Hoping to get some good feedback from those who have used the epic for a couple months or more. Now that you're probably using the device normally, as in not attached to it all the time, how is battery life? I've heard initial reports that it's not so good... Also, for those of you who have updated unofficially to Froyo, does the upgrade help with battery life? Can anyone comment how Epic's battery compares to EVO's?
Thanks.
I usually get about 9 hours in my stock battery and 6-7 on my cheap eBay ones. Overall idea say meh, its about on par with most other android devices. I'm running the stock dk28 leak as well with no battery tweaks or mangers of any sort.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
On most of the DK28 roms I'm pulling a solid 10 hours with moderate use. For reference, If I leave the phone on standby all day in my house it's lasted 23 hours, if I recall correctly. Honestly that's pretty damn good for a smartphone.
EDIT: I don't use any battery-manager or powersaver either. Brightness = Auto, bluetooth/wifi/4g/gps = 1 is on at any given point in time usually. Google auto-sync = on as well as touiteur (twitter) and facebook notifications every 15 min.
I have been impressed by my battery life actually. I can't speak for the EVO(although maybe soon since my friend might give me his as a backup). I can usually get between 4-5 hours of play time(surfing, texting, apps, music, wireless tethering, movies, etc) The rest of the time it is usually idol. I usually charge it over night, unplug it around 7am, then plug it back in around 11pm. At 11pm, I usually have between 10- 30% battery left.
I just switched to a froyo ROM(bonsai, which is excellent) and so far the battery seems to be about the same. By lunchtime 12:30 it is usually between 70-80% and right now I am at 72% but I also had some extensive time testing the tethering feature.
To be honest, I had a blackberry, and the battery life was a little better, but the features were not nearly as good. It amazes me the battery these things get with that amazing samoled screen.
disclaimer: I do not play games outside of sudoku and spades, so my CPU does not really get challenged, which probably accounts for some battery savings. Oh and I use regular wallpapers, cause I don't really like the live wallpapers.
Im on 2.2.1,and I have to say I see a 40% increase in battery life compared to 2.1,and thats about 11-12 hours,no battery saving apps either,well except setcpu,which does help,but its set at 100mhz - 1ghz conservative.And I use it more now then when I got it,I havnt got tired of it at all.I have noticed the first 10% goes the fastest,and I have calibrated twice since moving to the ROM im on,and its the same in all,so if you get an Epic dont let that scare you.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I've had an Epic since a couple weeks after it was released and I think the battery is probably working the way they meant it to, which means a solid day. I charge it overnight, unplug it when I go to work, plug it in when I go to bed, and I'm usually at around 40% by that time with moderate use. I don't generally have problems with battery drain.
The exception to this is when using GPS with the screen on. It's really difficult to use this phone as a direct PND replacement even though it's basically made for it (especially with Froyo, which fixes the GPS lock issues), because the screen and GPS together will drain the battery from 100% to 0% in about 40 minutes. My dedicated PND, by contrast, will give me 8 *hours* of continuous use on battery power.
Also, I have a 1000mah car charger and even with that connected, the battery still drains when using GPS and the screen (it just drains slower). I have to just turn the screen off when I know I won't be needing to make a turn for a while.
The one thing I wish about the Epic is that it had a regular old LCD screen. The AMOLED screen is the one battery killer - you really need to watch how long you have it on. In normal use it isn't much of an issue, but you just can't do much of all the cool things they advertise that you can do with this phone (like GPS or watching movies).
I do also keep my screen turned way down, which makes a difference, but it's still a killer.
Well, I reported over in another thread that with Froyo, and basically having my phone sit around and do nothing with no WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, no "fixes" such as switching to airplane mode or killing the DRM service, and no "battery saver" programs, I was able to get 108 hours on a single charge with the stock battery (1500mAH). That was with the screen on time of about 50 minutes and talk time of about 40 minutes... (pictures here)
It all boils down to how you use your phone, but in a stock configuration, the power management seems to be better on 2.2 than 2.1 as shown by the large amount of "idle" time I was able to get on a single charge.
