get 18-20 hours before I am looking for a charger. I also get really good 3G in my area.

I go to my parent's house, which for some reason doesn't get good 3G data speeds at all (which is really weird for Sprint) and I'll lose 40-50% in the few hours I'm at their house.

All this being said, I am unrooted and I have made several of the known tweaks found on various websites in order to conserve battery. None of the tweaks made, however, take away any of the functionality of the phone (i.e. my tweaks don't include turning everything off and essentially making it a "dumbphone").

I agree with you and Novox. On a different note, smartphones in the hands of dumb ass people just don't go together. Well, we all had to learn but were willing to learn how Android functions. People just buy the phone because its cool. Android devices are actually smartphones because they require a smart user. The iPhone only requires a caveman.

 

[dan330]

I agree with you and Novox. On a different note, smartphones in the hands of dumb ass people just don't go together. Well, we all had to learn but were willing to learn how Android functions. People just buy the phone because its cool. Android devices are actually smartphones because they require a smart user. The iPhone only requires a caveman.

i hate apple
i love android

your post makes me sad .. that we use the same phone.

 

[lordofthereef]

i hate apple
i love android

your post makes me sad .. that we use the same phone.

What? Why?

 

[lordofthereef]

Bad 3G reception is the culprit. Put an iPhone (known for supposed insanely good battery life) in an area of poor 3G reception and it will die just as fast. Can't blame the phone here.

Proof: turn off the 3G radio on your Evo, and you will get 7 days of standby, easy. I drain 1% every 4 hours when screen is off and 3G is off. That's 6% in 24 hrs. So my standby time is 16 days. (I'm rooted, so I have other battery saving stuff in place). But I can also drain my battery in under 2 hours using the stock capabilities of the phone.

I just don't see a problem with battery life. If you leave a light on, you're using power. It's not too much to ask to turn off the light (3G) if you're not using it. Especially when there's a toggle for it built in.

Reception must be bad somehow no matter where I go. Same goes with my friend's droid phone too then. I don't see this being the case. Feature phones on the same carrier do much better. Yes, the antennas seem to be a battery hog, but I wouldn't blame that on bad reception.

I think we had this duscussion before btw. If the phone has crap battery life out of the box, that is a problem. I am not the first (nor will I be the last) person that has made note of poor battery life on this device. I call BS on reception being a valid "excuse". I hate to pull the iPhone card, but when I used an iPhone and worked in the basement level of a building it was constantly jumping from 0-1 bar. I would have to work to get the battery to die before getting home.

 

[Evulution]

Reception must be bad somehow no matter where I go. Same goes with my friend's droid phone too then. I don't see this being the case. Feature phones on the same carrier do much better. Yes, the antennas seem to be a battery hog, but I wouldn't blame that on bad reception.

I think we had this duscussion before btw. If the phone has crap battery life out of the box, that is a problem. I am not the first (nor will I be the last) person that has made note of poor battery life on this device. I call BS on reception being a valid "excuse". I hate to pull the iPhone card, but when I used an iPhone and worked in the basement level of a building it was constantly jumping from 0-1 bar. I would have to work to get the battery to die before getting home.

That's because you are comparing apples to oranges. CDMA (EVO) works differently than GSM (iphone) in regard to battery power on a phone. There is a huge reason why CDMA talk quality remains highly superior to GSM talk quality.

 

[novox77]

Well I do agree that 3G is a battery hog regardless of reception. Which is why I try to stay on wifi as much as possible. wifi is a battery sipper.

Funny thing is when the iPhone 3G first came out, there were huge battery life issues (due to the 3G). Some idiot started a rumor that it was due to wifi and then a ton of sites recommended turning off wifi at all costs. Course, they got it backwards.

Don't think battery life woes are limited to Androids. Friend and I had the exact same Blackberry model. I could charge once every 4 days. He charged once a night. Difference? Signal strength.

 

[lordofthereef]

That's because you are comparing apples to oranges. CDMA (EVO) works differently than GSM (iphone) in regard to battery power on a phone. There is a huge reason why CDMA talk quality remains highly superior to GSM talk quality.

My girlfriend's Verizon feature phone will last for over a week on a single charge. Compare that to her DInc and, well, there is no comparison.

I also frequent Apple forums as well as have a friend with the VZW iPhone (who incidentally works side by side with me in the basement office I mentioned above), and the verizon iPhone has roughly the same battery life in the real world as does the GSM version.

Yes, the antenna is the biggest drain on our battery. I don't disagree. But I have stated multiple times that I am comparing even a stock EVO with one with a modified ROM. There is an undeniable problem (and by problem I mean unptimised battery life) out of the box. Part of the problem is all the bloat BS that Sprint loads onto all of their phones, as has been discussed in another thread.

 

[lordofthereef]

Don't think battery life woes are limited to Androids. Friend and I had the exact same Blackberry model. I could charge once every 4 days. He charged once a night. Difference? Signal strength.

Certainly battery issues aren't limited to androids, but when we have a device that has a battery life we are unhappy with, we tend to not really care all that much about the other phones that have the same problem.

