SOLUTION--Improved Battery Life after 1.3.1

[deanandbek]

Quote:
Originally Posted by lazslo11
Check your PRL setting in Device Info, it should be 60657. Changing your Network setting to Sprint Only instead of Automatic helps with battery life. Both of these reset after 1.3.1 update. You can find these in Dial Pad-Preferences-Network/Network Settings.

A big thanks to this post that started the conversation about battery life and how to possibly fix the 1.3.1 bug that hit some Pre's. It works. I reset my PRL to 60657 and let my battery drain to 0%. When the phone was fully charged thereafter, my battery performance is back to normal or even improved somewhat.

To see what your PRL is at, go to "device info" and click "more info" at the bottom. On the next page, scroll down and see what number your PRL has. Mine WAS 60654 but needed to be 60657. In order to reset your phones PRL, open your phone dial pad and click on the Sprint dropdown (top left). Click Preferences and scroll down to Preferred Roaming List. Click "Update PRL". While I was there I also clicked "Update Network Settings". Once it's finished I did a phone reset (Orange key + SYM + R). When the phone comes back up, go back to "device info", click "more info" and check the PRL #. It should have reset to 60657. If it didn't reset, somebdoy suggested calling Sprint to reset your PRL.

At this point I drained my phone battery to nothing and recharged. It's been working 100 times better in all ways since updating the PRL. Battery is back to solid performance, pages move quicker and snappier. 1.3.1 works so much better now that I found the solution. SOOOO HAPPY AGAIN!!! Thanks for the advice. Hope it works for you too!

[knicks5171]

I had the same issue as you. My PRL was the same as your and when I updated my PRL the phone became much quicker.

[harold42483]

cool thanks im gunna try it out and see what happens

[ezgoin]

Just updated... See what happens. Thanks for the info.

[tntdean]

Just tried to update but wouldn't let me. Said try again later or contact sprint? Anyone else have this problem?

[Shadavis08]

i say do not drain battery all the way to zero this is not the same kind of battery we all have had before. you could not only damage but brick your battery if you do . just because one person got away with it does not mean everyone will. if you have any questions call palm or sprint or the respective carrier and ask them . have a great day!!!

[xioq]

Originally Posted by Shadavis08

i say do not drain battery all the way to zero this is not the same kind of battery we all have had before. you could not only damage but brick your battery if you do .

wait, what? where are you getting this information about not draining your battery because it might damage/brick it?

[lenmac08]

I was always under the assumption that Li ion batteries did best when not fully drained. Is the Pre's battery a Li ion battery? Don't want to take it out to check. Draining a battery down is an old school method for older-type batteries. I may be wrong...

[dragbug]

Originally Posted by lenmac08

I was always under the assumption that Li ion batteries did best when not fully drained. Is the Pre's battery a Li ion battery? Don't want to take it out to check. Draining a battery down is an old school method for older-type batteries. I may be wrong...

No you are correct. Ni-cad batteries had a memory effect and required you to drain completely and charge completely. If you only used half your battery and then charged it up to full, that halfway point would now start to act like the low point. Each time you went through this cycle your battery would get worse and worse and suddenly a battery that lasted for 4 hours was only lasting 2.

The Li-ion batteries do NOT have this effect. So you can charge when ever and as often as ever with no ill effect. The statement about bricking your battery if you deplete it totally is false. But the need to discharge it is also false.

[Hank.Strong]

Originally Posted by Shadavis08

i say do not drain battery all the way to zero this is not the same kind of battery we all have had before. you could not only damage but brick your battery if you do . just because one person got away with it does not mean everyone will. if you have any questions call palm or sprint or the respective carrier and ask them . have a great day!!!

I'm not an expert, nor would I ever suppose to claim to know more than anyone on this forum.

That said... who on Earth hasn't run their battery out on their cell? Any cell? Common sense says that people don't wander around bricking batteries every time they head out without a charger and talk to Aunt Rita or their friend Steve too long.

I'm 100% lost on this one. Saying it's not optimal for maximum battery life is one thing... but am I really supposed to believe that my battery is quite likely to be bricked if I ever accidentally cross some POINT OF NO RETURN on my battery charge?

