Windows 10: Battery Life with Windows 10 1809 Update

Last week, the Windows 10 1809 update appeared for my 2017 Surface Pro Core i7, and I decided to give it a go.

All in all the update runs great on the Surface Pro, but the battery life seems to noticeably drain quicker than 1803.

Has anyone else seen increased power consumption with 1809?

:)

 

The battery life

Hi boerab61,

Battery life varies from phone model to phone model, even when they're from the same OEM. For instance, the HTC Titan II has a different battery life than a HTC HD7. However, your particular battery life can be varied depending on several factors:

• Strength of your phone carrier signal. If you're in areas of low or terrible coverage, then your phone will consume more energy trying to maintain a connection with a cell tower.
• High usage of GPS can also drain the battery quickly because the GPS sensor consumes a lot of energy. By the way, if you are using GPS a lot, you can actually improve battery life by leaving WiFi on, as Windows Phone can quickly pull geolocation info from
  WiFi routers, even if you're not connected to them.
  

With that in mind, here's some suggestions to try to extend the life of your battery.

Reduce the load on your battery:

• 
  Decrease screen brightness.
  
• 
  Set Timeout duration on Backlight.
  
• 
  Set Auto-Off Timeout duration for 1 minute or less (device turns off).
  
• Throttle down your CPU speed.
• 
  Remove external devices (SD Cards, etc)
  

Turn off appropriate radios on your device:

• 
  Turn off Bluetooth transceiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off WiFi transceiver when not in use (except when using GPS).
  
• 
  Turn off GPS receiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off Cell transceiver when not in use.
  

Change the way you do things with your device:

• Minimize media playback use.
• Minimize use of e-mail and browsing.
• 
  Once in a while (every few weeks), drain battery until dead, then recharge 100%
  
• Keep a spare charger in your car and/or office.
  

Again, these are the ways you can consume battery life and yes, some are extreme but if you're serious about conserving your phone's battery, these are some great suggestions.

I hope this helps!

David

 

The battery life

Hi boerab61,

Battery life varies from phone model to phone model, even when they're from the same OEM. For instance, the HTC Titan II has a different battery life than a HTC HD7. However, your particular battery life can be varied depending on several factors:

• Strength of your phone carrier signal. If you're in areas of low or terrible coverage, then your phone will consume more energy trying to maintain a connection with a cell tower.
• High usage of GPS can also drain the battery quickly because the GPS sensor consumes a lot of energy. By the way, if you are using GPS a lot, you can actually improve battery life by leaving WiFi on, as Windows Phone can quickly pull geolocation info from
  WiFi routers, even if you're not connected to them.
  

With that in mind, here's some suggestions to try to extend the life of your battery.

Reduce the load on your battery:

• 
  Decrease screen brightness.
  
• 
  Set Timeout duration on Backlight.
  
• 
  Set Auto-Off Timeout duration for 1 minute or less (device turns off).
  
• Throttle down your CPU speed.
• 
  Remove external devices (SD Cards, etc)
  

Turn off appropriate radios on your device:

• 
  Turn off Bluetooth transceiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off WiFi transceiver when not in use (except when using GPS).
  
• 
  Turn off GPS receiver when not in use.
  
• 
  Turn off Cell transceiver when not in use.
  

Change the way you do things with your device:

• Minimize media playback use.
• Minimize use of e-mail and browsing.
• 
  Once in a while (every few weeks), drain battery until dead, then recharge 100%
  
• Keep a spare charger in your car and/or office.
  

Again, these are the ways you can consume battery life and yes, some are extreme but if you're serious about conserving your phone's battery, these are some great suggestions.

I hope this helps!

David

 

Futuremark Releases Powermark Battery Life Test for Windows 7 Devices

Futuremark, the world leader in performance benchmarking software and services, today expanded its product line with Powermark a new battery life and power consumption test for Windows 7 notebooks, laptops, tablets and other battery powered devices. Powermark is a professional grade benchmark designed for industrial testing of battery powered Windows 7 devices by OEMs, corporations and governments. It includes a convenient set of standard tests based on productivity and entertainment use-case scenarios, as well as allowing custom settings for bespoke testing requirements. Powermark Professional Edition commercial licenses start at $200 for 10 activations. For further details and to purchase Powermark please visit this page.

Jukka Mäkinen, CEO of Futuremark said, "Battery life is critical to delivering a positive user experience. Powermark helps PC industry OEMs and their suppliers strike a balance between performance and power consumption by providing a consistent, accurate and reliable testing and measurement tool created with Futuremark’s deep experience in quality benchmarking software."

Powermark - battery life test for Windows 7 devices from Futuremark:

• Accurately measure the battery life of Windows 7 devices.
• Choose convenient scenario tests or create your own custom settings.
• Designed for professional test lab environments.
• Licensed for commercial use.

Powermark is only available for business customers at this time.