phone battery life

[redsoxsstink]

so ive had my HTC amaze 4g for about 4 months now, til now the battery life was decent. not as good as my blackberry but rather accpetable for a smart phone. then one day, i had forgot my phone on the charger when i went to work. so the phone has been charging from 10pm one night til around 6pm the next day so thats roughly 20hrs. i took it off the charger and within 4hrs it battery life was down to ~50%. i was like weird, didnt think anthing of it just thought i had an app open, killed all tasks and went to bed. the next day same story im like wtf so i think i fried the battery and bought a new one. NOW same deal with the new one, so i did some research and found a factory restore might fix the issue. i did a factory restore last night. this morning same freaking deal, the phone has been off the charger for 21mins on standby and down to 90% from full charge. is it really possible ive damaged the internal hardware of the phone?

im very familiar with battery saving software and how not to kill the battery ie:turning off gps etc so its not a rogue app running something

[OG]

I'm pretty sure my iphone 4 battery is shot from always charging it all night long. i plug it in when i go to bed and unplug it when i wake up. I use my phone most of the day for phone calls but lately it's been down to ~10% battery life by the end of my work day.

[WayFast84]

What are you using to kill the apps? The taskkiller apps do more harm then good, also try to adjust your screen lighting. HTC batteries suck. I had the big extended battery and it would maybe last 6 hours with moderate use.

[redsoxsstink]

Originally Posted by WayFast84

What are you using to kill the apps? The taskkiller apps do more harm then good, also try to adjust your screen lighting. HTC batteries suck. I had the big extended battery and it would maybe last 6 hours with moderate use.

how do they do more harm than good? what do you suggest? i use the stock task killer and the task killer app from android market. ive downloaded juicedefender pro

[WayFast84]

Ive read that apps that kill tasks are using more battery life than they save. Your'e better off killing tasks one by one. I don't know if that's what you mean by stock task killer though.

[BullittSVT]

How is the galaxys battery life? Because my htc inspire isnt that good either.. although i've never had a problem of leaving it on the charger all night and the battery take a dump..

[88WS-6]

I have the HTC Incredible 2 and the battery life is terrible. I leave it on charge a lot too, but any game for 5 or 10 mins and I'll lose 25% power. It has been like that since day 1 and I've gone through a replacement phone with the same issues. I've heard it's a possible issue with the Andriod software constantly running, but don't quote me.

[sweetbmxrider]

Not that it helps the OP but with lithium ion batteries, you do not want to let them sit on the charger after they are fully charged. It significantly decreases battery life and charge capacity.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Not that it helps the OP but with lithium ion batteries, you do not want to let them sit on the charger after they are fully charged. It significantly decreases battery life and charge capacity.

This is fantastic advice.


I actually had a chance to attend an industry presentation done by a battery manufacturer about modern battery life (phones, laptops, etc). Here are some of the take-aways:

1.) Heat kills batteries fast. Leaving a battery on a charger will make it discharge/charge all night. That is very bad.

2.) Full charge when you are down to 50% and then disconnect. Battery life is like a bell curve. On one side are batteries taken down very low and brought all the way up, and on the other are batteries charged at 80% and up or charged overnight. What they have found is that charging at 50% gives the greatest number of charge/discharge cycles over the life of a device, and the batteries will drain slower.

3.) If you need to store a device, discharge it to 50% life and store it in a cool, dry environment.

4.) Rate of voltage transfer matters. A slow charge keeps the battery cool and is a good method long term. A fast charge (like a car charger) will heat it up a lot during the process and shorten battery life. I asked if USB charging off of a laptop was a good way and they said yes.

5.) 4g and bluetooth will kill your phone/tablet battery fast. So will any app that uses the pull method to get data in short invervals (Read: knock facebook status updates to once an hour or on-demand only). Push is not nearly as bad.

6.) Beware of cheap third party or grey market extended batteries.



