[Q] Is this normal for a battery? - Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

First off, sorry if this is similar to another thread. I had very specific things happening so I thought it warranted a new post.
Okay, so I was wondering if my battery life was normal. I was browsing the web earlier for about one hour (looking for info on my battery troubled, oddly enough) on wifi. After I finished I noticed my battery had dropped significantly: from 79 to 58 to be precise. I use the lowest backlight setting, I kill apps frequently.
My ROM right now is Serendipity 6.1, stock serendipity kernel. No oc or uv. Is this normal for a battery to die so quickly?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

ive been having the same problem(sudden change of battery levels). Wifi has been known to kill batteries on the captivate, or at least in my opinion. also, check if you have any background apps running that use up cpu resources. those kill your battery too.

KreacherComfort said:
First off, sorry if this is similar to another thread. I had very specific things happening so I thought it warranted a new post.
Okay, so I was wondering if my battery life was normal. I was browsing the web earlier for about one hour (looking for info on my battery troubled, oddly enough) on wifi. After I finished I noticed my battery had dropped significantly: from 79 to 58 to be precise. I use the lowest backlight setting, I kill apps frequently.
My ROM right now is Serendipity 6.1, stock serendipity kernel. No oc or uv. Is this normal for a battery to die so quickly?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
depending on what you are doing.. if you watch movies thru it which requires intensive processor use then thats normal it really depends...it also eats up battery easily if backlight is set at the highest.

KreacherComfort said:
My ROM right now is Serendipity 6.1, stock serendipity kernel. No oc or uv. Is this normal for a battery to die so quickly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's possible that you have a bad flash. You could try flashing back to stock, running master clear, and then reflashing Serendipity.

gorgy76 said:
depending on what you are doing.. if you watch movies thru it which requires intensive processor use then thats normal it really depends...it also eats up battery easily if backlight is set at the highest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, watching movies does not use a lot of processing power. On a recent flight I watched over 6 hours of movies and still had over 30% battery left when I landed. You can also adjust the backlight from within the movie player so it isn't too bright. Wifi is a huge drain, especially with the screen on while web surfing. Another drain is poor cell service since the phone will be continuously looking for signal. Having only 1-2 bars reception uses more power than having 4-5. When it drops below one bar repeatedly it uses even more. A 20% drop after an hour of web surfing on wifi is not that unusual.

Miami_Son said:
Actually, watching movies does not use a lot of processing power. On a recent flight I watched over 6 hours of movies and still had over 30% battery left when I landed. You can also adjust the backlight from within the movie player so it isn't too bright. Wifi is a huge drain, especially with the screen on while web surfing. Another drain is poor cell service since the phone will be continuously looking for signal. Having only 1-2 bars reception uses more power than having 4-5. When it drops below one bar repeatedly it uses even more. A 20% drop after an hour of web surfing on wifi is not that unusual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah you have a point in there that's why I say it depends. when you only watch a you tube that has short buffering time it may not uses more processing power try watching movies from other site like webtv360 that constantly buffer until the end of the movie it will drain your battery fast sky high. maybe clearing dalvik cache and battery stats or even doing factory reset with his current rom will solve the issue as there might be some datas left lurking from previous rom after flashing that causes undesired effect with regards to battery drain. most of the time this will cure some icompatibility issues and force closes, doing this after flashing a new rom will save you more headache in the future.

Thanks for the help guys. I'll try to keep it off of wifi when im not using it and I've been putting it in airplane mode at points during he day. I just undervolted, so hopefully that'll help my battery.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

gorgy76 said:
yeah you have a point in there that's why I say it depends. when you only watch a you tube that has short buffering time it may not uses more processing power try watching movies from other site like webtv360 that constantly buffer until the end of the movie it will drain your battery fast sky high.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, you didn't say streaming movies from a website. That's a double whammy since you are using the network or wifi and having to decode the stream on the fly. Very processor intensive, as you stated. I was referring to watching movies stored on my external SD card.

Related

Battery Life / Recharge Time?

