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Battery Life

So, I haven't seen this topic talked about yet, apart from manufacturer claims of the usual hundreds of hours of standby.
Having now had the TC for almost a week, I'm not at all happy with the battery life, and hoping it's either a faulty battery or something I'm not doing right.
Today, I've made a 2 or 3 short phone calls and downloaded a few emails, and it's down to 30% at 5pm! Most other days have been the same.
I do have bluetooth and HSDPA on, but not Wi-Fi. Surely, this won't be another case of, "buy this great phone with all the fast connections, but stick to 2G GSM because of the battery life".
Any help gratefully received, as I love the TC apart from this problem.

Data connections come from the "TalkTime" budget, not the "Standby" budget, so if you leave your HDSPA connection connected, or your Bluetooth on, it will drain the battery in about 7 hours.
My tests seem to indicate that HTC's estimates are reasonable within about 85%, if you understand what they're saying. If you leave your phone switched off, doing absolutely nothing in the background ("Standby"), then I've got about 200 hours out if it. But as soon as you start using the phone (which includes switching it on - the increased processor usage and backlight take more power than Standby) the overall battery budget is reduced.
An example - if you spend 1 hour online, you've used 1/7th of your TalkTime budget, but you've also used 1/7th of your Standby budget - the hour of talktime is equivalent to about 30 hours of standby...
It's marketing speak, sadly, but given USB recharging, etc., as long as the phone makes it to a laptop or socket each evening, I'm pretty happy with the battery life on my Touch Cruise - just remember to disconnect data connections when you're not using them, don't check for new mail every 5 minutes and only use IMAP IDLE when you really need it...

I too was first disappointed but I had almost everything that uses data switched on or on automatic like weather and emails.
So I set everything to manual and batt is good with some calls. Before when I tapped on the top bar there was always something connecting or showing connected for a x number of mins. But now it shows 'No data session active' and batt is holding up nicely for all my calls + what I need like GPS etc.

I do put TC on heavy use and I am quite satisfied with the fact that TC makes it through the day.. Most of the PDAs and phones I have used forced me to carry secondary battery with me..

I can only go on my heavy day to day business use with push mail 24h, 20+ calls, few hours of TomTom and bit of forum reading!! But it´s a very big improvement on my Kaiser which would be empty by 7pm. Whereas the Polaris is still around 50-45%

Can anyone tell me how much battery life can one expect for mp3 playback?

christonge said:
I can only go on my heavy day to day business use with push mail 24h, 20+ calls, few hours of TomTom and bit of forum reading!! But it´s a very big improvement on my Kaiser which would be empty by 7pm. Whereas the Polaris is still around 50-45%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something's either wrong with my hardware, battery, or config.
Are you in a 3G HSPDA area? I am, and wondering whether or not that's killing the battery.
If it's the battery, I doubt I'll get an exchange, seeing as most places are sold out of TC's still.
Do you use Windows Live? I don't have MSN Messenger running, but I think it syncs all folders on my hotmail every 2 hours.

I don't use Windows Live or the messenger. I'm now using HTC Mail which gives you a free 3 months trial of their Microsoft Exchange Server account. It works really well and seems to use less battery than the Windows Live, which I had previously used.... and most of the time I use the basic "G" (GPRS) connection although when surfing the net I change the connection to 3G.

Hmmm
Thats interesting
Im having a similar problem.
So far, mainly used mine for browsing through wi-fi but the battery drains so quickly. It only lasts a day and a half.
Same usage on my old orbit would last close to a week.
ps - Ive swicthed off all other comm functions

I'd be delighted with a full day! It's such a pain to have to keep plugging it in!
I've now switched off HSPDA, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to switch off 3G. Kind of defeats the object of having a 3G device.

