Help Battery life

[saldroid]

I wanted to know how to optimize the battery life! my phone is on sleep for 7 hours out of the day! and maybe i will have the occasional text message! but once i get back home, its drained to 30% PLEASE HELP!

 

[MacFett]

If it is searching for signal it will drain faster than if it has signal. Put it into airplane mode if that is the case.

I have mine last 2 days if my kids aren't playing on it.

 

[rhomboid]

What I did was try to set a goal of one day of regular use throughout the workday as I understood that. I charge overnight.

Suggestions:

Add one app at a time and monitor performance.

Remove apps that you don't use or like.

Don't use widgets.

Don't use active wallpaper.

As stated previously, when 3G cuts out your battery will fall quickly. Popping in and out of airplane mode usually fixes this for me.

Keep screen brightness around 30% or the lowest u can comfortably go.

Turn off wifi when u aren't at home (optional). I rarely use wifi even when at home, 3G is pretty good.

Hope some of this helps.

-rhomboid

 

[MacFett]

Don't use widgets.

Don't use active wallpaper.

I have 8 widgets and live wallpaper.

 

[cutterjohn]

...also just in case turn off bluetooth and GPS when you're not using them...

I've noticed that GPS seems to burn through power at a fairly rapid pace...

 

[Jenny Z]

I've found that, in my area, 3G is the biggest drain. If I turn on WiFi and turn off 3G completely, I will only be at maybe 50% at the end of the day (if I use apps, message, etc). If I use 3g, I'll be down to 20% or lower.

If you don't have Wifi available, you'll either have to deal with the drain, or turn on Airplane mode.

 

[Petrah]

I wanted to know how to optimize the battery life! my phone is on sleep for 7 hours out of the day! and maybe i will have the occasional text message! but once i get back home, its drained to 30% PLEASE HELP!

Try AutoPilot and see if that helps you any. Let us know how it goes!

 

[koopakid08]

Try Juice Defender I can get a day and a half of mild use out of the OV.

 

[n00dz]

The past two days I have turned 3g off completely and I still have about 80% battery at the end of the day. I unplug it at 10am.

 

[tcat007]

I use airplane mode each night (7PM to 9AM), and lose at most 1% in 14 hours. I've tried 3G the other 8 hrs and lose about 30%; if I turn off data for the same 8 hrs, I lose about 10%. Lots of apps that do pretty much the same thing, but they never seem to do it exactly like I want, so I just use switches on my homescreen. I charge twice a week.

 

[Naomikins]

I use Green Power (Free Vers). Does seem to help, but sometimes I think it's what is causing my phone to turn restart randomly. Might try to go without it.

 

[musick]

I have 8 widgets and live wallpaper.

Its not about wallpaper (unless you live w/ your screen on all the time) and its not about widgets. Its about all about the apps you have running and how often you are surfing/using heavy apps.

I stream Pandora for 4+ hrs./day. Manually stop it when I wont get back to it for a while. Data is updated every 5 min. Maybe 10-20 min. of talk per day. 30 min. surfing. A few texts. No battery savers.

10 hrs. after a charge = 40%+ battery life.

Be sure to "exercise" your battery by going under 20% a few times per week. Other than that - settings/applications/manage applications - and kill wasteful apps.

 

[ajgates92]

It may not be the best solution for everyone, but I currently rooted my phone and put the custom rom "bumblebee" onto my V. So far the battery life as seemed to improve. Also I would just keep the things off that you do not use (Ex. Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS). I do not turn my 3g off at all, but I usually never have my GPS on, unless I am using Navigation and another couple apps.

Unfortunately smartphones (Android in-particular) are known to not have great batteries. As long as you shut things down as you get done using them, as well as charge your phone at night, you should have no problem being able to last the whole day without charging it. Depending on usage of course.

 

[zrobot]

Be sure to "exercise" your battery by going under 20% a few times per week.

No, don't do that. These are lithium-ion batteries which do not benefit from deep discharges.

The way to get maximum life from an Li-Io battery is shallow discharge followed by immediate recharge. In other words, keep it plugged in as often as possible.

It also helps to keep heat out of the battery, so don't charge it flat on it's back, tilt it up slightly so some air can circulate and cool the phone down.