I recharged my phone in an hour when it had just powered off by itself for being too low... I used it for like 5 minutes and it was already down to 80%... Bad battery?
fldash said:
I recharged my phone in an hour when it had just powered off by itself for being too low... I used it for like 5 minutes and it was already down to 80%... Bad battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure sounds like a bad battery.
Just to make sure...
1) make sure you don't have some app that is running GPS
2) If not needed, try turning off BlueTooth
Those two items will drain battery faster than usual.
I sometimes find the battery is really inaccurate, depends on if the phone's running hot or whatnot...
Also you might want to get a task manager and periodically close all the apps (some apps have a one-click kill all widget), and turn off syncing, gps, and bluetooth
Battery indicator hasn't always been accurate or me - even with a brand new battery
There are several apps/widgets that are poorly coded which cause high battery drain as well.
Try only using stock widgets as well, I find that helps alot.
mssmison said:
There are several apps/widgets that are poorly coded which cause high battery drain as well.
Try only using stock widgets as well, I find that helps alot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, the only Widget I run thats not stock is Beautiful Widgets Home Small, set to update every 2 hours.
I have bluetooth and GPS off always unless I'm actively using them. I just seemed strange it was so fast to recharge mainly.
I've noticed the battery capacity jumps up and down depending on what you are doing. For example if I disable 3G, it jumps up, if I enable it, it might jump down 10% briefly then go back to where it was...
Very strange.
Also, I find the app Juice Defender (free version) is a life saver. My battery life has gone from around 12 hours to > 2 days since using it.
What it does is disable your 3G AP and only enables it every X minutes for Y minutes.. I think the default is 15/2. The result is you still get your notifications (a few mins behind), but your battery lasts WAAAYYYY longer.
brunes said:
Also, I find the app Juice Defender (free version) is a life saver. My battery life has gone from around 12 hours to > 2 days since using it.
What it does is disable your 3G AP and only enables it every X minutes for Y minutes.. I think the default is 15/2. The result is you still get your notifications (a few mins behind), but your battery lasts WAAAYYYY longer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip!
Now going hunting for "Juice Defender".
yeah, juice defender is great. The free version has limited options but the default options really save battery life on my vogue.
I read a while ago that there was a problem with the stock text messaging app. Is that resolved? I use Handcent SMS, but i don't know if it is good or bad for battery life comparatively.
JuiceDefender is fantastic, it works. Except you can't be listening to anything and have it running (music, podcasts, etc...) because when it kills the 3G connection the audio stops. I've talked with dzo and looked at the code myself and I don't see a way to keep it from happening unless there's a way to kill the 3G connection without issuing an 'ATH' to the modem or somehow ignoring the 'No Carrier' message that follows it...
this happens no matter what music player you are using? I was hoping it was just Cube, but had not gotten a chance to try with other media players. Is there a way to create an ap that autodiables jucedefender when you play music?
Gersonian said:
this happens no matter what music player you are using? I was hoping it was just Cube, but had not gotten a chance to try with other media players. Is there a way to create an ap that autodiables jucedefender when you play music?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm away of... I just manually disable juicedefender before I start playing my music... and HOPE that I remember to turn it back on...
I am not endorsing this battery/seller/etc or that this is the battery to buy in any way. Just came across this opportunity and wanted to put it out there for anyone that wanted to check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/UTStarcom-Ext..._28?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1274569716&sr=8-28
Personally I just don't want the extended battery cover sticking out of my phone...

[Q] Maximizing battery life as much as possible?

