Battery Life in Droid

I charge my droid every 3 days, and I've had it for about a year. The battery isn't as good as a non-smart phone, but it lasts long enough for me.

I have an HTC Eris that runs Android. The battery life is poor when the GPS locator is turned on (required for certain apps) or if I have apps pulled up and running all the time. But if the phone is on regular standby and I turn it off at night, I easily get a few days out of the battery. I could never go back to any other phone - since I use all Google products it's so convenient to have my GMail and calendar synced up on my phone all the time without any hassle.

Thanks.

For reference, are you a former Blackberry user?

No, it's my first smart phone. I like the touch screen and prefer the fact that my phone has no physical keyboard.

The wifey just go an HTC Desire. I don't know what apps she runs (and better not to get involved) but she stated that she must charge hers every 3 to 4 hours. Even brings her charger from home to work.

Nice enough little gadget and she loves it but I'll stick with my dinosaur (Motorola i576) for the time being. 2 to 3 days on a single charge to boot!!!

"I'll stick with my dinosaur".

Me too, I have a RAZR. And a $35.00 USD monthly bill.

I have to charge my droid every night. The more stuff you have on it the more the battery uses. Definately turn off the GPS locator as it is a huge battery hog. There is a place in the phone where you can see what it using your battery the most, for me it is the screen that uses the most battery. Must be playing to many games

For the past 2 years, each time I plan to upgrade my smartphone, I use http://pdadb.net/ for an unbiased comparison between them. Then, I explore several developer forums to get pre-releasedproduct and software reviews. I hope this helps

My wife, the intelligent one....

What is (are) the other(s) wife(s) saying about categorizing them....less intelligent?

Not Mormon. Only have one wife. I wondered if someone would make hay with that.

What I should have said is, My wife, the intelligent one of the pair,...........never mind, that sounds like I have two wives

OK, How's this, "My wife, a very smart person,"..............

Have a Motorola Droid and have to use Advanced Task Killer (free) and a power saver (keeping screen at the dimmest) to get 5-6 days before recharge. I have also needed a recharge after a "busy" week end. I would never go back to anything like the RAZR I used to use.

I went from a Blackberry to a Droid Incredible. Battery life is poor. 3-4 hours of heavy use. If I nurse it, very little use (1 or 2 calls), app killer on, no gps, no wi-fi, I can just make it through the day. I love the functionality of the thing. I have chargers everywhere now. Work, home, car. Every time I stop, I plug it in. I have definitely traded freedom for apps. Cool as they are, I am looking forward to my next upgrade.

-A-

It depends on the phone, the network, the usage and the set-up. I get 3 to 4 days out of my battery with 3g and GPS turned off. Here are a few tips to improve battery life. There are some other good threads on this site on the subject. Type "battery life" in the search block.

BTW, my wife wants to go from a normal cellphone to a Blackberry.... I am staying out of the decision on this

Once you go Blackberry, you never go back.

My only advice is, sit down when you get that first Blackberry bill.

My wife actually uses hers for work, not gossip.

I, on the other hand ONLY use mine for making phone calls. Just call me Dino.

Blackberry... blueberry... raspberry.... nah - Droid is the way to go!

If you do not switch data and auto-updates off on a Droid, you better lie down when you get your data usage account

Here is an interesting survey (albeit from the UK) that says Droids are for dudes not dames....

Have a Blackberry Storm 1. Always had problems with it freezing up, then having to remove the battery to restart it. Finally found an App to do a software restart as it had to do with the internal memory not clearing. While the touch platform worked OK, it really slowed me down when typing in having to push down on the platten. And for a year I was lock out of being able to download from the phone to the PC because the BB Desktop software didn't work. Recently they came out with a newer version that finally worked.

Going on to a Droid Incredible regardless of the battery life.

My Incredible was glitchy as hell. Almost unusable for three months. Ultimately I had it replaced and it is now the best phone I have ever owned. The OS on this phone makes it incredibly user friendly and fluid to use. Unfortunately, if you get one that is only just slightly glitchy, it becomes a nightmare.

Get one. If it acts funny, or does things on its own, REPLACE IT. Factory resets don't work. (Also, do not use Advanced Task Killer. Use SystemPanel Lite.)

In the end, this turned out to be (for me) better than any iPhone out there.

BTW, only disappointment is that the screen is quite dim in direct sunlight.

Other than that, fast, fluid, flexible. Unlimited home screens. Flash player, You-Tube, thousands of free apps.

Good luck!

-A-

One of the biggest drains I've found in modern smartphones is with the screen staying on when the phone is not in use. Some screens tend to active when just walking around, shortening charging cycles to 1-2 days.

I have a Motorola Droid. The length of the charge depends on what apps one is using. GPS related apps seem to drain the battery fairly quickly. At the most I have gone 2.5 days without charging it. I use mine as my alarm clock, and I have a little charging stand that it rest on at night, so it generally charges daily.

I had a Blackberry at a previous job. Again battery life depended on how the phone was used.

In either case, if used mainly as a phone, they charge can last for quite a while. However, if you only want to use it to call people or for texting, then it might be smart to just get a regular phone.