Motorola Atrix Battery Life

[falafel]

With a power cycle after a full charge I got the following:
1 day 4 hours 4 minutes 44 seconds since unplugged
voice 37% 1 hour 1min 14 sec
phone idle 25% 1 day 1hour 26min 49sec
display 24% 2hours 38 min 20 sec
cell standby 10% (same as unplugged time)
bluetooth 4% (same as unplugged time)
wifi 3% 6hours 18min 48sec

I just went from 30% to 20%

without a power cycle after full charge I got:
off the charger for 15 hours
Display 44% 2 hr 12 min
Phone idle 24% 12 hr 39min
cell stdby 19% 15 hr
wifi 8% 8 hr
bluetooth 4% 15 hr
voice calls 4% 3 min

currently at 30% can go to 20% at any point

Conclusion: Cycle power off then on after full charge.
Theory: The SW enables some Hardware during the charge and doesn't disable it (or go into low power) once charger is removed. The apps I run are pretty much the same regardless so I dont think that the variable.

 

[bimbocoles]

Since I love the phone I have posted this on multiple forums:
I switched from an IPhone 4 to the Atrix and I am really impressed by the device. HOWEVER, I was very close to return the phone due to poor battery life (in comparison the IPhone 4). The max I got out of the device was 14-16 hrs and the strange thing was that it did not make ANY difference whether I hardly used the phone at all or played around most of the time. Over the weekend I checked and after unplugging the phone from the charger and leaving it on the desk the battery was down to 70%.
By the end of the day on my IPhone I used to have about 30% battery left with all radios (3g, bluetooth, wifi, GPS) on and moderate use. With similar use and GPS off the Atrix hardly made it through the day. I read several suggestions and wanted to share how I increased battery life by almost 100%!! Like mentioned earlier I was puzzled that even in idle status there was a 10-15% drain. The only logic explanation was that there are services that continue in the background and drain the battery.

1. I think the absolute biggest battery drain is to enable wifi triangulation for location services. The fact that the pop-up window states "...Collection will occur even when no applications are running." should have made my suspicious. I have noticed that enabling the GPS does not have any significant effect on battery life as long as you do not have any applications open that use that radio (like maps). Obviously I disable the wifi option in location services.

2. Root your phone and download Titanium Backup PRO. Disable all Motoblur services. I do not use any Motoblur widget/services (no facebook, twitter and so on) and am happy with the native gmail client. I literally froze allmost all of the motoblur services as well as other services that may use data services in the background (news, weather services).
Following link gives a good overviw which services can be disabled without any problems:
Death-Force • Thema anzeigen - [TIP][Tutorial] Freeze Motoblur for more Performance and RAM

3. I haven't really found it helpful to use setcpu. Whats the point of having a ferrari and driving it at 30 mph?

Since making those changes I have seen a significant increase in battery life. Using the gmail client, bluetooth+GPS+wifi+3g on, screen set to auto-brightness and mdoerate use throughout the day I make it easily throughout the day with the battery indicator showing in general 30-40%. I think step 1 made the biggest difference. Again, this phone is just amazing and I do not miss my IPhone at all!

 

[burtonvdp]

A few things I have noticed so far:

It took a week or so to get better battery life. I drained it down to about 5 -10% and never let it die. I've charged with the phone off a few times and did run it for an hour after full charge (everything on) then turned it off and charged again. I doubt that did anything.

My day(s):

Off the charger by 7:30am bluetooth, gps, and wireless off while charging.

Bluetooth Turned on for 30 - 40 minutes streaming music and phone to car stereo.

Bluetooth turned off and wifi turned on 8 hours while at work and bluetooth on 15 minutes or so at lunch. During work I use it for my zendesk app, txting, and email quite a bit.

Around 4:30 Bluetooth on Wifi off for 30 - 40 minutes streaming music and phone to stereo.

around 5:00 wifi on bluetooth off till around 12am using for txting, surfing, apps(Games, facebook, etc.), and mp3 player (Audio books/ long periods of time) either via speaker or head phones. Not all at the same time but still used quite a bit.

12am or so it gets plugged back in with anywhere from 30% to 40% of battery left.


Keep in mind I am still playing with it so there is a lot installing, rebooting, and screen time. Constantly turning the screen on to check alerts (Have it on silent a lot). I dont have any special apps or battery savers nor do I auto kill too many programs and my screen is set for 3 minute sleep... All sync options are either always on or when wifi is up which is pretty much all day.

Today I am leaving all of my antennas on to see how I am doing at the end of the day.

Something else I have noticed is 60% and 30% seem to last a longer and I'm using the 10% increment monitor.

My main suggestion for people that have crappy battery life is to put it into airplane mode over night and see what it is in the morning... That would indicate software or bad battery imho.

