Improving the Xperia Arc Battery Life

[#1]

For those Xperia Arc owners that experience poor battery life, there are a few tips listed on the Sony Ericsson site : http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/phones/detailed/thebatteryrunsflattoofast/xperiaarc?cc=au&lc...

What I found out even after perfoming the actions listed on the Sony Ericsson site, the battery life was still not good. It was still draining fast.

Three actions I found to improve the battery life are :

1) Do not remove the phone from charging just after it reaches 100%. If you do that, the battery for some reason drains quickly. Leave the phone to charge a few more hours after it reaches 100%, I have noticed the battery life improves dramactically.

2) From the Settings --> Application --> Managed Applications, select those applications that you do not need to run in the background and force close it.

3)Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, Background Data and Auto-Sync when not needed.

I am currently perfoming a test. I have done the following settings on my phone (In this order):

1) Force closed all applications and killed any tasks that I felt are not needed to be run in the background.

2) Ensured Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS are not running, Disabled the background data and auto sync( Settings ---> Accounts & Sync),  Display brightness to minimum.

3) Left the phone to charge overnight.

I have been monitoring my charge level on the phone so far, even after around 5.5 hours it still shows 100% charge. I cannot believe it. I will continue to monitor the phone charge level to see when it drops to 99%

Note :  I have not made any phone calls or received any yet. I did pair to my HCB-150 Bluetooth Car Speaker Phone for 20 minutes but then I turned off the Bluetooth on my phone.

Previously even when I forced closed the applications, killed the tasks I did not need and turned off bluetooth, wi-fi, GPS, background data and auto sync, the phone battery charge was till reducing from 100% to about 80% in about 3 to 4 hours.

I was thinking I could have been given a faulty battery.

Next test I wll be doing is to make some calls, surf the internet, etc, etc ie normal day to day things you do on the phone and see if the battery life is holding up with the strategy of letting the phone charge longer.

Would appreciate it if anyone has experience poor battery life and has tried to leave the phone to charge much longer and also seen the same effect of longer battery life to provide some feedback.

The reason I thought I share this is that there could be Xperia Arc owners experiencing poor battery life.

Thank you

[Uliwooly]

it will work on the same LT15a bands, you are not moddifying the antenna (hardware) so you will have access to the same bands you currently have

[#3]

Thank you for the feedback. Since my phone seems to be working fine at the moment, I might wait for the release to be available through the Update Service or PC companion.

I am afraid if something goes wrong during the upgrade, then I might have to spend hours trying to rectify them.

By the way, if anyone is interested, I did a 2 hour extra charge on the phone and the battery charge seems to be still holding up well so far.

Will try just an hour extra charge and see if the result is similar and report back.

Of course I will then try an extra half and hour to see it that is also ok. Trying to find the approximate minimum extra charge time needed.

I thought with Lithium Polymer batteries there is no need to leave the battery to charge longer but for some strange reason it matters.

[Uliwooly]

can you elaborate on the "extra charging time"?

the phone is design to stop charging the battery once it reaches 100%, once you lose some battery the phone will charge again, thus creating heat and lots of it, heat + lithium polymer battery = less battery life

[#5]

What I mean by "extra charging time" is the time you continue to leave the phone on the charger once the phone says the battery charge level is 100%.

I agree. In theory there should not be a need to leave it on the charger once it reaches 100% but for some bizzare reason if I disconnect the phone straight after the phone says the battery level is 100%, the charge drains much quicker. Leaving it on longer somehow helps. Hence I have been conducting the tests above because my phone battery was draining too quickly.

I only discovered by accident as usually with my previous phones, when the charge is full, I remove the phone from the charger. No issues.

About a week ago, I accidentally left my Xperia Arc phone on the charger overnight and noticed that the battery does not drain as quickly.

I just thought I share this with anyone who may be interested.

[Uliwooly · Accepted solution]

Since you leave it connected to the charger all night I think your phone keep continuously discharging - charging -discharging etc and lithium polymer batteries seem to last longer the more you charge them

[#7]

my battery life improved drastically with 2.3.3 im loving my arc right now.

[#8]

me too.. after update to 2.3.3.. everything looks great.. Camera app don't cause any unnecessary baterry drain anymore.

Great job.. SE..

[#9]

I have also noticed that the battery life has improved after updating tthe firmware to 2.3.3

I am still leaving my phone on the charger for an extra 30 mins to an hour even though the phone says 100%

I think it still helps.

[#10]

ANy advice for me on an xperia8?

I have had it 2 weeks and suddenly ploughing thru battery like nothing.

Am trying task auditor to see if i can shut off all these programmes i dont use.

Its 2months since your last post, I am keen to know if you are still having probs.

Greg

[#11]

Hi Greg,

Right now, my battery life is acceptable.

In my opinion the four main things that improves the battery life are :

1) The 2.3.3 update

2) Don't remove phone from the charger immediately after it reaches 100% charge. Leave it for another 15mins or 20 mins.

3) Shut down/force close any applications that you are not using. Enable them only when needed.

4) Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,GPS and Backgrouund data if not using them.

There could be a possibility that you phone or the battery could be faulty.

Are you able to bring it back to where you purchased it?

Since it should be still under warranty, you should be able to get a brand new replacement.