BadTasteUK said:
I'd be delighted with a full day! It's such a pain to have to keep plugging it in!
I've now switched off HSPDA, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to switch off 3G. Kind of defeats the object of having a 3G device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G/HSPDA uses a lot more power than regular GSM. I keep my phone locked to GSM and only enable 3G when I want to go online, but then I primarily use my phone as a PDA so I don't access the network that often, even for voice.
I think there's a utility floating around these boards called something like BandSwitcher that does something to make it easier to toggle between 3G and GSM. As you can probably tell from my vague description (and I'm not even sure that I got the name right), I haven't got round to investigating this fully myself yet.
By the way, there is another thread here about battery life, started by me (what is it with us Brits and our obsession with battery life?), and called "Dissapointing battery life test" (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=356910&highlight=Julian+battery+life). The thread includes a link to a very useful tool written by Muyz and available here (http://www.vandenmuyzenberg.nl/PowerGuard/) that allows you to look at current drain on the device and I posted some data in that thread from my device so you could run the same tests and see if your current draw is comparable to mine. If you do this then please do post your data.
- Julian

aerokid240 said:
Can anyone tell me how much battery life can one expect for mp3 playback?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid that's a very unhelpful "it depends". It really depends on (a) exactly how you've encoded your MP3 files (bit rate and CBR vs VBR) plus what player you are using to play them.
Having said the above though, I can give you two data points:
1) The Touch Cruise manual claims "Up to 8 hours (WMV). Up to 12 hours (WMA)." (This is on page 249 of the English manual under the power/battery specification.)
2) From measuring current consumption on my device while playing 64kbs AAC HE files I estimate that I'll get somewhere between 9 and 10 hours before I go from 100% charge down to the 10% warning level.
AAC HE is very CPU-intensive to decode. I'm not sure how WMA compares to MP3 regarding CPU intensity but I would expect your figures to be more comparable with the WMA figure quoted by HTC and, in light of my AAC HE real life experience, the HTC figure actually seems quite realistic (although nowhere near good enough in my opinion).
I hope that helps somewhat.
- Julian

My average day.
Off the charger at 6:15AM
Make about 5 to 7 calls each about 5 to 10 minuets
3G HSPDA on with exchange server running always conected
Back light at MAX off after 30 seconds of non use
30 or so text messages
Agile Messanger on all the time conected to AIM and Yahoo. About 2 to 3 comversations each day.
Around 10 to 15 minuets of web surfing to read the news and what not
Bluetooth always on but only used in my car (BMW iDrive) about 1.5 hous of driving
About 20 to 30 minuets of playing S Tris 2 (Yeah I know but I can't help it I love that game)
About 30 to 45 minuets of MP3 playing while at the gym
Ringer set to Vib then ring
Back on the charger by 11:30PM

DXL007 said:
My average day.
Off the charger at 6:15AM
Make about 5 to 7 calls each about 5 to 10 minuets
3G HSPDA on with exchange server running always conected
Back light at MAX off after 30 seconds of non use
30 or so text messages
Agile Messanger on all the time conected to AIM and Yahoo. About 2 to 3 comversations each day.
Around 10 to 15 minuets of web surfing to read the news and what not
Bluetooth always on but only used in my car (BMW iDrive) about 1.5 hous of driving
About 20 to 30 minuets of playing S Tris 2 (Yeah I know but I can't help it I love that game)
About 30 to 45 minuets of MP3 playing while at the gym
Ringer set to Vib then ring
Back on the charger by 11:30
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's 11.30 pm, right?

Fixed post.. And yes

DXL007 said:
My average day.
Off the charger at 6:15AM
Make about 5 to 7 calls each about 5 to 10 minuets
3G HSPDA on with exchange server running always conected
Back light at MAX off after 30 seconds of non use
30 or so text messages
Agile Messanger on all the time conected to AIM and Yahoo. About 2 to 3 comversations each day.
Around 10 to 15 minuets of web surfing to read the news and what not
Bluetooth always on but only used in my car (BMW iDrive) about 1.5 hous of driving
About 20 to 30 minuets of playing S Tris 2 (Yeah I know but I can't help it I love that game)
About 30 to 45 minuets of MP3 playing while at the gym
Ringer set to Vib then ring
Back on the charger by 11:30PM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fantastic, my battery MUST be faulty! Oh, and thanks very much for taking the time to write all that down!
I'll leave it another week or so playing with turning things on and off, and if I can't get a full day, I'll order another battery, and be hardcore about the 16 hour charge for the first three charges.

When it comes to my batteries I am a stickler when it comes to conditioning them. I always do a full discharge and recharge for at least 3 cycles. It may be inconvenient the first few times because you can run out of power in the middle of the day when you really can’t wait for a recharge, but in the long run its worth it. On the weekend when I use my TC the least I get 2 full days out of it.

DXL007 said:
When it comes to my batteries I am a stickler when it comes to conditioning them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like it's paid off!
I've had my second day now where it's lasted a day! Last night it had 40% on it at 0100, and so far at 1700 it's still on 70%. The reason? I turned off HSDPA on Sat, and it really seems to have made the difference. The internet still runs very fast as well.

