wondered if people have an opinion on the best way to charge the XDA.
With my current mobile (samsung N500) I always used the policy of charge until full, then run until flat, then charge until full again etc.
ie, never recharging until it was flat. This is a bit of a throwback to when I used to use nicads a lot about 15 years ago.
the methodology being that if you did it this way the batteries remembered how much charge they were supposed to hold.
however, these new lithium polymer batteries in PDA's aren't supposed to have this issue are they?
On my samsung it's been fine, it's held charge well and never really gotten less, even after a years worth of charging and discharging.
A chap at work does the complete opposite, he puts his on charge whenever he can, whether it's flat or not, and usually before it falls below 80%, his reasoning being that he read somewhere that if you trickle charge it a lot it lasts longer.
as you can see, two conflicting methods of working.
what should I be doing to make my battery last as long and as well as possible
The "memory effect" issue is known for the N.MH battaries only ... and it's true that u have to drain it each time ... the XDA has L.Polymer type which doesn't have this issue ... u can charge it each night.
so I can charge it each night whether it's flat or not? sorry if this sounds dumb but I just want to make sure I understand this right,
don't fell like sending it off to have the battery replaced every few months because I abuse it.
yes ... u can actually leave it powered in the cradle the whole time
I knew the Nicads had the memory problem, but the NiMh aren't supposed to be as bad. Most new types of batteries don't have the memory problem, just increased capacities and less harmful to the environment.
discharge almost fully then recharge
I used to own a iPAQ 3630 and now I own an O2 XDA. Both the iPAQ and the XDA have a Li-Po battery, and with both devices I have the same charge/discharge experience. The battery lasts longer if you discharge it almost fully, till say 20-30% and then charge, not sooner. Constantly recharging decreases battery life considerably, as if the battery gets "lazy". My XDA's battery now lasts 5-6 hours usage with backlight on plus some 48hrs on standby. My 2 cents.
well after one days use I'm impressed by the battery life
fully charged and went off charge at 5pm
10 mins talk time
3 hours farting around with it in the evening
went to bed at 11pm
backlight off
no switch off set
phone switched off
by 7.30 am this morning, still had 30% battery left
nice.
Saving battery while listening to music
I have never had a problem keeping a battery charge until recently. I normally have my sx56 on standby and talk for about an hour a day and maybe spend half an hour checking appointments. I just recently got a 512 card and when I'm walking somewhere I listen to music. Maybe another hour out of my day. For whatever reason I used to end a 12 hour day with 40-50% battery and now I'm down to 10-20. I currently use wm player and keep the screen off when music is on. Do other softwares use less battery and is this drain in 12 hours normal. It sounds excessive to me.
doesn't sound out of the ordinary.
playing of MP3's really drains the batteries. quite a few reviews use draining the batteries by playing MP3's as some sort of yardstick.
I've seen reviews that quote the XDa as running down flat after 3 .5 hours from playing MP3's.
I’ve, in all Windows Mobile forums, very often posted on the fact that Lithium-Ion / Polymer batteries should always be recharged whenever possible. That is, you should put your handheld / handset on the charger whenever possible. NEVER EVER wait before the handheld shuts down because even after only 4 months, your battery will only hold about a third (!) of its original charge holding capacity and, as opposed to what several people say, putting the device on the charger only once a day (or two-three days with devices with better battery life – mostly, TI OMAP-based handsets) on a regular basis (not waiting for the battery to completely deplete) will also have an adverse effect on the battery life.
Now, Groucho's pretty cool Nokia N95 blog has published a remarkable article, which is of extreme interest to anyone having a device with a Lithium Ion or Polymer-based rechargeable battery (not only Nokia N95 users – again, this info applies to ALL current Windows Mobile handsets, and a lot more other gadgets like digital cameras etc.). The figures he shows certainly prove I’ve been right when I recommended recharging your device whenever possible.
