Battery Life: Is it just about the apps?

[edoug]

I remember the early days of the iPhone, it seemed as though a large share of the apps would drain the battery so quickly and this has me wondering:

The 920 has a huge battery, but largely mediocre life. Is the problem just the higher share of beta/near-beta software and relatively unoptimized OS throughout the platform?

 

[stmav]

There were rumbling that there would be some optimization on GDR2. How true that is, I have no idea. But you could monitor the battery life on the 925. Since the apps are the same but it runs on GDR2, it might give some insight to your question.

 

[vish2801]

Yes it looks like apps problem. Mainly Skype & Whatsapp. My Lumia 520 just saw sudden drainage of battery to zero from 80% in half an hour. I have done nothing. This is annoying.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[broar94]

The things that would affect battery life the most on my Lumia 620 would be(based on priority)
1. Whatsapp running
2. After downloading/updating a app through the MS Store(looks like the Downloader service is still running in the background hence affecting battery life)
3. Background 2G data enabled (if battery saver is not enabled). drains battery even if Emails/Apps update notification are not pushed. This is extremely irritating.
4. Leaving Camera running(or in background) without closing it.
5. Simply using HERE maps and GPS = Battery drain even if screen is off.
6. Playing games.

Anytime I notice there's a sudden battery loss without doing anything or because of the above factors(even after closing them), I'm simply forced to restart my phone which will bring battery drainage level back to 1-2% / hour(tested using Battery sense app). I would appreciate if MS brings in a true task manager to manage running tasks and ability to close them.

 

[Ashish Saraf1]

my observations

i use my cell only for calling n playing music along with net for around 2 hours on 2g network

my battery lasts for 3 days

i dont use whatsapp on wp8(have android for it) and my location setting is turned off along with all back ground applications disabled

i am using L520 and its been effective on my friend's L920 too

Plz try this and let me know

 

[edoug]

Oh, I think that would be effective but inconsistent with how I use my phone (or do use it regardless of my platform).

 

[Ashish Saraf1]

Oh, I think that would be effective but inconsistent with how I use my phone (or do use it regardless of my platform).

just make sure background applications & location settings are disabled

i usually switch to flight mode at night..that should help u too

 

[edoug]

Again, not really the point I'm after, there are plenty of threads on getting the most from a charge. I'm more interested in why we don't see what we should given the capacity built into the hardware. I don't worry about background tasks or location services on my iPhone and I can go 12-18 hrs most days which I have yet to approach on my Lumia (given my usage pattern), but by spec I think I should.

 

[OzRob]

Again, not really the point I'm after, there are plenty of threads on getting the most from a charge. I'm more interested in why we don't see what we should given the capacity built into the hardware. I don't worry about background tasks or location services on my iPhone and I can go 12-18 hrs most days which I have yet to approach on my Lumia (given my usage pattern), but by spec I think I should.

A big issue with battery life variability is the strength of the signal from the mobile phone towers you connect to. If you have a strong signal the radio can just idle along. But if the signal strength drops, the radio has to ramp up the power to try to hold on to the signal. I think the quality of the radio (and antenna) and intelligence of the algorithms that control cell switching can have a significant effect on battery life - more than is usually given credit.

 

[a5cent]

The 920 has a huge battery, but largely mediocre life. Is the problem just the higher share of beta/near-beta software and relatively unoptimized OS throughout the platform?

Basically, you are asking who is at fault. It's a combination of things:

Microsoft has claimed that developers aren't really considering battery life when developing their apps. Microsoft recognized this problem early on and released a battery profiler to help diagnose problems related to battery drain. While Microsoft probably has a point, I also think they are making it too easy to ignore battery life considerations. Microsoft needs to make it easier to develop apps that are light on the battery and harder to develop apps that are heavy. IMHO both developer's apps and WP's API are to blame for this problem, but I'm sure Microsoft would disagree with me.

WP also has an issue with misbehaving DirectX apps. This is different to what I just mentioned, as this isn't about the battery drain caused by a running app, but the battery drain caused by an app that isn't running and should, in theory, be suspended in the background. These apps shouldn't be using any battery power whatsoever, but do so regardless. At least according to Microsoft's own documentation, this is a bug. I don't know what the problem is, but IMHO the OS must be able to guarantee that apps are correctly transitioned in and out of the various application states (launching, running, suspended), no matter how screwed up an app may be. If the OS can't guarantee this, then it simply isn't robust enough. IMHO this is a serious OS problem Microsoft needs to fix yesterday.

WP also has an issue with developers who willingly misuse APIs (as WhatsApp did by using the background audio task). This can be devastating to battery life, but these developers feel their approach is justified regardless. Many would probably blame the WhatsApp dev team, but I don't see it that way. IMHO Microsoft could have easily designed their background audio API in a way that made it much harder or even impossible to misuse, but instead, they designed something that is so easy to misuse that it's almost a miracle it isn't misused more often. The design is just begging for trouble. IMHO Microsoft has only themselves to blame for these occurrences, and should change WP accordingly.

