Poor battery life

[mitchelln]

Is anyone else experiencing really poor battery life?
I can watch the battery percentage literally dropping as I'm using it.

It's dropping about 8% an hour even in standby with hardly any apps installed, so it'll barely make it to the morning.

Hopefully this can be improved or this simply isn't viable as a daily use device.

[iJacks]

Is anyone else experiencing really poor battery life?
I can watch the battery percentage literally dropping as I'm using it.

It's dropping about 8% an hour even in standby with hardly any apps installed, so it'll barely make it to the morning.

Hopefully this can be improved or this simply isn't viable as a daily use device.

Pretty much the same for me, 100% down to 37% after 5 1/2 hours.  Ok, so I did install my apps etc which used the 4G data and CPU - but the drain has continued.  I've had to switch off Duraspeed to keep my Galaxy Watch connected which doesn't help.

I think Planet do need to look into this, but perhaps tomorrow it will be better - it will be the first full day of use and a more realistic test.  I'll let you know what I find.

[mitchelln]

Unfortunately, I suspect the cover display. I'm going to turn it off and see what effect it has.

I really hope Planet take a look at this.

[drhood]

This is an important topic, and will contribute what I have been experiencing so far.

I too experience short battery life when I first received the Cosmo Communicator. The Cosmo battery was seemingly full when I first turned it on, which was strange to receive a mobile with so much battery initially. I let it drain down to 4%, which was not long, and charged it up using the USB-C (quick charging) next to the headphone input. The Cosmo charged up to 100% really quick, like in less than 2 hours. However, the battery charge declined 30% after 3 to 4 hours of no use. I then charged it using the other USB-C (regular charging), which took longer and I left it charging after it got to 100%.

Note: One initial issue I had initially with the Cosmo that might have drained power was a constantly on purple Wireless LED on the front cover above the 24mp camera.

After resolving the constantly on purple LED and charging the Cosmo using the regular charging USB-C for an hour or two beyond when it first reached 100%, I am pleased to report that today, the Cosmo battery was at 50% after ~18 hours of occasional use throughout the day (battery saver was not used), indicating that the battery can last more than a day. I am not as concerned about the Cosmo battery life after today. However, I am planning on not charging the Cosmo during the night tonight and see how long this current battery charge will last.

Tomorrow will be more heavy use as I will be traveling by train (approximately 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening) during which I will be using cellular data frequently, listening to podcasts, sending SMS, and an occasional phone call. I will be pleased if the remaining charge on this battery (currently 50%) will last through the night, during the commute tomorrow morning of moderately heavy use, and not recharging until mid-morning or mid-day tomorrow (a total of 36 hours on a single charge). If this can be achieved, then perhaps

Note: Others in this forum may not so pleased with 50% usage after ~18 hours, and may expect greater battery life.

I am wondering whether which of the following factors has a greater impact on obtaining a full charge versus consuming the battery.

• Specific USB-C port is used for charging
• Duration of the charging period
• Enabling/disabling wifi, bluetooth, and cellular data when needed vs not needed
• Extent to which the Cosmo is used (light, moderate, versus heavy)

Cheers!

[mitchelln]

Overnight with all the radios turned off, airplane mode on and the cover display switched off, it dropped 10%. Which is a little high. My Mate 20 phone typically drops 3-4% overnight.
I'm going to try again tonight with the cover display enabled and see if that is a major source of drain.

Do you have the two blue LEDs next to the fingerprint sensor permanently on drhood?

[iJacks]

Ok, based on what I have seen so far today.

I charged the device all night from the "slow" USB-C port (the one of the right hand side).  So far the device has been, essentially, on standby for almost two hours - it is connected to my watch, WiFi and 4G and has received a few emails.

So far, 1% battery use.  So perhaps the initial charge level calibration was borked?  Wil keep you guys updated.

[drhood]

Do you have the two blue LEDs next to the fingerprint sensor permanently on drhood?

Hello - The two blue LEDs next to the fingerprint sensor are not permanently on. I notice these lights are on and blinking when playing media (e.g., a song).

[mitchelln]

Do you have the two blue LEDs next to the fingerprint sensor permanently on drhood?

Hello - The two blue LEDs next to the fingerprint sensor are not permanently on. I notice these lights are on and blinking when playing media (e.g., a song).

Okay, that's interesting thanks. On mine they are permanently on and I can see no way to turn them off. I tried disabling and re-enabling the cover  display service, but it makes no difference.

[mitchelln]

I repeated the overnight standby test with radios off and airplane mode on, but this time with the cover display enabled.
This time the battery dropped a whopping 25%. So for a full day on my unit, the cover display is burning half the battery.
Clearly something isn't right. I hope Planet can sort this out.

[iJacks]

Hmmm it seems things are a bit uneven here.  Yesterday, was the first full day of Cosmo use.

Removed from charge at around 0800
Went to bed at around 0045 and put on charge (next morning) charge was around 38%

This was with the cover display on, Duraspeed off, Bluetooth enabled, 4G LTE, WiFi (with VoWiFi enabled) and plenty of hours of music played.

One thing I have noticed is that the cover display turns on every time there is a notification, WiFi network found - screen lights up.  Watch (Bluetooth connection) connects or disconnects, screen lights up.  Mobile network changes from 4G to 3G (or drops VoLTE), screen lights up.  Macrodroid updates it's notification icon, screen lights up.

I understand why it does this, and I suspect it needs a blacklist (or even better a whitelist) to prevent excessive external screen initialisation.

Mitchelln, do you have any software (like Macrodroid) that adds notification icons and refreshes them regularly?

[mitchelln]

Nope. Nothing that keeps waking up the cover display as far as I know. It's the reason I turned the radios off and switched on airplane mode and do not disturb to hopefully stop notifications for the test.

I suspect there's something preventing the cover display CPU from sleeping properly in certain situations. I also have the two blue LEDs stuck on, which others don't. Something is not right.

[gidds]

I left my new Cosmo closed overnight, with the cover display off (no LEDs showing), and nothing running.  (Nothing installed or set up, even — I've hardly touched it!)

This morning it was dead, with the battery completely empty; it wouldn't even respond until I plugged it in, and then took a while before waking up enough to flash ‘0%’ on the screen when I pressed the On button.

This does not bode well…

[iJacks]

I left my new Cosmo closed overnight, with the cover display off (no LEDs showing), and nothing running.  (Nothing installed or set up, even — I've hardly touched it!)

This morning it was dead, with the battery completely empty; it wouldn't even respond until I plugged it in, and then took a while before waking up enough to flash ‘0%’ on the screen when I pressed the On button.

This does not bode well…

Indeed.  Just out of interest, what was the charge level when you left it for the night?

Apparently there is going to be a firmware update next week (I'll believe it when I see it though), perhaps this will be one of the sorted issues?

[szopin]

I left my new Cosmo closed overnight, with the cover display off (no LEDs showing), and nothing running.  (Nothing installed or set up, even — I've hardly touched it!)

This morning it was dead, with the battery completely empty; it wouldn't even respond until I plugged it in, and then took a while before waking up enough to flash ‘0%’ on the screen when I pressed the On button.

This does not bode well…

Also did you charge it with left or right port? From this thread it seems quick charging is buggy and going for slow charge is the way for now

[mitchelln]

Unfortunately the right USB port doesn't seem to charge for me.