Ran it all day with everything turned on (Off charger at 7:30am) wifi, bluetooth, and gps... used quite a bit through the work day. Got home, installed a game and played for a good hour (acrade style). Plugged it in last night at around 10:30pm with 20% left.

 

[BubbaJon]

Is anyone "seasoning" their battery? (Running it all but dry from the "out of the box charge" and THEN giving it a full charge)? I have heard this is the best way to get the most out of any rechargeable device.

Yep - I did 3 complete charge/discharge cycles and mine finally started showing some stamina. I can now make it most of the day without running out of juice - and I play with it a lot. Another big help is the apps that help you manage your power smart by shutting off wi-fi and data when not being used. The app I use for that is JuiceDefender and it works well without paying for the app with more options.

 

[burtonvdp]

This going to sound crazy but I think my alarm clock is killing my standby time.....

 

[justinangil]

how do you guys get your display % down to the 20s? mine constant sits at 70-90% even with settings on low.

 

[Roze]

My battery life seems ok. second day testing it with data/voice on my carrier. 11hrs since unplugged with 25% battery left with light to moderate use. I've been using the phone for 3 hours. Display was on for 3 hours and used 40%. I was mostly on the phandroid app and imo app.downloaded half a dozen apps and sent a couple of txt msg.

Phone idle 7.75hr 13%
Cell standby 10.9hr 10%
Android system 10% cpu total 18 min
Phandroid 8% 13 min

So battery life it's ok. Nothing amazing our spectacular. I hope it gets a bit better as I continue to use the phone

 

[justinangil]

My battery life seems ok. second day testing it with data/voice on my carrier. 11hrs since unplugged with 25% battery left with light to moderate use. I've been using the phone for 3 hours. Display was on for 3 hours and used 40%. I was mostly on the phandroid app and imo app.downloaded half a dozen apps and sent a couple of txt msg.

Phone idle 7.75hr 13%
Cell standby 10.9hr 10%
Android system 10% cpu total 18 min
Phandroid 8% 13 min

So battery life it's ok. Nothing amazing our spectacular. I hope it gets a bit better as I continue to use the phone

I had it for a month. My battery life is on par with what you stated as well. Im thinking if its worth to cycle the battery a few more times.

 

[Roze]

I had it for a month. My battery life is on par with what you stated as well. Im thinking if its worth to cycle the battery a few more times.

I'm getting mix messages about complete discharge/killing the battery on the phone, being that it harms the Li-ion battery in the long run.

 

[redrider67]

Well after a month on the battery here is what I get on a daily basis. Phone comes off the charger at 6:30 in the morning..

Morning routine..
Check internet, send a bunch of texts and emails, few hours of phone calls, searching the market place. I'm still learning the Android platform so I change up my screen several times a day just because I can now.

Normally around 3:00 I'm down to 40% battery left, so I stick it back on the charger a few hours before leaving again to get it back to 100% and then it's good for the rest of the night.

I have noticed the first 10% drop is rather fast after minimal use, then it seems like it last a long time on the 60% and 70% level.

 

[phantom phenom]

I think other way to improve the battery life is to disable 3g/4g network but you can recieve/sent text or call.

 

[omnius]

I can't find the link now but it's my understanding that the "seasoning" method traditionally used on batteries is incorrect to do with the atrix. Does anyone have a link or quote directly from motorola about this?

 

[Deleted User]

I can't find the link now but it's my understanding that the "seasoning" method traditionally used on batteries is incorrect to do with the atrix. Does anyone have a link or quote directly from motorola about this?

I don't have a link to Moto about it for the Atrix, but all Li-Ion based phones work on the same technological principles, so what works for the iPhone, or BlackBerry, or Android phone batteries, works for the Atrix. Basically they don't have any kind of "memory" effects, they should be topped up rather than fully depleted, and they don't need full charges either.

Have a read at BatteryUniversity for facts about how to mange your battery:

How to charge - when to charge table – Battery University

 

[omnius]

I don't have a link to Moto about it for the Atrix, but all Li-Ion based phones work on the same technological principles, so what works for the iPhone, or BlackBerry, or Android phone batteries, works for the Atrix. Basically they don't have any kind of "memory" effects, they should be topped up rather than fully depleted, and they don't need full charges either.

Have a read at BatteryUniversity for facts about how to mange your battery:

How to charge - when to charge table – Battery University

that's a really informative article, thanks!
I really needed that info, because it seems there's an awful lot of people advising people to do the old fashioned "seasoning" method of 2 full discharges followed by full charges in order to improve battery life.

Unfortunately, rather than doing what that table recommended (simply charging the battery right out of the box) I did it the old incorrect way and fully discharged the stock charge. I hope I didn't screw the battery up, but I only did it once and hopefully these things are built well enough that it didn't have any permanent effect on my battery.

