Database Users

Battery Drain on XDA II

Hi,
I have a very recently purchased XDA II.
I was under the impression that the battery time was considerably improved.
Although I have turned down the backlight brightness when on battery power, it still starts to loose power when I receive or send a SMS for example.
Is this normal or do I have a duff battery ?
Steve

try turning off bluetooth when you dont use it
it's suppose to be a batt hog

Yup,
done that. I only have BT on when I am actually using my headset.
Any other idea's
Steve

when does it auto turn off ?
when does the backlight turn off ?
are there any SD cards connected seem to recall that they eat batt aswell

I've had mine a week, have the same power drain problem. After charging it all last night I managed to use it as a PDA for a total of 40 mins over a 6 hour period today before the battery drained. No phone calls were made, Bluetooth disconnected (I do have a 256 MB card installed, but I don't know if this has anything to do with it), furthermore the backlight is set to the default setting and the auto power off set to 1 min. In any case I would expect to get more than 40 mins use of the PDA, the specification states upto 15 hours.
I took the unit back to the store, they say that this is a rare problem (yeah right :roll: ), they gave me a new battery which I am now recharging, hopefully this will work.

mmmm, it's very strange.
I am doing a test now. I have a imate with the official imate upgrade. I have a gps sysonchip bt. One and half hours ago i connected the imate with the gps and i started a demo of 500 km. Now the battery is at 75%.....Maybe de last upgrade solved this problem.... :shock:

You should get far better performance than this.
Three things that can drain the power:
Communications/Peripherals - IR, bluetooth, SDIO wireless LAN etc. Disable all of them unless you're actually using them.
Processor hungry programs - check if you have anything running in the background that could prevent the device switching to full sleep mode.
Lack of radio signal - if you're out of contact with a base station, the device tries to connect at full power every 30s - a big battery drain, so if you know you're out of contact, turn off the radio.
However, even with everything running, I'd expect a running time way above 40mins, so it sounds like you have a hardware problem with your device. I easily get 3h full brightness, full processing (ie watching a movie or playing a game) with radio on.

Turn IR off?
Is there anyway to actually turn the IR off on the XDA II?

Just the Start-Settings-Connections-Beam-Receive all incoming beams checkbox.

tried the new battery today, same procedure as yesterday (no bluetooth etc), had a slightly better performance today from the new battery, managed to get roughly an hours actual use out of the PDA (games etc) over a period of... 10 hours, ooh atleast it lasted the working day so must be better... however still no way near the 15 hours PDA work time as stated on the box!
However something I have noticed is that every now and then (after switching off the unit and just leaving it on the desk) the screen comes to life displaying a running program, (just how do you turn off the media player? I now realise it isnt with the "X"). Anyway why does it "power" back up? I wonder if this has anything to do with my power problem, that perhaps it has switched back on whilst in my pocket (BTW I have set the buttons so that they do not switch the PDA on accidently)
So, I'm recharging again, (I think I might take the MMC card out see if tht makes a difference). I expect something better for my EUR 500, what is the point of being able to go online anywhere if you have to be plugged into the mains! If I can't get the damn thing to work satisfactoraily by next week then it is going back to the shop, despite it being a Gucci shiny piece of kit!

@MoistVelvet: Actually, it;s not so much the device itself but the operating systems that is the cause of a few quirks. Luckily, a lot has been written on this forum and other forums on websites such as www.ppcw.net. A lot can been improved by limiting the number of programs that can be found in the \windows\startup folder of the XDA II. I'd suggest you have a look around in the various topics. I ended up honing my XDA II to a point where I am actually very very satisfied with it's performance ...