When Apple came out with their nonesense about how ALL cellphones lose reception when held a certain way (in response to people's gripes about the iPhone 4's reception issues when bridging a gap between the 3G and wifi antenna with one's finger) I couldn't care less. I KNEW that there were phones that DIDN'T have this problem, so telling me that there were other phones out there that DID have the issue didn't make anyone (well, me at least) feel better.

I should add, that we are talking signal strength here, my phone (with custom rom) drains just as fast when I spend a day with 2 bars as it does when I spend a day with 6. I suppose it could be an anomally or ther may be other factors I am somehow not considering.

 

[Evulution]

I've read forums where people complain about the battery life of the iPhone 4. I have yet to see anyone sit the phones side by side to see which one will idle longer. Nobody can sit here and tell me HTC loaded bloatware on the EVO which sucks down battery. I do not consider email, news, weather, and stock apps as bloatware. Some people use those apps and some don't. The only reason people were experiencing drainage is because people didn't know how to adjust the settings for those apps. When the iPhone can run more than one app at once and allow multiple apps to send/receive data at the same time is a fair comparison.

 

[lordofthereef]

I've read forums where people complain about the battery life of the iPhone 4. I have yet to see anyone sit the phones side by side to see which one will idle longer. Nobody can sit here and tell me HTC loaded bloatware on the EVO which sucks down battery. I do not consider email, news, weather, and stock apps as bloatware. Some people use those apps and some don't. The only reason people were experiencing drainage is because people didn't know how to adjust the settings for those apps. When the iPhone can run more than one app at once and allow multiple apps to send/receive data at the same time is a fair comparison.

People are going to complain about the battery life of any phone. The difference is that for general users, poor battery life is a defining characteristic of the EVO, but not the iPhone 4.

The bloatware on the EVO is mostly from Sprint. That said, it comes with every EVO you buy. Whether it's HTC's fault or not, it is associated with the product. Install vanilla android on an EVO and don't change any settings. Expect to see vastly superior battery life. See where I am going here?

I argue that "people don't know how to change settings" isn't a good enough excuse. We aren't talking about power users trying to get an extra 15 minutes out of their battery life. We are talking about the average user that makes texts, a couple phone calls, and looks up a location to meet their ffriend for lunch barely getting through the day with a single charge. I am of the opinion that one shouldn't HAVE to be an enthusiast to get through a day on a single charge with stock settings.

FWIW iOS does have multitasking. It may not be handles exactly like Android handles it, but the user experience is quite the same. FWIW I don't think anyone is arguing multitasking is the issue of battery drain here. The issue is an idael phone fresh out of the box, nothing added/installed or changed.

 

[Roze]

As the tangent discussion really developed *coughs* a life of its own, I felt that it should be moved so as not to deraill the original thread

Cheers,
-Roze-
Your friendly neighbourhood moderator

 

[Thefoodman52]

If you use the phone, you'll use the battery. If you want the phone to live through the day, I guess... don't use it as much? I 'uno....

My room mate has an iPhone 4. If he's not listening to music on it, it's always on the charger. We both get between 1-2 bars in our room, 3 if we're near the window here.


Use it or lose it, I suppose. I have no gripes.

 

[Knewz]

a vanilla version of froyo with no radio or gps hardware will not get 7 days of battery life. Your phone would have to be labotomized to get that kind of life. But what can you do? Get a big ol' friggin battery and an sbc kernel with aggressive undervolting...oh yeah root it first.

 

[lordofthereef]

a vanilla version of froyo with no radio or gps hardware will not get 7 days of battery life. Your phone would have to be labotomized to get that kind of life. But what can you do? Get a big ol' friggin battery and an sbc kernel with aggressive undervolting...oh yeah root it first.

I prefer to make the problem known and maybe R&D will spit out a product that I can use throughout the day without needing to plug it in 2-3 times.

In all seriousness, I am not nearly as accepting about reception problems as a lot of people here seem to be. Dumb phones in bad reception situations that I have been in still last days at a time. I recently got a crappy go phone to replace a phone my mom had damaged (she is on our plan). Out of the box (starting at 50% battery, which I believe was a piddly 700mah) it sat on the table in the house, forgotten, for about a week. When I checked it, it was still sitting at about 25%. None of my smartphones sitting idle with sync turned off would have lasted that long on a FULL charge, even with settings tweaked to my liking.

 

[blksith0]

You know, I think this whole thread was just meant to be a reply to another thread about problems-you-have-with-evo, something like that. I must have hit new thread instead of reply. But oh well, I learned that CDMA is better than GSM.

 

[Evulution]

If you use the phone, you'll use the battery. If you want the phone to live through the day, I guess... don't use it as much? I 'uno....

My room mate has an iPhone 4. If he's not listening to music on it, it's always on the charger. We both get between 1-2 bars in our room, 3 if we're near the window here.


Use it or lose it, I suppose. I have no gripes.

Want to repeat that for everyone to hear again about your roommate having to leave his iPhone 4 always on the charger for all those complaining about the EVO?

 

[Evulution]

I'm for certain my 1750 mah battery (no special door required) could last for a week just sitting on the table. Don't underestimate the EVO. For some reason the battery starts to sip less and less juice once the battery gets low from my experience. Don't ask me why. Seems like once you drop below 20% the battery goes into super saving mode.