[Q] Battery Life....I Just Don't Get It - Droid Incredible Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
I know, I know, there are many threads on the battery issue. But I'm struggling just too hard with this. I've researched and read every thread on xda and other forums elsewhere to glean as many tips as possible which has certainly helped, but something just doesn't seem right.
Currently I'm using a battery saver app - Easy Battery - which does help considerably during idling and off-use periods - the DINC at least has some charge left to make a few calls and check voicemail when I'm finished on the job site and going home, but when actually using the device it seems like I can just watch the battery drain down - it's really disheartening.
My device details are below. I'm using the best performing kernel I've found after much trial and research. I've deleted about 10 - 14 resident system apps to improve performance - the DINC is as bareboned as it can get. Maybe I can delete a few others still.
I understand JB is more of a battery drain, but can it be this bad? After a full night's charge, I wake up and check my mail in bed, some quick online news browsing, looked at one or two video clips, 5-10 minutes each. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone. Looking at my screenshot, the battery's drained 40%, IN 37 MINUTES!!!
Also, some hours of the day the battery life seems better...? Sometimes I can perform general tasks on the phone, watch a few video clips, do some reading for an hour straight sitting over a pint and there seems to be comparatively little drain at all, certainly not 40% worth of battery drain in a half hour. I just don't get it.
Am I need of a new battery? Is there a super battery for the DINC? Should I be limiting the number of 'recent apps' in the Recent Apps switcher? Is there another Performance setting I'm overlooking? I/O scheduler setting?
Please, please, what can I do - any additional tips would be greatly appreciated. I love the DINC. For me, it's the perfect sized phone that I like, outside of any device functionality at all. Maybe I'm moving on though. Ugh.
Devices:
HTC Incredible - cm-10-20121125-TINY-inc (Cyanogenmod 10 / JB 4.1.2)
2.6.38.8-incredikernel-jb-11242012

my response in
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1988470
if you have the original Dinc 1400 mah battery, maybe your battery just doesn;t hold a charge anymore.
what I do is I don;t even charge my batteries in the phone really. i find that when I charge the battery in the phone, the battery drains quicker. I bought an universal external charger and rotate a couple of 3500 mah batteries after running them down completely. I carry a spare with me if I need but usually my phone lasts into the next day.
you can get 3500 mah batteries for about 5$ or so on eBay(last I checked). the universal charger goes for 9.99 on NewEgg or Amazon. good investment

What I've done on CM10 to try to extend battery life:
Keep my screen locked at 25% brightness but can toggle into 100% or auto when necessary. On CM9 (before I was crack-flashing CM10) I played with auto-brightness levels that were discussed in this thread and they did help. 'Auto' is normally too bright for me, anyways.
Turned off background location reporting in Maps. This will neuter some things in Google Now, tho. You can see how often your phone "checks in" here.
I used SmartAssV2 on CM9 but went to interactive on CM10. No quantitative data that it helped battery life, but it passed my eyeball test after a week+ on both. My phone is flaky on under/overclock so I keep it at 245/998.
I leave 3G on, WIFI on, GPS off, BT off 99% of the time.

Hmm, great suggestions. An external charger(though I'd prefer not to be regularly opening the casing, I'll look into it); 3G radio off; locking brightness at 25%, toggling when necessary; background reporting off. I'll also keep experimenting with a governor and try a week on interactive. A really great kernels guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1369817.
I have a spare original battery so I've got that in and giving it a powered-off charge. See how that does on top of other adjustments.
BTW Both batteries I own are model BTR6300B 3.7VDC -- 1300mAh 4.81Whr - tekweezle mentioned a 1400mAh battery and other available batteries that are at 3500 mAh now - I guess I'm looking into new batteries as well -
cheers for the responses -

I recommend just getting a new battery on ebay for 5$. Also get juicedefender it doubles my battery life. Also try tiny/pons cm10 rom that has great battery life.

Definitely getting a new battery; I'm already using tiny's rom which continues Pons' CM10 rom builds. Really great -
cheers

Obviously, if you are using your phone non stop, you'd be lucky to get 6-8 hrs of usage. But the true indicator of what a phone does is how often you don't have to be attached to a wall outlet or hunting for one.
I don't know if others get similar results as me but this is more or less typical of me with light to moderate usage-checking email, Facebook, some Web browsing, occasional phone call or text message plus leaving my phone on overnight in stand by.
By the way, how I am on pons/tiny 12-9-12 and working well.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0WP0EZ0560
btw, this is the external battery charger I am using. awesome thing is that it charges at 600 mah so my 3500 mah batteries charge up in 4-5 hrs or so. since it has moving pins, you will be able to use this to charge any flat battery for any cell phone or camera you might buy in the future.
the SEIDO HTC EVO modified one I got on ebay charges at 500 mah and for some reason it takes 8-11 hours to charge a battery and I am finding out now that it doesn;t even charge them completely even when it thinks they are completely charged. i take a battery that is charged in this and put it in my other charger and still needs charging of about 10 percent!

tekweezle said:
I don't know if others get similar results as me but this is more or less typical of me with light to moderate usage-checking email, Facebook, some Web browsing, occasional phone call or text message plus leaving my phone on overnight in stand by.
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Click to collapse
I get something similar, probably a little worse, in send/recv about 50-100 texts a day and checking 2 gmail and 1 exchange account constantly. My battery does tank when I'm actively using the phone and really all I can do there is manage the brightness of the screen. I've been doing my tweaking to try to increase battery life when I'm not using the phone. In 7 hours last night it only went down 3%. When I first started using JB it was 10-12% a night.

