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[Q] As wifi softphone iPhone 4 has 10 times battery life of Captivate

What Gives?
With wifi on, cell radio, gps and bluetooth off, no notifications, no apps allowed to connect besides sipdroid, I get 30 hours standby on Captivate. Under the same conditions, I get over 250 hours with my iPhone 4...
This can't be a straight hardware issue, I'm at a loss to explain why android is unusable as a wifi-only softphone, while the i4 does the job perfectly.

Are you using a modified ROM? Most modified ROM's don't turn off wifi when sleeping, whereas the official OTA ROM's do.

animalcostumeparty said:
What Gives?
With wifi on, cell radio, gps and bluetooth off, no notifications, no apps allowed to connect besides sipdroid, I get 30 hours standby on Captivate. Under the same conditions, I get over 250 hours with my iPhone 4...
This can't be a straight hardware issue, I'm at a loss to explain why android is unusable as a wifi-only softphone, while the i4 does the job perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? In a comparison test where you do not even use your $200 phone (with contract) you are concerned about battery consumption? Is it that hard to find a charger in 30 hours? What real world application are you trying to test?
On a side note my Escalade gets the same mpg as my civic hybrid when parked.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

animalcostumeparty said:
What Gives?
With wifi on, cell radio, gps and bluetooth off, no notifications, no apps allowed to connect besides sipdroid, I get 30 hours standby on Captivate. Under the same conditions, I get over 250 hours with my iPhone 4...
This can't be a straight hardware issue, I'm at a loss to explain why android is unusable as a wifi-only softphone, while the i4 does the job perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd....i get 20+ actually using the thing though i have noticed battery life is significantly better if you turn it off if you are not going to do anything with it but let it sit on the counter for days....also confirmed working on my evo. Perhaps i should look into developing this theory more

Music player testing
I spent $200 on this piece of junk, compared to my cassette player why is it that 2 years after I last used it it still plays but my captivate won't even power on?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

animalcostumeparty said:
What Gives?
With wifi on, cell radio, gps and bluetooth off, no notifications, no apps allowed to connect besides sipdroid, I get 30 hours standby on Captivate. Under the same conditions, I get over 250 hours with my iPhone 4...
This can't be a straight hardware issue, I'm at a loss to explain why android is unusable as a wifi-only softphone, while the i4 does the job perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it is not an android issue either. I have android phones in standby with cell radio off for 10 days. Maybe it is sipdroid - have you considered that?

haters gonna hate.
It's a phone, not an iPod.

granted, i love my captivate.. but i notice power drain when 'idle' with wifi on too.. if i recall, it seems to be more severe depending on the encryption.. (none vs WPA2 tkip+aes)
if im not actively using wifi i tend to turn it off to save juice.

uberjon said:
granted, i love my captivate.. but i notice power drain when 'idle' with wifi on too.. if i recall, it seems to be more severe depending on the encryption.. (none vs WPA2 tkip+aes)
if im not actively using wifi i tend to turn it off to save juice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys do know that you can set the wifi to sleep when the screen is off? The default is fifteen minutes but this can be modified as well.

Setting your wifi sleep policy to never should actually get you more battery life. A strong wifi connection is generally going to use less battery than a 3G data connection, especially if you have less than 4 bars reception. On the stock firmware with wifi sleep set to never I was getting 75+ hour battery life with light use. Basically I was getting 3 days with light use, 2 days with moderate use, and 1 full day with heavy use.

Homeboy's got to be on a leaked 2.2 build. On 2.1, I was getting nearly 4 days on wifi, and 3 days with minimal use on 3g, and that's with the wifi connection set to be always on.

The purpose is to have a wifi softphone
It's like splitting the difference between a cell phone and a landline. No contract! Free calls and sms!
When you factor in the savings from losing the contract, the phone (any phone...) pays for itself in less than a year.
Yes, I am on a leaked 2.2 rom. For some reason I assumed battery management would be better...
I need to revert back to stock eclair and test again!
Also, I think this iphone battery might need calibration. It took two full days to lose 20% and then lost 36% in 12 hours. So the results are a better but less shockingly so.
I'll update after a full calibration on the iphone battery and run on the captivate with stock eclair-

animalcostumeparty said:
It's like splitting the difference between a cell phone and a landline. No contract! Free calls and sms!
When you factor in the savings from losing the contract, the phone (any phone...) pays for itself in less than a year.
Yes, I am on a leaked 2.2 rom. For some reason I assumed battery management would be better...
I need to revert back to stock eclair and test again!
Also, I think this iphone battery might need calibration. It took two full days to lose 20% and then lost 36% in 12 hours. So the results are a better but less shockingly so.
I'll update after a full calibration on the iphone battery and run on the captivate with stock eclair-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm catching your drift now.... If you don't find that flashing back to stock gives you acceptable battery life, try perception 8. Non uv/oc version. That's what I'm on now and it is amazing.

I know exactly what he's talking about. I had my captivate, and battery life was horrible on 2.1 and the leaked 2.2 build. I've had my iPhone 4 for about a week now, and the battery life is significantly better.

