Improving the Xperia Arc Battery Life

[#1]

For those Xperia Arc owners that experience poor battery life, there are a few tips listed on the Sony Ericsson site : http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/phones/detailed/thebatteryrunsflattoofast/xperiaarc?cc=au&lc...

What I found out even after perfoming the actions listed on the Sony Ericsson site, the battery life was still not good. It was still draining fast.

Three actions I found to improve the battery life are :

1) Do not remove the phone from charging just after it reaches 100%. If you do that, the battery for some reason drains quickly. Leave the phone to charge a few more hours after it reaches 100%, I have noticed the battery life improves dramactically.

2) From the Settings --> Application --> Managed Applications, select those applications that you do not need to run in the background and force close it.

3)Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, Background Data and Auto-Sync when not needed.

I am currently perfoming a test. I have done the following settings on my phone (In this order):

1) Force closed all applications and killed any tasks that I felt are not needed to be run in the background.

2) Ensured Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS are not running, Disabled the background data and auto sync( Settings ---> Accounts & Sync),  Display brightness to minimum.

3) Left the phone to charge overnight.

I have been monitoring my charge level on the phone so far, even after around 5.5 hours it still shows 100% charge. I cannot believe it. I will continue to monitor the phone charge level to see when it drops to 99%

Note :  I have not made any phone calls or received any yet. I did pair to my HCB-150 Bluetooth Car Speaker Phone for 20 minutes but then I turned off the Bluetooth on my phone.

Previously even when I forced closed the applications, killed the tasks I did not need and turned off bluetooth, wi-fi, GPS, background data and auto sync, the phone battery charge was till reducing from 100% to about 80% in about 3 to 4 hours.

I was thinking I could have been given a faulty battery.

Next test I wll be doing is to make some calls, surf the internet, etc, etc ie normal day to day things you do on the phone and see if the battery life is holding up with the strategy of letting the phone charge longer.

Would appreciate it if anyone has experience poor battery life and has tried to leave the phone to charge much longer and also seen the same effect of longer battery life to provide some feedback.

The reason I thought I share this is that there could be Xperia Arc owners experiencing poor battery life.

Thank you

[#2]

Hello all,

I switched from iphone to android because i wanted the freedom to further customize. Have had an Xperia Arc with the 2.3.3 upgrades, for a few weeks.

Being smarthphone brand user since the first blackberries, I believe many users are not aware it is not complicated to set up personalized shortcuts on the Arc's Home Screens, in order to turn On and Off the functions mentioned, i.e., GPS-location, 3 or "4G", etc. It is very easy on the Arc.

With the Arc its a few clicks to personalize functions, menus & performance. Many users feel so much work is needed to get their BBs going that they can become afraid of change! I ask you not to be.

My point is, there are real alternatives in the smartphone market, and the Arc is a real one.

I followed your advised and don't mind the 2 clicks it now takes me to disable these services during my metro rides, meetings, etc.

Arc users, I promise it is easy to tailor our screens, create our personal folders for games, news apps, etc, without having to download extra applications.

With Android 2.3.3., we can forget about self named "task killers", which I promise you all, are the real battery eaters. Pls read on:

I originally installed "advanced task killer", during week 1 my battery lasted 5 to 6 hours.

Read a post by an engineer explaining about task killers, it is the only app I uninstalled 3 weeks ago, while adding others (Games and news).

Android 2.3.3 has built in Task Killer (Settings -> Applications-> Running Services), and for the las 2 weeks, wihtout task killer apps, my battery lasts 10 hours, with my heavy usage. I am a heavy gamer, newsbuff and email, thus, screen is on constantly. Not to mention gaming using processor.

Out of the box, the phone is ready to be used and personalized whithin the hour, if we are willing to browse a bit on the Arc's digital manual.

The winning combination of the Arc and 2.3.3 is we can forget about task killers, and Android is made to be personalized without having to "jailbreak".

Finally, I believe technology still presents us with challenges in battery life performance for all sort of devices. My opinion as user of several brands of smartphones since their release to the market is: You have to charge the phone twice a day within the year, regardless, if you are a heavy screen app user.

