Battery usage

[Guest Albert Poon]

Cell standby 44%

Phone idle 38%

Android System 10%

Display 4%

Dialer 4%

And I dropped 5% in 4 hours, is that healthy?

[Guest lenik]

Cell standby 44%

Phone idle 38%

Android System 10%

Display 4%

Dialer 4%

And I dropped 5% in 4 hours, is that healthy?

perfectly fine. leave the phone alone, and you'll get about 1% / hour discharge, or even less than that.

[Guest spammyspam]

perfectly fine. leave the phone alone, and you'll get about 1% / hour discharge, or even less than that.

This isn't a given and only in a best case. My (anecdotal) results follow and list hours in standby mode.

Factory reset, with all data defaults: 11 hours

3G off: 17 hours

Data off (3g on or off): 30+ hours

Since it's a fresh phone this isn't a rogue program or anything. For some reason data kills my battery even though nothing is being transmitted. I may start using juice defender to force my data off, which sucks.

I blame my network more than the phone though, since others don't seem to have this issue. I'd love to know what the average data usage pattern on an Android phone is though, mine seems to remain on quite a lot in standby.

Edited August 3, 2010 by spammyspam

[Guest lenik]

I blame my network more than the phone though

please, don't blame anything. do *#*#4636#*#*, turn off the radio completely and see what you get.

[Guest spammyspam]

Turning off data gives me "flat" power consumption in JuicePlotter, so I'm not sure what disabling the radio will prove. In fact I'm using your performance and experimentation with radios to come to my conclusion that it's not the phone.

I'll try another network at some point to try and prove this conclusively. If it IS the phone, then I'm at a loss to figuring out how to get decent battery life out of it.

Edited August 3, 2010 by spammyspam

[Guest lenik]

Turning off data gives me "flat" power consumption in JuicePlotter

then, congratulations, there's nothing wrong with your phone :D

just keep the data switched off when not using it, and everything will be fine.

actually, i don't really understand why someone needs data always on. the phone cannot read e-mail or browse internet by itself. so, when you are going to read e-mail or check a web-site, flip the data connection on, and don't forget to turn it off afterwards. sounds pretty easy to me :)

[Guest Sausage]

then, congratulations, there's nothing wrong with your phone :D

just keep the data switched off when not using it, and everything will be fine.

actually, i don't really understand why someone needs data always on. the phone cannot read e-mail or browse internet by itself. so, when you are going to read e-mail or check a web-site, flip the data connection on, and don't forget to turn it off afterwards. sounds pretty easy to me :)

Maybe some users like to get the updates immediately when they turn on mobile instead of waiting for sync to happen once data is set to on..............I'm using email, Facebook, weather forecast updates every hour, and I have more than 24 hours with my battery, seems perfect to me, to me it's pain in the a*s to turn on data and wait for sync each time.........Finally, it depends on your point of view

[Guest lenik]

instead of waiting for sync to happen once data is set to on..............I'm using email, Facebook, weather forecast updates every hour, and I have more than 24 hours with my battery, seems perfect to me, to me it's pain in the a*s to turn on data and wait for sync each time.........Finally, it depends on your point of view

real P.i.t.A. is to wake up and find the phone (battery) dead. everything else is the OCD and how to deal with it.

i don't use facebook, so no comments on that. the weather forecast (the one people can download with their phones) actually updates 3-4 times a day, so it's quite pointless to fetch it every hour, and even more pointless because you may pick up your umbrella or choose appropriate clothes only once, in the morning, before leaving home. same with e-mail, I can access it from home, and from work, and most people can wait for an hour while I commute for my reply. i think, even if i process my email twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, nobody will notice.

of course, sometimes i feel pain, that my favourite gadget sleeps in my pocket instead of tirelessly downloading data and checking e-mail, but I have learned to deal with that.

what do i get in return? i get uninterrupted workflow, and ~1 week of battery life. is it worth it? well, as you said, it greatly depends on your point of view :)

