Battery problems, quirks and issues: Read first.

[emellaich]

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Please post any battery related issue within this thread. Pleas do not create any more additional battery related threads.

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----Original post follows ------

The spec's sound good, but I wonder about the battery life?

My daughter has a Samsung Gravity and it won't last through a single day -- even after trading it in on a new model.

So, it sounds great that the Moment has a faster processor, lighted keyboard, camera flash, and possibly more. However, is this simply a sign that Samsung isn't sensitive to battery issues or have they really figured out how to do that stuff and deliver a reasonable usage time?

 

[Deleted User]

Well, the AMOLED screen it has is much less power hungry than a normal LCD, which hopefully will counter balance some of the other more draining features. They have given figures for talk time, which I can't recall right now, but nothing for stand by time. I fully expect to be charging it daily with as much as I use my current phone.

 

[emellaich]

Good thoughts about the AMOLED screen. However, I will tell you that my daughter's Gravity is rated at 360 minutes of talk time compared to 330 minutes for the Moment.

And charging it daily isn't good enough for her. She runs out of battery every day.

She almost never talks on her phone, but she is a VERY heavy text user. About 12,000 texts per month. That works out to 400 per day. On the other hand, I wouldn't think that texts are anywhere near equal to similar talk time.

 

[Deleted User]

With that many texts, you'd be surprised at how much juice the phone will eat up. When you're talking, the screen is off (usually) and the phone is doing very little in the background (especially on a CDMA network since you can't talk and do data at the same time). It would be interesting to see what the drain on a battery over a 60 min conversation is vs a 60 min constantly back and fourth text convo.

If your daughter has her phone at school, another thing could be draining the battery... searching for signal. When I was in college, that would kill my battery in a few hours on a phone that would normally go 2-3 days between charges. I don't think most schools employ jamming devices, but the buildings are very thick metal and concrete for the most part and the signals just can't get in well.

 

[forty2]

Is this simply a sign that Samsung isn't sensitive to battery issues or have they really figured out how to do that stuff and deliver a reasonable usage time?

She almost never talks on her phone, but she is a VERY heavy text user. About 12,000 texts per month. That works out to 400 per day.

I think it's your daughter that isn't sensitive to battery issues, not Samsung.

 

[emellaich]

Hmmm, forty2. It's probably a case of you not intending this, but I find your answer insulting. Stick to the facts instead of making fun of me or my daughter.

Futhermore, a little search on the Samsung Gravity and battery will lead you to many complaints of its battery life -- and complaints of users being unable to last even a full day. Take a peak here:
Samsung Gravity cell phone poor battery life - WORLD Law Direct Forums

So you don't take this as very serious, but I'm not sold. I was using my daughter as an example, and admittedly an extreme one. However, the point is that talk time estimates do not necessarily translate directly to usage time.

I assume that if you are thinking of getting an android phone and paying data rates, you hope to do more than simply talk on the phone? Web browsing? Navigation? Email?. In fact, battery life is a known concern for Android phones in general. Do a little research on the net and you'll find that many people are debating whether the underclocked/underpowered phones are moves to cut costs by manufacturers or are attempts to control battery life.

So when Samsung comes out with a chip that is much faster than that used by others, this leads to a natural question. Is this due to them saving power elsewhere (AMOLED) or a more efficient chip architecture? Or is it simply a case of designing for pleasing spec sheets without taking into account a real world use case? Is this another Gravity in the making?

Since the phone has been in a few reviewers hands, I'm just hoping for objective experience on the battery life.

p.s. These comments are for forty2, I would like to thank you, Gremlyn1 for your thoughtful comments.

 

[CaptFan]

I am currently running a Sprint Hero and have issues with battery life also. I can usually make it through the day but it is often very close to running out. My solution was to pick up an inexpensive auto adapter and mini usb data cable from ebay so I can give it a little juice during the day when I'm driving or at my computer. Task Killer also helps to monitor and terminate unneeded applications running in the background taking up extra processing. With current battery technology it's hard to make a powerful smartphone that is multi-tasking capable and compact that has loads of battery life.

 

[emellaich]

I am currently running a Sprint Hero and have issues with battery life also. I can usually make it through the day but it is often very close to running out. My solution was to pick up an inexpensive auto adapter and mini usb data cable from ebay so I can give it a little juice during the day when I'm driving or at my computer. Task Killer also helps to monitor and terminate unneeded applications running in the background taking up extra processing. With current battery technology it's hard to make a powerful smartphone that is multi-tasking capable and compact that has loads of battery life.

Good point. This may be the state of the art given the power of these devices and how small we want them to be. If there is no answer today, the only solution may be a change in habits.

Any thoughts on the impact on the battery of these mini-charges throughout the day? I know that Li-ion (I assume that's what these have?) batteries don't have a memory effect. However, I think most of these are 'smart batteries' have built-in microprocessors to manage the charging process.