Before anyone accuse me of it, I did, in fact, look through the other battery threads on this forum (and other forums, for that matter), and I've already applied numerous tricks. I managed to get my phone to last roughly 9 hours from my typical usage, which now makes it comparable to other phones I've used in the past.
However, in about a day or two, I'm going to be getting a bluetooth headset...which basically means that I'm going to need to keep the Captivate's bluetooth on 24/7 (or, at least, most of the day). I really don't know how much battery this is going to cost me on the Captivate, so I'm trying my best to make things better now to make things smooth in the future. However, I appear to be at the end of my rope.
I have pretty much gimped the Captivate as much as one could reasonably take (more, I'd dare argue). I cut all of my volume down to half of what it was and I removed most of the quick icons. I also set a completely black wallpaper, I turned off all animation, and I turned the brightness down to its lowest setting.
I honestly don't know how to make it any worse. The SAMOLED screen is basically a meaningless PR term to me now and I'm actually missing phone calls from sheer lacking of hearing my phone ring...despite it being right in my pocket.
Going even further, I also attempted to switch to ADW.Launcher based upon recommendations by others that it increases battery life (I found that it had little to no effect). I also attempted to severely underclock my CPU (down to 200Mhz) based, again, upon other claims that it increases their battery life all the way to as high as 30+ hours on a single full charge.
Somehow, underclocking my CPU actually made the battery die out faster.
Furthermore, I attempted to use programs (SMODA, 2G/3G) which claim they allow me to switch to EDGE because, for some God-forsaken reason, Android doesn’t seem to have any toggle for doing it. Unfortunately, none of them seem to work; rather than switching to 2G, they all just completely disabled data, which, unfortunately, is completely unacceptable to me. So at this point, I only seem to have a few more extreme (from my perspective) options. Once I actually get the bluetooth, I plan to turn off most of the auto-updating apps (email, weather, twitter, etc), and just update them myself periodically. Furthermore, I plan to turn off the GPS location feature once I get my GPS unit.
Beyond the above, though, as I said, I'm at the end of my rope. Once I employ the other tricks, I figure I might be able to stretch battery life to 9.5-10 hours, but I would like to go even further. If anyone could offer me some help, I would highly appreciate it.
if your gonna have a bluetooth headset on disable your ringtone completly that would be meaning less. if your near wi-fi a lot have it connect only though that.
also you can clock the cpu down to 100Mhz along with the GPU.
AND to force 2G/edge read my howto in general
oh the ext2 lagfix can also save you some battery life
xatrekak said:
if your gonna have a bluetooth headset on disable your ringtone completly that would be meaning less. if your near wi-fi a lot have it connect only though that.
also you can clock the cpu down to 100Mhz along with the GPU.
AND to force 2G/edge read my howto in general
oh the ext2 lagfix can also save you some battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already doing the first sans disabling ringtone. I'm not so sure doing such a thing would be acceptable to me.
As for the underlocking suggestion, as I said, I underclocked the CPU all the way down to 200Mhz and the battery actually drained even faster. I doubt underclocking even further is going to help. Furthermore, I actually did try 100Mhz originally, but the performance was so horrendous that it was unbearable.
As for the lag fix, I already have it. Lastly, I knew about that 4636 technique to switch to 2G already, but, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work for me. The setting doesn't save and 3G still remains.
EDIT: I actually found a way to make the above work. Simply dial *#*#197328640#*#*, then go Debug Screen > Phone Control > UE State Control > Change RAT to GSM. This will actually force your phone to use GSM only. This seems like the answer to all of my battery problems....except it doesn't work. Once you make the change, the INFO menu reports that it has been changed to 'GSM Only', but data appears to have been disabled. Restarting your phone makes data works again, but the INFO menu reported that data has been reset back to 'GSM/CDMA auto'. Yay.
If you haven't already, turn off GPS when you aren't using it. Use the Power Control widget to help. Make sure all of the things in the power control widget are off unless you are using it. And use advanced task killer if you haven't already.
i say screw underclocking let run at whatever i dont think it makes a difference.
forget advanced task killer, i like auto killer.
leave gps off unless needed, and backround data
switch to 2g when you can.
no live walls of course use dark or black, no updating widgets
i dumped stuff like juice defender, cause with backround data off i dont think it does anything.
flight mode it at night (when sleeping) if not charging
ive been running jh3 (now jh7) with sre. get to work (i run 2g at work)at 9am listen to pandora all day through bluetooth (which is on for 6-8hrs) and wifi (6-8hrs) good amount off browsing bout 30 min of voice calls, some texts email checking, more browsing, some games. on average lately after being unplugged for 13-17 hrs at the end of the day with 20-30% life left,using bout 3hrs of display, 30 min voice calls, bluetooth doesnt use crap bout 3%, media server usually 15%, cell satndby i wanna say 10%, im pretty happy i guess, even though im always lookin for better results, tryin the new sre with undervolting, heard some good things.
still when that seidio 3200 mah battery comes out im gettin it, dont care how fat it makes the phone, things to dang thin as it is, and without some sort of cover its like a wet bar of soap!!
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
NotAppropriate said:
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow you are lucky. Yesterday I got 2 phone calls for a total of 3 minutes. I sent 7 text messages. I surfed the web maybe for 15 minutes. No games. Nothing else major. GPS off. Bluetooth off. Wifi on. Screen at 22%. Only background data I have is email which checks once every hour and a weather widget that refreshes every 6 hours. I got barely 12 hours in before my battery died.
fishgator said:
If you haven't already, turn off GPS when you aren't using it. Use the Power Control widget to help. Make sure all of the things in the power control widget are off unless you are using it. And use advanced task killer if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm keeping GPS off, and I'm using ATK already.
NotAppropriate said:
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typical usage for me runs along this line: A lot of web browsing, perhaps 30-45 minutes of music, and plenty of IM. I also use Aldiko to read now and then. Calls do factor into this, but typically only two or three 10-15 minute phone calls.
Truthfully, I simply don't see how it is possible for you to use the phone for 28 hours straight and still have 55% battery. I could lose 30% battery just by leaving my Captivate on stand-by for 30 hours.
I certainly understand the interest in having the best battery life possible.
Are you in a work environment where you cannot plug it to a computer for part of the day?
Fortunately, I am. And I always have it plugged in in the car.
I don't want to have a powerful phone with all the features turned off in order to keep it going.
I dont see how you can get 28hrs @ 55% either, with the kind of usage he was claiming, i wouldnt exactly call that light usage
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
