Hi,

I have had enough of my touch screen phone! it needs charging daily!
Please could someone recommend me a mobile phone with a good battery life?
Not a smart phone! just a good basic phone. Unlocked or unlock-able cheers.
Kind regards,
Dave.

Ps. a built in camera over 3Mp would be cool.

Dave:

Various things will affect the endurance of the battery in a battery powered device such as a phone... some of these we can control, some we can 'fix', and others we can't do anything about.

Things we can control:
Turn off some or all of the wireless transmitting functions. If you don't have a headset or GPS navigator connected to the phone, turn off the Bluetooth function (if your phone has this feature - chances are it probably does).

If you are not actually using Wi-Fi on the phone (meaning, if you are not actually connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot right at this moment, for example, when you are riding down the road) turn off the Wi-Fi connectivity.

If you don't need continuous phone and email connectivity (again, a great example is when you are actually riding the motorcycle), turn off all the transmitters in the phone. This is super-easy to do, you just put the phone into 'Airplane' mode. That will greatly increase the battery life - by greatly, I mean it will at least triple the battery life if not more.

I do a lot of long (one month or more) motorcycle rides. I put my phone in 'Airplane' mode (all transmitting and receiving functions off) during the day when I am riding. I might occasionally turn it on at lunch for a few moments (to see if any emails, voicemails, or SMS messages have arrived), and of course, if I want to use the phone I turn it on, but for the most part, I leave the darn phone off (in Airplane mode) during the day. It's not like I have to worry about some urgent message from the office arriving when I am on a moto holiday.

Things we can 'fix': Earlier this summer, my two year old iPhone 4S battery life had degraded considerably. The phone would last about 12 to 14 hours (with everything on), and that was it. I took it to the Apple store, planning to get the battery replaced, and the techs there suggested that I back it up, do a 'factory reset' (basically, this means wiping it clean), then re-load it from my backup. I was skeptical, but I did this, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the battery life doubled... I was back to charging the thing every second day, instead of every day.

I presume that just like computers, smartphones get clogged up with crap and bits and pieces of software (programs) that run in the background even though we are not using the program. I can only presume that a 'fresh start' cleans out this crap.

If appropriate, consider buying a new battery (if you don't want to buy a new phone). But, before you do that, try the above clean-out and reset procedure.

Things we can't do anything about: Phones use up a heck of a lot of power searching for cell networks to connect to. You can see evidence of this if you leave your cell phone turned on during an aircraft trip, or when you are far out in the back-country where cell reception is spotty. In either of those cases, the battery will die in less than half the normal time.

We can't do anything about this, it is a characteristic of how the phones work, but by simply turning the transmitters off (putting it into Airplane mode) when we know cell reception is spotty, we can stop the phone from constantly searching for cell towers, and this stops the battery drain.

Hope these suggestions help.

Michael

As Pan European says .. turn off the things your not using. If you think a 'dumb phone' will do what you want then turning off the 'smart phone' things like GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and digital data to make it more like a 'dumb phone' should extend the battery life of your smart phone. You should also tun off any applications running in the background.

I've a galaxy S4mini .. in 2 days of connection to 2 cell networks but without data use the battery reduces to 50% of its capacity, very few calls. If I were to put it in aeroplane mode than it would further extend the battery life. And turning it off altogether should make it very battery friendly.

Warin made very good point when he mentioned GPS. GPS is a 'receive only' function on a phone, hence it is possible that the phone might continue to look for GPS satellites even when the transmitting functions have been turned off (in other words, it has been put into 'Airplane Mode').

It's not always obvious to the phone user that the phone is using its GPS function to try and get a location fix, because smartphone applications such as the camera, social network applications, and so forth often poll the phone silently, in the background, for a GPS-sourced location fix. This means that even if you are not running a mapping application or navigation application, the GPS engine in the phone could be running, and GPS uses a heck of a lot of power.

How to go about minimizing GPS use depends very much on what kind of phone you have, and what applications you have installed on it. On an iPhone, it is possible to go into the "Settings" menu and turn off location based services on an application by application basis. I am going to guess that other smartphone operating systems probably offer similar levels of control.

If you don't use the phone for mapping or navigation, you might want to consider turning off GPS services globally (if the phone permits that). Applications that need to know your position to function correctly (for example, TripAdvisor searching for 'hotels near me') can usually get a pretty good approximation of position - within about 100 meters or so - by triangulating cell phone towers that the phone can connect to. This gives a more than satisfactory position fix for just about any location based application other than mapping or navigation.

Michael

I'm not a tech guy and seeing all the idiots staring into their phones 24/7 makes me sad for the state of man kind.

A year ago I got my first Smart Phone, and indeed, it ran through the Batt in a day or less. Useless for travel. But I learned how to shut down all the Android stuff ... so it's better now ... until you use it ... them batt dips down fast.

