Battery Life Poll

[dawindbag]

I'm curious what you all get for battery life running Mango on your Focus.

I'm pretty disappointed in my battery life on the whole. I'm a very light user, no games, hardly any calls, a few dozen texts and a couple hours of locally played music/podcasts via Zune. I leave WiFi on to curb data use at home and office and ensure a nightly sync, but I am pretty strict about not having too many apps installed with background tasks. I can get through a full day which is nice, but I'm almost always on fumes when I plug in at the end of the day. However, if I get a couple phone calls during the day and/or if I'm using GPS navigation for a short period of time my battery life gets destroyed almost completely. One 30 minutes phone conversation means I'll be dead before bedtime. Some GPS and I'll be dead by dinner time.

Is this typical? My GF is a much heavier user of her iPhone, with a lot of casual games (Angry Birds, Words With Friends, Hanging with Friends etc.) and a ton of Facebooking and she gets nearly 2 days without fail.

I'm curious if I'm missing something here. I just swapped the Samsung Now app for Weather after reading comments that it might be a little battery hungry when fetching locations etc, but I'd love to get more life out of this thing.

 

[FocusWP7]

I am a casual user. A couple of hours web browsing, 60 minutes phone calls, a few snaps, some youtube, some music everyday... Lasts me 36 hours on a single charge... Even with heavy usage on weekends, battery easily last more than 24 hours... Wifi is on all the time...

I suspect it must be some apps sucking the juice out of your phone. I don't use a weather app btw... GPS is a battery killer even on iPhone and Android...

 

[jimski]

Background tasks can only run every 30 minutes, so very little drain there. Even the homebrew Battery Status app, updating every 10 minutes, drained no more than 1% in an overnight test. WiFi while sleeping, is also pretty efficient (maybe 4% a day). Like me, my guess is you are getting a poor 3G signal a good part of the day, which causes most of the drain, especially while asleep.

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[Wiccan Lagar]

I'm using a dell venue pro, casually using my phone for a text here and there and a phone call ponce in a while and I get about a day and a half worth of life out of my battery. I noticed more battery use depending on certain things. I switched my theme to light and it smoked my battery life. WiFi seems to drain me pretty quickly too so I use it only if I need it.

Last time I had a huge battery drain is when I didn't realize I left my blue tooth running. That killed it too but nothing was as bad as my droid. I would get 5 hours tops with my old droid while it sat in my holster.

Check your email setting too. If it's set to autosync as emails come in that sucks battery life pretty quick.

One thing I learned when I had problems is to let my battery die completely a few times, doing a full charge afterwards. It somehow "recalibrates" the battery.

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[bigkevbosky]

I'll repost something I typed from a previous thread :

I read on another site that you could use the 1800 mah OEM Samsung battery from the Epic Touch 4G on the Focus with the stock cover and it would fit fine. So I ordered one from Amazon for like 20 bucks (more expensive than generic ones, but I wanted authentic Samsung OEM) and it does work. I've been getting much better battery life with the 1800 mah than the 1500 mah battery that comes standard. I'd say maybe 25% to 30% more life.

Now, the stock cover *barely* snaps closed, so its best used with a case, like the Pop case from Casemate. I notice no difference in thickness between the larger battery and stock battery and I regularly get 26 - 27 hours (using the LIGHT theme, could probably push 30 hours if I went to the dark theme)

 

[Leapo]

I'll repost something I typed from a previous thread :

I read on another site that you could use the 1800 mah OEM Samsung battery from the Epic Touch 4G on the Focus with the stock cover and it would fit fine. So I ordered one from Amazon for like 20 bucks (more expensive than generic ones, but I wanted authentic Samsung OEM) and it does work. I've been getting much better battery life with the 1800 mah than the 1500 mah battery that comes standard. I'd say maybe 25% to 30% more life.

Now, the stock cover *barely* snaps closed, so its best used with a case, like the Pop case from Casemate. I notice no difference in thickness between the larger battery and stock battery and I regularly get 26 - 27 hours (using the LIGHT theme, could probably push 30 hours if I went to the dark theme)

Got a link to the exact battery you ordered? I use my focus pretty heavily, and I'd like to snag one.

Edit: This it? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Epic-...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU1615745

 

[bigkevbosky]

Got a link to the exact battery you ordered? I use my focus pretty heavily, and I'd like to snag one.

Edit: This it? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Epic-...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU1615759

Yep that's it. Like I said though, make sure you're using a case or else the back door will pop off easily.

 

[Leapo]

Yep that's it. Like I said though, make sure you're using a case or else the back door will pop off easily.

I notice there's a "hump" of plastic on the inside of the back cover over the battery compartment. I assume this is extra plastic added to make sure the original battery fits snugly.

Think there's any harm to sanding it down slightly? Should allow the larger battery to fit without a problem.

 

[enahs555]

I listen to about 2 hours a music a day on my phone. Do a ton of txting and emails all day. And play quite a bit of games sporadically throughout the day. And probably spend a good 30 minutes browsing the web. I leave WiFi on unless I know I am going somewhere for a while that has no wifi.

I wake up at 6am, so the phone is unplugged the. I plug it back in to charge around 11 pm, and it is usually around 50% battery when I am done.

Though, now that I have been playing duudle a lot more, it can get down to as low as 30% sometimes. But that is A LOT of duudling

But I also have great signal and reception in my area. Poor signal is the biggest killer of battery.