28hrs @ 55% What firmware you runnin
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
ewingr said:
I certainly understand the interest in having the best battery life possible.
Are you in a work environment where you cannot plug it to a computer for part of the day?
Fortunately, I am. And I always have it plugged in in the car.
I don't what to have a powerful phone with all the features turned off in order to keep it going.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I do have a work environment where I can keep my Captivate plugged in, but only half of the time. Other times, I need to move. Aside from that, it kind of annoys me to use a phone attached to a wall socket. I prefer to keep my smartphones plugged in only long enough for them to fully charge (or at least charge to 80+%), then unplug them for usage. This is kind of tough for the Captivate considering it takes 3-4 hours to fully charge.
I also fully agree with you on the last point, which is what makes all of this so frustrating.
*Sigh* It's really too bad the Captivate is my first Android phone; it's been kind of a negative experience for me so far. Ironically enough, the one issue that hasn't been a problem for me is the one issue most seem to be having -- GPS performance.
roadrash7 said:
I dont see how you can get 28hrs @ 55% either, with the kind of usage he was claiming, i wouldnt exactly call that light usage
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I am in class for most of the day so the phone is idle most of the time but i only play about 10 minutes of music with about an hour or 2 combined web surfing and games but my phone is still chugging at 39 percent battery life at 38 hours of usage. I guess that qualifies as light usage then.
edit: jm6 with unhelpful kernel and sre
also, you have let the battery die out completely and recharge completely with the phone powered off correct?
NotAppropriate said:
I am in class for most of the day so the phone is idle most of the time but i only play about 10 minutes of music with about an hour or 2 combined web surfing and games but my phone is still chugging at 39 percent battery life at 38 hours of usage. I guess that qualifies as light usage then.
edit: jm6 with unhelpful kernel and sre
also, you have let the battery die out completely and recharge completely with the phone powered off correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm honestly shocked at your usage. Am I reading right that in the 38 hours since you last charged it, you only used it for 10 minutes of music and a combined 1-2 hours of web surfing/games? I wouldn't call that light usage. I would call that hardly any usage.
Under such conditions, I can see why your battery life lasts so long.
I don't see why you can't get a days worth of usage out of your phone. Cell phone calls use the most battery - that is why the phone is rated at about 5 hours of talk time. This would be in the best signal area. If you are in a lower signal environment (especially in a heavy building all day) you will see faster battery drain.
I am not sure why you are bothering with BT if you are only talking on 2 or 3 calls - but if you take 3 15 minute calls that is at least 15% of your battery - the only way to change this is force the phone to Edge.
I would not lower ringtone volume - that is not a big battery saver in the grand scheme of things and you are missing calls - not a good trade off. If you are doing a lot of web surfing, go WiFi instead and you will see big battery imrovements. 3G voice and data suck battery - it doesn't matter if you have android or iPhone.
If you put your phone in Airplane mode you can go for 5 days between charges with minimum use.
The radio does kill the battery, I don't think the battery usage screen really depicts this. Since I've gotten my captivate my old BB Bold (at the time would only last 3 hours due to its degraded battery) lasts days on end with its radio disabled while sitting in my desk. I'd love to see native 3G toggle or at least a captivate catered app, I'd even pay for the latter
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
alphadog00 said:
I don't see why you can't get a days worth of usage out of your phone. Cell phone calls use the most battery - that is why the phone is rated at about 5 hours of talk time. This would be in the best signal area. If you are in a lower signal environment (especially in a heavy building all day) you will see faster battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that rating is probably the battery life if your decide to talk on your phone for five hours straight. I really, really doubt it takes into consideration the in-between times (games, apps, and, of course, web surfing). Phone calls undoubtedly takes the most amount of battery, but Internet usage is probably second place and, as said, I use that fairly often.
Lastly, I'm not planning to use my bluetooth exclusively for phone calls. I'm going to use it for calls, listen to music on the Captivate, chat on my PC, and so on. It's multi-usage.
Next, you're missing a lot of the things I said. As I said, I already tried numerous methods to force the phone into 2G; not one of them works (they either don't work at all or actually completely disable my data). I'm already using wifi as opposed to 3G as much as possible.
Lastly, I'm sorry, but using airplane mode to save battery is not acceptable. If I'm even willing to consider this, then I might as well just turn off the Captivate to save battery.
I just read something about an external sd card being another battery drain.
Took mine out and we will see. I was already getting through the day with about 20%left.
8525Smart said:
Well, that rating is probably the battery life if your decide to talk on your phone for five hours straight. I really, really doubt it takes into consideration the in-between times (games, apps, and, of course, web surfing). Phone calls undoubtedly takes the most amount of battery, but Internet usage is probably second place and, as said, I use that fairly often.
Lastly, I'm not planning to use my bluetooth exclusively for phone calls. I'm going to use it for calls, listen to music on the Captivate, chat on my PC, and so on. It's multi-usage.
Next, you're missing a lot of the things I said. As I said, I already tried numerous methods to force the phone into 2G; not one of them works (they either don't work at all or actually completely disable my data). I'm already using wifi as opposed to 3G as much as possible.
Lastly, I'm sorry, but using airplane mode to save battery is not acceptable. If I'm even willing to consider this, then I might as well just turn off the Captivate to save battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't meant to suggest that airplane mode was an alternative, just to point out that the cell radio for Voice and Data is your biggest drain.
If you are going to use the phone for almost an hour of talk time, heavy web surfing and BT connections for tethering then your battery life will be limited. If you are using BT to chat on your pc - then maybe tethering with USB would be better - you could charge at the same time.
Your other option is to get a spare battery.
And I did read what you had to say, I just didn't realize how much you were expecting your phone to do. The only numbers your provider were around talk time.
I use my phone a lot and I charge it every 24 hours - I am more then satisfied - but I know that if a spend an hour or more talking on it and bunch of web surfing that I will have to think about charging it as my usage increases.
There is a way to force the phone into 2G. It isn't very user friendly. I have tested this and it works great.
Enter the Phone app.
Dial *#*#197328640#*#*
Select [1] DEBUG SCREEN
Select [8] PHONE CONTROL
Select [4] UE STATE CONTROL
If you want 2G, select:
[3] CHANGE RAT TO GSM
If you want 3G, select:
[2] CHANGE RAT TO WCDMA