[cgardner]

Nice post!

[acraniotes]

Here goes nothing... Hmmm, it updated to 60657, so that's a start. It does seem a bit snappier, of course that could just be wishful thinking on my part.

Anyway, a big thanks for taking the time to post this info -- I'll be sure to report back with my battery results.

Regards,
Adam

[nstereo2002]

jus do the update and run the battery out till the phone turn its self off...dies....then jus recharge...its not that hard....do it...i did mine and its like i have a different phone..i hadnt charged my phone since about 4 pm today...i took it off the charger....now its almost 1030 and i am at 83%....over 6 hours and lost only 15%....WAY better than before..and i am running switcharoo and did some txting for a bit...watched a video or two and my email and IM is always on.....so i'd say that pretty good...


so jus do it......quit complaining...you can't "brick" you battery.....jees

[Brain Mantis]

PRL (preferred Roaming list) should have no impact on battery life if you are on Sprint signal.

[johncc]

Don't worry about your battery. It can take care of itself. Li-ion batteries have onboard 'smarts' for that purpose.

[lancelot916]

from a Palm representative over chat for solution on batter drain after 1.3.1:

9:02 PM Steve: PLease run interactive test on device while charging the device.
9:02 PM Steve: Open the Launcher and tap Device Info.
9:02 PM Steve: Tap More Info.
9:03 PM Steve: Tap on top left corner of the device screen.
9:03 PM Steve: Open the application menu and tap Interactive Tests.
9:03 PM Steve: Select the test to run.
9:03 PM Steve: Once the test is done, please restart the device and then you can charge the battery for 2 hours and that will solve the issue.
9:04 PM Steve: Press and hold Power and slide the Ringer switch three times to restart the phone. The phone may take a few minutes to restart.
9:09 PM me: so what you are saying is by running the tests and then restarting the phone it will be fine?
9:09 PM me: how does running a test help? recalibration?
9:10 PM Steve: That should work fine as many of our customers solved the issue.

[FischOderAal]

Originally Posted by Shadavis08

i say do not drain battery all the way to zero this is not the same kind of battery we all have had before. you could not only damage but brick your battery if you do . just because one person got away with it does not mean everyone will. if you have any questions call palm or sprint or the respective carrier and ask them . have a great day!!!

Sorry but I don't think you know what you're talking about. Letting the battery go to zero has negative effects yes, but is needed in order to calibrate the electronic.

Li-Ion and Li-Po-batteries have electronics to prevent overcharging and explosion/fire. But after some time of use the electronics gets "off", doesn't know the exact charge of the battery.

Apple for instance recommends to recalibrate every few months (if you're only using your MacBook stationary even EVERY month), letting your battery drain till the notebook shuts itself down and after that wait a couple of hours to get it really empty.
-> support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

I noticed this myself after coconut battery said the health of my battery was only 80% or so and after recalibration it jumped up to nearly its original capacity.

I've done this quite a few times, my battery is two and a half years old and still got 95% of its original capacity.

€dit: Apple uses Lithium-Polymer-accus.

[NeoteriX]

Originally Posted by Brain Mantis

PRL (preferred Roaming list) should have no impact on battery life if you are on Sprint signal.

Quoted for truth. Logic does not support the stated causal effect described.

[pdaneophyte]

The point of draining battery to zero is to calibrate the battery meter of the OS or battery monitor program. If the meter is not correct, the OS may think the battery is low and shut down while actually it can be used for another couple hours. To make sure the battery is really flat, wait a few minutes after the phone shut down by itself and turn on the phone again. If it turns off immediately or soon, then the battery is truly flat. If the meter is not properly calibrated, the phone will run again. It happened before on some Windows Mobile Treos. Just run the battery completely flat and charge it up fully before pulling the charger plug. I suspect it's the same reasoning the manual says to charge the battery the first time for 8 hours or so before using the phone (not likely that most of us do that) to establish the highest voltage / current the battery can hold safely.

[palmdoc2005]

I wonder how much of this, if at all, applies to GSM Pres? One can turn off the Automatic netowrk setting but there is no PRL option - only the capability to turn roamning on & off.