Battery running down fast....

[Guest deweylewie]

My battery life has been improving, perhaps as the battery improves & I learn about android. The stats say it's been unplugged for 18 hours, used for about 3, and the battery is at 35%. It gets me through a day of FM radio, plus robo defense & wifi browsing for a few hours.

The things I've done -

• Used System Monitor ( logs CPU, battery and device uage over time and top apps, CPU speed, pie charts etc., It also lists total CPU by each app. helpful if you have something kicking in now and again that sucks battery)
  
• Checked settings/about phone/battery use for an overview.
  
• Put screen on auto brightness
  
• I use LauncherPro, I don't use the orange home screen
  
• I use tasker to put it in airplane mode overnight & auto turn off wifi/gps when not required.
  

Which rom are you using?

[Guest mELIANTE]

Don't forget, battery life tends to imprve after some charging cycles. It has a "break-in" period. Even so, maybe it should last a little longer, maybe it will get better with froyo.

[Guest Eclogue]

Which rom are you using?

Standard Orange one (today anyway :-) ), but with LauncherPro, K9, HandcentSMS instead of the standard ones.

I think mELIANTE's got a point - try giving it a few recharge cycles.

[Guest Kaiser Wilhelm II]

I'm pretty much 100% certain that my battery issues were due to the phone constantly syncing and hence never really sleeping when I hit the power button. You can tell by the sync icon on the top bar constantly indicating.

Seems to be an issue on quite a few Android handsets (likely a purely OS issue) and related to Google Calendar. If you google around you can find recommendations like clearing the cache for the app, which seems to have worked for me as I haven't had the problem since then.

Battery life now seems pretty decent - certainly a full day's usage with smartphone tasks or probably 2-3 days with light use.

However, it is worrying to think that it could kick in again and send my phone flat in a few hours. There doesn't seem to be a definitive statement/solution from Google about the issue.

[Guest deweylewie]

I charged the phone from a dead battery and it took 2 hours 15 mins.

Then I left it on standby for 20 mins (short press power button) with just the normal phone network connection turned on, no wifi/bt/3g and it dropped to 90% battery.

Then I turned on Airplane mode and repeated from a full battery, incase it was a networ issue. This time it was at 95% after 20 mins.

Then I turned Airplane mode off and tried again, this time after 20 minutes it had dropped by just 1%. I left it a couple more hours and after 2h20m it was at 95%.

So i've gone from dropping 10% in 20 minutes, to 5% to 1% and not changed anything apart from Airplane mode.

[Guest Eclogue]

I'm pretty much 100% certain that my battery issues were due to the phone constantly syncing and hence never really sleeping when I hit the power button. You can tell by the sync icon on the top bar constantly indicating.

Seems to be an issue on quite a few Android handsets (likely a purely OS issue) and related to Google Calendar. If you google around you can find recommendations like clearing the cache for the app, which seems to have worked for me as I haven't had the problem since then.

Battery life now seems pretty decent - certainly a full day's usage with smartphone tasks or probably 2-3 days with light use.

However, it is worrying to think that it could kick in again and send my phone flat in a few hours. There doesn't seem to be a definitive statement/solution from Google about the issue.

Would Watchdog Lite help? It's meant to identify runaway apps & notify (including a ringtone if wanted), so you could catch it if necessary.

[Guest Kaiser Wilhelm II]

Would Watchdog Lite help? It's meant to identify runaway apps & notify (including a ringtone if wanted), so you could catch it if necessary.

Yeah, I've got it installed and it sometimes catches the calendar but what I need to know is that I can put my phone on my bedside table at night and set the alarm and it won't just go nuts and discharge leaving me to sleep in, or do likewise during the day potentially leaving me with no phone.

I also don't want to be woken at all hours of the night as it catches the occasional app briefly exceeding a threshold.

[Guest DaveMac]

My battery performance is getting worse...not better!!!

When I first got it last week, I could get a full day if not longer, even with constant tinkering...which I was happy with tbh. But I've just charged it up to 100% and with 15 minutes I'm down to 87%!!! :)

I have OS Monitor, and thats showing no rogue apps whatsoever. I'm on r3...I might flash a couple of different roms to see if that changes anything.

