vB Easy Archive - s56 battery life

Pages: 1

s56 battery life
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: jyalexop2003

I'm thinking of going with the s56
here in MO when GSM/Cingular arrives next month.
I love the size and have read good things about RF.
I only need the phone for voice but i like the data color.
What are the real world battery experiences for some of you.
Talk time?
How about just standby time with no calls and on 24/7?
My 8260 has a nice 900MaH battery and I get 8 days standby, but the s56 comes with 700. Of course GSM gives more efficiency for the battery from what i've read but the color drains battery fast as does GPRS.
Is GPRS always on? If so then battery lfe may be poor.

Posted by: SRoberts

I've had the phone for a few weeks, and am not yet through the 5 full cycles that it is supposed (at attested to on this board) to take to get to full battery strength.

I talk probably 10-20 minutes a day, sync with my laptop (via IR)once a day, spend 15-20 minutes or so total a day looking at appointments/etc on the phone, and I never have GPRS on. I only turn my phone off when I sleep, and I get 4 days use right now.

Posted by: bob110011

I get 5 days out of mine with normal useage and 24/7 on.

Posted by: swamp7

I've been letting my phone drain to empty before charging, and logging the total standby and talk time at that point, using the *#05# feature.

I think the talk time is getting better with each charge/discharge cycle, and I hope it continues to improve. (It's still not as long-lasting as the t68i.)

Here's what I have so far:

Empty @ 8:30p, 8/22/03
221h 16m 17s
20h 54m 32s

Empty at 4p, 8/21/03
205h 6m 50s
18h 10m 0s

Empty at 8a, 8/20/03
185h 56m 49s
15h 34m 13s

Empty at 2p, 8/18/03
160h 49m 25s
13h 11m 10s

Empty at 6p, 8/15/03
132h 48m 1s
11h 22m 13s

105h 43m 7s
9h 30m 10s

Kevin

Posted by: haygoog

How do you turn off GPRS? I have a Cingular activayed phone that does not offer GPRS as an option under the connectivity/setup menu. (After one cycle the battery isn't lasting too long....guess it can only get better?)

Posted by: Soko

Cool, I like codes!!

Quick question though. You are checking your time AFTER recharging the phone?

I did a full drain of the battery 3 or 4 times and 7 hours later and not using the phone I have
354h 8m 3s
3h 40m 10s

my standby rocks but the talk time sucks. I did have bluetooth on today for those 7 hours.

Posted by: Shepp

The *#05# is not a battery indicator. That is operating time only, it has nothing to do with the battery.

It's a counter for how long the phone has been on and how long you have talked.

Posted by: Soko

yup makes sense...those numbers of 20h seemed off.

Any way to check talk time remaining? or standby?

Posted by: swamp7

You're right of course, except for the part about it not being an indicator of battery life. I didn't explain my post thoroughly, sorry.

If you let the battery fully run out every time, and record the talk time and standby time at that point (using *#05#), then you can subtract the previous recorded time from the most recent and you have a sense of how much talk and standby time you got on a charge.

For example, in my earlier post, I indicated:

Empty @ 8:30p, 8/22/03
221h 16m 17s
20h 54m 32s

Empty at 4p, 8/21/03
205h 6m 50s
18h 10m 0s

...when you subtract 18:10:0 from 20:54:32, you see that on that charge I got 2hrs 44min of talk time til empty.

It's a bit extra effort to check and log the times each time the battery runs down, but I find it useful while evaluating the phone.

btw: I got just shy of 4hrs talk time yesterday, so the battery life is definitely improving through the full discharge cycle approach.

Kevin

Posted by: haygoog

Hey Swamp, are you getting those times with GPRS on 24/7 or are you able to turn it off with AT&T?

Posted by: swamp7

i think GPRS is pretty much always on.

Posted by: kitkit201

Quote:

Originally posted by swamp7
i think GPRS is pretty much always on.

can we turn gprs off? or att wont let us do that? this is my 2nd day on my first charge and im already at 1/4 left.. and i hadn't even used the phone much.. is it normal?

Posted by: jyalexop2003

I like a good battery and judging by the majority of post staing mediocore battery life, I'm likley to go with the Nokia 6200.
The CNET review (link below), pretty much
concludes the battery life is VERY poor.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Siemens_S56...7-20790418.html

Posted by: kitkit201

but that' review is based on cingulars network, how about any one on att's network ?

Posted by: ZuMBLe

I have a S56 under at&t and I find the battery life only lasts about 3 days with normal use. Not all that impressive.