My previous (very old) Nokia was just a simple PHONE ... it could text but do nothing else. It was from early 2000's ... so a true antique to hi tech wizards ... who would literally burst out laughing at the site of it!

But out camping for 5 days ... guess who's phone never went down and who's battery would last TWO WEEKS? Yep, the old Nokia. I never brought a charger when taking shorter rides. All four guys I was with had to EAT CROW and beg to use my phone. Love it!

A low cost company here (USA) called TracFone sold them ... and I believe they still sell a few very basic models? Perhaps these are good on battery life? Dunno? They are NOT smart phones. They are so cheap, maybe worth a shot?

For my Smart Phone I've rigged power off the bike so can charge on the move. But it's a pain. More to break, get wet, short out and go wrong.

I still have TWO of the old Nokia Phones ... I wonder if I could re-activate them for travel? The batteries are just amazing. My Smart Phone gets so hot when on line ... I fear it may catch fire! (Samsung)

Try the Samsung E 1190.
Fantastic battery. Leave it on for days and talk for hours and the battery will always have plenty of juice. It makes a good backup/emergency phone. Cost about £15 sim free. I think it is still available at Tesco, Carphone warehouse.
But sadly no camera.

And that's exactly what I have now.

It obviously cannot take photographs or get on the net but as a straightforward mobile telephone it simply cannot be beaten.

Battery life is measured in months.

Solution? Charge the phone at night while you sleep. You can get small battery/chargers that will charge the smart phone .. and then (during the day) charge off the bike. This way you have the smart phone to use during the day as per usual, then it charges while you sleep. The battery/charger should have about double the AH capacity of the phones' battery.

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From advrider Mobile phones in regional areas - Page 14 - ADVrider
3 days for a smart phone... rugged but large. $400 though. Aldi OZ had a $50 rugged dual sim a while ago.

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Crazy Dave - I'd still try turning everything off and see what the battery life is like then. Saves some money and keeps you with what you already know.

I do agree with Warin, and also with Mollydog's assessment of the pitfalls involved in trying to charge a mobile phone from the motorcycle.

If a phone user takes the actions recommended in post #2 above (turning off unnecessary services during the day while riding), even the most power-hungry phone with the oldest, most worn-out battery should survive through the daylight hours without needing a recharge.

Trying to hook up a charging system on the bike invites all sorts of other problems, from getting the phone wet and killing it to damaging the phone because it may bounce around a bit while riding.

Michael

Many smart phones are pretty waterproof, IP 68 in a lot of cases. A USB to switched power on the handlebars is a simple device to rig up. Water flowing past these connection does no harm. It's failed seals collecting water that cause problems.

You can also train the batteries to keep working as they discharge. The wife and I have identical phones. She charges hers when it asks, so when the voltage says its at 20%. I charge mine when the screen goes black. My battery in her phone lasts her two days, hers one because mine has been exercised since day one.



Andy

I know this makes people in our day and age shudder, just by thinking of it, but: TURN THE PHONE OFF
I brought my old Nokia 6310 with me on a 5 weeks Morocco trip(and no charger) and only turned it on for 1/2 to 1 hour every day. I checked my mail and texts/SMSes and answered them and also sent a daily report to my friends and family.
Including a few calls, for plane tickets, there were still half battery capacity when I got home.

Tell friends and family that you'll only open the phone at a specific time every day or to only send text messages or record this on your answering service.

You won't miss anything. When did you last receive an "important" call, that couldn't wait half a day?

__________________
Poul
May you enjoy peace and good health !

Yea, that's what I've always done. I keep my phone off most of the time. Only way to have battery survive. After all, that's what voice mail is for. So once a day (or so) I check voice mail and respond if required.

In the 3rd world I'm screwed (really too much information for me) ... honestly kids ... I really don't even want to know this kinda crap: Open or closed phone, local SIM card requirements and on and on. I just let the young Wizard in the Phone Kiosk do it all for me ... and hope for the best. So far, so good.

Non touch screen blackberrys have very good battery life. My old one could go days without being charged. And it could handle limited internet activity. That said I'd rather just have extra batteries for my smart phone.

Li Ion batts are expensive, No? Don't know about your Smart Phone, but my Samsung drains it's battery in about 3 hours if used for on line browsing or if most of the Android programs are running.

As mentioned above, just like all phones I've owned, I keep it off when riding or not using it. But if up and running, doing on line stuff, movies, camera, web browsing, GPS, calls, Google Translate, Tune-In Radio and more ... battery is a goner in no time at all.

Bottom line is, I have a smart phone but use it as a Dumb phone for travel ... most all Android apps shut down.

The RugGear Rg100 looks good.
2400 mAh battery,
Quoting standby time 600 hrs., talktime 2G/3G: 560 min./440 min.
The camera is rubbish but it's Tough, waterproof, and has a good flashlight!

Expensive smart phone or Separate Dumb Phone, Digi camera, Tablet/puter hmm!