Can someone repost the items in the windows start up folder than can be deleted and what they do on the XDA II.
I was surprised at the amount of apps in there, but dont know what I can safely delete.
Steve

Wiz,
thanks for the tip, I'll have a look around.
Well the batery did last longer yesterday, managed to get through a whole workig day before it ran out, so the jury is still out!
Realised perhaps one of the reasons why the unit would switch itself on, whilst at work I have a very low signal, so every minute or two the signal strength would go up and switch the screen on. I have set to auto switch off after 1 min, but I wonder if there is there a way to stop it from switching on?

Hm, my experience is quite different. I use it throughout the day with around 15 phone calls, at least 2 GPRS synchronisations, some other usage of contacts, calendar and email and when I get home it's still around 60 percent - the most drain appears to happen on the way back home when I use the BT headset...
When your uses so much more power you may like to check what kind of programs you use. First idea is to have a critical look at fancy today plugins... my worst experience was with Battery Pack, the best way to empty your battery :lol:
Maybe you like to use UpTime plugin (http://ae.inc.ru/uptime_t.html) which really tells you how much you actually use the PocketPC and which doesn't do anythings while it's switched off...

MoistVelvet said:
Wiz,
Realised perhaps one of the reasons why the unit would switch itself on, whilst at work I have a very low signal, so every minute or two the signal strength would go up and switch the screen on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the reason it periodically switches on is the O2 Homezone application. Whenever your phone changes to a new base station (which can happen even if you don't move), the stupid Homezone app turns the phone on. This is a known issue, and the only known remedy is to disable the app completely (remove from Autostart folder, soft reset phone).
Cheers
Daniel

Hi
I have an xdaII, which i load loads and loads of things onto. I did find that the battery was draining quite quickly. eg. charge it all night, just leaving it running in the day with hardly any use would drain the battery by about 90 percent! Bluetooth was off etc.
One time, the thing drained completely, and it needed a hardboot. Im going to send it back shortly for investigation/repairs.
However, since it hardbooted, i have not installed a thing. And i am finding that the battery is lasting a lot longer. I managed to go 3 days, of average usage, (few incoming/outgoing calls), without charging the battery!
This makes me think some apps must cause the battery to drain. I had battery app installed (that runs in today screen). I had fonix voicedial installed. I had quite a few games installed.
I think some software was causing the battery consumption,.. possibly battery pack.

re
I have previously had problems with battery drain, due to apps running in the background.
I also found specific apps like the battery pack, LAN sdio, bluetooth and the camera app, would drain the battery quickly.
Although you can manage closing apps down through settings/system/memory/running programmes I found the app Gigatask http://gigatask.com/ a simpler way to manage tasks.
There are others, but I found this suitable for my needs.
Now when I close an app I know it's closed and not running in the background draining the battery.
I still charge daily, habit now when I get home from work, but I have no worries about battery drain, and it rarely goes lower than 65% for a normal days use.
Cheers, Shire

turning infrared beam recieve off will help a little
:wink:

Battery Life concerns with Push email + GPRS on Wizard

The possibility of T-Mobile bringing unlimited GPRS is great. I can't wait to get my Direct Push email sorted. BTW - will we have to pay for an extra service from T-Mobile (UK) to enable Direct Push or would having the GPRS be sufficient?
Another thing that has hit me was whether we'll have to enable GPRS on all day....Is this necessary or will it use a sms based system?
For people who leave their GPRS on all day (for Messenger+email for example), how long is your average battery life on your Wizard?
I don't think many complained about the battery life on the Blackberries - but I suppose they weren't that power consuming right compared to the Pocket PCs?

my battery life is pretty much the same....using push mail service for a little more than 2 weeks now......