Groucho has purchased three N95’s (again and again, don’t think this discussion only applies to the N95 – it does apply to ANY device out there!) at the same time and used them in a pretty similar way. He, however, made absolutely sure he charged the device in three consistent (not mixing up the devices) and radically different ways: the first was charged only once a day (every night), not during the day; the second was charged when it has completely shut down because of the battery’s going flat and the third was almost always on charger whenever possible. The difference in the battery capacity, based on the different ways of recharging, turned out to be astonishing: the second battery (which was always let go flat, and only after that was it put on a charger) could only hold slightly more than a third of the battery that was always on charger whenever possible. The latter battery, in addition, fared considerably (about 16%) better than the battery only regularly (every night) recharged.
Note that the blog post has a mistake (which has no effect on the credibility of the results): it states they will have exactly the same charge holding capabilities throughout their life, and, suddenly, they die (“They have a finite shelf life which starts from the day they are manufactured and their condition from then degrades to the point where they fail! This is not to be confused with their charge holding abilities which are very good for their full life! When they go they just go!”). This is, of course, incorrect: their capacity will degrade over time. Just an example: my HP iPAQ 2210, which I bought right after it was released in Europe, at first, shut down at 2-3% battery level. After about two years, this raised to about 20% and, after three years, this was already around 35-38%. This also shows – along with a multitude of other examples – that these batteries do lose capacity over time. Also note that, as I’ve also recommended several times, Battery University has a decent article on all these questions – except for, of course, real-world results like the above.
Verdict: ignore if somebody says the opposite. Recharge your handheld whenever possible.
Menneisyys said:
I’ve, in all Windows Mobile forums, very often posted on the fact that Lithium-Ion / Polymer batteries should always be recharged whenever possible. That is, you should put your handheld / handset on the charger whenever possible. NEVER EVER wait before the handheld shuts down because even after only 4 months, your battery will only hold about a third (!) of its original charge holding capacity and, as opposed to what several people say, putting the device on the charger only once a day (or two-three days with devices with better battery life – mostly, TI OMAP-based handsets) on a regular basis (not waiting for the battery to completely deplete) will also have an adverse effect on the battery life.
Now, Groucho's pretty cool Nokia N95 blog has published a remarkable article, which is of extreme interest to anyone having a device with a Lithium Ion or Polymer-based rechargeable battery (not only Nokia N95 users – again, this info applies to ALL current Windows Mobile handsets, and a lot more other gadgets like digital cameras etc.). The figures he shows certainly prove I’ve been right when I recommended recharging your device whenever possible.
Groucho has purchased three N95’s (again and again, don’t think this discussion only applies to the N95 – it does apply to ANY device out there!) at the same time and used them in a pretty similar way. He, however, made absolutely sure he charged the device in three consistent (not mixing up the devices) and radically different ways: the first was charged only once a day (every night), not during the day; the second was charged when it has completely shut down because of the battery’s going flat and the third was almost always on charger whenever possible. The difference in the battery capacity, based on the different ways of recharging, turned out to be astonishing: the second battery (which was always let go flat, and only after that was it put on a charger) could only hold slightly more than a third of the battery that was always on charger whenever possible. The latter battery, in addition, fared considerably (about 16%) better than the battery only regularly (every night) recharged.
Note that the blog post has a mistake (which has no effect on the credibility of the results): it states they will have exactly the same charge holding capabilities throughout their life, and, suddenly, they die (“They have a finite shelf life which starts from the day they are manufactured and their condition from then degrades to the point where they fail! This is not to be confused with their charge holding abilities which are very good for their full life! When they go they just go!”). This is, of course, incorrect: their capacity will degrade over time. Just an example: my HP iPAQ 2210, which I bought right after it was released in Europe, at first, shut down at 2-3% battery level. After about two years, this raised to about 20% and, after three years, this was already around 35-38%. This also shows – along with a multitude of other examples – that these batteries do lose capacity over time. Also note that, as I’ve also recommended several times, Battery University has a decent article on all these questions – except for, of course, real-world results like the above.
