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Samsung Captivate on the Quest for the Greatest Battery Life!

I'd love to hear how people are finding the battery life on the Captivate, and what their usage patterns are. I don't have many apps on the phone to begin with, but on the train to work I can easily knock out a third of the battery just listening to music. While using the phone for five or ten minutes, I'll sometimes see the battery dop 2-3 percent!
For tomorrow, I'm going to try using the stock launcher instead of LauncherPro, no widgets. I got rid of the Android Central app just in case it was fetching data in the background. But my hopes aren't terribly high, I'm afraid.
I have rooted the phone, but the battery life was bad before rooting. Once rooted, I tried some apps like JuiceDefender, and there seemed to be no change.
If I continue having these problems, I may unroot and bring the phone to an AT&T store to see what they say. I've heard it mentioned that Samsung is sending out new batteries that are better than some current ones, but I don't know if that's true.
I'd love to hear any suggestions. I want to use my new phone, not worry about it all day!

I too have been getting very poor results. I have talked on the phone for less than 3 minutes, went to maybe 15 different website pages, one 3:00 youtube video, 10 minutes of GBC emulation gaming, and regular texting, and I'm at 10% with 8 hours. I've probably only used the phone for 30 minutes total today.

Smartphones always drain battery, if you want a phone that can be heavily used for like 4 or more days on one charge cycle, get a feature phone....the samsung captivate has given me the best battery time overall, against all my past smartphones.

I don't think it makes sense, though, that it should run out halfway through the day like mine is. My former devices were a feature phone and an iPod Touch. The feature phone lasted a week or so, and the iPod Touch with heavy heavy use lasted three days at least. So even if I had both pulling from the same battery source, and with light usage, shouldn't it last at least a full day?

Weird, I had wireless on almost all day, with push mail and doing tons of market downloading and I was only down to about 50% by early afternoon.
Seems about the same as my two year old HTC Touch Pro to me.

My battery is running fine too, even after streaming music from my house with subsonic, testing out a couple videos, messing with the gps, push email a bunch of app downloading, and a live wallpaper and i was still at 33% by the time I got home, even seems to be getting better.

"On the train to work..."
There's a bit of your problem, methinks. The 3G radio is burning a lot of power trying to connect to towers inside a metal box that moves to a new tower on a regular basis. Unless you need to get calls on the train, put it in Airplane mode during your commute.
Have you actually let the battery die completely yet?
My first battery burn-down, (starting with the charge on the battery as it was unboxed) I was showing zero percent battery for almost two hours before it actually shut itself off, moderate usage with WiFi on.
The next charge-up burn-down, it was showing zero percent about fifteen minutes before the end.
And the charge-up burn-down after that, it showed 0% about twenty seconds before it died.
See where I'm going here? The software needs to be calibrated at zero and 100, and it can't do that if you don't let it reach zero a few times. Once you're sure the meter is accurate, then you can start making informed conclusions about battery life.
And like I've posted elsewhere, you've got 'Newshiny-itus', which is proven to suck extra life out of a smartphone battery. And it's hard forcing your new toy to die...for one thing, if it's dead, you can't play with it. Tough it out, kill it. At least twice.

Well if you want to find truly terrible battery life try the EVO.
I had one for a month and that thing really ate the battery fast. The capti is stellar in comparison.

smitty1 said:
Well if you want to find truly terrible battery life try the EVO.
I had one for a month and that thing really ate the battery fast. The capti is stellar in comparison.
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Yea I had one for two weeks and it was horrid. I would lose 6% just in standby time in between waking up and getting out the door to work in the morning!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I've had great results with the battery and I find it to be much better than my HD2. I watch quite a bit of youtube, text message a lot, and browse the web and the market on and off, not to mention all the time my wife plays solitaire, and I still have 30% battery at an uptime of 41:46. I don't use gps or live wallpapers, and I keep my display as low as possible, since it is still bright.

Bit better by the end of the day. 13 hours and 15 minutes

Croak said:
The software needs to be calibrated at zero and 100, and it can't do that if you don't let it reach zero a few times. Once you're sure the meter is accurate, then you can start making informed conclusions about battery life.
And like I've posted elsewhere, you've got 'Newshiny-itus', which is proven to suck extra life out of a smartphone battery. And it's hard forcing your new toy to die...for one thing, if it's dead, you can't play with it. Tough it out, kill it. At least twice.
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+1
Definitely agree with the last part. I've been doing my best to kill it, but I don't want it to be dead. Been noticing the inaccuracy of the meter quite a bit, especially when it's charging, but I'm sure it'll get better over time.

Thanks for the informative replies! It hadn't occurred to me that the battery meter might be uncalibrated - I've been charging once it reached 10% or so. I'll try letting it die fully today.
One thing that seems to have helped, too, is the brightness settings. Turning OFF the "power saving" auto adjust ing brightness option allows the brightness to stay low, and a brightness control widget lets me set it lower than stock controls allow. I've seen some definite improbement from this alone!

These are Li-ion batteries, DO NOT let them die completely before charging.

Ok, so...is there a safer way to make sure the battery gets calibrated? I'm reading in a lot of places that Android phones fairly often misreport battery info unless calibrated.

The lowest I can get on battery status is 60% after a full days use. Admittedly I'm not a power user but I had my phone unplugged for 16 hrs and still had 95% I'd like to know what you have to do to get such low battery levels , start your car

All I've done today is listen to music for an hour (used 25%) and texted/browsed the web for perhaps two hours (another 5/% down.)
I read that LIons can be occasiomally discharged, since they have undercurrent protection circuits. One guide for Android phones suggested leaving the phone on until it shuts itself down, turning it on again, and then letting it shut itself down again. Then, with the phone off, charge fully. The guide said once a month or do is safe and beneficial. How does it sound?

