Battery Usage - My Experience

[kanulondon]

I know this isn't what people want to hear....but whilst using my N95 on Holiday in Sri Lanka I got unbelievable performance out of the battery.

I was using it heavily for photos and video.

However I was working in OFF LINE mode! :D

Obviously not suitable to everyone, but working in this mode means you can use the phone for days on end!

KL

[bavlondon]

If you were working in offline mode, would it not have made more sense to instead use a digi cam?

[Mithent]

I took my phone to London for a day twice in the last week. The first time, I used Web and email for a few minutes on GPRS (3G signal didn't penetrate), then left it largely alone except for some text messages. I left Web running, but I did terminate the packet data connection. It was dying quickly, and I had to turn it off on the way back lest it ran completely flat.

Yesterday despite using Web for longer, several times in the day, the battery was 85% when I got home - which is, I think, because I closed Web every time. Leaving applications running in the background when idle may be a significant contributor to loss of battery life?

[bavlondon]

Yes they can contribute to that but on the whole the battery is quite poor anyway.

[stuartlowb]

I am lucky if I can make it back to the car without the battery dying after a day in London. The battery sucks.

[kanulondon]

Wasn't looking to buy a digi cam. The use of the video on the camera was Fit For Purpose.

Battery life hasn't been an issue for me as yet.

[scoobystu2]

I think the point being made is that if you are "off-line" are you then not able to receive calls ?
My experience of N95 battery life is far better than what posts here would suggest. That said I live in a good 3g coverage area and am on 3 and so have the best possible chance of getting a 3g signal. I guess all those T mobile would have issues as their coverage, in my area at least, is apalling.

[iguanapunk]

Is it possible that having the phone in offline mode would increase the speed of the camera seeing as there would be more RAM available?

[Mithent]

Free memory (Y-Tasks) online in 3G zone: 13MB
Free memory offline: 13MB

Just because it's offline doesn't mean that it closes the Telephone application, etc. It's also probable that increased RAM wouldn't speed up the camera anyway - it's not as if the N95 can 'page' memory, so either there's enough RAM for the camera or there's not.

[iguanapunk]

Ah right, I thought that might be the case. Cheers for being on the case ;)

[kanulondon]

Interesting discussions.

I know having the phone in off line mode isn't ideal. But I am just highlighting the fact...I used my phone to do everything else. Vid+Pix+Music.

3G reception has a big part to do with it I'm sure. When in good reception I feel the battery performance is better

KL

[WaveyDavey001]

I'm using Seven at the moment (push email) and the battery is absolutely shot by the end of a working day, let alone a 24 hour day.

[munkimatt]

just to go into the point raised about RAM and camera speed. I noticed on the new N95 has a massive difference in speed on loading the camera app and taking the picture.

[Mithent]

Hrm.. I wonder if the new one makes use of more RAM then? I can't imagine that the mere fact that more RAM is available would make it faster, since as I mentioned Symbian OS doesn't page memory.

It's certainly a far cry from my old Psion Revo with 8MB of total RAM, on EPOC R5/Symbian OS 5.

[scoobystu2]

ATEOTD these are phones and not a dedicated camera etc. THe processing speed of the phone alone will have the biggest impact. Plus obviously the operating system.
On digital camera the speed of the RAM supposidly makes the biggest difference as this image has to be stored somewhere immeditately after the shot is taken.

[bhwarrior]

Free memory (Y-Tasks) online in 3G zone: 13MB
Free memory offline: 13MB


That's odd, on a fresh startup, my N95 has exactly 20.0MB free RAM, lol that's in both cases btw ;)

I'm not using the 3G network but rather standard GSM; I still don't think the difference can be 7MB of RAM??

How many extra apps do you have on startup, I only have HandyTaskMan atm?

[Mithent]

How many extra apps do you have on startup, I only have HandyTaskMan atm?

Ah, that wasn't on fresh boot. I shall try that now.. 17MB free, using YTasks,or about 18MB with NSysInfo. To be honest I'm not sure what's running on startup that maybe shouldn't - I don't have anything intentionally loading on boot but some programs may be doing so on the quiet.

Y-Tasks only reports the following tasks as running:
Y-Tasks (obviously)
EiksrvBackdrop
Menu
Standby mode
Hidden
screensaver
SysAp
Telephone
Hidden
vcommandmanager.exe
Autolock
Anykey

(Strange it's 'EiksrvBackdrop', EIKON was the old Psion UI - it should be UIKON now I think.)

[ebony.branch]

My phone makes it through the day with about 4 bars left on the battery meter by the time i put it on overnight charge. That's with 20 or 30 minutes calls and 50+ mins online in 5 to 10 minute chunks. It does for me.

[ibruceuk]

I thought I'd add my two'penneth worth

I've noticed that the battery seems to perform better with more use if that makes sense!

If I let the phone do nothing all day (other than Seven for push email which I know hammers it) then it'll last from about 7am till 6pm before dying. Today I got up at 5am and used the phone for about 20 SMS's and 1.5 hours of calls and it's now 8pm with 3 bars still left on it!

How's that for screwed up? :)

[ChemicalBrother]

Offline mode saves a helluva lot of juice. Realistically it's not something you can leave it in for too long (if you want to use your phone as a... phone!) but if you're gonna be on the Tube (or some trains) for a while it's a sensible option. The reason for this is that the phone works harder to get a signal and then to keep hold of it.

BTW, when abroad I use my N73 (eagerly awaiting N95 8GB) for sat nav and often put it in offline mode after my phone/text use. Bluetooth works fine in offline mode (not that you N95ers need BT for GPS!)

[ebony.branch]

Just managed to squeeze 19.5 hours reasonably heavy use out of my 95, including 4 hours on a train, 20 mins gps (a lifesaver 'cos I was drunk and lost) and approx. 60 mins browsing. Left me with 2 bars, but I'm writing this in comfort on my n95 instead of wandering around lost and cold (and drunk.....)