Help Moto Razr HD Battery Life Brand New - HELP!

[kevinf2011]

Hey guys

I was having issues with my IPhone 5 and so I gave up on Apple and even though I know it's being discontinued I just wanted a phone that had superb battery life. Here in CAnada, no one carries the Droid Maxx, etc.. all we have is the outgoing Rogers Motorola Razr HD LTE. I finally got a hold of one and I'm not sure what to think about the battery... I guess I was expecting better.

So far have not installed any apps, except for the ones that updated by google. Android is 4.1

Around 9:30 or so the phone came with about 40% battery...by 1:30 the phone was dead. It would be fine with me if most of that time was surfing the internet, playing games, etc. but I wasn't even using it the whole time.

Voice calls was 44% 1h 12 mins
Screen was 29% 1h 46 mins
Google Play Movies 4% (23 minutes)

I know that the reception in my house does vary from LTE to 4G to Edge and I know this isn't the best thing for the battery... I would say I had WIFI on about half the time, no GPS, and LTE turned off probably about an hr in. For the last hr after reading a tip, I took the auto-brightness off.

Can someone maybe guide me on an app to get or somethin I see people posting results here and others analyzing them. I have 15 days to have it swapped if I think I got a lemon.

I also thought it was strange that after downloading a video off wifi from google play movies and i paused it, it wouldn't play again even after closing the app and re-opening. I had to shut down the phone and turn it back on.

I am gonna charge the phone by plug and see how long it takes to charge and will report this back as well I wonder does the battery somehow underperform the 1st time before it gets fully charged?

 

[Xelios]

It took my phone a few days to settle in and for the battery life to really show. Guess it just needs to build up it's caches and whatnot. I think that doesn't sound all too unreasonable from the stats that you've shown though to be honest. I don't make a lot of phone calls so my battery life far surpasses what you have, but when I do, it seems to be really taxing on it. However, I do have a Maxx so my statistics wont really be the same as yours.

Give it another day or two. If it doesn't get better, swap it. Are there any reprecussions by your carrier? If not, there's no real downside to getting another.

 

[Crewville96]

Give the phone a week to settle. I've also found using the wall charger instead of the usb charger (i.e. with a computer) gives much better results in terms of battery life (not sure why).

 

[budfox66]

My advice...never use a car charger, and use the usb charger only when you can't find a wall charger. Never partially charge the batter, always to 100%. And always let the battery drain down as much as possible before recharging. Some don't believe that car chargers and intermittent charging hurts a battery...I know it does. My phones have rarely seen car charges (rmhd has never!) over the years, and I've only replaced ONE battery, and it was defective that came with a new bberry!

 

[graybeardnc]

My advice...never use a car charger,

Not disputing this, but why?

 

[Crewville96]

Not disputing this, but why?

Batteries loss charge over months/years. You can only charge the phone so many times before it starts lasting less and less. I agree 100% with budfox66's post above.

 

[graybeardnc]

I understand the number of charge/discharge cycles affecting the life of the battery, but I was inquiring about BudFox66's statement about never using a car charger.

 

[budfox66]

I understand the number of charge/discharge cycles affecting the life of the battery, but I was inquiring about BudFox66's statement about never using a car charger.

I have snooped around and found nothing diabolical about the car chrgrs per se, other than 1) some continue to charge even when the battery is full, causing overcharging (can ruin a batt) while most wall chrgrs shut down automatically when batt is full...and 2) it's prbly less about the charger itself and more about the charging practice (user). Phone batts charged on wall chrgrs have a tendency to be charged from "dead" to "full" more frequently, just as car chrgrs are perhaps used more frequently as a "charge me up enough to get where I'm going", which is not good for a batt life, as continued partial charging will reduce the "discharge cycle" of the batt, thus reducing the amount of time you can use b/t charges. Best I can explain it without a degree in EE or some help from Doc Brown

 

[graybeardnc]

it's prbly less about the charger itself and more about the charging practice (user). Phone batts charged on wall chrgrs have a tendency to be charged from "dead" to "full" more frequently, just as car chrgrs are perhaps used more frequently as a "charge me up enough to get where I'm going", which is not good for a batt life, as continued partial charging will reduce the "discharge cycle" of the batt, thus reducing the amount of time you can use b/t charges.

Now that makes sense. Really the only time I use a car charger is on a long trip, probably using GPS or streaming music.

I can see how habitually putting your phone on the car charger for every commuter trip could shorten battery life.

- Thanks

 

[jj2me]

My advice...never use a car charger, and use the usb charger only when you can't find a wall charger. Never partially charge the batter, always to 100%. And always let the battery drain down as much as possible before recharging. Some don't believe that car chargers and intermittent charging hurts a battery...I know it does. My phones have rarely seen car charges (rmhd has never!) over the years, and I've only replaced ONE battery, and it was defective that came with a new bberry!

I agree completely. There will be responses (as well as battery care sites) that say it's best to always keep it charged near 100%, never letting it drain much if possible. But I've had the same experience as budfox66. I have a PDA that I bought as an open box in 2003, which I charge like budfox66 recommends, and it still gives me over a week of battery life with normal use.

On the contrary, I have a colleague whose iPod battery needed replacement after about a year and a half. He followed the "trickle always" advice, keeping it on the Apple charger when not using it.

Anecdotes, I know, but all my devices' batteries are going strong with similar care.

I try not to use cheap chargers that might overcharge. And avoid chargers that charge fast (causing higher heat, the big killer of batteries), like car chargers. Ya gotta use car chargers occasionally, but be sure to take it off the charger after it's charged.

 

[Lars]

Lithium batteries don't like three things. Heat, overcharging and overdischarging. They don't care much about cycling and prefer to be long term stored at a partial (not full) charge. Every lithium battery requires a safety chip to prevent the above three issues. Often the phone performs this function; not the charger.
I fly RC Helicopters and can destroy a battery in very few cycles if I violate any of these 3.
https://vimeo.com/59879863

If you want max battery, set a smartaction to turn off background data when the screen is off. I can go through a work day and only use 15% battery.