[Guest pinkllama]

My battery performance is getting worse...not better!!!

When I first got it last week, I could get a full day if not longer, even with constant tinkering...which I was happy with tbh. But I've just charged it up to 100% and with 15 minutes I'm down to 87%!!! :)

I have OS Monitor, and thats showing no rogue apps whatsoever. I'm on r3...I might flash a couple of different roms to see if that changes anything.

the battery meter is not linear - mine isn't anyway. drops very quickly to under 90% then, when it gets down the 14% it takes ages before it switches off.

i think the biggest battery drain is autosync to the mothership.

try installing an app like sync schedule and set autosync to turn on for only a few minutes periodically through the day.

or you could try batteryfu to turn off all data when the screen is off, and set it to turn data on briefly every couple of hours to allow sync to happen.

[Guest screwface]

It's taken 4 hours to only get 28% charge so far tonight i swear my phones getting slower.

Edited October 14, 2010 by screwface

[Guest DaveMac]

the battery meter is not linear - mine isn't anyway. drops very quickly to under 90% then, when it gets down the 14% it takes ages before it switches off.

i think the biggest battery drain is autosync to the mothership.

try installing an app like sync schedule and set autosync to turn on for only a few minutes periodically through the day.

or you could try batteryfu to turn off all data when the screen is off, and set it to turn data on briefly every couple of hours to allow sync to happen.

Cheers mate...I'll give those a try.

Today at work I think there may have just been a clash of apps or something (not sure if this is a possible, I have the vast Androind experience of 1 whole week!!! lol)

My battery was showing as 73% on both Sense Anologue Clock and Battery Watcher app. I clicked on the battery watcher app, and the battery dropped to around 30 odd % instantly!

The Sense Anologue clock has been FC'ing loads since the last update, so I have uninstalled that, and the battery watcher and have just flashed Seb's de-orangified rom. I'm hoping that going back to basics might help me work out why my battery is so sh!te :)

[Guest androidswillkillusall]

the battery is driving me nuts as well! 95% at start of day, right down to 14% now. Had either Wifi or 3G on the whole day, but no GPS at all. Did nothing but check for texts every few hours.

Seems like the 3G/Wifi itself drains a lot, w/o even doing much...but having said that, I only got the phone on Monday...

[Guest tdodd]

I'm running the stock ROM with the Orange apps and games removed manually. After a full charge my phone will stay showing 100% battery for a few hours before dropping. Right now it's a little over 8 hours since the phone came off charge and it's showing 98% remaining. That's with the phone and 3G enabled but no syncing, WiFi, Bluetooth or GPS. There has been a little data traffic overnight - don't ask me why - but the "standby" battery life seems bearable. I imagine I could improve things further by disabling 3G or all data comms when I don't need anything, such as overnight, but that would seem a little too anal to me. If the phone is left on standby but not used then it looks like overall my discharge rate is about 1% per hour, suggesting a standby time of about four days.

Of course, when you start using the thing you've got to expect it to run down faster. With the stock charger, if I have WiFi and syncing enabled, and the display left illuminated the battery level creeps up really pretty slowly. Turn off WiFi, syncing and the display and the charge rate leaps.

I do occasionally use Watchdog Lite to check for rogue apps and once I'm happy there is nothing odd going on (which there seldom appears to be) I terminate Watchdog itself. However on occasion I have found apps to be very lively in the background, even though I thought I'd exited them correctly. It pays to check every now and again that everything is as it should be. If you install a new app, especially something that's hot on resources, like a GPS related or location aware app, it's worth making sure it does close properly to 0% CPU, even if it remains resident as an inactive task.

Running tally....

After 8 hours : 98% remaining;

After 13 hours : 94% remaining;

After 17 hours : 89% remaining;

Edited October 16, 2010 by tdodd

[Guest]

As most have you already said, there seems to a break-in period before the battery starts holding up really well. Before that, I used to get -3/4 hours on it before it died, but now I get over 9 hours (and sometimes more). Also the phone got really hot when I was charging it during the first few days, but now it's getting much cooler. I used this app (Battery Left) to accurately measure the life battery.

