Dec 29, 2008
I have an HTC model, the S640 "Iris" on Telus network, which exhibits an odd battery level behavior. Rebooting (or turning it on from an off state) causes a significant drop in battery level of about 15% each time which seems excessive.I'm wondering what users of other HTC devices are getting when they perform a similar action. Would readers please share their experience in the following simple test?
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1. Fully charge the battery with phone on. (This ensures a 100% charge at start. I'm assuming you are charging the battery while inside the phone.)
2. Unplug charger. (Make sure to do this.)
3. Reboot. (Off followed immediately by on.)
4. What is the battery level? (For accuracy, this should be the percent level, not the number of bars on the home screen.)
I get an average of 84%. You don't have to do this several times as I did but the range I got was 73 to 88% with majority being in the mid-80s.As a little bit of variant, if I charged the battery with phone off during step 1, I end up with a tad less than 84% indicating the battery acquires extra charge if phone was on.Either way, if repeated without recharging back up to 100%, it drops by around 15% each time all the way down to near zero. With some other tests I have performed, I theorize it is not a "real" 15% drop (for example, it takes far less time to recharge back up to 100% than if the 15% drop was caused by actual airtime/standby). At this early stage of testing, I suspect the battery meter is involved but not necessarily the sole culprit - it could be wrongly interacting with electronics within the battery. Perhaps it is the software which retains the lowest point in the momentary negative spike as the new baseline when establishing the battery level. I believe the lithium energy store per se is fine.
At 15% drop for each reboot, whether "real" or not, is of concern in the following manner. The phone behaves as if the new lower level is true. So when the level reaches near zero through repeated reboots, it will not last too long - I have found that to be true. Suppose you reboot several times in a day such as during meetings or some social engagement. The device reaches critically low battery level much sooner than expected particularly if you were unaware of this rebooting phenomenon. That could cause an inconvenient situation let alone during a need to use the phone in an emergency.