Verdict: ignore if somebody says the opposite. Recharge your handheld whenever possible.
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An excellent post and very valuable info.It'll certainly help out many,who believe that the batteries shud only be charged once a day or when it's almost finished or going flat,by this the life of the batteries is saved and prolonged as against to charging whenever possible or more than once in a day,this concept is believed as charging more than one time will create a new charging point every time and will not fully charge the battery,thus,will impact the charge retaining capabilities of the battery and ultimately die out soon.
You are absolutely correct in saying that "This is, of course, incorrect: their capacity will degrade over time."and "that these batteries do lose capacity over time",Of course,they have a finite life cycle from the day they are manufactured,infact every gadget,machinery,electric appliances,PCs,Tvs and all everyday utilities have a life cycle and will die out with passage of time and longer use.
It has been observed in this and many other forums,people posting that their devices have gone dead due to battery going flat as they forgot to charge it. Than it becomes a pain in the A** to get it recharged again and get the phone alive again, Therefore,to avoid this dreadful scenario,it is always better to get the battery charged whenever possible,CUZ IT'S GONNA DIE OUT SOMEDAY,for sure,whether you charge it once a day or when it's gone flat or charge it whenever possible,but definitely save yourself from the horrible situation of getting a dead phone,due to a flat battery and frustrating ways to get it charged again.
Just to mention here,it's my personal experience, as I myself got into this situation once,while in a hurry and urgency,I forgot to get the battery charged and didn't realize it was almost going flat,after a couple of hours,suddenly the phone went dead,I wanted to make some very important calls,but there was no way I cud get the phone Power On,frantically started to look for ways to get it charged as I didn't have the charger with me,I tried to get it charged through usb connection with the Pc,but NO GO,it never started charging and there were no lights on the phone,In short I tried in many ways to get it charged and phone started.
Even,when I got back home,tried it with the Wall charger,it refused to charge,I got horrified.took it to a service shop.They said that while my trying to get it charge through various methods and again n again trying to wake the phone,the Pulse of the battery has gone down from the level,which it requires to communicate with the phone and start charging,Ultimately,it has to be Jump Started to get it working,therefore,I made a rule of my everyday working to get it charged a couple of times during the day,Now I have never to fear and face that dreadful situation again,And let me point out here that I have not seen any degration in the charging or performance of the battery so far as I'm doing this since last six months or so.
Thank you for confirming my believes in charging for more than once is advisable and will not effect much on the battery charge retention and life cycle
Cheer
Good writing ! I didn't know that it affected the battery that much! Thanks!
You are correct in saying that only charging a device when it has run down to 0% (or close) is bad for Lithium Ion batteries. That incorrect advice is left over from the Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) era, when it worked on batteries with that chemistry to prolong their life due to the "memory effect".
But I don't think saying that Li-Ion batteries should be charged "as often as possible" is quite right, because keeping them at or near 100% charge WILL shorten their life, just like keeping them at or near 0% will (but not as much admittedly).
If you want to maximize the life of your Li-Ion batteries, you should make sure that they don't get any hotter than 25 degrees celcius (77F), and you should try to keep them in a state of 40% to 60% charge as much as possible (that means take it out of the charger without letting it get to 100%!).
Of course keeping it between 40% and 60% only lets you use 20% of the battery's full capacity, which is not convenient at all! So the next best thing is to charge it to 100%, then recharge it when it gets down to 40%.
Letting it get below 40% is the most damaging, but constantly keeping it above 60% charge is also damaging in the long term.
One last tip: Li-Ion batteries last longer the slower you charge them. So charge them with USB from the computer rather than an AC mains adapter, as this is usually the slower method (USB from a computer contains 0.5 Amps of current, whereas many AC chargers supply 1.0 to 1.5 Amps, even though they may have a "USB" connector).