Great, great info - love these forums, and I love android!
tekweezle - could you tell me exactly which 3500 mah battery you're using with your DINC? Also - no issues whatsoever with the pons/tiny 12-9-12? I thought I saw a few things reported with the 11-28-12 and stayed away from it, staying with the 11-25-12.
cheers!

i have an expensive SEIDO battery that I bought from Amazon in the beginning for about 59$. Never thought the capacity was all that great till i found out that my battery wasn;t even being charged completely. not really worth the money but at the time, it was all that was available
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SNIRAG/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
The others, i just bought generic flavor of the day batteries off of eBay for 5$ each. basically throw away items. just search for HTC 3500 mah Incredible battery and you should get some hits.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=htc incredible3500 battery extended&_sop=15
no real operational issues yet with 12-09-12 Rom. minor annoyances with video playback. actually, the still camera works fine but video camera doesn't save files.

Related

argh batteries and smartphones

well i was talked into a desire by a friend, really impressed with evertying apart from battery life, currently i have 3 batteries that i keep charged so while im out and about i have spares, but its a bit of a pain swapping them constantly plus the matter of charging, so im looking for a new bigger better battery, does anyone know of a good bigger battery?
Any help would be great, thanks in advance..
Search button says HI!- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=673449
tried reading the forum rules?!
anyways.. hope this helps!! xx
There are no extended batteries that produce the same result as 3 stock batteries combined. Or even 2 combined. Best performence I've seen is a <50% increase in battery life (iirc). Your best bet is sticking with the 3 spare ones and swapping them out when they are empty. Extended batteries aren't particularly cheap either. You might also wanna try to change some settings that increase battery life, underclock your phone, or even install a custom ROM. Sense has been known to suck quite a bit of battery compared to stock Android ROMs.
art0rz said:
There are no extended batteries that produce the same result as 3 stock batteries combined. Or even 2 combined. Best performence I've seen is a <50% increase in battery life (iirc). Your best bet is sticking with the 3 spare ones and swapping them out when they are empty. Extended batteries aren't particularly cheap either. You might also wanna try to change some settings that increase battery life, underclock your phone, or even install a custom ROM. Sense been known to suck quite a bit of battery compared to stock Android ROMs.
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Click to collapse
thats just not true, i can easy get 2-3 days of usage out of my 3200mAH mugen power battery, where as i only get 10-12 hours out of my stock htc battery.
AndroHero said:
thats just not true, i can easy get 2-3 days of usage out of my 3200mAH mugen power battery, where as i only get 10-12 hours out of my stock htc battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch! You have really poor battery life!
I consider myself a reasonably heavy user, and I get get 30+ hours from my stock battery.
The problem with spare batteries is always going to be that you have to switch the phone off to change them - this is a pain.
When I travel, I use a Veho pebble which can charge my Desire around 3 times.
It's small enough and light enough that I can carry it around with me, and I can plug it into the phone and charge it whilst they are both in a jacket pocket.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
Ouch! You have really poor battery life!
I consider myself a reasonably heavy user, and I get get 30+ hours from my stock battery.
The problem with spare batteries is always going to be that you have to switch the phone off to change them - this is a pain.
When I travel, I use a Veho pebble which can charge my Desire around 3 times.
It's small enough and light enough that I can carry it around with me, and I can plug it into the phone and charge it whilst they are both in a jacket pocket.
Regards,
Dave
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Click to collapse
how do you get 30 hours out of your stock battery i killed mine from 100% to 0% in 5 hours the other day playing psx4droid lol
AndroHero said:
how do you get 30 hours out of your stock battery i killed mine from 100% to 0% in 5 hours the other day playing psx4droid lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not playing a game for 5 hours for starters!
I use my phone for phone calls, web browsing, apps, and an hour or two of video a day, and I regularly chalk up 30+ hours. The only concession I make to battery life is I switch the phone to airplane mode overnight.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
Not playing a game for 5 hours for starters!
I use my phone for phone calls, web browsing, apps, and an hour or two of video a day, and I regularly chalk up 30+ hours. The only concession I make to battery life is I switch the phone to airplane mode overnight.
Regards,
Dave
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Click to collapse
i can easly send 150+ sms a day and maybe 2hrs of calls, i dont put my device in aeroplane mode over nite but i only usually loose 2-5% so im not bothered, anyways if i could get 30 hrs out of my stock battery i wouldnt of paid nearly £90 for my mugen power battery lol
If I don't use my Phone (it is also undervolted, underclocked and switches from 3G to 2G automatically if not in use for more than 10 minutes), it lasts around 3 days max (WiFi off). Normally it lasts 2 days with me phoning, writing messages, surfing a bit and having WiFi on in background.
But of course, if I use it excessively, it lasts only around a "workday".
well thanks for all the replies, cant find anything that dont make my phone look stupid so im going to stick with having spare batteries, everything i do there is no way i can get mine to last even a full day, so maybe i just use my phone too much. haha

[Q] Awful battery life. Should I replace my phone?