Koadic said:
Well, I reported over in another thread that with Froyo, and basically having my phone sit around and do nothing with no WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, no "fixes" such as switching to airplane mode or killing the DRM service, and no "battery saver" programs, I was able to get 108 hours on a single charge with the stock battery (1500mAH). That was with the screen on time of about 50 minutes and talk time of about 40 minutes... (pictures here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't disbelieve that - in my post above, when I'm talking about draining the battery with GPS and the screen on in 40 minutes, or when I'm talking about having 40% battery left at the end of a regular day, it's almost always with a screen on time of 30-40 minutes. So 50 minutes sounds about right to drain the battery completely, with nothing else on.
I'll bet if you had 0 minutes screen on time - just let the phone sit idle - you could have probably gotten 200 hours or more.
badasscat said:
I'll bet if you had 0 minutes screen on time - just let the phone sit idle - you could have probably gotten 200 hours or more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, what's the point of having a phone then? 8-9 days without using it? I dont think I could hold out that long.
And I didn't even see your post until after I posted.
Koadic said:
LOL, what's the point of having a phone then? 8-9 days without using it? I dont think I could hold out that long.
And I didn't even see your post until after I posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I know, I was more just clarifying so it didn't seem like we contradicted each other. I think the important stat is really screen time and then any extra radios you have turned on. Just with the regular radio and nothing else, you could get ridiculous battery life on the Epic. It's the extra radios and screen that kill it.
My phone gets me through the day. About 20% down in 7 hours on standby, so thats decent. Heavy usage with full brightness on and live wallpaper starting in the morning, stopping at like 6 A.M...it'd probably die there, for me at least.
The battery is good; I'm running the dk28 rom but it really hasn't affected my battery life at all.
On phoenix kernel i was getting 20-36 hours moderate to light usage. With acs xtreme kernel I'm getting 12-20 hrs w/ moderate use.
That's about 3-4 hrs of screen on time, 45-60 min of talk time. Emails, text ing, twitter, xda, and some various forum reading. Angry birds if waiting in line somewhere..
Note: I leave background data turned off and manually sync/refresh mail/contacts/data. I have no need/desire to be alerted evrytime someone updates twit/fb. I also use juice defender.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I can barely look at my phone on full brightness - it hurts my eyes with beams of awesome.
I get between 13 and 16 hours depending on how much Angry Bird time I put in that day. If I'm doing normal browsing, facebooking, etc then I'll be closer to 16, but gaming drops my battery like a rock.
Thanks for the replies! I think I'm convinced a lot of it has to do with how you use the device. Pretty much how it went with the EVO when it first came out... lots of people complaining about battery and then it kind of faded once everyone settled down. All I need is to get from early morning to right before bed.
GPS with google nav is a killer on any Android with decent screen size and resolution I think. Anyway, I thought SAMOLED is supposed to save a little battery? Or is that only if the background is black? In any case, I usually dim my screen to 30%, keep GPS off, keep auto-updates down to a manageable size, and use some other tricks to save battery, so I should be good to go.
I tried to thank all of you with the new thanks button, but didn't realize there's a limit per day haha. I'll finish it up tomorrow.
As far as I am concerned the battery life on DK28 is amazing. I use overclock widget set at 1000/200 screen on and 400/200 screen off. I can pull more than 30 hours with multiple phone calls, texting, email, web and games for over an hour. Here's the screen shot I took today before putting the phone on the charger.
I've noticed a substantial improvement in battery life since upgrading to 2.2. However, I also began using the Epic Experience ROM shortly afterwards, which boosted it even further. That, plus Juice Defender nets me a perfectly acceptable battery life.
I used my phone heavily today and still got about 18 hours out of it before plugging it in before bed at a 35% charge. On top of that, my phone's never felt snappier.
whoa, is it normal for the epic to take 3.5 hours to charge? If so, any explanation? Past devices i've had tend to take an hour less... Running 2.1, does Froyo help?
Currently on Epic Experience with SuperPower installed. I unplugged the phone about 16 hours ago and it's sitting at 36% with light voice and moderate SMS/data use.