Battery is good today. Been sending a few texts, checked email, facebook, and surfed these forums a bit. I'm at 2 hours with 98% battery left.

i hope the battery doesnt suck, i plan on getting this phone soon and want good batt life!!!

tysj said:
These are Li-ion batteries, DO NOT let them die completely before charging.
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I agree with you, however, the phone's hardware will NOT let the battery completely die.
So I wouldn't worry about that all to much.
Basically though, Li-ion batteries are 'memory' free so they can be recharged on a whim partially.
They also prefer partial charges vs deep charges.
There are questions about this that I don't have answers for such as: When the phone displays 0% or shuts off due to low battery, how LOW is the battery?
Obviously the phone battery can't be dead dead, but it is low enough for the hardware to take precautions.
Anyway Li-ions will at max last 500 charges.. If you want it more than that, You're going to have to buy a new battery anyway. =)

25 min cost 27% battery

I unplugged the phone and got onto the bus. I read news with Captivate. Nothing fancy, just NY Times, Fox News etc. I got off the bus later, I only have 73% battery.
Yes, I just started my day and it's only 70% of battery.
#FAIL.

There are a few simple things you can do to increase battery life. Turn the screen brightness down and use a solid black background as a wallpaper. The screen uses the majority of the batter. so dimming the screen helps, when using a black background the amoled display does not light up black pixels so there is power drain.
I've been running on the same charge since 4pm yesterday. I've streamed music through pandora for about an hour while exercising, browsed the xda forums using the XDA App for 30 mins, made a few calls, browsed Facebook for 30 mins, surfed the web for a couple of hours before bed. Its now 10AM and I'm sitting at 36%. Not to bad really! The phone functions exactly the same at 36% as compared to 100%.

I wonder why everyone says to use a solid black background? Do most people use their phones primarily by staring at the home screen? I'm never at my home screen more than perhaps five seconds while switching apps
I've had pretty poor battery life as well, even after discharging, recharging, and deleting batterystats.bin. There are small tips here and there, like black background and screen brightness, but even following them all, my phone lasts me barely ten hours, and most of that time it's idle. For instance, I listened to local must (no streaming) with the screen off for about an hour and lost 10% of my battery life. What's up with that?

TimF said:
I've streamed music through pandora for about an hour while exercising, browsed the xda forums using the XDA App for 30 mins, made a few calls, browsed Facebook for 30 mins, surfed the web for a couple of hours before bed. Its now 10AM and I'm sitting at 36%.
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I am also shocked and confused by how people can use their phone so heavily.
I already killed those unnecessary processes (e.g., all AT&T crap). I have a static wallpaper. I have screen brightness at 60%. And all I have been doing is just reading news and surfing the web. It literally cost me 1% of battery for every 1 min of use. It's just ridiculous.

You are probably on your home screen a lot more than you realize.
Anyway it's a smartphone, they all eat through battery time. you will never get superb battery life unless you crowbar a 3000mah battery into your device.
edit:
set the screen on its lowest brightness setting, the only time I've had to increase the brightness is when I am outside in the sun.
if you are on a bus, if you are not using wifi, turn off the radio.

TimF said:
Anyway it's a smartphone, they all eat through battery time. you will never get superb battery life unless you crowbar a 3000mah battery into your device.
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You just said your phone is at 36% eighteen hours after charging! Compared to the 0% I'm at ten hours after charging...I'm not looking for superb battery life at all, just somewhat decent. I'm actually bringing a backup feature phone with me to college this semester in case I can't resolve this issue, because I will need to use my phone both in the morning and at night some days

TimF said:
edit:
set the screen on its lowest brightness setting, the only time I've had to increase the brightness is when I am outside in the sun.
if you are on a bus, if you are not using wifi, turn off the radio.
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I have Wifi, BT always off. And I don't listen to Pandora.
I think the key is you have the lowest brightness on your phone. It is going to save you a lot of battery 'cause half of the battery is for the screen.
But I just couldn't stand it. I wish I can set to 100% all the time. It looks so much better.

The phone radio is a huge consumer of battery - especially in weak signal areas. The bars are not that accurate either. that coupled with 3rd party apps that don't always behave nice, can equal rapid battery drain.
Putting the plain in Airplane mode is good way to see what battery life is like without the Cell radio always doing its thing. It is not a fix, but it can show that the battery/phone are not broken. There probably can be improvements and tweaks made by samsung, but I don't think the phones are defective.

mwxiao said:
I think the key is you have the lowest brightness on your phone. It is going to save you a lot of battery 'cause half of the battery is for the screen.
But I just couldn't stand it. I wish I can set to 100% all the time. It looks so much better.
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This is what you would call a trade-off I like the bright screen also but I like having longer battery life more.
The screen is still pretty bright on it lowest setting and you gt used to the lower brightness after a while.
magicdanw said:
You just said your phone is at 36% eighteen hours after charging! Compared to the 0% I'm at ten hours after charging...I'm not looking for superb battery life at all, just somewhat decent. I'm actually bringing a backup feature phone with me to college this semester in case I can't resolve this issue, because I will need to use my phone both in the morning and at night some days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how are you using your phone? What apps are you running, are you using any emulators.

There's an app called Spare Parts, which will show you what is using your battery when the screen is off. Open it up and choose "Partial Wake Usage" from the drop down to see.
My Captivate appeared to drain battery very quickly, but with moderate to decent usage throughout a day I was trying to kill the battery it lasted me over 13 hours. I think it's a matter of the battery reporting taking a good while to calibrate properly.

I've had an issue twice now with absurd battery usage. Both times I charged the phone to full and disconnected it; after doing that the phone would lose 10% charge every hour sitting completely idle! Using the phone during that time drained it even faster. Both times powering the phone completely off and back on resolved the issue.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

magicdanw said:
I wonder why everyone says to use a solid black background? Do most people use their phones primarily by staring at the home screen? I'm never at my home screen more than perhaps five seconds while switching apps
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In AMOLED, black pixels dont use power. This is different from LCD where even black pixels still use power.

