Thread: Poor Battery Life

What's up with the battery life on this phone??

Only had this phone a couple of weeks, but no matter what i do or change, I can't get any more than about 3 days battery life.

The specs suggest getting up to 340 or 520 hours standby (GSM/WCDMA), but I'm not getting anywhere near that, despite being an extremely light user:

between zero and 2 calls max (every charge period)
handful of texts at most
GPS is off
WIFI is off

Is this normal?

Thanks in advance
Stopgap.

Wow, 3 days?! - That's a lot compared to what I get! .. Mine lives for like 1½ day .. Anyway, check this out.

:arrow: http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/google- ... 47410.aspx

Yes, I know, it's for the Hero, but it works the same way as the Tattoo

4 days is the maximum I get out of my Tattoo battery. I did most of the things on that brighthub article. The most effective thing I did was switch off the gps weather updating service, which meant my battery life more than doubled. The power control app that is installed on the phone is also useful, because you can turn wi-fi, gps, bluetooth, etc on and off as you need it, instead of running them all the time and without having to go into settings all the time.

The Tattoo is the first smartphone I've ever had. My Motorola Razr was getting old, so the battery needed charging up every couple of days anyway, so I guess battery life is what you're used to. I'm glad I made the switch, though, and I'm getting used to needing to recharge more frequently if I use the device a lot in a day. It's worth it for the accessibility to the internet while I'm on the move. And the Tattoo battery seems to be miles better than the iPhone's!

Thanks for all the tips - I'm getting some improvement, and somewhat used to it as well.

I'm curious about the "power control app" you mentioned missizicks, as I can't find it or don't have it - can you provide more info?

Cheers
Stopgap

Theres a widget on mine for all the power settings. Go to add to home. Select android widget then choose power control. Note you need enough space clear on the home screen for this to fit.

Not found the power control app mentioned yet though if this is different.

Have you checked to see what is draining the battery?

Settings > About phone > Battery use
gives a nifty display of where your battery life is going.

Smartphones typically have horrible battery life if you use all the features. The Tattoo does not seem to be markedly worse/better. WiFi doesn't seem to drain power very much, because it sleeps when the phone sleeps. Bluetooth is another matter entirely...

It seems to be a matter of how many apps are running. I recently went to Europe and left the phone on aircraft mode (no calls or connection to the net) and the battery lasted more than a day and sometimes as much as two days. With the phone turned on, I didn't get a day out of it.

Originally Posted by scowie

It seems to be a matter of how many apps are running. I recently went to Europe and left the phone on aircraft mode (no calls or connection to the net) and the battery lasted more than a day and sometimes as much as two days. With the phone turned on, I didn't get a day out of it.

My findings with a Wildfire are similar. There are so many variables that come into play which affect the battery life. Yes, I expect we all know that having any GPS-dependant apps running is bad, as is leaving Bluetooth and Wifi switched on 'just in case'. Another point that often gets overlooked is how good your local signal is. A low one, (and being inside a car doesn't help!) is likely to drain the battery faster as the phone works harder to maintain a link. Watch out for anything that needs frequent data update, like the Weather or Gmail accounts.

I think we all know to take the maker's official standby figures with a very large pinch of salt though, don't we?