[Currently charging the phone so the firs two bits can't be read)

I usually have 3G/Syncing(Twitter/GMail)/Automatic Brightness ON, Battery Left, LauncherPro and Beautiful widget are constantly on aswell. I also have the browser open alot because of the links from Twitter AND I'm always listening to Music. I'm using r4 of Sebastian404's de-orangeated ROM for San Francisco which seems to be faster than Paul's custom ROM.

Also a quick side note: Charging seems to be way faster when the phone's off, takes me a bit over an hour to get 100%. And I would like to mention that I do not use any Task Killers (after having read they do more than good).

Edited October 16, 2010 by Guest

[Guest muddyfox470]

I had a dud battery in my first one (wouldn't charge or anything), orange insisted they replace the whole thing. The current one under normal usage I am getting between 18 and 30 hours usage.

I use timeriffic to change the settings at different times of day, i.e. at night.

[Guest Sere83]

As most have you already said, there seems to a break-in period before the battery starts holding up really well. Before that, I used to get -3/4 hours on it before it died, but now I get over 9 hours (and sometimes more). Also the phone got really hot when I was charging it during the first few days, but now it's getting much cooler. I used this app (Battery Left) to accurately measure the life battery.

[Currently charging the phone so the firs two bits can't be read)

I usually have 3G/Syncing(Twitter/GMail)/Automatic Brightness ON, Battery Left, LauncherPro and Beautiful widget are constantly on aswell. I also have the browser open alot because of the links from Twitter AND I'm always listening to Music. I'm using r4 of Sebastian404's de-orangeated ROM for San Francisco which seems to be faster than Paul's custom ROM.

Also a quick side note: Charging seems to be way faster when the phone's off, takes me a bit over an hour to get 100%. And I would like to mention that I do not use any Task Killers (after having read they do more than good).

Yes I am finding less than 2/3 hours of actual use atm, (the rest on standby). I had turned the phone on and not used it though for a few days, it was just on standby, yesterday was the first day I started using it properly and battery drained very quick, made a load of calls, bit of google maps, using timer application and syncing was on. Got to about 5 o clock and it was almost dead. I find it drops 1 bar very quickly, like within an hr of taking of charge, do a bit of timing and make a couple of calls and it's already dropped a bar.

When I check battery drain it always says android system around 95%. I had been experiencing high cpu issues, initially but now my cpu just fluctuates loads like one minute it will be at like 10% next minute 70% but i believe this is fairly normal. Does get warm on charge.

I'm using Pauls R3 Rom. Is it likely that this will get better, cos at the moment battery is v. poor.

Edited October 16, 2010 by Sere83

[Guest androidswillkillusall]

As most have you already said, there seems to a break-in period before the battery starts holding up really well. Before that, I used to get -3/4 hours on it before it died, but now I get over 9 hours (and sometimes more). Also the phone got really hot when I was charging it during the first few days, but now it's getting much cooler. I used this app (Battery Left) to accurately measure the life battery.

[Currently charging the phone so the firs two bits can't be read)

I usually have 3G/Syncing(Twitter/GMail)/Automatic Brightness ON, Battery Left, LauncherPro and Beautiful widget are constantly on aswell. I also have the browser open alot because of the links from Twitter AND I'm always listening to Music. I'm using r4 of Sebastian404's de-orangeated ROM for San Francisco which seems to be faster than Paul's custom ROM.

Also a quick side note: Charging seems to be way faster when the phone's off, takes me a bit over an hour to get 100%. And I would like to mention that I do not use any Task Killers (after having read they do more than good).

Approx how many days till u got the 9 hours..?

[Guest AndyHibberd]

I'm getting full life 11.54 :)

Not sure how accurate that is tho. If you watch films or browse lots of web then battery is gonna get rinsed.

I'm also on r4 (altho that reading is r3) Modaco rom.

