Help some questions about nexus S

[wynnsayz]

hi guys, i'm very new to android and there is a lot of info to be learned and I'm having a hard time so I'll ask some basic questions.

I just got a Nexus S and I'm having a few questions and concerns....

1. My battery seem to be draining VERY fast. It used 30% within 2 hours of full bar. I only charged till its max on the indicator when i first got the phone...is that why? I thought lithium battery like those in ipod and ipad are good to go once fully charged and does not need to be primed... This is my main issue because several reviews said nexus has really good battery life...

2. I'm having second thoughts about nexus S because for 199.99 it looks a lil cheap and it doesn't support HSPA+. Though i don't know how widespread the HSPA+ is already but I feel like i'm already running behind on the speed.

3. Sometimes my phone shows 3G and sometimes it shows E ( I think its for EDGE) and I was wondering how that works. is there anything i can tweak within the phone to improve my data speed?

Thanks guys! If the battery issues couldn't be solved I guess i'll return it...

 

[quantumrand]

Battery life should be significantly better than that. The first day I brought mine home, I used the GPS for about 1.5 hours while I drove home and fiddled with it most of the night. I didn't charge it that first night because I like to go through a full power cycle with new batteries. It lasted throughout the entire second day until late that night.

You shouldn't *have* to prime the battery, as you put it, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything. It might be worth a try, but it sounds like something else might be the cause.

Go into Settings>About Phone>Battery Use and see if there are any apps/processes using subtansial amounts of battery.

As for data speeds and signal strength, HSPA+ while faster, really isn't much of an improvement over HSPA, especially currently. In my experience, HSPA has been plenty fast enough for everything I've wanted to do (it generally maxes out around 3-5Mbps for me).

Switching between EDGE and 3G isn't unusual at all. T-Mobile uses a 1700/2100MHz 3G network, which doesn't have very good penetration when it comes to buildings. EDGE on the other hand is on a much lower frequency, which penetrates buildings much better. You also may be on the cusp of 3G coverage where it may not be very strong.

 

[wynnsayz]

thanks man, but it's really weird...

my sister uses xperia 10 and she said all android phones can't last for a long time and I feel that on my nexus. It was charged when I went to sleep around 2 and I woke up around 9. It was charged for a good 9 hours. When i unplugged it from the charger, it went down to 96% already. all the reviews I read on slash gear and engadget say the battery life is one of the selling point for nexus S. I can only assume my phone's battery is wack and I should exchange for a new one?

 

[kcs7272]

The more often you have the phone retrieving data the quicker it dies. Go into your account settings and make the retrieval times less often or even manual.

Also adjust your screen brightness and switch to a dark background. If you are not using it turn off the GPS. Also disable the NFC. This should greatly improve your battery life.

I get at least A 12 to 15 hour day sometimes a day and a half out of mine. Unless you stream music,surf the web and play media all day you should be doing better than you are.

 

[Sphagnum]

I had my phone streaming podcasts at least half the time it was on yesterday and it had an active push going with my work's exchange server, so basically it was constantly on and using data streaming. Mix in a dozen or two short-ish phone calls...

Still got 8-9 solid hours of battery before I had a "15% battery left" warning.

The other days I've had it (except the very first day, when battery seemed to drain somewhat quickly), I've gotten through my 12 hour workday using it off and on fairly often with 30-50% battery life.

I've been very pleased with the battery life, let it run through a couple of charge/discharge cycles before you judge it too harshly.

 

[quantumrand]

thanks man, but it's really weird...

my sister uses xperia 10 and she said all android phones can't last for a long time and I feel that on my nexus. It was charged when I went to sleep around 2 and I woke up around 9. It was charged for a good 9 hours. When i unplugged it from the charger, it went down to 96% already. all the reviews I read on slash gear and engadget say the battery life is one of the selling point for nexus S. I can only assume my phone's battery is wack and I should exchange for a new one?

The reason it immediately drops to 96% when you unplug it is because it uses smart charging. Batteries have a much shorter lifespan when charged to 100% capacity (generally accomplished via trickle charging). What happens is that when your phone reaches ~96%, it closes off the charging current by saying it's fully charged. It's not a glitch or anything. It's there to protect the battery.

 

[Roze]

1. My battery seem to be draining VERY fast. It used 30% within 2 hours of full bar. I only charged till its max on the indicator when i first got the phone...is that why? I thought lithium battery like those in ipod and ipad are good to go once fully charged and does not need to be primed... This is my main issue because several reviews said nexus has really good battery life...

Wynnsayz, what's your sync, brightness etc setting like and how is your usage? Check battery usage in settings and tell us what is using the battery the most. I think the members here can help you much better if they understand how you're using your phone and how it's set up. Was the phone not being used during that 2 hours when it went down 30% or were you on it surfing the net, watching movies/youtube for the full two hours? Both will result in giving you different recommendations.

If you're a heavy user and have been using your phone like how Sphagnum is using it (quoted below), then it's understandable that your battery won't las 'through the day'.

I had my phone streaming podcasts at least half the time it was on yesterday and it had an active push going with my work's exchange server, so basically it was constantly on and using data streaming. Mix in a dozen or two short-ish phone calls...

Still got 8-9 solid hours of battery before I had a "15% battery left" warning.

 

[Sphagnum]

That's why I carry an external USB battery to recharge my phone on-the-go

 

[BoyAndroid]

The other thing is don't panic in the first week or so. When I first got my Desire I was freaking out about the battery life, less than a day. But as time went on and I made some refinements to some of the notifications etc the battery has significantly improved. I'm getting a full 2 days use now no worries.

 

[JOFOX]

I had my phone streaming podcasts at least half the time it was on yesterday and it had an active push going with my work's exchange server, so basically it was constantly on and using data streaming. Mix in a dozen or two short-ish phone calls...

Still got 8-9 solid hours of battery before I had a "15% battery left" warning.

The other days I've had it (except the very first day, when battery seemed to drain somewhat quickly), I've gotten through my 12 hour workday using it off and on fairly often with 30-50% battery life.

I've been very pleased with the battery life, let it run through a couple of charge/discharge cycles before you judge it too harshly.

I agree battery gets way better after couple of full cycle charge.

j