how are you handling battery issues on N95 ?

Forums › Legacy mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Web OS, Symbian, Meego, Blackberry) › how are you handling battery issues on N95 ?

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#18194 1-Jan-2008 08:09

Hi guys
am new user to N95 and like everything about its features except battery. Definetly am not a heavy users,just few txt message,couple of pictures and songs nothing really compared what you guys are doing(from what i read from other posts).i've to charge it every day!!

my question is ,how you guys are handling ? just a spare battery ? or upgraded some higher powered battery ?
i even disabled 3G and running only GSM but still :(

Thanks for your comments or advise.

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2538 posts

Uber Geek

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#102448 1-Jan-2008 09:22

I read about them before hand and decided not to buy one because of it.

There really is no fix, you just have to charge at the end of every day. Either that, or just don't use it at all. Which defeats the point.

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sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102475 1-Jan-2008 14:00

spent lot of money on it so cant just not use it. seems version 20 have fixed quite a few issues. but this version is not available here in NZ. may need to wait till it comes out.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102478 1-Jan-2008 14:11

Hi guys
i read somewhere that we can use N95 8gb version's battery in classic one .any one tried that does it make any difference ?

dnb4life

312 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#102490 1-Jan-2008 15:56

i've had my N95 for 3 months now and i haven't had nearly as much trouble with my battery as you guys seem to of had. i agree with 3G on and regular use it doesn't last as long as other phones, but can other phones do all your N95 can?

With a bit of tinkering I've managed to make my battery last about 2 days between charges. i usually make/recieve about 4 or 5 calls a day and send/recieve about 30 texts daily.

Things that would help...

-i don't see any need for 3G so always have it turned off.
-make sure after you use an application you are closing it properly - some programs rapidly drain the battery left on in the background.
-Make sure automatic WiFi scanning is turned off.
-backlight contrast and backlight timer have a fairly big impact on battery life too. make sure these are either lowered or turned off.
-avoid excessive use of GPS, WiFi and watching video (streaming video is a guaranteed killer of battery life no matter which phone you look at).
-Another thing a lot of people don't realise is if batteries are poorly looked after from the start they are likely to hold a poor charge.

Also on the N95 8gb topic, it is doubtful the battery will work in the original N95, firstly because it is a different make and secondly because its bigger than the originals battery (that's why the lense for the camera is sunken into the case on the N95 8gb, becuase the phone's fatter due to the larger battery size.)

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102496 1-Jan-2008 16:35

thanks for your advise dnb4life.
actually am doing most of them already but to no avail.
anyway have u tried version 20 ?

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102497 1-Jan-2008 16:37

dnb4life
you seem to be more knowledgeable in mobile relating technologies. do you know whats 3G and what i'd miss out,if any,if i turn it off ?
Thanks for the advise.

dnb4life

312 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#102504 1-Jan-2008 18:51

sqlpro: dnb4life
you seem to be more knowledgeable in mobile relating technologies. do you know whats 3G and what i'd miss out,if any,if i turn it off ?
Thanks for the advise.

3G is video calling, streaming video (like vodafones skytv), browsing the net using 3G too (i have no need for this as i have WLAN at home) etc. I also personally think the coverage for 3G is rather pathetic here too. most of the time you'll notice you're phone switching to GSM coz it can get better coverage with it than 3G. Hence why mine is always off, Video calling is pointless, skytv wh*res your battery hard and browsing with 3G is so over priced its not worth it.

Also i haven't tried the new firmware yet, will be changing my product code shortly in order to upgrade it. I've heard great things.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

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#102527 2-Jan-2008 08:29

sqlpro: spent lot of money on it so cant just not use it. seems version 20 have fixed quite a few issues. but this version is not available here in NZ. may need to wait till it comes out.

Check my blog post on NZ GPS - there are some links there to places where help is on hand to get you upgraded to the V20 firmware (totally worth it, in terms of battery +20% improvement on that firmware).

sqlpro: Hi guys
i read somewhere that we can use N95 8gb version's battery in classic one .any one tried that does it make any difference ?

Yes, it does fit BUT you'll need a crystal case to hold it in. Far too ugly looking for my tastes, but would make a difference - the 8GB battery is 1200mA whereas the N95-1 capacity is only 950mA.

sqlpro: do you know whats 3G and what i'd miss out,if any,if i turn it off ?

