HTC G1 battery life

Corbett · 12-23-2008, 07:04 PM

Hi guys, This is my first post here.

I just purchased my G1 about 5 days ago and I have to say I am absolutely disgusted with not only how poorly the battery performs on this device, but also the solutions some here have suggested.

Whats the point of having a phone with all these features (GPS, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, MP3 Player, Video Player) if you are told the only way to get the battery to last more than 8 hours is to not use any of those features? DOES NOT COMPUTE!

I'd say I'm a moderate user. Meaning, in a typical work day I charge the phone over night. Around 8am I take it off the charger and I check my email, reply to a few emails, start a few txt messages and start making a few calls. Sometimes I have to use the GPS to find the office I need to head to that day, but only for about 2 mins to see where i am in proximity to my destination, then I turn GPS off.

I generally leave my WiFi and 3G enabled all day, but leave my bluetooth off. By 4:30PM I've done what I consider an average day's work on the phone. About 1 hour of talk time, 50 sms, some internet browsing, some GPS usage, perhaps a song or two played on the device, and about 30 or so emails fired back and forth. Problem is, my battery is DEAD at this point.

My Blackberry Curve could last for 2 days with this type of usage (minus the 3g, but also using UMA wherever possible.

Let me just say, I absolutely love this phone, but I HATE the battery life on it. I'm been reading and it seems many here and on other forums seem to think turning all the features off on the phone is a viable solution, but for me, it just isnt. Not to mention, even if those features are turned off, the best people seem to get out of the battery is 24 hours, which is just pathetic.

I also keep seeing everyone saying "the next update will probably fix it" and it hasnt, after multiple updates already. I'm on RC30 and I want desperately to keep this phone but I cant be a slave to the charger and I dont want to carry around a second battery everywhere I go.

Rodrigo · 12-28-2008, 09:43 PM

Battery Life is so horrible I was about to throw my G1 out the window today I had to charge it 3 times today after a long night Charged last nite. I turned of every feature does ne1 have ne more ideas I think it might be the apps running through the background but Im not sure. Please email me soccersportsusa@gmail.com I need help

Rodrigo · 12-28-2008, 09:47 PM

Well corbettt or guy that replied after me ur pretty lucky because all I use my phone for is texting and the apps and Its already dead but afternoon. Gay ass phone I think Ima return it. Oh another thing I send my friend a picture I took of her when we hung out and she received it but it said it was from another number??? a number from New Jersey idk how thats happening when Im from Chicago something is wrong with this phone

pancamo · 12-30-2008, 02:30 PM

My G1 battery life SUC$$$$$ Come on someone, this is the USA! If someone can come up with a replacement battery and they'll be $$$

PunkZanyJ · 12-30-2008, 04:58 PM

"Whats the point of having a phone with all these features (GPS, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, MP3 Player, Video Player) if you are told the only way to get the battery to last more than 8 hours is to not use any of those features? DOES NOT COMPUTE!"

I don't think anyone is advocating not using any of those features. Life isn't an all or nothing deal. But, if you look at your day, I'm sure you can see times when you don't need WiFi on, or GPS on, or Bluetooth on, or maybe don't need the screen to be as bright.

I use Locale to change settings throughout the day. Screen brightness is low in the morning, when I don't really need it, and, during the day I'm in front of a computer, so I have locale turn off WiFi and GPS when I leave my house. I don't keep the auto-sync running for contacts and calendar because those are rarely updated. I have the screen turn off after a minute, because that also saves you on battery.

I can do all this from 5am until about 8pm I'm finally into the yellow.

Yes, the battery life is bad, but "disgusting"?

That's a rather hyperbolic statement. If the phone oozed pus, that would make sense, but just not being able to sustain moderate use doesn't quite fit the word disgusting, nor does not liking other people's suggestions. Disgust is another word for "offense". Are you really offended by other people's suggestions? Really?

Like it or not, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G are all battery-eating services. That's why they give you different numbers for "talk time" and "Standbye time". I have a hard time believing your Curve worked off of one charge for 48 hours with all of those services constantly running.

pancamo · 12-30-2008, 10:00 PM

Tmobile going to send out a late xmas present?

http://androidcommunity.com/t-mobile...ners-20081226/

Corbett · 01-02-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkZanyJ

I don't think anyone is advocating not using any of those features. Life isn't an all or nothing deal. But, if you look at your day, I'm sure you can see times when you don't need WiFi on, or GPS on, or Bluetooth on, or maybe don't need the screen to be as bright.

I use Locale to change settings throughout the day. Screen brightness is low in the morning, when I don't really need it, and, during the day I'm in front of a computer, so I have locale turn off WiFi and GPS when I leave my house. I don't keep the auto-sync running for contacts and calendar because those are rarely updated. I have the screen turn off after a minute, because that also saves you on battery.

