San Francisco - Battery drains VERY fast

[Guest glossywhite]

HAHA you obviously didn't own a Pulse!

I obviously did, actually, and loved it. Maybe if you checked my post history, you'll find my Pulse posts...

Edited October 17, 2010 by glossywhite

[Guest Aquilo]

Could one of you experiencing this excessive battery drain post your Battery Usage stats (once it's near-empty, please).

Are you running any messaging services? Do any of you have a task manager where you can post a list of running applications & free memory?

[Guest meinnit]

I obviously did, actually, and loved it. Maybe if you checked my post history, you'll find my Pulse posts...

Did you run stock rom?

[Guest JingleManSweep]

I'm sorry, but no matter what anyone says, the people who manufactured and designed the blade, ZTE, are the best qualified people to fine tune and optimise the finer details of the Android operating system for their handset. We're talking of a multi-million (maybe billion?) pound company with research labs and proper test equipment, together with highly skilled coders and engineers - what makes us think that a few people tinkering on their home computers, can make the phone perform better than it does straight from the factory?

I'm sorry too. You are obviously deluded about how the Android ecosystem works (and the intention of large corporations). I agree with Flibblesan in that your attitude is highly insulting.

Phone manufacturers (and the telecom providers/networks) don't invest the time in tweaking/optimising their handsets. It is a "cost vs benefit" argument, and frankly, COST ALWAYS WINS!

If your argument was true then Microsoft wouldn't have released the pile of dog turd they call Vista, Apple wouldn't have released Macbook Pro's that cook your testicles, Virgin Media wouldn't have released a Sky+ clone that requires rebooting every few days.

ZTE may be a billion pound company just like many other companies, but in my experience, it doesn't mean the product is ultimately tweaked/configured for day to day usage. It is shipped from their factory in a workable state (barely workable most of the time). It is people like Paul, BigBear and Flibble that have to use the handsets day in and day out, and therefore work on an iterative development process to tweak the device into the best it can perform only constrained by the limitations of the hardware.

You don't seem to understand the Android community at all, and all I can recommend to you is to purchase an iPhone or something.

I'm quite disgusted by your opinion (which admittedly you are free to have). I also have an opinion too which I am expressing now. If you don't like the hardware, blame the manufacturer (who coincidentally provided a rather poor implementation of the Android platform in cahoots with Orange). DO NOT BLAME THE ROM DEVELOPERS. As an Android user for several years, it is these ROM/Homebrew developers who truly made the Android platform what it is now.

You sir... are a disgrace!

Edited October 17, 2010 by JingleManSweep

[Guest JingleManSweep]

Having seen the apologetic thread, I understand your point of view, and retract any offensive statements I may have made in my previous post. I would like to start afresh with no hard feelings whatsoever. I was annoyed by your previous posts to the point that it made me post my previous rant, but I can understand your frustration with your battery situation.

No hard feelings?

[Guest glossywhite]

Having seen the apologetic thread, I understand your point of view, and retract any offensive statements I may have made in my previous post. I would like to start afresh with no hard feelings whatsoever. I was annoyed by your previous posts to the point that it made me post my previous rant, but I can understand your frustration with your battery situation.

No hard feelings?

I have VAST experience in the free software world! :)

Do you know who Richard Stallman is (without searching!)?

Meh :) apology accepted also! :)

[Guest coupedummy]

My battery was draining quite quickly also.Yesterday night around 11.30 i switched 3g and data roaming off.(wifi all always set to off as it drains even quicker.

Screen brightness on high still. Standard wall paper. I switched all these off when the battery was at 18 percent. At this moment after making two 5 mins phone calls this morning and changing background wallpaper the battery now is at 15 percent.Data roaming obviously kills the battery alot quicker than people think.

Im am using seb r4 rom.

Following my earlier post with 18 percent battery,right now i have 13 percent left. I have only used the phone for a 15 min phone call since and a few quick checks. So all in all not a bad battery life without data switched on.

Thinmk from now i will just switch 3g on only when i need it.

In fairness my iphone 3g battery is also much better when i have 3g switched off also.

Edited October 17, 2010 by coupedummy

[Guest deweylewie]

Here are my numbers for the past few days:

100%->15% in 22 hours

100%->21% in 20 hours

95%%->27% in 7.75 hours

and today with absolute minimal use (max of 15 mins on wifi, maybe another 15 just on apps, 0 calls, 1 text, screen off on idle the rest of the time).

100%->44% in 9 hours.

[Guest AndyHibberd]

You have a device in your hands that is as capable as a desktop PC and you moan that the wafer thin battery doesn't last you the length of an amazonian expedition?

Deal with it. Turn s*** off, hell, why not just turn the phone off completely and boot it up every time you want to send a text. That'll boost battery life.