According to that table, doing the full discharge/charge IS recommended every 1-3 months in order to calibrate the battery meter. Am I ok in assuming I'm fine?

edit: I just had a thought (scary I know) - could it be possible that people reporting battery issues are actually suffering from an incorrect meter calibration rather than the battery actually being as low as the meter says it is? I know I've seen a few claims of their atrix showing low battery levels quite soon after a full charge but then lasting for a longer time when the meter says it's low. Maybe the atrix battery level meter sucks, and not the actual battery?

But what I'm mainly worried about is my first question above about how I handled my battery. will I be ok?

 

[sean76]

My Atrix battery was going the distance of 15 hrs on heavy use....In my experience with the phone the battery was deff not an issue.

 

[Deleted User]

that's a really informative article, thanks!
I really needed that info, because it seems there's an awful lot of people advising people to do the old fashioned "seasoning" method of 2 full discharges followed by full charges in order to improve battery life.

That's right, Li-Ion does not need any kind of cycling or seasoning when new, it works best out of the box.

According to that table, doing the full discharge/charge IS recommended every 1-3 months in order to calibrate the battery meter. Am I ok in assuming I'm fine?

Yes, the odd full discharge won't greatly affect the life of the battery, just don't do it every day or week, and you should be fine.

edit: I just had a thought (scary I know) - could it be possible that people reporting battery issues are actually suffering from an incorrect meter calibration

That's what happened with a lot of HTC Desire and I believe Atrix phones as well, the phone was not calibrated to the battery when new, and a proper calibration was needed. However, there is really no need to discharge completely to calibrate. You can calibrate the battery by simply turning the phone off, charging it for an hour more after it shows fully charged, then turning on the phone and charging again for an hour past fully charged. That usually does it for most phones. I noticed my battery was a bit off the pace, and by simply giving it a back to back charge, it increased in display on time from ~4.5 hours to ~6 hours. It was a very noticeable difference, both in actual use and checking the battery meter.

But what I'm mainly worried about is my first question above about how I handled my battery. will I be ok?

I believe so...just try to keep it topped up and you should be fine.

 

[razholio]

edit: I just had a thought (scary I know) - could it be possible that people reporting battery issues are actually suffering from an incorrect meter calibration rather than the battery actually being as low as the meter says it is? I know I've seen a few claims of their atrix showing low battery levels quite soon after a full charge but then lasting for a longer time when the meter says it's low. Maybe the atrix battery level meter sucks, and not the actual battery?

That's exactly why the dishcarge/recharge cycles were recommended. I was in the process of doing the full discharge when I had 30% left. I fired up a movie and restarted it once and after 2 hours of playing that movie it finally went down to 5%. With the fubar battery display at 10% increments, the battery had no more than 35% on its meter when I started. I think 2hrs of video playing is pretty impressive for a 20-30% drain. I'm guessing the calibration was 'off'.

 

[vinay427]

After about two weeks of the same usage, my battery life has increased somewhat from two weeks ago. Before, with my normal usage at the end of the day I would get to about 25% remaining. Now, it's about 50%. I also tried not charging my phone overnight (I usually do) and it made it about 28 hours, which is great for me. I left data sync and wifi (connected) on for half that time, with bluetooth for about 5 minutes to receive a few files. This is definitely better than my iPhone 3G, so I'm satisfied!

To those who have bad battery life, after about two weeks of use after a hard factory reset, my battery life suddenly got better. Literally, overnight there was a night and day difference in how long it lasted.

 

[Tennis]

I set CPU to go to 312 Max when screen is off, and I get much better battery.

 

[zenilshroff]

4G Phones do have battery problems.

 

[razholio]

2. Root your phone and download Titanium Backup PRO. Disable all Motoblur services. I do not use any Motoblur widget/services (no facebook, twitter and so on) and am happy with the native gmail client. I literally froze allmost all of the motoblur services as well as other services that may use data services in the background (news, weather services).
Following link gives a good overviw which services can be disabled without any problems:
Death-Force • Thema anzeigen - [TIP][Tutorial] Freeze Motoblur for more Performance and RAM

I took a look at that link and found very few match up with the processes I think are blur and other bloatware processes on my atrix. Would you mind sharing which ones you froze w/o issue? I've heard that freezing the wrong system processes can be a real downer.

3. I haven't really found it helpful to use setcpu. Whats the point of having a ferrari and driving it at 30 mph?

...Again, this phone is just amazing and I do not miss my IPhone at all!

I also much, MUCH prefer my atrix to my iphone4, but I do sometimes miss the screen and the battery life which is why I'm pursuing this motoblur-freeze operation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As to why anyone would want to underclock their CPU with setcpu, the reasoning is that underclocking the CPU at idle uses less power, and it doesn't prevent the CPU from cranking up to full speed when you need it. This 'frequency scaling' is already greatly utilized by most mobile devices, and laptops for that matter as well.