As I posted in another thread:
I am lucky to even get 12 hours with minimal use. No calls, just some texting and maybe browsing my bank website. Screen is always the killer for me, even on 20% brightness. If I go lower the screen actually flickers.
I bought the red HTC Chichitech batteries and they didn't help me at all.
Tried overclocking module, didn't change much.
The only app that ever shows any significant battery use (over 5%) is Maps, when I use maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted, S-OFF, using the Sense Modaco ROM. Battery usage was no better with the Stock Bell Rom before rooting or S-OFF.
My main concern is the screen flickering at low brightness. it's as if it's unable to decide on a specific level of brightness and makes me question if it's actually saving any power.
I set my phone to Auto brightness and I am going to see if that is actually worse of if it's on par with 20%.
Ugh - just realized there is another thread pretty much all about this. I thought it was a different issue. Still, does anyone know if there is a better batch of phones or something? I have a FutureShop warranty so it'd be easy enough for me to replace if it will actually provide a solution
No-one has posted anything, to my knowledge, about a different batch of phones having better battery life. I would check out the other threads about battery life (including those on the G2 side too) and see if you can get yours to last better. But it could just be something faulty on your phone/battery.
Auto-brightness would make it even worse..because there is some type of bug or something that isn't making it function like it should. I was also getting terrible battery life until I followed some of these steps: http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/05/20-tips-to-improve-htc-evo-4g-battery-life.html
Biggest killers are any widgets that are constantly updating..or facebook/twitter apps that are constantly updating. As well..i recommend SetCPU to underclock your phone when your screen is turned off. This should also help with conserving battery life along with some of the steps provided in that link.
steviewevie said:
No-one has posted anything, to my knowledge, about a different batch of phones having better battery life. I would check out the other threads about battery life (including those on the G2 side too) and see if you can get yours to last better. But it could just be something faulty on your phone/battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am considering waiting a month or so and then having mine replaced. Unless I managed to figure something else out. My HTC Legend had better battery life.
Rickroller said:
Auto-brightness would make it even worse..because there is some type of bug or something that isn't making it function like it should. I was also getting terrible battery life until I followed some of these steps: http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/05/20-tips-to-improve-htc-evo-4g-battery-life.html
Biggest killers are any widgets that are constantly updating..or facebook/twitter apps that are constantly updating. As well..i recommend SetCPU to underclock your phone when your screen is turned off. This should also help with conserving battery life along with some of the steps provided in that link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I want to try auto or higher brightness is to see if lowering it was actually saving me any battery life. I am curious if there's a driver or display issues that causes it to use the same amount regardless of the setting. So far I don't seem to be running out any faster @ auto than I was at 20%, but it hasn't been a long enough time to tell for sure.
Also I am unable to do the battery tip for the evo because once I turn off the phone and go to charge it again, it's instantly green. But I am going to try it anyway even though it's green.
Since writing the first post I used the OC module to get my phone to 1.2ghz. I have SetCPU set to run on boot with the onDemand setting. I have a profile that says to slow the CPU when the screen is off. From what I've read it doesn't make a ton of difference with this particular phone, but we'll see...
rewen said:
Also I am unable to do the battery tip for the evo because once I turn off the phone and go to charge it again, it's instantly green. But I am going to try it anyway even though it's green.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's what I found too, when you try and charge it thinks it's already charged and goes green straight away again. But as you said, worth a try.
I just wanted to report back and say that I had my phone replaced. So far so good:
- No screen flicker issue at low brightness
- Battery has lasted nearly 20 hours with moderate-heavy use (played NFS Shift, setup basically everything on the phone after rooting, installed all my apps, backups, flashed some roms, 20+ texts, 3-4 short calls, showing people random apps.)
If it's not all in my head then this is definitely much better now!
Curious. It seems that everyone who reports the screen flickering problem has poor battery life.
Defective displays?
I feel my battery life is pretty bad as well. I've unplugged the phone this morning at 7 AM. Now it's 2 PM, and I'm at 37%. In between, the only things I've done are: send/receive a few emails and chat on gtalk. Brightness is at 40%, animations are turned off, wifi and gps location off. Using latest Cyanogenmod (6.1.1) and have no screen flicker issues
Edit: 17 minutes later, it's now at 27%
How long have you had the phone for?
Initially the first few days I got the phone, battery life was really bad, could drain in a few hours.
After a week or two of use, I now have reasonable battery life, the phone can last all day with light usage and still have lots of juice left. Actually I think if you make a few calls and a few txts, battery could last 2 days. If you play with it, one day for sure but you need to plug in over night.
(if you're talking to me) It's quite new, just picked it up on Friday actually. Also I've kept on researching, and it seems that poor coverage (like I have at work, from 7 til 3) tends to drain the battery even more, since the phone keeps switching between HSPA, 3G, etc.
I had my first one for about a month at least. This replacement was from Saturday.
Today I've had my phone unplugged since 8am, it's 5:30pm and I have 45% battery left, but the screen is the #2 user. Standby is #1 @ 40% of my battery usage, due to over 4 hours of time without a signal. The screen is only 24% and has been on for 48 minutes. Voice calls is #3 at 23% battery usage, with 23mins of calling.
My other phone would have died by now.
Also I spent an hour of streaming bluetooth audio to my car. Bluetooth doesn't even register on the battery usage. I've never seen it use more than 2% and it's always on. I am not sure why people say it uses a lot.
Just want to share my experience.
I too had poor battery life. Stock Bell ROM. Got to 3:00 pm and it used to die. Use this for work. Pushing data all day from Exchange server, bluetooth on all day because I'm in and out of the car, talk on average 30 minutes per day, texting, surfing, tethering, blah blah. Believe it or not, my old Omnia II would get me thru the day no problem.
I was also tempted to return it. But I decided to try a few things. Installed Set CPU and a task killer at the same time. Shut down as many tasks as possible on start up. Widgets and accounts, except Exchange-push, run and sync every hour. I get about 40% battery by dinner. I am happy now .
I'm quite happy with my Desire Z's battery life, It lasts for about 36 hours with moderate use. I have Juicedefender and Ultimatejuice installed, data or wifi are opened only when an app needs data connection, this increased my battery life by 10 hours or sth like that. Nice app.
I had terrible battery life until I went overseas. It is a stock Bell ROM, but I arrived in Spain Monday and am using a Spanish SIM card.
My battery life has increased from 14 hours with Bell's 3G signal to my current 27 hours and 35% remaining battery using GSM and WiFi always on. Funny thing is that no matter where I am it says the screen is by far my biggest power drain.
Where did you buy your Desire Z and how did you get it replaced? I'm with Bell and they would take mine to send out for "repair" but not sure if that will do anything. This will take 3-6 weeks apparently and I'm not sure if they it is worth it.
I'm running 10 hours with that I consider fair usage (few calls, text, map/gsp, and facebook.) My display is the highest battery usage at 60% and on for about 1:45h. I'm very disappointed.
Hey,
it's the same with my G2.
Max 24h.
I've standard ROM installed.
No WiFi.
Brightness to about 30%.
Juice Defender is installed and I'm surfing and just the regular stuff, but even if it's just in standby, it's taking a lot of power (display takes most)
Best!
-blubberor
architect_ said:
Where did you buy your Desire Z and how did you get it replaced? I'm with Bell and they would take mine to send out for "repair" but not sure if that will do anything. This will take 3-6 weeks apparently and I'm not sure if they it is worth it.
I'm running 10 hours with that I consider fair usage (few calls, text, map/gsp, and facebook.) My display is the highest battery usage at 60% and on for about 1:45h. I'm very disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought mine at FutureShop since I didn't think Bell would let me without buying at least a month of service (or being an existing customer). I also purchased FutureShop's extended warranty which is how I was able to get it swapped for a new one so quickly.
I use the extended battery for the evo. Lasts about 1.5 days with ass loads of use. Just have to trim the plastic edges a bit.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I have a couple of those red chichitech batteries but I wasn't able to notice any improvement with the problem phone.
My Desire Z also has a flickering screen at lowest brightness, and with moderate use it dies after about 12 hours max. Even on lowest brightness the screen ueses 59% battery. I rarely manage to make it through the day without having to charge the phone. Im on stock ROM with latest OTA (1.72) btw.
Gonna have it replaced next week just cause of the flickering screen. Has anyone tried the 1700mAH battery from seidio?

