Is there something wrong with my battery?

[bmbriefs]

So my wife and I have two heros with drastically different battery lives. We both did the SMS work around, so it isn't that. We both bought the phones at the same time, so they've both been discharged/recharged equally. We both use the phones approximately the same, I'd say light to moderate use (no wifi, GPS off, maybe a dozen e-mails/texts a day, 15-30 minutes of talk per day). Anyway, at the end of the day my battery is nearly dead and hers is at 80%. This is after like 13-14 hrs of up time (~2.5-3 hrs awake time).

So, is my battery unusually bad or is hers unusually good?

 

[VoXHTC]

You all need to compare uptime and awake time in your phones. Go to Settings > about phone > status , then scroll to the bottom. If it says 100% your phone isn't sleeping like it's supposed to. "something" is keeping it awake. Possibly twitter, or a half dozen other bugs with the OS. Batteries are fine from my experience with this phone so far... the messaging app that comes with this phone is terribly bugged. Make sure the settings in it are turned off.. retrieve messages, notification etc... if that app is opened and you don't reboot your phone then it's going to keep your phone at 100% awake time, which means dead battery.

 

[bmbriefs]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. We used the work around for the SMS issue on both phones and I have awake time of ~20% and her awake time is ~15%. I have a hard time believing the 5% difference accounts for this huge difference in battery performance.

I'm just trying to figure out if my battery is defective or if her's is unusually good.

 

[VoXHTC]

Oh then in that case I'm at a loss. I would doubt that 5% makes any noticeable difference as well. Possibly connection to email and facebook intervals are too often. Are there any apps installed on one phone that aren't on the other? Possibly narrowing it down to a faulty app could be it. If they're identical then I'm spent.. sorry buddy.

 

[jayb5]

I'm having the same issue w/ my battery. I did the sms fix and have an average awake time of 18% with moderate use - few text messages, 3 or 4 calls of couple of minutes and my battery will be less than 15 percent by 6 p.m.

I do have three email accounts (one exchange via activesync and two yahoo accounts) that check emails every 10 minutes, so I don't know if that could be one of the reasons for short battery life.

Does your wife have the same amount of email accounts as you?

 

[bmbriefs]

I haven't compared the apps yet, I will. Would those differences show up in the awake time or do apps continue to drain battery even when the phone is asleep?

 

[bmbriefs]

Yes, we both have the same amount of e-mail accounts- just one gmail account each. Is there a way to decrease the e-mail checking interval in the gmail app?

 

[VoXHTC]

Android is "suppose" to handle memory well on it's own. Apps that aren't in use move to the background as idle and don't use any juice. Some apps that aren't created correctly could be at fault. I think there was a thread regarding "peep" draining battery life only if you're logged in though.

And no those differences wouldn't show up under the awake time. You'd need both phones side by side under the Manage Applications section in settings and scroll through them.

Gmail is "push" I believe. In other words you get it when you get it lol , it doesn't need to check.

 

[Visionikz03]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. We used the work around for the SMS issue on both phones and I have awake time of ~20% and her awake time is ~15%. I have a hard time believing the 5% difference accounts for this huge difference in battery performance.

I'm just trying to figure out if my battery is defective or if her's is unusually good.

Give it some time bro. I experienced the same thing after switching to Handcent and disabling the oem message app and i literally one day did not even use the phone til mid morning(was fully charged when i left the house at 6 45) and the battery was halfway dead by noon with an awake time of around 25%! After running the battery til the phone tells me it needs to be charged a handful of times i am now getting about a day and a half or so of battery life with average use. Make sure ur location service as well as "always on" mobile network and other constant connections are disabled as well. Hold out for 2.0 as it should fix the numerous bugs that block phone from sleeping.

 

[bmbriefs]

Ahh... it may be the peep issue. I opened that program today and my wife didn't. I'll force it closed tomorrow and see if that was the culprit!

 

[hempwallace]

Have you tried switching batteries with each other? That should show you whether the problem is with one of the batteries or one of the phones using more battery power.

 

[bimmer95]

Have you tried switching batteries with each other? That should show you whether the problem is with one of the batteries or one of the phones using more battery power.

+1... can't believe it took 10 replies to see such a no brainer test of the physical battery itself.

 

[VoXHTC]

it's not the battery...

 

[bmbriefs]

Well, it doesn't appear to be peep. I signed off, and shut down the program. I've had my phone on for 4 hrs (awake time 13%) and my battery is down 35%- this projects me to a battery life of ~12 hrs at low use. This is enough to get through a work day, but I was expecting more.

What are other people's battery life like?


BTW- I will swap batteries with my wife tomorrow to test that.

 

[CMank]

I honestly feel for the poor saps who have bought the Hero and no nothing about the SMS workaround and the other half a dozen vampire apps out there. My battery life is usually down to 40% at the end of the day. Doesn't make me super happy, but I'll live.

 

[Captain01]

I am having pretty much the same problem. I have read every post about using Handcent and not the stock app. Wifi is off. I check my email accounts manually. Most of the day the phone is just sitting in my pocket. With little to no use the battery is just about dead at the end of the day. It is really very frustrating to have such a great phone and not be able to use it for more than 30-45 minutes a day without killing the battery.

 

[cirehawk]

I've had my Hero for just over a month now. It usually lasts most of the day on a charge, but it varies day to day (for no logical reason). When I first heard about the SMS fix, I went through the process and immediately saw my awake time decrease from 100% to to the 20-30% range. Unfortunately, within a few hours I was back to 100% awake time and I did not feel like going through the whole factory reset process again. However, as I said before my battery generally get me through the work day so I'm just waiting for a maintenance fix to be released.