Lumia 920 battery - Your opinions

[nmilosevnm]

I'm not saying this will work for you, but it worked for me, and it still does (2 weeks, no problems)
So after reading a lot of Nokia discussion forums I tried this and it worked:

- backup all your data (contacts, photos etc)
- hard reset from about menu
- while your phone is reseting go to live.com and create a new live account
- when the phone is up, login to your newly created live account so it becomes your main account (it will say Microsoft account later)
- go to ##3282 menu
- switch to 2g only and turn everything off (LTE will be turned off)
- go to account settings, add your old live account, facebook, gmail, twitter etc.
- in the account settings set all your accounts to sync manually (notice that you can't set this for your main account... and there's your problem... and thats why you created new live account)
- other settings that help: brightness to medium, nfc off, bluetooth off, location off, screen timeout low
- top tip: perform soft reset (power off, then on) when the phone is at 100% and still on the charger, so the battery meter doesn't lie... (well done Microsoft)
- top tip #2: disable your background apps especially Nokia apps (all of them which you think you don't need background agents, and those who need internet)
- top tip #3: if you're using IE make sure you close all tabs before exiting (also that is the quicker way to exit IE instead of pressing back key 100234103428 times (well done Microsoft))
- top tip #4: there are many apps on the market who can alert you when your battery is draining (I use Battery Sense free)

I used to have all the problems you guys have now (battery drain for no reason, heating like a *******), but I finally solved it. If your phone is brand new it will take time to make your battery last longer. You can try letting the battery die, and then charging to 100% a couple of times to speed up the process. Also, I read on the Nokia discussion boards that unlinking your MS account from facebook, twitter and especially skype can stop the draining issue. The trick, I think, is in the new microsoft account and lack of sync settings for it when it becomes main. Of course I added my old live account after (but if your account isn't main on the phone you can set it up to update manually so it will try to sync when you're offline and destroy the battery). By the way, I'm on 1308 and I have matte black RM-821 920.1.

As for overheating, my phone does get warm when I'm playing games like Temple Run and Modern Combat, but after closing the games I'm playing it takes less than 2 mins to cool down to normal or sometimes even to almost cold. Note that before this lengthy fix it heated up when I talked on the phone or while in the IE, but now it doesn't anymore (switching to 2g definitely helped).

Try it out, you have nothing to lose.

Cheers!

 

[chezm]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

^^^
So you're hard coded to 2G, meaning your phone would not attempt 3G or higher? If so, doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose...especially if you want to browse...Edge is horrible to surf on.

 

[kiwi45]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Well the new live account you created would still sync automatically no?

 

[nmilosevnm]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

^^^
So you're hard coded to 2G, meaning your phone would not attempt 3G or higher? If so, doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose...especially if you want to browse...Edge is horrible to surf on.

Yes, I didn't say this is a permanent solution, Microsoft and Nokia should fix this, but if you're having problems with your phone being pretty much unusable this is worth giving a shot. You could also try to do this for a couple of days and see if it works, and then turn 3G on again. 2G is only part of the fix.

Well the new live account you created would still sync automatically no?

Yes, but your new live account isn't linked to anything, there are no broken contacts or broken calendar entries that would make your phone go in a sync loop, which causes draining.

Cheers.

 

[chezm]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Yes, I didn't say this is a permanent solution, Microsoft and Nokia should fix this, but if you're having problems with your phone being pretty much unusable this is worth giving a shot. You could also try to do this for a couple of days and see if it works, and then turn 3G on again. 2G is only part of the fix.



Yes, but your new live account isn't linked to anything, there are no broken contacts or broken calendar entries that would make your phone go in a sync loop, which causes draining.

Cheers.

Fair assessment, appreciate the feedback. My phone isn't in that bad a state but I'd like to get the battery performing better. I'm still waiting for Nokia to release 1314 here in Canada....that may fix my issues.

 

[belld001]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Hi, I just resolved my battery problem, and would like to share my experience with you.

I got my L920 (Rogers unlocked) only a few weeks ago. It took me a couple of days to get internet sharing working. Right after that I found the battery draining very quickly. I tried a few battery monitoring apps, and decided on Battery Sense Free because of the interface and the battery drain warning feature. Right after I finished charging my phone, the app would note a usage length of 12-15 hours. Then I started using the phone (web browsing, music streaming, installing apps), the battery ran out within 3-4 hours. This seemed a bit short to me.

