Phone or battery problem?

[ganns1980]

OK, I've had my Behold 2 for about a week now. I've conditioned the battery, still barely make it through an 8 hour workday without it dying on me. (stays in my pocket most of the time, except showing off pics or playing games on smoke breaks. I've also read all the threads about turning off wifi, gps, background data usage, etc.)

However, I've noticed something else weird. The battery meter shows a completely different battery percentage than the screen does when you charge it! Example - let's say I have 4 out of 5 battery bars. When I plug my phone in, the information there says it's about 50%! That would be like buying a new car, having the gas gauge show a half tank when you're really about 1/4. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? It seems really weird to me, but I don't want to go into T-Mobile looking really stupid.

 

[Ozymandias]

OK, I've had my Behold 2 for about a week now. I've conditioned the battery, still barely make it through an 8 hour workday without it dying on me. (stays in my pocket most of the time, except showing off pics or playing games on smoke breaks. I've also read all the threads about turning off wifi, gps, background data usage, etc.)

However, I've noticed something else weird. The battery meter shows a completely different battery percentage than the screen does when you charge it! Example - let's say I have 4 out of 5 battery bars. When I plug my phone in, the information there says it's about 50%! That would be like buying a new car, having the gas gauge show a half tank when you're really about 1/4. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? It seems really weird to me, but I don't want to go into T-Mobile looking really stupid.

Got the exact same problem! Hopefully they can fix it in a firmware patch. The AMOLED + 1500 Mah should provide much more than this is.

 

[ganns1980]

Exactly what I was thinking. Are you also having the difference between what the display says while charging and the battery indicator? I'm still within the 14 days of having bought it, thinking I may go to the store on Saturday and have them switch it out for a new one.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

as mentioned in other threads, if you keep it in the snug case when not in use, try just using it for a day without being in the snug fit case.
it holds the camera button down and drains the battery

the battery meter is inaccurate all android phones have this issue

 

[rone]

OK, I've had my Behold 2 for about a week now. I've conditioned the battery, still barely make it through an 8 hour workday without it dying on me. (stays in my pocket most of the time, except showing off pics or playing games on smoke breaks. I've also read all the threads about turning off wifi, gps, background data usage, etc.)

However, I've noticed something else weird. The battery meter shows a completely different battery percentage than the screen does when you charge it! Example - let's say I have 4 out of 5 battery bars. When I plug my phone in, the information there says it's about 50%! That would be like buying a new car, having the gas gauge show a half tank when you're really about 1/4. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? It seems really weird to me, but I don't want to go into T-Mobile looking really stupid.

I have the same exact problems. I have also had problems with it not taking a full charge overnight. Most mornings it was 95% charged in the morning. 1 morning it was 100% charged. The kicker was last night were it charged to only 78% overnight. I am using a 4 port AC to usb converter that chargers my ipod touch, my blackberry and a set of bluetooth stereo head phones along with the behold 2. Everything else charges just fine and normally gets a full charge in a few hours.

I have tried all the power savings games too. My battery is normally down to %30 - 50% by noon with no usage. An android phone that I can not use any of the features on because the power drain is too high is useless. I might as well carry a dumb phone.

I heading back to the t-mobile store with the phone today and will return it.

While I did not expect as good of battery life as my blackberry 8900 where I can go a couple of days between charges with wifi on all the time, some rss reading, music listening and a few phone calls. I was hoping to get at least a day with the same type of usage. The battery is basically the same mah and with the power saving screen on the samsung I hoped for at least 1/2 the battery life. I guess I had un-realistic expectations.

 

[mikenick42]

as mentioned in other threads, if you keep it in the snug case when not in use, try just using it for a day without being in the snug fit case.

I don't even use a case with it, so that's not the problem. When I'm in a building with bad reception, I get about 5 hours of moderate-heavy use and the phone shuts itself off. Then it seems to take longer to recharge it than it did to discharge. As much as I want to like this phone I'm strongly considering a trade for the mytouch before I hit 14 days.

 

[bigch0ps]

Im one week into my 14 day exchange timeframe and i was starting to wonder if i should exchange this for another phone due to the battery... So what i did was add gmail to my email app and turn off data auto sync as rastaman said to do. Also i turned off the vibration feedback and tone while tying. Since doing this the battery life is much better and it seems to charge one percent a minute. So a full charge should take about an hour and a half. I hope this helps.

 

[chaoscentral]

What I think might be the problem, and this is a theory. Is the Behold keeps opening random applications on it's own. I've been checking with Taskiller all day, and all day all I've done is turn the screen on to check the time from time to time, and check my email twice.

Well while checking, I've seen TeleNav open, I've never used it. MyFaves program open. Screebl opened itself, and a whole bunch of other programs. Why is it doing this, is it a software bug??

 

[bigch0ps]

Couldn't the random opening of programs be the background syncing? Which in turn would be resolved by the disabling of data sync? Im only guessing...

 

[chaoscentral]

Couldn't the random opening of programs be the background syncing? Which in turn would be resolved by the disabling of data sync? Im only guessing...

no, I had background data off, 2g networks only, wifi off, and gps off. Battery barely lasted me 6 hours...