[Q] Why is my battery life so awful?

I was at 100% battery at around 2:40pm today. I left and went to my brother's for Christmas lunch. Now, at 4pm, it's at 67%. All I did was Facebook (via the browser) and listen to some music (not the entire time). I frequently killed all the running apps, too.
I'm running Axura RC 2.5. I flashed it via Clockwork Recovery.
Elektrisk said:
I was at 100% battery at around 2:40pm today. I left and went to my brother's for Christmas lunch. Now, at 4pm, it's at 67%. All I did was Facebook (via the browser) and listen to some music (not the entire time). I frequently killed all the running apps, too.
I'm running Axura RC 2.5. I flashed it via Clockwork Recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thumb rule in android: stop using task killers.
diablo009 said:
Thumb rule in android: stop using task killers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then how do you manage backgrounded apps that you aren't using? They just drain the battery, no?
Elektrisk said:
Then how do you manage backgrounded apps that you aren't using? They just drain the battery, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they don't. It's all related to how the Android OS manages applications. There's a ton of info about it - just google it. If you have battery draining issues, most of the time it's because you left something running that's constantly downloading/connecting to 3G or is doing something CPU intensive. Take the new Facebook app for example - if you use the chat function and you don't log out, it keeps you logged in and that will suck your battery dry. If 3G is spotty, you'll also have battery drain as the phone switches back and forth from edge to 3G, trying to connect.
I used a task killer when I first got my phone, because some moron at the AT&T store recommended it. My battery life got much better when I unloaded that crappy app.
kegobeer said:
No, they don't. It's all related to how the Android OS manages applications. There's a ton of info about it - just google it. If you have battery draining issues, most of the time it's because you left something running that's constantly downloading/connecting to 3G or is doing something CPU intensive. Take the new Facebook app for example - if you use the chat function and you don't log out, it keeps you logged in and that will suck your battery dry. If 3G is spotty, you'll also have battery drain as the phone switches back and forth from edge to 3G, trying to connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use FB chat, nor have I had unstable connections. I've had constant HDSPA all day. Could it be an issue with the ROM? I have WiFi, Bluetooth, & GPS turned off, as well as Brightness as low as it can go.
Hold down the home button and open task manager...
Also i noticed that using 3g on low signal kills the battery, try to use wifi...
You can also try assonance, i think its clocked 200 mhz less than axura, so you might perceive more battery, and it is as stable
Or try recalibrating the battery
Pd maybe it is an issue with the modem draining too much battery, you could try a different one, i bet if you dissable 3g your bat will improve a lot
Elektrisk said:
I don't use FB chat, nor have I had unstable connections. I've had constant HDSPA all day. Could it be an issue with the ROM? I have WiFi, Bluetooth, & GPS turned off, as well as Brightness as low as it can go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom ROMs give you more speed, more power, more more more. That comes at a cost. You will have crappy battery life with some ROMs, and other ROMs may have better battery life.
rastanthology said:
Hold down the home button and open task manager...
Also i noticed that using 3g on low signal kills the battery, try to use wifi...
You can also try assonance, i think its clocked 200 mhz less than axura, so you might perceive more battery, and it is as stable
Or try recalibrating the battery
Pd maybe it is an issue with the modem draining too much battery, you could try a different one, i bet if you dissable 3g your bat will improve a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pay $25 a month for 3G access.. I'm not going to disable it
Elektrisk said:
I pay $25 a month for 3G access.. I'm not going to disable it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For normal day to day work, EDGE should be fine. Switch from EDGE to 3G when u feel need more data transfer speed. This should help.
im at 11 hrs since my last charge...
currently at 30% battery
Depends on the Rom I guess... And ive done the usual... Checking email txts facebook and xda and on the phone all day.
Oh.. And I was taking pics all day too. Not bad for this phone.
Currently running the latest Assonance rom.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
avgjoegeek said:
im at 11 hrs since my last charge...
currently at 30% battery
Depends on the Rom I guess... And ive done the usual... Checking email txts facebook and xda and on the phone all day.
Oh.. And I was taking pics all day too. Not bad for this phone.
Currently running the latest Assonance rom.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted to try Assonance, but whenever I tried flashing it via Clockword recovery, it froze at 'installing update..'. About to try Darkys 7.0.1.
Could it be a deffective battery? I used to get 7 hrs heavy use (web, games, music) with my original battery. I bought a backup battery (same thing, Samsung OEM 1500mh) and I am impressed I am now getting 12-18 hrs with heavy to moderate use. I guess I had a bad battery to beging with.
elektrisk,
has your battery life changed since you first flashed axura? if so, it is most likely due to an app you installed after flashing the rom. if your battery life has always been "awful" then you should consider flashing a different kernel, or another rom & kernel altogether

Which ROM has the best battery life?