I can do all this from 5am until about 8pm I'm finally into the yellow.

And here is exactly the type of person I am talking about. Someone who finds it an acceptable solution to turn most of the features of the phone off and not use them, when the whole point of purchasing the phone is to use those features. Pathetic.

But hey, if you find it acceptable to turn off most of the features of the G1 that make it different from other phones and barely squeeze out a full day of use on the thing, then thats your problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkZanyJ

Yes, the battery life is bad, but "disgusting"?

That's a rather hyperbolic statement. If the phone oozed pus, that would make sense, but just not being able to sustain moderate use doesn't quite fit the word disgusting, nor does not liking other people's suggestions. Disgust is another word for "offense". Are you really offended by other people's suggestions? Really?

I never called the battery life disgusting. I said I was disgusted by the battery life and those here who suggest things like you have. And please, go look up the word disgust and its various meanings before you humiliate yourself on these forums like you have in this post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkZanyJ

Like it or not, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G are all battery-eating services. That's why they give you different numbers for "talk time" and "Standbye time". I have a hard time believing your Curve worked off of one charge for 48 hours with all of those services constantly running.

Well, if thats what you think I said in my first post, you are obviously showing more of your inability to READ what I said in the first place. I never said I left all the services like GPS and bluetooth on, I simply compared the services I left on on my Curve to what I can leave on on my G1. I have no reason to lie about it, but your obviously in this thread to start an argument.

In any case, you seem to have a good solution that is working for you (IE - turn off most services to squeeze out a day) and I wish you good luck with that. But as you can see, you are in the minority here who are fine with that, while most of us with common sense dont see that as a viable solutions.

snugglepuffin · 01-08-2009, 04:46 AM

This is the reply from T Mobile when I emailed asking for a new battery for my phone-

"Thank you for getting in touch with me about the battery life on your G1 phone. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity look into this personally for you. I understand how frustrating it is to have a new phone full of gadgets and have to stop and charge it all the time.

I'm sorry to hear that the battery hasn't performed as you thought it would. Our handsets are put through strict quality tests before being added to our range.

I understand how disappointed you must be with the battery life but the life of the battery will differ depending on how you use the phone. I understand you've switched off all the 3G, WiFi and applications, however, the phone battery will still be depleted from any calls or text messages used.

There are several applications available on the G1 to help manager the power and extend the battery life. One called power manager will adjust your phone dimming the screen when the battery is running low. You may find these applications useful.

We've no plans as of yet to replace the batteries on the G1 handsets. You can buy spare batteries from various outlets and my colleague has bought an extended battery fro his G1 from eBay for less than £15 inc VAT and has found this vastly improves his battery life.

Though we aren't replacing any G1 batteries at the moment if you wanted to buy a spare or extended battery, I'd gladly credit you back the cost of the new battery up to £15 inc VAT.

The G1 is advertised as having a battery life of up to five days. This depends on the conditions surrounding the phones use. The amount of calls, messages, if the phone has had to check for a signal and log on to the network, all of which can lower the battery life. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to cancel your contract without a cancellation fee for this reason.

Please accept my apologies for the disappointing battery life you've experienced. With so many features and technologies on such a new device current batteries are finding it hard to keep up.

Thank you for writing to me with your concerns Mr ****. You were right to bring this to my attention, allowing me to resolve this situation for you. I'm pleased to have been able to help you today and hope you continue to enjoy your G1."

The email I sent complianed that although i turned all these things off (3g, gps, etc and had screen timeout at 30 seconds and screen dimmed to lowest setting) i was lucky to get standby time of 36 hours. They obviously did not read through my email correctly and have sent a standard reply...I've replied back asking them to send me an official new battery. You can also clearly see that T Mobile customers will not be recieveing a new battery as other websites and posts have suggested.

adioftw · 01-09-2009, 10:21 AM

You can use the Anycut app to create a shortcut that points to "test" (just scroll down the application list in Anycut until you see "test") on the homescreen. Touch the shortcut and select "Phone information", then press the menu button, select "more" and touch "disable data connection".

This should make the battery last a couple of days, although obviously you cannot connect to the internet or any data services unless you enable the data connection again.

snugglepuffin · 01-12-2009, 03:10 AM

thanks adioftw thats actually really helpful as I don't need a data connection whilst im at work and always thought it was just wasting my battery life a lot.
I was trying to do this at the weekend but couldn't work it out, the closest i got was putting it on Airplane mode but thats everything off including allwoing calls so that was a bit pointless!

Has anyone noticed that if you charge the photne up with the USB cable (connected to your comp) then the battery life goes down a lot quicker than if you've used the actual charger?

I got an email back from T mobile stating that they do not currently stock any of the batteries for the G1, which is a bit weird but they will still give me £15 towards a new battery. Kind of shoddy if you ask me.