Database Users

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

Average Battery Life ? ? ?

What is the average battery life most people are getting from their devices? The reason for asking I beleive that my battery life has reduced drastically, I'm averaging 36hours. I do not use it as a phone, the Wifi & bluetooth is switch off, the unit is used for push email only and I receive about 20 emails per day, very little WEB browsing.
I'm sure my battery life was a lot better when I took delivery of the unit.

a18041967 said:
What is the average battery life most people are getting from their devices? The reason for asking I beleive that my battery life has reduced drastically, I'm averaging 36hours. I do not use it as a phone, the Wifi & bluetooth is switch off, the unit is used for push email only and I receive about 20 emails per day, very little WEB browsing.
I'm sure my battery life was a lot better when I took delivery of the unit.
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Mmmmm.. well I'd consider 36 hours fantastic but then it sounds as if I use mine a lot more for wifi, surfing, phone etc. than you. Perhaps an hour to hour and a half per day and charge once per day but will usually have 40/50% charge left I did see a post from someone saying with reasonably heavy use they could only get 8hrs.
Mike

i use mine mostly for data.. in a 3G area i average about an 9.2% loss per hour.. in a edge area i am averaging about 1.7% loss per hour... these are all estimates since the battery meter only goes by 10's

I am fairly certain that the 3G is eating power. I get a full days work out of it with a lot of phone calls, push email, BT always on, and occasional WiFi usage. I am almost always in 3G, I very rarely lose it and only when at a clients far away.
Later, Lew
BTW, A full days work for me is 9am to 3am.

3G is the problem. Consider switching to 3G via MortScript as described in another thread. Personally, I use the GPRS only setting for normal use. PushMail would consume a lot less energy with GPRS and the speed isn't such an issue for mails in my opinion. Whenever I'm willing to browse the net a bit more, I switch to 3G before doing so (takes ca. 15s via the script) and when done, I go back to the less battery eating and more reliable (for taking phone calls etc.) GSM only mode.
You will definately at least double the runtime of your Hermes. I can do 5 days (phone on at night, little use) by doing so.

Well I can confirm that 3G is the cause, as suggested I've switched to GSM and battery life is a lot better.

3rd charge i managed to get nearly 2 days, had a 4 hr gprs web session last night on minimum brightness and still had 30% battery this morning.
if the battery goes to 0% what happens? data loss or just turns off?

jonr said:
3rd charge i managed to get nearly 2 days, had a 4 hr gprs web session last night on minimum brightness and still had 30% battery this morning.
if the battery goes to 0% what happens? data loss or just turns off?
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Other than any document/application open at time of shut down you should be ok, not like my old Clie that looses everything that's not screwed down on the storage card. In fact quite often I deliberately remove the battery for a while if I reckon it may help with a lock up (normally due to some rubbish downloaded freebie!!). All saved programmes to Device memory and card remain in tact.
Mike

Using my TYTN for email (check every 30 minutes), newsgroups (check every 30 minutes) and reading both every 2 hours.
Also using the phone for lots of browsing.
And i am also using my phone for making some phonecalls over the day (with and without bluetooth carkit), i get to use my phone for about 16 to 18 hours without need for a recharge.

[OT]
How do you enable auto email send and receive?
Cant find the option anywhere
[/OT]

if you add an email account to your tytn you get the option advanced at the end of the settings. if you click it you will get the option to send/receive at a standard timeperiod.

I use UMTS for email and web browsing continuosly for 2 hours and I'm down to 10% after a full night charge. It's pathetic.

Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew

lewcamino said:
Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew
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i dont know about that.. everyone seems to be getting around the same battery life... i would bet that if i used mine on umts continously for 2 hours i would be close to the same drain, UMTS sucks alot of battery

shogunmark said:
i dont know about that.. everyone seems to be getting around the same battery life... i would bet that if i used mine on umts continously for 2 hours i would be close to the same drain, UMTS sucks alot of battery
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that's true and umts sucks a lot of power. i am using mine on umts in tokyo and i can only get 10 to 12 hours. i use it mostly for push email (about 80 emails), an hour of browsing and some phone calls a day. i've ended up purchasing mugen's 3000mah one to get through the day without recharging.

lewcamino said:
Your device is broke, or your battery is defective. Seriously, if you have a warranty, act on it.
Later, Lew
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I highly doubt it as I have two 8525 and both of them will be at 10% with 2 hours of continuous use.