Battery life definitely improved after upgrading from 2.1, even with light use it would be dead in under 12 hours on stock 2.1/DI17.
How to get unbelievable battery life
I have some very VERY helpful hints of great battery life for the Epic 4g. (as i am on hour 26 to 28 and have 20% left with about 1 to 1.5 hours of screen on use.)
First off, use black, or almost black background. Our screens are superAMOLED. This means that if the screen is showing black... those particular black pixels... are simply not on. If you have the home screen black, and have no icons on it, then the status bar is all that is using power... maybe 6 or 8 percent.
Next, Lose the brightness. A few helpful hints on this. 1) uncheck the autobrightness in the display settings 2) turn the brightness down in the display settings 3) If you slide your finger from right to left across the status bar at the top, the screen will dim, if you slide your finger from left to right, it will brighten(this causes accidental brightness 4) cover this light sensor on the right side at the top (I believe) because the phone seems to have a problem always autobrighting even with the uncheck in the settings. This is done best with electrical tape, or perhaps finger nail polish. These things should ensure to always be at minimum brightness
Next, Install Frankenstein Froyo Rom(lightest rom=less cpu usage/blackest rom=less screen battery usage), And Genocide Kernel(undervolted)
Next, install task killer(keeps the rom at optimum efficiency meaning less cpu usage assuming you are killing the apps 3 or 4 times a day) install set cpu(This allows you to limit the cpu clock speed(400mhz is optimal usable and battery settings)
Things to remember, ALWAYS TURN THE SCREEN OFF.
If you pick it up every thirty seconds to see if you have a text, then just sit it down... whats happening now.. The screen is staying on for another 15 seconds probably. DUH!!! bye bye battery!!
TURN OFF THE SCREEN BEFORE YOU SIT THE PHONE DOWN!!!
Turn off gps when not in use.
Turn off wifi when not in use.
Turn off 4g when not in use
Dont use it as an mp3 player.
Dont talk on speaker phone.
Those last few were pretty obvious.. but some people need to be told.
I Hope this helps anyone looking to conserve battery. Follow these steps and i promise 24 hours plus ever time and often as much as 48 hours.
Enjoy
EDIT****
By the way, When you set yourself up with this rom, you are making your phone TWICE as fast... LITERALLY. Hard to believe that a ROM could be twice as fast.
With stock android2.1 this phone gets 800 to 900 in quadrant(benchmark tool/tell how fast your phone REALLY is) Stock android 2.2 quadrant score is a little better scoring as high as 1000.
With this setup, i have gotten as high as 1950 in quadrant. No joke. This is reflected as you cant even tell the phone is clocked down to 400mhz without heavy apps and REALLY paying attention.
I used to get about 8 hrs of use before having to charge. Battery would drain even when I wasn't using the phone. Since flashing to DI18 a few months ago battery life has been great. A good 15-17 hours of moderate/high use and minimal drain with the phone on standby.
I lower the brightness all the way, end the DRM process and do the TWS trick after a reboot. No fancy battery management app that disables all your phone for the sake of battery.
I expect 2 hrs of the screen being on before my battery gets down to 20-30%. Which I think is very reasonable for moderate to high usage.
I've had my Droid X for about a month now. In general it goes about a day before I have to charge it. That seems to be about normal. My questions is in that day of total time, how much time can the screen be on before having to charge. I seem to get about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours with the screen on. That doesn't seem that great, but I was wondering what other folks are seeing.
Thanks.
Depends what else is going on for the phone, and what the brightness is set to (in extremes, what the temperature is).
But, even in the worst case, 2.5hrs is a bit low. I recently got just about 3 hours streaming Netflix, 100% brightness, on a decent cell connection, on my 11-month old DX.
I would expect close to 8 hours on a constantly on screen, just running the clock, 1% brightness, in airplane mode.
Extended Battery
I didn't mention that it was about 2.5 hours, with the extended battery (1850maH). I'm running GB, auto brightness adjustment, no over/under clocking. Push email/calendar/contacts/tasks from our Exchange server. Auto-off after 30 seconds.
