wysiwyg

Has anyone been able to get more than a day's worth of battery life out of their Centro. I can not get more than a days worth with only a couple of calls and using On-Demand for only 10 minutes tonight.

Gerorne

Ok that's bad. I last at least 8 hours, with multiple hours of audiobook listening with audible/pTunes or listening to movies in TCPMP (with the screen off). While also being connected to AIM through Mundu, and repeated connections to facebook or other websurfing, and random games.

I'm hardly ever on the phone though. I'm not a talker. It's just quick, "Sure, come on over" and stuff like that.

I punish my battery and last eight hours. You should be able to easily last a day.

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Vx --> M515 --> T|T3 --> T|T5
--> Treo 650 --> Centro --> (Pre)

GreenHex

I suggest, if possible please, file a complaint/ bug report/ etc. with Palm on this. This appears to be a bug in the firmware that exibits itself under specific circumstances of operation. I've complained and Palm appears to be investigating it now - as much as can be reckoned from a few email exchanges.

My Centro battery lasts 5-8 hours max. And I don't listen to songs, watch video, do IM. All I use it for is emails (max 5-8 emails a day) and an occassional phone call to my family.

There should be a law that says the all mobile phones should have a minimum battery life of 24 hours at the very least under "normal" use.

- mvk

Forgewizard

GreenHex,

So far I've had pretty good life from my battery ( as good as can be expected from such a skinny little thing). But then again I have set things in the phone to optimize battery life.

I regularly get at least 6 hours of play time from Ptunes with practically full volume when at work. I browse some favorite websites for about an hour. Even have checked out Sprint TV. And the battery still has about 45% when I clock out. More than enough to call a friend or two, check the email again, update my todo list and schedule and safely get me back home. All in all I get easily 10 to 12 hours from a full battery and still am not in the red zone.

Auto update of time is off,
I have the mail settings on update manually - I'm not a bigshot, so I don't need to know if I got email every 5 minutes; I check it manually a couple times a day when I am away from the desktop. I am only using Sprint Mobile Mail and the prepackaged mail system ( Versamail?). I had to dig into several levels to find the email setting to stop "pushing" the mail through. Once I did that, I noticed a significant increase in battery life.

Screen brightness is turned down to still lit, but not full brightness, and then set to go off in 15 seconds.

I will turn the phone off also for several hours during the early morning hours when it is not likely that someone would call me.

I keep my alarms to a minimum.

I have picked up a portable power supply that uses AA batteries so I can top off the Centro as needed - because the owners manual cautions that a Lithium Ion battery performs better when NOT drained completely. The manual says to keep it topped off regularly for otpimum performance.

I also charged the battery for a full night when I first got it.

After all the issues I had with the Treo 680 batteries, I am really pleased with the Centro's. Although I WOULD be happier if the battery life WAS more substantial. But considering I only need it to be on its own when I am not home, so far so good - as I am never away from home ( or electricity) for more than 12 or at the most 18 hours.

I haven't made up my mind if I want to get the fat extended battery, or just maintain with my portable supply. So far this system is working.

Wish there were more suggestions to offer. Hope you can recover more life from your battery.
Cheers, Kim

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papped

I probably wouldn't opt for the extended battery on the Centro, considering the form factor/size is what it's all about.

If battery life is a factor I would go with the 755p + 3200mAh battery.

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BaDZeD

See if the network connection (little arrows next to the signal strength bar) are showing the whole time. That could be your problem. Sprint mail would get the network stuck on for me sometimes.

Gerorne

Oh yeah, I also set everything as low possible to extend battery life. Bluetooth, IR off. Screen brightness to it's lowest. Retrieve mail every six hours, although I suppose I could just set it to manual as well. Power Hero turns the keyboard off completely between the times of 8am to 7pm. The rest of the time the keyboard turns off after 5 seconds of no use (KBlights off does this as well). If I had a regular sleeping schedule, then I'd set the phone to turn off on a regular time with Power Hero as well.

I'm assuming you have a strong signal throughout the day. Cause when I go into area that have bad/no serivce (subway) I make sure to turn my phone off.

Another idea... Is this another difference between the Sprint/CDMA and ATT/GSM Centro's again? I'm on Sprint.

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Vx --> M515 --> T|T3 --> T|T5
--> Treo 650 --> Centro --> (Pre)

Forgewizard

When I am at work, the building creates enough interference to keep my signal bars varying between zero and three. When I am at home I am usually only able to get two bars. Not what I would call "strong signal zones" at all, but Sprint reception is far and above what I had with Cingular and the Treo 650s and 680s!

My experience is that SPrint's CDMA is stronger and clearer than Cingular's/AT&Ts GSM in my travel zones.

I do notice a faint flicker of the signal indicator when I am at home. Am assuming this means the signal is fishing for reception.

Something I do NOT miss at ALL is the way the GSM phone created interference or feedback that could be heard and seen on my PC monitors!

Besides turning bluetooth off - check that "BEAMING" is off too.