Finally we also have a somewhat screwed up background location API. It's just not thought out well enough. So many people disable it, that Microsoft might as well not have added the feature in the first place. The way this is intended to work requires re-evaluation. This too is on WP's and thus Microsoft's shoulders.

Summary:

In general, WP is very a well optimized OS, which suffers greatly from two or three bugs and/or design flaws. These problematic areas negate all the benefits gained from an otherwise well designed OS. If WP got all of these things right, it would be far ahead of Android in terms of battery life. Most of the issues are on Microsoft's shoulders to fix.

IMHO Microsoft could fix most developer related problems by adding a battery score to every WP app (showing how light or heavy apps are on the battery) and publishing it in the app store.

 

[Doohickie]

I find battery life to be pretty variable and I guess it's probably apps driven. For less than $10 I bought a set of three charger cables to augment the USB/plug-in cable that came with the phone, so I now have four cables- one connected to my home computer USB, one to my work computer USB, one on my nightstand (I use the phone as my alarm clock) and one that charges off my car. I tend to ride my bicycle a lot, so if I take all-day rides, that might still be an issue, especially if I use mapping apps I guess. We'll see.

 

[despertador]

Basically, you are asking who is at fault. It's a combination of things:

Microsoft has claimed that developers aren't really considering battery life when developing their apps. Microsoft recognized this problem early on and released a battery profiler to help diagnose problems related to battery drain. While Microsoft probably has a point, I also think they are making it too easy to ignore battery life considerations. Microsoft needs to make it easier to develop apps that are light on the battery and harder to develop apps that are heavy. IMHO both developer's apps and WP's API are to blame for this problem, but I'm sure Microsoft would disagree with me.

WP also has an issue with misbehaving DirectX apps. This is different to what I just mentioned, as this isn't about the battery drain caused by a running app, but the battery drain caused by an app that isn't running and should, in theory, be suspended in the background. These apps shouldn't be using any battery power whatsoever, but do so regardless. At least according to Microsoft's own documentation, this is a bug. I don't know what the problem is, but IMHO the OS must be able to guarantee that apps are correctly transitioned in and out of the various application states (launching, running, suspended), no matter how screwed up an app may be. If the OS can't guarantee this, then it simply isn't robust enough. IMHO this is a serious OS problem Microsoft needs to fix yesterday.

WP also has an issue with developers who willingly misuse APIs (as WhatsApp did by using the background audio task). This can be devastating to battery life, but these developers feel their approach is justified regardless. Many would probably blame the WhatsApp dev team, but I don't see it that way. IMHO Microsoft could have easily designed their background audio API in a way that made it much harder or even impossible to misuse, but instead, they designed something that is so easy to misuse that it's almost a miracle it isn't misused more often. The design is just begging for trouble. IMHO Microsoft has only themselves to blame for these occurrences, and should change WP accordingly.

Finally we also have a somewhat screwed up background location API. It's just not thought out well enough. So many people disable it, that Microsoft might as well not have added the feature in the first place. The way this is intended to work requires re-evaluation. This too is on WP's and thus Microsoft's shoulders.

Summary:

In general, WP is very a well optimized OS, which suffers greatly from two or three bugs and/or design flaws. These problematic areas negate all the benefits gained from an otherwise well designed OS. If WP got all of these things right, it would be far ahead of Android in terms of battery life. Most of the issues are on Microsoft's shoulders to fix.

IMHO Microsoft could fix most developer related problems by adding a battery score to every WP app (showing how light or heavy apps are on the battery) and publishing it in the app store.

+1 on the battery score idea, that would be amazing. It would help consumers tell which apps eat up the most battery and would also help motivate developers to improve their apps to be optimized. Maybe even a "most battery efficient apps" and also for games!

 

[Knight018]

But the score idea would discourage devs from pushing the envelope. Especially with games.

 

[a5cent]

But the score idea would discourage devs from pushing the envelope. Especially with games.

I would be very surprised if that were actually the result.

I could be wrong, but I expect people would intuitively understand that high-end graphics and a good battery score are mutually exclusive features. Even if we ignore that, if a game is impressive enough, I think people would get it regardless. I imagine some people would even seek out games with the poorest battery score, expecting precisely those to push their hardware the furthest.

IMHO giving consumers another data point by which to make app selection decisions is never a bad idea, particularly if it simultaneously encourages developers to pay more attention to battery drain.

 

[ivo03]

Alternatively, we could compile a blacklist of 'bad' apps. Therefore, please add any app that drains the battery to this thread:
Apps that drain battery