Edited August 4, 2010 by lenik

[Guest spammyspam]

then, congratulations, there's nothing wrong with your phone :D

I know. I already said this. That's why I'm blaming the network - other people on different networks with data on also get flattish usage. To be honest I had thought you had data on too, little did I know you were cheating :D. What do you graphs/time remaining look like with data on btw?

what do i get in return? i get uninterrupted workflow, and ~1 week of battery life. is it worth it? well, as you said, it greatly depends on your point of view :P

I'm assuming you don't click send and receive in your email client :). The point is that you don't know when you have a message to check for. Right now I'm checking every two hours or so, with the risk that I'll read a mail two hours too late. Roll in things like calendar and contacts and if you're a heavy user of both you don't want to have to click "data-on-then-sync-all" every time you make an update on your phone or web. Then add other apps where up to date data makes them what they are (train delays, twitter, RSS, gadgets) and always on data becomes a necessity. What if you want to reply to mails while in an out-of-service area? You can't check mail, but those with sync on will already have had it downloaded in advance.

A single Canadian company has become the biggest provider of enterprise smartphones specifically because they offer this feature and offer it well. Polling for messages is so 90s, syncing/push isn't a "nice-to-have" but a killer feature for smartphones and the fact that you have to turn data off to save battery is a flaw, not a benefit.

If there was no battery issue, then you'd be crazy not to use it. If this is your usage pattern... well I seriously suggest you get an iPhone instead. It's much more suited to the polling pattern/single app usage than an Android phone is.

Edited August 4, 2010 by spammyspam

[Guest lenik]

To be honest I had thought you had data on too, little did I know you were cheating :D. What do you graphs/time remaining look like with data on btw?

i don't know, i mostly use data over wifi connection, not over phone network. i'll try someday to leave data on, but not to use it and see what happens.

I'm assuming you don't click send and receive in your email client :). The point is that you don't know when you have a message to check for.

it's complicated, i'm not sure if the same system exists in other countries, but down here in Japan the provider gives an e-mail address, which is connected directly to SMS/MMS gateway and all e-mails are converted to SMS/MMS messages and sent to the phone immediately. same thing happens in the other direction too, so I'm not really inclined to use good old POP3/IMAP boxes from my phone. if i did not have any computers, then maybe I would use phone to check POP3/IMAP, but right now I can do that from the computer much faster and easier.

Then add other apps where up to date data makes them what they are (train delays, twitter, RSS, gadgets) and always on data becomes a necessity.

i don't really get this. i need train delays when i'm about to get on the train. i need RSS feed when i'm about to read the news. i don't use twitter, but i think it also requires connection only when you read or write, and can live just fine without the network access if you don't touch it.

i can understand the situation when there's a very slow network, and need to download a file before I can read it, but with the current smartphones it's not the case -- download speed is much higher that my reading and writing speed. therefore, when i need something, i switch the data on and get it almost instantly, without the need to download it in advance "just in case".

What if you want to reply to mails while in an out-of-service area?

valid point, but this scenario is very unlikely. SMS messages come to the phone almost instantly, and do require phone network to send a reply.

syncing/push isn't a "nice-to-have" but a killer feature for smartphones and the fact that you have to turn data off to save battery is a flaw, not a benefit.

i turn data off not only because of the battery life, but because 1) i don't need it and because 2) it eats the battery.

If this is your usage pattern... well I seriously suggest you get an iPhone instead. It's much more suited to the polling pattern/single app usage than an Android phone is.

afaik, iPhone users can hardly get 24h from their batteries even when everything is off, i have a few friends, they recharge every night, sometimes twice a day. it's fun, but i prefer a reliable device i can take on the business trip and don't worry about the dead phone in the middle of nowhere.

[Guest spammyspam]

i don't know, i mostly use data over wifi connection, not over phone network. i'll try someday to leave data on, but not to use it and see what happens.

