Band, how do I miss thee? let me count the ways.

[mtalinm]

returned my Band last week because it was draining my Lumia Icon's battery. here are the things I miss...

1. no idea how long/well I sleep anymore
2. have to pull my phone out of my pocket dozens of times a day instead of a just a few
3. can't count steps on the treadmill while watching Netflix on my phone
4. canned text replies. love this feature. can I have not just 4 but a dozen canned replies?
5. easy to leave my phone on the wireless charging plate at the office or at home

and the list goes on. I wish Verizon would release the Denim update already...

 

[novaprime9]

Don't know if this helps or not, but I have a Verizon L928 with Denim, and my phone's battery life still took a pretty noticeable hit. It's hard to tell for sure how bad it is, though, because of my work situation. I work in what amounts to a concrete box. No cell service at all. The phone kills itself looking for a signal constantly. By way of comparison, if I spend the day at home, I used to get 20-24 hours on a charge. If I'm in the office, I have to charge on my way home.

I haven't had a weekend day where I have been able to truly test to see how much of a hit my battery is taking, but it's clear I'm not getting the same kind of life. I'm not in the office today, though, and my phone says it'll get 16 hours. 91% remaining, and I unplugged it 1.5 hours ago. That's not with it just sitting there doing nothing though... it played some music for us as I drove the kids to school. Still... 17.5 hours compared to almost 24... that's not good.

The way I see it, though... I'm never too far from a charger. For now, it's worth the drain.

 

[kenjancef]

I work in what amounts to a concrete box. No cell service at all. The phone kills itself looking for a signal constantly.

I have an iPhone 5s, and the same thing happens when I'm in a bad area... battery drops like a rock because it's constantly looking for a signal. Would Bluetooth make that phone's battery drop like that? Not sure what else the Band does to drain a phone's battery...

 

[novaprime9]

Bluetooth, especially the new low power version, isn't supposed to use much. But it has to use SOMETHING because it's a transfer of data. And near as I can tell, the pipeline to the band must be open pretty much permanently so that the phone can send notifications. I don't think the phone receives the health data until you launch the app, which is why there's such a long wait when you first launch it.

 

[dorelse]

Really? I've noticed very little increased battery use between my Band and my phone(s) both WP & Android.

 

[novaprime9]

I haven't been able to get a normal day in to truly see what's going on, but from what I've seen... yeah. I definitely see less battery life. Hopefully this weekend will be relatively sane, so we'll see.

 

[mtalinm]

Really? I've noticed very little increased battery use between my Band and my phone(s) both WP & Android.

your phone probably has low-energy bluetooth 4.0, which the Icon will only have when Denim arrives (928 already has).

of course your battery will drain if it can't find a good signal. if you are out of LTE area for a long time switch to CDMA only mode. i doubt it has anything to do with bluetooth or is worse with Band.