I haven't actually got my Wizard yet (still stuck with Magician) - but how many hours are you looking at - and what usage is that based on?
So I presume you will have to keep GPRS on at all times right?
Thanks again for your replies

my GPRS is always on. Usage is as follows:
I mainly use my wizard for phone, text, and e-mail. Occasionally streaming some audio, and surfing the web (slashdot.org, wap.yahoo.com, etc...)
I need to charge my phone at night before going to bed and I'm using it the following morning by 9am. I charge it in the afternoon and during lunch when I'm in the car, and by the end of the day before I put it on charge I have about 18% battery left.
From 2/28 until today (3/13) I've used
980 anytime mins
260 weekend mins
200 mobile to mobile
300 nights (after 9pm)
11MB Internet Data
221 text messages
12 picture/video messages
so from that you can surmise that i'm a moderate user (some might say upper moderate).
hope that's enough for you...
note: in the begining for about 5 days i didn't have the push mail

GPRS on all day and battery life
I am planning on getting a Wizard (have a Magician right now). I have found that keeping GPRS on all day to use my push email client prevents my phone from going into standby and massively drains my battery. (Backlight will go off, but screen does not switch off entirely, seems to be GPRS over-riding my power settings.)
How does the Wizard handle this? Are you able to keep GPRS ticking over but still have the device go fully into standby mode?
Wondering if my issue is device specific or this is a normal facet of GPRS always-on usage?

Mine goes to sleep/stby as-designed with GPRS constantly connected. I, too, have noticed very little (if any) difference in battery life since the new ROM upgrade.

I've been using the qtec test since the WWE version came out and now the iMate Rom on tmobile uk.
I've had push mail working for an entire month of my contract now, and my data usage dropped by at LEAST 10mb a month. I mainly use the web for an hour a day surfing bbc news, the register etc. I have the push mail enabled from 6am until 6pm. using I use about 32 of my 40mb, this month I only used 16mb. I was syncing every 30 minutes on the earlier ROMs during the day, so I has been an amazing improvement.
The other good news is my battery life has increased by a large factor with the iMate rom. On an evening after just GPRS usage (no wi-fi) I had 98% battery, the best I had managed before was approx 70% so I am very very happy.
I don't use the phone very much,only about 5 minutes per day so obviously this helps my battery life too!
By the way yes the GPRS keeps the constant connection while in standby, and wakes the phone a little like a text message.
I am confident my findings are accurate, I read in the exchange server blog direct push works by opening a http request and waiting for a response or timeout. There is little overhead in this, I believe the battery overhead should be little more than having GPRS connected permanently (or between the times you use direct push)
Hope this is useful!

wow thanks stevieg (glad you are helping us pocket pc users as well as liverpool! )

Direct Push and Standby
Have anyone of you had a problem with Direct Push when the Wizard is in standby mode? It works fine when I test it and the screen is alive, but when it's on Standby/Sleep the mail doesnt come in.
Is there something I need to config on the phone or Exchange?
Thanks

When does the internet connection disconnect?

I feel like at one point, my internet connection used to disconnect when I was done with an application that used it. That doesn't happen anymore. Now it just stays on for hours draining my battery. What do I do?

You can press and hold the END (Red Phone) button for about 3-5 seconds.

davidbessler said:
I feel like at one point, my internet connection used to disconnect when I was done with an application that used it. That doesn't happen anymore. Now it just stays on for hours draining my battery. What do I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. It just keeps going till I tell it now. Quick way to kill the battery. I'm installed the Qtek rom over the T-Mobile UK one the phone came with so I'm wondering if there's a setting missing.

Sorry, but you are a wrong: to leave GPRS always on doesn't drain the battery noticeably - I recently turned it on 24/7 for push email and there is no effect on the battery life at all (in case you don't use the GPRS connection a lot - I usually just transfer around 10 mails per day, each around 1-2kb...)
So there is definitely no need to worry...

Good to know, I'll just leave it running then!