Curious to know what the major consensus is as far as which ROM carries 1st place for battery life. In my experience thus far, Liberty is an insane battery hog (albeit an amazing ROM), and ICS is a bit below stock battery levels. Which ROM would you say has the best/longest battery life?
Steel droid is the best IMO but ive been on liberty 3 and its been average. Im not impressed but im not disappointed either. Anyways i flashed the v7 speedy script and that really sped up my phone and i noticed a HUGE increase in battery life.
Sent from my droid 3 using Tapatalk
on top of whatever ROM you decide to use. if you want to save some more battery life get juice defender and rom Toolbox. they have great tweaks to help out
Dri94 said:
on top of whatever ROM you decide to use. if you want to save some more battery life get juice defender and rom Toolbox. they have great tweaks to help out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohh yeah that too ;p I have that but i have it on the default setting. If u have a custom setting on can u tell me what urs is set at for optimum performance? Thanks man
Sent from my droid 3 using Tapatalk
honestly it depends what im doing. If im not going to be needing my data i toggle the button that turns off data when screen is locked. Other than that i use the regular settings for juice defender... for ROM Toolbox my settings are;
build.prop
VM Heap 88m
Scan Interval 150
Max Events 120
thats all i really did as far as performance/battery balance. i dont know what the values in some of the sections do so i left them alone. most imporant is scan interval though so that wifi doesnt kill your power. also i found out display is the primary power sucker for my system. So i keep that on low by default. Other people probably have even better tips but thats mine =]
Dri94 said:
honestly it depends what im doing. If im not going to be needing my data i toggle the button that turns off data when screen is locked. Other than that i use the regular settings for juice defender... for ROM Toolbox my settings are;
build.prop
VM Heap 88m
Scan Interval 150
Max Events 120
thats all i really did as far as performance/battery balance. i dont know what the values in some of the sections do so i left them alone. most imporant is scan interval though so that wifi doesnt kill your power. also i found out display is the primary power sucker for my system. So i keep that on low by default. Other people probably have even better tips but thats mine =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't reducing scan interval from 300 to 150 make the wifi scan more and actually decrease battery life? (could be mistaken)
my scan interval was set to 60 when i first got ROM Toolbox lol. But yea you can put it at 300, thatll save more battery life.
Oh default for liberty was 180.. i must have bumped it up and not noticed lol, wish I could set it to manual instead.
Well every fice minutes isnt bad. And juice defnder has a setting to only turn on wifi when your in areas you normally use it so that saves alot without havin to remember to turn it off
Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk
Autokiller,strict preset. I use it and I have good battery life with fb running 24/7.
Sent from my XT862 using XDA App
My default is:
Scan interval 300
Max events 160
Sent from my droid 3 using Tapatalk
MrObvious said:
Autokiller,strict preset. I use it and I have good battery life with fb running 24/7.
Sent from my XT862 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is your obsession with controlling Facebook? Serious question, because I've seen a few responses from you talking about using Autokiller (a horrible idea to begin with) strictly for Facebook. You make it sound like Facebook sucks up 100% of your battery in an hour. I have Facebook running in the background all day every day, no joke. It doesn't even PECK my battery according to my stats. I think there's something weird happening on your phone.
Lyxdeslic said:
What is your obsession with controlling Facebook? Serious question, because I've seen a few responses from you talking about using Autokiller (a horrible idea to begin with) strictly for Facebook. You make it sound like Facebook sucks up 100% of your battery in an hour. I have Facebook running in the background all day every day, no joke. It doesn't even PECK my battery according to my stats. I think there's something weird happening on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed in some other threads him recommending autokillers/task killers. I don't know what others are doing with their phones but I always have 150-200 megs of free ram. You'll use more cpu time killing and having the app restart then just letting the app sit in RAM. If you find its operation that undesireable on your phone, just get rid of the app.
Another way to control your free ram is using minfrees. I'm set to have 100 megs free ram. If a particular app is runing wild you can kill it in settings>applications>running services, or just reboot your phone every now and again to clean the slate.
I know, off topic.
OP I find most of the roms are pretty similar in regards to battery life. I personally prefer liberty rom, I easily get 12-18 hours out of the battery and I use it a fair bit, often checking twitter, xda and other random surfing, frequent texts a few phone calls and a couple hours of music. I have gotten 40 hours with 25% left on the battery, with minimal use(face first on the couch after new years for 2 days) liberty throws up the high cell standby in battery usage but I don't believe it, I think its a reporting error. Other roms have had the same battery life without the high cell standby. I've found an apparent way to fix it(apparently) although its giving me some issues. Anyways, long story short, any rom should give you an improvment over stock with liberty and steel droid being the favourites
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
Endoroid said:
I've noticed in some other threads him recommending autokillers/task killers. I don't know what others are doing with their phones but I always have 150-200 megs of free ram. You'll use more cpu time killing and having the app restart then just letting the app sit in RAM. If you find its operation that undesireable on your phone, just get rid of the app.
Another way to control your free ram is using minfrees. I'm set to have 100 megs free ram. If a particular app is runing wild you can kill it in settings>applications>running services, or just reboot your phone every now and again to clean the slate.
I know, off topic.
OP I find most of the roms are pretty similar in regards to battery life. I personally prefer liberty rom, I easily get 12-18 hours out of the battery and I use it a fair bit, often checking twitter, xda and other random surfing, frequent texts a few phone calls and a couple hours of music. I have gotten 40 hours with 25% left on the battery, with minimal use(face first on the couch after new years for 2 days) liberty throws up the high cell standby in battery usage but I don't believe it, I think its a reporting error. Other roms have had the same battery life without the high cell standby. I've found an apparent way to fix it(apparently) although its giving me some issues. Anyways, long story short, any rom should give you an improvment over stock with liberty and steel droid being the favourites
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much appreciated.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
I don't know why but it kills my battery life and I am dead by like 5. It is just a suggestion take it or leave it.
Sent from my XT862 using XDA App
I use DarkDroid and I get a solid 19+ hours of moderate/heavy use. I also use an 1800mAH extended, a little less than the Motorola 1930, but it works. This is the only ROM that I've NEVER had a problem with.
Also, if you don't like web based Apps like FB running in the background, try using the mobile web site and see how your battery life improves. Sounds lame, but it's better than keeping it syncing all day.
Personally, I'm still on stock and I don't mind. I have too many opportunities to charge throughout the day. I am eager to use CM9, but that's the only ROM I'll switch to. I have edited my build.prop to only scan wifi at 300, so that probably helps.
OP, I'd suggest using Tasker to help keep certain radios off at times when you don't need them. I have a profile which can turn off mobile data while I'm connected to wifi (at home I have poor data signal, which strains the battery by always looking for a different tower). Also, you can set up profiles to turn off wifi when not in a preferred cell tower range. So, if you are connected on your home tower, it will automatically scan wifi, then turn it off when you leave. It uses your regular phone signal, so wifi can stay off when you're not at work, school, home, friends house, etc. This is a bit more complicated to set up, but Tasker has many profiles ready for download on their wiki, which you can access from within the app. It's a paid app, but definitely worth it.
Also, you can have screen brightness turn up or down based on cell tower, or other conditions, to help in that regard.
Good luck and enjoy!
Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.
BenSWoodruff said:
Also, if you don't like web based Apps like FB running in the background, try using the mobile web site and see how your battery life improves. Sounds lame, but it's better than keeping it syncing all day.
Personally, I'm still on stock and I don't mind. I have too many opportunities to charge throughout the day. I am eager to use CM9, but that's the only ROM I'll switch to. I have edited my build.prop to only scan wifi at 300, so that probably helps.
OP, I'd suggest using Tasker to help keep certain radios off at times when you don't need them. I have a profile which can turn off mobile data while I'm connected to wifi (at home I have poor data signal, which strains the battery by always looking for a different tower). Also, you can set up profiles to turn off wifi when not in a preferred cell tower range. So, if you are connected on your home tower, it will automatically scan wifi, then turn it off when you leave. It uses your regular phone signal, so wifi can stay off when you're not at work, school, home, friends house, etc. This is a bit more complicated to set up, but Tasker has many profiles ready for download on their wiki, which you can access from within the app. It's a paid app, but definitely worth it.
Also, you can have screen brightness turn up or down based on cell tower, or other conditions, to help in that regard.
Good luck and enjoy!
Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer the mobile website fb to the app as i don't use it much.
Also juice defender paid version will do all you described, and probably easier to setup

