Anybody with expertise in GSM phones and battery usage here?

[Ron Obvious]

Maybe this isn't the best place to ask.

My wife and I both have the same old (2008 GSM) phone, but we've each replaced the batteries about a year or two ago. Recently, we've both noticed a drastic loss of battery life. A phone can be fully charged in the morning and dead by noon. We don't use our phones much: Playing some mp3s, an occasional text or short call, that's it. We don't run apps on it, no WiFi, no 3G, no GPS. She actually doesn't even use it as an mp3 player much.

What is remarkable is that when our phones die by noon, it will happen to both of us. On days when the charge lasts a day or two, that too, will be true for both of us.

I'm an engineer, but gsm isn't my specialty. Could this be caused by something happening in the local cell phone tower? The signal rarely drops below 4 bars, so it isn't an obvious problem to me.

Thanks in advance.

[grahamhgreen]

1. Not much, but if your phones are

continually searching for a signal, that will wear them down. Also make sure you close all unused apps, turn off wifi and bluetooth.... and close the camera app.

[Ron Obvious]

2. I assumed it was something like that

But there's never a lowering of signal strength. Also, WiFi, 3g, etc, are off.

We have no dataplans either. Come to think of it, that might be a factor. Continually trying to send data over 2g or something. I'll have to look into it.

[grahamhgreen]

3. And try rebooting the devices often...