Ways to improve the Battery on the Incredible 2?

[mavman777]

I just got my DI2 a couple days ago and the only thing i DONT love about it is the battery life i hated my blackberry because of it and i can only get the battery to last a day MAYBE ive turned down the brightness run a app killer anyone have any tips or apps i could use to maybe improve this?

[SydneyK · Accepted solution]

I have great battery life on my DI2. I don't even charge it every night. So here are a few settings I use ... maybe you can try some of these to improve yours.

Using the power widget that came on one of the home screens:

Brightness set to lowest setting.

Keep Wi-Fi on while at home, but turn it off when I leave (if I remember) so it's not searching for networks.

Keep standalone GPS and Bluetooth off when not in use.

Set email to check every 30 minutes.

For apps like gReader, I set them to sync only when I open them.

I did add my Facebook account to FriendStream, but I keep FriendStream in the app drawer and took the widget off the home screen. (That killed my husband's battery ... much, much better after getting rid of that widget.)

No live wallpaper.

I have my weather widget set to sync every hour, but you can leave it on the default every three hours if that helps.

I do NOT use an app killer. The DI2 manages that just fine on its own. 

The only other thing I can think of is, did you add any widgets that constantly update and stream info, such as a news ticker?

Let me know if this helps.

[mavman777]

i was wondering about that Friend Stream how do i move it in the drawer also i did the trick of lowering the lighting since my display was taking up most of my battery also do you know anything about juice defender i heard its a good app but wasnt sure seems like its helped alot doing the lighting and i will try that friend stream thing thanks so much for the help

[SydneyK]

I read a little about Juice Defender -- always to mixed reviews -- so I didn't bother. Maybe someone else here has experience with that on the DI2.

FriendStream will stay in your app drawer, like all the other apps that are in there when you open the menu. But to remove the widget on your home screen, hold your finger on it, then drag it down to the lower right corner, where you'll see "Remove." That only removes the widget -- the app itself will still be in with your others.

In FriendStream settings, I checked the box that says "Update When Opened," so it doesn't constantly sync. I honestly don't use that app -- I just added a Facebook bookmark to my home screen -- but I keep my Facebook account on it because it syncs my contacts with their photos, numbers and birthdays. (Though I noticed a software glitch -- when I look in People, their birthdays are all off by one day, but they're correct in my calendar app. ???)

Enjoy your new phone. I love mine!

[mavman777]

I love mine too its a HUGE upgrade from the blackberry i had thanks again for your help i really appreciate it anything else you can tell me about the phone tips ect.?

[Ann154]

---

SydneyK wrote:

I just added a Facebook bookmark to my home screen -- but I keep my Facebook account on it because it syncs my contacts with their photos, numbers and birthdays. (Though I noticed a software glitch -- when I look in People, their birthdays are all off by one day, but they're correct in my calendar app. ???)

Enjoy your new phone. I love mine!

---

My Eris used to do that with the birthdays. It took one of the early maintenance releases to fix the problem.

[dietlady]

How do I set the email to check only every 30 minutes (or even less would do) to save battery

[Ann154]

Open the email application, press the menu button > more > settings > send & receive. You can change the frequency of the email sync there.

[Blackepoxy]

Htc Droid Incredible battery life optimization:

Roll!
Set cdma as preferred network:
Let's start from the beginning, straight out of the box.
Your new dinc2 will more than likely come with the Sim card pre-installed & be set on global mode, if you are using the phone on Verizon's network in the U.S., you don't want this. Your phone will be constantly be trying to connect to a gsm network wasting battery power. Set it to cdma as your preferred network.
Menu> Settings> Call>Check the box with cdma as preferred network instead of global.

Disable always on mobile data:
Next change the mobile data always on setting. This will stop the cell radios from using battery power when the screen is locked, saving battery power.
Menu> Settings> wireless & networks> mobile networks> uncheck the box that shows enable always on mobile data.
Changing these two settings alone have rewarded me with a 4 to 6 hour increase in battery life.

Conditioning your battery:
Let you new battery go through 3 to 5 complete charge and discharge cycles. After that break in period charge it when it gets low. (15%) Don't top off, no bump charging. Let it die all the way once or twice a month after that so you can charge it all the way back up, maintaining it's integrity.

Disable 3G when not in use:
Having 3G on (connection to mobile internet) the entire time your phone is on/awake will use a significant amount of battery power verses if you disable it when you are done using it.
Another option is to download Juice Defender and let it handle that for you. JD is not a task killer, it is a micro management connection scheduling app. Once you lock the screen it will disable 3G for you automatically. You can then schedule it to reenable the connection in 15 min 30 min, our 1hr intervals so that you can get your email and updates. I use the plus package & it has many more battery saving options like night scheduling ect., ect. I can't imaging having my dinc2 without Juice Defender!

Bad reception will result in bad battery life:
When the phone is getting 0 to 1 bar/s for a long time this will suck down battery life the radio will struggle to find a signal & use a lot of battery power doing so . When my signal is weak, like this, I throw the phone into airplane mode until I move into an area with a better signal. It is a known issue that the dinc2 suffers from bad reception issues and battery drain occurs.
They needed to come out with a new and improved battery door with better antennas on the inside to fix this problem.

Screen brightness:
I agree with the above post about screen brightness. Use a brightness widget on your homescreen to take the brightness down to the lowest level you can tolerate. I use brightness widget by curvefish for this. Many times I find I can see the display indoors with it set to 0%. I never set it higher than auto.

Last, but not least:
Get rid of that live wallpaper, it may be cool to look at but, it is a CPU Bogart.
Turn off GPS, when not in use.
Try to use wifi instead of 3G when possible, dinc2 has a b/g/n wifi card that is very efficient. You can even set Juice Defender to wifi preferred, it will try to use wifi, if available, before connecting to 3G. Use opera mini to browse when it is convenient to do so, it goes light on the juice. Do not use or uninstall any "auto" task killer. This will be havok on your battery. Android 2.2 and above have it's own internal task killer, using another one as auto will clash with it, stopping and starting processes resulting in more battery use by the Android system.

Individual results may vary...a lot depends on how much you use your phone and what you use it for. The battery may take as long as 2-3 Weeks to stabilize. I easily get 22-24+ with normal use and have gotten add much as 1 day 12 hours.

Don't forget to try scream off and lock to save your phone's power button from breaking!

Know what to do every situation to optimize your battery life on HTC Droid Incredible 2!!!

...and I approve this message...