Other than that, try this:

I was concerned at first about battery life, less than a day?! But then I realised I'm not usually away from a power source for more than a couple hours (average work day) so it doesn't have to last all day.

I'm at home - plug it in.

I'm at work - plug it in

I'm in the car - plug it in.

I'm on a boat - plug it in.

I'm on a horse.

As a serious note (mentioned in the "spare battery" post elsewhere) it's prob worth having a spare one in case you do go out all night, taking photos, using gps/data etc. I wouldn't mind carrying an extra few grams in my pocket. If people know how to get one please share.

Andy

(PS I get on average 5 weeks battery life - full brightness with wi-fi enabled and GPs running, streaming last.fm and iplayer in the background while playing two games simultaneously and running benchmark software continuously. Also running Orange ROM non-flashed non-rooted. For real yo.)

[Guest oh!dougal]

...

I'm on ... horse.

... in case you do go out all night .... I wouldn't mind carrying an extra few grams in my pocket. ...

(PS I get on average 5 weeks battery life - full brightness with wi-fi enabled and GPs running, streaming last.fm and iplayer in the background while playing two games simultaneously and running benchmark software continuously. Also running Orange ROM non-flashed non-rooted. For real yo.)

That explains it.

[Guest deweylewie]

You have a device in your hands that is as capable as a desktop PC and you moan that the wafer thin battery doesn't last you the length of an amazonian expedition?

Regardless of how much life people expect, there definitely seems to be very mixed reports of battery life:

Depending on what you do with it, the battery of the San Francisco can drain very quickly. It is nothing to do with the ROM, but just how the device is. For what it's worth, I just got a full 5 days out of R3 with 15% battery still remaining, and the last time I tested from that point I still had a day left. Granted, I didn't use it much during this time and I've had far less under heavier use, but that was the case with the stock ROM also.

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.

Running tally....

After 8 hours : 98% remaining;

After 13 hours : 94% remaining;

After 17 hours : 89% remaining;

And I get this, with light usage:

Here are my numbers for the past few days:

100%->15% in 22 hours

100%->21% in 20 hours

95%%->27% in 7.75 hours

and today with absolute minimal use (max of 15 mins on wifi, maybe another 15 just on apps, 0 calls, 1 text, screen off on idle the rest of the time).

100%->44% in 9 hours.

[Guest oh!dougal]

Here are my numbers for the past few days:

100%->15% in 22 hours

100%->21% in 20 hours

95%%->27% in 7.75 hours

and today with absolute minimal use (max of 15 mins on wifi, maybe another 15 just on apps, 0 calls, 1 text, screen off on idle the rest of the time).

100%->44% in 9 hours.

I note that you haven't mentioned GPS, Bluetooth and Mobile Data ("3g") --- have you turned these off already?

[Guest Treacles]

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/000239/

Something like this could be a good alternative to having an extra battery? Especially since it has nearly twice the power of the battery, meaning you could use the original battery's charge, then use this to recharge it twice for nearly triple the normal usage time...

[Guest dj9928]

Ok well today was the first day I had my SanFran out and about, I took it off the charger at 6am, checked twitter for 5 mins via wifi then turned wifi off and data,

Got to work it was down a bit, put the mp3 player on at 7am to 10am, turned it off and checked battery 70% full.

Radio on from 10.30 to 1.30 with 5 mins checking twitter and email battery 44%

MP3 player on from 2pm to 4.30 with 5 mins checking twitter battery 29%

Now at the min with the phone in standby from 4.30 until now its at 11% and about to go off.

First phone I have ever had that doesn't last the day, Even my Desire with same sort of usage managed to get to 9pm before I got warnings. Had I actually made phone calls today I'd hate to see the results.

[Guest blauwal26]

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/000239/

Something like this could be a good alternative to having an extra battery? Especially since it has nearly twice the power of the battery, meaning you could use the original battery's charge, then use this to recharge it twice for nearly triple the normal usage time...

There's actually lots of those things around on ebay, all made on the cheap in china and actually a good solution, especially when being out for a couple days since most electronics these days (unless it's apple or others who love the word proprietary) are powered through a standard usb plug. If anyone is willing to solder a little you could easily fit other phone batteries using the same voltage in there, not the prettiest solution but worked for me, at least with other phones.

And remember guys, always turn off 3G if you don't need it, GSM is good enough for your calling needs and syncing your twitter or email through EDGE in the background isn't that bad after all. When you really need it it's the touch of an icon on your home screen and you are good to go.

[Guest mELIANTE]

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome/primatepower/000239/

Something like this could be a good alternative to having an extra battery? Especially since it has nearly twice the power of the battery, meaning you could use the original battery's charge, then use this to recharge it twice for nearly triple the normal usage time...