Brightness 25% which is more than enough.

Few widgets, news and facebook.

[Guest Sere83]

I'm getting full life 11.54 :)

Not sure how accurate that is tho. If you watch films or browse lots of web then battery is gonna get rinsed.

I'm also on r4 (altho that reading is r3) Modaco rom.

Brightness 25% which is more than enough.

Few widgets, news and facebook.

When you say 11.54 do you mean including the time the phone is on standby/idle? (e.g from the time it was detatached from the charger, the full drain)

Because that is around the time I get when I have made a few calls/texts surfed the internet for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time on standby/idle

[Guest sujone]

As most have you already said, there seems to a break-in period before the battery starts holding up really well. Before that, I used to get -3/4 hours on it before it died, but now I get over 9 hours (and sometimes more). Also the phone got really hot when I was charging it during the first few days, but now it's getting much cooler. I used this app (Battery Left) to accurately measure the life battery.

[Currently charging the phone so the firs two bits can't be read)

I usually have 3G/Syncing(Twitter/GMail)/Automatic Brightness ON, Battery Left, LauncherPro and Beautiful widget are constantly on aswell. I also have the browser open alot because of the links from Twitter AND I'm always listening to Music. I'm using r4 of Sebastian404's de-orangeated ROM for San Francisco which seems to be faster than Paul's custom ROM.

Also a quick side note: Charging seems to be way faster when the phone's off, takes me a bit over an hour to get 100%. And I would like to mention that I do not use any Task Killers (after having read they do more than good).

How long do you have to charge the phone for when you first get it? Previously people used to be advised to charge phones for 14 to 16 hours before using it, even with Lithium Ion batteries. Is this still the case, or do I just need to charge the phone until it indicates charged before using it for the first time?

Thanks.

[Guest AndyHibberd]

When you say 11.54 do you mean including the time the phone is on standby/idle? (e.g from the time it was detatached from the charger, the full drain)

Because that is around the time I get when I have made a few calls/texts surfed the internet for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time on standby/idle

Just the reading for "Full Battery Life" in the battery info app shown above.

[Guest mike557]

I had a problem with Modaco R3 and R4 orangenated both running down the battery fairly quickly (faster than before). Struggled to find what was causing it.

Use appbrain for all my downloading and therefore not necessary to use the market. It turned out that when I went into the market an app was showing as installing and there was no way I could see to stop it.

As I use appbrain, it was not a problem to do a full wipe of my phone and re-install. The full wipe included the cache but I also did a phone reset. Within 10 minutes I had my phone back as it should be and battery back to its normal performance of a couple of days.

I use 'Setting profiles' which recognise when at home and goes into airplane mode while I am asleep thus saving more power.

[Guest oh!dougal]

Just the reading for "Full Battery Life" in the battery info app shown above.

But isn't that based on your personal (average, typical) usage as well as the battery's capacity?

[Guest AndyHibberd]

But isn't that based on your personal (average, typical) usage as well as the battery's capacity?

Yes.

You use it, you lose it. Surprisingly.

I think the only people who should worry are those who may have a genuinely faulty battery. Otherwise it's a case of adjusting various settings to suit your usage.

Power users will simply not get as much life as people who use this phone the same way they used their old non-smart ones.

[Guest oh!dougal]

My point was that this reading is not (on its own) diagnostic of a different (let alone faulty) battery.

I am agreeing that there is massively more likelihood of the differences in reported "Full Battery Life" being indicative of the different loads that different users (even using different firmware) are putting on their batteries.

Specifically, running the battery flat in 3 hours, and taking 12 hours to charge and the phone running hot is much more likely to indicate a user wanting (or at least having) "everything on, always", than it is to indicate a defective battery.

With everyone's batteries being the same age (give or take a couple of weeks), the "Full Battery Life" predicted should be taken more as an indicator of the way you are driving the thing than any hardware comparison.

However, my expectation would be that running "everything on, always" would actually be the fast track to making the battery "defective". Probably take more than a week or two of such abuse though.

Edited October 18, 2010 by oh!dougal