Well I'm on my 2nd battery.First one was replaced under warranty as I was getting about 8hrs with very little usage.
I'm on my third charge with the new battery. The first & second charges have given me about 15hrs.
Agent said I should be getting 4hrs talk time and if the second battery is also [email protected] then they will replace the phone. So I'm monitoring until next week.

Quad said:
Well I'm on my 2nd battery.First one was replaced under warranty as I was getting about 8hrs with very little usage.
I'm on my third charge with the new battery. The first & second charges have given me about 15hrs.
Agent said I should be getting 4hrs talk time and if the second battery is also [email protected] then they will replace the phone. So I'm monitoring until next week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may not apply to you (as you probably know it already!), but Windows Mobile does not shut down programmes when you click the x in top right corner. To ensure you are not unknowingly running lots of applications in the background you need to use a programme that really shuts applications down properly - e.g. Magicbutton or HTC X Button. This can save considerably on both battery power and performance.
Mike

Mike, I'm using Magicbutton and make sure all apps are closed all the time. I've read a lot about the UTMS connection on all the time draining battery. I've just downloaded this app: http://www.gb-soft.cz/XDAII/product_gprs_tweak_wm5pe_en.htm
See if this works and extends battery.

Quad said:
Mike, I'm using Magicbutton and make sure all apps are closed all the time. I've read a lot about the UTMS connection on all the time draining battery. I've just downloaded this app: http://www.gb-soft.cz/XDAII/product_gprs_tweak_wm5pe_en.htm
See if this works and extends battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had a quick look at your link and yip, looks good going to try it as well.
Mike

HTC TyTN Battery Life with ActiveSync Really bad

Hi
I have read a lot of threads about short battery life, but so far none of those applied to me. I have recently purchased this great device, and normally it gives me 2 days of usage time with a fair amount of fiddling etc, and no activesync. Now the main purpose for this purchase was the Activesync feature, as I have an exchange server pushing me my mail. I have the following settings:
Exchange 2003 SP2 without SSL certs/encriptions
Active sync set to download mails upto 0.5KB and from all times, not only the last 3-5 days, etc.
Active sync is also set for immediate retrieval, which leaves the phone with a permanent GPRS connection. There are PEAK times set, from Monday through Friday between 8AM to 6PM. Off peak times it gets it at every 2nd hour.
My battery lasts 12-14 hours like this, and I dont touch the phone much, plus dont have more than 20 minutes talk time per day. Yesterday I arrived home at 10PM with a dead battery already. This is really bad that I cannot even make it through a single day.
An addition to this the phone gets really warm, but only at the very end of its battery-life, lets say from 30% to 0 it goes in less then an hour or 2, and warms up pretty badly.
I also have the BandSwitch utility keeping my phone on GPRS only, and killing idle connections that are non-used for over 2 minutes. This I guess only takes affect during off-peak hours, but even in those hours, when I check my phone I can see a GPRS connection on for like 20-30 minutes. So I guess Bandswitch doesnt always do a good job.
Any hints? This is really annoying,
Thanks a lot,
Ben

Does automatic email checking kill the battery

The reason I am asking is I am trying to track down a battery drain issue. The only thing I think can be causing it is the fact that I have my phone set to check 4 different email accounts every 5 mins.
I have a 3000mAh battery and I am able to kill it in 8hrs. I seem to remember someone talking about an app that could tell what apps or services were causing the most battery drain?
I am thinking about doing a test where I turn off automatic email checking and seeing if the battery lasts any longer. I use the phone for business as well as private use so I need to keep track of things when someone needs to get a hold of me. So I use email a great deal.

Ya.. that seems pretty fast.
I would also recommend checking the radio version that you have. Some people say that some radio versions kill the battery faster than others.
Check that out.

I have push mail set for one account (MS DirectPush with an Exchange server) with a 4/5 minute update interval, and I get acceptable battery life... It's not fantastic, but what do you expect for a PDA smartphone As soon as I fire up pRSSreader to check four RSS feeds (even if I set the interval to 3 hours!) my battery life REALLY suffers, and I'm in a 3G area - close to a mast, stationery - all day every day. The Palringo client REALLY kills the battery, we're talking about 3/4 hours to get to 10%.
SPB GPRS Monitor is useful for seeing if there's any data throughput going on, and the BatteryStatus Today plugin is also useful for seeing current battery drain in either mW or mA, so you can kinda figure out what's going on with your phone at the time (that and acbTaskManager to see if there's any processes maxing the device's CPU out, which has caused me battery drain in the past). I've got a HERM with v1.05.05.00 radio, for the record.

