Seidio Extended Battery... anyone with past experience?

[BPB]

Firmware vs. software for battery power reporting

There is another concurrent thread about this.. but let me double post and say the existing firmware of the Droid "2.0.1" is not accurate for showing battery meter levels on the extended battery.

I doubt the next version "2.1"will either.
I saw one other person post and I confirmed it myself.. but once it reaches 5%, there is still "allot" of life left.... I've been playing TV.com for about 3 hours now on 5% and its still going!...another person reported 6 more hours of heavy use once it hit 5%.

Considering on the way down to 5% takes quite a bit longer to reach than when using the standard, combined with the extra hidden power "after" you hit 5%.. there truly is a ton more reserve available than when using the standard battery.

Too bad the battery meter is not more accurate.... for some reason I get nervous when my meter only shows 5%!

I appear to have all functions though at the 5% reading.. can make calls, receive, etc etc.

I've got this extended battery and like it, but have also experienced the "reserve" power at 5%. In fact, for about 5 out of the 8-9 hours of use of the phone per charge, the phone has displayed 5% remaining. The only irritating thing is having the phone suddenly go completely dead. So...

I've done some reading on this issue and elsewhere on the forums. Compare and contrast this quirk in the firmware with this thread talking about other battery meters from the Market. http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/8257-battery-10-increments-why.html

Is it possible that an app like this would compensate for this quirk in the firmware? That's what I get from reading that thread, but then from reading other threads like this one I seem to understand that it would take an update of the firmware to fix the power meter quirk. ???

 

[windstrings]

In fact, for about 5 out of the 8-9 hours of use of the phone per charge, the phone has displayed 5% remaining. The only irritating thing is having the phone suddenly go completely dead. So...
/QUOTE]


Wow!..... your only getting 8 - 9 hours of use".. you must be doing something crazy with it! How long are you charging it?

I can go all day and "maybe" get it down to 50 - 70% and a simple reboot bumps it back up another 20 - 30% as the meter is inaccurate as we have discussed.

Does the phone go dead after being on 5% for a long time or when its showing higher percentages?

 

[deputc26]

In fact, for about 5 out of the 8-9 hours of use of the phone per charge, the phone has displayed 5% remaining. The only irritating thing is having the phone suddenly go completely dead. So...
/QUOTE]


Wow!..... your only getting 8 - 9 hours of use".. you must be doing something crazy with it! How long are you charging it?

I can go all day and "maybe" get it down to 50 - 70% and a simple reboot bumps it back up another 20 - 30% as the meter is inaccurate as we have discussed.

Does the phone go dead after being on 5% for a long time or when its showing higher percentages?

That it keeps running after 5% means this bat probably runs at a slightly lower voltage or the voltage drop-off is less abrupt than the stock bat (or I could be completely wrong and droid doesn't relt on voltage as much as most devices for SOC info) but if this is the case then it would be possible (and it likelywud be anyway) to write an app that shows bat life correctly, we should petition Seidio to do this.

 

[BPB]

In fact, for about 5 out of the 8-9 hours of use of the phone per charge, the phone has displayed 5% remaining. The only irritating thing is having the phone suddenly go completely dead. So...
/QUOTE]


Wow!..... your only getting 8 - 9 hours of use".. you must be doing something crazy with it! How long are you charging it?

I can go all day and "maybe" get it down to 50 - 70% and a simple reboot bumps it back up another 20 - 30% as the meter is inaccurate as we have discussed.

Does the phone go dead after being on 5% for a long time or when its showing higher percentages?

Well, that 8-9 was my own sort-of torture test to deliberately run down the battery. Not "normal" usage. Charge time is usually overnight; approx 8 hours. I don't have any doubts the battery itself is good, just the power isn't being correctly reported.

But, the % is wildly inaccurate. If I go all day it will most definitely be at 5%, as far as the phone knows, but I've still got untold hours of rigorous use left before charging. Rebooting...inconclusive for me on whether this actually brings the % back in line.

And yes, after hours upon hours of use at 5% the phone will indicate that the battery is tapped out and power off. "Go dead" was probably the wrong way to describe it.