Everything above can be backed up by various sources, here is a very good one: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Interesting you mention charging at different amperes. There are quite a few quick-charge standard battery charges around the place that always state they will boost the battery up to 80% quite fast then the remainder takes a further few hours. This also usually causes the batteries to become excessively hot.
The 110/230 Volt mains charger that came with my Trinity charges really fast but definitely heats it to over 25°C. However the mains to miniUSB charger that came with my cradle, and the one that came with my BT headset both charge at a much slower (and cooler) rate, likely to be 0.5 Amps. I checked out the labels and they all indicate the same ratings. I know, I should chuck the multimeter on them to test…
Maybe I’ll go back to using the cradle mains charger when I’m at home and my PC isn’t on (as if that ever happens)
sl9 said:
But I don't think saying that Li-Ion batteries should be charged "as often as possible" is quite right, because keeping them at or near 100% charge WILL shorten their life, just like keeping them at or near 0% will (but not as much admittedly).
If you want to maximize the life of your Li-Ion batteries, you should make sure that they don't get any hotter than 25 degrees celcius (77F), and you should try to keep them in a state of 40% to 60% charge as much as possible (that means take it out of the charger without letting it get to 100%!).
Of course keeping it between 40% and 60% only lets you use 20% of the battery's full capacity, which is not convenient at all! So the next best thing is to charge it to 100%, then recharge it when it gets down to 40%.
Letting it get below 40% is the most damaging, but constantly keeping it above 60% charge is also damaging in the long term.
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Yup, 60% is the best usage scenario. However,
1. it does have a severe problem: the reduced battery life (60% vs. 100%), which may render its usage problematic in some cases (when you do need the remaining 40%). That is, it's only really usable when you are absolutely sure you can recharge your device when it's still, say, abouve 30%, leaving you an about 30% usability area.
2. the advantage of keeping teh battery around 60% (as opposed to 100%), battery capacity saving-wise, isn't so prevalent than recharging the battery whenever possible. That is, while keeping the battery at around 60% does result in better charge holding after X time, it's net effect is still much lower than, say, letting the battery go flat. As can be seen in the linked report, you can almost completely kill (leaving about 40% of the original charge holding capability) a Li-Ion battery in no more than four months. The 60% rule (as opposed to the 100% one) has far less (albeit, of course, considerable) advantages - on the long run.
BTW, I do the following: I keep my spare batteries I requently (say, in general, once a week or two weeks) use at around 70-80% (it's, being halfway between 60% and 100%, a tradeoff) and batteries I don't use at all (for example, my old Casio Cassiopeia batteries) at 40%.
There is some really interesting discussion of this article at MoDaCo, HowardForums, FirstLoox, PPCT, XDA-Developers - well worth checking out for more info / discussion.
sl9 said:
One last tip: Li-Ion batteries last longer the slower you charge them. So charge them with USB from the computer rather than an AC mains adapter, as this is usually the slower method (USB from a computer contains 0.5 Amps of current, whereas many AC chargers supply 1.0 to 1.5 Amps, even though they may have a "USB" connector).
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A quick note: if you know your power source is only capable of providing, say, 0.5A's, you might want to make absolutely sure its voltage doesn't drop under, say, 4.5 Volts at 0.5A. A lot of power sources (this is perfectly natural with all kinds of power transformators) do this; then, the batteries / the phone's electronics starts to struggle with providing the necessay charging voltage (IIRC, 4.2 Volts).
Also, the permanent damage of (or caused by) these chargers can also be a problem - I don't think a cheapo notebook has decent voltage stabilizators. An expensive IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad will never cause any problem to a USB device (they have VERY good USB protection - I've myself found this out with my a31p once, when I, accidentally, made a short circuit on the USB). A cheapo notebook is likely to use the cheapest (read: parts that not necessarily can stand even 0.5 Ampers) parts.
