[powerbyte#AC]

Just saw a video on Youtube in which a girl was saying that keeping your apps open actually keeps battery life up.

Is there anyone else that has tried this. I am thinking of doing this tomorrow. I usually use Tweed, Internet, and the dialer.

I will post back here tomorrow night with my findings.

For those of you that want to see the video the link is as follows



The volume is a little low, but I think it's an ok video.

[TrickerZ]

I don't think it saves battery unless you open and close applications a lot. If you do, the loading consumes a decent amount of power. Keeping most applications open doesn't seem to hurt battery life. If you keep something open that constantly polls, then it will drain battery. I keep about 5 apps open most of the time - messaging, email, tasks, sometimes calendar and web. Past that, the interface seems to slow down quite a bit.

[ImNoPrince]

I think this goes back to the ,does it save to leave the light on or turn it off and back on in a few minutes.

I leave 3 open all the time and then open and close others as I need them . I notice no battery problem.

[TrickerZ]

I think this goes back to the ,does it save to leave the light on or turn it off and back on in a few minutes.

Bad example, the Mythbusters proved you don't save power leaving a light on.

Idling applications is much different since the CPU has to run regardless. It's more like a car. If you stop and go a lot, your gas mileage goes down, but the engine is always running. Put all your friends in the car and drive on the highway.

[powerbyte#AC]

Okay quick results here...turned on phone at 7am with 95 percent battery. Instantly opened web, Tweed, Dialer, quick contacts, and LOL Box. It is now 4pm and I am at 52 percent. 5 phone calls...various texts, web browsing, and tweeting all day....last week I used the phone in a similar fashion and was almost dead by this point.....maybe we're onto something here.

[xcomputerman]

Opening and closing applications on any computer is a CPU-intensive operation, so the OP's hypothesis is correct. If you are frequently opening and closing apps, you will drain battery quicker. If you don't believe me, try running "top" on your terminal logged in to the Pre and then open some of your favorite apps ... and watch as CPU usage spikes for a few seconds.

Things that kill battery:
- Pandora
- Running Twitter clients (Twee, Tweed, Spaz) with notifications turned on and/or frequent updates
- Leaving your Bluetooth radio on when not in use
- Frequently opening and closing applications
- Using EVDO when there is a WiFi network available
- Surfing Facebook (the main site)
- Watching video
- #1 battery killer: making phone calls. (shocking, I know).

[CarlKPC]

The TI OMAP Mother Chip is CMOS. The 8MB must be CMOS since battery-out hard reset clears. Therefore the passive apps use v little. Some apps, sites may frequently go active, poll, phone-home etc.

My girlfriend & I use up ~2->3hrs from 7:AM to 9:PM and have ~20-> 40% left.
We leave On couple Browser instances, Dialer, DevInfo, Backup app On, set OFF [=DataTheft. Turns itself ON! I want a USB backup!]. Std charger is fast (20->100% ~1.5Hrs).

POWER off:
We turn WiFi off when not in use. (EvDO=CDMA2000 always on) We never let GoogleMaps spy on the "GPS" for maps. [EULA allows continual tracking=spying] Leave Location "Services" off. Sprint Navigator can be coerced [Manual Origin Set & Destination Se] to give a map at an address, but b****es about GPS off.

[BILL KING]

THIS IS RIDICULOUS! u shoudnt hsve to do anything ... the battery needs to last an entire day. palm completly fd us on this. my bat dies everyday in 6 hours and nothing helps. palm needs to have a free recall to fix this its the only solution. how can they release a fone like that. no integrity

[anon(22913)]

First of all, if your battery doesn't last an entire day then you are a HEAVY phone user. Get a bigger battery or deal with it.

Anyway where the hell are you people that you cannot plug the damn thing in every once in awhile?

[Nismode]

Hmm...maybe I should stop opening and closing apps so much. Idk. I just close everything a lot because I usually like to have as few apps running as possible to give the most CPU power to that (or those apps). Plus I like to see my background

[powerbyte#AC]

First off mr BILL KING (Christ Almighty with the DAMN CAPS), relax...no one F'D us on this one. Smartphones ALWAYS use more battery.

I was just throwing out a random suggestion that was shown to me through You Tube. I am more than happy to do whatever I may need to to improve my battery life without spending MORE money, and making my Pre look like something out of 1982.

Shadow God, I AM a HEAVY phone user, and I accept that. I am just trying to pose a solution to people that can't afford to buy any more goodies for their Pre.

I use a Touchstone in my workvan and it does fine. Just always looking for better ways to manage my batt life.

Nismode, If you minimize the apps and then touch the screen again, they get even smaller. That's what I did today so I could keep and eye on my background (Marilyn Monroe)

Cheers,
Robert

[neelesh]

interesting. the apps I open/close alot are my messaging and email. I have 0 cards up at any given moment. When I am done, I simply throw the cards away after texting (which i text alot) or gchat. and I get a new notification each time and click on it and it has to open up the messaging card.

Do u think if I just left the texting card on always, it would make my battery life better, since I'm not opening and closing it every minute (the actual card)?

Does leaving that on create any extra lag? And if I have like 6000+ texts stored will it cause lag too (if the card is open always) in the phone system itself?

[west3man]

interesting. the apps I open/close alot are my messaging and email. I have 0 cards up at any given moment. When I am done, I simply throw the cards away after texting (which i text alot) or gchat. and I get a new notification each time and click on it and it has to open up the messaging card.

Do u think if I just left the texting card on always, it would make my battery life better, since I'm not opening and closing it every minute (the actual card)?

Does leaving that on create any extra lag? And if I have like 6000+ texts stored will it cause lag too (if the card is open always) in the phone system itself?

I don't know about leaving apps open - especially since I use apps like Pandora that damn-near force you to close other stuff - but I do think I'll delete my old texts and see if that helps.

[Kupe]

Smartphones ALWAYS use more battery.

Haunting words given the relatively small capacity of the Pre's battery.

[PalmPre1337]

If said app takes more power to open than it does to keep running then this is true I guess. It also depends on how often you open and close the app too.

[Croathlete]

I think a lot of it also has to do with your signal strength of where ever you spend most of your day. On the weekdays at work, I'm at 1-2 bars and can't make it the entire day. On the weekends at home I'm at 3-4 bars and can make it through the day. I'd say my usage is about the same at either location.

[PalmPre1337]

I think a lot of it also has to do with your signal strength of where ever you spend most of your day. On the weekdays at work, I'm at 1-2 bars and can't make it the entire day. On the weekends at home I'm at 3-4 bars and can make it through the day. I'd say my usage is about the same at either location.

This is also a factor as the phone works harder to get signal if it's in a low or no coverage area.

[Croathlete]

This is also a factor as the phone works harder to get signal if it's in a low or no coverage area.

Well, yea...that's what I was insinuating.

I wonder if those signal booster stickers will help...

[PalmPre1337]

Well, yea...that's what I was insinuating.

I wonder if those signal booster stickers will help...

No, you clearly need one of these Chinese signal booster kits:

[barrysanders20]

After I bought a Seidio 1350 battery, most of my battery complaints have subsided. a 1350 MaH battery should have been the pack in battery. Even though, it's only an extra hour and a half of battery, I find it extremely valuable. It still sucks that a lot of features that made some of us by the phone are the ones we conveniently have to disable.