Geez, you guys get DAYS worth of usage out of it? I'm lucky to make it through the day! But I'm starting to think I'm just a heavier user. I have a very active Exchange account with Push, 4 more email accounts on 30 minute fetch, handful of widgets on 30 minute updates. WiFi always in use (thanks to the Y5 App), I use remote desktop/vnc a few times a day, and I do everything I can to keep it charged.
During the weekdays I'll get 15 hours of use, weekends I could possibly stretch it out to 24-30. Eh.....that's on Axura.

Was an I phone user. The hardware is great. I os is horrid. Too controlled, too limited. I would expect that you would get good battery life when the phone inhibits you from doing just about everything. Could never see myself going back unless they scrap the os and open it up.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

dressanderc said:
I know exactly what he's talking about. I had my captivate, and battery life was horrible on 2.1 and the leaked 2.2 build. I've had my iPhone 4 for about a week now, and the battery life is significantly better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question is... why are you still reading the Captivate forum? If you were completely satisfied with the switch it seems like you would only be reading iPhone dev forums.

animalcostumeparty said:
Yes, I am on a leaked 2.2 rom. For some reason I assumed battery management would be better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It actually should be a lot better in 2.2. My friend who owns an HTC Desire said his battery life increased by about 75% after the 2.2 update (though he may be exaggerating, who knows). The reason our battery life gets worse with the 2.2 roms is because they're all based off of unfinished leaked roms, which still have a lot of bugs and aren't completely optimized for our devices. I expect things to get significantly better once the official 2.2 rom is released or when/if we get a 2.3 port from the nexus s.

my captivate lasts more than 30 hours lol

my phone lasts 60+ hrs with light use and everything on. normal use and i get about 40.

Thinking Hard of Dropping Thunderbolt for iPhone 4

Ok guys, I have been an Android fan since I got my first OG Droid back in Dec '09. I really wanted this Thunderbolt since it was announced. First thing I did when I got it was test the 4G speed. Friggin unbelievable.
What else is unbelievable is the damn battery drain. I honestly cant stand it. My OG Droid was not this bad. It was bad, yes, but not like this. I am charging probably 2 times a day, with not that much use.
I downloaded the app to turn off 4G, but what good is that? I got the phone because of the 4G!!!! I turn off widgets. i turn off auto-sync. I did the whole battery charge thing, i.e. turn off after full charge, take battery out, etc.....
Then when charing the battery it takes like 4-5 times longer to charge the damn thing. what is up with that? my OG Droid took way less then half the time to get a full charge?
get this, the other night, right before bed I had a 1/2 charge on my battery. at home i leave wifi on because it was said that it is less of a battery drain then the 4g. well, when i woke up by phone wouldnt turn on at all. it was completely dead. the weird thing is, this isnt all the time. the battery has a life of its own!!!!!
now you will tell me to root it and try a rom with a custom kernel. anyone who roots knows that once you do it you are constantly looking for the perfect rom. and guess what, you will never find it. with my OG Droid i probably had a new rom every 2 weeks or so. i really dont want to keep doing that over and over.
so if anyone can convince me otherwise, give a good reason to not switch I am 99% sure that I am going to iphone 4.

Cool story bro. Enjoy your iPhone.

i guess i'm just frustrated, if you couldnet tell.
do you no have issues with your bolt
AisforAustin?

For me, it's all about if you want' Apple to control your technology needs and provide to you what THEY deem necessary and be part of the mindless clan (watch the movie Metropolis, the Giorgio Moroder 1984 version). Then iphone will do for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy taking on technology and thinking for youself, and yes, finding delight in changing your ROM every 2 weeks, and learning from others, and learning from your mistakes, then DROID is for you

I have been happy with my bolt. I came from the Droid X which had very good battery life for me. At first I was a bit iffy about my bolts life, but since I dont have 4G yet I turned off the radio and that helped. Now I am undervolted, bloat free, and monitoring all the **** that is running in the background. Battery lasts me a lot longer than I thought. When 4G comes to my area this year, I will lost a bit of that life, but I'm fine with that. You have to remember, these aren't just phones anymore. They are computers basically. You aren't going to get the same life on any of these smartphones as you would on a RAZR.

eddyo78 said:
Ok guys, I have been an Android fan since I got my first OG Droid back in Dec '09. I really wanted this Thunderbolt since it was announced. First thing I did when I got it was test the 4G speed. Friggin unbelievable.
What else is unbelievable is the damn battery drain. I honestly cant stand it. My OG Droid was not this bad. It was bad, yes, but not like this. I am charging probably 2 times a day, with not that much use.
I downloaded the app to turn off 4G, but what good is that? I got the phone because of the 4G!!!! I turn off widgets. i turn off auto-sync. I did the whole battery charge thing, i.e. turn off after full charge, take battery out, etc.....
Then when charing the battery it takes like 4-5 times longer to charge the damn thing. what is up with that? my OG Droid took way less then half the time to get a full charge?
get this, the other night, right before bed I had a 1/2 charge on my battery. at home i leave wifi on because it was said that it is less of a battery drain then the 4g. well, when i woke up by phone wouldnt turn on at all. it was completely dead. the weird thing is, this isnt all the time. the battery has a life of its own!!!!!
now you will tell me to root it and try a rom with a custom kernel. anyone who roots knows that once you do it you are constantly looking for the perfect rom. and guess what, you will never find it. with my OG Droid i probably had a new rom every 2 weeks or so. i really dont want to keep doing that over and over.
so if anyone can convince me otherwise, give a good reason to not switch I am 99% sure that I am going to iphone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense but last time I checked you decided to jump ship on your own and go with a device that uses a new technology which I'm going to assume you were smart enough to know there would be some kinks and bugs to iron out...
You can't possibly expect 4G to be perfect and better on battery life from the get go, not to mention I turn my 4G off when I'm not using it and I can get a day and a half out of my phone no problem. Secondly why do you need 4G on when you're not even using it? How hard is it to flip the switch off when you're updating your twitter or facebook timeline? Do you really need 4G for a two second process on 3G? If you're surfing the internet fine, streaming video fine, but why is it necessary on simple quick tasks or during standby or sleep?
I'm just saying your expectations were probably too high of a premature technology from the get go, also you're utilizing something you don't need all of the time.

