Re: Lumia 800 poor battery life

Swampie · ‎2011-11-25

Okay, today I'm on "Don't back out of apps" test.

7am - 100%

10:25am - 87%

Previously by backing out of apps it took 6.5 hours to be down to 87%, rather than 3.5 hours today. Certainly seems that backing out of apps makes a big difference to battery life.

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

Update on my battery project:

Cellular ON, Data Connection OFF
WIFI OFF
Location OFF
Background tasks OFF
Minimal usage (just to check battery %)
Dropped from 92% to 84% in 15 hours.

Is this good enough for just being connected on a 3G connection? I think it's good enough for a 2011 smartphone.

Next test. Cellular + Data connection (no background apps, i.e FB, emails, etc)

Arkiliknam · ‎2011-11-25

I keep hoping that my battery will be better the next day, as some of you have reported, but so far no such luck... after 3 hours today its down to 78% and that's with no usage, just standing by with cel, wifi, data on, sync on, and backed out of all apps.

I don't understand Skyee's advice about contacting Nokia care as doing so only gives me a stock standard reply, obviously not addressing the issue.

Since Nokia claims that the majority of users have no issues, can Nokia advise us whether the issue we are dicussing points to our handsets being part of a bad batch? And if so, should we return our devices for a new one?

Having already returned my first Lumia 800 due to this issue, I do wonder how many devices are part of this 'bad batch' ...

PS. I do take the Tube, but that only accounts for part of my day and doesnt explain why it keeps dropping while not on the tube.

I also have an Android Honeycomb tablet and had similar bad battery experiences. I found out that the cause of the issue was it's very own battery saver settings I chose. By choosing to turn off wifi when in sleep mode, it resulted in draining my battery dead in under a day! Luckily Android has the diagnostics tools, and I saw what was happening. Basically, wifi was turned off, then once every hour or so, an app running in the background would request data, the wifi would attempt to turn on, for some reason it wouldnt connect to my router, and then it would retry for 5 mins, causing a massive drain. So turing on "Keep Wifi On At All Times (uses more battery)" actually prolonged my battery life to almost a week.

The issue may in part have been because of my router, but still, quite amusing.

donofworld · ‎2011-11-25

It is disappointing to see even phones with latest sw version 7740 have same battery problems.....could be some default preinstalled Nokia apps causing this drain

"If I'm helpful in anyway, a click of appreciation on the star button would be considered as thanks.....Current phones Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia N9 "

Rallicat · ‎2011-11-25

Want to add my voice here, as I too am experiencing shockingly bad battery life.

For example, I unpluged my phone from it's charger (100%) at about 00:30 - then went to bed. By 07:30 it was down to 85% - and that was with all background tasks apart from email checks (scheduled, not push), the usual Windows Live stuff (updates to the 'People' and 'Me' hubs) and one app -BBC News Live tile updates.

Over the course of a few hours it received only light use. NO games, music or movies at all. All I did was check twitter a bit using an app, answered a couple of email, some limited web browsing and loaded up the BBC app to look at the news (NO video). by 11:30 it was down to 47%.

This is not at all the battery life I was expecting. I previously had an iPhone 4, which has a similar 'size' battery (about 1400mah), and it had no problem with the sort of usage I describe above, and would typically not drop below 50% before the end of the day unless I started doing stuff like games and music during the day.

Now sure, I know that Windows Phone might be a bit different, but I wouldn't expect the kind of light use I describe to put the handset in danger of not lasting the day.

What's worse here is worrying whether I have a bad handset, or am just experiencing a software issue. Should I take it back? Wait for the updates? Reset the phone to factory and 'try again'?

It's very frustrating to me, having made the bet to move to Windows Phone from the iPhone for the experience to be so totally undermined by this sort of problem -and it IS a problem-. In every other way I love this handset - the OS is great, the experience using it is great - if it wasn't for the battery life issue I'd be completely delighted. Instead I'm left wondering whether I should return it. Doesn't matter how great it is, if it can't last the day, it's pretty much useless.