[Q] EXTREMELY horrible battery life

I've read on many reviews (Gizmodo, Engadget, CNet, etc) that the battery on the DInc is not that great, but mine is incredibly... bad. Examples:
I browse the web (mostly mobile websites with not many images, flash etc) for ~20 mins and battery life decreases by 20%
I leave the phone ON overnight without charging and it's at 2% in the morning. When I went to sleep it was at 60%
I turn the phone OFF overnight without charging and it dies (I couldn't turn it on, had to charge for 15 mins even to turn on). When I went to sleep it was at 30%
I've also heard both that ATK is useless and that it's a gift from God for battery life. I'm running the Pro version killing every 30min and it's not helping that much (maybe 30 mins)
Is my battery defective, or are other users also experiencing this bad of battery life? My DInc is SLCD, running UberZ RC1.2 with stock battery.
Im guessing you havent had your incredible for more than five months right? Considering htc didnt start making them until the late summer. Anyways I do know that desire z ports often use up quite a bit of battery in their displays. However considering you left it on overnight and it was nearly dead I dont think it was that. Something you can try is going in the advanced menu on clockwork mod and erasing battery stats. This seems more like a defective battery though. New batteries can be bought for fairly cheap and if you do decide to get a new one you can get them for pretty cheap. Touchpro 2 batteries supposedly work with the incredible as well
Make sure you turn off GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. when not in use.
kaiserII101 said:
Im guessing you havent had your incredible for more than five months right? Considering htc didnt start making them until the late summer. Anyways I do know that desire z ports often use up quite a bit of battery in their displays. However considering you left it on overnight and it was nearly dead I dont think it was that. Something you can try is going in the advanced menu on clockwork mod and erasing battery stats. This seems more like a defective battery though. New batteries can be bought for fairly cheap and if you do decide to get a new one you can get them for pretty cheap. Touchpro 2 batteries supposedly work with the incredible as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've had it for about a month. I will reply after erasing battery stats and trying it out. I'm not sure that I would use a Touch Pro 2 battery - seems like too much of a risk. However, I have seen Evo Batteries on Amazon that supposedly work with the Dinc. Do they?
If it helps, I use widget locker, with: extended controls, fancy widget, nexus revamped (with a lot of spawns on slow) and 3 sliders.
Keyboards said:
Make sure you turn off GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. when not in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, I barely use BT or GPS so they're almost always off. I only turn GPS on when I'm charging and I'm using location based apps. 3G is off at home and Wifi is off on the road / at school and when I'm not using the phone.
What you might want to try doing is uninstalling widget locker and charging your phone all the way up. If after uninstalling widget locker the drain is still significant it may be the battery. And from what I read, the evo battery works with the incredible, it just makes the back cover fit a bit more tight.
kaiserII101 said:
What you might want to try doing is uninstalling widget locker and charging your phone all the way up. If after uninstalling widget locker the drain is still significant it may be the battery. And from what I read, the evo battery works with the incredible, it just makes the back cover fit a bit more tight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I've wiped battery stats, though it's only been a few mins so I can't tell yet. I'll reply in a couple of days. Also, can I just disable WidgetLocker instead of uninstalling it?
I also have a silicone case that hooks on the front edges, will an Evo Innocell (with back cover) mess with that?
I dont think an evo back cover would work for the incredible as they are not the same dimensions.
And btw touchpro 2 battery will work with the incredible
http://androidforums.com/incredible-accessories/72006-fyi-touch-pro-2-battery-works-incredible.html
Heres one for $5 if youre thinking about it.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35632
I just moved to an Incredible from my Droid 1 and the battery life is horrible compared... I got it as a replacement for having so many issues with my Droid but the battery life is almost unusable I'm running CM 6.1 and I wiped my battery stats, drained the battery then let it charge overnight powered off and I still get really bad life... I think a lot of it may have to do with the stock 1300mAh battery compared to the Droid having 1500mAh but I'm not sure... I'm considering the 3500mAh sedio battery but $70 bucks is a bit steep atm
kaiserII101 said:
I dont think an evo back cover would work for the incredible as they are not the same dimensions.
And btw touchpro 2 battery will work with the incredible
Heres one for $5 if youre thinking about it.
Thanks for the great find, though I was thinking about maybe one of those seidio 3500's. Though since it's so cheap, I'll probably buy it
nagmier said:
