1020 standby time?

[lrschum]

Got a question on my 1020, which I've had for about a month now:

I've seen figures on the 1020 standby time range from 10 to 16 to 25 days, but if I turn off everything on my phone (including data) I can get maybe 3 days if I did nothing. Am I missing something? One: when they say "standby" do they have some special definition of it that I don't know of? Two: is about 1% discharge with no background tasks, no data, no wifi, etc. normal from user reports? If it is, why is Nokia giving absurd figures of 20 or more days?

Right now, I'm averaging about one charge every 24 hours or so, based on making in that time: 30-60 minutes of 3G calls, browsing for 20 minutes, and checking my email maybe 4-5 times. I've got a good connection, so it's not draining due to constant searching. My battery drain problems aren't like the horror stories I've heard, but my fiancee has the same phone, purchased at the same time, and she's getting at least twice the performance.

I love the phone otherwise, so I don't want to can it of course. Any comments/suggestions? Should I warranty it? Thanks.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Hi and welcome to WPCentral. Standby time refers to how long the device will keep its charge if you turn it off and put it in a drawer and don't use it at all.

 

[MadSci2]

To amplify a bit on what Laura said, Smartphones are always active, unless all their radios are turned off (in 'Airplane Mode'). SO turned on and left alone they will still use power checking for email, pinging the cell tower, updating Live Tiles or Widgets etc. Some Apps use a lot of battery power running in the background. Windows Phone gives you the ability to determine which Apps are allowed to run in the background, and the new 8.1 version of WP actually shows you which Apps are using the battery. In general, Windows Phones have better battery life in the real world than either the iPhone (which are made with very small batteries) or Android phones (which are notorious battery hogs), and have good tools to help you get the most out of your battery.

 

[lrschum]

Thanks for the clarification on the use of the term "standby" in this instance. In my previous Nokia's (even my e73, which was technically a smartphone) I would've used this term to mean how long it lasted while on, but not being used. Good to know.

The question remains, though, is my battery usage off the mark? After I noticed the disparity between my fiancee's 1020 and mine (purchased at the same time), I set it to use white-on-black text, turned off Glance, location, and all background tasks except for my Gmail syncing every hour and the Battery Performance app (which has been reviewed to be the least draining of any battery app), and on a good charge I'll get about 1.6% per hour of drain if I don't use it. Sometimes it will be between 2-3% of drain per hour. Turning on battery saver doesn't really do anything either. I've got a good LTE signal, my Wifi signal is good--and besides, my "control" in this experiment has always been an identical phone in an identical set of circumstances that always gets at least 30-50% better performance of its battery.

I tried putting it in airplane mode last night and it registered a drain of .8% per hour, or 7% over 8 hours of sleep. I'm not a heavy user: maybe 1 hr tops of 3G calls, 30 minutes browsing, and 3 email checks a day and I get about a day before I charge it, with the battery indicating somewhere between 20-30% left of charge, just like I was recommended to do. Am I really in the normal range, or is what I'm experiencing a battery drain issue?

Thanks again--I appreciate your help.

 

[lrschum]

Anyone?

 

[MadSci2]

You're doing better than me mate. I would be thrilled with those numbers! But I make much more use of background apps and frequent email fetches than you do.