I am this close >< to giving up

[Pronk]

Here's my weekend:

Friday - for no reason I can tell, my Lumia lost 75% of its charge overnight just idling in a good signal area. Saturday morning it's on the charger first thing, then is fine all day and battery life is as you'd expect with average use. Then my Me tile stops working and the tile for my weather app disappears. A turn off/turn on cycle (with 10 minute wait because the Lumia is very picky about precisely when it'll turn on again and how long you have to hold down the power button for) seemed to fix that. Saturday night, battery was absolutely fine - same place overnight, same live tiles.

Sunday night - phone loses 75% of battery again and shuts down overnight. My only theory is that it is absolutely abysmal at handling flipping between Orange/T-mobile's shared network and doing network searches ruins the battery. Just in case though, this morning I backed up the phone, bit the bullet and did a full reset. (There's no sign of Nokia's latest battery update in the UK - in fact last week they updated their page to say it was available, then changed it to say it wasn't available a few days later -so this is my best option right now to clean things up as I'd rather not have to fudge updates onto my phone from ROMs from India.)

The backup, via Windows Phone connector for Mac, seemed to have been created fine but didn't work AT ALL after the reset. So I've just wasted hours re-setting up my phone manually. Reinstaller saved a small amount of grief, but this is seriously pathetic. This is allegedly a flagship device, and as far as I can tell the manufacturer doesn't know when it will release updates or not (and apparently the update introduces a lovely new bug related to sound anyway), their software (or the OS, I don't know which) can't handle battery control, the OS manufacturer can't make a piece of software capable of performing a decent backup on a smartphone (because hey, no-one keeps a lot of data on smartphones do they?) and as a final insult, because of MS's continuing pettiness/token gesturism towards Mac owners I had to sync everything wired rather than wirelessly as well.

This has been an epic pain in the arse, and I still have a phone that I'm simply not confident in. I have a little girl in nursery and a wife who's job involves a lot of driving and I need to know my phone is still working and people can call me if she's ill or if my wife is stuck in traffic and can't pick her up without checking on it every hour or so to see whether it has decided it needs a rest all of a sudden. I already have to sync and re-sync to know my emails are up to date because the sync isn't reliable, my "live" tiles are usually 1/2 an hour behind (assuming they're working at all), and still no word about whether my phone will even be upgradeable to Apollo.

And to add insult to injury, over the weekend I saw this article:
I Never Reboot My Windows Phone | Windows Phone Metro

Complete with the Windows Phone official chant of "it's coming soon!".

Fed up

 

[freestaterocker]

Many people that don't have the latest update don't have the problems you're experiencing with their 800. Perhaps you have a defective handset. I recommend trying to exchange the device. Also, many smartphone owners, myself included, have simply gotten in the habit of charging their devices at night. I recommend this as well. Hope things work out for you!

 

[Pronk]

Thing is, I know the handset isn't defective as it has worked absolutely fine previously and still does 75% of the time - the random battery drain seems to be software and/or signal related. Either some app has a massive periodic memory leak or if the signal does drift the phone burns through tons of juice trying to re-establish it. A duff battery would remain duff rather than varying in performance, and the Lumia's other battery issues make me reasonably sure it's software-based. Plus I've heard other orange/t-mob Lumia users have had a similar battery pounding when pseudo-roaming between the two networks. It just seems like the phone doesn't do it very well.

As for the habit of charging every night - I shouldn't have to do that, not will it necessarily fix the problem. If 6 hours on idle can lose 80% battery life that could happen during the day and the phone could go dead without me realising even if I did charge it all night. If there's a reasonable amount of charge left it should last, and I shouldn't have to adapt my life to fit round a phone.

I think I'm going to give it until Nokia release this latest update (assuming they do so in a timely fashion). If that doesn't fix it, I'm done. My 1st gen HTC Mozart was more reliable and that model is even holding its value better.

 

[jimski]

Couple months the back I was running drain tests on my Surround, setting the phone down overnight for 7.5 hours untouched with different background tasks/radios active (I normally charge overnight). Over 40 nights, twice the battery ran down to 0 or nearly 0 (always started at 99%), because I virtually lost my cellular connection. Phone was always set down in the same location. So don't give up hope. It might be your carrier playing games with their towers.

And maybe don't be so hard headed with a little girl and busy wife to worry about. Charge your phone overnight so it will be dependable for you during the day. Just sayin.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[canesfan625]

Phones don't just use more battery to search for signal. Who is your carrier? Sprint has been dicking around with their towers near me the last couple of days and my phone has been killing itself just trying to maintain signal strength. As for software have you acquired any new apps since it has started? I wonder if there is an app or way to debug to see battery stats like android has. Probably not.. I'm not aware of any such API anyway. A reset and restore probably wouldn't have helped anyway because when you do a restore it restores an exact image of your device. My advice for now is to spend some time with google and see if and how common it is. Poke around and try to get in contact with Nokia. I don't think we on this forum can offer much more than anecdotes

 

[Pronk]

And maybe don't be so hard headed with a little girl and busy wife to worry about. Charge your phone overnight so it will be dependable for you during the day. Just sayin.

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear because I was annoyed when I wrote the original posts. I do do this - I have to have the phone working for obvious reasons. But the fact is I shouldn't have to. I should be able to rely on it to behave as designed, and for the back-up software to work as designed, and I can't.

Apps-wise, nothing new but a few have updated, so I don't think it's that. I'm in the UK, and over here Orange and T-mobile have a deal where they share networks so if you lose signal on one but the other is available, you hop over (effectively roaming, but costs nothing). Other Lumia users have reported this seems to use a lot of battery for them and I've seen the same. This seems to be what cripples the battery as I know if I have my phone in my basement it hops to T-mobile and then tries to hop back to orange every 20-30 mins or so. Maybe orange have a transmitter round here they shut off at night!