I started searching through forums to find a solution. The Cnet Video helped a lot. After I followed the instructions described in the video, my battery life after charging extended to more than 2 days, sometimes even 4 days (-0.9% per hour), and 5-8 hours under moderate usage.

All is good but I soon found another problem: my battery sometimes just drained severely without any reason (17%-39%). I understood that battery drained more under heavy use, but the issue was that my battery did not seem to recover after the drain. If a severe battery drain occurred, it would continue to drain at that rate until the battery died. The only solution I found to this is to soft-reset the phone and also reset the battery app.

After this I searched through hundreds of articles and have almost tried everything suggested (except the ones that require hard-resetting my phone ? did not want to risk bricking my new phone), but nothing really helped.

My battery drain problem seemed to be getting worse. It was occurring at every half-an-hour interval. The phone at this point is pretty well useless to me. Then I decided to take another approach. I fully charged the phone then leave it on my desk without doing anything (talk, text, wifi on). The discharge rate stayed at -0.9% for 4 hours, so I know my phone is fine if I don?t use apps. I then started using IE to view a couple of websites. As soon I visited Google, the battery drain occurred (-27%).

Is the battery problem associated to IE or using internet? To be sure I decided to test it again. I soft-reset the phone and left it on my desk. This time it didn?t work out; a major battery drain occurred in 27 minutes (-42%).

At this point I am out of ideas. I couldn?t even isolate the problem occurrence so I just purchased an external battery. I figured I am happy if I could get 8-10 hours of moderate use with the help of an external battery ($15).

Then I thought about the whole thing. It really did not make any sense to me (other than the phone is defected). The only blame I could lay on now is the battery app. I did try a few battery apps at the beginning but the results are not far off. I decided to try it again just for the heck of it. I removed Battery Sense and installed Battery (by Arthur Semenov).

And guess what? L920 is working perfectly now. I started using the phone heavily, and the battery would drain >15%, but it would (slowly) return to <-2% after I closed my apps. Lessons learned? I think most of these battery apps only check battery every half an hour, so you got to give it time. And also do not trust one single battery app.

I have no doubt that some L920 owners really have defected batteries, but in my case it is a combination of things (stupidity included). I was complaining about Nokia and MS for days, but after this I realized how difficult it is to resolve battery problems like this. It sometimes could be a number of things and probably everyone is different.

 

[chezm]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Belld001...i got really excited reading your post until you mentioned the battery app. I've been using that one since day 1, still have a subpar usage and highly likely its a physical problem.

 

[belld001]

chezm,

Sorry to hear that. Like I said in my last post, I am sure some L920 really do have defected batteries, but it could also be something else. I think it is important to try to isolate the causes. Is it the apps? Or does the problem still persist even without any app running? If it is the hardware then there is not much we could do except to wait for the fix or buy an extra battery.

I do run into small problems from time to time. Yesterday my internet sharing stopped working again. It took me days to figure out how to get it working the first time, so it was really frustrating for me that this was happening again. After I calmed down I noticed that my Access Point setup looked different from the last time I opened it. I then realized that an update must have triggered the change. The rest is easy; I just search for similar issues and now my internet sharing is working again.

Right now I have been using my L920 for more than 16 hours (web browsing, downloading, streaming) and I still have about 20% battery left. I am not sure if this is good or bad but I am quite happy with this kind of performance. I wish you good luck in solving your problem.

 

[metalchick719]

So far, my battery has been pretty decent. I've been getting a full day's usage out of it. It can still be around 25% after midnight, which isn't bad. It depends on how much I use it and what I use with it.

 

[chezm]

chezm,

Sorry to hear that. Like I said in my last post, I am sure some L920 really do have defected batteries, but it could also be something else. I think it is important to try to isolate the causes. Is it the apps? Or does the problem still persist even without any app running? If it is the hardware then there is not much we could do except to wait for the fix or buy an extra battery.

I do run into small problems from time to time. Yesterday my internet sharing stopped working again. It took me days to figure out how to get it working the first time, so it was really frustrating for me that this was happening again. After I calmed down I noticed that my Access Point setup looked different from the last time I opened it. I then realized that an update must have triggered the change. The rest is easy; I just search for similar issues and now my internet sharing is working again.