Shouldn't I be able to expect at least 4 hours screen on time under this configuration?
Yes you probably should be getting better battery life
Update: Just wanted to provide an update to this. I ran some very basic tests on both phones at the same time such as browsing, checking emails, a little gaming, etc. And what I noticed was that the G6 actually performed slightly better than the OP5 for normal use, and of course this is more important than a constant video playback test. And based on what others posted below it makes complete sense now why the OP5 seemed to be better in this. (Assuming the numbers were even accurate). But in normal day to day use I am seeing the G6 having excellent battery life. Anyway just wanted to update this so it doesnt cause someone to think I am saying the G6's battery is bad. Original post below.
Hello XDA. I just got a T-Mobile LG G6 and LOVE IT, except for one issue. Battery life. AOD is off, and always has been. My other phone Ive been using before this is a Oneplus 5. Ive been trying to decide which phone is going to be my permanent phone and love the G6 over the OP5 in almost every way except for battery life. I ran some basic tests just to get an idea of how they compare. Now I know that the G6 has a 2K LCD display and the OP5 has a 1080p Amoled. But I didnt think there would be that much of a difference since a lot of people said that the difference as far as battery life wouldnt be that much.
So I went into the tests expecting the OP5 to a bit better. But I didnt expect the results I got. The short result is that the OP5 had 20% more battery after running the below Netflix test for 2 hours. I ran the test again the next day, this time for 5 hours and the OP5 had 55% more battery left than the G6. The average percentage loss for the G6 running Netflix was 10% every 30 minutes, while the OP5 only loss an average of 3.25% every 30 minutes. When checking the battery usage to see what is draining the battery the most it is definitely the screen. On the G6 it accounted for 34% of the total loss, and on the OP5 it was only 13% of the loss. So maybe the 2K vs 1080p screen is the culprit after all. Like I said I expected it to be a factor, just not a 21% difference in the total usage between the G6 and OP5.
I also know that my OP5 is running 7.1.1 and the G6 7.0, but as far as I know the main difference between the 2 versions is Doze, and I have Doze off on the OP5 due to a Gmail sync issue. And I also know that a simple Netflix test doesnt really represent what kind of battery life I can expect from normal day to day use. Anyway basically what I want to know is does this seem normal, and when the G6 gets 7.1, or 7.1.1 will that improve the battery life enough to hopefully be better than this?
Like I said I REALLY like the G6 in every way, except the battery life. And Im not giving up on it. So if there is some hope that the battery life will improve that will definitely make me lean more towards keeping the G6 over the OP5. Anyway thanks for any input. Below is some more details on the test results I got. And Ive attached a screenshot of the battery usage with it at 11%, down 8% since the Netflix test ended.
LG G6 vs Oneplus 5 (2nd Netflix drain test)
Netflix Streaming Test at 100% Brightness, no other apps running. No Sim card in either. Both had same settings toggles on also:
LG G6:
Started at 100%
After 30 mins 92% Lost 8
After 60 mins 83% Lost 17
After 90 mins 72% Lost 28
After 2 Hours 61% Lost 39
After 2:30 mins 52% Lost 48
After 4 Hours at 40% Lost 60%
After 5 Hours at 19% Lost 81% (55% more drain than OP5)
Average of 10% loss every 30 minutes (About 6% more loss per minute)
Oneplus 5:
Started at 100%
After 30 mins 97% Lost 3
After 60 mins 94% Lost 6
After 90 mins 90% Lost 10
After 2 Hours 87% Lost 13
After 2:30 mins 84% Lost 16
After 4 Hours at 80% Lost 20%
After 5 Hours at 74% Lost 26% (55% less drain than G6)
Average of 3.25% Lost every 30 minutes (About 6% less loss per minute)
Just wanted to add an update. I decided since the main drain from the G6 was the screen that I would try the test again, but this time adjust the screen brightness on both devices so they look as close as possible. When I had both set to 100% before the OP5 was quite a bit brighter. So this time I had them looking as much the same as I could. The test results were much different.