Have you guys tried fully charging, then fully discharing then repeating this step 3 more times? It helps with the battery life tremendously.

You gotta do a factory reset. Many people as well as myself had the same issue. For me, a side effect was also that the att start up swoosh was stupidly loud.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I only did the discharge thing once, last week, and today I am going on a 21 hours with 28% left.

2g app
I was told there is a 2g / 3g application. Has anyone tried this? Apparently it puts the phone in 2g when no data connection is needed and then updates to 3g when a data process is required...

i'm on day two of not charging mine... and i'm at 25%...
i unplugged it from a full charge yesterday (monday) morning before i left for work and today (29 hours later) i'm at 25%... this is with advanced task killer auto killing tasks when screen is off as well as being aggressive about it. i've been listening to music from my sd card, browsing facebook and taking some pictures (and uploading them to fb). i guess i'm either super lucky not to have any problems with GPS or the battery, or i'm a very light user.

I dunno what happened to the main battery thread?
I just got a new phone two days ago because of the restart issue. This one has the same battery issue. Drains 2-4%/hour just being idle. I have nothing beyond launcher pro and google voice installed. Everything is on lockdown in terms of batt usage. The only thing I haven't done is turn off the cell antenna.
I've tried the tricks I knew: factory reset, calibration trick. These didn't help at all. My last phone just needed a factory reset and it was all good. Now I'm sad again :-( will it just improve itself when the phone "learns" the battery or something? I wish I could teach it

Several things you can do.
1) Use WiFi if you can use it, it uses less power. If you don't have somewhere to use WiFi, leave it off.
2) Same goes for BT- leave it off if possible.
3) Use this to get rooted and remove all the ATT crap that sucks battery life. Applying the lag fix also means you spend less time with the screen on, so that can also help you out.
4) Use Auto Brightness
5) Disabling haptic feedback and the tapping sounds (I find it more annoying regardless)
6) Use a static black wallpaper- or something really dark. IMO it looks great black and plus the AMOLED... Black doesn't use power.
7) Use Advanced Task Killer. I have mine on Aggressive and Moderate security every half hour. This will make sure hung apps, etc get killed and apps you haven't ran. Make sure you whitelist the apps that run your widgets and such though.
That's the best things to do to.
Edit- above all, remember this is a SMART phone, not a feature phone like the iPhone is. The simple fact this full blown SMART phone can even begin to rival just a feature phone like the iPhone speaks volumes to how much more efficient it is than what you think it is.

starwolf256 said:
I've had an issue twice now with absurd battery usage. Both times I charged the phone to full and disconnected it; after doing that the phone would lose 10% charge every hour sitting completely idle! Using the phone during that time drained it even faster. Both times powering the phone completely off and back on resolved the issue.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have had issues with battery life but quickly realized what had been causing the issues, twice it had been snesoid not closing down all the way after use, and this combined with an app that was hurting battery life (word feud), I realized what my problem was.
I leave the brightness jacked all the way down. I believe the lowest it goes on the stock rom is like 15%, but there are ways to go lower than that.
I've not used my phone much the past two days since charging it, and i'm currently down to 35%, but most of my battery use is cell standby, with display being 3rd or so on the list.
You can always use a program like tasker to make the phone go into airport mode between certain hours of the day (IE: while you're sleeping) to help conserve the battery life.
There are also tons of other good tips in this thread.
And trust me, the phone can last; i've managed 3days on one charge

Amazing battery life!

I'm just wondering if anyone here is getting the super amazing battery life that I'm also seeing. I'm running Virusrom (basically just themed stock rom with no bloat) had my data connections off, and screen off clock speed set to 200MHz (using overclock widget to control speed)
I got through 12 hours on 3% battery. Is anyone else seeing this?

what overclock widget you using? Just curious...
Bleeds

I would love that...

If I never touch the phone I get this
But unfortunately I can't leave it alone xD
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

kdb424 said:
I'm just wondering if anyone here is getting the super amazing battery life that I'm also seeing. I'm running Virusrom (basically just themed stock rom with no bloat) had my data connections off, and screen off clock speed set to 200MHz (using overclock widget to control speed)
I got through 12 hours on 3% battery. Is anyone else seeing this?
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seems alittle fishy since the processor cannot go below 245Mhz.
plus what do you mean by data connections off? No LTE or 3G?
Or do you mean you disabled always-on mobile data? I myself usually drop 10% in about 7-8 hours with that enabled and normal use, with SetCPU telling the processor to run at 245Mhz when the screen is off.

Yea, 245mhz, I didn't have my phone on me, and couldn't exactly remember. No data means no wifi, 3G, 4G. It just could receive/send calls and texts. As for the overclock widget, it's just called "Overclock Widget" in the market.

I am on a stock Tbolt and have disabled the lock screen and GPS when not needed and am getting at least 12 hrs with life to spare. MUCH better then my first day of use

1 1/2 more hours I will reach 12 hours. All I did was to follow this man's tips. I still have 30% left. I'm sure it's nothing new to some of you but new to me as I never had to do this w my old Samsung or Nokia phones.
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2011/...tery-cover-should-be-free/#IDComment136566791
I have
1. MS Exchange sync every 15 min
2. Gmail sync
3. Facebook sync
3. SipDroid calls for about 2 hours
4. Pandora streaming for 1/2 hour
5. Surf net about 1 hour
6. Xda app about 1/2 hour
I'm happy and i'm still stock TB!!!

Unless I'm actively using data, I always have it off. Well unless it's on charge haha. As for sync, I don't even sync email (gmail), or anything. I don't really count contacts or apps as syncing as it's almost a one time thing. Most people tell my i Baby my smartphone, but I'm the only one I knew that could get 3 days on my Dinc 3 days no charge on stock battery haha.

