Help HTC ONE battery discussion (usage, charging, etc.)

[purujitb]

Just wondering why, that even by having having about 60% (2300 mAh) more battery capacity than that of iPhone5 (1440 mAh), and having about just 30% more screen area, the battery life for HTC one is less than that of iPhone5. (Source : Engadget review for HTC One and iPhone5 review)

I really love the screen size, the design and the features of HTC one. But the battery life in my opinion is a huge disappointment, specially when it's irreplaceable.

Any technical opinions why android phones have such bad battery?

 

[EarlyMon]

Actually, they don't necessarily. Tap the show buttons to see the graphs.

I get 8 hours of screen on time via wifi streaming media and web surfing on my LTEvo (the Sprint HTC One X), without babysitting radios or anything else. I average 16 hours per charge and I certainly use it plenty hard.

8 hour screen on time on a standard battery? I'm calling bs on that. Let's see a screen shot.

I've actually posted several samples, here's one -

Spoiler

I get good 3G service and keep NFC off, don't use it myself. When I travel to places with fringe cell reception, it drops faster, and I think that is one of the biggest variables for anyone, regardless of brand.

Anyway, I think that I also mentioned an average of 16 hours, so, here's that, along with about 4 hours of use, screen on, 42% battery.

I obviously have no clue what will happen with the new quadcores but expect either brand to deliver in the battery department.

If you notice the icon change, this shot was on the stock rom, the above was Viper4G.

Spoiler

If you go back and check the battery tests, they have a big weakness -

They test all phones at max brightness while streaming video as their endurance test.

A modern HTC at full brightness is far, far brighter than other phones and cranked to max, uses more power.

I'm sure you'd find more reasonable results cranking the other phones to max brightness, get a light meter, and then just turn up the HTC to only that.

 

[purujitb]

Ahh, I missed out on the brightness. Is there any reviewer out there which provides battery life accurately by keeping these factors in mind?

My photon is really old now and I was wondering if I should go for HTC One/GS4/iPhone5, and I love what HTC has done with this new phone... HTC One has beautiful metallic design which rivals iPhone 5 and an OS I love. Now if only I can get some accurate battery test results for the phone.

 

[EarlyMon]

Ahh, I missed out on the brightness. Is there any reviewer out there which provides battery life accurately by keeping these factors in mind?

My photon is really old now and I was wondering if I should go for HTC One/GS4/iPhone5, and I love what HTC has done with this new phone... HTC One has beautiful metallic design which rivals iPhone 5 and an OS I love. Now if only I can get some accurate battery test results for the phone.

I think they try their best, but testing is something that requires training, it's an engineering discipline.

I find that the better assessments are done by AnandTech. Not perfect, but excellent and much more thorough.

The real assessments will come from us users - we don't mess around and by pooling our results, get the most accurate picture of battery use.

That means you'll need to wait to see user results, or wait for AnandTech to give better indications.

This new model has more to power than my phone, but it also has a bigger battery, so I'm not comfortable making numerical predictions without more facts.

Although - we might look up Engadget's battery review of my phone, compare results, and maybe get a ballpark for how close they got before. Hmmm...

 

[Rush]

Any technical opinions why android phones have such bad battery?

Not as yet....will post as soon as i obtain one.

Battery life sucks on almost every smartphones - it just goes a little bit more on some. I hope this won't be the reason to pass up on such an awesome device.

 

[Scootmien]

Not as yet....will post as soon as i obtain one.

Battery life sucks on almost every smartphones - it just goes a little bit more on some. I hope this won't be the reason to pass up on such an awesome device.

Definitely not, but it IS a consideration for me. I need something that will last the working day from 7am to midnight with low to moderate use on 3G and virtually no wifi. My current two phones easily do that.

 

[Rush]

Definitely not, but it IS a consideration for me. I need something that will last the working day from 7am to midnight with low to moderate use on 3G and virtually no wifi. My current two phones easily do that.

I understand...

Hopefully they'll give us an update to address that that problem.

 

[purujitb]

Not as yet....will post as soon as i obtain one.