Will the smart charging system be messed up if it sees a bunch of mini-charges instead of single long, deep charges? Or will this condition the microprocessor (not the battery) to think the battery's capacity is smaller?

 

[CaptFan]

From what I understand about Li-ion batteries frequent charging of the battery is not a problem and doesn't result in a memory issue within the battery. Occasionally they should be drained to almost empty but it is not necessary to cycle them from full to empty. They tend to be rated with how many full charges they will take before they start to loose their effeciency. Two 50% charges have the same effect on the battery as one 100% charge as far as the life of the battery is concerned. With these devices I don't think there should be an issue with running them during the day and topping it off once or twice with an additional charge to ensure they last through the evening.

 

[Deleted User]

If it has a microprocessor to help regulate charging, then it won't be subject to the same memory effect that batteries can be. It would be like thinking your CPU would get a memory from doing the same tasks over and over again, so no worries there.

I agree that there are concerns for battery life, but I guess I'm just holding out hope for it to be OK. I usually plug my current phone in over night, then again on the way to work (especially if using GPS) and on the way home again. My current phone is not as power hungry as I expect the Moment to be (Moto Q9c), so it's not a great comparison... the other thing to think about is that most of us have the ability to sit the phone on our desk for a little while, even if just over lunch, and give it a little juice like Capt recommended.

 

[Adrift]

Hey folks,

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed their Moment saying "Fully Charged" then shortly after taking it off the charger it reports at 80% left?

It's not that its draining that much battery that fast it just seems that it is not getting fully charged. The battery also isn't discharging abnormally fast like Hero pre 3rd party messaging, it just seems to report falsly that it is completely charged and stops charging. Has anyone else experienced this? Or should I go for an exchange and get a properly charging unit?

Doing some more tests to see if it will do this every time, or if I can get the bettery to take a full charge somehow.

 

[Adrift]

*Quick update*

I took the phone off charger, as I was typing the above post, checking the phone just now, about 15mins later, with almost no usage I am at 80% battery, this is a problem to say the least.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[yourm0m1]

where are you viewing the percentage? a 3rd party app or in the phone info? see if there is a difference if possible

 

[Adrift]

Good thinking, I am using the phone status, will try a 3rd party.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

I get that too, with 90% remaining.

 

[Adrift]

3rd party apps report the same, except one reporting WAY less... that one is wrong though.

 

[LincKraker]

did everyone start using the phone right away without fully charging? i have the same problem. i'm going to completely drain my battery today and then charge it tonight. see if that fixes the issue.

 

[stile65]

I'm getting the same thing, sort of.

When I start charging, it goes up to 50% pretty quickly and then takes a long time to go up to 100%.

When I take it off the charger and start using it, it goes to 80% very quickly, then down to 50% somewhat fast, and by about 8 hours into the day, down to 30%. But the lower the battery goes, the slower it seems to drain. I think it's something with the indicator rather than with the battery. I can spend all evening between 15% and 30%, it seems.

 

[Deleted User]

I had my phone run all the way down until it shut off last night, then charged it up over night. Took it off the charger this morning, and the battery bar at the top of the screen did not show full. I then charged it again while on my 25 min drive to work and it did not get to fully charged status that whole time, though now the indicator shows a full battery. I wouldn't think there is anything wrong with the phone, just the batteries. I'm going to complete run it down again today and then charge it up and see what happens tomorrow.

 

[awrnsmn]

I am more to believe it is a visual bug more than a battery bug. Mine is doing the same but yet my battery seems to be getting me thru the day fine. I wonder if Sprint or Samsung is aware of this?

 

[flyjbaker]

I'm getting the same thing, sort of.

When I start charging, it goes up to 50% pretty quickly and then takes a long time to go up to 100%.

When I take it off the charger and start using it, it goes to 80% very quickly, then down to 50% somewhat fast, and by about 8 hours into the day, down to 30%. But the lower the battery goes, the slower it seems to drain. I think it's something with the indicator rather than with the battery. I can spend all evening between 15% and 30%, it seems.

I totally am in agreement with this post!

 

[dkjones96]

If the programs are looking at battery voltage this all sounds about right.

 

[droid26]

im having this exact issue. but then again ive only had it for a couple days. could it have something to do with apps running in the background? i've tried taskiller, maybe im not doing it right or its something else. it is an issue that needs to be addressed though. after taking almost 7 hours to fnally reach 100% charge, took it off the charger at 6:30 this morning and now its down to 70%.

 

[abrahan]

same happening here. 80% charged when its "fully charged" and have had it since sunday.

had it charged all night and it reported 80% when unplugged.

 

[billbunton]

I'm seeing the same thing. In addition, it will sometimes drop (or jump) 20% instantly. It seems to be the display, though until I saw this thread I was wondering if it was a flakey battery in my phone.