Aside from that, and FWIW, of the 7-10 devices I am responsible for at work, they all have "eh" battery life. My HTC I2 has been OK, the iPhones were OK, the Samsung Charge was poor on 4g, the Galaxy was OK.

Basically new phones are more and more like mini-tablets without the space to fit a proper battery. And as we all know, battery tech is nowhere near device tech, and it will never even be close. Ever.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Buy a flip phone and use the recharge techniques Bill suggests, you'll be good for 3 days of heavy use .

I had heard that it's good to fully discharge and charge once in a while, so I guess I'll be changing my method.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

Buy a flip phone and use the recharge techniques Bill suggests, you'll be good for 3 days of heavy use

No **** my LG 8700 would last 5-7 days on a full charge with moderate talking, with the LG factory battery pack.

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

I had heard that it's good to fully discharge and charge once in a while, so I guess I'll be changing my method.

Do whatever you like, but according to teh d00dz I spoke to that's not correct. They had choice words about "cell phone counter jockeys". LOL

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

My Ravine lasted Saturday morning until Thursday night until it completely died, including some lengthy call conversations.

[sweetbmxrider]

Good info Bill. I think most devices I buy usually say to fully discharge and charge the battery the first time but this may have changed. Its been awhile since I've bought something fancy

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Good info Bill. I think most devices I buy usually say to fully discharge and charge the battery the first time but this may have changed. Its been awhile since I've bought something fancy

Most will say to fully charge for 8-12 hours for the first charge. That's important. After that they said try your best to not go to either extreme.

[redsoxsstink]

so pretty much never charge anything over night? seems kinda hard. ive found the culprit, somehow my auto sync was on and was sucking my battery. fixed that and its back to normal.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by redsoxsstink

so pretty much never charge anything over night? seems kinda hard. ive found the culprit, somehow my auto sync was on and was sucking my battery. fixed that and its back to normal.

If you can avoid it, yes.

[redsoxsstink]

how do you normally charge your devices? if my phone doesnt get hot over night sitting on the charger is that ok? dont devices have fail safes to prevent overcharging?

i dont doubt what you are saying just trying to educate myself

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by redsoxsstink

how do you normally charge your devices? if my phone doesnt get hot over night sitting on the charger is that ok? dont devices have fail safes to prevent overcharging?

i dont doubt what you are saying just trying to educate myself

I hook mine up via USB cable to my laptop when I'm at it and charge it that way. When it's done I unplug it.

Honestly dude I'm just talking best practices. It's not always doable. I have to deal with **** batteries and such all the time so I'm a bit edgy about it.

No, no fail safe, or at least that I am aware of. Neither do docked laptops.

[BigAls87Z28]

When I get a new phone or device, I usually run it down the first day with whatever charge is in the battery, then charge it back to full.
I always leave my laptop plugged in while in bed and only pull the plug when I'm moving around.
Same for my phone as I always plug it in before I go to bed. I remember you telling me not to do that on FB, but it's a habit that I'm sure most of us have.

[sweetbmxrider]

I turn my phone off when I go to bed unless I have to have it on. Like they said, sometimes you have to leave it plugged in. Tis life.

[Tru2Chevy]

Battery Life Screenshot

I see that you found your issue, glad to hear it's back to normal now. Too add to the conversation, I just picked up a Galaxy S3 a few weeks ago, not seeing the battery life issues that most seem to complain about. The above screen shot is from a relatively light use day, but I still typically only have to charge my phone for a few hours at work each night. I normally plug it in via USB around this time of night, take it off the charger around 10pm, and I'm good to go until the next evening at work. Sometimes I will plug it in at home or in the car for a little while if I need a boost, but never more than a couple of days / week.

- Justin

[iamsickofitall]

here's a pretty cool charger, especially for devices with non removable batteries. it needs to be manually turned on by a button and automatically shuts off when your device is at full charge.

http://www.bracketron.com/stone-greenzero-charger