Cheers, Kim

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all others devices I've had pale in comparison ( so far) to my Ruby Centro!
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jgassaway

My batt. goes to about 50-55% after a day of use. I goes down more if I use Sprint TV. I charge it every night. It's not a big deal, just charge it before bed, and it'll be ready to go in the morning.

Justin

GreenHex

As a follow-up of this battery issue... I did what Palm support suggested... hard-reset and run as is for a few days... and guess what, the battery life has been exceptional. I could easily get 2 days... but then I think you could get more "life" if you just pull the battery out from the phone.

The next two days, I copied my contacts and fired-up Versamail... set to sync every one hour. Battery life reduced to 18 hours or so.

Finally... I reloaded all of my software carried over from my 650 (more than 30 odd, including ChatterEmail... and all of my own utilties)... and now I get around 18 to 20 hours from 100% to 5%.

It appears that any software that uses the network drains the battery faster than, say, listening to music, or screen brighness or bluetooth. And the key issue is "18 to 20 hours". It's not "~ 24 hours", which I think is sad.

As an aside... I loaded "TreoBattery" and it has an option that allows lighting-up of the LED when the device is between wake and sleep modes (the so called "REM Sleep"). I must say this has been quiet educational to watch the LED ligh-up occassionally when the screen is switched off... There were times when the device appeared to be "locked" in REM sleep... and a soft reset clears this situation. This REM guy also contributes to the heavy battery drain reported by several users.

- mvk

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Game over!

Gerorne

Well it's good to hear your battery issue got fixed. And I'll look into trying out TreoBattery.

I, myself, caved in and got the extended battery (the one from pocket solutions, which is cheaper and has more power than the official one. Plus comes with the matching black cover and not a white one.) because of heavily I use my phone. I get about 18-20 as well

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Vx --> M515 --> T|T3 --> T|T5
--> Treo 650 --> Centro --> (Pre)

Forgewizard

Hi all,

Well after toting around my portable battery charger and topping off the battery on those longer days when I can't get back to the house. I've been o.k. with it, but reading some posts here and surfing the web for a Centro extended battery, I've held back because so far all the selections are either white or black battery doors.

But on Sprint's site, they are selling a RED extended battery door for Centro! and their extended battery lists 2000 maH, while others are listing 1800 or 1850 maH.

Yeah, Sprint's cost a tad more, but everything is guaranteed for thirty days, and it matches and the battery capacity is larger! Will post pix when I get it!
Cheers,
Kim

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all others devices I've had pale in comparison ( so far) to my Ruby Centro!
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John Phillips

FRom Palm website - to extend battery life turn off, if possible, Infra Red, and do not allow discovery on Bluetooth. Also turn off bluetooth if not being used.

Gerorne

Just a quick note. If you want a black door, thepocketsolution.com has an extended battery for $50 and it's 2250mAh.

http://www.thepocketsolution.com/PSI-39053.html

I got. I love it.

__________________
Vx --> M515 --> T|T3 --> T|T5
--> Treo 650 --> Centro --> (Pre)

bclinger

I have have the Sprint extended battery and it provides superior service compared to the stock battery in my wife's Centro. Their price is good.

GreenHex

The question needs to be asked - When people have no problem with the large capaciy battery with protruding cover, then, why won't people accept a slightly thicker device... Or is it all a ploy by Palm and other manufacturers to sell us all one extra battery and cover?

Tonylmiller

I think most users don't need the capacity. I'm a fairly heavy user, and I can get through a day without running out of battery.

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Sprint Centro

floridatony

I am also able to get through the day with mine. The lowest it's ever gone in a day is around 25%. What I can't understand is why the battery life is a problem. Most of us are not on a deserted island using the phone. We are in our car or somewhere we can plug it into a charger, at least most of the time. I know myself I knew the battery life wasn't that great before I bought my phone. The spec tell us the battery life. Why are we expecting more? It's like buying a car that says it gets 21MPG and then complain that it doesn't get 35MPG. I am VERY satisfied with my Centro.

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Florida Tony
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GSM: Treo 270 > Treo 600 > Treo 650 > Treo 680 > Centro > iPhone 3G S

Forgewizard

in my case I am opting for the extended battery because there are instances where I am ot able to get to a charger. Like the past 24 hours or so:
Unplugged the Centro from the home charger at 3pm. Checked my voice mail, called a friend talled about ten minutes. went towork, connected to the web to check several forums. fired up pTunes, cranked up the volume for the next 7 hours. used the camera to verify severql shots of some shipping damage and product contamination (with pTunes running in the background). By 7am the battery was finally in the red so I connected my AA charger, now my slim device is tethered to a thick, heavy albeit portable power source. I drive a 1982 motorcycle so don't have a 12V power source while driving. I had many errands to to do this morning (after my night job) and am still not plugged in. probably won't be for several more hours. so I'll sacrifice a little skinniness on this much more stable device and stay away from the known issues of some of the thicker Treos.

Cheers,
Kim

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Tonylmiller

So why don't you plug it in at work? That's what I do. Well, I guess that only works if you have a desk job, which many people do not have.

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Sprint Centro