Uhh... congratulations?! You made your device entirely useless and got trough 12 hours on 3% of the battery.
What is the point of using your Android smartphone without data all day? Is this a pissing contest to see who can disable all of the core functionality of the phone and see how long the battery lasts?
I turned my phone off the other day and when I turned it back on I used .5% of the battery... woah!! That is absurd battery life for such an awesome smart phone.
Sorry for all the BS... but honestly, why go through all of these lengths to prolong battery life longer than 12-18 hours. It renders the device useless and it no longer provides service to the user. I completely agree with optimizing the device (running custom kernels when they become available), using SetCPU profiles, etc... to a certain extent. If those optimizations impede on performance or functionality in any way then they are not worth it to me.
So ultimately, why sacrifice performance and functionality for the sake of ridiculous battery life. As long as you can make it through the day, then no worries. I charge my device every night anyhow.

I've started using this widget as well, I'll find out its effectiveness in a day or two once I leave it off for a while (like overnight). Only complaint I have though - every time I turn the screen on, it says it's been granted su permissions, right above my dock. Is there any way to turn that off? It's just kinda weird too, if I go to show off the phone it looks bad.
Edit: I do have data usage in the background though.

Well honestly, I am around a computer most of the day, sleeping, or at work (can't be on my phone) I was sleeping most of that 3% loss. When I'm near a computer I tether so that charges without me thinking about it, and in my car I have it on charge because of the battery rape of GPS and 3g/4g. It's still a fully functional phone with no data... I can text and talk all I want. And it's not like I don't toggle on my data when I need it. I just don't see the point of being THAT connected to technology ALL off the item, and I'm a programmer, and an I.T. gupy >_>
Russ36363 said:
I've started using this widget as well, I'll find out its effectiveness in a day or two once I leave it off for a while (like overnight). Only complaint I have though - every time I turn the screen on, it says it's been granted su permissions, right above my dock. Is there any way to turn that off? It's just kinda weird too, if I go to show off the phone it looks bad.
Edit: I do have data usage in the background though.
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In the Superuser app you can change that notification. Also, there is a preference for the notification letting you know the clock changed in the widget's prefs. I turn them off. I normally use a smartass kernel as it works with much less power, but this is better than not having it for now IMHO.

bmcclure937 said:
Uhh... congratulations?! You made your device entirely useless and got trough 12 hours on 3% of the battery.
What is the point of using your Android smartphone without data all day? Is this a pissing contest to see who can disable all of the core functionality of the phone and see how long the battery lasts?
I turned my phone off the other day and when I turned it back on I used .5% of the battery... woah!! That is absurd battery life for such an awesome smart phone.
Sorry for all the BS... but honestly, why go through all of these lengths to prolong battery life longer than 12-18 hours. It renders the device useless and it no longer provides service to the user. I completely agree with optimizing the device (running custom kernels when they become available), using SetCPU profiles, etc... to a certain extent. If those optimizations impede on performance or functionality in any way then they are not worth it to me.
So ultimately, why sacrifice performance and functionality for the sake of ridiculous battery life. As long as you can make it through the day, then no worries. I charge my device every night anyhow.
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This. One of my pet peeves is people bragging about amazing battery life when they're using their phone as a paper weight. Why buy a smartphone?

want a droid said:
This. One of my pet peeves is people bragging about amazing battery life when they're using their phone as a paper weight. Why buy a smartphone?
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I'll tell you why.
1. 4g tether that rivals my cable internet, and I can have both at the same time
2. I always have data and GPS, which is amazing in my car or anywhere.
3. Why no I have to be strung to the internet 24/7 and not just when I want to? It's always there, at the toggle of a button. I'd rather not be lazy and toggle data versus looking for a charger every few hours >_>

kdb424 said:
Well honestly, I am around a computer most of the day, sleeping, or at work (can't be on my phone) I was sleeping most of that 3% loss. When I'm near a computer I tether so that charges without me thinking about it, and in my car I have it on charge because of the battery rape of GPS and 3g/4g. It's still a fully functional phone with no data... I can text and talk all I want. And it's not like I don't toggle on my data when I need it. I just don't see the point of being THAT connected to technology ALL off the item, and I'm a programmer, and an I.T. gupy >_>
In the Superuser app you can change that notification. Also, there is a preference for the notification letting you know the clock changed in the widget's prefs. I turn them off. I normally use a smartass kernel as it works with much less power, but this is better than not having it for now IMHO.
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Thanks, I somehow missed that setting when I was setting it up earlier.
Also, I kind of agree with what's said due to the fact that 75%+ of the time I'm awake I'm at a computer. I don't need to have my phone do much more than texts/calls during that time. Why waste battery for that? But when I'm not at a computer, I need it, and that's why I have this phone.

Russ36363 said:
Thanks, I somehow missed that setting when I was setting it up earlier...But when I'm not at a computer, I need it, and that's why I have this phone.
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Not a problem. We all miss something at times
As for "needing" data, I personally find myself "wanting" it. I don't have anything that I can't let go of on the internet while I'm at work (can't use my phone for anything but texting once in a while). I always enjoy my data, and use a considerable amount of data, but it's either tethered or plugged in as I'm driving, and may as well. I guess being a minimalist is against the law now a days

i get great battery life stock not rooted but when i added adw launcher and gingerbread theme with ginger bread keyboard i went 1hr and it was a 60% and i never touched it so stock my battery is awesome

bmcclure937 said:
Uhh... congratulations?! You made your device entirely useless and got trough 12 hours on 3% of the battery.
What is the point of using your Android smartphone without data all day? Is this a pissing contest to see who can disable all of the core functionality of the phone and see how long the battery lasts?
I turned my phone off the other day and when I turned it back on I used .5% of the battery... woah!! That is absurd battery life for such an awesome smart phone.
Sorry for all the BS... but honestly, why go through all of these lengths to prolong battery life longer than 12-18 hours. It renders the device useless and it no longer provides service to the user. I completely agree with optimizing the device (running custom kernels when they become available), using SetCPU profiles, etc... to a certain extent. If those optimizations impede on performance or functionality in any way then they are not worth it to me.
So ultimately, why sacrifice performance and functionality for the sake of ridiculous battery life. As long as you can make it through the day, then no worries. I charge my device every night anyhow.
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Click to collapse
I think you've missed the point. Noone will last even more than 6 hours if you don't do the trickle charges or whatever you call it. That's the point. I know you reply to OP but just want to point it out. After charging it the right way, you will certainly last 8 hours at least which then bring to your point "I charge the phone every night anhow".

