So 3 days ago I bought a brand new G2 off cragislist (still had all the peel off stickers) for 200. The guy said he had it replaced by t-mobile cause his old phone didn't send mms or something. His daughter bought him a newer phone so he decided to sell this one. Anyway, he gave me his old battery and battery cover since tmo didn't include it.
when I first got it the battery life was terrible, and I didn't even have the data plan hooked up yet. After connecting to my wifi and surfing/downloading apps, about 10% drained in less than a few minutes. I let it drop to 30% and charged it fully (first time). The first thing I noticed was that it was kinda "stuck" at 100% for a while... then it dropped to about 96% and started draining from there. I then made sure to turn all the data and wifi off and went to sleep when it was at 78%. Woke up 8 hours later and it dropped to 71.
Now my question is, should I have charged it all the way, then played with it til it died, then recharge it again? Or is that unnecessary since the battery is old anyway and it doesn't matter if its a new phone?
After a few more charges, it seems like the battery is a bit better but I'd still like for it to last longer. I still feel like I'm getting inaccurate readings though. Still gets stuck at 100%, then at 70%. Should I let it die all the way to calibrate the battery?
Also, I heard rooting the phone and flashing the cm7 rom will improve battery life, is that true? Cause I had the mytouch3G a while ago so I'm sorta familiar with the rooting process but I didn't notice any battery improvements.
Thanks.
edit: the phone came with the 2.3.3 firmware.
The age of the battery is irrelevant since the phone is new, and the phone calibrates itself based on how you use it to give the best possible battery life, aside from the occasional run-away app/process. It is always best to take the battery all the way dead and fully charge a few times (like 3-5) to get the most out of it. This has been my experience, and what Tmo recommends when you buy any new android phone from them.
I contacted HTC to inquire how they recommend the battery be charged. Below is their response:
A lithium-ion cell phone battery needs to be conditioned when brand new. For the first three charge cycles, fully charge the battery overnight and allow it to fully discharge before recharging. Extensive overcharging may damage a Lithium-ion battery or if it is left on the charger for more than 24 hours.
Lithium-ion batteries operate more poorly at low temperatures. Temperatures below freezing can cause the battery to lose its discharge levels and sputter out more quickly. While these batteries do not suffer from memory effect, they should be fully charged and discharged every 30 uses.
I've got a G2 with the 2.3.3 firmware, just received as an insurance replacement last week.
I can confirm that the battery life is appallingly bad. I used to go through 75% of one battery in a day, I'm going through two batteries daily now.
This beta build is a POS!
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA Premium App
So is it too late to condition the battery since I've been using it for a few days now?
For those that are rooted and running a custom ROM, did you notice any improvements in battery life? I'd imagine the power management is better and that getting rid of all the tmo bloatware would make it easier on the batt.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
rommy0515 said:
I've got a G2 with the 2.3.3 firmware, just received as an insurance replacement last week.
I can confirm that the battery life is appallingly bad. I used to go through 75% of one battery in a day, I'm going through two batteries daily now.
This beta build is a POS!
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA Premium App
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Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. What firmware were you running on your old phone? And would I be able to downgrade?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
htc420 said:
Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. What firmware were you running on your old phone? And would I be able to downgrade?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
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I was running CM 7.0.3 with fairly heavy daily usage. Have you noticed any other problems? I've noticed that apps don't show up in the app drawer unless you powercycle after download. Also, the browser seems to crash a lot, and it isn't playing well with the Amazon appstore. (Most of my apps that I had acquired on Amazon apparently can't be downloaded.)
There is a known battery drain issue on gingerbread for all phones. Also lithium ion batteries do not need to be discharged as this damages the battery itself. They are smart enough not to not require calibration.
htc420 said:
So is it too late to condition the battery since I've been using it for a few days now?
For those that are rooted and running a custom ROM, did you notice any improvements in battery life? I'd imagine the power management is better and that getting rid of all the tmo bloatware would make it easier on the batt.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
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Incidentally, if the phone was brand new, never been used, it probably shows in the "Device Model Warranty Tool" as a new phone with a twelve month manufacturer warranty and a three month accessories warranty. (The DMWT is an internal tool the TMO reps use to verify your warranty status)
You should be able to get an extra battery just by calling up and telling them that the battery you have dies very quickly. (All batteries have a 90 day warranty on them, and they don't require you to send back the old battery they just send you a replacement.) Tell them you've tried the master reset and playing around with the display settings and all that jazz. The trick is, whatever they suggest, just tell them you've already done it and sound convincing.