Hermes Battery lasts less than 1 day

I have a T-Mobile MDA Vario II with WM 6 (Black IV Shadow). I have the following problem: When I charge it, it first shows a red light which then turns to yellow. I have read the "red light"-issue in the wiki, but that is not the same problem as mine: When it is charged, it says the battery has a 100 per cent (the light, after all, turns yellow after some time). Still, it just doesn't last more than a day.
I may add that the Hermes fell on the ground once and was slightly damaged: The power and camera buttons do not work anymore, but everything else does (at least that's what it seems to be like). Can anybody help me to pinpoint my problem:
1. Charging device: Is the charging device possibly damaged? How could I figure that out? Is it possible to use a different device with the same socket (I have got an MP3 player, Creative Zen Micro, and another mobile phone called "OGO" whose charging devices have sockets that fit). Then again, I have read in a different forum that even though the sockets are identical, charging with a different device can be dangerous.
Anyways, how can I find out if there is anything wrong with the original charging device?
2. Battery: Is there any possibility to measure the battery's capacity? I could imagine there might be a program to control it. I would rather not disassemble the device just to find out if there's sth wrong with the battery.
3. Other possible solutions: Is there anything else I could or should think of?
Many thanks in advance for your hints.
Best wishes
Michael

Less than one day with reasonably heavy use would not be uncommon. When I use GPS for example it does not last long. So to know if it's excessive we'd need to know what you are running.
Mike

Also what radio version are you running - different versions can have significant impacts on your battery life...
Smiffy.

Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?

Here's a tip, going all the way back to the PocketPC 2002 days but it's still relevant now, especially in power conscious devices like phones:
Go to SETTINGS/CONNECTIONS/BEAM and deselect "Receive all incoming beams"
It was (and is) IMO completely wasteful having the IRDA port constantly transmitting/receiving and being polled by the system. It's probably the least power sapping of all of the various wireless technologies in the Tytn but I don't feel that's a good reason to leave it on all the time.
YMMV, but who the hell uses IRDA anymore these days? I've been a power WinCE user for a decade and I've only used IRDA once or twice as a curiosity.

michaelbarrero said:
Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not an expert by any means, but I can flash with the best of them...and yes I do recommend you flashing your radio to a more updated one. Check in the wiki for extracted radio roms, go to their respective threads and see if anyone in you geographical location and with your service tier has mentioned anything about the radios. Or (my personal fav) start with the highest number (1.47 I think it is now) and flash it...if it works better for you great, if not then maybe take a step down until satisfied. The 1.05 radio is really old. Good luck...be sure to read Mr. Vanxs guide on flashing if you have not flashed before! PS- what os/rom are you using?

I get 3-4 hours onmine unless I have a car charger. But I am ALWAYS using data.

wpbear said:
I get 3-4 hours onmine unless I have a car charger. But I am ALWAYS using data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on 3g or Edge?

ajmoncrief said:
Are you on 3g or Edge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G. When I am on Edge which also means not at work so I use less data, I can get 10 hours.

Me personally:
I am in the Charleston, WV (AT&T) area...I have been using radio 1.41, although I am now trying 1.47. My area uses Edge, I have configured my 8525 to always be on Media Net edge connnection, my email accounts are check every 5 minutes. I surf the web very sparingly but use email, various games w/out sound and ms office frequently throughout the day. I run roughly about 12-14 hours before the battery is somewhere around 10%-20%.
I have brightness turned down to the notch before the lighting is off.
I also have an extended battery that I picked up for about 20 bucks from ebay that very easily double or triples those results.

Wow- 12 to 14 hours using 5 minute polling of email! I'm also in an edge area running the 1.40 radio on Cingular network and am lucky to get about 8 with moderate phone usage and minor surfing but also with 5 minute polling of email - pop and Exchange 2003.
However, I do run my backlight timer at 2 minutes and power at 5 minutes...

yeah i'm pretty satisfied...I only pack along my extended battery for trips. Oops, I failed to mention that I am not a big talker...maybe 30 min a day. I use my office line at work. I have the screen timeout for something like 30 seconds and 1 minute as well.