Finally, Li-Io batteries degrade over time even if they aren't being used. They have a shelf life. So don't buy a spare today and stick it in a drawer for a year. It will have lost up to a quarter of it's capacity just from aging. Most consumer Li-Io batteries are only usable for 2-3 years before they need to be replaced.

 

[jp3515]

Saldroid,
I just activated my V this past Sunday. Here is my advice for what is working great for me now. I use Juice defender on the balanced setting and when my phone is asleep and not in use most of the day while at work it disables 3g so my phone is not searching for 3g signal. I use wifi at home when I am messing around with the phone. When I wake and unlock the phone while at work the 3g is enabled for use and disabled once the phone goes back to sleep. My battery is doing great right now. This is what is working for me, others may have different experiences obviously. Before JD it was horrible and I was like what have I got myself into. The balance setting will tell you it is a good setting and has the least impact on your phone. I have 10 apps so far on my phone.Good luck

 

[jp3515]

Also I used quick settings to lower screen brightness and I do not use any live wallpapers. I also have wifi off except when at home and I almost always have GPS off.

 

[lizm]

The only time my phone drains quickly is when I am in a weak signal area (data or voice, or both). I leave gps on because it doesn't seem to do much unless an app asks it to, at least it doesn't appear in my status bar unless I start maps or whatever.

I don't use live wallpapers, my screen isn't on the brightest setting unless I'm using it in bright sunlight. I have a couple of widgets running.

I don't have any task killers or juice savers. I'd say I get a day and a half with normal use but I do plug it in every night anyway.

 

[jp3515]

My phone was at 100% this morning when I turned it on at 6:00 and now at 12:15 it is at 90% with some texting and one game of pool.

 

[daisylover]

What I did was try to set a goal of one day of regular use throughout the workday as I understood that. I charge overnight.

Suggestions:

Add one app at a time and monitor performance.

Remove apps that you don't use or like.

Don't use widgets.

Don't use active wallpaper.

As stated previously, when 3G cuts out your battery will fall quickly. Popping in and out of airplane mode usually fixes this for me.

Keep screen brightness around 30% or the lowest u can comfortably go.

Turn off wifi when u aren't at home (optional). I rarely use wifi even when at home, 3G is pretty good.

Hope some of this helps.

-rhomboid

oh the 3g is probably what is eating my battery because it keeps going out. not sure why that is though.

 

[musick]

No, don't do that. These are lithium-ion batteries which do not benefit from deep discharges.

Correct. Taking your battery to 0% often will shorten its life. 20% is not considered a deep discharge.

 

[syav]

The way to get maximum life from an Li-Io battery is shallow discharge followed by immediate recharge. In other words, keep it plugged in as often as possible.

Really? So I should keep my phone charged even if the battery is at say...70% or 80%?

I must be charging it wrong because I always wait 'till the battery icon turns yellow or less than 20%.

 

[MacFett]

I took my phone off the charger at 9am yesterday. It was off all day until I went to bed at 2:30am and was at 38%. It was on wifi the majority of the time, I did go out once and used foursquare and a gps app. During the day I listened to a little music, texted with my wife, played a few games, installed updates and did a little web browsing. Not bad for 17 1/2 hours.

 

[zrobot]

20% is not considered a deep discharge.

I'm sorry but you are misinformed. Don't make me whip out my credentials and prove it. You may be confusing LiIo with NiMH or NiCD which can benefit from deep discharge.

20% is deep discharge. Knowing batteries is part of my job, and 20% remaining charge is the very definition of deep discharge. Don't do it if you want the battery to last a year or more.

See this article at Battery University for the facts on depth of dicharge vs. cycle life. Especially the chart just a little ways down that shows that discharging to just 50% cuts battery cycle life by more than 50%!

Really? So I should keep my phone charged even if the battery is at say...70% or 80%?

Yes. If you want to get the maximum usable life out of the battery, shallow discharge followed by immediate recharge will make it last the longest.

I must be charging it wrong because I always wait 'till the battery icon turns yellow or less than 20%.

I'm not sure what you're saying, but that's not "wrong". It will shorten the life of the battery however. It's capacity will degrade more quickly and it will have to be replaced sooner than if you were to only discharge it to 80% and then recharge it.

 

[Petrah]

There's a really good article here on Li-Ion batteries, for those who wish to check it out.

 

[jmessick]

Buy an external charger and a couple of extra batteries on eBay for $10 and swap out the battery once/day.