3G isn't really worth it - anything intensive enough to require 3G speeds is better done over WiFi (data is expensive here!). Just switch to it when needed, if need be add 'settings' as an active standby app if you find you need to switch relatively regularly.

sqlpro: NZtechfreak, how do you cope with battery issues?

OK, you never said that at all - but here is the answer anyways:

- I have a car charger
- I have 2 spare batteries (need 'em on long days at uni with nearly continous WiFi/music player/document viewing/editing).
- I use GSM only etc etc

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102532 2-Jan-2008 10:06

thank you very much nztechfreak and dnb4life for your comments and wonderful advise.
one other question ,when i was only GSM mode and i tried to use MAPS it just hanged i mean after clicking stop nothing happened for awhile so had to restart mobile.

any idea it could be bcoz 3G turned off ? i changed settings for MAPS to use wifi instead of factory settting btw.
the other thing i've not yet got GPS position right ,it just stays in the middle of world map forever!!!

btw NZTechfreak,am following your blog on GPS and first part was very good. when r u writing other parts ? cant wait :)

NZtechfreak

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#102545 2-Jan-2008 13:16

sqlpro: thank you very much nztechfreak and dnb4life for your comments and wonderful advise.
one other question ,when i was only GSM mode and i tried to use MAPS it just hanged i mean after clicking stop nothing happened for awhile so had to restart mobile.

any idea it could be bcoz 3G turned off ? i changed settings for MAPS to use wifi instead of factory settting btw.
the other thing i've not yet got GPS position right ,it just stays in the middle of world map forever!!!

btw NZTechfreak,am following your blog on GPS and first part was very good. when r u writing other parts ? cant wait :)

I'm hoping to have the second part up soon and the third before this time next week, I've had some personal issues come up this week so everythings a little on hold.

Not sure about why the phone hung, but it wasn't because of turning 3G off - I use GSM for mapping just fine. Could just be a random crash, they do happen from time to time, if it becomes frequent though then there is something that needs fixing.

Regarding your problems getting a lock:

- What firmware are you on? Type *#0000# into the phone to get it if you don't already know it.
- If you're on the V12-20 firmware make sure A-GPS is enabled in the settings
- Open maps and select whichever access point you want to use
- Go outside - you need a clear view of the sky in order to get a GPS lock - a cloudy day or tall buildings nearby will slow down your lock speed.
- Slide the phone up to expose the keypad (has to be open, the GPS reciever is beneath the keypad, unusual design decision, I presume dictated by all the other stuff they had to fit into the N95 technology-wise)
- Hold at a 45degree angle to the sky (or flat, seems to work fine for me, but the manual says 45degrees I think)
- Wait.

Your first lock after phone startup (often referred to as a 'cold lock'), can take several minutes so be patient. It usually doesn't take longer than a minute though, and I usually get locks in under 20 seconds.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102826 4-Jan-2008 07:19

Yahoo,finally got a lock :)
NZTechfreak,thank you very much for your advise on this,looks like all it needed was clear sky ! lasttime i tried it was cloudy.

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102828 4-Jan-2008 07:42

NZTechfreak
have you tried google maps yet ?

NZtechfreak

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#102832 4-Jan-2008 08:26

sqlpro: NZTechfreak
have you tried google maps yet ?

Of course! Google maps is really good from the mapping perspective, but functionality-wise its pretty basic (you can get a route shown as the map as it follows you, but thats about it). You really need a data plan in order to use it though, unless you download your entire route before leaving range of your home WLAN. Make sure you get the native symbian version though! It runs faster than the Java version in addition to using less battery and RAM (true of basically all native apps Vs Java apps).

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

sqlpro

516 posts

Ultimate Geek

#102846 4-Jan-2008 09:54

thanks for NZTechfreak, how/where do i get symbian version ?
i just installed it from www.google.com/gmm and seem to be working fine.
Thanks for the advise.

NZtechfreak

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#102887 4-Jan-2008 12:03

sqlpro: thanks for NZTechfreak, how/where do i get symbian version ?
i just installed it from www.google.com/gmm and seem to be working fine.
Thanks for the advise.

If the installer file was a .sis or .sisx extension then you have the symbian version, if its java then try going to the symbian-guru blog, I seem to remember thats where I caught a link to the symbian version.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

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