DXL007 said:
When it comes to my batteries I am a stickler when it comes to conditioning them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Where did you get this info from? I've heard of ppl doing so for NiCd days, but never heard of doing it to LiOn or LiPoly batteries.

Hi all
someone knows, if powering OFF the TC suspends the WIFI-connection
so that it will not discharge the battery?
On my elder HP, I let the WIFI on, switch off the device,
and I couldn't remark a greater change in the battery after one nighgt.
On TC, when switching OFF the unit with WIFI ON,
the battery is empty after one night.
Tanks
St

owners / users please respond

how long do you get on a single charge? i would like to buy one of these devices and use Exchange push, but if it can't last the whole day, forget it. That was why i ebay'd my iPhone. i would like a device to last ALL day. can the Fuze do it?

that depends on what else you doing with the device, long phone calls etc, if all you were doing was push email, you should be fine

well, what about if i talk for about 20 - 30 minutes per day....
what if i watch a handful of youtube videos....
what if i browse the net with WiFi for 15 minutes....
i am just asking for someones actual battery stats.

More than likely, you will not make it through the whole day if your watching youtbue videos, talking on the phone and using WiFi. Add GPS to that mix and I promise you it will not last more than a few hours.

I flashed my TP to ROMeOS 1.40 with radio .28 and have absolutely no problem getting two days with normal usage. I have Exchange syncing as items arrive. If I added some wifi and video as you suggest, it might struggle to get two whole days without charge, but certainly no problem with one day's heavy usage at all. And "heavy usage" would include some TomTom - a big battery drain.

perfect. exactly what i was looking for. thanks. i'm on my way to the AT&T store now.

I've had mine a few weeks now. It has Exchange push mail on all day(syncing as items arrive), and I'll make a few phone calls. I get about 2-3 days out of it doing that from full charge to almost empty.
If I use TomTom it's massively reduced.

Battery poll

How long do most of you go on battery ??
My Fuze with NATF's ROM goes for 2 days easily with medium-heavy data use on a H connection with 15 min auto refresh of 2 email accounts and moderate GPS use with Google Maps.
That's incredible! My old Hermes (8525) didn't make it through the day some times with 1 hr auto email refresh!
Just another happy TP user.

Is TF3D enabled?

Yup - all fully functioning
Just an amazing device...(Or mine is freekishly good...which would be quite nifty)

same here.. it lasts a lot longer than my tilt with its Manilla2d

for me on heavy usage, probably 5 or so hours of internet, games, and calling, i last roughly 12 hours or less... maybe it's the phone adapting to the charge or maybe i screwed up something nasty when i did the original conditioning

My battery life is about the same as my Tilt was. I get about a day's worth of use out of the phone. I am pretty heavy email user (3 accounts, including MS Exchange) and texter. If I don't charge my phone when I go to bed, I'd get an hour or two into the next day and it'd be dead. I was hoping for a better battery life, but at least it's not any worse than the Tilt...

I'm lucky to get a whole day using an hour of wifi and an hour of gps along with about an hour of voice, some texts and some 3G browsing.

I have the touch pro and it lasts about 15 hours with moderate use. 10 calls, 20 text, auto receive email ever 2 hrs, 45 mins to an 1 hr web surfing.

Actually is probably closer to 12-14 hours with moderate use. 20 calls, 30 texts, 45mins to 1 hr of web surfing. auto email receive every 2 hrs.

I use 50 percent battery per day rarely more and i use all of its features thoroughly.

I've gotta say, the GSM version of the touch pro (fuze) has WAY better battery life than the sprint version! What a difference! Returned the sprint one!

would the posters mention how they charged their device upon receiving the unit? the posters with high battery life may be doing something we are not doing resulting in low life

I am around 12 hours during the week with emails calls blueooth active sync. Weekends I get 48 hours easy as.
It's hard to get the most acurate time during the week as I charge the phone over night and never know when it's fully charged and and if it stays fully charged or stops charging.

I'm also using NATF's 1.1 ROM and getting great usage, about 2 days of average use before getting to 20%.
But even before the new ROM the battery was way better than my TyTn. I wanted to run the battery from full charge to dead battery auto-off and I ended watching YouTube videos for about 3 hours straight (to keep the 3G going a full speed). I made it through one full MST3K movie and lots of youtube surfing before it finally died; I got better power usage than my laptop watching DVDs.
Overall I'm a moderate user, and if I forget to charge over night I'm good the next day but will get low batt messages that 2nd night.