I have a laptop and a phone, both using original batteries and both around 4 years old now. The laptop is a dell with a 7 aH Li-Ion battery and the phone is a Nokia 6310i with a factory Li-Polymer battery. As I said, original standard batteries that came in the original package. Both have only been used with company standard chargers - no quick force-feed cradles here.
If I start with the phone, it is one of the best I ever had. I don't make many calls on this phone, mainly text messages, and it spends the most of it's time just idling. At night I usually turn it off, sometimes I use the temporary profile option with tone/vibration off, as I sleep better knowing the phone will not wake me up. I had a collegue who bought the same type of phone as me, and we treated it way different. First of all, he used it a lot more. Second of all, the charger went in and out quite often, and he often used the phone while it was charging. I have consistently only charged this phone to 100%, usually overnight. Sometimes charging it when it was quite low, but most of the time after about a week. This phone last two weeks on standby (if used during daytime only), and after 4 years ... it still does! It was the first triband Nokia made (to my knowledge), and I got one of the first ones in stead of getting the third Ericsson T39m in the same year (kept failing!). My collegues phone did not even last a day on a full charge, in LESS THAN HALF A YEAR. Now, four years after, my phone still last me two weeks with the minor use I demand of it.
Most notable habits for handling the phone/battery:
Very seldom used during recharging
Almost always charged uninterrupted to 100% - in off position or without using it
Not so heavy use
My collegue on the other hand interrupted the charge before reaching 100%, used it while on the charger and his battery died down to almost no capacity sooooo fast.
As for my Laptop, it is a Dell Inspiron 8600, and after 4 years, it still runs almost two hours on the original battery, using internet, wireless and bluetooth simultaneously and not going into any kind of power save.
Below is the way I have generally used it:
I have seldom removed the battery while on mains, as I find it difficult and also enjoy the safety of the battery being there if I pull the chord, power outtage etc. Contrary to my phone, I use my laptop A LOT, like, daily, for many hours usually, sometimes all day. It is mainly work related, reading/writing documents, some graphic work and so on. Not so much watching movies, but sometimes certain programs like OCR or other runs keep the CPU to 100% for a while. I mainly keep the battery in and charged, and unless the ambient temperature is high or I sit with the laptop on top of my lap where my body heat heats the battery, I have not found the battery to heat up much. Even when the fan is going 100% on a heavy load, the battery temp seems OK. For various practical reasons, I have more often recently used my laptop on battery until just before it cuts out by itself. I must say I did not check if that makes the battery hot, but after 4 years, I still get almost two hours of use with wireless and bluetooth enabled. I have friends and collegues who replace the battery after one or two years, because it is down to almost nothing in capacity.
Any battery powered device I have had in the last 5 years or so I have been treating with these golden rules, and none of them have had to have batteries changed so far ...
Do not interrupt battery until it is done charging (unless on trickle charge, obviously)
Charge any time you like, as long as you obey the rule above
Do not place a heavy load on the device while it is charging after having been run on batteries (again, trickle charge is OK while on mains)
A good way to accomplish these rules is to have a habit of charging devices before you sleep, even before being worn down (charging not so likely to be interupted by sudden change of plans).
Having run my laptop for thousands of hours with battery inside and connected to mains, for me after 4 years it has not killed my battery.
This is not scientific research, but for me, it has worked for all my devices - for whatever reason. Those who complain their batteries die quickly seem to be the ones who pulls the charger whenever they want.
Although lithium batteries are somewhat different than the way humans store and use their energy, it seems to me there are some similarities:
Does not like it too hot or too cold
If not allowed to eat/charge fully on a regular basis, charging more often is necessary.
Can get annoyed if suddenly disrupted during feeding/charging.
If force fed, less energy can be taken up compared to a slow and easy feed.