trust me i have been a loyal android fan but this experience is just killin me. i understand that this phone does more but come on, they really have to do something about the battery.
as for custom roms, i am good for it but as i said they all have ups and downs and i just dont want to keep messing with them once i find a major flaw, something of which all the custom roms have.
its not that i want to go and have apple dictate what i can and cant do with my phone. but you have to admit that google / manufacturers are letting all these developers do their work for them. they put out a 1/2 ass piece of work knowing that some developer on xda will come out with a root and a rom to fix their screw up.
i dont know, like i said, i'm just frustrated......

jasonbiggs said:
For me, it's all about if you want' Apple to control your technology needs and provide to you what THEY deem necessary and be part of the mindless clan (watch the movie Metropolis, the Giorgio Moroder 1984 version). Then iphone will do for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy taking on technology and thinking for youself, and yes, finding delight in changing your ROM every 2 weeks, and learning from others, and learning from your mistakes, then DROID is for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ANDROID is for you. It's not called the DROID OS, it's Android. I'd prefer not to have people start calling every android device a DROID like they call all MP3 players iPods even if they are not

I personally came from apple and would NEVER go back. Everything is so locked down. 1 app store with what apple wants in it. A new phone every year (which basically just matches what android has released years ago). I mean but yea battery go with iPhone since being locked down gives you better battery life.
Oh and personally with major usage my phone lasts at least 10 hours. Which I'm pretty sure is close to the iPhone.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

eddyo78 said:
trust me i have been a loyal android fan but this experience is just killin me. i understand that this phone does more but come on, they really have to do something about the battery.
as for custom roms, i am good for it but as i said they all have ups and downs and i just dont want to keep messing with them once i find a major flaw, something of which all the custom roms have.
its not that i want to go and have apple dictate what i can and cant do with my phone. but you have to admit that google / manufacturers are letting all these developers do their work for them. they put out a 1/2 ass piece of work knowing that some developer on xda will come out with a root and a rom to fix their screw up.
i dont know, like i said, i'm just frustrated......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ever heard of Cyanogenmod?

DigitalDementia said:
No offense but last time I checked you decided to jump ship on your own and go with a device that uses a new technology which I'm going to assume you were smart enough to know there would be some kinks and bugs to iron out...
You can't possibly expect 4G to be perfect and better on battery life from the get go, not to mention I turn my 4G off when I'm not using it and I can get a day and a half out of my phone no problem. Secondly why do you need 4G on when you're not even using it? How hard is it to flip the switch off when you're updating your twitter or facebook timeline? Do you really need 4G for a two second process on 3G? If you're surfing the internet fine, streaming video fine, but why is it necessary on simple quick tasks or during standby or sleep?
I'm just saying your expectations were probably too high of a premature technology from the get go, also you're utilizing something you don't need all of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in my opinion, this release of 4g from verizon and htc, is not the best that they could have done. most likely they held releasing the bolt because of the battery issue then got some backlash for constantly pushing it out. guess what, there is still a problem.
i just dont understand why i would need to constantly switch back and forth between 4g and 3g, just seems dumb to me. its like having high speed internet at home and switching between my fios and dialup based on what i need at the time. duh. this may be the fix for now, but come on.
plus, my battery issues have been with 4g off, auto-sync off, no widgets. and still have a drain.

I would atleast wait for the first update to see if they fix or improve upon some of these issues.

So let me get this straight, you hate the idea of using 3g on the TB, but like the idea of switching to a 3g phone?
-sent via 1.21 giggawatts of android.

First of all, I love my Thunderbolt and do not have battery issues. The only time the battery drains is when I use it what I would deem excessively throughout the day. Maybe you have a bad battery? I am not sure, but my phone gets me through a day, and even if it starts to run short, I can plug it in in my car on the way home, which is no inconvenience to me, and it has MORE than enough juice for the rest of the night. Something is definitely eating up your battery though, because the other night I went out drinking and came home drunk with only about 20% left on my battery from the days use. I was too buzzed to bother plugging in the phone, so it was the first time I went to bed with the phone unplugged. I woke up 12 hours later to around 10% battery life.
Also, if you want to go iPhone, then have fun. I gave up a long time ago trying to convince people one is better than the other. It is a pointless argument. I will tell you this though. I have some friends who have iPhone 4s through their job. This was where I first saw the iPhone 4 in the public. To begin with the screen is TINY! People can rave all they want about the retina display, but the small screen does not make it worth the higher resolution in my opinion. Also, if you think owning an iPhone is going to keep you from cord diving to charge your phone, think again. All those guys I know are constantly plugging their phone in throughout the day to get a little bit of a charge here and there so they make it through the day.
This is all just my opinions/experience though, and you have fun doing whatever you are going to do.

