Very poor battery life

[disposed]

Not sure what gives, have had my arrive almost a week now and the first couple days battery life was great now im lucky to get 8 hours out of it with some game playing and mild web browsing.

This happening to anyone else? Did i maybe get a dud for a battery?

 

[cdook]

I've got a Focus and I'm pretty much the same way. I don't know if there's a feature I need to turn off or if I'm doing something super battery intensive. If I turn off 3G and WiFi things seem to last longer which seems to me something is using data.

 

[disposed]

Think i know my problem. Airave decided to stop working so it must have been because it had no data connection when off and something was trying to update. Airaves back on and things seem better so far.

 

[Dave Blake]

Good glad you figured it out. My battery life is very good I have been pleased with it. Coming from Android os this phone last way longer. The only time I have battery issues with my Arrive is when I am working in an area where i have a poor signal or no signal.

 

[jasqid]

Mine lasts ALL day. Battery on my Arrive is so much better than my Pre.

 

[patricksmangan]

Besides blackberries, what would b the best smartphone for battery life? Iphone4?

 

[IamNabil]

Most Nokia's.

 

[IamNabil]

Not sure what gives, have had my arrive almost a week now and the first couple days battery life was great now im lucky to get 8 hours out of it with some game playing and mild web browsing.

This happening to anyone else? Did i maybe get a dud for a battery?

How many accounts do you have syncing, and how often?

 

[x I'm tc]

There is definitly a software bug -- not sure if it is Arrive specific

How many accounts do you have syncing, and how often?

There are definitely software applications which will wreck your battery. I know there aren't supposed to be background processes running at all on WP7, but there are clearly bugs, because two days ago, I had a day and half of battery life, and now I get 3 hours. This has happened before.

I know it is software, because a hard reset fixes it. Then I start downloading a bunch of apps, and one of them does something to my phone (one I know of is any "weave" RSS app). Phone gets hot, stays hot even after locking, and battery drains about 30% an hour.

Sometimes, a soft reset will fix, right now, soft reset does nothing. Phone stays warm all the time and battery plummets -- faster actually than a USB trickle charge can keep up with.

A hard reset will fix this...but it is very annoying to have to rebuild everything all the time, and the fact that there is no way to back up anything means that games, for example, are useless.

 

[disposed]

I have noticed that if you do any heavy gaming the battery just plummets. More than it really should. I have done some heavy gaming on android and iOS and the battery didnt drop near as fast as this.

Also the way wp7 handles situations with poor or no data signal is really really bad. Im not sure whats going on but if you have a bad signal the thing will heat up like crazy and chew through the battery.

But wp7 is still immature and i expected issues like this.

 

[Dave Blake]

There are definitely software applications which will wreck your battery. I know there aren't supposed to be background processes running at all on WP7, but there are clearly bugs, because two days ago, I had a day and half of battery life, and now I get 3 hours. This has happened before.

I know it is software, because a hard reset fixes it. Then I start downloading a bunch of apps, and one of them does something to my phone (one I know of is any "weave" RSS app). Phone gets hot, stays hot even after locking, and battery drains about 30% an hour.

Sometimes, a soft reset will fix, right now, soft reset does nothing. Phone stays warm all the time and battery plummets -- faster actually than a USB trickle charge can keep up with.

A hard reset will fix this...but it is very annoying to have to rebuild everything all the time, and the fact that there is no way to back up anything means that games, for example, are useless.

How's your data signal during these times?

I have noticed that if you do any heavy gaming the battery just plummets. More than it really should. I have done some heavy gaming on android and iOS and the battery didnt drop near as fast as this.

Also the way wp7 handles situations with poor or no data signal is really really bad. Im not sure whats going on but if you have a bad signal the thing will heat up like crazy and chew through the battery.

But wp7 is still immature and i expected issues like this.

That's why I asked CDMA radios are hard on battery in low signal areas they will just keep trying to get a signal using full power until the signal is regained.

 

[x I'm tc]

How's your data signal during these times?

The same as always. Happens no matter where I am. Even with lousy data, the phone doesn't get warm, which it does do when this is happening.

 

[HeyCori]

I've noticed that the battery will drain on my Focus pretty fast if I'm using 3G a lot. With minimal usage I can pretty much go the whole day and still have half my battery remaining. But there are some days when the phone eats battery like grape drank and I have no idea why.

 

[Dave Blake]

Not saying this is your issue xImtc sounds like you have something else going on. The way I understand it is a CDMA radio polls the tower every _ seconds time determined by carrier for Sprint I think its like 4 seconds. When the phone has good signal this is how it works keeps the battery cool and the battery lasts. When the signal is poor the phone polls trying to contact the tower continually until it gets the signal back. The other day I was working in a freezer 40 degrees warehouse freezer no signal inside. I had my Arrive in my pants pocket and it got so hot I had to take it out of my pocket and move it to my coat pocket. Makes a nice hand warmer though... Bonus!

 

[rexalbel]

Mine lasts ALL day. Battery on my Arrive is so much better than my Pre.

I agree completely. I am completely happy with my battery. I can play games, watch a little bit of movies and surf the web, make some calls and texts and my phone will last me through the day. the lowest battery life i have ever had was 10 hours and that was a day i was in bad cell service alot, and i played more games that day. my best days i can reach 20 hours with some web, text and email checking. my pre maxed at 16 with stuff turned off, emails on manual, and little to no web usage.

 

[jimski]

There are definitely software applications which will wreck your battery. I know there aren't supposed to be background processes running at all on WP7, but there are clearly bugs, because two days ago, I had a day and half of battery life, and now I get 3 hours. This has happened before.

I know it is software, because a hard reset fixes it. Then I start downloading a bunch of apps, and one of them does something to my phone (one I know of is any "weave" RSS app). Phone gets hot, stays hot even after locking, and battery drains about 30% an hour.

Not so sure about that. I have been using Weave since it was released and while battery life on my Surround (smaller battery) is not great it is not nearly as extreme as you describe. I sync 3 email accounts all day and have 8 live tiles running. AndWiFi is always on, which is actually better for the battery than my not so great 3G signal. I can get about 5 hrs of constant use or 12-13 hours of moderate usage before I need a boost. And with a DigiPower USB charger, I can continue to use my phone while the charger adds juice to the battery.


Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[patricksmangan]

Most Nokia's.

Will wp7 on nokia hardware equal awesome battery life?

 

[jimski]

Will wp7 on nokia hardware equal awesome battery life?

Unless they use a larger battery, not sure. Battery life is dependent on; the processor, screen size/type and radios/reception. Maybe they can improve on the third but don't think they have much control over the first two.


Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[onemadrssn]

Is there an app for measuring the battery characteristics? Such as true capacity, discharge rate, health, etc?

I am asking because I am already seeing some 1800mah after-market batteries for sale, and this kind of app would be useful for analyzing them.

For a comparison, I used Dr. Battery on my Palm Pixi which had all sorts of good battery stats.

 

[disposed]

Is there an app for measuring the battery characteristics? Such as true capacity, discharge rate, health, etc?

I am asking because I am already seeing some 1800mah after-market batteries for sale, and this kind of app would be useful for analyzing them.

For a comparison, I used Dr. Battery on my Palm Pixi which had all sorts of good battery stats.

Just go off the info from the EVO they can use the same battery. When i first had my battery issues i ordered some "1900mah" chichitech batteries that are very popular for the EVO. $30 shipped for 2 batteries and a battery charger. I cant say whether or not they last longer than stock since i just started using them but $30 for 2 spare batteries alone is worth it even if they last the same as stock.