Motorola Droid X Battery Life woes may not mean a defective battery
Posted by Admin • Monday, July 26. 2010 • Category: Reviews
Last week my wife replaced her Blackberry Storm2 (9550) with a shiny Droid X, and was relieved to find that the Droid kept up with her insane usage load just fine - whereas the Storm2 would lock up every few minutes (probably memory or garbage collection issues). That's the good news. Unfortunately, the X introduced a new problem - battery life. With her usage, it lasts 4 hours. The Storm2 lasted 24 or more. Granted it's a bigger display, but the specs promised ... well, a lot more than 4 hours.
We theorized that it may be runaway processes and excessive number of apps, or defective battery, but as it turns out it's neither. This is what I did:
After the Droid finished charging its battery, I yanked it out and checked the voltage: 3.92V. Now if you know anything about Li-Ion or LIPO's - that's not full (unless it's a special military version, which I'm willing to bet this is not). OK this could still be the battery - maybe it doesn't take charge properly.
Next test: I attach it to my trusty Mystery B6 and run a full discharge (to 3V). I get 1100mAh out the cell rated at 1550. That's pretty much inline with how full 3.92V is, but i doubt that the phone will let it go that low, so in practice that implies that the battery is probably 50% usable.
Next test: I let my B6 charge it up - massaging it up to 4.20V, as it should be. 1800mAh went in, with efficiency losses that's about right.
Next test: We run it in the phone. Guess what? Phone lasts all day!
Conclusion: phone isn't charging it fully. I have no idea why, maybe buggy firmware, maybe hardware (mis-calibrated A2D converters?), but I have a feeling we're exchanging the little (not so little) bugger.
We theorized that it may be runaway processes and excessive number of apps, or defective battery, but as it turns out it's neither. This is what I did:
After the Droid finished charging its battery, I yanked it out and checked the voltage: 3.92V. Now if you know anything about Li-Ion or LIPO's - that's not full (unless it's a special military version, which I'm willing to bet this is not). OK this could still be the battery - maybe it doesn't take charge properly.
Next test: I attach it to my trusty Mystery B6 and run a full discharge (to 3V). I get 1100mAh out the cell rated at 1550. That's pretty much inline with how full 3.92V is, but i doubt that the phone will let it go that low, so in practice that implies that the battery is probably 50% usable.
Next test: I let my B6 charge it up - massaging it up to 4.20V, as it should be. 1800mAh went in, with efficiency losses that's about right.
Next test: We run it in the phone. Guess what? Phone lasts all day!
Conclusion: phone isn't charging it fully. I have no idea why, maybe buggy firmware, maybe hardware (mis-calibrated A2D converters?), but I have a feeling we're exchanging the little (not so little) bugger.
0 Comments
Add Comment