I just moved to an Incredible from my Droid 1 and the battery life is horrible compared... I got it as a replacement for having so many issues with my Droid but the battery life is almost unusable I'm running CM 6.1 and I wiped my battery stats, drained the battery then let it charge overnight powered off and I still get really bad life... I think a lot of it may have to do with the stock 1300mAh battery compared to the Droid having 1500mAh but I'm not sure... I'm considering the 3500mAh sedio battery but $70 bucks is a bit steep atm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen one on amazon for ~$25. Not seidio though. Reviews were meh.
I don't think its the 1300 mah vs 1500 mah. That's less than 20% (so like 10 hrs vs 12 hrs).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didnt see the part about disabling widget locker, sorry.
Yes you probably can disable it just make sure it is definitely not running.
pianoplayer said:
I've read on many reviews (Gizmodo, Engadget, CNet, etc) that the battery on the DInc is not that great, but mine is incredibly... bad. Examples:
I browse the web (mostly mobile websites with not many images, flash etc) for ~20 mins and battery life decreases by 20%
I leave the phone ON overnight without charging and it's at 2% in the morning. When I went to sleep it was at 60%
I turn the phone OFF overnight without charging and it dies (I couldn't turn it on, had to charge for 15 mins even to turn on). When I went to sleep it was at 30%
I've also heard both that ATK is useless and that it's a gift from God for battery life. I'm running the Pro version killing every 30min and it's not helping that much (maybe 30 mins)
Is my battery defective, or are other users also experiencing this bad of battery life? My DInc is SLCD, running UberZ RC1.2 with stock battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't run ATK. Android manages apps by itself. There's a whole lifehacker article on it.
Sounds like a run-away app.
Hmm, turn your screen off and let your phone sit for 5 mintues. Go into Settings > About Phone > Battery > Compare uptime vs awake. They should be AT LEAST 5 minutes apart.
If they're not, go to the market and install "Watchdog Task Manager" (<--this is NOT the same as ATK, again, lifehacker article on it) to monitor rouge apps.
Hope this helps!
gmichaelow said:
Don't run ATK. Android manages apps by itself. There's a whole lifehacker article on it.
Sounds like a run-away app.
Hmm, turn your screen off and let your phone sit for 5 mintues. Go into Settings > About Phone > Battery > Compare uptime vs awake. They should be AT LEAST 5 minutes apart.
If they're not, go to the market and install "Watchdog Task Manager" (<--this is NOT the same as ATK, again, lifehacker article on it) to monitor rouge apps.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone has been sitting and charging for ~2 hours, but up - awake = 5:12. Is it normal?
Great work, by the way.
There is no normal.
Up time is the elapsed time since you turned your phone on. (i.e. after the phone was completely off, not just screen off/sleep mode).
Awake time is suppose to only be the time your phone was actively being used (i.e. screen on).
So, Up time minus Awake time should equal the time your screen has been off, (i.e. asleep).
If Up time and Awake time are equal, and you've had the screen turned off (i.e. asleep) for part of that time, then you have some app that's staying active durning sleep mode.
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.11.15
rigman said:
There is no normal.
Up time is the elapsed time since you turned your phone on. (i.e. after the phone was completely off, not just screen off/sleep mode).
Awake time is suppose to only be the time your phone was actively being used (i.e. screen on).
So, Up time minus Awake time should equal the time your screen has been off, (i.e. asleep).
If Up time and Awake time are equal, and you've had the screen turned off (i.e. asleep) for part of that time, then you have some app that's staying active durning sleep mode.
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.11.15
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might reboot when I go to sleep tonight and do nothing on the phone, then check uptime vs awake when I wake up.
1300 Mah battery is not acceptable for a phone of this caliber. There are alternative options for battery's. I use setcpu to underclock the proc and I've seen a dramatic increase in battery life.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
MagnaCore said:
1300 Mah battery is not acceptable for a phone of this caliber. There are alternative options for battery's. I use setcpu to underclock the proc and I've seen a dramatic increase in battery life.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Setcpu as well, with 998 mhz while charging, 245 when screen off, 245-520 when hot or <20%, and 245-850 otherwise.
Agreed about the battery, HTC and VW probably want to force you to spend more on extended batteries.
Too bad, otherwise it'd be a perfect phone.
HTC usually seems to skimp on the battery. It really hurts their reviews but I suppose they can save costs and assume people can always buy an aftermarket battery. I don't agree with it but it's their business.
Anyway, that does sound like abnormally bad battery life, but I have a question - are you in a poor service area? If so, the radio might be working extra hard to acquire a signal. Even when I had my dumb phone Samsung alias (which had decent dumbphone battery life) I would experience complete battery drain if I left it in my poor coverage basement overnight.
Also, when you're browsing the web and such do you use wifi or 3g? I notice that when I continuously surf with 3g the phone starts to get warm, especially in mid-poor coverage areas. When the phone gets hot the battery gets hot, and when the battery gets hot it drains much much quicker. Of course, high power usage generates more heat so I'm inclined to believe our 3g radio consumes way more battery than our wifi radio.