So I think my only real issue is that the meter doesn't seem to be monitoring the same phone I'm using!

 

[BPB]

That it keeps running after 5% means this bat probably runs at a slightly lower voltage or the voltage drop-off is less abrupt than the stock bat (or I could be completely wrong and droid doesn't relt on voltage as much as most devices for SOC info) but if this is the case then it would be possible (and it likelywud be anyway) to write an app that shows bat life correctly, we should petition Seidio to do this.

Don't know about that technical stuff, but I'm in agreement on the Seidio app. Where do I sign?!

 

[n0m0n]

ON TOPIC:
I have always owned extended batteries from Seidio Extended Battery except this time for my Droid.
One of the reasons I switched from my Storm1, and 2 was because of size, it was so NICE and sleek.

The additional bulk that the battery and door have make this little phone look and feel bad in my opinion.

There is a extra amount of juice that the battery offers but it looks awkward to me when adding the battery/door..

I am looking forward to reviewing the Slim extended battery that they (hopefully) will be offering shortly.

 

[640k]

Somewhere int his forum I posted a thread that I was experiencing TERRIBLE battery life.
I get about 3/4 day before I get the amber battery at the top of the screen.
Yesterday about 1200 I charged it because the icon was amber.
Then again at 1900 I needed to charge it...
Now I didn't receive ANY hone calls yesterday so that was just from viewing my Tweet's, emails, and SMS's...

A few times when the icon was amber I thought that I still had a few hours left but within about 45 minutes my device went off due to no juice...

I did not notice for about a hour or 2...


So I just am lost to what or how to get my device to last a day.
I did clean out a lot of unused apps, and have Task Manger Pro auto killing what I don't think needs to be running...

Now I haven't found that much running at any given time.
What are the only app's services that need to be running?

Thanks for any direction.

i replied in your thread. please try to keep your replies to other's threads on-topic.

thanks.

 

[windstrings]

That it keeps running after 5% means this bat probably runs at a slightly lower voltage or the voltage drop-off is less abrupt than the stock bat (or I could be completely wrong and droid doesn't relt on voltage as much as most devices for SOC info) but if this is the case then it would be possible (and it likelywud be anyway) to write an app that shows bat life correctly, we should petition Seidio to do this.

I know it sounds that simple, but its not... otherwise a reboot wouldn't make a difference. Once you do a reboot, it seems to track true "for the most part" another reboot later doesn't seem to do much of anything.

It definitely a firmware issue.. the battery holds strong.

 

[BPB]

That it keeps running after 5% means this bat probably runs at a slightly lower voltage or the voltage drop-off is less abrupt than the stock bat (or I could be completely wrong and droid doesn't relt on voltage as much as most devices for SOC info) but if this is the case then it would be possible (and it likelywud be anyway) to write an app that shows bat life correctly, we should petition Seidio to do this.

I know it sounds that simple, but its not... otherwise a reboot wouldn't make a difference. Once you do a reboot, it seems to track true "for the most part" another reboot later doesn't seem to do much of anything.

It definitely a firmware issue.. the battery holds strong.

I've never had trouble with Seidio batteries before. So basically any app one might come across isn't going to help the battery meter until the firmware is fixed?

I guess that's understandable...I mean, this is the FIRST phone Motorola has EVER made that Seidio might make an extended battery for. You can't anticipate a thing like that with an "open" environment like Android, vs. a "closed" one like iPhone.

Ok, uncalled-for sarcasm there.

All sarcasm aside, I love this phone and the battery - both are 90% perfect (well, that % may or may not be accurate). I do hope it is addressed in a future firmware update.

Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[windstrings]

Now that I know how much the battery can take.. I don't worry much about the meter.... when I really want to know for curiosities sake.. I just reboot and it comes up much higher and stays there and slowly drops as expected as I continue to use... if I don't use it with app or internet etc usage, it doesn't drop.

Its almost like the OS has to see the battery upon boot initialization to get a good fix on it.. but once its charged in the charger, all bets are off and it can lose its fix again.....

thats my best guess just based on observation.