Band 2 battery life

[DeNachtwacht]

Hi, I'm curious about the battery life of other Band 2 owners because mine isn't exactly getting the advertised 48 hours.

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Active tiles: Sleep timer, Facebook Messenger, Mail, Notification Area, Agenda, Cycling, Running, Calls
Watch mode: Rotate On
Average daily GPS Usage: 20 minutes
Avarage recharge time: 24 hours
Haptic Alert Level:Low
Brigthness setting:Low
Activity reminder: Off

 

[madusmacus]

Active tiles: Sms,Email,Cortana,Phone,Calendar,Twitter,Excesise,Timer,UV(Broken),Sleep,Weather,Financial,Notification
Watch mode: Rotate On
Average daily GPS Usage: 0 minutes
Avarage recharge time: 52 hours

 

[EMitchell]

Tiles: Starbucks, Sleep, Messages, Cortana, AP, Workout, Run, Weather, Financial, UV, Windows Central, Music
Watch mode: Rotate On
Average daily GPS Usage: 20 minutes
Average recharge time: 30-40 hours

My theme is dark (black), so probably less energy needed to show display than a light background.

 

[DeNachtwacht]

I unfortunately don't see a noticeable difference since the new firmware update.
I updated my first post with the new firmware features, because I think the Activity Reminder will use a significant amount of data.

 

[banker1985]

Active tiles: Messaging, Mail, Cortana, Calls, Calendar, Run, Exercise, Sleep, Alarm, Weather, Finance, Notification Center.
Watch mode: Rotate On
Average daily GPS Usage: 0 minutes
Average recharge time: 30 minutes
Haptic Alert Level:Medium
Brightness setting:Medium
Activity reminder: On

I, too am concerned. I use a guided workout (Couch to 5k) with no GPS and use about 55%-65% battery per day. Worried I'll have to charge a bit at night before bed so I have enough power to get through a GPS run. I was expecting it to be more like that usage with GPS. No way I could go 48 hours without a workout.

 

[DeNachtwacht]

I guess you mean 30 hours instead of 30 minutes? ;-)

 

[banker1985]

Oh. I read that as "average time charging." So no, 24 hours. I was doing the "just charge it while you are in the shower and you'll be fine" everyone said. That however netted me about 5% less every day. So I had to change.

 

[balefire]

Mail, Notification Area, Agenda, Running, Calls, Starbucms
Watch mode: always on
Average daily GPS Usage: 10 minutes
Avarage recharge time: 17 hours
Haptic Alert Level:medium
Brigthness setting: auto
Activity reminder: Off

 

[balefire]

BTW, this is much worse than my band 1 with identical settings which lasted 36 to 40 hrs

 

[devbent]

Hi balefire,

OLEDs are interesting.

At larger screen sizes, OLEDs are a power savings win over LCD panels. At smaller sizes though, it can end up going either way. In our case, the Band 1 had a really efficient back light system that edged out Band 2's OLED in terms of battery life when using Watch Mode.

We aimed for Watch Mode's Rotate On to be closer to the power consumption of Band 1's Watch Mode, but I do not remember where the final numbers came out, but Rotate On will give you a better battery life. (Standard disclaimer: Our advertised battery life hours do not include either rotate on or always on for watch mode.)

 

[DroidUser42]

Band 1's Glance Mode,

What Glance Mode? All I'm aware of is Watch Mode.

 

[balefire]

This was insightful. Thanks for the reply.
Band 2 rotate on mode is equivalent to Band 1 always on watch mode in terms of life. About 36 to 40 hrs...

But one of the reasons I was so happy with band 1 was the battery life with always on. My impatience does not like waiting to rotate and register to see the time on Band 2.

Given this and other issues I've mentioned, I decided today to go back to Band 1. I really wanted the band 2 since it looks so much better. But ultimately function is more important than form for me.

Hi balefire,

OLEDs are interesting.