DigitalDementia said:
Ever heard of Cyanogenmod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, do they have a stable release for the Bolt now? If so I would love to try it out. Anyone have results on battery life with their latest release?

eddyo78 said:
in my opinion, this release of 4g from verizon and htc, is not the best that they could have done. most likely they held releasing the bolt because of the battery issue then got some backlash for constantly pushing it out. guess what, there is still a problem.
i just dont understand why i would need to constantly switch back and forth between 4g and 3g, just seems dumb to me. its like having high speed internet at home and switching between my fios and dialup based on what i need at the time. duh. this may be the fix for now, but come on.
plus, my battery issues have been with 4g off, auto-sync off, no widgets. and still have a drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll tell you what guy, no one here really cares for your incessant whining, or your more than obvious trolling. We have better things to do with our days than listen to you whine and complain about a decision you made because you were too incompetent to wait and see reviews, or wait for the technology to mature.
Go to a Verizon store return your Thunderbolt get an iPhone 4 (Which is 9 months old) instead and then go whine in their forums about how you miss your 4.3inch touchscreen, your 4G speeds, your true multi-tasking, and custom roms.
Not to mention you can piss and moan with them when the iPhone 5 comes out with it's dual core processor and 4inch touchscreen.
If a mod could close down this troll thread that would be fantastic. On that note I bid you good day sir.

there does seem to be an issue with the stock ROM using 34mA of idle current from the 7 days of data i gathered on 2 stock units. where as other android phones pull 5mA of idle current. so i'm guessing that the thunderbolt delay in being released had something to do with this, and its STILL not quite on par with other android phones.
the option is to not use the stock TB rom, instead try cm7 or an aosp based ROM and see if the current draw returns to normal.

eddyo78 said:
Yes, do they have a stable release for the Bolt now? If so I would love to try it out. Anyone have results on battery life with their latest release?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They just got 3G/4G working today however you aren't patient enough and don't care about freedom of your device so go grab an iPhone instead like I just stated.

DigitalDementia said:
They just got 3G/4G working today however you aren't patient enough and don't care about freedom of your device so go grab an iPhone instead like I just stated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
holy crap, DigitalDementia, did someone piss in your cheerios this morning?
I was going to say that you guys are turning me around, but you had nothing to do with it. My God, I feel sorry for you!
I will give CM7 a try tonight and see how it goes. If I am still having issues I'll get Verizon to give me a new battery as that could be it. I really didnt like the idea of going but am just getting tired of charging this thing so much.
I'll let you guys know how it goes and Digital, please take a chill pill. Dont want you to go postal or anything just because I was thinking of switching.

Is your charger working correctly? Try a different one. I had similar problems with another device draining while plugged in. It was a faulty charger. As for the battery life during the day, I have only had problems once with my TB.

Gingerbread so far...

So from a GR-12 standpoint I must say gingerbread handles just about everything better. with the random odd bugs here and there... so far gingerbread is already showing some awesome stability and speed. much kudos out to the devs here! You guys do a great job and from what I've seen here so far... you put up with maybe one too many ignorant rude individuals. BUT! I would like to extend my thanks to all you devs and helpful members here... and for making my switch to android not only an informative one but a great experience all together.
So... anyway. loving gingerbread (GR-12 mainly). After loading up launcher pro almost every single bug or issue has vanished. seems the twlauncher has some deep seated issues lol.
Looking forward to the new releases!

I totally agree, Ive been running GR-12 for a couple of weeks now and its silky smooth. Oh and im also using launcher pro for the same reasons. lol

A different launchere makes all the difference doesn't it!? After I realized that every time I had a snag or crash it was "twlauncher"... I figured I'd try replacing it. and sure nuff... Awesomeness came spilling forth. Honestly haven't had a issue since. (well I flashed the kc1 modem which gives me the gps performance I need... ).
Outside of my own retarded moment bricking my phone while flashing it... Tearing through 3 old power supplies to get the right combo of resistors to build my own jig.... lol! But all is well that ends well.
What's everyone else's setup / experience with ginger on their cappy's?

MadGoat said:
A different launchere makes all the difference doesn't it!? After I realized that every time I had a snag or crash it was "twlauncher"... I figured I'd try replacing it. and sure nuff... Awesomeness came spilling forth. Honestly haven't had a issue since. (well I flashed the kc1 modem which gives me the gps performance I need... ).
Outside of my own retarded moment bricking my phone while flashing it... Tearing through 3 old power supplies to get the right combo of resistors to build my own jig.... lol! But all is well that ends well.
What's everyone else's setup / experience with ginger on their cappy's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does GPS work on your Gingerbread ROMs? I know the Vibrant it doesn't and I am on ATT, so I am looking to trade for a captivate if it does.

nateysmith said:
Does GPS work on your Gingerbread ROMs? I know the Vibrant it doesn't and I am on ATT, so I am looking to trade for a captivate if it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
worked for me. I was able to pick up a signal within 30 seconds and hold it for almost the whole way to my destination. Not amazing but I've accepted that, now - lol

nyydynasty said:
worked for me. I was able to pick up a signal within 30 seconds and hold it for almost the whole way to my destination. Not amazing but I've accepted that, now - lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is battery on the captivate? On the Gingerbread ROMs I am saying.

nateysmith said:
How is battery on the captivate? On the Gingerbread ROMs I am saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me has been better than Froyo

tcortinag said:
For me has been better than Froyo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive reading lately gingerbread's battery isnt as good as the froyo

nateysmith said:
How is battery on the captivate? On the Gingerbread ROMs I am saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
significantly better than froyo (at least for me). There are some people with a battery drain issue but I'm thinking its an app thats not optimized for GB. I dont think its a ROM or KERNEL issue - but I'm not a dev so I can't back my statements up.

