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Why oh Why.....

Did I get the Droid 2. Granted the phone and apps are cool but why have them if you can barely use them. The battery runs down so quick that if I'm not going to be near an outlet for more than 5 hours I can't use the phone!! Please I'm begging you fix the battery issues and make the pre installed Apps from stop running in the background. You guys have an awesome phone but word of mouth is going to kill the sales. I had the blackberry that had all the same features (gps and wi-fi constantly on without any battery issues) and my battery lasted all day. I was able to text, read email, browse the web, use the gps and wi-fi watch movies all day long (a little exaggerated) and never had a battery issue until about 1.5 years later. This is what happens when you don't research or talk to anyone before you buy something. Lesson learned! ok I'm done ranted now

Comments

Cobjones

If you have ATK (advanced task killer) get rid of it.

This phone has a bigger screen than any Blackberry and that uses most of the battery. Try setting the screen to auto dim.

Also, you can get an extended battery that will give you 1-2 hours of hard use from it.

I have the original battery from my Droid 1 and I never get less than 10 hours from it.

Good luck and let us know what helps.

vino37

I was told by Verizon Rep to install it but after hearing "use it" "don't use" Im going to try without it. I just uninstalled it 1 hour ago. I pray this will fix it lol.

I shut off GPS and Wi-Fi and only turn it on when needed. (I hate doing that but don't have a choice right now) I have it set to auto dim and for the screen to shut off after 1 minute. I will check out the extended battery.

Thanks for your suggestions. I still feel they should try fixing these issues. What's the sense in having all these cool apps and a cool phone if you can't use them when want. The best way I can describe how I feels is "It feels like you just gave me 10 million dollars but I can't use it"!! lol

Cobjones

The removal of the atk will give you an hour. With the changes you should get no less than 8 hours now...if that doesn't happen then you need a new battery.

Joe_Evaristo

As the other poster suggested, getting rid of task killer will help--those apps that you see running in the background aren't actually "running"--that's not what's hurting your battery life. For an explanation, check out this post from an Android Developer: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html

Especially take note of this part:

"A common misunderstanding about Android multitasking is the difference between a process and an application. In Android these are not tightly coupled entities: applications may seem present to the user without an actual process currently running the app; multiple applications may share processes, or one application may make use of multiple processes depending on its needs; the process(es) of an application may be kept around by Android even when that application is not actively doing something.

The fact that you can see an application's process "running" does not mean the application is running or doing anything."

Using a task killer is completely unnecessary, and because they actually can cause harm to the operation of your system, Google gutted their functionality in Android 2.2. Because "empty" memory and "used memory" use the same amount of battery power, there is no battery savings by freeing up memory. However, killing these "background tasks" uses up more battery for two reasons:

1. When you open the task killer app, you're triggering the processor. You're using energy to kill a task that isn't using energy.

2. Apps have their state saved to memory so that they load faster when you open the app again. This gives the illusion that they're running when they're not. When you kill them, the app that isn't running also no longer has its last state saved. When you open that app again, it's going to take longer to open and thus take up more battery power when the processor's being used.

If you're constantly killing tasks, your battery life will be extremely short.

What widgets are you using? Some widgets, like the included Social Networking widget for Facebook, Myspace, etc, automatically sync almost constantly. You want to avoid using those: because they're syncing too often, they're draining the battery pretty quickly. I've read reports of weather widgets being especially bad, too. You may also want to check the sync times on your e-mails as well. The less frequently you have anything syncing, the better your battery life will be. Some apps sync data, too, and the same precautions should be taken with those as with widgets.You can find a little more information at Motorola's official forum: https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/36341?start=0&tstart=0

Lastly, keep an eye on your signal, too. If you're often in areas where you don't have any reception, the phone is going to keep trying to find service. This drains the battery of any phone--smartphone or feature phone alike--very quickly. If you know you're in a spot with no signal and you're going to be there for an extended period, switch into airplane mode until you're back in an area you know has signal.

Personally, I've been impressed with the battery of the D2--I came from an HTC Droid Eris, which never could last a day without needing to be charged. I bought a car charger to deal with it. I've been using my D2 a lot more heavily than I used the Eris, and I'm finding I don't even need to charge it daily. With lighter use, I can go two nights without charging. If I make a lot of calls then I will generally have to charge it by the end of the day.

pool_shark

Word of mouth about the battery isn't going to kill any sales simply because any smartphone if used to it's potential will have battery problems. Laptop batteries don't last all day. I have had many laptops over the years including the ones from work. They are slotted as 6-8 hour batteries, please. I'm lucky to get 2-3.

As for the phone, reduce the frequency of syncing and updates, turn down the screen brightness, set the display to turn off after the shortest interval, play with the battery settings.

There was a guy that had some app refreshing every 2 minutes and wondered why his phone died in a short period of time, he also have facebook updating every 30 minutes.

Charge it more if you can. If you work in an office with a PC, charge it with the usb cable on your machine. If you don't work in an office I can see where a person would have more issues with charging, but you can charge it in the car too.

reallyniceguy

I take it they dont sell an extended battery for the droid 2? I got one on my x and it runs for hours and hours. 12 the minimum with constant use.

pool_shark

reallyniceguy wrote:
I take it they dont sell an extended battery for the droid 2? I got one on my x and it runs for hours and hours. 12 the minimum with constant use.

They do, but I'd rather charge mine than spend money on a battery.

Cobjones

They sell it.. plus it is the same battery size as the Droid 1.

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