anyone have bad battery life?

i see that a lot of people are posting amazing battery life results.. but no matter how hard I try, mine simply doesn't last 3 days with 8 hours screen on time etcetc
things ive tried:
factory reset then just install the essentials i.e. facebook, whatsapp, zite, mxplayer, pocket, myphoneexplorer.
battery calibration i.e. drain till dead/cant switch on, charge from 0 to 100 with phone off
adjust wifi, gps, autosync settings
and yet, see my attached battery stats. and that's with relatively light use (sat on my office desk) @ 2hr screen on time. no gaming, the most taxing activity was probably watching a movie with mxplayer for 20-30mins or so. the phone died completely 3 hours later.
my firmware is 81.5.39001.xt890.Retail.en.GB
it would SEEM that the battery goes down real fast with any usage.
i want to love the phone but it's not letting me.
thoughts?
firmware versions and screenshots of bad battery life please? lol
Well, mine does not last as well as advertised by others but likely better than this. It can get up to 5h of screen on time in web/video usage and maybe 3 days with less than 1h of screen on time. It also dies very quickly after 10%, 7%-4%-0% shutdown. Germany EU Retail stock firmware. Not the best battery i guess
Well my battery usually last between 1d 3 hours and 1d 20hours with usually display time between 1h 50m - 2h 30m and talk time 45m - 1h 20m talk time, with data or wi-fi always on , autobrightness always on and auto synch always on.
Facebook app and Whatsapp are mainly the guilty apps for the power consumption and data usage .... Without Facebook and Whatsapp installed and with ONLY wi-fi data i had superb power consumption .... 2d 10h and 4h 55m display time with 1h 30m talk time.
PS 2 more things that comsume power in Razr I are 1) music player and 2) FM radio
kourkoubas said:
Well my battery usually last between 1d 3 hours and 1d 20hours with usually display time between 1h 50m - 2h 30m and talk time 45m - 1h 20m talk time, with data or wi-fi always on , autobrightness always on and auto synch always on.
Facebook app and Whatsapp are mainly the guilty apps for the power consumption and data usage .... Without Facebook and Whatsapp installed and with ONLY wi-fi data i had superb power consumption .... 2d 10h and 4h 55m display time with 1h 30m talk time.
PS 2 more things that comsume power in Razr I are 1) music player and 2) FM radio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simplestas said:
Well, mine does not last as well as advertised by others but likely better than this. It can get up to 5h of screen on time in web/video usage and maybe 3 days with less than 1h of screen on time. It also dies very quickly after 10%, 7%-4%-0% shutdown. Germany EU Retail stock firmware. Not the best battery i guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for the input guys
@kourkoubas, i think ours is similar then
but i've yet to try turning off facebook autorefresh. sadly whatsapp must stay
i use Music/Pocketcasts everyday but then it's no more than 1 hour combined.
i think ill have to do more testing. that other battery stats thread got my hopes up too high i guess lol
@Simplestas does your screen brightness flash wildly just before it shuts down?
I was a bit disappointed with my battery, too. I read about those 8hrs screen on time and was just stunned. It depends a bit, how i use it .. Usually i have WiFi activated almost all day in university and at home / girlfriend. With 2.5hrs screen on time i always have ~50-60% battery left. Thats a common value for me as i sometimes need my phone for .pdf viewing. I normally have the brightness reduced to ~15%.
For me, it was a huge improvement over my old Desire HD, but it still could be better. Anyway i don't want to forget the fact that i used JuiceDefender with my DHD and used every option i have to improve battery life while i just don't have to at my razr i, it just doesn't die one evening or in the middle of the day like my DHD used to.
@Simplestas does your screen brightness flash wildly just before it shuts down?
I don't think so.
Try testing if taking pictures with flash works with battery < 50%. If it causes immediate shutdown your battery is likely faulty.
The Battery life was on the beginning really good but now its getting worser
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
Simplestas said:
@Simplestas does your screen brightness flash wildly just before it shuts down?
I don't think so.
Try testing if taking pictures with flash works with battery < 50%. If it causes immediate shutdown your battery is likely faulty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the battery % seems to be correct.. have attempted to calibrate it quite a number of times now.
it's just that the screen backlight becomes er.. like a flashlight running out of battery- dimming and returning to normal brightness a few times just before it shutsdown at around 2% battery level. just wondered if this is a common behaviour with xt890s/medfield cpus.
because ive never seen this in other moto phones nor any other smartphones for that matter.
CentaXx said:
I was a bit disappointed with my battery, too. I read about those 8hrs screen on time and was just stunned. It depends a bit, how i use it .. Usually i have WiFi activated almost all day in university and at home / girlfriend. With 2.5hrs screen on time i always have ~50-60% battery left. Thats a common value for me as i sometimes need my phone for .pdf viewing. I normally have the brightness reduced to ~15%.
