Battery sucks after update

[Maglin]

I've installed and uninstalled weatherbug at least 3 times now. Only once before I swapped my phone did it not chew through the battery. You can use spare parts and see your partial wake usage. Your android system should be on the very top of the list. Weatherbug would use more than 4x as much as the android system at times. I had the update interval set to like every 1 and 2 hours with almost no change. So I've swapped pretty for functionally and went back to weatherchannel's app.

I've noticed that my android system partial wake usage had dropped since the update. I'm also getting better battery life. I also believe that the improved 3G to 1X switch off has helped my bettery usage as I'm on the edge of 3G at work and switch often.

 

[backlash]

Mine seems a little worse after the update. Full charge done at 4pm, it's now about 8:30'ish and I'm at 80% battery and I haven't been using the phone.

 

[zz500]

Thanks for the input everyone. I could have clarified my phone usage better in the original post, but I don't think that was the issue. As was mentioned in an ealier reply, it was probably just the widget incorrectly reading the battery level.

It's now 8 hrs since my first post. I used my Droid moderately today.

Listened to some mp3s for a half hour.
Sent/received maybe 30 or so text.
Made/received a few short calls.
Browed the web for about 10 minutes (cnn, usa etc).
Didn't do the market today yet.
GPS off, WIFI off, BT off.
Datasync has been on all day.
Checked my email and gmail, read a few.
Played a few Droid shot videos at high resolution (appx 90 secs each).
Caught a few youtube videos roughly 3 mins long each.
A quick Facebook read. Basically, a light day for me --

And the good news?? Drum roll please.....

My battery is still at 80%. WTF? Yes!!!! It works again. Thank you Droid-dom. I salute the update now lol.

The readings on the battery widget still report a 2 hour difference in web surfing time at 4:11 hrs compared to 6:39 pre-update, but the level is reading 80% now after 8 hours of somewhat normal use. WTF again? I'm floored.

I hope it keeps going at this rate. Will keep you posted

 

[Essex]

so it seems like regular phone calls really take a hit on the battery. I had a 30 min conversation right after unplugging and after six hours of being unplugged my battery was down to 30% (most of this time I had fallen asleep on the couch so the phone wasn't in use that much) and 42% of the battery use was on the phone calls.

Now when I was using the phone before passing out I was doing some browsing, and I had meebo (IM program) and weatherbug on as well as twidroid but the battery status was showing the phone call as the biggest usage by far.

 

[keiichi25]

Ok... common theme from some of you is Weatherbug...

I will stress this, cause apparently, many of you haven't noticed this...

Do not use an app that chatters.

Weatherbug, Weather Channel and even Meebo... These programs chatter.

By chatter, I mean, they go, "Hey, do I have some new data? Hey, do I have some new data?"

Weatherbug, even if you set it to update at a longer period of time, will count as 'talk time' on the phone.

Weather Channel app does the same thing.

Meebo/Most IM clients HAVE TO CHATTER because of the innate part of IM clients, telling the IM server that 'Hey, I'm online!' so it can tell the other people who are watching for you to know you are on.

This is a PHONE usage habit you all need to understand. While you are not ACTIVELY doing anything, those apps are burning talk time because they are 'chatting'. This is NOT 'doing nothing', this is literally an app doing what it is suppose to be doing.

Gmail is suppose to be using PUSH mail, which means the server sends out a message and your gmail client on your phone waits to hear from it. It is generally recommended to turn off IM apps or any active update apps to lessen the burden on the battery. Even apps that poll the system is burning talk time, as I found with the use of one Battery Widget's updating process.

I highly recommend using ATK or Taskiller to just kill off apps you don't need running in the background. While you do not have to kill all your apps, chatty apps like IM and Updating Widgets are generally something you don't want to be active, but in passive or closed mode.

 

[Ridley]

I went to bed last night with a full charge, when i woke up eight hours later the phone was as dead as a door nail. Nothing running, it was just on standby, the battery life is horrible after the update for me, i don't get it.

 

[metsnfins]

my battery died last night overnight. i feel asleep with it unplugged at about 80%. i did have meebo running though. when i woke up, it was at 5%. the odd thing is that it said display used 48% of my battery, but was off all night

 

[gdoane]

I haven't caught the Droid doing this yet, but my Moto Q would get into a mode where it would refuse to charge up. Same manufacturer, and a smart phone. The charging system in the phone simply wouldn't eat until the phone was power cycled.

The Droid has a little white LED by the micro USB port that says "I'm Eating" which, because of my experience with the Moto Q, I watch like a hawk. If I plug the Droid in, I look for that little white light because if I don't see it, I'm going to have a dead Droid that not even a Jawa would want.

It's not much of a charging indicator but so far it works. I like using the computer because the Droid notes that USB connection with it's DRRROOOOIIIIIDDD announcement and I don't have to check out the light.

I do like that the white LED goes out when it's done eating. That's a nice touch. I just wish it had an audio announcement for charging on the wall charger and the car charger like it does when the PC is nursing the baby.

 

[aaf709]

It may be me playing with it more, or I don't have the update settings right, but when I first got the phone it would last 1.5 days. Now I have to charge daily as it can get down to 20% by the end of the day. I even got a second data cable to use at work.

 

[captclueless]

My battery life is awesome now. I charged my phone thursday night. Friday morning took it off the charger and installed the update. This morning after only a couple of phone calls and doing some facebook stuff, I am still at 80%

 

[raven1911]

My battery life is definitely worse after the update. I fully charged the battery before bed, unplugged the phone @ 11pm and when I woke up at 4am my battery had drained to 80% sitting next to my bed with the screen off. WTF? I have changed nothing in apps or usage. I do have weatherbug installed, which I am thinking of removing as it seems to be a common denominator with people that have bad battery life. I just don't understand this. I have to carry my charging cable with me now to charge the phone in afternoon or it will be dead by evening. I gotta figure this out.

How about all who's battery life is bad after the update state your apps and maybe we can find out if its an app problem or not?

Does anyone have weatherbug after the update and IS getting GOOD battery life?

 

[ggpike]

No weatherbug installed for me. Phone fully charged this morning via the dock, but after 20 min of talking on it, the battery was nearly dead. This is extremely frustrating.

 

[raven1911]

No weatherbug installed for me. Phone fully charged this morning via the dock, but after 20 min of talking on it, the battery was nearly dead. This is extremely frustrating.

So much for my weatherbug common denominator idea Any other suggestions? I am not sure what else is running on my phone that could be draining it. Of course I have gmail and two yahoo email accts on the phone. No calendars syncing yet. I am dumbfounded. I have taken battery out once and restarted phone twice to no avail.

 

[ggpike]

Well, I updated Beautiful Widgets, which I held off from doing, and that seems to have helped some . . . I'm keeping an eye on it to see if it actually helped or if I'm imagining things.

 

[smin41]

I noticed the same thing, I thought I was crazy at first but I definetly feel the battery life has got worse since the OTA update. Since the update everything else is great, phone runs much smoother, less crashing etc.. its a bit of a bummer because battery life is so important!!