Nokia - what I'd really, really like from you is to give us more information. Firstly, when you say you are investigating ... what does that mean? Are you in touch with users who are having problems... are you tracking an issue? What do the updates specifically address? What do you anticipate will be the impact of the December and January updates ... were they already in the schedule before the release?

I appreciate that you don't need bad PR when this is such an important launch - but us early adopters are your best ambassodors for the product. The experience we have -right now- will determine what the 'word of mouth' for this product (and for Nokia) will be for the next few months.

Please Nokia - don't be Apple. Talk to us!

dumpc6 · ‎2011-11-25

AVOID USING WINDOWS OS its handicaped one:
It misses:
NFC,
TV OUT,
HDMI OUT,
SD CARD,
MAX mem support for any device restricted to 28GB.
company wil provide you 16GB/8GB.
in 16GB user available only: 14.7GB
in 8GB USER availabl only: 5.7GB.

it misses bluetooth transfers.
FM transmitter.
next version8.0 Appollo not compatible with Mango 7.5

oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

dumpc6 wrote:
AVOID USING WINDOWS OS its handicaped one:
It misses:
NFC,
TV OUT,
HDMI OUT,
SD CARD,
MAX mem support for any device restricted to 28GB.
company wil provide you 16GB/8GB.
in 16GB user available only: 14.7GB
in 8GB USER availabl only: 5.7GB.

it misses bluetooth transfers.
FM transmitter.
next version8.0 Appollo not compatible with Mango 7.5

oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................

We don't need trolls in here. Thanks alot. We're discussing about something completely different. Go take your fanboyism somewhere else.

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

And back to our subject. Indeed am starting to think that there is no solution until Nokia addresses the issue.

5 minutes of using PrimeTV and my battery went down from 82% to 76%.. that's unnacceptable. What worries me more though is even if I do ask for a replacement, there is a great possibility that I will have the same problem.

Now if Nokia could confirm a bad batch, it would make our lifes and their lifes much easier. Just get a replacement from a 'good' batch and get it over with.

I remember my first XBOX 360 which had the RRoD issue (developed after 1+ year, however). Microsoft had acknowledge their fault very early, and replaced it, solving the issue.

Also, the other concerning thing is that carriers/stores have a 28-day fault return. Assuming Nokia DOES NOT address the issue before that, then we get in all sorts of complications.

My 2 cents..

Marcwhit · ‎2011-11-25

It's not the tube - I never get the tube, and am struggling to get 10 hours out of my Lumia. I'm not using it heavily, and have switched off several services such as push email, feedback, etc.

Two days ago I unplugged my phone at 8am, was at home until 12:30 on wifi, went out, and my phone was dead flat by 4:30pm. Completely useless. I wouldn't dream of trying to use fancy things like Nokia Drive or music - it'd be dead within minutes! My 2 yr old iPhone 3GS lasts at least twice as long, and on wifi it'd last for 2 days easily.

So I'm now trying to decide whether to get a refund and just go get a new iPhone, or do I put all hope in the pending updates, and hope they provide at LEAST 3x better battery life?? I'd guess if they don't then by that time it'll be too late to get a refund! I prefer the WP7 interface, but as it stands this thing is completely useless.

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

Not good news. Am not sure if Phones4U give any refund, so I guess am stuck with the Lumia 800 (which I was eagerly awaiting since Nokia & MS partnership announcement).

Might just ask for a replacement, see if that changes anything.

PaulSlide · ‎2011-11-25

Sadly I have to agree with all of the last eight pages of disappointment. I was running WP7 on my HD2 until the screen gave out, and even that old thing had better battery life than this with a 4.3inch LCD screen. I'm totally sold on WP7 as a platform though, so really hope Nokia can surprise us all and come up with the goods in terms of updates.

As Marcwhit says, as we all near the limits of the time we're allowed to return these things there are going to be anxious moments if these game-changing updates are still not live, since I for one refuse to dumb-down the smartphone experience by switching off features.