For me, it was a huge improvement over my old Desire HD, but it still could be better. Anyway i don't want to forget the fact that i used JuiceDefender with my DHD and used every option i have to improve battery life while i just don't have to at my razr i, it just doesn't die one evening or in the middle of the day like my DHD used to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i believe that somebody out there is having really good battery life... just not everyone, sadly.
other than the outrageous 8hr screen on times etc, there are quite a few review sites praising its battery life so we must be missing something and i want to see if it's possible to find out what.
i agree though juicedefender work wonders.
used to rely on it a lot. now I just occasionally use "autosync free". it's more than good enough.
but i don't want to rely on these methods yet..
keskincene said:
The Battery life was on the beginning really good but now its getting worser
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
define good
let's see some stats
and what firmware are you running?
"worse" could just be the new apps you're adding to the phone?
cheers.
6h of screen time already IS GOOD, very good.
4h is what what sgs3 usually gets, 3h is what the n4 gets so 2more hours aint good? Everything gets +-2h with different usage e.g. google now and being on the move, mobile data...
It all depends on your usage but its about 25-50%better then the other quick phones around so please stop *****ing because u saw some very good screen and now cry because all your widgets, push email, chatting, mp3 destroy the screen on time you get
@yellowchilli: sry i cant see your attached screenshot, forum doesnt let me but if you usually get 2h of screen time you should call the support and get a new phone because thats not right.
edit:now i can see it. What did u do with the phone except watching a movie ? Nearly 3h aint critical i cant tell if thats normal or not it could be that you listened mp3 ... if you bought at a store go to them and get a new one anyway the store i bought in wouldnt mind changing it so i hope yours does the same
yellowchilli said:
define good
let's see some stats
and what firmware are you running?
"worse" could just be the new apps you're adding to the phone?
cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was in the beginning.... Now im Happy if i get 3h screen on time
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
purplet said:
6h of screen time already IS GOOD, very good.
4h is what what sgs3 usually gets, 3h is what the n4 gets so 2more hours aint good? Everything gets +-2h with different usage e.g. google now and being on the move, mobile data...
It all depends on your usage but its about 25-50%better then the other quick phones around so please stop *****ing because u saw some very good screen and now cry because all your widgets, push email, chatting, mp3 destroy the screen on time you get
@yellowchilli: sry i cant see your attached screenshot, forum doesnt let me but if you usually get 2h of screen time you should call the support and get a new phone because thats not right.
edit:now i can see it. What did u do with the phone except watching a movie ? Nearly 3h aint critical i cant tell if thats normal or not it could be that you listened mp3 ... if you bought at a store go to them and get a new one anyway the store i bought in wouldnt mind changing it so i hope yours does the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sadly i had this imported so i guess warranty is going to be difficult. it doesn't even idle very well with very minimal number of apps installed so yer something is wrong
keskincene said:
This was in the beginning.... Now im Happy if i get 3h screen on time
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow..
in the beginning- would that mean before the firmware update? i.e. with the laggy homescreen
yellowchilli said:
wow..
in the beginning- would that mean before the firmware update? i.e. with the laggy homescreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good Question dont know if its the firmware update...
But it sucks now the Hardware is really good i mean the build quality
Hope the Battery comes back to life with the jb update
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
I get about 2-3 days with minimum usage (auto brightness, WhatsApp, Twitter, occasionally a phone call or web search or camera shot). I have the latest GB retail firmware, no root or whatsoever. Completely stock ROM.
Mine also never got past the 3h30 screen-on time, even if I didn't use it for much else... should I take it to the nearest customer support site?
Also, the phone gets real hot when the screen is on for some time...
This is what I get usually and I love my battery...
Running stock rom 39001.retail.en.GB
Non rooted
Like my work
Visit my channel on youtube
youtube.com/user/Therazrguy
See this
This is clearly a heavy use and I am proud of this much battery life
Like my work
Visit my channel on youtube
youtube.com/user/Therazrguy
Vistaus said:
I get about 2-3 days with minimum usage (auto brightness, WhatsApp, Twitter, occasionally a phone call or web search or camera shot). I have the latest GB retail firmware, no root or whatsoever. Completely stock ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. so mine's very similar to yours then. everything is stock and my usage is not particularly heavy. and yet there's no way mine would last 2-3 days lol

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