FP5241 said:
I am on a stock Tbolt and have disabled the lock screen and GPS when not needed and am getting at least 12 hrs with life to spare. MUCH better then my first day of use
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How did you disable the lock screen?
Thanks

in settings, there is a setting to turn off data and wifi after a certain epriod of time when the screen is off, saves battery very well.

Battery Life, Oh?

I think it's crazy how many people are downing the battery life on the Sensation. I used my phone a bit today. Off the charger at 10AM, used GPS to go to work with Bluetooth activated as well. Forgot to turn them both off while at work. I used my phone like ever 5 minutes checking Twitter updates(also weather/news/facebook/email/etc updates are automatically updating as fast as the app allows. So quick updates for all my apps, GPS and bluetooth turned on all day. Home around 5, watched a few episodes of South Park on Netflix with my phone. Read some news. Played a few different games for about 5-10min each just trying out new games. It's now almost 1AM the next day, and I'm above 40% battery life. I manage my screen brightness, that may be the only thing I remembered to manage well today. While outside/in car, full brightness, inside, as low as possible.
It's shocking to me when I see threads of how the battery life stinks. I'm using the stock battery, I don't even seen the need of getting a larger battery because this already gets me through a day full of activity. Anyone else find the battery life on this device, quite handy? Mine is rooted, but it's stock ROM. I'm also using a skin posted by a member of our forum, the transparency. I'm running the stock T-MOUS(why is it called tmous..? are people that lazy to spell out t-mobile?) ROM, because I accidentally deleted a few apps I discovered I needed back, and did not do a backup. Oh, and I'm also using the battery mod, for the battery icon in my notification bar.
I guess I'm just praising the battery life, is all

I have only had my sensation for about 5 days and battery life is amazing! Im still stock too.. I came from an evo 4g rooted running cm7 and or miui and battery life doesn't come close to being as good as my sensation. Not only is battery life awesome, this phone is awesome. I moved to Southern California a couple weeks ago and Sprint out here is horrible.. so I switched and couldn't be happier. Plus I like this phone was better than the evo series. Battery life is sweet!
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

You would have to post a screendoor shot of your battery usage and screen on time to completely determine how much the phone was used and how long the screen was on.
Bluetooth and GPS don't use any battery or have low usage (depends on the chipset because some completely turn off) during standby since they're not being used at all.
So we can all praise our phones for having good battery life, but it all depends on usage. If you don't use your phone a lot (you could turn on your screen every 5 minutes but at the end of the day have only like 45 minutes of screen on time and like 70% battery left.) Then you get good battery life. Use your phone a lot and quite simply battery life sucks.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I think it can largely depend on how you use your phone, not just how often or for how long. For example my Fiance also has the Sensation and on her first charge she got 3hrs52minutes before hitting 10% battery. Since then she has only gotten ~2hrs each day now that she has Twitter and Facebook for Sense accounts set up.

That's not good. There's gotta be something wrong with either her phone or something. 2 hours of battery life warrants an exchange.
lokhor said:
I think it can largely depend on how you use your phone, not just how often or for how long. For example my Fiance also has the Sensation and on her first charge she got 3hrs52minutes before hitting 10% battery. Since then she has only gotten ~2hrs each day now that she has Twitter and Facebook for Sense accounts set up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

enoch861 said:
That's not good. There's gotta be something wrong with either her phone or something. 2 hours of battery life warrants an exchange.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone lasts longer than 2hrs, that's 2hrs of the screen being on. my sensation get's about the same. This is with Gmail on Autosync and Twitter/Facebook for Sense accounts enabled too.

If I do what u did, my batt will be flat in 6 hours. Somethings just not right with my sensation.
xSeany said:
I think it's crazy how many people are downing the battery life on the Sensation. I used my phone a bit today. Off the charger at 10AM, used GPS to go to work with Bluetooth activated as well. Forgot to turn them both off while at work. I used my phone like ever 5 minutes checking Twitter updates(also weather/news/facebook/email/etc updates are automatically updating as fast as the app allows. So quick updates for all my apps, GPS and bluetooth turned on all day. Home around 5, watched a few episodes of South Park on Netflix with my phone. Read some news. Played a few different games for about 5-10min each just trying out new games. It's now almost 1AM the next day, and I'm above 40% battery life. I manage my screen brightness, that may be the only thing I remembered to manage well today. While outside/in car, full brightness, inside, as low as possible.
It's shocking to me when I see threads of how the battery life stinks. I'm using the stock battery, I don't even seen the need of getting a larger battery because this already gets me through a day full of activity. Anyone else find the battery life on this device, quite handy? Mine is rooted, but it's stock ROM. I'm also using a skin posted by a member of our forum, the transparency. I'm running the stock T-MOUS(why is it called tmous..? are people that lazy to spell out t-mobile?) ROM, because I accidentally deleted a few apps I discovered I needed back, and did not do a backup. Oh, and I'm also using the battery mod, for the battery icon in my notification bar.
I guess I'm just praising the battery life, is all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