 

[canesfan625]

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear because I was annoyed when I wrote the original posts. I do do this - I have to have the phone working for obvious reasons. But the fact is I shouldn't have to. I should be able to rely on it to behave as designed, and for the back-up software to work as designed, and I can't.

Apps-wise, nothing new but a few have updated, so I don't think it's that. I'm in the UK, and over here Orange and T-mobile have a deal where they share networks so if you lose signal on one but the other is available, you hop over (effectively roaming, but costs nothing). Other Lumia users have reported this seems to use a lot of battery for them and I've seen the same. This seems to be what cripples the battery as I know if I have my phone in my basement it hops to T-mobile and then tries to hop back to orange every 20-30 mins or so. Maybe orange have a transmitter round here they shut off at night!

define basement. I mean I know what one is technically but there are certainly factors that will effect a phone being below signal. Try leaving it somewhere more elevated and see if there is a change.

 

[theefman]

I am inclined to think your device is faulty. Even with the problems the DVP had I never experienced anything like what you have and the phone was very reliable, though battery life was not good and it would drain quickly but nothing like what you've experienced. There is a confirmed problem with the 800 battery so it could just be it is now finally failing after working for a while. I would try a replacement if possible, or repair.

As for backup, no argument there At least you have an option to backup your phone, the Zune pc software only backs up when you do an OS update, so you never have a recent backup to refer to. I now have a Radar and am keeping my old DVP's around in the hope there will be a backup solution with Apollo that will allow me to get my texts off those device. Pathetic is not the word.

 

[Pronk]

define basement. I mean I know what one is technically but there are certainly factors that will effect a phone being below signal. Try leaving it somewhere more elevated and see if there is a change.

I think you've misunderstood slightly - the problem doesn't happen when I'm in my basement because I don't sleep down there! It just so happens I don't get an Orange signal in my basement but I do get a T-mobile one, so it flips over to that network. And as I found out when I was down there for a couple of hours, it uses up a lot of battery.

Re: theefman I'd be inclined to think it was defective too if it were doing the same thing all the time, but similar things have popped up on Nokia forums.

I might see if I can send it in for repair - I have a buddy who works at Nokia, so he might be able to get it fast-tracked (or at least get me some sort of temporary replacement).

 

[N8ter]

The Lumia phones were k own for poor battery life since the first reviews were out and Nokia has been targeting that issue with patches. Couple that with a battery you can't swap out... Not touching their phones.

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

 

[eric12341]

Sounds to me like a defective unit, nothing wrong with charging it everyday. New day new charge.

 

[selfcreation]

maybe your battery is just strait up defective, just go get a new one ( keep your phone just exchange the battery! )

battery dieing out is like the #1 reason for defective phones.

 

[canesfan625]

maybe your battery is just strait up defective, just go get a new one ( keep your phone just exchange the battery! )

battery dieing out is like the #1 reason for defective phones.

I've heard tale that repair centers can test cell phone batteries. I've never actually checked to see if its true though. Might be worth looking into.

 

[canesfan625]

I think you've misunderstood slightly - the problem doesn't happen when I'm in my basement because I don't sleep down there! It just so happens I don't get an Orange signal in my basement but I do get a T-mobile one, so it flips over to that network. And as I found out when I was down there for a couple of hours, it uses up a lot of battery.

Re: theefman I'd be inclined to think it was defective too if it were doing the same thing all the time, but similar things have popped up on Nokia forums.

I might see if I can send it in for repair - I have a buddy who works at Nokia, so he might be able to get it fast-tracked (or at least get me some sort of temporary replacement).

Ah switching from carrier to carrier.. So, now let me ask you does your phone stay at your highest data connection (like 3g) or is it always in something like edge? Does that change between the carriers? Your phone will kill itself too if it is always trying to search for a better signal.

 

[selfcreation]

I've heard tale that repair centers can test cell phone batteries. I've never actually checked to see if its true though. Might be worth looking into.

yeah they have a machine that can test the Power its very nice

best way to know doh is if your battery bubbled up a little. then its starting to die or is dead lol

 

[selfcreation]

article just came out about apps killing batteries as well.

http://www.windowscentral.com/experiencing-battery-drain-issues-cause-could-be-free-apps

 

[Bearach]

Deleted.

 

[Exomondo]

The backup, via Windows Phone connector for Mac, seemed to have been created fine but didn't work AT ALL after the reset. So I've just wasted hours re-setting up my phone manually. Reinstaller saved a small amount of grief, but this is seriously pathetic.

I hear you on that, I had the exact same issue last week!

I also have the issue of my phone switching between networks constantly so 1/2 the time when I'm at home i end up with a bunch of voicemails because my phone has been switching networks when i get a call. My wife's (and her friends') iphones on the same carrier don't have this problem at my house.

The problem is I really like Windows Phone, Office and Zune Pass are incredible, i use them every day, but my phone just isn't reliable. I'd love to be able to keep it and have say an iphone as my work/reliable phone, but i don't want 2 devices and 2 contracts. It's a difficult choice to make.

 

[Pronk]

Sounds to me like a defective unit, nothing wrong with charging it everyday. New day new charge.

Well no. There's definitely something wrong if the battery should last about 2 days but you (and many other users) can't get it to reliably last 24 hours.

Also, my Me tile has been stuck on "3 new updates" for about 4 hours now. Annoying. Again.

 

[canesfan625]

looks like the 800 has an update that addresses battery issues.