I've been having the same issue with my Vario II...
The battery life was relatively good when I didn't have my web'n'walk connection enabled. But now I have DirectPush enabled to check emails on an Exchange server set for 'as items arrive' aswell as another three POP email accounts.
The GPRS is almost always on and on full charge will only last me about 8-9 hours from 100% charge. If I'm out for a continous stretch for more than that time- I'm in trouble (as I was yesterday!)
I'm guessing this is normal behaviour then? Not too good if it is (!)

Well I went from 4 accounts every 5min down to 1 account every 5min and my battery life doubled. So yep constant email checking does kill the battery. Oh well, I have my important account set to check every 5min (may change it to 20mins) and my other accounts set to once a day, which I usually just check manually when I have a few min.

There seems to be many other threads on this issue and some say, even with multiple accounts setup, battery life is in the region of 20hrs. Changing to a different [radio] ROM seems like one of the solutions.

Sorry guys...I know I'm kinda late joining this discussion, but I thought I'd put in my two cents...
Checking your EMail in the fashion you described in your first post definitely drains your battery. I was in the same situation you're in: about 4 different accounts, set to update around 30 minutes or so...my phone was beeping "low battery" before the afternoon was over (and that was after being charged the previous night!)
Not only that, but I'm convinced that the "always-on" state that the radio was in from all that EMail-checking is what caused the radio to "burn out." I had to get a new 8525 after that happened.
Good luck with your situation. I'm looking for a solution myself.

Galaxy 3 (i5800) and the fraggin battery...

Hi everyone!
I got my Galaxy 3 about 2 Months ago and I was very curious about it, since it was the first Android Phone I ever got to see.
After a few weeks with Eclair I was VERY disappointed with the poor Battery life. Couldn´t get more than 5-8 hours out of it. 5 hours if played a lot aorund (surfing/messaging/mailing/games) 8 if I barely used it.
I decided to root and soon after that I flashed the Kyrillos 4.0 ROM.
Still, it didnt get much better...
I made the settings as suggested in the Kyrillos thread overclocked the Phone to 1300Mhz. When the screen is off it goes down to 333Mhz.
At least now it runs about 10-12 hours
My Pleasure ended after I installed an IM Client... the Battery died so fast, it had almost no Time to scream ;-)
I tried the following Messengers:
ICQ standard (didn´t even start)
Ebuddy 2.0 (didn´t work too well, had to open it to receive messages and got plenty of double messages)
Trillian
IM+
Ebuddy 2.0.2 (finally seems to work and uses push / right now I stick with it)
The Push feature made it possible to go up to about 11 hours of using time.
Still I am not satisfied... I had high hopes because of the 1500mhA Battery.
Okay it has a quite big screen in comparrison to my old N95 but still...
I thought it had to be the Messenger sucking out the Life of my Batteries, but after today I am not sure.
Today I tried to minimize my usage and turned the phone to GSM only mode, also I did not activate any Messenger.
I wrote exactely 4 Mails, downloaded 1 PDF of about 1,5 MB via WLAN (took 8 Minutes), received 1 SMS and had about 30 Minutes of calls.
The Battery Information says the following:
Remaining Power 20% (Battery Calibratrion 20% 3918mV)
Disconnected from the charger: 12h 44 minutes
Display 68%
Calls 15 %
WLAN 8%
Battery Standby 5%
Phone Standby 3%
Dialing 2%
Of course I had automatic synchonisation for Contacts Mails and Calendar always activated. I cannot live without push Mail anymore
I find it disappointing that even with no 3g and that low usage it doesn´t even live for 24 hours. It isn´t even near the estimated time shown in the many Reviews on the net... over 600hours of standby? I dont think so... even if i wouldnt touch it and turn of everything but the OS. 900 Minutes of talk time? Not in this reality...
How do they even come up with such numbers?
Did I make a mistake? Is the autmoatic sync really using that much Battery?
Is it because of the overclocking? Maybe I should use another Push Service than that of google...
Is there any way to log the amount of connections needed to hold up the push feature? It must be some kind of VPN with the Mailserver, since the Phone is running in an IPv4 NAT Space and has no Unique Adress to be adressed.
It isnt that bad for me to have only a few hours of running time, because I have bought some batteries in reserve. But it bothers me. I think it can be optimized.
If you are reading this: Thank you for your patience ;-)
May the Force be with you.
Merlett

If you restart your phone when you have 20% on 3.950mV, you will see again 70%. Phone is holding untill 3.550mV. I don't really understand the calculation method but it's really inacurate.