Oh! Makes sense..
But 2 hours with screen and dead in 6 hours? I'm glad I have a G2x then. Cause I get 3 hours and like between 13 and 16 hours.
lokhor said:
The phone lasts longer than 2hrs, that's 2hrs of the screen being on. my sensation get's about the same. This is with Gmail on Autosync and Twitter/Facebook for Sense accounts enabled too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

You can go by statistics and on screen time and what not. but I just got home from work, and I literally used my phone for about 2 hours straight calling carriers for a customer. I'm above 80%. So from 9AM-4PM, only saw a 20% drain. Once again, keeping BT and GPS on just to see how it goes. ALL of my autosyncs are once again, on, and set to the most frequent can be.
Compared to any other stock phone, this is amazing. Compared to my Cyan N1 and my Cyan NS, it's not a huge difference. Although, at this rate I may give the lead to the Sensation, since I'm leaving all these extra features on throughout the entire day.

good
I get two to three days out of my Sensation, and I'm a relatively heavy Internet user... don't phone much.
At first I wasn't getting great mileage - having to re-charge after only 10 hours or so, but did two things to improve it dramatically...
First, charge the battery once using the following method:
1. charge battery to 100% and leave on charger for an extra hour
2. unplug the cable, turn off* the phone, and plug the charger back in. leave charging for another hour.
3. unplug the phone, turn it on for two minutes, turn the phone back off*, and plug in the phone again. leave charging for another hour.
* when I say "turn off", I mean completely, without fastboot. so either disable fastboot before switching off, or turn off the phone and pull the battery then put it back in.
Second:
Turn off automatic screen brightness, and set the brightness manually to what you need. Ideally, I'd like to have an auto-screen brightness adjustment that automatically sets it, say, 25% lower than what the built-in function does.

That's pretty exceptional. I usually get 13-14 hours with 5+ hours of screen time before I'm at 20%. Using the chichitec battery, btw.

My chichitec battery went 18 hours yesterday before it got to 10% and I charged it. That was with a lot of web browsing, some phone calls, music, games. Id say, medium-heavy usage.
Matt

Same here I have had several Android phones with different carriers and this is hands down the best, on par with the iPhone I had previously with Verizon. No problem getting through the day with Exchange and 2 IMAP accounts and heavy phone use, the only mod is I set screen brightness, battery is stock.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

no one is complaining i watch sparticus on netflix and game of throne on hbo go for 5 hrs straight while facebooking random hoes . and i am out of battery..
we are complaining that the 4g drains the phone while on idle.

this is the best battery life i've ever had on a phone. i can't complain at all... i even have gps on and i could never do that before. lol!

Guys, having GPS on doesn't use any battery. It only uses battery when it is active. So for most of you 99% of the time your GPS is off aka standby or whatever you wanna call it.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

One reason many people complain about bad battery life is that it seems some Sensation models are actually faulty. Best evidence: TechRadar review.
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-sensation-943466/review?artc_pg=9
UPDATE: We've finally managed to get our hands on a new review model of the HTC Sensation, and the good news is the battery life is definitely improved.
It seems that a combination of data-hungry applications and a slightly dodgy model caused the odd readings from before, although we're not entirely convinced the above scenario isn't one power users will face, which is why we've left it in.
But in normal use, and by that we mean sending 42 texts, spending 49 mins on the phone, watching an hour and bit of video and using the music player constantly, plus a few minutes spent using GPS to track ourselves and browsing the internet for roughly 45 mins, the battery pretty much lasted the day, although it was often in the yellow zone come 11PM.
However, what was more impressive (and a relief) was the sleep state of the HTC Sensation. Where before the phone would get very hot and start spewing out battery life in our pocket for no reason, if you leave the phone locked up for around 10-15 minutes on our new model the power consumption dropped to almost nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

"Hypermiler" (Battery Life) Tips

This is a little bit of a boast, I guess you could say... but also educational in a way.
This is my most recent battery life. I found that when I posted my screenshots, people think they are faked in some way. (Posted it here and other GS3 forums) They are not. I am using the stock battery my phone came with. NOT an extended battery. And you can see from the battery graph that the phone was not charged. I guess this is to show that you can use your phone heavily, and still get amazing battery life.
I am using the stock jellybean leak. Not rooted or unlocked.
This is everything I have done to get good battery life.
-I turned the LED touch lights off (I don't like them, they're so bright)
-I have all vibrations off. My phone does not ever vibrate.
-I have power save on.
-I have S-Voice "wake command" off.
-I have motion control disabled.
-I am almost always on wifi (work & home)
-When I am on wifi, I turn mobile data off.
-When I am going to bed, I put my phone in airplane mode.
-I rely heavily on the task manager, I clear my open windows and under the "RAM" tab I clear memory. Probably once an hour.
-I have my sync OFF. I check my email manually.
-Auto brightness.
-I never partially charge. I let my battery go all the way down to 1% then I charge it to 100%. Always.
-Always have a dark background, if possible.
Thats everything. Mind you, I didn't make or receive any phone calls on this cycle. But I did use my phone, as you can see I didn't just let it sit around. Device idle was like 3%?
Anyone else a "hypermiler" like me? I don't get this much screen time every time, it ranges from 5-7. I've gotten more than this and I've gotten less.
Hope this can help even if it's only a little.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

josh995 said:
-I rely heavily on the task manager, I clear my open windows and under the "RAM" tab I clear memory. Probably once an hour.
-Auto brightness.
-I never partially charge. I let my battery go all the way down to 1% then I charge it to 100%. Always.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Clearing the ram too much actually drains the battery more because certain apps will have to auto start again every time you clear memory
-Keeping it at around 0-30% all the time should save you more.(I can still see my screen during the day at 30%)
-That doesn't do anything.