Both battery and gps are better on GB. Gps is wayyy better...
Sent from my Samsung Captivate using Tapatalk

Are you able to give me like how many hours on average you are getting? I appreciate all the solid feedback.

Gingerbread has been horribly buggy. The battery life is just plain awful, it's laggier than 2.1, and it killed my dog.
Someone was bound to say something negative, so I just got that out of the way. Lol
Actually, GR-12 makes my Captivate run as smooth as my Inspire. I got about 12 hours heavy usage with the screen almost max.
CM7 Inspire 4G

nateysmith said:
Are you able to give me like how many hours on average you are getting? I appreciate all the solid feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a loaded question because it depends on MANY factors:
-signal strength in your area
-3g vs wifi connection
-general phone use (phone calls, sms, games, etc...)
For me, the phone lasts MUCH longer. I can go about 20-24 hours until I need to charge again. Thats with medium use and wifi connection 80% of the day. On standby, my phone usually drains 1% - 2% an hour.

nyydynasty said:
that's a loaded question because it depends on MANY factors:
-signal strength in your area
-3g vs wifi connection
-general phone use (phone calls, sms, games, etc...)
For me, the phone lasts MUCH longer. I can go about 20-24 hours until I need to charge again. Thats with medium use and wifi connection 80% of the day. On standby, my phone usually drains 1% - 2% an hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for all the help. The response here is much more positive than the vibrant forums.

glad to help out. hope it works out for you.
EDIT: I should add, though, that when I'm not on wifi (using 3G), my battery doesnt last as long. So I prefer to be on wifi as much as I can.

nyydynasty said:
glad to help out. hope it works out for you.
EDIT: I should add, though, that when I'm not on wifi (using 3G), my battery doesnt last as long. So I prefer to be on wifi as much as I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is good to know. I will keep that in mind.

So far on continuum its been rather smooth, using go launcher btw.
Battery life is bad though. Less than 8hrs with moderate to heavy usage. I need to fully recharge two to three times a day now.
On froyo I'd get 12-15 hours with similar usage.
Gps works fine, but then mine did on froyo before.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

nateysmith said:
How is battery on the captivate? On the Gingerbread ROMs I am saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm experiencing battery drain, GR, Continuum and Mosaic, I leave wifi on and after 9 hours (fully charged, battery stats reset, standby mode [literally 0 use, I was asleep]), cell standby had used 33%, wifi 30%, .... I had 52% battery left.
GB is smoother, for sure, once kernel development ramps up for GB (JVB, JVH and JVO, ... JV#) i'd expect to see more tweaks include power and performance.
If you need battery life and don't want to risk flashing GB, wait.

battery life *IS* going to depends heavily on how much you use your phone. It's hard to compare battery life amongst people that cannot stand next to each other and compare phones because describing "heavy" use is different for everyone. My version of heavy is not the same as the next person.
the only real determinant of battery life that we can all use as a comparison is to see how much battery drain you have on standby or to run some sort of application that runs videos (ie. benchmark apps) because we can all do that. If your phone drains 2x as fast as mine on standby, then we have a problem with a rogue app or something else.
(clarification: I dont mean to use a benchmark app to see the results of the app itself. I just mean to run something on the phone to drain the battery quicker and view the battery life at the end of the test).

I've always experienced better battery life with Froyo, and I use my phone every single day for reading PDF's, listening to music, texting, calling and surfing the web. Maybe Gingerbread has better standby battery life, but when getting a "full" use out of my phone I've always lasted longer on Froyo builds.

For those who want to switch to TB

Think again! I own TB since March and the battery is the worst thing i eva seen. Pls spare me all the tips abt charging the phone, i have tried themall. If i turn on lte, the phone will not last me more than 5 hours and it was not even heavy use. Please keep this in mind if u want to switch.

My gf has a charge I have a thunderbolt. Running a good Rom and kernel pretty much takes care if battery issues for me. I get about 2 hours more than hers with about the same usage. If you compare both using stock roms than yes the charge will last longer though.
Sent from my TB running sense 3.0 GB BAMF

ajd88 said:
My gf has a charge I have a thunderbolt. Running a good Rom and kernel pretty much takes care if battery issues for me. I get about 2 hours more than hers with about the same usage. If you compare both using stock roms than yes the charge will last longer though.
Sent from my TB running sense 3.0 GB BAMF
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Is she rooted and running a custom ROM as well, or are you comparing custom ROM to stock?