 

[razholio]

just FYI, I found a good thread regarding freezing motoblur with titanium backup pro on a rooted atrix: [How to] Deal with Bloat Safely & Properly {Freeze Method/ROOT} | BIGGER LIST(S)! 3/1 - xda-developers

 

[kilasix9]

I'm at 22 hours since last charge, which was full, and am currently at 40% left.

Don't know if I would call myself a 'heavy-user' but I'm constantly texting, I stream music via bluetooth while at work and check apps like scorecenter, facebook, pulse news, etc. The widgets I have running are Twitter, Youtube and BeautifulWeather.

So I'm pleased to say I'm getting great battery life. Much better than with my Captivate.

 

[Roze]

I don't think my battery life is very good When I didn't have a sim card on my phone, my phone was able to last 30 hrs with 4 hrs of surfing the net on wifi (for 12 hrs) and playing some games (did this for a couple of days).

After I put my SIM card in, I can get around 12hrs on my phone with light to (not quite) moderate use. Light use is barely doing anything, 1/2 hour surfing the net (train ride to work) and a and half an hour on gtalk (train ride home), a few texts download a few apps and took some pictures by the 12th hr, I have just over 20% left. I don't think my battery life is all that great

I've been trying to 'work it in' for the past week. As the phone uses a Li-Ion polymer battery which doesn't need 'conditioning', I charge it when it's at 20%. I'm tempted to simply discarge it completely a few times but everyone says it is not good for the battery

Right now, it's 6.5hr since it was off the charger and I have excatly 50% left (both circle battery widget and the system battery). This would imply that it'll last another 6.5 hrs before it's completely dead or 4 more hrs till it reach 20-30%.

Settings:
Screen brightness is set low
Gmail = stock setting
Weather/news=stock setting
Phone is on 'night battery saver' mode

Usage today is what I'd consider light usage:
Display: 1 hr, 28%
Phone Idle 5.3hrs 18%
Android System 12% CPU total=8.2min Data sent 18mb
Cell Standby: 9% 6h41m time without signal=0
market: 8% 5min data sent=105kb
mediaserver=5% 3min
Ninja Kaka 4% 2.5min (didn't play this today)
Abduction 4% 2.5min (didn't play this today)
Android OS 4% 3min data received=20mb
Phandroid 3% 2min data received=837kb
ADW Launcher 3% 2 min

The best part is that I am still testing and only HAVE the bare essentials on my phone. At the moment, I have around two dozen apps downloaded (half are utility and the other half are games). I'm too scared how my battery would be if I REALLY use my Atrix. When I used my phone, on my Nexus one, I hadEVRYTHING synch (2 gamil, 1 hotmail, twitter, facebook) on an hourly basis. imo.im (messaging app) is signed on all day. I also get a dozen RRS news feeds on an hourly basis. On my Nexus One, I would get 15 hours of battery life with this usage with 20% battery left)

I want to know, does the battery get any better? There are posts here that shows battery getting better over time with the same usage. Is one week too soon to expect an improvement in my Atrix's battery life? In your opinion, should I use my warranty to get a new battery?

The only issue I have is that I need my battery to last me 18 hrs :/ I'm OK when I'm at work and I can recharge my phone during the day. On weekends when I'm out for 12+ hrs. I don't want to be on the train ride home with a dead phone.

I know I can get a spare battery and that's what I did with my Nexus One, but I prefer not to honestyly.

Thanks for any input!

Roze,
Loving her Atrix but hating the battery life

 

[omnius]

sounds like you're like me, you need yours to go for long stretches but don't use it heavily. Try what I did, I'm getting good results from it. First of all, you don't need to season this battery, which you already mentioned. However one full discharge + recharge every 1-3 months is recommended to calibrate the battery life meter properly.

I also have EVERYTHING set to minimum/zero:

-When not in use, ALL of my data, wifi, gps, and syncing is disabled. Just the actual voice and text functions are on. No internet, no gps.

-my screen brightness is set to the bare minimum.

-my battery manager is at custom - I have the prefab setting you see on the Max Saver setting set for all the time (even max mode turns your display brightness up at certain times)

-My phone does not do anything at all automatically. Doesn't check the weather, sync accounts, perform background activities. Nothing. I have every feature of the phone and the settings of every separate app that could even remotely do something in the background all set to manual.

-resist the urge to over-automate your life with a new toy and you won't find this even slightly inconvenient.

edit: forgot to add, I also use the built-in task manager to shut down all the non-essential functions everytime the phone goes into screen time-out. The first few days of owning it I would bring up the task manager to see what apps were currently running and add them to the auto-end list if I knew I didn't want them running and were non-essential to the phone's operation.

I get up at 5:00 AM, unplug the phone and go to work, and go to bed at around 10 PM and can get away without charging until bedtime on light use most days using all the above methods. I also don't play games on my phone at all. (PsP fan here)