 

[Ohgami]

What I think might be the problem, and this is a theory. Is the Behold keeps opening random applications on it's own. I've been checking with Taskiller all day, and all day all I've done is turn the screen on to check the time from time to time, and check my email twice.

Well while checking, I've seen TeleNav open, I've never used it. MyFaves program open. Screebl opened itself, and a whole bunch of other programs. Why is it doing this, is it a software bug??

I keep seeing My Faves pop up on Taskiller too and I don't have the app installed nor do I have a My Faves plan.

 

[mahgnillig]

The battery life on mine seems pretty bad too. I left it on my desk this afternoon/evening while I went out, and it managed to drain half the battery just sitting there over the course of 8 hours. I wasn't using it, and it wasn't in the case. I didn't turn off the data sync, but even so, it shouldn't be draining that much with no use. Rather frustrating for a brand new phone to be discharging like that... I wonder if we got a bad batch of batteries or something

 

[chaoscentral]

are you guys using screebl by chance??? because I'm looking at Sensor usage for battery in spare parts and its through the roof at 16 hours of use(thats from last night) it might be keeping the phone awake even though it's not supposed to. Just a thought

 

[rone]

I went to t-mobile yesterday and exchanged my phone since I was in the 14 day window. The battery did seem to last longer in the new phone.

I installed battery widget at 4:30 with almost 85% charge. I had wifi, automotic syncing enabled and background data enabled. I enabled the gps much of the time and was browsing the web store installing apps. Reading rss feeds until about 10pm where I was down to about 20%. I received a warning at 40% but ignored it.

I am beggining to suspect that that battery percentages seem to be unreliable at best. The battery indicator that comes with the phone is even worse. It takes forever to start show battery drain. The battery can be at 75% yet and it showing full charge yet, all bars.

I have installed battery graph from the app store along with another battery widget.

I plugged in the phone at 10 pm at about 21% charge according to battery graph. It reached 100% by about 1:30 am. Battery graph show the last 5% took almost no time. The graph was curve up until 95% then jumped up to 100% and stayed there.

When I took the phone off the charger this morning the battery widget reported 95% charge just like the last phone. I have tried multiple widgets and they all reported the same. Battery graph showed 100% but dropped to 95% almost right away and then leveled off.

I am going to try and run out the battery today and see how long it really lasts. Battery graph is really useful to see how the battery is really discharging.

I think this thread may be related and have based many of my perceptions from it.
http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/13783-possible-battery-quirk.html

 

[ganns1980]

Guess when my 14 days was up? On Thanksgiving. Ordered a mytouch and selling the B2. Charged it on the way to work the other day, got here at 4. At 10 i needed to call 911, and guess who's phone had died??? Luckily it wasn't a life-or-death situation. I just can't wait for an update to fix this.

 

[bigch0ps]

I think they must have a bad batch of batteries or something... After turning off autosync and turning down the brightness of my screen i an experiencing excellent battery life and much faster charge time...

 

[TaroPsyche]

thats kinda scary how its doing most of the same things to me too. Ive also noticed that you'll have it 100% charged and you pull the charger and it goes down to 95% in like 5 seconds, but will take about 2 - 5 minutes to get back up to 100%. I really love the phone, but if it can't get me through the work day, I'm gonna have to take it back. My old BB Curve was a fail phone, but it had a great battery that if I didn't use it could last two - three days and probably a day with more active use. With the Behold 2 it will be dead about an hour before I get off work with very minimal use. I'm going to goto a T-Mobile store and see if they'll do a battery swap. :: Crosses fingers :: hopefully this works, I love the phone, but can't live with a fail battery.

 

[kchop]

wow. turning off autosync for gmail, calendar, and contacts seems to have helped a lot. I kinda understand what I'm missing if I don't sync calendar and contacts, but what will I be losing if I don't autosync gmail?

 

[kam187]

u wont get instant gmail

 

[kchop]

that's what i expected, but I still seem to get gmail (notification anyway) fairly quickly. I currently have background data checked, and autosync unchecked...

 

[Ohgami]

I sent a email into Samsung about this. I think others should do so as well.

 

[chaoscentral]

I sent a email into Samsung about this. I think others should do so as well.

Just sent em a nice email about it too. This is unacceptable, and I think something similar is happening to the Moment as well, because a co-worker has one, and he is reporting similar battery life with light usage as well.

 

[orrorin6]

guys, just so you know, I ordered a couple of Omnia 900/910 batteries and they totally work. They're like $5 on ebay. I know this isn't really what you should have to do, but I like having extra batteries anyway. Plus you can get an external omnia charger for cheap too...

 

[chaoscentral]

good to know, may have to do this until this can get fixed

 

[jazzedmurf]

chaoscentral,

I've been noticing the same thing. Video Player, Telenav, MyFaves etc. are the biggest culprits of this. I've also noticed that the stock Calendar widget is pretty buggy, and sometimes it just disappears when I try to delete it--but it's still there. I can almost select it, although it's invisible. I noticed after all this that TasKiller lists almost all the icons I have on my home screens as active, so I deleted all the icons, including the calendar. I put all the icons back, with the exception of the calendar widget, and all is running as it should--no unexpected, unopened apps showing up in TasKiller. For me, it seems that the stupid calendar widget was the ultimate culprit. I'll let you know if this fixed it and if it boosts my battery life.

Murf