Finally Solved My Battery Issue!

[smokecombs]

I've been having the common issue of "my phone is dying after six hours of standby time" ever since I got my DX. After searching and searching through the forums, the best I could find is "use an app killer" and "the battery won't last long because the screen is so big."

This contradicted everything else I'd read about the phone before I even purchased it, that the battery life was one of the main reasons to consider the DX. I felt like I was doing something wrong.

After trying a million different attempts at solving the problem, I finally resorted to calling Verizon. The woman on the phone was polite, and told me they've been receiving tons of calls regarding the same issue. The problem, she said, is that people are leaving their GPS transmitters on and not realizing it. I didn't think that could have possibly been the issue, since I always used an AAK to kill maps when I was done using it. She walked me through a process:

1) Bring up the "Add to Home Screen" menu and select "Android Widgets."

2) Add the "Power Control" widget to your home screen.

3) This will bring up a bar that has five different icons. The middle icon is the GPS transmitter.

At this time, I realized it was left on and I immediately

Ok, in case you didn't get that...total FACEPALM.

So I turned off GPS, and was told to leave the second from the right one on (it controls sync). In addition, to save more power I turned off background data in the data manager under settings.

The widget, obviously, allows one to activate GPS when needed and turn it off when the user is finished.

It's been several hours since I made the change, and all of a sudden, the battery indicator isn't moving!! NOW I'm getting phenomenal battery life out of my DX, and I've uninstalled AAK on top of it.

Just thought I'd share my story with anyone who hasn't tried this and is still having battery life issues. If you already know about it, disregard. Hope this helps someone.

Thanks man, I'll try this and see if it works. I tried it earlier and thought it was doing something but now I want to make sure it wasn't a placebo affect since others say it shouldn't really help with battery life. Thanks for the tip regardless.

 

[aminaked]

Too lazy to read thread. You can leave GPS on, just exit any apps that use it. The big ones are Maps and Navigation.

GPS also used by camera (it's an option to geotag photos) and browser (for example if you allow the google home page to find your location...but these really don't use GPS too much.

To reiterate: when done with Map, press home to go to your home screen. You'll notice that the GPS icon in notification bar (at the top of the screen) disappears. When done with Navigation, go menu button on phone > exit.

I leave the phone's GPS setting on all the time. The same with wifi and bluetooth. Leave it on! Just pay attention to what's using it.

AND DON'T KILL TASKS

DON'T USE ANTIVIRUS

 

[smokecombs]

Too lazy to read thread. You can leave GPS on, just exit any apps that use it. The big ones are Maps and Navigation.

GPS also used by camera (it's an option to geotag photos) and browser (for example if you allow the google home page to find your location...but these really don't use GPS too much.

To reiterate: when done with Map, press home to go to your home screen. You'll notice that the GPS icon in notification bar (at the top of the screen) disappears. When done with Navigation, go menu button on phone > exit.

I leave the phone's GPS setting on all the time. The same with wifi and bluetooth. Leave it on! Just pay attention to what's using it.

AND DON'T KILL TASKS

DON'T USE ANTIVIRUS

Wow, I've never left bluetooth on, but hardly ever use it. I don't have the WIFI package or whatever either, didn't pay the $20 or whatever so I don't guess that would apply to me either way. Interesting about Bluetooth though. I had always believed on any phone I had that bluetooth was supposed to drain a battery badly, even if it wasn't in use or whatever. I learn something new everyday.

 

[aminaked]

Too lazy to read thread. You can leave GPS on, just exit any apps that use it. The big ones are Maps and Navigation.

GPS also used by camera (it's an option to geotag photos) and browser (for example if you allow the google home page to find your location...but these really don't use GPS too much.

To reiterate: when done with Map, press home to go to your home screen. You'll notice that the GPS icon in notification bar (at the top of the screen) disappears. When done with Navigation, go menu button on phone > exit.

I leave the phone's GPS setting on all the time. The same with wifi and bluetooth. Leave it on! Just pay attention to what's using it.

AND DON'T KILL TASKS

DON'T USE ANTIVIRUS

Wow, I've never left bluetooth on, but hardly ever use it. I don't have the WIFI package or whatever either, didn't pay the $20 or whatever so I don't guess that would apply to me either way. Interesting about Bluetooth though. I had always believed on any phone I had that bluetooth was supposed to drain a battery badly, even if it wasn't in use or whatever. I learn something new everyday.

Well, you are right. If you don't use bluetooth then, sure, shut it off. I'm just saying that if you use bluetooth every day, you might just want to leave the phone setting on. When done with your paired device, turn off the device (headset).

As far as wifi, I'm not talking about the $20/month hotspot. I'm talking about connecting to a home or work wifi network. This way, your connection is faster than just 3G and you end up using less battery power with wifi so use it when you can. Like bluetooth, if you use it once a day, just leave the phone setting for wifi on.