Nokia: Connecting People*

*temporarily, until such time as the battery drain dictates data connection must be severed.

lumpaywk · ‎2011-11-25

"next version8.0 Appollo not compatible with Mango 7.5" I realise this is off topic but this statement as well as others in this guys list is not even correct. if you wanna troll at least do it right. But to put something so totally off the mark is just stupid.

loopz · ‎2011-11-25

To the folks who swapped their Lumias: did it make a jot of difference? The question we all are facing is what is normal for the Lumia. I just want to know if I have a defective phone within the 28 day window that Phones4U gave me.

I think my perceived battery life is pretty normal. Today with battery saver I am 82% after 6 hours (so should be 33 hours battery life in total if this drain continues). I take the train in the morning and it seems like it does hammer the battery, I think I dropped 10% during my commute in! (well, phone was on 90% when I got to work then lost a further 8% over next 5 hours).

Arkiliknam · ‎2011-11-25

I swapped mine and it suffers from the same issue. But it was from the same store so if there is a bad batch, its likely it was from the same batch. :\

I contacted NokiaCare again, now that Skyee has urged us to, so lets see if they reply appropriately to me this time... (as opposed to the stock standard prolong you battery email)

FYI, this is what I wrote to NokiaCare:

Nokia Lumia Battery Life Issue

"I contacted support earlier regarding my device's poor battery life and received a common sense reply about how to conserve battery life.

I would like to make it clear that I am not running application and that the battery drain is occurring with only minimal usage (less than 5 calls, all under 5 mins each, no browsing, games, or any other application usage, blutooth disabled). I already received the update that was mentioned, but it has not improved my battery life either.

I have been active on your forums about this issue which many others are suffering from and the advice of one of your people called "Skyee" was to contact you.

My device definitely is suffering from the issue that is being actively discussed. It is already a replacement to a previous Lumia 800 which suffered from the same issue. Should I return it for yet another handset? Or is there another update coming out that will address THIS ISSUE (as opposed to generally prolonging the battery life).

Please respond with attention to my message."

mashedp · ‎2011-11-25

I'm wondering whether I should try to get a replacement for this phone too or if the fixes incoming will solve my problem.

I've been having fairly quick battery drain too with fairly minimal use (4 or 5 push emails a day, 1 hour of music, less than an hour of games or browsing, 5 min call, 5 or less texts.) all that gives me about 10 hours before needing another charge.

But the most alarming part for me is that in the 6 days i've had this phone, 2 of the nights my phone was dead in the morning! One time it had about 60% charge before bed, bad enough, but last night it was at least 90% charged before bed but was still dead this morning when I woke 7 hours later. And it took 5 mins+ of my phone starting to charge, then shutting down with "battery critically low" message, at least 4 cycles of that before it stayed up and charging.

What on earth could be using 1000mAh+ in 7 hours when the phone is locked and only running something as taxing as an alarm clock?? I've disabled all my live tiles that update in the background (app highlights, weather app, whatsapp) nothing is activated under background tasks in settings, my uni email is set to push buts its generally less than 5 a day.

Unless I get some reassurance that the fix will help me too i'm going to try and exchange this phone on tuesday.

chukka · ‎2011-11-25

why not leave it on charge all night ??.how do the batteries last when this is done ??

mashedp · ‎2011-11-25

I didn't want to have to take the usb cable and plug from my pc to the bedroom every night, though right now it does seem to be necessary. But really the point is that its discharging huge amounts of battery when it should be doing almost nothing. Makes me worried I have a defective unit.

Arkiliknam · ‎2011-11-25

chukka, I leave mine on charge all night and face the same issue, as do most other people posting here I believe.

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

This just isnt making sense >.<

Where did everyone purchase their Lumia from? Is there any indicator on the box, of a batch number, or something that could indicate all our phones were from the same batch?

teh0wner · ‎2011-11-25

Update on my mini-project

Location : OFF
Airplane Mode OFF
Background Tasks: OFF
WIFI OFF
Cellular ON
Data Connection ON
Battery dropped from 77% to 69% in 5 and a half hours.

*Havent used ANY apps, all email syncing off, no FB, no App Highlights, basically nothing installed/using data.

Not sure what am going to test next. It seems these tests are giving 'fair' results, so am led to believe that it's

a) the screen
b) combination of something..