Would be handy to compare, thanks!

connected directly to SMS/MMS gateway and all e-mails are converted to SMS/MMS messages

I think this places you in a totally different usage to normal smartphone users. You have the benefits of push, but without data, but this is a network facility and not available to most users.

i don't really get this. i need train delays when i'm about to get on the train. i need RSS feed when i'm about to read the news. i don't use twitter, but i think it also requires connection only when you read or write, and can live just fine without the network access if you don't touch it.

Then, again, your usage differs to a regular smartphone user. They don't want to poll for things, and that for many reasons - but mainly speed (a feed sync takes around 2 mins, by which point you may not want it anymore), consistency (I check feeds from the PC too and would like my phone to know this) and availability (out of service). For your train example, knowing when a train is about to leave is pretty useful here in London, and having to wait even 30-60 seconds to poll makes a lot of useful cases useless. And I don't want to have to do an explicit sync each time I modify or add a calendar event.

valid point, but this scenario is very unlikely. SMS messages come to the phone almost instantly, and do require phone network to send a reply.

Apart from the SMS thing being a special case for you, there are many other countries where out of service is a regular and random occurrence. In London our phones don't work on underground trains; ironically this is precisely when you would want your feeds/emails etc all to be up to date. Of course, you could condition yourself to "turn on data and sync" 3 minutes before getting on a train... but in my opinion this takes the "smart" out of "smartphone". You shouldn't have to babysit your phone in this way.

it's fun, but i prefer a reliable device i can take on the business trip and don't worry about the dead phone in the middle of nowhere.

Me too, but unfortunately the Desire isn't it. In comparison, my Nokia E71 (also a smartphone) gave me two days with 50% battery and data always on. My point about the iPhone wasn't regarding it's battery life, but more how it was designed for your "check train times when approaching a train, feeds when wanting to read news" strategy. That's what they're taught to do - and I'm guessing most Android users picked this platform precisely to get away from having to do that.

But anyway, your expanded context makes your claims of week long battery life much more believable now, so thanks for explaining. I think I will investigate what Android uses background data for and how to stop it for the things I don't care for...

Edited August 4, 2010 by spammyspam

[Guest lenik]

Apart from the SMS thing being a special case for you...

I saw there's "Messages" application in standard Android, and I wonder what does it do in other countries? Does it work? Can you send SMS? MMS? I'm sure I can send SMS messages overseas, so it's not really a local thing. Am I wrong?

For your train example, knowing when a train is about to leave is pretty useful here in London, and having to wait even 30-60 seconds to poll makes a lot of useful cases useless.

Generally, you're right. But why does it take 30-60 seconds? I have launched train/bus/plane schedule app right now and got results back as soon as I finished typing station names. Does your phone do full sync just to show next train arrival time?

And I don't want to have to do an explicit sync each time I modify or add a calendar event.

How many times a day do you switch from phone to PC and amend the calendar? Juice Defender with bi-hourly sync schedule might really improve things, me thinks :)

[Guest spammyspam]

30-60 seconds to: turn on data, let it activate, go to app, click manual sync, wait for data. Perhaps data services are more reliable in Japan? Do you have "data always on" activated?

I think you're right about JD. Getting it to turn on data every 20-30 mins for syncing might do wonders... Happy to compromise on proper push support and have a lag of 20-30 mins if so!

Edited August 4, 2010 by spammyspam

[Guest Albert Poon]

After some tests... I found that the most significant method to prolong battery life is going to 2G from 3G...

[Guest spammyspam]

Agreed. It's almost like we're living in 2001 again!

[Guest lenik]

I found that the most significant method to prolong battery life is going to 2G from 3G...

could you please share, what was the life before and after the change?

[Guest Albert Poon]

Well.... baking r7 now... wanna know if there is any improvement on this aspect

[Guest spammyspam]

I suspect it's a radio issue more than firmware, so I don't expect anything.