Wow, I wonder if there is a quality variance on the batteries that are shipping with the units?
I'm running the stock AT&T ROM still, and will get a 30% drop in battery in 3 hours without even making a phone call. Battery life is worse than with my Tilt. I'm in area that has spotty 3G coverage - it could be some strange interaction while switching between 2G and 3G over and over.
Or maybe there is something NATF is doing in his ROM that is helping battery life?

I'm getting about 15-16 hours with heavy use. I like to text, average at least an hour websurfing on HSDPA, maybe half an hour on WiFi, maybe 2 hours talk time, two e-mail accounts on refresh, and add maybe half an hour to an hour of random organizer/tasks/random crap usage.
If I don't charge at night, I'm pretty much screwed for the next day.

ATT Fuze
ROMeOS 1.4
Batt lasts approx 10hrs. Seems like it could last weeks in standby mode...I'll hit power button on top and come back hours later to find same batt %. During heavy use I can watch the % drop like a lead foot on a V8 throttle.
-No auto sync of emails (I manually dl 4 to 5x's per day)
-Very little GPS use (avg 10mins per day)
-30 mins of phone calls
-40 texts
-1 to 2 hrs web surfing
When I bought the device the battery had approx 40% charge. I ran it down to 10%, then fully charged and ran it down again, then fully charged.
Might try NATF's rom to see if there's an improvement.

thedogger said:
Wow, I wonder if there is a quality variance on the batteries that are shipping with the units?
I'm running the stock AT&T ROM still, and will get a 30% drop in battery in 3 hours without even making a phone call. Battery life is worse than with my Tilt. I'm in area that has spotty 3G coverage - it could be some strange interaction while switching between 2G and 3G over and over.
Or maybe there is something NATF is doing in his ROM that is helping battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me. I can pull it off a charge and 12 hours later it will be 55% with no useage? I am running standard softwae minus bloatware using the trick. Installed Advanced config, Total commander, AE buttons Plus.

I've got a 1.93 rom.use my phone for only calls/sms.with and without tweaks, the battery lasts 24 hours-nothing more-thinking of getting an extended battery

I think that besides the usage, the battery time might also depend on the radio version which control the way your device interact with the service network. There're several radio versions which from: HTC, service providers (At&t, T-mobile...) but it's all compatible with the device. Then would it be possible that we take a look on our radio version and vote on which is the best one for battery life but must adapt all other usages (GPS lock, good signal strength...)?

[Q] Verizon Bill Questions

I'm not sure where to put this and I apologize if it's in the wrong section, but I only see forum sections for specific phones and I have an I535 and others have posted bill questions in their respective phone section.
I had a Verizon rep explain this to me but it sort of went over my head. When increasing the data package during the billing cycle (this is what the rep said), the way it works is they credit me for the full price of the talk/text/data plan that I've had for the duration of the billing cycle so far, then he did some math based on each day in the billing cycle, which I understood, and that equalled how much data I would be allotted for the rest of the billing cycle (what didn't make sense is why they calculate it that way but whatever), and would charge me for the entire billing cycle on the upgraded plan. Thus, I would be charged the difference. This makes no sense to me. Why not charge the difference and label it?
So I looked at my last couple of bills to make more sense of it and I noticed something. On my second to last bill, it shows a credit for the amount of the 4 gb plan, a charge for the 6 gb plan, and a charge for the 6 gb plan a month in advance. The following month (the latest bill) however, I was charged the normal price for everything. So, where the hell did that advance payment go? I've called twice today and been on hold for over an hour both times..I just don't have time to waste on hold. It seems like everytime I call VZW their automated line says they're experiencing unusually high call volume. Maybe if they made more sense out of their billing processes they wouldn't have so many calls. I don't know, I'm ranting. Am I missing something?

[Q] Daily Data usage limiter with rollover

Hi. I'm after a data useage limiter with rollover. Does one exist?
What I mean is say I have a 1000mb of data per month, starting on the first day of the month. What I want it for it to limit me to 1000mb/31days=32mb a day. Then if I only use 5mb a day for the first week, then on the 8th day it will let me use (1000-7x5)/(31-7)=40mb a day.