If the rep gives you a hard time, just call back and tell the next rep that your phone is randomly powering off and when they ask you if you've tried another battery, tell them no, because you don't have another battery to test. Lol, it's best if you sound kind of confused when they ask you that question That should lead them to a battery replacement on their troubleshooting flow.
Source: I worked for TMO in customer service and technical support for three years.
rommy0515 said:
I was running CM 7.0.3 with fairly heavy daily usage. Have you noticed any other problems? I've noticed that apps don't show up in the app drawer unless you powercycle after download. Also, the browser seems to crash a lot, and it isn't playing well with the Amazon appstore. (Most of my apps that I had acquired on Amazon apparently can't be downloaded.)
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I don't have any problems with apps not showing up. My browser is just fine, it hasn't crashed once on me. Lastly, I don't use Amazon for apps, so I wouldn't know.
rommy0515 said:
Incidentally, if the phone was brand new, never been used, it probably shows in the "Device Model Warranty Tool" as a new phone with a twelve month manufacturer warranty and a three month accessories warranty. (The DMWT is an internal tool the TMO reps use to verify your warranty status)
You should be able to get an extra battery just by calling up and telling them that the battery you have dies very quickly. (All batteries have a 90 day warranty on them, and they don't require you to send back the old battery they just send you a replacement.) Tell them you've tried the master reset and playing around with the display settings and all that jazz. The trick is, whatever they suggest, just tell them you've already done it and sound convincing.
If the rep gives you a hard time, just call back and tell the next rep that your phone is randomly powering off and when they ask you if you've tried another battery, tell them no, because you don't have another battery to test. Lol, it's best if you sound kind of confused when they ask you that question That should lead them to a battery replacement on their troubleshooting flow.
Source: I worked for TMO in customer service and technical support for three years.
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Thanks for the suggestion man! I'll call them right now.
Do I need to give them the serial numbers, etc on the back of the phone or will they see it in their system? cause I have a hard plastic case on it and it's a bit of a pain to remove it.
Tell them that you aren't calling from the phone, otherwise they'll probably give you a hard time and try and get you on a different phone for "troubleshooting."
It might be easier if you waited about three days before you call, make a few phone calls with the new phone so that it shows up on their system. (Phones show up on the warranty system after the system "tags" them and you have to make a phone call for that to happen)
You can always get the IMEI number by hitting "*#06#" (no quotation marks) from within your dialer.
And don't tell them you bought it off Craigslist. Tell them you got it brand new for full retail at one of their third party dealer locations. (Car Toys, Jacks Cell Phone Emporium, The Phone store, whatever, it doesn't matter what you tell them, they won't look it up)
(Just in case you already called and they gave you a hard time, just call back a couple of times with some complicated troubleshooting questions, dropped calls are a good one for this and get the memo "buried" then call back and try again for the battery.)
Oh, wait, belay my last. Lol, sorry, I just realized I might be about to lead you astray.
You need to wait 14 days before you try this. If you do it before 14 days are up they're going to tell you to return the phone to the place you got it. They only do battery replacements after the "buyer's remorse" period is up.
(14 days everywhere in the US except for CA, where it's 30)
My bad!
(Again, if you already called and got the runaround, no worries, you can still make it happen, just call back a few times get them to troubleshoot some dropped calls or "dead spots" around your house, SMS problems, go over your bill a few times or whatever comes to mind, just so that whatever notes the rep left get buried in the memo list, then call back after the buyer's remorse period is up and go for the battery replacement)
Edit: I just realized you're in CA. You're going to have to wait 30. Sorry bro
Damn, oh well.
Btw, I googled "2.3.3 battery drain" and read up on some Nexus One users complaining about it. Pretty much all of them said that when they open up "Battery use" it tells them that the Android OS is using anywhere from 35-50% of the battery. But on mine, the display is using it the most. Second, it's voice calls and then Cell Standby. The OS isn't even on the list! Is this normal?
Are you still on Gingerbread btw? I want to downgrade to Froyo until this all gets fixed.
htc420 said:
I don't have any problems with apps not showing up. My browser is just fine, it hasn't crashed once on me. Lastly, I don't use Amazon for apps, so I wouldn't know.
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Lol, to be honest, I have four batteries for my G2, so I don't tend to pay that close attention to the battery life, although when I was rooted I played around with adjusting Wifi scan intervals with root tools and other settings with Juice Defender and had some major improvements. Mostly though CM7 and Pershoot's kernel took good care of me and I didn't worry about it that much.
