Motorola Droid vs. HTC Droid Eris - Battery Life

[bertpbno1]

I am considering buying either a motorola droid or htc droid eris and I was wondering whether the battery life on the droid is significantly better than the droid eris? I've read about the things that can be done to improve battery life and I know what the rated battery life for each phone is, but I'm wondering what people's real life experiences have been with the battery life of these phones.

Sorry if I missed a previous answer to this question in another thread, and thanks for the help!

 

[Wazoo]

I don't know how well the Eris' is supposed to be, but my Droid can last 2 full days on a full charge until it dies, and that's with moderate use with apps, a large amount of texting, a few calls, and intermittent data use like downloading apps, using facebook, checking sports scores.

 

[vincentp]

The Droid (for me at least) has excellent battery life. I can abuse the powers of the phone all day and still go to bed with 30% charge left. If I don't use it that much, I'm still way in the green. The Eris has a known weak battery. A co-worker of mine has one and after having it for about three days she asked me how she could improve her battery life as it was not sufficient, and she's certainly not a tech geek, just a regular user - texts, phone calls, occasional web use.

 

[radioz]

I was dissapointed with my Droids battery the first few days I had it. After draining it a few times the battery life got MUCH better.

Now I use my Droid heavily several hours a day and still have 50% left when I go to bed.

Good luck!

 

[mcapehart]

I initially bought the Eris, but after a couple of weeks exchanged it for the Droid. The reason? The battery. The battery life on the Eris is horrible. The Droid, on the other hand (at least for me with the same apps installed, plus some) is far superior.

I'm a pretty heavy data user, and I keep WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS on all the time. The Droid lasts pretty much all day, unless I actually have the screen on bright and in use a lot, and even then it last many hours longer than the Eris.

The screen is probably the biggest battery drainer, in my experience. After than WiFi and GPS are the next two biggest culprits.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

I was also initially disappointed w/ the Droid's battery life when I first got it, but after going through the motions, getting more familiar w/ a smartphone, and the 2.0.1 update, it's actually not that bad. I can go 2 days on a charge w/ moderate use, but I can easily go all day using the phone's full potential.

 

[alostpacket]

Personally I bought an extra battery for peace of mind, but I think I would do this for any smart phone.

 

[sooper_droid12]

The key to my long battery life with heavy use (for the DROID) is to make sure the background sync is turned off when I don't need it on. Because I'm running a bunch of apps that use that background sync, if I know I'm not in need for the sync, I turn it off. It saves a butt load of battery. I went a full day while still hovering around 80% (off the charger @ 7:30AM, on again at 10:30PM).

The other thing is knowing when you'll be in an area where the phone will switch between 1x and 3G. That switching back and forth can kill battery. For example, when I'm in my building, buried under floors and walls of concrete, where this happens and I really don't need to/can't make phone calls, I put it in "plane mode." Although, this doesn't create a substantial savings, it helps.

 

[jrac]

I switched from Eris to Droid. Had the Eris about 10 days. With heavy use, the Eris must be charged twice a day (it got really low around 3 or 4 pm). To me that was inexcusable. With the same use I have yet to run my Droid lower than 40% in a 12 hour day. Spend the extra 100.

 

[TheElectricalGuru]

I have had the Droid now for over a week and I love it. While I dont know how to properly use the "Advanced Task Manager" i downloaded...I do use it to cancel all apps with a tap of the widget....but they seem to open themselves again anyway.

Regardless...I used to have a HTC Touch Pro and it would not last 1/2 a day with light use and I ended up with the HUGE aftermarket 2100mh battery that defeated the look anyway....but now my droid with light use ( browse a bit and phone calls ) I have been up now for "1d 23h 29m" since I last plugged it up to charge it. I could NEVER do that with my HTC Touch Pro...so i am very pleased.

Now if I ever really learn to use the task manager I may get even better life....now know GPS and other drainers will reduce this life...but I am still very pleased and BTW..I am still at 40% of the battery.

 

[Needsdecaf]

I switched from Eris to Droid. Had the Eris about 10 days. With heavy use, the Eris must be charged twice a day (it got really low around 3 or 4 pm). To me that was inexcusable. With the same use I have yet to run my Droid lower than 40% in a 12 hour day. Spend the extra 100.

I had the Eris for 2 months. The Droid's battery life is MUCH better. Especially when you consider how much bigger the display is and how much more power it must eat (supposition here, but the display is always the number one battery user).

Get the Droid. I struggled with switching (form factor) for a long time, but have loved the Droid since I got it.

 

[darrin2520]

My wife has the Eris and I have the Droid. She got hers just a few days after I got my Droid, so pretty comparable as far as age. As for battery life there is no comparison. The Droid is the easy winner. My wife can not go through an entire day without having to charge the Eris at least once. On the other hand, my Droid generally goes from 6:30 AM to 11:00 PM with only about 50% battery use.