Battery life sucks on almost every smartphones - it just goes a little bit more on some. I hope this won't be the reason to pass up on such an awesome device.

Agreed that most smartphones don't have as a good battery life as we would want, but I was curious how apple managed to get more power from their batteries as compared to others. Do they use some superior technology for their batteries or phone components? AFAIK they were using the same processors and the same Li-ion batteries, and if so is iOS better at power management?

 

[EarlyMon]

Show me an iPhone 4S or 5 with my battery life, get back to me.

That's 8 hours of screen ON.

 

[Scootmien]

Show me an iPhone 4S or 5 with my battery life, get back to me.

That's 8 hours of screen ON.

It is doable on an iPhone. OK, so it's 7 hours and 35 minutes but at 35% battery remaining and 1 day 17 hours since last charge, my iPhone 5 is epic.

 

[purujitb]

Show me an iPhone 4S or 5 with my battery life, get back to me.

That's 8 hours of screen ON.

I'm not sure how you managed to get that 8 hrs of screen time, but maybe if you keep the same settings on an iPhone then you might even get more out of it, or maybe not. I have never had an iPhone so I can't tell which one has better battery, but from all the reviews I have read so far it seems that iPhone 5 have a much better screen time than other phones even though it lacks in the talk time department, which is understandable since it has a smaller battery and talk time doesn't depend on the size of the screen.

PS: This is assuming the tests in those websites are fair, which as someone mentioned above might not be since the brightness might vary.

 

[sean76]

I will save my battery judgements until after about 10 days of using the one...Thats long enough for me to make the call on whether it's a keeper or a returner...

I'm hoping HTC has done some good things within sense and worked a little magic.

My iphone 5 gets decent battery life for an LTE device, but were talking about a 1080p behemoth with the HTC ONE...If I can get anywhere from 12-15hrs between charges I will be ecstatic...lol

 

[EarlyMon]

That's very good life for an iPhone. I probably know several people who have the same question as was asked of me - how did you do that?

I'm not sure how you managed to get that 8 hrs of screen time, but maybe if you keep the same settings on an iPhone then you might even get more out of it, or maybe not. I have never had an iPhone so I can't tell which one has better battery, but from all the reviews I have read so far it seems that iPhone 5 have a much better screen time than other phones even though it lacks in the talk time department, which is understandable since it has a smaller battery and talk time doesn't depend on the size of the screen.

PS: This is assuming the tests in those websites are fair, which as someone mentioned above might not be since the brightness might vary.

I managed it by running stock out of the box, fetching social networking when I wanted it rather than on a constant push, with 4 email accounts syncing in the background, and NFC off.

If anyone's interested in the rate of power drop while on standby, see the attached graph.

The iPhone ought to do better with screen on time, it's a smaller screen.

My point here is not which type wins. My point is that the blogs sensationalize and misinform people until expectations are all over the map.

Different Android models get different battery life. Two users of the same Android model will get different life depending on use conditions.

My graphs show that the common media message that Android is a failure on battery life may not be true.

Agree with Sean, and as I also said earlier, we won't know on this model until it's in user's hands.

Hope this clarifies my position, cheers!

 

[Wolfedude88]

Yeah the iphone 5 gets incredible battery life on LTE, only behind the Razr Maxx, HD Maxx, and Note 2.

With that said, some of the screen are it has incredibly small screen compared to android phones, no widgets, and a lower resolution as well.

 

[Scootmien]

That's very good life for an iPhone. I probably know several people who have the same question as was asked of me - how did you do that?

With that said, some of the screen are it has incredibly small screen compared to android phones, no widgets, and a lower resolution as well.

I think it's a combination of what Wolfdude88 says and just incredibly good battery management by the OS. Going by the iMore.com iPhone 5 battery thread, i'm not alone with that either. A lot of people have posted pictures of similar battery life. To echo and agree your point even further, my Samsung Galaxy S2 has a superb battery life too, whereas the S3 I had was so poor if I took it off charge at 7am it would be completely dead by 6pm with NO use at all, just switched on and on wifi! So all Android phones are different, including across the same model.