My experience with Android is that it's the display that chews up most of the battery, I usually leave my display set on 100% brightness all the time and that uses the majority of the battery life. I haven't really looked into it farther than that. There's a pretty cool app called Screebl out there that adjusts your display timeout based on the phone's orientation that I use and I think that helps some with the battery as well.
Right now I'm waiting on another replacement, I told them this phone was randomly powering off so that they'd send me another one without arguing about it. This thing is way too buggy for me to deal with, plus I saw an article on Tmonews that had a screenshot from Streamline (the Tmobile intranet) that indicated that it was an "error" that caused people to get the beta 2.3.3 build through warranty replacement, so I'm hoping that the phone I've got coming has 2.2 on it. (Knock on wood)
If there's a method to downgrade, I don't think it's been made public yet. Everything I'm seeing on here, the Cyanogen forums and in #g2root indicates that at the present time the phone can't be downgraded, which sucks balls.
Heh, PM me if you run into a method that works! I'd be eternally grateful I want my root back!
(And you should check out the Amazon appstore. They give away a free paid app every day, and sometimes its a good one. Also some of their app prices are cheaper then the Android market)
carquote said:
I contacted HTC to inquire how they recommend the battery be charged. Below is their response:
A lithium-ion cell phone battery needs to be conditioned when brand new. For the first three charge cycles, fully charge the battery overnight and allow it to fully discharge before recharging. Extensive overcharging may damage a Lithium-ion battery or if it is left on the charger for more than 24 hours.
Lithium-ion batteries operate more poorly at low temperatures. Temperatures below freezing can cause the battery to lose its discharge levels and sputter out more quickly. While these batteries do not suffer from memory effect, they should be fully charged and discharged every 30 uses.
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Click to collapse
This is all very false information, and poor recommendations.
Li-ion batteries do not need to be conditioned. Battery conditioning applies to old tech NiCad batteries. What you actually want to do is properly calibrate the volt meter on the phone itself. Charge fully to 100%, leave it there for a while to make sure its obtains the top-off charge, then drain to around 20% (repeat 3 times or so). Discharging a Li-ion battery too low can render it incapable of taking a charge, forcing you to replace the battery. There is a safety circuit to prevent this, but its not 100% failsafe. Several people on here have reported not being able to charge their G2's battery (and other phones too) after letting it discharge fully. And there is really no benefit to letting the battery drain until the phone is dead.
The battery meter may become inaccurate after a while, and re-calibrating may help. Again, charge to 100%, and drain to 20%. You can also clear the battery stats on the phone and start over.
You can read more on Li-ion batteries at Battery University:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/do_and_dont_battery_table
htc420 said:
when I first got it the battery life was terrible, and I didn't even have the data plan hooked up yet. After connecting to my wifi and surfing/downloading apps, about 10% drained in less than a few minutes. I let it drop to 30% and charged it fully (first time). The first thing I noticed was that it was kinda "stuck" at 100% for a while... then it dropped to about 96% and started draining from there. I then made sure to turn all the data and wifi off and went to sleep when it was at 78%. Woke up 8 hours later and it dropped to 71.
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Since its a brand new phone, the battery/volt meter on the phone was not accurate. Cycling the battery by charging to 100%, and draining to 20%, repeat a few times, and you get more accurate battery meter readings. Your experience after charging and draining to 30% is probably more accurate than when you started. The batter meter being "stuck" at full is pretty normal. Mine usually says full for up to a couple hours, then drops much faster after that.
Also remember that the battery meter on phones is not that accurate to begin with, its a limitation of the technology. A 1% battery meter increment is misleading, they really aren't that accurate. In fact, some phone ROMs only display battery level in 10% increments. So take the battery levels with a grain of salt.
rommy0515 said:
My experience with Android is that it's the display that chews up most of the battery, I usually leave my display set on 100% brightness all the time and that uses the majority of the battery life. I haven't really looked into it farther than that.
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That's probably your main problem right there. The display backlight is the biggest battery drain for any smartphone, and 100% is way too bright. Looks pretty, but its killing your battery. Turn it down as much as your personal preference allows, and depending on your most typical lighting conditions. I have mine turned down to 35%. You will likely find your battery life to increase greatly.