 

[TheElectricalGuru]

My wife has the Eris and I have the Droid. She got hers just a few days after I got my Droid, so pretty comparable as far as age. As for battery life there is no comparison. The Droid is the easy winner. My wife can not go through an entire day without having to charge the Eris at least once. On the other hand, my Droid generally goes from 6:30 AM to 11:00 PM with only about 50% battery use.

Are you using any "task managers" or just as it came out the box.

 

[darrin2520]

Are you using any "task managers" or just as it came out the box.

I make very limited use of the advanced task manager. I honestly don't think it makes as much difference to battery life as some of the Verizon reps wan't you to think. It does clear memory though and that is nice.

I think more critical to battery life extension is the radios. I don't mess with them a lot, but if I see my battery is running low I will turn off radios I am not currently using, ie GPS if I don't need it, 3G if I have a wifi connection. Bluetooth is always off unless I am using it which isn't often.

 

[smittythepig]

yeah, the battery on my Eris kinda blows. but honestly i think it's fairly typical for a smartphone like this (never had a smartphone before). i would imagine it's not too unlike any iPhone. that being said, i am impressed with the Droid's battery life. i had one before switching to the Eris and i remember it being better. and, like others have said, considering the bigger screen and computing power, that's pretty impressive.

 

[mersh21]

I just got my droid yesterday...exchanged my eris for it. I was digging the sense ui but the battery life on the eris was horrible. Checked all the threads that gave tips to make it better and it never really improved after three weeks with it.

Although this is my first full day with the droid i can already see (so far) that the battery seems to be better. I took my droid off the charger at 5:30 am and it's 10:12am now and i still have 88% battery. My eris within this time frame would be at 70% or less.

 

[edge]

Wasn't really looking into the Eris, but I have heard good things about the battery life on the droid...

 

[TGryphon]

I thought the battery life on my Droid wasn't going to work for me, so I borrowed an Eris for a day to try it out. I drained the battery even faster! My usage was reasonably consistent accross both phones and included a couple hours of Pandora streaming music each day. ...oddly, though, I liked the SenseUI better than the Eris' owner...

 

[ttaylor0024]

Droid has great battery life! If I dont use it much one day, I have gone to bed with 80%. (8am-10pm), however the screen uses alot of the battery, so if your playing a game (Red Club poker for me ) It will drain in a couple hours. I got a good 3 hours of play time before it told me to plug it in though.

 

[mersh21]

i thought the battery life on my droid wasn't going to work for me, so i borrowed an eris for a day to try it out. I drained the battery even faster! My usage was reasonably consistent accross both phones and included a couple hours of pandora streaming music each day. ...oddly, though, i liked the senseui better than the eris' owner...

right now that's the only thing i miss about the eris is the sense ui...and a few of the htc widgets. But 2.0 is sweet and quick. And i love the screen on the droid.

 

[anjoga]

I just got my droid yesterday...exchanged my eris for it. I was digging the sense ui but the battery life on the eris was horrible. Checked all the threads that gave tips to make it better and it never really improved after three weeks with it.

Although this is my first full day with the droid i can already see (so far) that the battery seems to be better. I took my droid off the charger at 5:30 am and it's 10:12am now and i still have 88% battery. My eris within this time frame would be at 70% or less.

How do you know you have 88% left? My droid counts down in percentages of 10.

 

[ttaylor0024]

How do you know you have 88% left? My droid counts down in percentages of 10.

I heard there is an app that configures itself over a week or so and can go by 1% like his.... I forgot its name though.

 

[google2]

I have a Droid Eris 2.1v3 hack with a replacement extented life battery. With the orignal battery (1300 mAh) the eris would be dead by 4:30pm before I was home from work.

After the Seidio Innocell 1750mAh Slim Extended Life Battery I can go almost 2 days on a charge.

The bad new this battery cost $49.99 and the phone cost $79.99. But im stuck with the phone.

Made from the highest quality Japanese Lithium Polymer cells
- More capacity in the same form factor
- Fits in existing space so no replacement door is needed
- Perfect replacement for your original battery
- Capacity: 1750 mAh

 

[(G)]

I heard there is an app that configures itself over a week or so and can go by 1% like his.... I forgot its name though.

Battery Life.

 

[chrisholliefield31]

I would get the motorola droid!!! Dude, this phone kicks ass, and if you call and talk to Verizon, they will give you the skinny on the two phones. When I called them and asked which smart phone to get, they said that the moto droid has had the fewest complaints out of any phone they have ever issued. That says alot!!! Besides, look at the price between the two droids..... there is a reason that the motorola droid still costs alot!!!!!