I bought the S3 on day one and i'm never doing that again with any phone. It seems the first round of phones are the ones more likely to be plagued with issues which get ironed out on subsequent manufacturing runs.

You're right though in that we just need to leave it a few weeks to see how battery life pans out on the phone. I'm very interested to see how the HTC One does up against the S4 so I shall be all over these sort of battery threads. My working day could easily see me away from any kind of charging point for upwards of 20 hours at a time, sometimes more.

 

[Supersnake]

Battery life statistics and a graph were posted on Android Authority and they wrote:

"A lot of HTC smartphone users have had complaints about the poor battery life of their devices, a concern compounded with the fact the recent HTC devices feature uni-body designs, making the batteries non-removable. If you were considering picking up a HTC One, but were worried about the battery performance, fear no more!

According to battery endurance tests done by Expert Reviews, the 2,300 mAh battery of the HTC One managed close to 17 hours of 3G talk-time, and more notably, lasted an amazing 8 hours and 32 minutes in video playback!

With numbers like these, getting a full day of usage with one charge, which has become increasingly difficult, should not be a problem anymore. The review does state that the review unit did not feature the final software version, but assuming that the final release will only make things more efficient, the battery test results are great.

To put these numbers in perspective, a recent battery test of the Sony Xperia Z, which features a slightly larger battery at 2,330 mAh, showed that while the Xperia Z lasted for 16 hours of 3G talk-time, the video playback test gave a result of just 5 hours and 39 minutes. Granted, the Xperia Z does feature a larger display, but that shouldn

 

[EarlyMon]

Interesting.

BTW, fixed one your links.

 

[craftycarper]

Nothing scientific here......but trying different things to start and here is where i am at the moment with my One......

 

[KOLIO]

Nothing scientific here......but trying different things to start and here is where i am at the moment with my One......

We definitely appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences w/us.

Please forgive us if you feel bombarded w/questions regarding your time/use w/the ONE (& only ONE in the forum ATM apparently)..........:star:

 

[EarlyMon]

Can't wait to see it after a few charge cycles.

Thanks for the sneak peek!

 

[craftycarper]

We definitely appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences w/us.

Please forgive us if you feel bombarded w/questions regarding your time/use w/the ONE (& only ONE in the forum ATM apparently)..........:star:

Can't wait to see it after a few charge cycles.

Thanks for the sneak peek!

No problem, at the moment i am in between switching numbers so am still using my One X and the One, so i can get by with minimal use on the One.....my number will be ported in a few days, then it will all be down to the One and will have a fairer "usage" screenshot, but so far i am quite impressed with the battery.

Quite a few of us have the One in the UK.....and i seem to be the only one who is using this forum as well as XDA

If i can answer any questions you have i will try, i can root and Rom my phones but after that i am quite limited but will endeavour to answer what i can for you guys.:thumbup:

Trust me, when you get your One, you won't be disappointed.

 

[KOLIO]

No problem, at the moment i am in between switching numbers so am still using my One X and the One, so i can get by with minimal use on the One.....

Trust me, when you get your One, you won't be disappointed.

Well,that seals the deal.:thumbup:

If I needed an "excuse" to get the ONE,this is as good as any to me.....

 

[craftycarper]

Continuing from my previous battery stats, currently @ 37hrs, 2hrs screen on, 40% charge left.

 

[Caro332]

I don't really understand much about battery stats and all. So, If I were to use 3G, about let's say 1hr of music and little bit of instagram, accuweather, whatsapp, facebook and not actually much talking time (about 10min during the day max), would this last me at least 1 day you think?
I got an old HTC wildfire S and the battery has become so bad now that I need to charge at least twice a day. Really don't want to continue doing that. It's pretty annoying. I always have to have my charger in my purse.

 

[KOLIO]

If your 3G signal is strong,then I'd say yes,it shouldlast for a day.If the signal is weak & you have multiple apps constantly updating,then I'd guess no,you'd be hard pressed to find any ANDROID phone to last all day if a 3G/WI-FI signal is nowhere to be found or weak.