Figure Out What's Draining Your Droid's Battery

[Silverexpress]

Checkout "startup auditor" it's an app that will allow you to disable other apps at at startup and in addition disable apps that have reoccuring startups. It's different from task killer in that this app prevents reoccurring apps.

 

[borderless]

Great thread.. I was just about to post this question and found this thread. Add Remember the Milk to the thread. I had sync set to every 5 minutes and it was 50% of my partial wake usage.

We will see how the battery lasts tomorrow.

Thanks for posting this!

 

[steveg95]

I jumped through all the hoops. I eventually reset my phone to factory default and deleted all 3rd party apps. I turned off WiFi and GPS and still couldn't get even one day out of the Battery. Verizon made me try a new battery first no luck. On my third trip back in, they started talking about manually shutting down apps. I explained that my brother had the phone with all the 3rd party apps that I had and left his GPS on all the time and was getting almost two days out of the battery. I held my ground and made them replace the phone. AWESOME!!!!! It works great now and I've put back on every 3rd party app that I had before.

 

[JDMS33]

i dont have any chat clients and i only upload pics all day, it died in 11 hrs... i am going in tomorrow to trade it in, i also have the speaker issue, blah!

radikal - so what were your results after returning your phone? Very curious what people are seeing with a different device - assuming yoru usage is about the same.

If I do 1-3 hours of web browsing or streaming I get about 14-15 hours. If not I can go for 2+ days. Not unlike my Treo 750 - depending on email volume I have to charge every 14-36 hours.

 

[steveg95]

i dont have any chat clients and i only upload pics all day, it died in 11 hrs... i am going in tomorrow to trade it in, i also have the speaker issue, blah!

Don't take any crap off them. The guy whined to me that if they send one back that doesn't actually have a problem, Motorola will charge them $200.00. I looked him in the eye and said, "I don't care. I'm paying $200.00 per month for all the phones in my household and I want this one to work".

 

[admorris]

Just installed Startup Auditor as someone above suggested. Awesome app...free'd up 25 megs of memory just like that. I like that you can kill an app from starting up with the phone and also choose to keep it from starting automatically once the phone is running. Worth the $.99

 

[writhum]

On my all time battery usage stats:
1) Android system
2) Google
and all the rest are minimal, can't even see a blue bar in the overview. Is this what most people are seeing?

 

[borderless]

Great thread.. I was just about to post this question and found this thread. Add Remember the Milk to the thread. I had sync set to every 5 minutes and it was 50% of my partial wake usage.

We will see how the battery lasts tomorrow.

Thanks for posting this!

Well, my battery life still sucks. Phone died today at 8pm. I even bought another battery which died in the same amount of time.

Remember the milk is off my Droid and the only thing showing up in Partial Wake Usage is "Android System" which I'm not sure is normal.

This is so frustrating.. I guess I should go exchange it.

For those who exchanged it, are you seeing dramatically better battery life?

If so, can you install Spare Parts and see if "Android System" shows up in Partial Wake Usage? I'm concerned because the Partial Wake Usage by Android System is almost exactly the length of time the phone was unplugged from a charger.

 

[avongil]

I'd really like to know how much power is being drained by the voice/data network.

My phone will last well over 24 hour with fairly good use. EXCEPT when the signal is weak. I have had it die in 6 hours, just sitting on the desk idle. My hypothesis is, this has to be the issue with all these battery life problems. Other than being in a weak signal area, the battery life on the Droid is pretty impressive.

 

[avongil]

Maybe we should start up a list of known battery hogs.

- Meebo
- WeatherBug

Meebo... I have not used that app in a while. If I remember correctly, Since the last time my phone died in under 8 hours! Thanks for this app! Now I have something else to test...

 

[droid_genesis]

Well, my battery life still sucks. Phone died today at 8pm. I even bought another battery which died in the same amount of time.

Remember the milk is off my Droid and the only thing showing up in Partial Wake Usage is "Android System" which I'm not sure is normal.

This is so frustrating.. I guess I should go exchange it.

For those who exchanged it, are you seeing dramatically better battery life?

If so, can you install Spare Parts and see if "Android System" shows up in Partial Wake Usage? I'm concerned because the Partial Wake Usage by Android System is almost exactly the length of time the phone was unplugged from a charger.

"Android System" should be showing up there (that's normal). It should be the primary "drainer" of the battery during Partial Wake. Do you have a weak signal? Having a weak signal can really kill your battery very quickly. If so, try updating your towers by dialing *228.

If you have great signal at all hours of the day, exchange it. With moderate usage, I get at least 20 hours. With light usage, I can easily get 36+ hours.

