Understanding Battery Life...

[STIDRIVER]

Can anyone confirm the whole 3g vs Wi-fi in a poor coverage zone?? I purchased the Network Extender for the apartment, but that doesn't work for 3g. So, if my phone is searching for 3G while at home, that could be a culprit for battery drain. Not sure that you could make the phone not search for 3G... but if I could and just put it on wi-fi, I could see that helping.... Any thoughts? FYI, I don't use the Droid for the net at home (unless I'm feeling REALLY lazy), so I wouldn't be apposed to turning mobile access off.. but I guess that bites you too because a lot of apps use it..

 

[Sweettooth]

This may be a little off-topic but given the Droid has a lot of different capabilities one could say it has the potential to be vital it's functional. Therefore, shouldn't there be an option for an audible notification the battery is almost fully discharged?

The light is fine if you're looking but say I'm waiting on an important work email with the phone in my pocket or maybe just sleeping while waiting for a call/text about something to do on the weekend and the phone dies. Personally I'd like it to play "Daisy" that the HAL 9000 sings in 2001: A Space Odyssey as he's being powered down.

 

[andjarnic]

@STIDRIVER,

If you put your phone in wifi mode, and it finds a wifi connection, it does NOT try to find 3G. It doesn't use both wifi and 3G at the same time. It will switch to 3G when no wifi that it knows how to connect to is available. If I were you, I'd leave it on wifi at home. After all, you presumably have a charger that if you were worried about drain, could plug it in to keep it charged.

I am baffled about the battery drain issue. I leave my phone off the charger all day, at home, it's on wifi, I develop for Android so am using it constantly to test apps, etc. My battery lasts all day UNLESS I leave a beefy app like gmaps with screen on running, where it might very well drain the battery due to constantly updating/pulling data down, etc.

 

[STIDRIVER]

^^^ Thx.. I'll give it a try... I didn't know wi-fi would make your phone not search for 3G.. I'm still screwed at work (no wi-fi or 3G), but this'll at least help at home...

 

[steveparker]

Battery Discussion

There is still battery problems are face any type of cell phones.

 

[Vagrent]

How can you charge the batter for 24 hours? When the Droid is fully charged the charging light goes out. Will it sill charge when the light is out?

He was first to ask and i saw another ask and no one has attempted to answer.
I have same question, because from my understanding is when it is fully charged it stops charging, the circuitry in phone does this to prevent overcharge(possible over heat, bat leaking, possible fire) a built in safety.
My previous razers and bb ive left on charger all weekend when ive vegged out infront of my pc(charger plugged in next to pc) and texted and talked on bluetooth for hours while never taking it off the charger and the bat would b at full charge fri night some time and when i pulled it off charger mon morn to go to work it would be 100% and last all day. So in my eyes it would seem they charged then ran off the cord. i have left my droid on charger for about a day and a half and never noticed it say charging or see the charge light come on after initial charge to full and when i pulled it off of the cord the battery was 100% and discharged at normal rate of my use. But ive notice several people post that after a long charge on their phone they drop that first 10% rather quickly which would point to the droid stops charging when the light goes out.
Just wondering if anyone knows the actual charge process of the droid?


Ive seen a lot of informative explanations on the bat types and charging, and i thank you i have learned a few new things.:icon_ banana:

 

[steveparker]

Dear I search on net but can't find the solution of your problem, but I don't loose hope sooner it ll be solve.

peace

 

[pushdrops]

This may be a little off-topic but given the Droid has a lot of different capabilities one could say it has the potential to be vital it's functional. Therefore, shouldn't there be an option for an audible notification the battery is almost fully discharged?

yes , the other day, i didn't realize my battery was even low, continued to talk and all of the sudden the Droid shutdown - no warning tone while talking , couldn't return the call as the phone wouldn't even boot again (until powered) , wouldn't have continued to talk if known the battery was so low ...

it prob was around 30% maybe when i started the call, call lasted a while, if i would have gotten a warning tone at around 10% would have ended the call knowing the battery was low .

using the Droid (running apps) it does notifiy you when the battery hits like 20% and 10% but during a call it doesn't seem to alert you (my old phone would output an audible alarm when the battery power was getting to 10%) .

is there a setting to enable an audible alert during calls (for when the battery is running low) ?

 

[Co_Mntn_Man]

Question on Recharging

I am new to the Droid Community. I love the forum. It answers so many questions for the typical Newbie. So here is mine.

When I plug in the phone to recharge it, it turns the phone on. If I turn it off while charging, it turns back on. Is this normal? This doesn't make sense to me since the most effective way to re-charge, would be to have the phone totally off to maximize the recharging time. The only time it didn't cycle on was when the phone shut itself off when the battery was totally dead and I was recharging. :icon_evil:

 

[SSHGuru]

First of all welcome. Second of all make sure to charge it from the wall or a dock - not the computer. You need alot of juice for it. The screen is supposed to stay on - and it charges so fast that it's really not even a consideration.

I use the OEM docks to do it so I can see and use the Droid while it's charging or leave it in overnight and have a clock.

I am new to the Droid Community. I love the forum. It answers so many questions for the typical Newbie. So here is mine.

When I plug in the phone to recharge it, it turns the phone on. If I turn it off while charging, it turns back on. Is this normal? This doesn't make sense to me since the most effective way to re-charge, would be to have the phone totally off to maximize the recharging time. The only time it didn't cycle on was when the phone shut itself off when the battery was totally dead and I was recharging. :icon_evil:

 

[jonf]

The phone turns itself on when you go to recharge. It really doesn't drain much battery while standing by,so you aren't slowing recharge rate by much. If you didn't use the phone and left it on,the battery would last 24-48 hours,without recharge. The problem is,once you start with phone and apps,its a hungry little devil,as are most phones of it's type

 

[kbur316]

some sort of "Tips and Tricks" document that i found (looked to be very official) actually told me to let the battery run down fully twice and recharge it again.

since i have read these entries about old NiCad vs. today's Li-Ion, i ask you this:

did i doom my battery to a shorter life by doing this, and should i buy a new battery to replace it and start over?

 

[jonf]

Probably not. These supposedly have no "memory". Fully charge it before going to bed and shut off the phone.Total shut down;not sleep In the morning. Turn it on. You should still be at 100% charge. . IF, when new, the phone held a charge and doesn't now,get a new battery. If it's a new phone and the battery discharges over night it may be the phone. Exchange it. If its fully charged,let the phone idle all day-on,but no games or internet. After 4-5 hours you should still have 90% battery left. Then its probably OK

Good Luck

 

[rkeller62]

some sort of "Tips and Tricks" document that i found (looked to be very official) actually told me to let the battery run down fully twice and recharge it again.

since i have read these entries about old NiCad vs. today's Li-Ion, i ask you this:

did i doom my battery to a shorter life by doing this, and should i buy a new battery to replace it and start over?

No, you did not. While Li-Ion technology batteries do not suffer from the "memory effect" that plagued Ni-MH and NiCad batteries, almost all manufacturers recommend a "conditioning" of Li-Ion batteries by doing 2-3 full discharge/charge cycles when the batteries are new. This actually can be done at any time to "re-condition" the battery.

If you notice that your battery does not seem to be lasting as long as it used to under similar conditions (i.e., amount of use, temperature, etc...) then try doing a "re-condition" of 2-3 full discharge/charge cycles. If it still is not lasting as long it is probably time for a new battery.

 

[cakzoh]

I'm new to Droid and read the above about the battery life. I'm confused about how to determine which apps are running in the background and which ones are running on the network. Is there an app that is good at battery management on the droid?