Rommy, I was reading up on cyanogen forums and happened to run into your thread. You said you got a replacement with 2.2 on it... is there any way they can do that warranty thing for me as well since this is a new phone? I hate how I can't just downgrade I don't want to be stuck on this pos beta build.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
htc420 said:
Rommy, I was reading up on cyanogen forums and happened to run into your thread. You said you got a replacement with 2.2 on it... is there any way they can do that warranty thing for me as well since this is a new phone? I hate how I can't just downgrade I don't want to be stuck on this pos beta build.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk
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Lol, I feel ya brother.
So here's where things stand as far as I understand your situation. (And bear in mind, Tmo policies may have changed since I left there, my info is close to a year old. The buyer's remorse policy as far as I know has stayed pretty constant though, as it's mostly dictated by applicable state law.)
Basically the way the policy is written is that you can't do a warranty exchange while you're within the "buyer's remorse period" that period is set by state law. Most states give you 14 days, CA gives you thirty. Lol, which normally would be cool, but kind of sucks for your situation
Like I said in my earlier post, assuming the phone really was brand new (and be aware, just because it had pull off stickers doesn't mean it's brand new, they put those on reconditioned phones as well) it should show up in the TMO "device model warranty tool" as a brand new device with a 1 year warranty on the equipment and a 90 day warranty on accessories. (A reconditioned device will either appear as "warranty not verified" or with a 90 day equipment warranty) The warranty should show up with the first day being the first day you made a phone call with the device.
Now, if you call and tell them you want a new phone, there's a couple of things to bear in mind. First, you need to give them a good story about why the phone is jacked up and can't be fixed through troubleshooting. Intermittent freezing is always a good one for that. Be sure to tell them you already tried a factory reset so that they don't make you do that and call back in three days or some such bull****. (Don't worry about what you tell them here, when the phone arrives at the repair center, nobody goes in to verify your story, sometimes reps will tell you that, but they're full of it. All they do is check for liquid damage and physical damage.)
Second, you may have to explain how you acquired the phone. (Whether or not you'll have to explain this is dependent on a bunch of factors and would take way too much time to explain. Suffice to say, be prepared to have an explanation.) DO NOT SAY YOU GOT IT ON CRAIGSLIST!!! (Lol) This will cause the rep to tell you that the warranty is not valid. (Technically the warranty may still be valid if you have insurance, which I'll explain later, but this is knowledge that the rep you're talking to probably doesn't have, and believe me, you don't want to spend half an hour trying to convince the rep and his supervisor to look closely into policy.)
The best story would go something like this: "Me and the Mrs. were on a trip to Vegas, and my phone started messing up so I stopped in at a store, I really can't remember the name, I think it was a Tmobile Store, but I'm not sure, it might have been called "Bob's Cell Phone Emporium" or "Jack of All Phones" or something like that. Honestly, the trip was so crazy, I can't even find the receipt now, but they told me the phone was brand new!" As long as the phone shows up with a warranty in the Device Model Warranty Tool, the rep isn't going to go investigating your story. (And if for some bizarre reason they try to, just hang up, call back and try again with a different rep)
I'm getting a little ahead of myself though. Before you do any of that, you need to do the following: Call TMO, and ask them what kind of warranty your G2 has. Ask them for dates. Tell them you just want the info for your records. (Again, if they ask where you got the phone, use some variation of the storyline I provided above) If they tell you, your G2 warranty expires on June 18, 2012, or whatever, you're golden. (Again, if the device was reconditioned, it might only have a 90 day warranty, still no problem) If they tell you that they don't have any warranty info, or if it's "warranty not verified" then don't argue with them, just hang up and call back and do the following:
(There are a myriad number of reasons the phone might show up as "warranty not verified" again, way too complicated to explain and not really relevant to what we're talking about anyway.)
Insurance time! Okay, so here's the deal with Asurion. Regardless of whether you feel their prices are highway robbery, (and they are, the price just went up too to 7.99
sometimes their service is useful. This would be one of those times. The rules for insurance (and please bear in mind that my info may be out of date, however I'm pretty sure this hasn't changed, but don't string me up if it has! lol) are that you can add it within 14 days of getting a new phone. It doesn't matter where you got the phone. (This came directly from an Asurion executive who once visited the call center I worked at) What Asurion looks at is whether you changed IMEI's within 14 days prior to adding their insurance. So, if you get the "warranty not verified" line, just call back, and tell the next rep that you want to add insurance. If they ask you if you just got a phone, the answer is yes. If they give you a hard time, don't argue, just hang up and try again. You'll find a rep who will add the insurance. Once you have the insurance, wait a day, then call back and tell them the phone is frozen. The PHP insurance will get you a replacement, and the TMO rep can put the exchange through without transferring you to anyone. (Sometimes the reps don't know that they can put exchanges through on "warranty not verified" equipment, so if they tell you they can't, just ask for a supervisor or threaten to cancel and get transferred to the save team)
You don't have to keep the insurance either if you think it's a waste of money. Just wait until you get the replacement device, make sure it works, then cancel the coverage if you don't want it.