 

[LunaImages]

Can someone explain to me why my battery is performing better, then? No, it's not a placebo.

 

[DroidJT]

Can someone explain to me why my battery is performing better, then? No, it's not a placebo.

That solution is like pulling the circuit breaker in your home to put out an attic light. With that logic, you may as well put the phone airplane mode to improve battery life. GPS should be available but not running in the background to the extent that it drains your battery. I would try and determine which app is running your GPS (or possible other services) that lead you to poor battery life. Since I have a Droid (1) I am not sure where you should start, but turning off GPS in camera, turning down your brightness, screen timeout and the usual would help improve battery life. Also, I love the live wallpapers, but they are a resource hog. Try a day with a normal wallpaper and see the difference. Then I would go through recently installed apps to see which might be the culprit. Good luck!

 

[jroc]

They are absolutely right about checking to see whats using GPS...I never knew this.

I usually never left GPS on with my Droid. I got the X and did the same thing. I just checked....and all this time GPS was on. It wasnt killing my battery.....

I'm at 15 hours unplugged, 70% battery left.

Display 48%
Cell Standby 26%
Voice Calls 19%
Phone Idle 9%

I used Tapatalk, browsed the web for awhile, listening to FM Radio, playing .mp3's. Dont remember playing any games. I might have dide some HR Battle 3D....I never use Live Wallpapers as a permanent background.

I usually get 1 day + some hours with normal use...all this was with GPS on and I didnt know it....

Thanks for this thread. Some good tips came from it.

 

[rydizzle]

AND DON'T KILL TASKS

DON'T USE ANTIVIRUS

Sorry a little off topic but, why shouldn't you use antivirus and kill tasks?

 

[jroc]

For example I use Beautiful Widgets, just checked the settings and the GPS icon came on for a few seconds then went off. I have the Geolocation and Use GPS settings unchecked in BW too.

I assume if anything ever uses the GPS the GPS icon will show up at the top. If its not at the top then it shouldnt be in use, unless there's a bug or something, or its being used while the screen is off.

 

[HankB]

is this power control widget kinda the same as the 4 "switches" that are on 2nd home screen from the left

As near as I can tell, yes, except it controls 5 functions so you get additional control using the same screen real estate:
Wifi
bluetooth
GPS
Syncing
Screen brightness.

 

[TheJester34]

Maybe someone knows this. I added the bar the OP mentioned (Power Options. Didn't know it existed). My GPS was off (I never use it anyway), and my sync was on. I went into the setting and turned off background data. When I went back to my home screen, the sync option had been turned off. So I'm guessing sync and background data are the same thing?

 

[Cooch33]

I use that power control widget and keep everything off, except when I need it. I turn the brightness up when I'm outside so I can see. I have always left background data on. And yesterday my battery was at about 45% after 21 hours. Using system panel to see the history. Thats with moderate use including internet and some gps.
Now I turned off background data to see how much that helps. Only one question, what does the sync thing do exactly. I always leave it off.

Btw that moderate use is some game app, mostly internet. I use the internet a lot. And texting obviously.

 

[aminaked]

Don't kill tasks because they'll just start up again and you have an extra program running all the time. You can rely on the built in android task killer to do it's job. If some app, widget, live wallpaper, etc. is using resources then uninstall it.

As far as antivirus, there are no known android viruses. What is it scanning for? Just be careful when installing apps. Pay attention to what privileges it asks for.

There is no need to turn off wifi, gps, bluetooth, background data, sync. Leave it on! When done with maps, go to home to turn of GPS. When done with Navigation, choose exit from the menu.

 

[tyler.norton360]

I'm going to try this since I have battery problems with my incredible. Hopefully it will work

 

[aminaked]

I'm helping someone in the real world with a droid x battery issue so, in addition to what i said above:
- turn display brightness down
- weather widgets track location and use network to get data
- all widgets use CPU. check widget refresh settings so it's not updating too often
- check app settings too. try to make it not update so much or not run all the time.
- live wallpaper uses cpu, some use much more power than others
- if you leave the browser on the google home page, it may be using your GPS. watch for apps that use GPS and run in the background
- if you are in areas with poor reception, the antenna may be using more power
- check phone settings > battery or use system panel from market to determine what's using battery

other things mentioned on this forum that i HAVE NOT tried:
- use battery saver mode with data timeout set at 15mins
- social applications constantly syncing. Go to settings> Data Manager > Data Delivery > Social Applications and make sure that sync over WiFi only is checked.
- If you're running in Motorola's 'Smart' mode, make sure you change the off-peak settings to be the smallest allowable time period. Not sure why anyone besides Verizon would benefit from turning off data during off-peak hours, especially if your phone is plugged in and connected via your home wi-fi. There should have been a disable button for this 'feature'.
- battery gets better every day after it breaks in/calibrates