Battery life went from good to BAD

bigdaddie · #1 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 01:48 PM

We have 3 EVOs. Within the last couple of days our battery life has plummeted. I mean we unplug the phone with 100% and within 30min we're down to 90%. All phones run a different mix of software so it's doubtful it is one app sucking up the battery. When I go into the system info it is Android System that is using all the battery (73%).

The only thing that has changed in the last few days is that 4G became available in my area, but not reliable at my house. The thing is about that though is that the 4G radio and notification is turned OFF. Could it be that by revamping the cell network is causing our phones to go crazy? We also have an Airave so the voice side should be fine. The only thing I have not tried is tuning off the 3G data. I'll try that and post my results.

BD

biscodude · #2 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 02:02 PM

Download os monitor. It can show which process is going nuts. I had something similar happen to me and it ended up being a problem with contact sync for facebook for htc sense. Although mine was also rebooting at the same time.

perfeng702 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 02:23 PM

i had the same problem. one day my battery life went to crap. i noticed my data usage was through the roof. i turned off FB sync. now all is well.

**clockcycle** · #4 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 03:59 PM

What, if anything new, have you installed or activated since you've noticed the difference? Even something as simple as filling out the login information may have activated some sort of syncing. Personally I turned automatic syncing off.

Check either of these posts out, that may answer the 100% to 90% phenomenon;

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.p...9&postcount=13

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=17

EDIT: Though last week in my home area I have been on roaming, even with the latest PRL update. But today, that wasn't the issue.

neuteboomt · #5 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 06:23 PM

on the phone if you go to the dial pad and type *#*#4636#*#* and go to battery history look for processes at 100%. On my EVO I would click on "other usage" and change it to "Partial wake usage" I would see Media at 100% (blue line all the way across). I found that after I reformatted my Memory card to FAT 32 (copy all items first to computer) the Media stopped running at 100% allowing my phone to sleep. You can check to see if your phone is sleeping by menu/setting/about phone/battery/ look at up time and awake time. The two times should be different if you have had the display off.

**gator352** · #6 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 07:29 PM

It's not the memory card causing bad battery life. It's the music widget. I noticed that media was also at 100% and killed it. Then I noticed that my music wasn't there on the widget and waited for it to load up again (which took 5 seconds or so). Checked running apps again and media was 100% again. So I removed the widget and now media doesn't show up in running apps.

What happenes is this. The widget keeps polling your memory card for music keeping it active and running so when you want it, it's there. When you kill the process, it stops the polling. So if you accidentally stop on the screen with the widget for any length of time, it polls your card again for the last music played and stays active. When you remove your card and format it, it breaks the link between widget and music for the time being. When you reinsert your card and load your music, it won't be active again till you let the widget load up the music..... But if you let it load, it will start to kill your battery again keeping the media at 100%.

biscodude · #7 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 08:01 PM

Thanks for the tip! Widget removed.

neuteboomt · #8 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 08:05 PM

I hear what you are saying but that was not the case for me. I used the HTC music widget for over a hour today and the Media is no were near 100%. When I click on "under partial Wakelock:music" it shows a total of 1h 36m 38s.

**gator352** · #9 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 08:27 PM

It's only when the widget sits on idle is when it uses 100% (or something up there) which causes it to keep your phone from sleeping which uses battery like a sweet publix cake. I noticed a nice battery gain after removing it.

**GoodThings2Life** · #10 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 08:30 PM

One thing to point out... since some of you may not be WinMo junkies... any time a battery is polled in single-percent increments, the first 10% can be ... flaky. For example, mine dropped to 93% within 5 minutes and then stayed there for 3 hours. Those of us from the WinMo days may remember this from using the 1% increment drivers from no2chem.

If you think this sounds bogus... stop and ask yourself... when you top off your gas tank... ever notice it feels like it stays at full for a long time and then just collapses for a while before leveling off again? Same concept... electronic measurement is always approximations.