Solved: Nokia Lumia 920 Battery Problems

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Nokia Lumia 920 since picking it up the day it was released. The first few days I used it so much that I didn’t think much when the battery died quickly. I chalked it up to over-use on my part. But after nearly a week and reduced usage, I started to realize that the battery was dying far too quickly, forcing me to charge it three times a day. I was surprised to find out that the solution to this problem took seconds to implement.

The first sign of battery issues came the second night I had my 920. I set up my alarms for the next morning, but they didn’t go off. Why? The phone had died overnight. I thought that was odd since obviously I hadn’t been using the phone while I slept. The next sign I saw was that my Lumia 920 was getting very warm – far warmer than any phone I had owned previously – and while doing rather mundane tasks such as taking pictures. It would get warm on one half of the phone, between the camera lens and the edge of the phone. After doing some digging, I’ve found that there are two culprits which have been identified as the reason for the Lumia 920’s battery issues, both of which you can turn off without losing any functionality.

Fix #1: Disable NFC
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a relatively new technology in which cell phones can exchange information by tapping them together or placing them in close proximity. It’s not a feature I have ever used, nor has anyone I’ve asked about it. This particular feature in the Lumia 920 is a likely culprit for constant battery drain. Several forums and articles written prior to this one have also stated this. The problem I had with those forums was that I kept reading about people turning off NFC, but no one said how they did it – and it took me a while to figure out where to find it.

How to turn off NFC on a Nokia Lumia 920
You won’t find an “NFC” option on the 920. This feature is called “tap+send” in the system settings. So navigate to System->Settings->Tap+Send and there we finally see it described as “NFC Sharing.” Simply turn this feature off and you will have disabled NFC on your 920.

Fix #2: Nokia Drive
Another culprit in the extensive battery drainage for the Lumia 920 has been identified as the “Nokia Drive+ Beta” running in the background. Nokia Drive is the offline GPS system, which is a great feature, but certainly not something most users will run extensively. You can turn off this app’s ability to run in the background by going into Settings, swipe over to the Applications option, then select “background tasks.” Here you can “block” this app’s ability to run in the background.

If you perform the two steps above, I’m confident that your Lumia 920’s battery will last significantly longer than before. I have seen a vast increase in battery life since implementing the NFC and Drive fixes.

Have you found other issues or solutions for the Lumia 920’s battery life? Share your experiences in the comments below.

11/24/2012 Update:
There have been a couple of isolated events where my battery seemed to drain quickly and the handset became warm, even after implementing the steps above. In those cases, I restarted the phone and the issue appears to be resolved. I am assuming something was running in the background, such as a web browser.

12/21/2012 Update
There was an update to the Nokia Drive app this week. They claimed that one of the changes was “Battery Saver” which would prevent the app from running in the background. This setting defaults to “ON.”

1/30/2013 Update
It has been reported by some that the battery life for the Lumia 920 will increase after about 10 charging cycles. After nearly 3 months of use, I can confirm that the 920 has quite acceptable battery life. It could be due to the fixes above or going through many cycle charges.

7/29/2013 Update
A recent update to “HERE City Lens” appears to have created a battery-draining issue again. After updating the app, it was no longer blocked from background tasks. Follow Fix #2 above and block this app from running in the background to prevent it from draining your battery.