Right now I have been using my L920 for more than 16 hours (web browsing, downloading, streaming) and I still have about 20% battery left. I am not sure if this is good or bad but I am quite happy with this kind of performance. I wish you good luck in solving your problem.

I've done everything i can think of and researched on these forums:
- All background processes disabled
- Disabled Xbox music, Game syncing (although i still connect to Xbox)
- All my emails are set to manual, expect hotmail/outlook is set to once a day
- All nokia applications GPS/location disabled (within applications)
- Had facebook Beta installed, couldnt figure out how to shutoff chat but some people said its battery eater so just uninstalled
- All notifications/toasts shut off
- DISABLED CARRIER DATA, only using WIFI (now ive re-enabled it because i think this is too over-the-top)

And on top of all of that, the battery app you mentioned is wonky when the phones soft reset:


Im so tired of watching the battery, im treating this phone like its a child...i've never had to monitor a device so much. So i uninstalled that battery app and will just deal with the battery ive got. Hopefully the Rogers 1314 update will fix things.

 

[belld001]

Im so tired of watching the battery, im treating this phone like its a child...i've never had to monitor a device so much. So i uninstalled that battery app and will just deal with the battery ive got. Hopefully the Rogers 1314 update will fix things.

That sounds like a good idea. I have been having issues with the battery app too. Usually I will just reinstall it and it would be alright.

 

[chezm]

That sounds like a good idea. I have been having issues with the battery app too. Usually I will just reinstall it and it would be alright.

So, i installed the Rogers 1314 FW yesterday...everything was working fine as expected. Last night charged it before i went to bed to 100%, woke up this morning with it at 100%. great! re-installed the same battery app, surfed the net for a while before my commute and the battery went to 99%. My drives 1 hr to work, so popped the phone in my pocket and on my way. Get to work, pull out the phone...94%!! Nothings running, all background apps disabled. I left it for another 30 mins, saw it drop another 2%!!! Uninstalled the battery app, reboot my phone and it starts up at 88% I have no clue how this battery works, its all over the place but im officially done with the battery apps. I really would like to have some sort of chart to track its usage but whatever.

 

[cayetanovp]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Belld001

Which Cnet video? Could you please link it here?

Thanks,

Hi, I just resolved my battery problem, and would like to share my experience with you.

I got my L920 (Rogers unlocked) only a few weeks ago. It took me a couple of days to get internet sharing working. Right after that I found the battery draining very quickly. I tried a few battery monitoring apps, and decided on Battery Sense Free because of the interface and the battery drain warning feature. Right after I finished charging my phone, the app would note a usage length of 12-15 hours. Then I started using the phone (web browsing, music streaming, installing apps), the battery ran out within 3-4 hours. This seemed a bit short to me.

I started searching through forums to find a solution. The Cnet Video helped a lot. After I followed the instructions described in the video, my battery life after charging extended to more than 2 days, sometimes even 4 days (-0.9% per hour), and 5-8 hours under moderate usage.

All is good but I soon found another problem: my battery sometimes just drained severely without any reason (17%-39%). I understood that battery drained more under heavy use, but the issue was that my battery did not seem to recover after the drain. If a severe battery drain occurred, it would continue to drain at that rate until the battery died. The only solution I found to this is to soft-reset the phone and also reset the battery app.

After this I searched through hundreds of articles and have almost tried everything suggested (except the ones that require hard-resetting my phone ? did not want to risk bricking my new phone), but nothing really helped.

My battery drain problem seemed to be getting worse. It was occurring at every half-an-hour interval. The phone at this point is pretty well useless to me. Then I decided to take another approach. I fully charged the phone then leave it on my desk without doing anything (talk, text, wifi on). The discharge rate stayed at -0.9% for 4 hours, so I know my phone is fine if I don?t use apps. I then started using IE to view a couple of websites. As soon I visited Google, the battery drain occurred (-27%).

Is the battery problem associated to IE or using internet? To be sure I decided to test it again. I soft-reset the phone and left it on my desk. This time it didn?t work out; a major battery drain occurred in 27 minutes (-42%).

At this point I am out of ideas. I couldn?t even isolate the problem occurrence so I just purchased an external battery. I figured I am happy if I could get 8-10 hours of moderate use with the help of an external battery ($15).

Then I thought about the whole thing. It really did not make any sense to me (other than the phone is defected). The only blame I could lay on now is the battery app. I did try a few battery apps at the beginning but the results are not far off. I decided to try it again just for the heck of it. I removed Battery Sense and installed Battery (by Arthur Semenov).