I'm giving up with running custom ROMs. Been there, done that. I just need a phone that works. Wait...there isn't one but really I just need a decent phone. I feel like I'm going down that road again using Android...ya know that Linux tinkering when Slackware was installing from floppies and the ego "I could do whatever I want" with it. Maybe I need to switch to the dark side for a break
If I switch to 3G on TB, I will have about 30% left by the end of the day. If I give the phone to my son so he could play a litto game or watch litto utube, I better have somewhere to charge the phone right away. It also depends on where you're at as far as LTE coverage goes. I think I have decent coverage (12mb/s dl; 2-3mb/s upload)
I'm confident that Samsung will release new firmware to address some of the issues. Don't think switching to a different phone, you won't have issue(s). For TB, I will seriously think twice as the known battery issue.

STX21 said:
Is she rooted and running a custom ROM as well, or are you comparing custom ROM to stock?
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I'm comparing my modded phone to her stock. I know its an unfair fight but just sayin.
Sent from my TB running sense 3.0 GB BAMF

OP sounds like he needs to buy an iphone or a crackberry. Great battery life, no tinkering required.
I currently have active TB, Charge, Nexus S, iPhone 4.
Battery life - iP4 the best, then NS, then a total tossup on the TB/Charge.
Form Factor - NS the best, TB, Charge, iP4.
Screen/Display - Charge best, iP4, NS, TB horrible.
Call quality/coverage - VZW is great at both, AT&T is decent coverage, but call quality not top notch, T-Mobile terrible coverage, decent call quality.
The TB has a wonderful advantage, for my usage habits, over all the other VZW offerings in that it has the simultaneous voice/data over 3G. No other phone on VZW can do that yet.
A friend saw I had both phones on my desk yesterday; she asked about both since she wants a new one. She assumed the Charge was my favorite for some reason, but when she flat out asked I told her all things considered, the TB had a slight edge over the Charge.
I'd recommend either phone, but I'd also say they both must be rooted and tweaked to be of much use. The TB battery is much better on BAMF, but it still sucks, than stock, and the Charge is a laggy piece of cow dung if you leave it stock RFS file system.

I had the thunderbolt since launch day - and the one really, and only "killer" is svdo over 3g. Battery life killed me, as did the shoddy build quality (3 cln replacements in 3 weeks). The screen also was far far far too washed out in direct sunlight (didnt really noticed until summer, dang those grey New England days!). I ended up having VzW executive customer service swap my Bot for a new Charge - whilst my Thunderbolt would burn 15% mostly standby to 20% using the device on LTE or about 8-10% over 3g. I'm still a slave to wifi at home with the Charge, but at least the screen is usable outdoors and I can make it approximately 10 hours on 4g/18 forced to 3g/24+ on wifi. The LTE radio in all of these phones are the killers.
With that said, LTE speed overall really isnt needed, at least until video chat (or 2.3.4) is available and stable. I do really miss svdo over 3g from the bolt, thankfully Boston metro is blanketed in 4g, but I'm finding the Charge quite possibly the best overall 4G device on VzW especially after the debloat and voodoo mods.
OOB though with no modifications? Thunderbolt. If you can deal with the absolutely terrible battery life (on 4g) and are never out in the sun and need to see your display.
But the Charge's screen is superb, the phone is more comfortable to hold for an extended period of time, and battery life is head and shoulders better. I'm just scared that 2.3.4 will not make it on time, due to Samsung's terrible track record with updates and Skype with video will stall for Android on a whole.
Edit - I also absolutely hate TouchWiz. LauncherPro saved the day in that regard as well.

I had 1% battery drain overnight while the phone idled for 6 hours. I turned mobile data off at the time. 1%.
Right now the battery is at 75% and has been off of the charger for 12 hours and 17 minutes. The phone has been on constant 4G from ~6:45am until now, 12:41pm.
I love my battery life
smgrimes said:
With that said, LTE speed overall really isnt needed
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Neither are front facing cameras, 8MP cameras, Super AMOLED+ displays, etc.
They're just nice to have.

letsgophillyingeneral said:
Neither are front facing cameras, 8MP cameras, Super AMOLED+ displays, etc.
They're just nice to have.
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Click to collapse
Who said they weren't?

I just switched from a stock rooted TB to a Charge. My thoughts:
-Like everyone else, TB battery life was dismal in 4G areas. Even with the extended battery it was very poor.
-Screen on TB is *very* hard to see outside.
-TB pretty freaking heavy.
-HTC's Sense UI is a lot prettier than Samsung's UI.

letsgophillyingeneral said:
I had 1% battery drain overnight while the phone idled for 6 hours. I turned mobile data off at the time. 1%.
Right now the battery is at 75% and has been off of the charger for 12 hours and 17 minutes. The phone has been on constant 4G from ~6:45am until now, 12:41pm.
I love my battery life
Neither are front facing cameras, 8MP cameras, Super AMOLED+ displays, etc.
They're just nice to have.
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Click to collapse
How are you getting this kind of battery life. I'm running Gummycharged 1.7.5 with the PBJ OTC kernal (not overclocked though), and I lose 20% over eight hours while I'm sleeping.

dcc123 said:
How are you getting this kind of battery life. I'm running Gummycharged 1.7.5 with the PBJ OTC kernal (not overclocked though), and I lose 20% over eight hours while I'm sleeping.
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I'm guessing he puts his phone in airplane mode.

dcc123 said:
How are you getting this kind of battery life. I'm running Gummycharged 1.7.5 with the PBJ OTC kernal (not overclocked though), and I lose 20% over eight hours while I'm sleeping.
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As I said in the kernel thread, if you are going to stick with stock clock speeds, you will get better battery life on the non-OC version of my kernel.

