False Battery Indicator

[firedancer1189]

Hey all,

Rocking a Focus on AT&T, Mango update V1.3

Ever since I updated to Mango I have started to develop an issue with the battery indicator giving me a false reading of the true battery level. It started out just twice but now it's becoming more and more frequent and more and more frustrating.

Basically what happens is just as the title of the thread states. My battery level meter essentially gets stuck at a certain point no matter if I am charging it or the battery is going down over the course of a day from just average use. So sometimes it says I have around 90% and all of a sudden I get the audible and visual warnings my battery is critically low. Other times It's on the charger at around 10% when in all actuality it's fully charged. It's really a giant pain to grab my phone showing it's at around 80% charged, head out on the town and then all of a sudden it says it's about to die.

The only way to reset it and see the true battery level is to pull the battery and reset the phone. Which is obviously inconvenient and annoying. If I wanted to do battery pulls on a regular basis I would just get an android based phone.

Just wondering if anyone else has ran into this yet? Not sure if it's software, hardware, or the actual battery but leaning towards software since it never did this once prior to the Mango upgrade.

Any help appreciated!

 

[TheWeeBear]

Hi firedancer1189, have you tried actually draining your battery completely then doing a full charge with the power adaptor ?

Your battery indicator may just have lost it's calibration.

Doing this a couple of times may sort you out.

 

[firedancer1189]

The other day it went totally dead, and most times when I do charge it it's been "critically low" I was hoping it was just a one time deal but it's starting to happen more :-(

 

[cdook]

I had this happen once on NoDo. I charged all night and I woke up to a critically low phone. It was charged, but the battery indicator was wrong. Turning the phone off, pulling the battery and then putting it back in fixed it for me.

 

[selfcreation]

if it keeps happening it might be damaged.... Battery should be covered under warranty.

specially if u dont do half a day with it... take it to the store RIGHT AWAY and get a new one ...

 

[drcyrus3d]

I have the same exact problem, but this issue started even before upgrading to Mango.

I got my phone in December 2010. everything was good until the beginning of the summer when I started to find the phone dead in my pocket, it was not telling me that the battery is getting close to it's limit.

(I have to tell you that i had my first mango update when it came officially and i got the email in my hotmail account.)

I thought that maybe is the battery so by the end of august I went to the ATT store and they ordered a new battery for me. I got the battery almost 3 weeks later and I've put in the phone and it still did the same thing. After trying everything from completely draining the battery and then charging it for the entire night, nothing worked, the phone was just dying without a notice.

I went to the ATT Service location last thursday and I got a brand new new phone with the battery that I received form ATT previously. I got home plugged it into my computer, it prompted me to update so I updated to Mango.

Guess what ... this morning (at 7:30am) I looked at the phone it was telling me that is 100% and that last time it was charged is 2 days and 17hours ago. i made a 6 minute call at 11:00 and then I checked my email at 1:00pm. 4:00pm and I found it dead in my pocket. :| No signal that I may be running out of juice.

I will try a couple of other things before I go to ATT again but my warranty is also getting close to expire.

 

[3DPiper]

I can only add that I am also having battery issues since the Mango update.. Now my phone's battery lasts maybe half a day, whereas before I could go almost two days without charging..

I think something may be screwy because I get the 'charging' indicator all the time, whether I am charging or not.. In fact, when I am charging sometimes I don't get the zune sync.. It will charge, but my computer never saw it as being plugged in..

Not sure what's going on..

Are those extended batteries worth it?

 

[drcyrus3d]

@3DPiper if your phone is still under warranty go to the wireless carrier and tell them to get you a new battery.

I went to an ATT store last night and they advised me to go and change the phone again, which I will do today. If the third one does the same thing I can get another brand. I am not happy with this because not a lot of phones out there have a 4" LED screen with the same bright colors.

 

[Rodolfo#WP]

...Are those extended batteries worth it?

I still get pretty good battery life, but for those very busy days, I always have a charged regular-sized backup handy. This way I can maintain the great size and weight of the Focus. I picked up a pair at Amazon for $14 as soon as I decided the Focus was a keepeer -even came with a compact wall charger. With an easily replaceable battery -an any-smartphone requirement for me, I never worry about battery life. Good luck finding a solution that works for you.

 

[Stevekirkland]

I had a similar issue; would charge the battery overnight, unplug the Focus and the battery indicator would imply the device was still connected. Battery life appeared to last 50% less than before. I eventually figured out that the type of AC adapter was contributing to the problem (independent of the type of USB cable).

Samsung adapter: ok
Jawbone Bluetooth adapter: ok
Blackberry adapter: problem

Not sure if it was related, but I did notice it after the Mango update.

 

[jfa1]

That seems kind of wierd I have a a generic wal charger that works just fine the samsung usb wall charger which works fine I use sveral HTC usb wall chargers at times with the usb cord that came with the focus and some generic micro usb cords and have never (knock on wood) exprienced any issues with charging the battery except when my computer goes to sleep it turns off the charger and but phone will drain the battery. Si I dont charge it overnight on the usb cable plug it into a wall charger.

 

[Rodolfo#WP]

I've also used generic/other-device cables and chargers, and cheap back-up batteries, and haven't experienced any battery issues, although my Focus is still relatively new (August). I'd also guess it's the battery, regarless of its age. If you know anyone with a good Focus/battery, you might try doing a switch. Good luck getting past this one.