This is not meant as proof, as in "because humans are like this, so are batteries", but to me, it just seems coincidental that there are some similarities. Me, personally, I eat one to three times a day. Yes, I can do with one meal a day, but two meals a day I think are optimum for me. Consistently eating 3 or more times a day makes my weight go up, I have been over 200 pounds for my 6'3" after being in a job for a year where I "was fed" too often. Now, I am fit and healthy at around 170 lbs, I seldom have headaches or fatigue, and I have an endurance like not many others! Without "charging" I can last a long time. Give me a good evening meal, and the next morning I can run a half marathon with no breakfast, just water.
Conclusion: Let the facts of real life be your proof instead of going after experts opinion. Let's have more experiments to find the real truth!
1, you're pretty fortunate your notebook battery is still going strong. I've never seen a notebook battery SO good - the situation you've described doesn't even seem to adhere to the laws of chemistry (that is, after two years, a Li-Ion battery kept consistently at 100% charging level is bound to lose at least 20% of its original capacity, independent of the usage).
2, the human vs. battery comparison, IMHO, isn't the best. Most feeding / intake specalists state one should prefer the way of "eat many times a day, but little each time" - that is, say, some 4-5 apples, tomatoes, cucumbers etc. a day, say, one (or two) every hour - at least this is what I do at work. I also refrain from eating a lot at lunchtime - I, generally, eat a quarter portion, and take the rest with me, continuously eating it later say, a bit every hours. This surely won't result in getting fat - on the contrary. If, of course, you don't keep your stomach at 100% load level
nice tip on eating...
I wrote specifically that it was not proof or anything, it just seems that some things are similar. My laptop batter has probably lost a little, but the way I have treated it, it still works after 4 years, where collegues/friends a long time ago would have had to get new batteries. I did not make specific measurements, but maybe a new battery would last me around 2.5 hours instead of two, but I have seen batteries that last 5 minutes, and they are less than 2 years old.
So what is a "good way" to kill a battery fast? I thought that stopping charging before 100% is one of the ways to kill a battery, but as soon as I see a test where it is proved that it is the other way around, I'd be happy not to have to wait for 100% before pulling the plug. But the mentioned Nokia test is only varying on when to start the recharging, not when to end it.
As for the comparison to humans ... I know they say you should eat many small meals a day, and that is great if you measure your meals precisely in calories and content. But for a normal, daily unscientific diet, many of those people I hear reiterate the "eat many but small meals to loose weight" have them selves ... weight problems. I have proven that it works (for me), I can see my weight increase when I get into periods of eating 3 or more meals a day. Same with my batteries. I can see they last a long time, where other peoples batteries die - so ... why does it work then?
I know this is kind of an old post (hah) but just an update about Li-Ion batteries:
The final 5-10% of charging is the part that does the most "wear and tear" of the whole charge process, this is the reason IBM (now Lenovo) Thinkpads don't charge the final bit all the time. So avoid *topping off* when charging. If done within the normal charging it shouldn't be a problem.
Simple Guidelines (taken from: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm)
* Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory. (In this respect, lithium-ion differs from nickel-based batteries.) Short battery life in a laptop is mainly cause by heat rather than charge / discharge patterns.
* Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely.
* Keep the lithium-ion battery cool. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
* Consider removing the battery from a laptop when running on fixed power. (Some laptop manufacturers are concerned about dust and moisture accumulating inside the battery casing.)
* Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing dates. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.
* If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge.
does that mean if you have two batteries, you should only use one most of the time and keep the other one in storage?
I would have thought it would be better to alternate between the two every week or something. Nothing worse than having the battery in storage for a few months and then when you actually need it on a trip you find that it only has 50% capacity
Actually the article says that you should "store" batteries at 40% if you're keeping one as a backup, I think the best option would be to alternate them. Keeping one stored at 100% actually causes it to lose its charge FASTER than one stored at 40%
FYI : as you are charging/discharging your battery, the hysteresis threshold (this is called like this in electronic) is decreasing, when it's new it still at 100% then 99%,98%,97% etc
This is the reason why sometimes when you think your battery is fully loaded, his load stops at the hysteresis threshold.
In some case it's possible to raise this hysteresis threshold (when the battery is recent). and to retrieve the full charge.