Lol, okay that was a mouthful. Last point: buyer's remorse. What I was just telling you about checking the warranty status and adding insurance if necessary you need to do right now, because the clock is ticking on that. (14 days to add insurance from the first date of usage) Getting the actual exchange done may require waiting. (If it's a warranty not verified situation, you can probably just get it done now after adding insurance)
Now, one way to get around the thirty day wait may be to do the following. If you have a friend who lives out of state and who you trust, change your billing address to their house, hang up, call back and do an exchange and have the phone sent there, and from there they can send it to you. (Also remember if asked to tell them that you got the phone in a state other then CA, and you'll still have to wait until 14 days from the date of first usage has elapsed. Also, TMO won't let you change your billing address back to your house until 30 days have gone by from the date of change)
Lol, anyway, if you're confused by any of this, reply to this thread or PM me and I'll try to clarify whatever I said as best I can. Also, as a disclaimer, I'm not an insurance agent, so any discussion here about the ins and outs of Asurion's coverage is purely for educational purposes and shouldn't be taken as a promise of coverage
Thanks for the help man, really appreciate it. I called them and asked about my warranty and turns out the phone really is brand new. I bought it on the 14th and she told me I have the warranty until June 14th of 2012!
Now I told her about the issues I'm having with the 2.3.3 firmware (freezing up, restarting, browser crashing, battery life, etc) and she asked me where I got the phone. I told her I bought it at a tmobile store and she told me that if I'm experiencing these issues then I should take it back to the store as I have 30 days to return it.
I then told her I bought it while I was in Vegas lol. She said I'm sorry but she can't do anything at this point. I asked her if I could speak to one of her supervisors and she said told me to hold on while she looked over some things. After I got off hold I was told that it was a problem that a few people were experiencing but t-mobile and htc are supposedly working out a solution via an upgrade but she doesn't know when and couldn't give me a date(sounds like BS). Told me that they can't replace it and I asked for a supervisor once again.
She connected me to one, asked me if I did a reset, to which I replied yes. Finally, they allowed me to get it exchanged... asked me for my billing info but then told me that they charge $20 for this service (would be $5 if I had insurance). Told me it would be free at the place I bought from but that's obviously not a option for me.
I asked her what happens if my replacement phone comes with the same software and I experience the same issues... she informed me that tmo would waive the $20 fee.
Do they really charge $20 for all this or are they trying to rip me off? I've never done any replacements so I wouldn't know. lol
I'm willing to pay but if the Gingerbread fix/update is coming soon like the representative told me then I guess I could keep it. That's if the battery drain issue is fixed.
My Sprint s5 active unrooted phone has been over heating eversince it was replaced by Insurance. I assume that phone is a "reconditioned" device. Is this phone defective?
Have you done a full factory reset? It could be. Might be worth speaking with Samsung?
Will a factory reset fix the heat problem?
no guarantee but it will be a good way to check, almost certainly you will get asked to do that by anyone you speak to from support. It is possible that something is eating the cpu. Have you tried using CPU spy to see if anything is using the CPU?
Ok. I'm on vacation so I'll wait to reset the phone until I get back tomorrow but I can try the CPUs spy now
cinnamngrl said:
My Sprint s5 active unrooted phone has been over heating eversince it was replaced by Insurance. I assume that phone is a "reconditioned" device. Is this phone defective?
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Rest assured all replacements come with a 12 month limited warranty! You’ll need to take the phone to a Sprint Repair Center. There they’ll attempt to troubleshoot the device. If they’re unable to repair they’ll complete a warranty exchange for you.
Asurion is the reason I have this crappy used phone that i paid $200 deductible plus at least $1000 in monthly fees. And i am still paying monthly lease.
So i asurioncares has no response?
I have a regular S5, but I have found that an app can make my phone (including past phones) real hot. I've checked through battery usage to see which is a culprit and uninstalled, reboots have helped, etc...
Haven't I resent having to reinstall the operating system load all my apps that I like on again. Basically it once I put all my favorite apps on it starts getting hot again