And guess what? L920 is working perfectly now. I started using the phone heavily, and the battery would drain >15%, but it would (slowly) return to <-2% after I closed my apps. Lessons learned? I think most of these battery apps only check battery every half an hour, so you got to give it time. And also do not trust one single battery app.

I have no doubt that some L920 owners really have defected batteries, but in my case it is a combination of things (stupidity included). I was complaining about Nokia and MS for days, but after this I realized how difficult it is to resolve battery problems like this. It sometimes could be a number of things and probably everyone is different.

 

[Rafael Baudelaire]

Re: lumia 920 Battery Issues

Belld001

Which Cnet video? Could you please link it here?

Thanks,

 

[mike1810]

The Battery apps are weird. I've gone to sleep, woken up with a 25% drain. Rebooted the phone and then the battery app displays a 20% JUMP! Going to uninstall them all, I think.

 

[SIAF]

I have Lumia 920 (Yellow), The Battery is very good, playing games, whats app, music, camera with flash and internet ex.

After 10 Hours of that I have 20% or 18%.

Iam turned off the sound of lock & unlock and Camera shutter.

 

[BlackSheriff84]

Hi Every1,

It's my turn to winge and complain about the Nokia Lumia 920 battery.

I have had my Lumia 920 since day one as i brought it when the pre sale were available.

I love the phone and the only thing that lets it down is its battery life.

For example this morning i took my phone off charge at 730am it had everything turned off i.e. background tasks, wifi and 4G data my battery information stated it has 18hrs @100%

3hrs have passed and within that I had used my phone very minimally opening and closing a few apps checking emails, weather, battery etc and my battery live had only dropped by 2% down to 98%

So I then decided to turn on just my 4G data and left it for a bit then had a few notification pop up 18 or so emails so I checked them out then left my phone alone for 1 hour and then when I checked my phone the battery was down to 74% and estimates 6 hours left.

Now I wouldn’t mind this type of performance from the battery if it was under high usage but when all I’m doing is check out a few notification and emails that pretty s#!t

I feel the battery should be performing the 100% - 98% in 3hrs while I have internet access and background tasks on and under minimal use not with everything switched off, because what’s the point in having a "Smartphone" when it dies within 3hrs off using it to its full potential?

PS and in the time it took me to type this its dropped down to 64% and I wasn’t even using my phone I’m writing this on a computer!

 

[naeem151287]

I am trying to understand the battery behaviour and what I've found in my case that the battery is amazing. If I have only WiFi on and Mobile Data OFF, with my usage I get 2 days of battery, which is amazing. But, with the same usage, if I have WiFi OFF and Mobile Network ON on 3G I get only 12 hours of battery with the same usage.

So, I think, it's not the battery or the apps that are bad, nor is it the OS, it's the 3G antenna or radio that is the actual culprit. I am going to test this with a new shell that comes with a new antenna and see if it makes a difference. If someone else has done some similar testing, I'd like to know your findings.

P.S. : I did the test sitting in one place where I have excellent WiFi and 3G coverage.

 

[chezm]

Meh. I've hard reset my phone multiple times and it hasn't helped. Even if i soft reset it doesnt make a difference.

There are days where i let the phone charge fully until 11pm, when i wake up a 7:30am its still 100%...this includes having background processes running, Data connected, Wifi on. So i will see last charge time was 8 hours, 100% battery life.

I will go browse 2 or 3 webpages (less than 5 mins) and the battery will drop 4 or 5%...considering over 8 hours idle at 100%, fine i can live with that. But from that moment the battery starts draining. At times it seems the OS hold onto processes running and wont let them fully die. There is no way hourly WeatherFlow and WFC sync will kill my battery so quickly.

And if i play a game or watch a video...good luck!! My battery can drop 4-8% every 5 minutes. I don't care what anyone says, thats absurd.

If i disable Data connection or not, i dont see a major difference in battery life...its generally the same. Wifi i dont shut off b/c my current plan sucks but thats changing end of the month.

Maybe i have a bad battery, whatever the case is this sucks. The phone is perfect in every aspect to me EXCEPT for the battery...holds it back.

 

[margarette1980]

yes... that's what I always do. Let the battery discharge fully then you have to charge it....
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