Today I’m going to best testing out the excellent little app JuiceDefender to see just how much battery it can save me on my HTC Desire.
Usual phone settings apply (see below). JuiceDefender running with default ‘out the box’ settings.
Here is how my HTC Desire is configured:
Fully charged at 9am.
Screen: Medium brightness (auto brightness off)
WiFi: ON (Wireless N enabled but will not be used at work as we currently only have 802.11b/g)
Syncing: ON (2 Gmail accounts and FriendStream – see below)
Bluetooth: OFF
GPS: OFF
FriendStream: ON (Twitter updating every 15 minutes and Facebook every 1 hour)
Wallpaper: Set to Live as per the previous test but didn’t mention.
2G/3G Data: Enabled with network mode set to automatic and data roaming enabled
I’m going to compare the battery level with my previous Froyo test to get a rough idea on how much it’s helping. Old scores will be in square brackets
9:00 100% Will be listening to Grooveshark on my way in to work
10:00 98%! Not bad so far. Have been e-mailing lots (as my computer is currently out of action) and made a phone call
11:00 95% [92%] Still looking good, have sent plenty of e-mails and checking tweets and Facebook
12:00 90% Have only used 10% of the battery in 3 hours which isn’t bad considering the usage. I have still been e-mailing, Facebooking and tweeting since 11.
13:00 82% [78%] A bit of a jump here. I was listening to FM Radio on the walk back home for lunch and have been eBaying quite heavily (PKT Auctions app). I’ve noticed a few quirks with how JuiceDefender works. One example is that it will disable your volume keys when the screen is locked. This isn’t a huge problem unless you’re listening to music but it’s obviously one of the ways it saves your battery. (Phone usage should go back to normal after lunch as I have now fixed my computer 
)
14:00 78% Only light usage since the last update.
15:00 74% Again, haven’t used the phone much. Checked e-mail and tweets a few times.
16:00 71% More general use of the phone in the last hour, only lost 3%
17:00 69% [60%] Not bad going in the last hour, only down by 3%. Comparing this to the last test I can see that JuiceDefender has done a great job at saving me some power. Knowing that at the end of a working day and some quite heavy usage is reassuring. At the rate the phone has been discharging I know it could still get through a whole night out without being charged.
18:00 64% The walk home and some tweeting hasn’t caused a huge problem. Will be reporting again later on tonight.
22:45 53% left [34%] Well, nearly 14 hours on and I still have over half my battery left! I can certainly conclude from this initial test that JuiceDefender has done a great job at saving power on my phone. I will leave my phone on overnight and see what I end up with in the morning. (JuiceDefender will be disabled along with all syncing activities.)
Here's the proof!
[Update 04/02/2011] My phone has now been away from a power source for over 28.5 hours and I still have 18% left! I’ll see how long I can push it for the rest of the day!
[Update] I thought I’d include my Battery Saving Tips video now you’ve read through this article. It’ll show you how to save even more power when using your phone
[Update Oct 2011] I’ve also just reviewed this app on YouTube; you can check it out below
Tags: android, app, batter, battery, Desire, HTC, JuiceDefender, life, market, test, tips
February 3, 2011 at 8:44 am |
Looking forward to results Jon – may end up installing myself as a result.
February 3, 2011 at 1:23 pm |
Will do another test tomorrow as well but this time with the paid version which has some more advanced power saving features
February 3, 2011 at 5:29 pm |
Been using juice defender and ultimate juice since I bought the phone! It really does help!
February 3, 2011 at 6:23 pm |
Do you have a stock ROM or have you rooted your phone?
February 3, 2011 at 8:52 pm
rooted running CM 7 ATM but was running oxygen last week
. i switch roms on a very regular basis hehe. haven’t been on a sens rom for a while loving gingerbread too much
February 3, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Haven’t tried Gingerbread yet but I suppose I should do soon. Any must-have features?
February 3, 2011 at 9:14 pm |
18:00 I’m lucky to have 15% left. Mobile data is on. Wifi Gps Bluetooth is off. I make and receive approx 1-2 hrs of calls per day.
February 3, 2011 at 11:21 pm |
Calling really does sap the battery sadly. I’d certainly recommend giving JuiceDefender a go – it is free after all! Let me know how you get on if you do
February 4, 2011 at 2:31 pm |
[...] HTC Desire Fanatics iPhone Android, battery, Desire, JuiceDefender, test, Test/Tips [...]
October 23, 2011 at 10:10 pm |
[...] I also put this app through a test a while back and my results can be found here: http://desirefanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/android-app-test-juicedefender/ [...]
February 9, 2012 at 2:06 pm |
I am doing a similar test today and, so far, i am at similar levels of battery power. However i am not using Juice Defender (any version) but I have just bought a 2000mAh battery to replace the default 1230mAh. Did you use the default battery for your test? If so, i might have to invest in Juice Defender Ultimate to feel the benefit!
February 12, 2012 at 10:54 am |
Hi there, yes, it was the original Desire S battery I was using so you can see Juice Defender certainly does the trick