Here is a tips that I use since some years (my ipaq 3660)
When your device show your battery 100% loaded (of course it's not) the LED light should go off. if you unplug your power AC, and plug it back, and if you notice that your device is loading a few seconds (3-5 sec) then you are raising the hysteresis threshold. of course not to 100%, but a little.
now, put a dvd movie, sit down, and repeat the tips as much as the light doesn't show the device is charging a few seconds. I mean is your battery is full loaded then when you plug back the power ac it should not charge again. so your hysteresis threshold is probably at 100% and your battery should work has a new one.
sorry if my english isn't good enough for this contrib.
Hey Guys,
I am usually just a silent observer on the boards and try and gain knowledge from all these amazing developers but my experience last night has pushed me to vent. I live Atlanta, and a Vendor had offered us some suite tickets to the Falcons Ravens game. Of course I would take those. Knowing this phone does not get the best battery life, I made sure to have the phone fully charged before I departed. I left the office at 5pm with a full charge. Throughout the night I would send a txt here and there and take a photo, nothing too strenuous I thought. As the game was coming to an end I looked down and saw that the phone was already in the yellow, not terrible since it should last me till I get to the car. I’m not thrilled because this means the phone charge has only lasted 6 hrs. I get off the mass transit station and go for my car key…..and it’s not there. I check all my pockets to find nothing. I am now screwed. No car, no phone, no charger. To cut the story short, I had to find a payphone (needle in a haystack) and call collect to my father, who has the only spare key. Needless to say he was not too please coming down at 2 am to get me out of the jam. I am just so furious that the phone died so quickly on me. It seems if I ever go out at night, if I’m not near a charger, that phone is dead within hours. Sorry for the rant, but its just the one major flaw about this phone. My old Tilt would last a couple days ( I know I know, small screen low processor) But a solid day out of these phones would be nice.
Do you manage the battery consumption by turning off unneeded features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi? Have you set the screen timeout to a few seconds of idle time? The display is the biggest consumer of battery power. Finally, when I know I'll be away from a power source for more than 6 hours, I put a fully charged spare battery in my pocket.
FYI the Galaxy S has one of the best batteries for a smart phone. With careful use and battery management, I routinely get 16 hours before a yellow warning.
I had much of your same problem in the first few weeks of having the captivate, prompting me to go buy two extra batteries and a charger off ebay ($10). I feel that upgrading to cognition 2.2 and using the task manager to stop facebook and such from always updating has saved a lot of life, and my phone will last a day to a day and a half on a single charge, so long as I put it into flight mode at night. then I just shut the phone down, switch out batteries, and turn it back on.
I have the screen set at the lowest possible brightness (11%). When i am out i never have bluetooth or wifi on. Perhpas there was a runaway app that was draining the battery. I have never gotten 16 hrs though. My max is about 12, and thats if i dont make any phone calls. You start making calls, it just kills the battery life on my phone. I did use to have a spare battery on my tilt, i might have to do the same with this phone.
It's most likely because your phone is not sleeping when the screen is off.
Download the "Spare Parts" app or just enter *#*#4696#*#* in your dialer and check out the "Battery History". If the Running % is almost full (around 80%-100%) during a day's use, your phone isn't sleeping when the screen is off which means battery is draining. Give it a reboot when that happens, but the known cause I've found was that WiFi causes this issue.
Are you sure you weren't losing signal when you were in the arena? When you lose signal the phone constantly searches for a signal causing your battery you drain.
I know in arenas you don't get a strong signal...
Just a thought
Turn on airplane mod when ur not really using your phone..
I have a great battery life. Especially when not using HSUPA. Try deleting your battery stats.
I typically see 12 to15% per hour drain with constant use.... meaning display is on all the time and I am on internet, phone laying idle overnight... 1%/hr tops. I do have a nice signal at home though... ranges from –70 to –85 so the modem is not working hard at all.