josh995 said:
-When I am going to bed, I put my phone in airplane mode.
-I rely heavily on the task manager, I clear my open windows and under the "RAM" tab I clear memory. Probably once an hour.
-Auto brightness.
-I never partially charge. I let my battery go all the way down to 1% then I charge it to 100%. Always.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Are there no A/C outlets in your bedroom?
-What the previous guy said, this is a stupid thing to do. Java was designed around efficient use of resources, and restarting running apps (which would happen, unless you have them removed entirely) would use more processing power than you had saved by not having the tasks running in the first place.
-Using Auto is causing the system to periodically poll the light sensor, draining more battery than used otherwise.
-This is how you kill Li-Ion batteries (one way, at least). The whole spiel about discharging fully, THEN charging fully or the battery will have some sort of "memory" of capacity less than actual capacity is how Ni-Cad rechargables work, not Li-Ions. Li-Ion batteries are the opposite. For superior life, keep them topped up as much as possible. FYI
I hope THIS helped, more than a little.

There are plenty of outlets in my room. Lol I just don't need to use them that often as you can see also I hate getting calls and messages in the middle of the night but I use my phone as an alarm sometimes so airplane mode just seems convenient.
This is just what I do. I mean, some of the things I do may not help at all. But this is what I do with Android phones and I've always gotten really good battery life. I've always, always gone down to 1% then charged up to 100% and I've never had a battery go bad on me. Then again I only ever keep a phone for 1 year. I do know that these batteries don't have the memory problem, I just can't bring myself to not fully discharge or charge. I have mild OCD, for real. Little things like that brother me
I'll play with backlighting to see what that does for me.
I've gotta be doing something right. Idk about the task manager, I've just always liked not having programs running if I don't need them to be. I know they arent "running" but it just gives me peace of mind, I guess.
Thanks for the recommendations I will try them.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

josh995 said:
There are plenty of outlets in my room. Lol I just don't need to use them that often as you can see also I hate getting calls and messages in the middle of the night but I use my phone as an alarm sometimes so airplane mode just seems convenient.
This is just what I do. I mean, some of the things I do may not help at all. But this is what I do with Android phones and I've always gotten really good battery life. I've always, always gone down to 1% then charged up to 100% and I've never had a battery go bad on me. Then again I only ever keep a phone for 1 year.
I'll play with backlighting to see what that does for me.
I've gotta be doing something right. Idk about the task manager, I've just always liked not having programs running if I don't need them to be. I know they arent "running" but it just gives me peace of mind, I guess.
Thanks for the recommendations I will try them.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You getting really good battery life =/= you getting the best battery life possible.
I have pushed ~2 days of battery life without charging many times on my GS3 (with all the bells and whistles running, just mobile data turned off when i'm not commuting), i just don't have a reliable measurement because:
1. I'm flashing mods/roms/kernels/whatever multiple times per week, and
2. I usually charge my phone when it's convenient, which is fairly often.

charlieg90 said:
You getting really good battery life =/= you getting the best battery life possible.
I have pushed ~2 days of battery life without charging many times on my GS3 (with all the bells and whistles running, just mobile data turned off when i'm not commuting), i just don't have a reliable measurement because:
1. I'm flashing mods/roms/kernels/whatever multiple times per week, and
2. I usually charge my phone when it's convenient, which is fairly often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped flashing because of my OCD. I mean, I'm not crazy but it causes perfection issues and all the ROMs I was flashing had glitches here and there and Idk if you've known anyone with OCD but with the perfection issue, those glitches were all I could think about. So there went flashing. Lol.
Also comes into play with the charging thing. You seem knowledgeable in what you said but even though you said keeping it topped up is best, in my mind, that's destroying my battery. Lol. I really do appreciate your info though.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

josh995 said:
my OCD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you said it, so that I didn't have to. :silly:
I read your post and the first thing that came to mind was, "there is medication for that, you know.":laugh:

Here's my .02. My battery never lasts that long. Not even close. I'd feel disappointed if it did. I bought my gsiii with the intent of gobbling up unlimited data and using the oc'd processor to run apps till the phone is so hot I have to set it down. I've burned up almost 6gigs of data since the 7th. I get around 4 hours of screen on time most generally. I also throw it on a charger whenever I have the chance. My battery rarely dips below 50%. Like others have said, full discharge cycles are for ni-cad batteries. Li-ion doesn't benefit. Good battery life for me is the lg flip phone we have on a diff line that lasts a couple weeks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2

josh995 said:
I stopped flashing because of my OCD. I mean, I'm not crazy but it causes perfection issues and all the ROMs I was flashing had glitches here and there and Idk if you've known anyone with OCD but with the perfection issue, those glitches were all I could think about. So there went flashing. Lol.
Also comes into play with the charging thing. You seem knowledgeable in what you said but even though you said keeping it topped up is best, in my mind, that's destroying my battery. Lol. I really do appreciate your info though.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, okay, as long as you admit it... I'll stop being a snarky jerk. I'm totally the same way though. Perfectionist to the core.

