I have a new phone. This does not make me happy.

[elfs]

I rarely regret not spending money. When I went to finally upgrade my phone, I blanched at the MSRP of an unlocked Galaxy Nexus GSM, which at $659 was a lot of cash. Especially since my provider, AT&T, was basically offering me the Galaxy SII (not the "Note" or "S+", mind you) for basically nothing more than a promise to stay with them for another two years.

Since I needed a network provider anyway, I went with the Galaxy SII. I am now regretting that decision. This is a terrible, terrible phone.

Battery life is less than 11 hours with no use. If you have a regular work schedule with some commute, and maybe get some texts and emails and phone calls through the day, this phone is likely to die before you get home. There are services you can "disable," such as Tethering, Wi-Fi Hotspotting, and AT&T "Navigation Help" services, but the processes never shut down. The phone always restarts them. I have no idea what interrupts they're banging on inside the OS, but it's probably eating the battery alive along with everything else.

I even took it back to the AT&T store and complained about it. I said the phone's behavior isn't matching the claimed specifications or the popular reviews, that the phone would last for at least a full day with "typical" use. With no use this phone doesn't last through the regular workday, much less the evening. This is not acceptable. When I started to get loud enough that other customers were becoming uncomfortable, the saleshole told me, "You'll just have to get used to recharging it twice a day. I'm sorry, that's what Android phones are like."

Bleah.

Some people have said that new phones take a while to calibrate their batteries. I have my doubts.

I also looked at a lot of timers to replace Pocket Doan, the beautiful meditation timer for the Palm. Nothing like it exists for Android. I used it for meditation, but also as a productivity app, since it has a lovely pomodoro setting. The first time I used it, it worked fine until the end, at which point it said: "Congratulations on meditating for 25 minutes. 70 other people are meditating right now." I didn't want to know that; I also didn't want to share my own meditation (or whatever) sessions. Genuinely creeped out, I deleted the app when I realized I couldn't turn that "feature" off.

Bleah twice.

I'm annoyed because I let a financial consideration that, really, was not all that big a deal, compromise my sense of ownership of an electronic device. I owned my Palm Pilot and my iPod. I pwned my last phone, and my Nook. I do not own this phone.

And that means It is leasing Me.

Sigh.

Comments

[bmaryott]

I'm told if you "root" a droid phone you can turn off that stuff permanently, and do other things. I have no idea, I run an unjailbroken iPhone, but the gents at the office all say it helps.

Also, you must not complain loudly enough - go back tomorrow and do it again. Talk to other customers and let them know you got a lemon version of the phone and can't get service. Talk to the manager. Demand the contact info of the regional manager, then call them. Demand to speak to HIS boss. Get people's names. Make a show of writing them down.

You need to be more forceful.

(Oh, and it's probably a bug in the WiFi...)

[tamino.livejournal.com]

I'll bet you there's a 30 day return period. T-Mobile does that, at least, with every phone they sell.

If nothing else, you can request a warranty replacement of the phone? It might be a defective unit?

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Yeah, return return return. It's their crappy software running down the battery, not a universal Android problem.

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

That's not what all Android phones are like. My Droid 2 will have 70-80% battery left when I go to bed.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

I second this...my Samsung android phone will last for 3-4 days without charging if its just sitting around.

[jenbooks.livejournal.com]

Mine too, usually. I've got an LG Optimus V - not a great phone, but a decent one.

[(Anonymous)]

Personally I've gone with a LG Optimus 2X. Hardware wise it's a pretty nice phone. The stock LG software sux, but you just root, install clockworkmod recover, CM7, gapps and a better kernel (doesn't take more than 10 minutes altogether) and you've got a great software stack to build upon.

For some reason the LG O2X costs (fully unlocked without a contract) only $300 here in Australia, while most hardware wise comparable phones are $600+.

[(Anonymous)]

Forgot to mention, I get about 14h of active use (ebook reader) or about 48h of standby out of it.

I got two extra batteries and an external charger for it, so I always just let the battery run empty and switch.

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

I'll check to be sure, but I'm almost positive that my husband's Galaxy WhateverItIs lasts the day before recharging, and I know he uses it during the work day.

[hugh-mannity.livejournal.com]

I've got an HTC Evo Shift. I don't use it a lot, but even when I do, it'll give me at least a day and a half between charges (I've occasionally had to charge it in the car on the way home from work). With my normal minimum usage, it goes 2 - 3 days.

There's just one thing that annoys me about it. Even with the automatic brightness turned off, it keeps reverting to full brightness, which I rarely need and which does burn through the battery.

At least get it checked under warranty, even if you can't return it.

Battery life

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with this - I have an HTC Inspire, and it almost always lasts me 2 days with my minimal usage. Now, I do use the wifi all the time, rather than the data plan, so YMMV.

Joshua

[blaisepascal]

My mother and step-father just got Galaxy Notes, the S2's bigger cousin. She says that it uses a lot of battery power, he says it's fine.

I know my iPhone has vastly different power usage depending on where I am and what I'm doing. In areas with poor cell reception the battery goes much quicker than areas with good cell reception. I have noticed when I'm doing lots of downloads (e.g. when my podcast manager wakes up after a few days) my phone gets warm to the touch, almost hot.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yah, and when that happens, don't keep it in your pocket.

Actually, you probably shouldn't keep it in your pocket at all. A heat source in your pocket, even one or two degrees warmer than the ambient temperature of your clothes, is probably not good for the gonads (http://articles.cnn.com/2008-09-18/health/cellphone.sperm_1_cell-phone-sperm-quality-oxidative?_s=PM:HEALTH). I usually wear mine in a coat pocket, if I have to carry it on my person at all.

[blaisepascal]

If a hot cell phone can keep the little swimmers from puncturing a condom, I'm all for it. Children are nice and all when I can hand them back to their parents.

In seriousness, for other reasons I keep my cell phone in my breast pocket, not pants pocket.

[grum]

My android phone (Motorola Triumph) happily noms its battery in 5-7 ours of intermittent cellular-internet use, but if I'm not using it, I can go a whole 14 hour workday (urgh) without worrying that the battery will die (with wi-fi and gps both on, but not in active use).

I can think of no *acceptable* reason why a new phone would be burning through a full battery simply by being on.

[tcepsa.livejournal.com]

Whereas mine, curiously enough, tends to be able to go at least 24 hours before dying under my usual usage patterns (i.e. a handful of SMS messages, less than 30 minutes of phone calls, checking e-mail throughout the day, maybe browsing a website or two).

[Edit for clarification: Mine is also a Motorola Triumph]

[(Anonymous)]

Forgot to mention before:

I've found the logging function of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccc71.pmw.pro to be of great help when trying to figure out what apps eat up the battery.