I'm normally in a decent to strong 4G area, and I really don't see a huge difference in battery life between the TB and DC, but this week I've been working in a location that's 3G only, and in a building where the coverage is weak for data.
In this circumstance, the battery life between my Droid and my Thunderbolt is very dramatic. Whether it's just physically a better radio, or a better software for it, the Charge's battery life is amazing compared to the Thunderbolt's. This morning, after not even three hours, my Charge still had 90% battery life, my Thunderbolt was down to 48%. Neither phone had been used for anything; they were both just idle on my desk. Amazing.
The Charge clearly handles weak signals better than the TB in this area (Santa Clarita, CA - near Magic Mountain just north of Los Angeles).

Searching for Service (aka why I'm ditching my Charge)

So I have two Samsung Droid Charges on my account.
One of them is completely stock, very minimal apps because it is a work phone and has to comply with provisioning standards for my company.
One is my personal phone, which I have rooted and have used various versions of Gummy and Humble, currently running Gummy 2.0 with the EP1Q radio.
While I absolutely love the screen and form-factor of this phone (even the hardware buttons), it seems to have a fatal flaw that I cannot abide. Verizon and Samsung both seem to be oblivious to the issue, but I have experienced it on both phones in several major markets (Atlanta, Charlotte, Norfolk, Richmond, etc).
Occasionally, my phone will simply lose all signal. It will display a 4G/3G/1x icon depending on my coverage area, but the bars will be empty with an "X" and I am unable to make phone calls or send text messages.
At other times, the data connection will simply disappear for no reason, even when I have solid coverage. There are areas where I know I have good service (my office, my home) and I simply lose data for no reason.
Each of these issues occurs randomly as I will have one phone sitting next to the other with signal or data, while the other one does not have it.
Sometimes switching airplane mode on/off will work, but usually I end up having to reboot the phone.
I am posting this to see if there are others experiencing these same issues because Verizon is giving me some push back, insisting that I go through the replacement process (receive a refurb Charge), despite the fact that one of the phones is already a replacement and one was a retail unit off the shelf, indicating the issue is - if not widespread - certainly not isolated.
If there are more people notifying Verizon, they may make it easier for those of us who experience these issues and cannot wait for a software update for which Samsung is notoriously slow at releasing.
(Side Note: The issue seems to be way worse in 3G coverage areas, but it also happens in 4G areas.)

its a known bug with the modems a lot of people have data drop problems. hopefully when GB official is released it will have a better modem
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

We would've had GB a LONG time ago if Sammy wasn't fiddling around with the stupid Galaxy S2. They neglect every other phone on their lineup just because the Galaxy S2 sold so well.

I had 'spotty coverage' with my Charge with some of the older ROMs, however, since I have been on EP1Q (Stock debloated) I have had so few issues that I am perfectly happy to use the ROM as my daily driver.
The radio is fantastic as are my DL speeds. Auto brightness works again as well as the hardware key backlights. The best part of the ROM is the absolutely fantastic battery life! I take my phone off the charger at about 7am every morning and still have 50% left on the battery after almost 15 hours. Throughout that time, I send and recieve alot of email and text messages, make several short calls to colleagues and of course there is the innevitable round of Angry Birds while on the can.
All in all, I love this device!!!
~E~

It happens to all of us. Go try getting a new SIM.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyCharged 2.0

I had the problem with my Thunderbolt I bought on the first day fought with version constantly they replaced 4 of them before they sent me this charge, and guess what same issues. I am not a expert but I believe it's the network. Lte has problems and Verizon isn't saying anything for fear of looking bad. They have invested their future in it but there are issues and holding signal is one of them. Battery life is another that has to improve Apple can't release a phone until this is worked out unlike android you can't pop another battery in after 6 hours. BTW 3g had the same issues in the beginning
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

I was having the same problem as you. Would go from 3g to 1x to nothing. Sometimes it would return in a few seconds sometime i would have to toggle data on/off/on or airplane mode and sometimes it would take a full rebot to fix the problem. I also would lose voice too but didnt happen no where near as often.
Ive had the problems from day one on stock non rooted EE4 and all the rooted roms ive ran. I didnt want to replace my phone with a recert phone so i got the verizon tech to just replace my sim card. Also updated my modem to the newest one the day after i got the new sim card.
Ive been running the new GC 2.0 FE for almost a week, along with a new Sim card and updated modems and have yet to lose voice or data at all.
As another suggested try getting verizon to replace your sim and/or reflash the newest modem. Hope that helps you it did for me.

give the EP1Q modem a try, my signal has improved immensely in the few crappy areas around here

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I'm already on my second SIM card and I've experienced the issue on both my stock Charge and my Charge that has been on Gingerbread (currently GC 2.0) and has the EP1Q radio.
I'm just going to head up to VZW next week, show them the threads and hopefully have one of the phones flip out while I'm there and not leave until they either offer a lateral replacement or give me a real time frame for a software fix.

jarnoldsr said:
I had the problem with my Thunderbolt I bought on the first day fought with version constantly they replaced 4 of them before they sent me this charge, and guess what same issues. I am not a expert but I believe it's the network. Lte has problems and Verizon isn't saying anything for fear of looking bad. They have invested their future in it but there are issues and holding signal is one of them. Battery life is another that has to improve Apple can't release a phone until this is worked out unlike android you can't pop another battery in after 6 hours. BTW 3g had the same issues in the beginning
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
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Dude.. That's an excellent point about the IPhone.. Once you Die.... Your Dead! God I Love me Droid Charge !

