It seems that my Razr Maxx battery lasts much better on weekends when it tends to be out of my pocket more. Is it possible the heat is helping drain the battery? I can’t figure out why such a big battery lasts so little.
Also, is there an app that shows the power usage of other apps? Can I prevent apps from launching at the phone bootup?
Temperature shouldn’t make that much difference.
This is an Android phone, right? You should be able to go into Settings -> Battery and find out what’s using the battery the most.
Also, on weekdays, do you spend much time in areas with poor cell phone reception? That tends to drain the battery quickly because the phone is sending out stronger signals in an attempt to connect to a tower.
Reeeaaaally?! I spend all workday in a classroom with horrible Verizon service. It seems this building was designed by Faraday. That may be the answer, and it may not be fixable, eh? It may also explain why the phone gets hotter. It can vary its outgoing signal strength?
yep. I work in the basement of a concrete and steel building. We have VZW antennas sprinkled through the building, but signal is still spotty. I know when my LTE phone shows “1X” in the status bar, my battery is going flat in no time.
Most (if not all) modern phones will vary their transmitting power to save battery life. Having the battery go dead very quickly in areas with poor signal strength is very common.
I think it’s actually a carrier (and possibly a regulatory) requirement. Cell towers tell the phone how strong to transmit. This lets the phones use the minimal amount to hit the tower, and limit interference with neighbor cells.
Several weeks ago I inadvertently left my non-smart cell phone on my car seat, which was exposed to direct sunlight on a hot day. Have no way of calculating interior car temp, but it was hot. The phone acted as if the battery was dead. In other words, it didn’t do anything. After driving for maybe 15-20 minutes with the A/C on, it worked fine. This isn’t exactly scientific, but might shed some light on the subject.
It was probably that the electronics themselves were too hot rather than the battery. Most electronics will stop working if you heat them up too much. They don’t always recover just fine once they cool down again (but often do).
Also, a lot of (most?) phones these days use lithium ion batteries because they have a high power density for their size and they are lightweight. Lithium ion batteries don’t age well though, and they really tend to die early deaths if they are subjected to high temperatures a lot. You’ll significantly shorten the life of the battery if you leave it in sunlight like that often.