At larger screen sizes, OLEDs are a power savings win over LCD panels. At smaller sizes though, it can end up going either way. In our case, the Band 1 had a really efficient back light system that edged out Band 2's OLED in terms of battery life when using Watch Mode.

We aimed for Watch Mode's Rotate On to be closer to the power consumption of Band 1's Glance Mode, but I do not remember where the final numbers came out, but Rotate On will give you a better battery life. (Standard disclaimer: Our advertised battery life hours do not include either rotate on or always on for watch mode.)

 

[devbent]

What Glance Mode? All I'm aware of is Watch Mode.

That is our internal name. Fixed.

 

[indiW]

I just charged my band 2 from 52% to 100 % in 70 min.. Possibly a bit less.
I used an abandoned HTC phone charger bit connected to my wall plug. Yesterday or day before I charged from 23% to 100 in less than 2 hours, I used the same method as above, however at work using USB it takes much longer.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[gwinegarden]

Hi balefire,

OLEDs are interesting.

At larger screen sizes, OLEDs are a power savings win over LCD panels. At smaller sizes though, it can end up going either way. In our case, the Band 1 had a really efficient back light system that edged out Band 2's OLED in terms of battery life when using Watch Mode.

We aimed for Watch Mode's Rotate On to be closer to the power consumption of Band 1's Watch Mode, but I do not remember where the final numbers came out, but Rotate On will give you a better battery life. (Standard disclaimer: Our advertised battery life hours do not include either rotate on or always on for watch mode.)

I tried using Rotate mode but found that, for some reason, the screen turns on no matter which way I turn my wrist. I wear it bottom/right and, if I turn it up, the screen turns on, then, if it goes out and I turn my wrist down, the screen comes on, again. So rotate is not much better than always on.

 

[David Goldwasser]

I just switched from Band 1 to Band 2. On typical work day I have about 40 minutes of GPS for bike commute. I had to charge every day. Was just short of doing two days on single charge. I'm working from home today, I'll have to tell you next week how Band 2 does.

I wonder how much changing the sync frequency will make on battery performance. I know I often throw it into airplane mode when trying to conserve energy for my ride home in the afternoon. I do wish the band would give me battery percentage when not plugged in. If the battery life is really short would be nice for Microsoft to include a second mobile charger to leave at work.

Updated: After some usage I found that after 48 hours with no activities (starting fully charged) I had 20% battery power left. Now that I'm at work again I have a 20 minute bike ride in morning and afternoon. After 24 hours (starting fully charged) with 2x 20 minute rides with GPS on I had 40% of the battery left. That seems similar to band 1. If I'm going camping for more than 48 hours with my band 1 I would start fully charged and put it in airplane, and generally would avoid doing hike as run, because it would kill the battery.

 

[toddsay]

I get that the new screen requires more power compared to the Band 1, and it's an interesting tradeoff for a noticeably better screen, but another thing I'm noticing is that the battery declines faster even when the screen is off. Most notably, at night in sleep mode the overnight battery usage seemed to be almost zero on my Band 1 but more like 25% on the Band 2. Are others seeing the same? Perhaps there is something different about the night time processing which requires more power now?

 

[DroidUser42]

Perhaps there is something different about the night time processing which requires more power now?

Are you using the wake-up feature where it tries to wake you up at an optimal time?

The other issue, I've never seen a update on when HR is updated. With the Band 1, it was on for 2 minutes, off for 8. A significant power drain. I'm not sure what pattern the Band 2 does.

 

[awarner]

You will not get 48hrs use if you use GPS that's the main battery sucker, try it without GPS enabled and see what happens.

 

[toddsay]

Are you using the wake-up feature where it tries to wake you up at an optimal time?

The other issue, I've never seen a update on when HR is updated. With the Band 1, it was on for 2 minutes, off for 8. A significant power drain. I'm not sure what pattern the Band 2 does.

I'm not using the wake feature, just the normal sleep tracking. But I do feel like it is checking heart rate more frequently than the band 1, and that might explain the faster battery consumption I'm observing. I haven't looked at it scientifically but the green light seems to be on more frequently.