RaiderWill said:
Dude.. That's an excellent point about the IPhone.. Once you Die.... Your Dead! God I Love me Droid Charge !
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Click to collapse
Actually, it's not. My wife has an iPhone and the battery lasts FOREVER in that damn thing. It irritates the hell out of me.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my gummy charge and would never buy an iPhone but her battery life is WAY WAY better than any Droid phone. Sure, you can't replace the battery but hers never fails to make it through a day of HEAVY use anyway so she doesn't care.......
~John

jmorton10 said:
Actually, it's not. My wife has an iPhone and the battery lasts FOREVER in that damn thing. It irritates the hell out of me.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my gummy charge and would never buy an iPhone but her battery life is WAY WAY better than any Droid phone. Sure, you can't replace the battery but hers never fails to make it through a day of HEAVY use anyway so she doesn't care.......
~John
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Click to collapse
Some of my friends have iPhones too (the dumb ones ) and the only thing im jealous of is the damn battery life. It has a 1420mah battery and easily lasts twice as long as an android phone. The iPod Touch (i happen to have a 3rd gen from before i got an android phone) lasts for a whole week with a 950 mah battery. i want you to get that galaxy player wifi and try getting that thing to last a whole week. I know that there are much more proccesses running in android and real multitasking (not the **** apple feeds to there customers on a white pretty boxed platter) but still, thats how they get that battery life, by limiting functionality. I am not pro apple or completely anti-apple, more pro android and google , but one thing apple has got in the bag is battery life.

An Android device can run just as long if not longer than an iPhone, it simply depends on usage. I'm pretty sure the way Android handles multitasking compared to iOS and push notifications play a role, too.
Regardless, my Nook Color can idle for a couple of weeks with a custom Froyo ROM and kernel. My Droid Charge has lasted me over a day with moderate usage, easily. With heavy use, I get 12-16 hours pretty easily. If I turn off data completely and only use my phone for texting and voice calls, the phone lasts two days, no problem.
Usage is key, and is often misunderstood and judged improperly/subjectively.

But at the end of the day. My droid charge is out of battery and my girls iphone is at 70 percent. I remember reading somewhere that apple has special patented battery technology too. Android needs some special battery technology. I will gladly pay more for a better product.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

jmorton10 said:
Actually, it's not. My wife has an iPhone and the battery lasts FOREVER in that damn thing. It irritates the hell out of me.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my gummy charge and would never buy an iPhone but her battery life is WAY WAY better than any Droid phone. Sure, you can't replace the battery but hers never fails to make it through a day of HEAVY use anyway so she doesn't care.......
~John
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Click to collapse
It's because the iPhone doesn't have that obnoxious hog we call the LTE radio. If you set your phone to CDMA(it disables 4g) you can effectively double your battery life. I disable mine if I'm going somewhere and I know I won't be back in 10+ hours. Or if I'm going somewhere that doesn't have 4g, the battery life with 3g only is CRAZY.

afmracer6 said:
But at the end of the day. My droid charge is out of battery and my girls iphone is at 70 percent. I remember reading somewhere that apple has special patented battery technology too. Android needs some special battery technology. I will gladly pay more for a better product.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
You fail to describe how you and your "girl" use the phone. My money says that you use your phone more heavily than she does. As another poster mentioned, how you use the phone and what apps you are running make a big difference. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the results were quite a bit different if ya'll switched phones for a day, but continued using them the way you would normally use your phones.

You can't compare your gfs iphone to your Charge if you're using the LTE modem. Completely different animals. Once iphones have lte, then you can compare away.
Besides I get incredible battery life from my Charge. I can easily last 20 hrs.
Back to topic however, yes I too have problems with connectivity regardless of Roms or modems I've flashed. If I had to guess, I would say its a network issue with LTE phones... anybody know if the Revolution has similar problems? I believe the TBolt does as someone mentioned earlier, but nobody seems to talk about the Revolution.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

Well just to update, I had a pretty serious situation that was caused by this issue. Verizon is unable to provide a firm timeline for an update and won't even confirm that any forthcoming updates will resolve the issue (which they have not yet officially recognized).
That said, the situation I encountered was significant enough that they are issuing a credit toward my bill and the GM of my local corporate store is working on having my phones replaced.
As much as I absolutely love this phone (as one user said in another thread, SAMOLED+ is like the heroin of phone displays), having a phone that is unreliable in important or emergency situations is just absolutely not acceptable to me.
If they do allow me to change phones, I will do my best to move to another 4G phone (not the tbolt obviously) and I will report back on whether or not it appears to be a network issue.

You will find most of your problems will follow you from one 4g phone to another. There are already a few grumblings in the bionic forums radio staying locked on and battery and that is a huge battery
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

I don't think it's necessarily a DC problem. Here lately my fascinate has been getting 1x locks and my DC has been doing that too. Maybe it's a network issue?
Sent from my Glitched MIUI Fascinate