Being puzzled by the change in battery life, I took the plunge and did a full reset on the phone. I then recreated my email account (one exchange, one Hotmail both setup to download mail every 30min), connected to windows life but did not setup or use any app. I’m still using that microcell in my office and have wifi turned on.
The battery diagnostic consistently showed around 95 mA which should equal to about 20 hours on a charge.
Then I tried to take a picture and the phone requested to turn location on. I did that and the battery discharge current – was back consistently to the 350-400 mA.
Turning location back off brought the discharge rate back down to 95 mA.
I had tried turning off the location service before doing a full reset but it didn’t help. Could this mean that some apps use it even if it’s off?
My plan is to start re-installing one app at a time and keep monitoring the battery to see if I can find a clear culprit.
Go for it man....
I've done this too, though not on this device....but I learned exactly what you are intending to find out.
First, there are indeed system combinations that play better together. Period.
There are comibinations that once turned on, are very difficult, if not impossible to turn off.
The same is true for apps. There are some wonderful apps out there. There are some horrible apps out there. But, again, some of these apps, in combination with the system have varying degrees of 'efficency'.
This part really makes me laugh though. People downgrade windows phone because of the size of the marketplace. You can't put 450k apps on your phone. You find the app that works for you, and you continually use it. This is demonstrated everyday by various comments, usually by newbs, here and on various forums.
My 'research' told me:
- load only the apps you use regularly
- do pay attention to data use
- do pay attention to battery life
- be aware what each app uses. Location is used by alot of apps and does use alot of power
- Free apps use alot of battery life because of the ads. There are some nice articles talking about battery life and ads in apps across all platforms. DO NOT IGNORE THIS.
- Uninstalling an app does not always reset the system back tothe way it was.
- Sometimes ONLY a factory reset will reset your system correctly.
- Consider using Reinstaller to pick and choose your apps. It makes the ability to hard reset easy to stomach.
- Use the cloud for your pictures and docs. This makes having to hard reset a little easier to stomach
Another thing, monitor the amount of LIve tiles you actually use. I recall this being an issue when the first v1 phones came out. I can't imagine the issue went away. Microsoft tried to choose a balance between the amount of information you might want to see vs. the impact on battery life. Most people ignored the part about battery life...and insisted on dozens of live tiles.
Anyway, share what you find out. We can all use that information...and whenyou find an app that devours battery...make sure you put that in the app review...others need to know this...
Good luck.