Also, are you leaving your Droid anywhere near magnets? Such as a phone pouch or holster? I've read a few posts stating that magnets keep the phone awake.

 

[ol_techer]

Here's another possible culprit: the Alarm Clock

Not sure yet as this has only happened to me once. My average battery time has easily been 12 to 20 hours per charge over the last two weeks. Not today. I left the built in alarm clock running (icon in the notification bar) today and even after setting airplane mode the battery was at 10% when I got off work. That's 8+ hours sitting idle in a security lock box after starting the day on a full charge. The only thing different is the alarm clock. And the odd thing is this app does not show up anywhere in the usage list. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a setting theme (weekday, weekend, etc)
if you have to turn it off anyway.

Unfortunately I just learned about the Spare Parts app so I don't have any statistics to share from that (this time).

 

[aaronmach1]

why does mine show that the missed call app is using so much battery?

 

[jltung]

Battery Life
Battery Life is a major problem for a lot of people. I think it comes in 4 different packages:

1: Battery : Do you drain the battery to zero or never let it drain down

completely ? I do not know the definitive answer. It depends

on who you believe and personal experience. I have not tried to

drain the battery yet.

2. Charger : Many people who have bought after market chargers have had

interesting experiences from auto phone calls and emails made in

sleep time to discharging while plugged in etc. I have several

after market chargers, some work and some do not.

3. Killer Apps : I believe they are helpful although they also drain battery.

Some people feel that the LINUX system auto shuts down

unused programs. I am not sure.

I think TasKiller and Adv Task Killer work but use more battery.

I personally use Adv Task Manager and find it works well for me

4. Usage : Of course the biggest drain is usage. Any battery no matter how

good will drain with heavy usage. i.e. game playing, listening to

music, gps, bluetooth, wifi etc. The main drain is how long is the

screen on.

Conclusions: 1. Battery: defective ? Replace. Drain or not drain ???

2. Charger: defective ? Dispose

3. Killer apps: Do you need them ? I like Adv Task Management

4. Usage: Review usage in Settings/ App - Spare Parts

Modify especially in areas of low coverage. A lot of

the programs kick in automatically and if your

coverage is not good it continues to search and

uses battery. That is what the Killer apps do.

Let me know if there other thoughts on the matter.

 

[colnago]

I'm fairly certain its not background processes that's killing the battery, save for any app that's doing live updates "in real time".

Having (2) different Droids, and (3) different batteries from my current phone (Moto Q), two of which are OEM, and one extended 3rd party, I've seen similar results between the two different phones and processes.

The first consistency I noticed, is that when new, a battery will need to go through a few charging cycles before it reaches peak longevity. Seidio, the 3rd party battery mfg., states this in their instructions. You may not need to drain it completely every time during "break-in" period, but it will take a few charges before its at its best.

Secondly, as far as longevity, my batteries on both DROIDS were good for 24hours on light/normal usage after a week or so of recharging, sometimes with 40% or more of charge. Per Moto, the DROID's battery is only good for 6 hours constant use. I did a test for Chet's "LED Flashlight", where with the screen idle/dark, battery lasted 2 hours before power level dropped to 80% capacity. This with (2) POP3 accounts checking messages every minute, and every (5) minutes respectively, via 3G (I forgot to change prior to test's start...my bad) however Network/Data usage was not the highest user.

Another similarity is that both my Moto Q and Droid last longer with screen brightness turned down (I ran Droid at (-10%) as I'm mostly indoors).

However the big drain I recently noticed, which prompted me to return the DROID, was when at my mom's house, where the DROID has little to no signal, my 24hr capable battery dropped 80% from full charge in ~4hrs as the radios struggle to find (1) bar of signal, where 90% of the time there were (0) bars. This coinsides with the 6hrs constant use rating from Moto's site.

If it were me, I'd use the phone as normal, with all the widgets running as normal, because that is one of the reasons why we got the phone. After a week or so, then determine if you're able to go a full day, factoring in 4-5 hours of "screen time", with the other hour or so allocated to "background" processes. Other than that, just hold out for Seidio's 2800-3200mA battery and cover to come out.

 

[hiway]

I'm fairly certain its not background processes that's killing the battery, save for any app that's doing live updates "in real time".

Having (2) different Droids, and (3) different batteries from my current phone (Moto Q), two of which are OEM, and one extended 3rd party, I've seen similar results between the two different phones and processes.

The first consistency I noticed, is that when new, a battery will need to go through a few charging cycles before it reaches peak longevity. Seidio, the 3rd party battery mfg., states this in their instructions. You may not need to drain it completely every time during "break-in" period, but it will take a few charges before its at its best.

