VERY BAD battery life - HTC Desire 'not fit for purpose'

[carbonara]

The thing is though, isn't the battery in the phone as good as it gets for that size? It's not the fact the phone needs a better battery but more the fact that battery technology needs to catch up with the rate of progression in mobile devices.

 

[tuatha]

I am struggling to get a days worth of battery life out of my HTC desire.

[...]

I am using this phone more than any phone I've used previously (camera, browsing...). However, it definitely needs a better battery. The Desire is a brilliant phone. The battery is its achilles heel.

I'd agree, battery is a problem. But what can you do. Phone tech is racing ahead of battery technology at the moment. And with phones the emphasis is on being as thin as possible. Something's got to give.

Just to be sure, though, follow the steps in the posts above and make sure you're not getting undue battery drain from a dodgy app or the calendar issue.

edit: And spare a thought for those unlucky Incredible owners. their phone has basically the same specs as yours, but with a 1300mAh battery. Doh!

 

[nx1977]

Well, I suspect anybody claiming to be getting two days out of their phone while actually using it is bullshitting.

In fact if anybody is going to claim that from now on, I'd suggest they post accompanying screenshots of their usage statistics.

I can easily get over 24 hours, more liek 36 and I'm a heavy net user.

Some tests I did on net and battery use:
Desire internet battery usage

 

[tuatha]

.

In fact if anybody is going to claim that from now on, I'd suggest they post accompanying screenshots of their usage statistics.

edit: I don't mean to be an ass about it, but there are far too many porkies being told on here, and it's giving people unrealistic expectations.

In my experience, you'll get about 5-6 hours of constant internet use out of the phone before it dies.

 

[nx1977]

I'll happily post up a screen shot tomorrow for you to show the phones been on for over 24 hours.

Those who cant even reach 24 hours are either very heavy users, or simply havent set theirs up efficiently enough.

From batterytime lite the max you can expect is:

idle time 346:30 (signal will affect this)
Talk time 6:00
Video playback 3:26
Audio playback 6:29
Web Surfing 3:56

Obv thats exclusive constant use, so mixing and matching will effect this.

 

[Stretlow]

I'll happily post up a screen shot tomorrow for you to show the phones been on for over 24 hours.

Those who cant even reach 24 hours are either very heavy users, or simply havent set theirs up efficiently enough.

From batterytime lite the max you can expect is:

idle time 346:30 (signal will affect this)
Talk time 6:00
Video playback 3:26
Audio playback 6:29
Web Surfing 3:56

Obv thats exclusive constant use, so mixing and matching will effect this.

Can you give me some tips then.....

I use mine at my desk at work (shouldnt be mind you)

so (H) on all the time..

The only thing thats on auto is mail as i need my emails as i get sent them.

weather is on every 3 hours.

I have manual facebook, no twitter, flickr,stocks etc.

Screen is on 100% though.

with this setup ill unplug my phone at 7 before I go work and ill be charging it at 1pm without question...


EDIT: mines been unplugged and hardly touched for 3 hours and ive lost 10%

EDIT2: Just checked battery info and calender has now completely disapeared so we could well be onto a winner here....

 

[nx1977]

What freq is your mail check? For a 10% drop over 3 hours, I'd be guessing your email is checking at intervals less than 30min?

 

[crazy4ker]

I stll think somethings eating mine so ive done the above steps and indeed the calendar does top the list.

However, I removed Flickr when i got the phone as I dont use it..

Any other ideas what could be causing it.???

Stret

My original post:

Ok, I've been having problems too, but I think I've sorted my one out. I'll first go through the symptoms (apart from the obivious that the battery life is poor).

1. Go to Menu>>settings>>about phone>>battery. If your "awake time"="up time" then your phone isn't sleeping.

2. Type *#*#4636#*#* into your phone dialler. This will bring up the testing menu. Go to Battery History, then press "other usage" and select "partial wake usage". This shows what is causing your Desire to remain awake (even though the screen is off). More likely than not, this will show "calendar" as the biggest use. If this is the case go to the next step.

3. Go to Menu>>Settings>>Accounts & Sync. Now select the flickr account and then "remove account". Hopefully this should sort it. I don't use flickr and only logged in once hence why it's here.

Hopefully that should sort out 90% of you. If you have the "awake time"="up time" problem then at least you know that the problem is your Desire not going to sleep. And then the 2nd step will tell you what the problem is.

Sorry forgot the final step

4. Turn it off and then back on again! Double check that flickr has been removed from the accounts & sync list. Also check that "awake time" doesn't equal "up time".

I also did a few other steps, but I don't think that was part of the solution:

5. Go to Menu>>Settings>>Applications>>Running Services then stop connectivityservice (you need to stop this twice). Then go back to the main screen. I also removed the calendar widget then put it back on, and a few other things, but I'm sure this extra bits aren't needed.


Don't know if I should be linking other forums, but basically I followed this thread Partially solved: Potential cause for excessive battery usage - Page 16 - xda-developers Gens6200 is the guy that solved this problem.

The first 3 steps followed by a reset (not a hard reset) should sort this out. Let me know if it doesn't.

I used to have to charge my phone up after about 10 hours. Now I've had it on for 8.17 hours and the battery is showing at 69%. I've got wifi on, constantly syncing with 4 email accounts, had a few phone calls and the occasion game, plus all the time today trying to sort out this battery problem.

 

[tuatha]

I'll happily post up a screen shot tomorrow for you to show the phones been on for over 24 hours.