Over the months I've combatted poor battery life by doing the following:
1. Purchase aftermarket batteries. I've fallen into HTC's trap. I bought an evo battery which can last me of 6-7 hours of wifi awake time and 4-5 hours of 3g awake time. I also purchased the extended 2150 battery from Verizon which I can get up to 10 hours of wifi surfing and 5-6 hours of 3g surfing. Back when I was on stock 1300 I would get 3-4 hours wifi surfing and 2-3 hours 3g surfing.
2. Install an undervolted kernel, if you're into that sorta thing. One of the main reasons I'm able to obtain the numbers above is due to my kernel which undervolts the processor. I use adrynalyne's experimental undervolted kernel and it works without a hitch. I use it in conjunction with setcpu so I can have a screen off profile which underclocks the processor to 128-384MHz while I'm not using it. The only caveat to using this kernel is you can only use the conservative CPU governor. This means lower clocked speeds will be preferred as the CPU actively scales itself, and will take longer to ramp up to the higher speeds. But we're talking about maximizing battery life so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
3. Try to keep screen brightness down, minimize usage of other radios (Bluetooth, GPS). Sounds like you already do this though. Rogue apps have also been discussed but if awake time != uptime then that's usually not the case.
As also prevoiously mentioned, it is possible you have a defective battery and should go about getting a new one from them though I'm not sure how that process goes... someone here is bound to know though.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Div033 said:
HTC usually seems to skimp on the battery. It really hurts their reviews but I suppose they can save costs and assume people can always buy an aftermarket battery. I don't agree with it but it's their business.
Anyway, that does sound like abnormally bad battery life, but I have a question - are you in a poor service area? If so, the radio might be working extra hard to acquire a signal. Even when I had my dumb phone Samsung alias (which had decent dumbphone battery life) I would experience complete battery drain if I left it in my poor coverage basement overnight.
Also, when you're browsing the web and such do you use wifi or 3g? I notice that when I continuously surf with 3g the phone starts to get warm, especially in mid-poor coverage areas. When the phone gets hot the battery gets hot, and when the battery gets hot it drains much much quicker. Of course, high power usage generates more heat so I'm inclined to believe our 3g radio consumes way more battery than our wifi radio.
Over the months I've combatted poor battery life by doing the following:
1. Purchase aftermarket batteries. I've fallen into HTC's trap. I bought an evo battery which can last me of 6-7 hours of wifi awake time and 4-5 hours of 3g awake time. I also purchased the extended 2150 battery from Verizon which I can get up to 10 hours of wifi surfing and 5-6 hours of 3g surfing. Back when I was on stock 1300 I would get 3-4 hours wifi surfing and 2-3 hours 3g surfing.
2. Install an undervolted kernel, if you're into that sorta thing. One of the main reasons I'm able to obtain the numbers above is due to my kernel which undervolts the processor. I use adrynalyne's experimental undervolted kernel and it works without a hitch. I use it in conjunction with setcpu so I can have a screen off profile which underclocks the processor to 128-384MHz while I'm not using it. The only caveat to using this kernel is you can only use the conservative CPU governor. This means lower clocked speeds will be preferred as the CPU actively scales itself, and will take longer to ramp up to the higher speeds. But we're talking about maximizing battery life so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
3. Try to keep screen brightness down, minimize usage of other radios (Bluetooth, GPS). Sounds like you already do this though. Rogue apps have also been discussed but if awake time != uptime then that's usually not the case.
As also prevoiously mentioned, it is possible you have a defective battery and should go about getting a new one from them though I'm not sure how that process goes... someone here is bound to know though.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal is 3 to 4 bars on a 4 bar meter. Can you recommend a good undervolting Sense kernel?
Temp >50c 499/245
Screen off 245/245
Charge/full 998/245
Batt { 25 460/245
Batt [ 50 998/245
Batt{ 100 998/245
All are set to ondemand except charge is perfomance. Looking at this its nothing special but I do get a good charge from this setup
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
pianoplayer said:
My signal is 3 to 4 bars on a 4 bar meter. Can you recommend a good undervolting Sense kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely stand behind adrynalyne's experimental undervolted. You can find a link in the kernel thread on the android development section of this board. He makes a sense and AOSP version. I've tried some of the newer ones like Chad's but I love the longevity and stability of adrynalyne's too much to live with the switch. As aforementioned, if you decide to use setcpu, make sure to only use the conservative governer. Ondemand will cause it to freeze! Otherwise it's rock solid.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.

