Latest Battery Life Review

As I mentioned yesterday, I turned off the 3G because the battery life was just being killed.  So, I decided to see how I can muddle through the day on just Edge.

Well, it turned out rather well.  It got me through the day around 10PM.  Still moderate use if that.  I answered a few IMs and e-mails.  Checked out the stocks and read stuff on my Google Reader.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to check on my banking information.  It was slow.  Slower than on my iPhone for some reason on Edge but maybe that was a subjective feeling rather than a timed benchmark.

At about 6pm, I walked over to the local market to get some stuff for my lunch tomorrow and I had about a little more than 50% of battery life left.  So, I decided to end the Edge experiment and turn on the 3G.

oh, I made also about 15 minutes of calls.

I started charging it again around 10PM.   I had about 20% left and I didn't want bother at that moment.

So, what have I learned other than the obvious fact that 3G takes up a lot juice?

• I learned I need to juggle through the day on 2G if I can.  Where I have broadband, there is no need for 3G. 
• The G1, maybe even Android, is not particularly power efficient, compared to the Blackberry or the iPhone.  
• Here are the following settings that can be turned off to save power:  3G, GPS, Wi-Fi/Cell location, screen brightness (I've got it at 50% which is quite good already), and data sync.  Also, if you have a separate pop mail, you can change the frequency of when the G1  goes out to check and pull the mail.  You can set it from 15 minutes to manual.  

Please come back this weekend and I'll have a general review and, next week, I'll continue to go into specific features and apps.