Those things have a problem. The batteries in them are 3,7v that are converted to 5v with a circuit inside the casing, then back to 3,7v by the phone. There are losses in that process and, actually, a 2200mAh battery won't charge a 1100mAh battery twice.

Besides that it's a good gadget and you can get them a lot cheaper in chinese sales sites or ebay.

[Guest PabUK]

Regardless of how much life people expect, there definitely seems to be very mixed reports of battery life:

And I get this, with light usage:

Have you tried running a task manager that shows CPU usage? When my phone was suffering from the 100% CPU use problem, it would last a day if that (e.g. it died overnight from 40%).

[Guest deweylewie]

Have you tried running a task manager that shows CPU usage? When my phone was suffering from the 100% CPU use problem, it would last a day if that (e.g. it died overnight from 40%).

Yeah, nothing is taking up heavy cpu time. The average load is between 5%-8% on idle (Using OSMonitor), with a constant 5% from /system/bin/akmd2 which I think is sensor data. Can anyone else say if they have this process running?

The rest is Android system, Launcherpro, Sense analog clock, /system/bin/sh, events/0 all just popping up every now and then at a few %.

I have no comms on other than normal mobile coverage when it's idling and only ever use wifi or gps up to 30 min per day.

[Guest deweylewie]

It has now lasted 25 hours on a single charge and still at 40%!

The first 12 hours it dropped to 40% with almost no use but it's been stuck at 40% since 11PM last night... Which is when I killed Sense Analog Clock Widget. Polling the ram/storage/sdcard/battery must have been draining it or maybe it's just a coincidence.

[Guest deweylewie]

I reopened Sense Clock widget and it doesn't seem to have been the issue. Something has changed because the phone hasn't been charged for 22 hours and it's still on 61% battery. Maybe the battery just needed a few charge/discharge cycles...

Oh well, i'm really happy with the battery now - it did around 30 hours (mostly idle) last charge and still had around 20% left. It's still not a patch on my old phone which could go for a couple of weeks but getting over 24 hours is more than adequate.

[Guest squidlr]

Happy with my battery, I can get a whole day out of it easily, recharging nightly. Running it with wi-fi for 3-4 hours, bluetooth and GPS/3G switched on only when required. Usually I have 30-40% charge by the end of the day. Not using task killers either, just letting the phone manage the apps. I'm not sure if theres any mobile device where the battery will not run down fast if you have an AMOLED/LCD screen in use constantly.

Edited October 21, 2010 by squidlr

[Guest pinkllama]

updated to R4 rom last night.

unplugged phone from charger at 9am.

battery at 73% at 7:25pm

over the day i've used the phone for the following (approx)

2 mins calls

10 mins internet browsing

gmail sync on (no calendar or contacts)

my rss/podcast app updated sync at 1pm and 6pm. plus 5 mins reading rss feeds

installed root explorer and deleted 3 apps with it.

weather widget updates every 2 hours.

on the R3 rom, i'd guestimate that my battery would be on 60% max under the same usage.

apart from any changes in the R4 rom, the only difference in my setup is that i deleted 'Launcher2' from the R4 rom before installing it, as i have launcher pro installed.

am i right in thinking that Launcher2 is the default android launcher?

oh i forgot to mention that i also turned off auto rotate - some people have noticed that the process AKMD2 which controls the compass and orientation eats battery life.

Edited October 21, 2010 by pinkllama

[Guest deweylewie]

oh i forgot to mention that i also turned off auto rotate - some people have noticed that the process AKMD2 which controls the compass and orientation eats battery life.

Auto rotate screen? I looked up akmd2 and apparently the process is only in charge of the compass. It uses a constant 4-5% on my phone, almost as much as Android System, but is supposed to end when your screen is off, so isn't a problem for idling.

I just turned off Orientation and akmd2 was still running. So screen rotation must be controlled by the accelerometers, not compass.

I don't know how to turn off the compass, maybe the only way to stop akmd2 is kill it manually or you can edit the some config which reduced the load from it.

[Guest chris54621]

<ranting>glossywhite</ranting>

[Guest Winston69]

Auto rotate screen? I looked up akmd2 and apparently the process is only in charge of the compass. It uses a constant 4-5% on my phone, almost as much as Android System, but is supposed to end when your screen is off, so isn't a problem for idling.

I just turned off Orientation and akmd2 was still running. So screen rotation must be controlled by the accelerometers, not compass.

I don't know how to turn off the compass, maybe the only way to stop akmd2 is kill it manually or you can edit the some config which reduced the load from it.

I manually renamed the akmd2 file using root explorer which stopped the process running after a reboot, but my GPS went a bit duff so I changed it back