Oneplus 5 after 4 hours of Netflix had 65% left.
LG G6 after 4 hours had 46% left.
Although its still 19% less than before, its a lot better than the 40% difference from the previous test. So Im hoping by leaving the G6 at a lower brightness will help improve the battery life. And of course hoping that 7.1 also helps. Anyway just wanted to update this. Thanks
Anyway, i think that is not a fair comparisson... OP5 has 1920x1080 screen and G6 1440 x 2880, at least for me, 5 hours of screen is totally awesome, but if LG do something to extend the battery efficience would be great
The OP5 has an AMOLED display. The pixels in these displays actually create their own light. They consume no power when they are black, low power when dim, and quite a bit of power when displaying bright or white content.
LCD displays like the G6 use a backlight with a panel in front that blocks the light from getting to your eyes, creating an image. They have consistent power consumption that is completely determined by the backlight level, the image itself is irrelevant.
TV shows and movies tend to have pretty low white level, so AMOLED displays use very little power most of the time. Switch test to browsing where there are tons of white backgrounds and you would probably see the LG catch up or take the lead.
Edit: Also have to mention that the OP5 is using a pentile subpixel layout. This means that instead of each pixel being made of red green blue sub-pixels like the G6, it only displaying either a red green or a blue green for each pixel. So not only is the OP5 displaying less than half the pixels that the G6 is, it's only showing 2/3 of each pixel.
Gam3r 4 Life said:
Just wanted to add an update. I decided since the main drain from the G6 was the screen that I would try the test again, but this time adjust the screen brightness on both devices so they look as close as possible. When I had both set to 100% before the OP5 was quite a bit brighter. So this time I had them looking as much the same as I could. The test results were much different.
Oneplus 5 after 4 hours of Netflix had 65% left.
LG G6 after 4 hours had 46% left.
Although its still 19% less than before, its a lot better than the 40% difference from the previous test. So Im hoping by leaving the G6 at a lower brightness will help improve the battery life. And of course hoping that 7.1 also helps. Anyway just wanted to update this. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how you achieved these numbers, but i suppose it's not accurate, specially those on #1 post.
Assuming OP5 has 3,25% drain every 30 min is like saying it has a screen-on time of 15+ hours. No phone could ever get this with actual tech.
Great battery phones, with heavily modded kernels and roms, helped by wakelock limiting apps, could achieve about 8-9 hours max with screen turned on.
So, my guess is that it could be some kind of battery trick on OP5 side (not showing accurate percentage, for example).
Your second test is more feasible, but i really think it's still too much for both phones (about 7,4h SOT for G6 and 11,4h for OP5).
Please don't take it as a criticism on your tests. I'm just saying here that your battery is lasting as expected for today standards.
G6 does poorly/average in these constant playback tests but overall in normal use it manages to do well. Whatever case, in my kind of use, it does really well
Does the G6 have wifi scanning turned on?
OFFTOP: How OP5 and LG G6 screen compare? OP5's AMOLED is PenTile so not really fullHD. Is the G6 much sharper when displaying small text etc? I dunno which one to consider buying
About differences in battery -> remember G6 has older, more power hungry SOC. And it has to much more work thanks to bigger resolution. I would say difference is actually quite small having that in mind and LG did great job of optimising its software.
forfivo said:
I'm not sure how you achieved these numbers, but i suppose it's not accurate, specially those on #1 post.
Assuming OP5 has 3,25% drain every 30 min is like saying it has a screen-on time of 15+ hours. No phone could ever get this with actual tech.
Great battery phones, with heavily modded kernels and roms, helped by wakelock limiting apps, could achieve about 8-9 hours max with screen turned on.
So, my guess is that it could be some kind of battery trick on OP5 side (not showing accurate percentage, for example).
Your second test is more feasible, but i really think it's still too much for both phones (about 7,4h SOT for G6 and 11,4h for OP5).