Screen killing battery

hello my phone doesnt last 1 day of charge and it says 40% is due to display/screen can anyone help me?
alvespt said:
hello my phone doesnt last 1 day of charge and it says 40% is due to display/screen can anyone help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can lower your brightness if it is not already at the lowest setting.
Unfortunately, the galaxy nexus has poor battery life. You could also try turning off data when you don't need it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
the screen is at lowest and it doesnt make sense turning of data if the problem is from screen right?
I'm having the exact same issue. Screen is totally eating up my battery life. It took 30 minutes for the battery to go down by like 10%. And the screen is 40% of the battery life issue.
Arrio said:
Unfortunately, the galaxy nexus has poor battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I just don't use the screen as much as you, but I don't find this to be true for me. I find it has great battery life. I don't sit for hours with the screen on, but I do regularly text and check emails throughout the day, do a bit of web browsing, take some calls, and play some Angry Birds or other games in the evening. The screen is always at the top of the list for battery usage, but even on an extreme day I still have more than 30% battery left by the time I go to bed. I throw it on the charger and I'm ready to go again in the morning.
I disagree that the Galaxy Nexus has poor battery life, in general. I would argue that: all high-end phones have "poor" battery life because of all the things they do (especially 720p screens), your personal use of it consumes a lot of power and you could benefit from an extended battery, or you have a faulty device.
hi there, i do that exact same things with no games, so less usage but i get less than a day... i love the phone but the batery is just no working...
I don't understand why people don't get that when you have a screen that is 4.65'' it will destroy the battery life. My screen use is always at 60% or more but yet I still get good battery life. The screen is going to use the majority of your battery when compared to other things, that's just how it is.
sorry but thats not the point, when you pay 700 for a top phone, that is suposed to be the google experience to carry arround wiith you and you can only get 10 hours of battery time something went wrong in the process...
Most phones are $600 to $700, and name one 4g phone that will last more than 10 hours with moderate use and no extended battery, just not going to happen. You need to reset your expectations.
GN battery is giving lots of trouble, too. I picked up the phone from charge and it was 100% charged. ! hour of usage with 3g on. Usage includes 1 hours or music and reading of pdf books simultaniously and battery is dropped to 61%.
alvespt said:
sorry but thats not the point, when you pay 700 for a top phone, that is suposed to be the google experience to carry arround wiith you and you can only get 10 hours of battery time something went wrong in the process...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should take a look at every other android phone that has come out with the same specs in the last year. Everything from the EVO 3d to the thunderbolt have their default battery's not last more than around 6-8 hours with constant use because of the screen & processors.
THis is why Verizon offered the extended batteries at a discounted rate right off the bat, because default batteries have never ever lasted that long in topof the line smartphones. FFS the new iphone 4s I've heard from a friend that their phones don't even last 24 hours.
I have a galaxy nexus, and mine has lasted... let me see.. one sec...1 day 3 hours and 25sec's with 35% left. (of course I have the extended battery) but here's the kicker: the extended battery has basically the same back as the regular phone does. so if they so desired, verizon could technically put out another extended battery just like all the rest of the phones, but they might not do that. I'm content with the battery life as it is almost identical as the droid X from which I came. The only difference is since I have a lot of un-updated apps for ice cream sandwich one of them is using "mediaserver" A LOT. I'm talking about that being the top of my battery draining with the screen being second. They both have taken ~20% with android OS itself taking 13, PlayerPro taking 13, and other random things like calls and txt msging taking ~10% each.
So I would suggest not trying to watch a lot of stuff on your phone while on battery, or don't expect your battery to survive long while watching stuff on that great screen
hymn thanks for the feedback so the only solution I see would be to go for a bigger battery. I'm from Portugal were could I buy one and whays the power?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
If your screen usage is less than 50%, it be more worried about what else is killing your battery........