It's a very bad idea to let the battery go down to 1% regularly, lithium batteries should be charged more often for better life and more cycles

Sorry but I still just don't believe 7 hours of screen on time. 4 is above average even amazing screen on time for this phone and stock battery. I suppose there is the possibility of using 0 percent brightness, or even lux brightness or something similar to get the brightness even lower.
You said you use auto brightness, I'm sorry I just don't buy it.
People with the extended batteries are getting 7 hours of screen on time not stock batteries.
7 hours of screen on time is literally double almost every other phone on the market with stock batteries. I really fail to see how having minimum usage and a high performing rom will get you double screen on time.
Edit: with that said, in my current situation I will never have wifi access plus I tether a lot so I really have yet to personally see screen on time since I rooted. Before root and stock I got about 3.5 of screen on time.
Not trying to be a douche or anything just very curious about how 7 hours comes about.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

bond32 said:
Sorry but I still just don't believe 7 hours of screen on time. 4 is above average even amazing screen on time for this phone and stock battery. I suppose there is the possibility of using 0 percent brightness, or even lux brightness or something similar to get the brightness even lower.
You said you use auto brightness, I'm sorry I just don't buy it.
People with the extended batteries are getting 7 hours of screen on time not stock batteries.
7 hours of screen on time is literally double almost every other phone on the market with stock batteries. I really fail to see how having minimum usage and a high performing rom will get you double screen on time.
Edit: with that said, in my current situation I will never have wifi access plus I tether a lot so I really have yet to personally see screen on time since I rooted. Before root and stock I got about 3.5 of screen on time.
Not trying to be a douche or anything just very curious about how 7 hours comes about.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you dont get 7 hours because you are not doing what op did for perfection, and you just like other "4 hour" guys in this thread. I can confirm 7 hours usage is totally possible and what left can support one day idle time when you turn off data etc. Iusually dont do that because I like my phone work at full functionality, but I also like tinkering around to keep maximum use of juice, by eliminating wake locks and autostart.
killing background helps sometimes because some stupid apps keeping using cpu after backgrounded. op go and get a iphone, its perfect for OCD since it can get zero unwanted background activity, amazing idle time and stable usage with relatively easier configuration and tweaking.
1% is NO. 1 battery killer, heat is NO. 2, top up at 100% is NO. 3. Li based battery is at best 40%. but plaese its just a phone, charge and use anytime you want. phone outdated way earlier than battery.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

generalmilk said:
you dont get 7 hours because you are not doing what op did for perfection, and you just like other "4 hour" guys in this thread. I can confirm 7 hours usage is totally possible and what left can support one day idle time when you turn off data etc. Iusually dont do that because I like my phone work at full functionality, but I also like tinkering around to keep maximum use of juice, by eliminating wake locks and autostart.
killing background helps sometimes because some stupid apps keeping using cpu after backgrounded. op go and get a iphone, its perfect for OCD since it can get zero unwanted background activity, amazing idle time and stable usage with relatively easier configuration and tweaking.
1% is NO. 1 battery killer, heat is NO. 2, top up at 100% is NO. 3. Li based battery is at best 40%. but plaese its just a phone, charge and use anytime you want. phone outdated way earlier than battery.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I understand what you're saying I think you misread my post. I was strickly referring to the screen on time which 7 hours of screen on time with stock battery is inconceivable. 4 is about the most you would normally see.
7 hours of USAGE is common.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2

Well I mean. You don't have to believe me. I mean I have nothing to offer but my word. I do use auto brightness. But because of the suggestion I'll probably set it to manual and see what that does.
I got 7 hours screen on time with the stock battery. The battery says "3.8 v li-ion battery"
I've gotten more than this is the past but I've also gotten less.
Like I said you don't have to believe me but... I'm using the stock battery.
And to the poster who mentioned to get an iPhone - I have one for my business line
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

battery statistics are poor statistics in general. there are too many variables. luckily we have removeable batteries if we need mroe juice.
heres some postings to add to the mix
put my phone through the paces with fantasy football.
held up pretty well. stock battery mind you. on pace for nearly 8 hrs of on screen time. This isnt with typical use though... With typical use I can get 20hrs and 5-6 hrs of screen time. I thought anywhere from 4-6 hours of on screen time was what people were suppposed to be getting.

Yeah we all use our phone differently. I rarely actually talk on the phone with my GS3 because I use my iPhone for that. But everything else I do on my GS3, reading news, some browsing, xda.
I just thought I'd share what I do for people that may want to get better battery life.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

bond32 said:
While I understand what you're saying I think you misread my post. I was strickly referring to the screen on time which 7 hours of screen on time with stock battery is inconceivable. 4 is about the most you would normally see.
7 hours of USAGE is common.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I shouldn't use the word "usage". I meant 7 hours screen on time. Sometimes I got 8 or more, but only use it continuously after charging, no idle time.
---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
josh995 said:
Yeah we all use our phone differently. I rarely actually talk on the phone with my GS3 because I use my iPhone for that. But everything else I do on my GS3, reading news, some browsing, xda.
I just thought I'd share what I do for people that may want to get better battery life.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yet that involves turning off data. IMO the smartphone should always stay online. In my experience, iPhone can get constant -4 ~ -5ma juice flow during idle even with data (2G) and all the push notifications on, which are the only things I want for stay online. I feel its hard to get similar result on my GS3 though.

generalmilk said:
Yet that involves turning off data. IMO the smartphone should always stay online. In my experience, iPhone can get constant -4 ~ -5ma juice flow during idle even with data (2G) and all the push notifications on, which are the only things I want for stay online. I feel its hard to get similar result on my GS3 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm always online, whether it's wi-fi or 4G. Luckily I have wi-fi at home and at work.
Like, literally as I'm walking out the door of my house, I turn on my mobile data, and when I get to work I turn it off. When I'm leaving work I turn mobile data back on and when I get home I turn it off.

josh995 said:
I'm always online, whether it's wi-fi or 4G. Luckily I have wi-fi at home and at work.
Like, literally as I'm walking out the door of my house, I turn on my mobile data, and when I get to work I turn it off. When I'm leaving work I turn mobile data back on and when I get home I turn it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what you did is pointless. If you leave data on, data is not connected when wifi is connected, and it will connect automatically when no wifi connection.

generalmilk said:
what you did is pointless. If you leave data on, data is not connected when wifi is connected, and it will connect automatically when no wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not pointless to me. As I said a few posts before... I have OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. Things like this affect me. I know that being connected to Wi-Fi that data is not connected, but in my brain, it's as if something is telling me that because my data toggle is on, it's running.
I really can't help it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app