Please don't take it as a criticism on your tests. I'm just saying here that your battery is lasting as expected for today standards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im not sure how I got those numbers either. I just wrote down and noted what I saw. The fact that they looked to good to be true, and that there was such a discrepancy between the 2 was why I ran the test again. And it wouldnt surprise me if Oneplus had done something to inflate the numbers. I dont know if you read about it, but they were caught again "cheating" benchmarks by forcing the phones to run at maximum when they detected a benchmark app running.
dkimmortal said:
G6 does poorly/average in these constant playback tests but overall in normal use it manages to do well. Whatever case, in my kind of use, it does really well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I decided to do another basic test and just started playing around in apps, games, browsing, etc. at the same time on both phones. And the G6 not only kept up with the OP5 but beat it slightly, and the G6 had my Sim card in at the time, and the OP5 didnt. So what I am noticing is that in normal use the G6 has been great, and even slightly better than the OP5.
FunkyRasta said:
OFFTOP: How OP5 and LG G6 screen compare? OP5's AMOLED is PenTile so not really fullHD. Is the G6 much sharper when displaying small text etc? I dunno which one to consider buying
About differences in battery -> remember G6 has older, more power hungry SOC. And it has to much more work thanks to bigger resolution. I would say difference is actually quite small having that in mind and LG did great job of optimising its software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thing I noticed is that overnight when both phones werent being used that the G6 had just slightly more battery in the morning. So Ill update my post above so people dont think Im just trashing the G6. After more testing, and normal use it seems to have excellent battery. So Im not sure why there was such a difference in the video playback tests. Anyway thanks for all the responses!
hecksagon said:
The OP5 has an AMOLED display. The pixels in these displays actually create their own light. They consume no power when they are black, low power when dim, and quite a bit of power when displaying bright or white content.
LCD displays like the G6 use a backlight with a panel in front that blocks the light from getting to your eyes, creating an image. They have consistent power consumption that is completely determined by the backlight level, the image itself is irrelevant.
TV shows and movies tend to have pretty low white level, so AMOLED displays use very little power most of the time. Switch test to browsing where there are tons of white backgrounds and you would probably see the LG catch up or take the lead.
Edit: Also have to mention that the OP5 is using a pentile subpixel layout. This means that instead of each pixel being made of red green blue sub-pixels like the G6, it only displaying either a red green or a blue green for each pixel. So not only is the OP5 displaying less than half the pixels that the G6 is, it's only showing 2/3 of each pixel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This makes complete sense. Especially after my recent tests where I turned the brightness down on the G6 to match the OP5, and when I ran normal tests that I explained in my other posts. The G6 actually performed slightly better in normal use such as browsing, checking emails, etc.
Abnormally high screen on times are not uncommon in video playback tests while on WIFI. This is due to the lower brightness required (low average white level), lower processor utilization (due to hardware decoding), and no interaction with the screen (due to the processor not jumping to max frequency on screen touch).
Holy moly, I didn't even know what to expect.
Today I had kept the phone overnight at 80% and when I woke up the battery was at 77% (3% overnight without charge!). So I charged it quickly to 100% and at around 9am, I took the phone out of charge and started my day. With both Wifi and Bluetooth on, listening to music and taking calls/a bit of googling, I come home at 8pm to a phone that has 94% battery. This battery life is crazy, I am shocked at how a phone at such a low price (compared to other phones) has so much fight in it!
My nexus 5x would drain to 40% within this time frame from 100% without me even touching it! This phone is just so darn good, everything I have used so far works quite well. Bluetooth for me works fine on the SBC codec.
Now my experience may not be the same as others (I see different people have their own problems). But coming from a phone like the 5x, I didn't know what to expect. I thought the battery life would be a bit longer than the 5x, but I never expected it to be this long! I don't even have to charge the phone overnight anymore, I can literally use it for 2-4 days before the battery probs goes down to possibly 30%. I'm going to keep it off charge until it hits 20%, I want to see how long this bad boy lasts! This is also without root or custom kernals, no modifications were done to this phone whatsoever(for now ).
well, the screen is only 1080 whereas high end devices are 2k or even 4k
Moderator Information,
Thread closed, please use existing threads before creating new ones. OnePlus 5T User Opinions and Reviews