best battery saving app for droid

I’m sorry if this has been posted before, but is there an app available for my droid 2 that will manage and save some of my battery? By far my biggest complaint with this new phone. Thanks

Advanced task killer, kills open applications.

That what your looking for?

Yes, ATK.

Any app that you use that accesses the GPS is going to be your biggest battery killer. Some Apps that use GPS let you set preferences for GPS access so you can optimize battery life at the expense of “refresh” and accuracy.

I got the plug in charger at home, a charger in the truck and a USB charger at work. I need an extended battery for shore fishing though.

Advanced task killer sucks, big time on my evo, I deleted it, and my battery actually got much better.

Haven’t found (or looked really) for a good replacement, I did root my phone and uninstall a bunch of sprint bloatware, that seemed to help too.

Especially with the phones that have come out in the past 6 months or so, the EVO included. THey run about as well as they can and batterie/app managers really are not effective.

I was just talking to a buddy about this today. The flaw of any android phone is battery life. When compared to the iPhone for example as BB isn’t even in the same realm it’s night and day comparison. Bu then again the newer Android phones have bigger better processors, more Ram. Plus in comparison I know the Epic is running on a 1500mAh battery compared to the iPhones 1600mAh. that teamed with the smaller processor and more ram, and well you have a serious battery difference. Best cure is what Pug is running, charger @ home, in the vehicle, and @ work.

Best way really to help out at all is root your phone, take all the bloatware off. Turn GPS, WIFI, and blue tooth on and off as you use them.

ON/OFF switch… Sorry couldn’t resist.. I need to get a new phone, my nieces and nephews laugh when I whip my flip phone out….

Thanks guys.
His droid will go a whole day with a charge? Wow, what that must be like….

I do feel like I have to have a charger with me at all times, and I really don’t think it should be that way.

I saw someone on twitter name an app for maintaining a droid battery, but can’t remember the name of it. I do have both ATK and some other task manager and use them, but nothing seems to improve. I don’t use WIFI or bluetooth, and I’m not sure about the GPS. I know my weatherbug is running continuously, it always knows where I am. I would assume that means my GPS is always on?
Since I’m running two task killers, I have two icons. One is a blue wheel that looks like a gear, and the other is the little green android guy. Which one is better?
Thanks for the help….kinda wishin I had my old BB at times…at least the battery would last all day, easily, with that thing.

I have been doing a little Android development. Technicaly, the apps that you kill aren’t doing anything in the background. I still use atk to kill apps in the stack because they do occupy memory, however android manages the memory and will kill apps on its own when it needs memory.

There are services that periodically open in the background without the users knowledge, they shouldn’t be battery drainers. They open, finish and close very fast.

It is possible you installed an app that is a battery hog. You can’t blame the OS for that, it is bad programming. You might want to check the comments on some apps you have installed, especially if they are location aware and use your GPS. If the apps are battery drainers, people will note it in the comments.

Yeah one off the biggest things I can do is keep the wifi, bluetooth, and 4g off if youre not using them, wifi alone is nasty on battery. Batteries also seem to take a month or so to get the most out of them, I get a full day with lighter use, but always have a charger.

That weather app is killing your battery. in two ways. One it’s running GPS. Also I’m guessing it’s updating every hour or so as well. Apps will kill an already bad battery life every time. Try switching off the GPS feature on it, if you don’t mind knowing the weather of one location, and then try seeing if you can change the update to every say 3-4 hours. OTherwise just ditch the app all together.

I actually like the weather ap, and often use the GPS, so those are two drains I’m ok with. You are right though, I like it updating every hour.

Though I haven’t really looked into it, much to say for sure, my old winmo phone would turn gps on and off automatically based on if I needed it or not, some small things like that are still a step back for andriod, though I suspect that will change in the future.

Overall I’m pretty happy with battery on my phone since I removed atk.

I’ve had no problems with Weatherbug. None of my settings are set to conserve battery power either.

Besides the update interval, I see that you can also turn off background updates based on the battery level in the preferences.

Thats the other thing. you have so much controll over these things, there are settings for the settings.

When I look at how the battery is managed, I see the display is usually over 50%, and the weather bug is always below 5% if I remember right. I switched it over to maximum battery saver in my settings and it’s doing much better today. I still seem to be getting texts and all that, so I guess that’s the route I’ll take.

Oh I just thought of something.

What do you have your screen brightness at? I have an app widget that lets me quickly turn WiFi, Bluetooth, sync and GPS. I leave WiFi and Bluetooth off until needed, but I do leave the GPS on. It isn’t really on all the time, the GPS will wait for an app to need it before draining the battery. It would be a pain with so many apps using it to turn GPS off.

Using that widget I can toggle between 3 brightness levels. At first I kept it on the low setting and turned it up when needing it when it was bright out. However, a few months back I left it on auto adjust. The auto brightness can be annoying sometimes, because it can change while you are using it, but I got used to it.

What I am getting at is if you have you screen brightness set to high it is going to drain the battery VERY fast. You probably already know that, but I thought I would point it out. Usually when the 15% or 5% battery warning comes up, if you check what has been draining your battery since the last charge, it is always the “Display”. Which shouldn’t be a surprise because it is the one thing that is always on, but still something to think about when trying to extend battery life.

Lastly, I always turn the display off by pressing the power button when I am done using it and don’t wait for it to turn off on it’s own.

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Lastly, I always turn the display off by pressing the power button when I am done using it and don’t wait for it to turn off on it’s own.

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Yup, I’ve started doing that too. Every little bit helps, I’m sure.
Thanks for the info…what’s the name of that app?

Sorry, I think it is actually a widget that ships with the OS. The widget is called Power Control.

Here’s the first web page I saw with instructions and pictures.

Depending on your phone and Android version, your screen may very, but you get the idea.

On my Evo, I keep wifi, 4G antenna, GPS, and bluetooth off unless I am using them. Wifi I turn on at home. 4G I turn on when I am in a place that has 4G reception. GPS I only use when I need it. You don’t really need the GPS for things like weather. At least in the cities, the phone knows where it is within a few blocks due to cell tower location.

I have widgets for them all, so it’s really quick and simple to toggle them on and off as necessary.

Some apps and their settings are better than others when it comes to GPS. For instance, if you are going to use the Navionics boat, you nest have a converter on the boat to plug your phone in when it is running.

Like I said I never turn off the GPS and the battery is fine. But Ralph is right, you really don’t need it for the Weather Bug app. You are better off choosing a list of locations and saving them instead having the app determine your location.

For one thing, in the cities you are better off having the MSP airport as one of your locations. If you use the GPS, you are going to get schools and what not and they are not nearly as accurate as the airport.

I have 3 locations saved for weather bug. MSP, as I said, Mora and Marcell. Those locations are near where family cabins are located.

Since I’ve gone to the ultimate battery saver in my settings, it has made a positive difference. Still not where I want to be, however.

My brightness is on auto, I believe. I shut the screen off now when I’m done, so I think that helps. Thanks again–

Good to hear.

I can tell you I get so frustrated when I go shore fishing. The battery seems to go pretty quick when I am using it straight through a half hour waiting for a bite.