Those who cant even reach 24 hours are either very heavy users, or simply havent set theirs up efficiently enough.

Okay, but please make sure to also post the screens indicating how long each app has been in use on the phone (just click on them in the battery screen). That will be far more useful as a benchmark than just a screen with a bunch of percentages.

 

[nx1977]

Do you have battery issues tuatha?

What do your screenshots look like?

 

[tuatha]

Nah, no issues. I get about 20 hours, with wi-fi on all day. My figures are pretty much in keeping with the published specs.

 

[SL4VE]

I've had massive improvements with Juice Defender. 12 hours to Flat before and now 30 hours with good use. Internet navi the lot running.

 

[Stretlow]

Ok Got up at 7am 12 hours since unplug. down to 60% with me barely touching it.

I've looked at my gmail app settings and it doesnt allow you to set the frequency time its either on or off.. Could it be this?


Since 7am i did a little browsing in bed. 50 minutes later we're sat at 38%

 

[Mike_M]

Since removing Advanced Task Killer and letting the phone manage the apps, I have noticed an increase in battery life by about 40%.

It may be because the phone does not have to continuously reboot apps that have been terminated......no idea, but noticed a difference and the phone also reacts quicker now. Cant wait for 2.2!

 

[bigsav]

I unplugged 2 hours 10 mins ago and am on 59%!!

Gmail, Facebook etc set to update hourly, wifi off, bluetooth off. No calls made, no music played, no sms sent.

What on earth am I doing wrong?

Sav

 

[Stretlow]

Update: Ok i've resigned myself to the fact im not going to get away with having the brightness on 100% so ive set it to auto.

Also ive just figured something... Ive got beautiful widgets installed and have the weather running from that set to every 3 hours, however ive just checked the standard weather app and it was set to every 30 minutes.

Could this be why my battery has been reducing through the night???

Have nearly charged again this morning. I'm popingout this afternoon so going to navigate a 30 minute journey on maps.

Will report back

 

[Mike_M]

Charged mine up fully Monday about 1pm and it is now 66% Tuesday 10:30am......21ish Hours of use

Got my weather widget updating every hour with lots of other widgets running,made calls, using the web, facebook, twitter etc and its been in standby all night too.

I am quite happy with it and would love the battery to last a week, but dont think battery technology is there yet

 

[tuatha]

Stretlow - unfortunately that browsing figure sounds about right, especially with brightness set to 100%!

Weather could well have been having an impact, though to what extent, I'm not sure...


bigsav - that sounds very wrong. There are loads of tips in this thread for working out the cause of excessive battery drain. See crazy4ker's post above. Have a read over it and report back

 

[trick202]

I was at 100% this morning. Listened to a podcast for an hour and I'm down to 66% with no other use.

Not that great in my opinion.

It almost made it through a full day yesterday - I was quite happy with that.

 

[b0ng0]

I easily get over 50 hours battery life from my Desire. I simply have GPS/Wi-Fi turned off when not using them, and also mobile data (which I turn on whenever I need it).

If I have mobile data turned on all the time then I get about 40-48 hours, depending on usage.

I would say if your Desire is dying, you are probably having everything updating far too regularly, don't forget GPS will kill any phone's battery dead if you leave it on as well.

I'd also recommend installing "Sweet Dreams" app, so you can have it automatically turn off data/wifi ect. when you're asleep.

 

[crazy4ker]

trick202 & Stretlow have you tried my steps yet?

If you follow the first step then we should be able where the problem is.

Go to Menu>>settings>>about phone>>battery. If your "awake time"="up time" then your phone isn't sleeping.

Please check and post back

 

[Stretlow]

Ok 3 Hours few calls few texts few emails. and a little messing with maps.

93%. So a little better than normal

Have also manually set the brightness to about 1/3.

Am going to use navigation for half an hour when my lazy arse daughter eventually wakes from her nap.


All about testing this battery today.

 

[crazy4ker]

Ok 3 Hours few calls few texts few emails. and a little messing with maps.

93%. So a little better than normal

Have also manually set the brightness to about 1/3.

Am going to use navigation for half an hour when my lazy arse daughter eventually wakes from her nap.


All about testing this battery today.

Yes you can extend you battery by turning down some of the settings, but the main problem you have is your battery going down overnight - when the phone should be in sleep mode. My battery is still going well, over 24hour since the last recharge and I now leave wifi, sync etc on all the time now. It normally doesn't last 12hours. Your symptoms sound exactly like mine was.

Go to Menu>>settings>>about phone>>battery. and post your "awake time" and "up time".

 

[Stretlow]

Yes you can extend you battery by turning down some of the settings, but the main problem you have is your battery going down overnight - when the phone should be in sleep mode. My battery is still going well, over 24hour since the last recharge and I now leave wifi, sync etc on all the time now. It normally doesn't last 12hours. Your symptoms sound exactly like mine was.

Go to Menu>>settings>>about phone>>battery. and post your "awake time" and "up time".

UP 5.58

Awake 1.50

Ive navigated for 30 minutes took some photos and video of my daughter in the park and sent a few emails and texts

now stands at 56%

I'd hardly call that excessive usage but theres no way im going to get anywhere near 24 hours.

Annoying.

 

[MH75]

After being on charge all night I picked up the phone this morning, unplugged it and the battery dropped straight down to 92%.

Received 1 call that musta lasted all of 20 seconds, received 3 txts and sent 2 back all within the space of 10 mins and the battery dropped another 5%.

So err fairly rubbish really!