michaelbarrero said:
Thank you for your replies:
1. I do not use it intensely at all. I never connect to the internet, use bluetooth, GPS, Wireless LAN or the like. I even switch the phone off whenever I can. I doubt whether this is the reason. Still, thank you for your hint.
2. I am using Radio Version 1.05.02.00. Would you suggest upgrading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've already upgraded to WM6, then yes, go for it - it's a really old radio version but if you're still on the ROM that shipped on your phone, for warranty or whatever other reason, then you might want to be a little more reticent before upgrading your radio as it will almost certainly void it.
It still sounds like something is eating you battery life up though, or your battery is duff. i remember a long time ago I used a screensaver thingy on my phone and it took me ages to realise that it was that which was halving my battery life. What else have you got on your phone?
Oh, and just in response to the beam thingy above - it also switches off your ability to receive files over bluetooth...
Smiffy.

If the battery lasts less and less, don't overlook the obvious: The battery. My Hermes was down to 2 - 3 hours a day. I decided I need a second battery to get through the day. Turned out that the new battery lasted all day. Threw away the old one.

Well I get about a day. But I have Direct Push on, 200+ e-mail, about 1hr checking news, 1hr 30min of calls average etc.

maybe try this
if you know someone else with the same phone, swap batteries for a day. that will tell you if it is your phone or battery causing the problem.

its the UMTS that eats your battery. when you get the fone its on auto and coverage changes constintly, so when you not using umts rather deactivate it by your fone settitngs

Mr_GTI said:
its the UMTS that eats your battery. when you get the fone its on auto and coverage changes constintly, so when you not using umts rather deactivate it by your fone settitngs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, but that shouldn't happen since I'm in an EDGE only area right? Or should I still lock it down to EDGE? The nearest 3G/H area is 2.5 hours away...

i assume it searches for the 3g coverage all the timne, so yeah rather just leave umts on for when you need it

Wow - can't believe what a difference it made just locking it to EDGE made. Battery lasted until 10pm last night even with 1 hour of mono audio, light calling, some internet use, direct push all day and BT connected all day!

3G Battery Life help!

I tested on 2 Hermes (Dopod 838pro). Main device is loaded with Schap 4.30, second with Satin Normal.
I have had intermittent battery life issue with the main device.
Have swapped batteries, even put in new battery to no avail.
Most recent test: I loaded the second Dopod, ran it without a SIM card and battery life was OK. Today, I inserted a 3G SIM card and fired up Opera Mobile 10beta. Battery warning sounded in 15-30 mins!
I did not encountered this problem before because unlimited 3G data plans were expensive! Now that the price have dropped to SGD10 per month, I am really ticked off to find that the Dopod's battery life is crushed by very little 3G usage!
Is this consistent with all Dopod/Hermes?
Can anybody advice what I can do to maximize battery life under intermittent 3G use? My intended use is Outlook push mail with short intermittent/infrequent web browsing.
Thanks in advance.

Some more observations that may be useful to people who are interested:
1. I noticed that a number of my WM devices fails to turn off/go to sleep in the specified (battery operation time) when they are woken by some notification/alarm/appointment.
I suspect this could be one of the major cause of some intermittent battery drains that happens.
My theory:
1. Certain apps consume a lot of power when they are running
Example: SkyFire, Opera Mobile, etc.
2. They may or may not stop if I suspend/sleep the device with these apps on.
3. If the Hermes is woken with these apps running, it would account for massive power drains!
SO, at least if I can solve the issue of auto-sleep on battery, I may regain some control over the unexpected battery drain.
However, long term it would still not solve my problem of high battery drain when device is on & web surfing in progress.
I may try to play with the Radio ROMs instead . Any chance they could affect power consumption? I have avoided flashing the Radios so far....
Thanks

Updates!
After reading some pages on Hermes battery issues, I decided to try one experiment:
I turned off 3G on both Dopods. Data link is via GPRS only.
Results:
1. Battery life is restored - no more sudden battery drain!
2. Push mall continues to work!
3. However all web browsing (Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, PIE) all fails!!!!
Anybody can share their knowledge?
Thanks