Viewty Battery Saving Measures! Thread

Strawbs · #1 09-01-2008, 09:37 PM

Much has been made of the supposed poor battery life of the Viewty! Personally I tend to think the reason for quick discharging is more likely to be personal user\profile settings, rather than faulty equiptment! I can often get 3+ days use from my handset before it needs a recharge! In view of that fact, I've decided to make a list of some of the settings that can greatly improve battery life for many other Viewty owners.

Some of these settings may have been adjusted in the shop to make the phone appear to be more responsive before you collected it, so it is advisable to check them for yourself. changes made to Profiles (Editing) need only be made once, and then saved, in order for them to be activated whenever that particular profile is selected in future.

1. Multitasking!
when you've finished using an application or browsing on your Viewty, make sure the app is properly exited or it'll sit in the background using precious processor cycles & resources, which in turn uses battery power.

2. Profiles!
some of the default profiles use some of the higher powered settings on your handset! Edit them so they are no more than you require! Pay particular attention to numbers 5 [Backlight] & 6 [Haptics] below.

3. Bluetooth!
BT is a wireless connection that most people seem to be happy to leave on, even when they're not actively using the service! turn it off when not needed to preserve power & prevent the remote hacking of your Viewty.

4. Brightness!
The screen brightness can be adjusted from 100% down to 20%! i have mine set at 60% and that is bright enough for the screen to be clearly visible even on the brightest of days! turn it down to help with you're power saving measures.

5. Backlight!
What difference is the backlight staying on for an extra 30 seconds going to make to your battery life? Enough to make it worth checking yours isn't set at 30 or even 60 seconds - both are uneccessary.

6. Haptics!
Haptics use a little rotating electric motor to cause the vibration you feel when touching the screen of your Viewty! this is by far the biggest single cause of drain on your battery and should be edited to one of the lesser settings in whatever profile you use. There are 3 different vibratory types and the one to go for is "Vibration 1" as this gives the shortest burst of the 3! you should also lower the level of vibration to between 1 and 3! you'll still feel something & anything more is just showing off. :P

7. Touch Tone!
you should probably turn off the sound altogether, as this gets annoying and also drains battery power.

8. Camera!
using the camera\video in either mode draws a lot of power! the Red Eye Reduction "multi-flash" is another cheif culprit for power drainage! turn it off and edit your pics in Windows\Mac. Any Image editor worth having on your PC has the ability to remove Red Eye.

9. Network Mode!
for those that don't use the 3G functionality of their phone at all (browsing fast Internet or Video calling), switching from Automatic to an option other than UMTS (GSM network dependant) may have the effect of lowering the network search frequency of the handset and reduce power consumption as a result. I believe that Orange & T-Mobile use 1900, whilst Vodaphone & O2 use 900\1800, it may be vice versa, so don't quote me on that. Three (3) will primarily use UMTS, falling back to one of the other frequencies automatically when its 3G antennae are out of range, so leave it at Auto for that network.

10. Magnetic (Leather) Cases!
It has been suggested by forum members that leather cases with a magnetic clasp can have an adverse effect on the Viewty battery life, with some claiming that they get as little as 8 hours use from a full charge before the phone switches off! If you've bought such a case for your handset & you're suffering with an unreasonably quickly discharging battery, remove the handset from the case for a few days to see if things improve.
_____________________________

Using all of the above settings & rules will enhance the battery life of your Viewty! probably more so than if you were to simply select the "Power Saving" mode in the phone settings.

I hope this helps those that feel the battery in their phone, or the phone itself, may be faulty because of poor performance. If anyone has anything to add to these measures, don't be afraid to Share.

Strawbs.

sally_smith · #2 09-01-2008, 09:43 PM

I have been having trouble with my battery, will give all this a go, thanks.

Also have had problems with the battery showing 2 bars then down to nothing. I find this very annoying as never know when the battery is going to die..! - think I may need to start a new topic.. ?

Yamtaijika · #3 09-01-2008, 09:48 PM

Thanks Sally. I've my phone set like yours but i still have to charge the phone every two days. I have a question. The manual says that when the battery is totally charged a screen message is shown. Is that true? I don't get anything like that. I can only see that the battery above stops filling...

Strawbs · #4 10-01-2008, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sally_smith

..
Also have had problems with the battery showing 2 bars then down to nothing. I find this very annoying as never know when the battery is going to die..! - think I may need to start a new topic.. ?

that is typical of a battery that hasn't been properly conditioned! some here would have you believe that conditioning is not neccessary for Li-Ion batteries! I strongly disagree. I deliberately left it out of my list because it seems to be a bone of contension and that is not the aim of this guide.

Search this section for other battery related posts & you'll find threads with conditioning advice.

Strawbs · #5 10-01-2008, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yamtaijika

Thanks Sally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yamtaijika

I have a question. The manual says that when the battery is totally charged a screen message is shown. Is that true? I don't get anything like that. I can only see that the battery above stops filling...

you get the "fully charged" message when the phone is switched off & you press a button! when it's switched on it does what you say.

Yamtaijika · #6 10-01-2008, 12:32 PM

I'm sorry Strawbs, i wanted to say Thank You Strawbs

I'm going to try what you say, i'll see

soulo · #7 10-01-2008, 07:18 PM

My battery needs to be charged everyday because I use the music player for at least 2 hours.
Thanks for the tips, hopefully they'll work for me.

kc1975 · #8 11-01-2008, 11:45 PM

my battery lasts for quite a few days like 3 to 4, I did everything in the list as mentioned above before this post got made and it really does make the battery last longer.

The only time my battery dies fairly quickly is through the music player and video camera, I usually get a full days worth of music or about 70+ songs no problem on a full battery and that's about the same as my old W810i, with eh video camera I get about an hour tops from a full battery.

I actually think the battery life is quite good indeed, if you leave stuff on like BT, and multi function, bright settings etc. you would obviously expect something to loose life on any phone.