[#3]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the helpful comments above. After some experimentation, my Arc now lasts up to 2 days without recharging. I make a handful of calls per day and use the Internet quite a bit. Sometimes, I use the navigation and my kids play games occasionally.

As noted above, there are helpful, free homescreen widgets for toggling the items below as well as to monitor battery level and 3G usage. They are easy to install and really simplify the few steps needed to greatly improve battery life.

1. Turn off GPS, except when needed, makes a huge difference.

2. Turn off Wifi, except when needed, makes a huge difference.

3. Leave 3G on (or off), it makes little difference to battery life. If you have a good data plan, always use 3G instead of Wifi, except when calling via Skype or watching videos (ie, when the connection speed is important).

4. Turn off notifications for all apps, except when needed.

5. Turn off push (e.g. email) for all apps, except when needed.

6. Manually sync calendar, email, contacts, etc.

7. Configure Skype to logoff automatically after a short period, e.g. 15 mins. Skype is the number one battery killing app.

8. Do not use a Task Killer. Uninstall it if you installed one. As noted above, they are a net drain on the battery. It makes a significant difference.

Cheers.

David

[#4]

I started having a huge unexplained problem with my Xperia Arc recently. I had read this post before, and came back to see if it could help.

The problem came to a head when the battery dropped to 20% by midday, and I have the Arc on charge every night all noght (as my alarm). This was ridiculous as I had sent & recieved one text message, and listened to an Audible book for 30 mniutes. Normally I use the phone between 1 and 3 hours a day of phone calls, 1 to two hours of Audible books, and it almost always makes it to bed time (sometimes barely if I've had a lot of calls) at between 10% and 40%.

I decided to turn the device off and recharge, instead of leaving it on. I also left it charging for about an hour after it reached 100%, as suggested here.

It statyed at 100% for an hour or so, and this is rare as I have BT on always, and WiFi was connected, and the phone signal where I live is awful, so that drains the battery too. I left it on overnight, and it is at 86% this morning. Most drain is WiFi, as expected.

It is not impossible that I had an application up draining battery, and the reboot stopped it, but the battery use history showed nothing was abnormal, so I doubt it. I do think the recharge like this massively improved battery life. Many thanks for the suggestion, and for sharing.

[#5]

But my battery is dropping so fast than first time I used it. I have a Xperia Arc S and my phone last only about two weeks. for first time, I used it for 14-15 hours with having few calls for 15-20 minutes, no wifi and no internet connection.

now, that I use wifi and stopped all unnecessary apps, with 15% display light, my phone is used 15% charge and only 85% left after 3 hours. I have turned off the auto-sync for gmail, facebook, skype and I do it manually. I picked a dark theme and wallpaper to save some battery. The GPS and background data traffic is disabled.

I think 15% for 3 Hours will drain my battery very fast and it won't last even a day. maybe my phone is new and I haven't used it to charge and discharge more to have enough battery life.

btw, if i use my network for internet connection, the battery will be drained faster than normal usage.

[#6]

Was having same problem so I upgraded to the latest firmware which helped somewhat but battery was still draining rapidly. My phone had "Network Mode" set to "WCDMA preferred/GSM" which I read somewhere causes it to constantly hunt for the stronger network particularly in areas with poor reception. I set mine to GSM only and battery is still at 46% after 3 days 6 hours. Apparently WCDMA only should have the same effect it's the switching that kills it.

You can find network mode under Settings=>Wireless & Networks=>Mobile Networks

[#7]

Is the battery at 46% after 3 days?!! if you used your phone during these days, that is wonderful battery life.

I already set my network mode to GSM only. I havenot upgraded my phone yet and use 2.3.4 version. still waiting for other results about firmware updates. I may do it very soon.

[#8]

Yes I made some phone calls, sent and received SMS, used the GPS for short periods and synced with Exchange server. Note i have got "Juice Defender" free version installed which probably helps as well.

[#9]

I have used that app and not convinced if it works to keep up my phone with more battery. i think i need to upgrade to latest firmware and see what happens.