[Q] Utterly HORRIBLE battery life across batteries and ROMs

Hey XDA
I'm having absolutely HORRIBLE battery life with my GIO. I've gone through extensive testing to find the root of the problem but nothing seems to be the cause. So far i've had to charge twice, maybe three times a day.
So here's the story. A couple of months ago I noticed my Gio's battery was dying quicker so I flashed another rom [Particle Mod] over it. I was happy, until I found out the problem persisted. Then I flashed a 2.3.7 Cyanogen mod, the battery still wasn't lasting and the battery life was only slightly worse owing to CYMOD.
I then flashed the GALAXYICS beta, and it's getting even worse. I've even bought new 1600mAh batteries to see if it was the battery's fault. Apparently not, so I went back to stock for a day or too to see what it was like, and I was still lucky to get 12hrs out of it with featherweight usage.
I simply do not know what to do, I've tried numerous battery mods [flashable zips etc] and they've only done a tiny bit. Lately I've been playing with clockspeeds but it seems to only make a difference if I raise the minimum speed, the extra top end performance is nice though.
So, what I'm saying is this normal for a Gio? Is it a hardware fault? software? 4th dimensional? I'm at a loss, and I think the infamous Samsung cell standby drain is to blame.
Attached is screenshots of general battery screen, Cell standby and the Graph. I've been switching between 2G and 3G, Airplane mode on and off, and listening to music for an hour or so and It seems to have utterly crippled the device doing simple tasks, and I've done EVERYTHING to minimize the drain by lowering screen brightness to %0, turning off vibration, animations, wifi, GPS, BT, radio, everything except google contacts sync and a couple of root things in between like deleting the batt stats.
The new batteries help somewhat, but I still can't last long enough for a single school day... FFUUUUU!
I really don't want to have to buy a new phone, I'm only 14 so I can't work to get one, and I can't just ask my parents because then I'm just being a spoilt brat. I want to make this phone last as long as possible [Until I can work for a Google Nexus or something] and the battery isn't helping.
Thanks for reading.
Yeah you're a spoiled brat. This is not great but not extraordinarily bad. My epic 4g touch spends the day on the charger.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Well, it seems to be all right with your battery. And your '1600 mAh' battery was just a fake. A lot of people get scores like this
What I am worried about is not so much the capacity, it's the RATE at which it drains. I see a lot of "stair steps" on my graphs so I'm not so sure, especially when checking the other phones in the house "a Galaxy Ace and 2 HTC Incredible S's] they seem to have a more consistent curve, I notice my batteries will drain by as much as %5 in half a minute, which is either a reporting bug or inconsistent strain.
Have you tried to do a wipe and test it with no installed apps?
Do not trust the "stairs", it is just bad reporting (as you said).
In my case when I switch on 3G or WiFi, it happens that the battery drops by 10% instantly.
The only value that is relevant is the total duration between a full charge (100% charge + several hours still plugged) and the "low battery" indicator.
According to my own experience, the things that drains the most are :
- 3G network : this is the main factor, by far.
If you can, try to stay in 2G mode most of the time, switch to 3G when needed, and as soon as not needed anymore go back to 2G.
- WiFi / BT
If you switch On/Off very often, or is always On and you moves very often (changing hotspot), then WiFi / BT will be a very important battery drain factor.
- Multimedia
Videos / MP3 drains battery a lot.
If you can, switch to "airplane mode" or switch off the phone during night.
Finally, with 3G / WiFi / Multimedia usage mix, a "One Day" autonomy is good.
I'm sorry but you will not find any smartphone that can pass "One Day" with that usage type.
With my own usage (very few calls, sms, wifi) and with above tricks, my Gio lasts 4-5 days.
PS : As you mentioned, available ROMs are very unequal as far as battery drain is concerned.
Stock ROMs (and moded ones like Adrenaline) are the champions of battery life, while ICS ROMs are the worst.
CM7.2 ROMs are in between.
I agree with Vilo76. When you don`t have wireless or 3g, or play any music/games, you can actually get a few days of life from your phone, but if you do some of the stuff i just said, the battery life is going down like crazy...
The only think you can do to get some bit of juice out of your phone is if you format your battery, but actually that is just for a better battery reading, not actually extending your battery life...
By the way, I can't figure out why phone manufacturers don't use more long lasting batteries ...
There are many many examples of batteries that are about the same size as a phone one, but deliver way more mAh.
Among others :
- House wireless alarms keypad batteries are the same size but can be as much as 3000mAh ...
- Classic cylindrical AA or AAA accu can be as much as 4000mAh ...
While a typical phone battery hardly ever exceed 1500mAh.
Okay, I'm back and I have some results for today
3G Is DEFINITELY using more in Australia on idle, while 2G is a bit less brutal
There is something cause my phone to wake intermittently, I've turned sync and location services, and killed any apps that may be checking the net etc, but it's still waking up with screen off.
---------------------------
Today I decided to do something bit extreme, I ran the phone an airplane mode all day with the original "dead" battery, I only lost %20 all day with 1hr or so music usage, phone standby is up but Cell standby isn't there at all [Obviously].
Something's telling me that's it the cell radio and whatever is waking my phone up is causing the suck. I'm upgrading to GalaxyICS CM9 beta10 today with a full dalvik, battery and cache wipe, so we'll see how that goes
----------------------------
MORE NEWS
Good news this time! I've installed a Cyanogen Mod 7.2 on their [The one that's updates through Goomanager] and the battery is holding steady at 100 idling for 1hr on 2G.... Not sure if I have to calibrate but I think I've fixed it, it's working better than stock!

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