Secondly, as far as longevity, my batteries on both DROIDS were good for 24hours on light/normal usage after a week or so of recharging, sometimes with 40% or more of charge. Per Moto, the DROID's battery is only good for 6 hours constant use. I did a test for Chet's "LED Flashlight", where with the screen idle/dark, battery lasted 2 hours before power level dropped to 80% capacity. This with (2) POP3 accounts checking messages every minute, and every (5) minutes respectively, via 3G (I forgot to change prior to test's start...my bad) however Network/Data usage was not the highest user.

Another similarity is that both my Moto Q and Droid last longer with screen brightness turned down (I ran Droid at (-10%) as I'm mostly indoors).

However the big drain I recently noticed, which prompted me to return the DROID, was when at my mom's house, where the DROID has little to no signal, my 24hr capable battery dropped 80% from full charge in ~4hrs as the radios struggle to find (1) bar of signal, where 90% of the time there were (0) bars. This coinsides with the 6hrs constant use rating from Moto's site.

If it were me, I'd use the phone as normal, with all the widgets running as normal, because that is one of the reasons why we got the phone. After a week or so, then determine if you're able to go a full day, factoring in 4-5 hours of "screen time", with the other hour or so allocated to "background" processes. Other than that, just hold out for Seidio's 2800-3200mA battery and cover to come out.

Being an airline pilot a phone "struggling" to find a signal will always kill the battery rather quickly for any phone.

 

[colnago]

Being an airline pilot a phone "struggling" to find a signal will always kill the battery rather quickly for any phone.

Fair enough, but there are people that suffer from weak signal, or the 3G->1x change with the DROID, and also wonder why their batteries don't last long...just putting the info together for them. However I took my Droid back because of the multiple areas around my town where it had low, or no signal, my Motorla Q consistently held 75-100% signal.

 

[Silverexpress]

Regarding the low signal, did any of you try updating the PRL? I'm not sure how Verizon handles this - whether it's automatically updated or if it is something you need to do in some setting menu item.

I'll have to check my wife's Droid tonight.

 

[colnago]

Regarding the low signal, did any of you try updating the PRL? I'm not sure how Verizon handles this - whether it's automatically updated or if it is something you need to do in some setting menu item.

I'll have to check my wife's Droid tonight.

Did it, didn't help. Doesn't help signal strength as phone stays under -78dBM at my house, and mom's 2mi away...both our houses are less than 2mi from VZ store and 2 blocks from VZ CO. I think its either the Droid's antenna, or the way it manages its radios.

However my antenna mod gets signal strength up to -62dBm in the same spot.

 

[jesup]

Something has hit me recently in battery life - draining overnight without being used, etc. Unplugged this morning and 3 hours later at work, was down to 50% (and warm). Then the main homescreen app (default one, not aftermarket) crashed. Highest battery use is shown as "Android System". I've installed Spare Parts - we'll see what it shows. I also just dropped email (imap) check from 5min to 15min. A week or two ago I was getting a full day with occasional use and still had 30-50% battery left.

Probably a new app, or one that went off in the weeds.

 

[jesup]

Spare Parts showed that NetCounter was responsible for almost all the time in Partial Wake. Stopping it didn't help (must have started itself again). I removed it, and battery use went back to normal. Note that I'd had it installed since I got the Droid the first weekend, so it wasn't causing this problem before. Rebooting or clearing the data from NetCounter might have fixed it, but I un-installed it, and things are good now - 10% down in 5 hours (of little use), and Android System is no longer using 50% of the battery (when the phone is idle).

 

[jesup]

Now running 2.0.1. Looks like NetCounter was my problem (and probably WeatherBug). 3+ hours since unplug, Partial Wake is less than 4 minutes, one 2-min phone call, Wifi on, BT on (was paired for around an hour on the way into work), battery still says 100%.

 

[droid_gurl33]

Thanks so much for your post! I barely got the app so I'm new to it. I was using app killer to do it all but my phone wouldn't survive the night even if I turned it off. With app killer, I would kill all of the applications at night and then turn my phone off but for some reason my phone was still dead and I had to recharge my phone and when I would open app killer, all of the applications were still running, why is this?

 

[curtdragon]

This is great, I have meebo so nothing I can change since I use it for all my IM. Weatherbug I changed some settings around and reset phone and will see how battery usage changes

 

[joefrog91]

Android System has been steadily going up all day. The first time I checked, it was at 49% battery usage. Now, it's at 84% and the battery is in the red level. What could be causing the Android System to use that much battery life?