 

[Leapo]

Went ahead and ordered that Samsung Epic 4G battery, it'll be here in a few days. I'll report back when I've had some time to mess with it

 

[bigkevbosky]

I notice there's a "hump" of plastic on the inside of the back cover over the battery compartment. I assume this is extra plastic added to make sure the original battery fits snugly.

Think there's any harm to sanding it down slightly? Should allow the larger battery to fit without a problem.

I suppose you could. The worst that happens is you ruin a back cover. You can get replacements on Ebay for under 5 bucks. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Rodolfo#WP]

A variation on my battery theme: I agree that network/tower access is the most important battery-drain variable -across users and for each of us: I experience this variability when I travel and even in town. My battery life typically lasts all day -I don't pay much attention to levels because I routinely plug it in every night -it will typically be at 20-60 percent, depending on many non-constant usage factors.

The OP mentioned Zune: I also use Zune, and when I am using the screen constantly or a lot to look at streaming content, eye candy, etc., the battery will drain significantly faster. This is also the case with my Zune HD. Among other Zune-related drains: wireless syncing a Zune collection, downloading, and any streaming.

How-E-VER... I haven't worried about battery life since I first got the Focus. Because a smartphone is a critical tool for me, one of my 2 basic requirements for any such purchase is a removable battery. I haven't owned a smart phone without a removable battery since the Treo 270. On day 2 or 3 of my Focus ownership, I ordered a 32GB card and two backup batteries (a 2 for $14 deal at amazon, which I later saw at 2 for $9). I keep one extra battery in my jeans change or other pocket, and another in the excellent compact battery charger that came with the batteries -the charger lives in in my backpack, along with my extra camera battery and charger. I pretty much carry a spare Focus battery like I carry a pen each day. I usually don't need the spare, but I never worry about a heavy usage day or about forgetting to charge the phone. This battery approach gives me the flexibility I want and retains the sleek size, feel, and weight of the original Samsung design.

Best tower access and battery life to all.

 

[Leapo]

Alright, I got the 1800 mAh battery in my Focus, sanded down the inside of the battery cover, and snapped the phone closed cleanly. Looks totally stock from the outside!

Don't be afraid to really go at that thing with sandpaper, there's just a giant hump of plastic on the inside of the cover meant to hold the smaller 1500 mAh battery in place.

Battery life is much improved over the stock 1500 mAh battery. I gave it very light usage to see exactly how far it would go (though I didn't turn on battery saver), and it made it 60 hours before complaining that the battery was critically low.

I'd call that a success

 

[bigkevbosky]

Alright, I got the 1800 mAh battery in my Focus, sanded down the inside of the battery cover, and snapped the phone closed cleanly. Looks totally stock from the outside!

Don't be afraid to really go at that thing with sandpaper, there's just a giant hump of plastic on the inside of the cover meant to hold the smaller 1500 mAh battery in place.

Battery life is much improved over the stock 1500 mAh battery. I gave it very light usage to see exactly how far it would go (though I didn't turn on battery saver), and it made it 60 hours before complaining that the battery was critically low.

I'd call that a success

Nice work. Never thought about sanding down the cover. I may have to give it a try, although I do like the extra grip a case gives me.

The best part about the battery is that, since its a Samsung OEM battery, no worries about lying mah information - you know you've got an 1800 mah battery, and for a phone of this size to have such a big battery is such a bonus.

 

[anon(5332812)]

Alright, I got the 1800 mAh battery in my Focus, sanded down the inside of the battery cover, and snapped the phone closed cleanly. Looks totally stock from the outside!

Don't be afraid to really go at that thing with sandpaper, there's just a giant hump of plastic on the inside of the cover meant to hold the smaller 1500 mAh battery in place.

Battery life is much improved over the stock 1500 mAh battery. I gave it very light usage to see exactly how far it would go (though I didn't turn on battery saver), and it made it 60 hours before complaining that the battery was critically low.

I'd call that a success

Are you able to still connect to Zune without the phone going into a constant reboot?

 

[DarthVeda]

I bought the anker 1800mah battery for samsung focus. I am now getting 2 days of battery life where as with the same usage i would have gone a day!
the only problem is that it takes longer to charge the battery
2x Battery +Charger fr Samsung I9000 Focus SGH i917 New (Rs. 1829)

 

[Leapo]

Are you able to still connect to Zune without the phone going into a constant reboot?

Yes, of course. The phone operates perfectly, just as it always has. The only change is increased battery life

Out of curiosity, why do you ask?

 

[anon(5332812)]

Yes, of course. The phone operates perfectly, just as it always has. The only change is increased battery life

Out of curiosity, why do you ask?

I ordered an external battery charger for a Galaxy assuming it would charge Focus batteries. It doesn't and the Galaxy batteries do not work on the focus but if you try to hook up a charger or connect to Zune it goes into a constant reboot loop.

Edited my typo

 

[Rodolfo#WP]

I ordered an external battery charger for a Galaxy assuming it would charge Focus batteries. It doesn't and the Galaxy batteries do work on the focus but if you try to hook up a charger or connect to Zune it goes into a constant reboot loop.

it sounds more like "the Galaxy batteries do (not) work on the focus". It may be an easy troubleshoot, unless some part of the phone has been damaged. Good luck resolving this.

 

[jimski]

Check your email setting too. If it's set to autosync as emails come in that sucks battery life pretty quick.

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Curious. Why?

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