Essential Phone - My Battery Experience

This is a LONG post. The short version though… on a ‘solid’ day of use (for me), I was very happy with the battery performance of the Essential PH-1.

Hi All,

I finally had the chance to really field test my Essential phone over a ‘full’ day with the Essential as my primary device.

I have 2 handsets in use at any given time, but decided it was time to use my Essential for everything to see how it would go.

Key Items to note:

Settings that were always on except for the time I was in Airplane Mode:

· Adaptive brightness ON

· Location set for ‘High Accuracy’

· Bluetooth ON

· NFC ON

· Wi-Fi OFF

So, here’s my day…

Essential plugged in overnight with all Apps closed and alarm sounds for my 4 AM wakeup call.

I have an early flight out of Newark for a sales meeting that night in Miami.

Time to take the Essential off the charger. First thing I do is have a look at notifications – texts, alerts etc. Google scares me because it alerts me it’s time to leave to Newark to make my flight and I really wasn’t planning on leaving for another 45 minutes. I also get a notification from Gmail regarding my upcoming travel.

I open messages and see a couple of texts I received overnight. I’m too nice to reply to people at 4AM. I open the Southwest App to double check my flight status, open Outlook to check my (exchange) work email for anything important and Facebook to see what’s happening (I don’t use FB Messenger). I also open google to check the weather… I’ve been meaning to install a weather app, but haven’t (note, weather apps do tend to be battery hogs IMO).

I let the Apps remain open since I’ll be using them a little later. I shower and get dressed etc. I pull up Uber, secure a ride… kiss the wife a quiet goodbye and I’m out the door with my bag at 4:45AM.

In the car I check more emails and notice a message in a thread I’m subscribed to from ‘Android Central’. I click the link, open the app and check out the thread and then peruse other items of interest.

I also go back to the Southwest app and pull up my boarding pass.

Open ‘The Score’ to check how my teams did the day before – dang NY Rangers lost!

Back to Facebook to post an update about my Sunday trip to Miami (and a quick stop to visit Grandma in Ft Lauderdale before the meeting).

It’s a short trip from NYC to Newark Airport at 4:45 on a Sunday morning so I end up at the airport in 35 min.

So far open on my Essential:

· Gmail (3 personal email addresses)

· Outlook

· Google Chrome

· Google Messages (Text)

· Facebook

· Android Central

· Uber

· The Score

· Southwest App

Get to the airport, and jump into the security line. I flip to the Southwest app and pull up my boarding pass. As I wait in line I tend to turn on the screen after it times out (set to 30 seconds) to keep the boarding pass at the ready. I do this often on all my trips out of habit.

Security line isn’t too long and I’m through in 10 min… One more look at the Southwest app to find my gate. I’m an hour out from boarding… I grab a coffee and as one does… mess around on my phone. I click the ‘G’ on the search bar to open google and check out my cards and Trending News. I then pull out my laptop – open up the ‘Entrust’ app on my phone to get my updated VPN security code and check a few more emails and spreadsheets.

On the plane:

I put the phone in Airplane Mode and turn Bluetooth back on

I close all other apps noted above

I Open Audible (a well known battery killer)

On the plane I didn’t do much on the Essential. I just listened to an audible book for about 2.5 hours.

When I landed I turned off Airplane mode and started checking out notifications as I waited to de-board.

Texts and Gmails for the most part and a message from Marriott letting me know I can check in to my room… I open Google Messenger, Gmail and the Marriott App and check in.

I close the Audible App (It's a must).

Next stop – rental car. Walk out to the National Car Lot and land a really sweet ride – Dodge Challenger!

Unfortunately the car includes ‘UConnect’ and I prefer Android Auto, so I don’t connect my Essential to the car.

Before pulling out I take a couple of pictures of my supercool rental to send out to my wife and my boss (No they are not one in the same – though some would argue that my wife IS the boss). I then call my wife to let her know I’ve arrived safely.

I open Maps and tell it to navigate to Grandma’s house.

One thing to note – OK Google is VERY responsive on this device.

NAV boots right up and before I know it I’m on my way to Grandma’s house. Volume-wise I had to keep the windows closed in order to hear. Probably something I wouldn’t have noticed if I connected it to the cars audio.

40 minutes driving and I’m at Grandmas for a few hours.

This is where I relax on my usage and spend quality time. I do take about a dozen pictures of grandma and share them with my family via text and also double check Maps for directions to head down to my hotel and the meeting later on. I just want to be sure I give myself enough time.

Also, I did look at the weather as I bought grandma a new thermometer for her balcony that needed calibration. I also looked up instructions on how to program a phone number into her ‘cordless phone’ from 1991.

Open on the device:

· Chrome

· Gmail

· Outlook

· Google Messages

· Google Maps

· Facebook

· Camera

4:20 I leave Grandma with her friends and I head out. First I call the wife to tell her about how Grams is doing. Then I open the Marriott App to get the address of the hotel. I speak ‘OK Google Navigate to hotel address’ and follow instructions to my hotel. Navigation is again quick and painless. On the way to the hotel I stop at a local store to buy some bottled water. I just can’t bring myself to pay $5-$6 for a tiny bottle of water at the hotel… I digress.

I go to the hotel Marriott App in hand, but turns out I don’t need it. I’m already checked in.

Head up, unpack and send a few texts. Change and head out… all the above apps still open plus Marriott.

Get in the car, look up the name of the venue for tonight’s meeting and tell OK Google to take me there. I arrive a few minutes later.

At this stage I don’t do much with the Essential other than show it off to a few folks – love that home screen rotation – an then it’s purely a camera.

I take about 100 pictures of the Sales event from 6:30 until 9:45PM. I do send and receive a few texts and send out a few random pictures as they happen, but really just using the camera.

When the event is over I tell google to take me back to my hotel. Maps takes me to my hotel. I call the wife to say goodnight when I get back to the room. Next I do my usual check of Gmail, Outlook, Texts and Facebook. Giants and Jets lost (The Score)… Get ready for bed and then look at my Essential for the news from the day. It’s 11PM… time for bed. The Essential is at 14%. Time for both of us to recharge…

I honestly felt like that was a pretty good battery experience especially with location on all day, Uber and Maps usage. When I use my other flagship handset I would have to plug it in for a boost at some stage between 4 and 6 PM.

I didn’t look at the ‘Battery’ settings to view what’s been using the device since my last charge at the end of the day. Just a heads up in case you wanted to know what that looked like.

Sorry, just didn’t think about it.

Anyway, if you have any questions about the Essential or about my experience feel free to ask.

Thanks,

Rick