[edit] This is not about Tristan's DigiClock [/edit]
Like most of us, I've been very unsatisfied with the battery usage in my Desire since buying it when it was first released. Most of the tips to sort this out are obvious, with a few things that aren't so obvious but make little difference.
I was having to charge my phone twice a day, then also through the night. It used to bug me that people would complain just at having to plug the charger in at night. Why is that such a problem? When it goes flat twice during the day though, even with little usage and the obvious features turned off, that's a real problem.
Yesterday morning, I saw that my DigiClock app had been updated. One of the differences was that it uses a lot less battery. Well I never imagined it would use any more battery than the normal clock. It did seem to help with the first few hours not showing much battery drain, so I uninstalled it completely, as I'm happy enough with the default clock now. Well I couldn't believe the difference in how long the battery lasted! I even watched about 2 hours of video, and the level barely changed at all. I even used GPS and Bluetooth for a while yesterday without the battery losing much charge.
So now I know that the problem hasn't been anything else, but that blasted clock!!! I used to think it was wifi causing it, because if I kept that off (I need it for push email and have terrible 3G coverage here) the battery would last a lot longer. So my conclusion is that DigiClock was (still is maybe?) constantly connecting to the Internet for something.
I'm pretty angry that I'd never read this as being a problem in all my "why does my battery go flat" research. Has nobody else picked up on this? So that's why I'm posting about it here, for others to read in case it helps them. If you use DigiClock, get rid of it or at least update it. I wonder if other third party clock apps have the same problem?
By the way, I think the clock seems to show up on the battery usage info as part of the Android OS, as that now shows a lot lower percentage than it used to.
Related
...and I've verified that the custom kernel was installed by going into About Phone. Is there anything else I have to do for the new kernel's advatanges to, well, take effect? I took off SetCPU since in the dev forum they were saying that the kernel itself will do what SetCPU did.
Sorry for the newb question. I've just rooted my phone and started researching a bit and wanted to make sure I didn't mess up or leave something out. The actual visual part of the phone looks the EXACT same as before I put the new kernel in.
I appreciate any help you give me in advance
I'd recommend you just use your phone like normal for a few days - if your phone is anything like mine, you'll see marked improvement in your battery life. The other day, with light use, I still had 30% remaining after 25 hours unplugged (without bump charging)... impressive!
I was in the same position a week ago. I installed Lou's #8 on my stock rom and it seemed to drain my battery faster. But I let it drain until it shut off and then charged my phone overnight. Turned it back on, and guess what? My battery indicator was stuck at 100% for like an hour. I thought it was a glitch, but it wasn't. That day, I had a 21 hour uptime... before I installed it, I could barely get more than 4 hours before having to plug in.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
tim.ton said:
I was in the same position a week ago. I installed Lou's #8 on my stock rom and it seemed to drain my battery faster. But I let it drain until it shut off and then charged my phone overnight. Turned it back on, and guess what? My battery indicator was stuck at 100% for like an hour. I thought it was a glitch, but it wasn't. That day, I had a 21 hour uptime... before I installed it, I could barely get more than 4 hours before having to plug in.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
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Does it matter when I allow my phone to discharge the battery completely? I will have to keep it charged and plugged in tonight because it's also my alarm to wake up to, but I'll have the battery dissipating all day tomorrow until it hopefully dies.
VrikkGWJ said:
Does it matter when I allow my phone to discharge the battery completely? I will have to keep it charged and plugged in tonight because it's also my alarm to wake up to, but I'll have the battery dissipating all day tomorrow until it hopefully dies.
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I don't think it matters. Mine conveniently died just when I was heading to bed that night. I do use it as my alarm as well. Thankfully, it was a weekend night.
Update: Running it today, haven't seen much change yet (but it's only the first day). However, how can I check to see what my battery usage is (I know you can check in "About Phone" but is there a numeral amount that would tell you guys something of significance)? Therefore if I posted something like that here people could tell me, "That really sucks, it's not working for you", or "Hey, working fine!"
Also, where I sit at work doesn't have that great of a cell reception, meaning maybe one bar if I'm lucky. Would having no cell reception drain the battery so much that it's almost dead by the end of the work day?
Would turning my wifi ON help the battery usage reduce some because the phone wouldn't constantly be searching for 3G?
Thanks again for everyone's help so far!
Wifi uses a ton less battery over 3g and low cell reception kills battery fast. Just let the kernel do its thing also letting the phone die is a bad idea. Our batteries aren't designed to ever fully die.
VrikkGWJ said:
Update: Running it today, haven't seen much change yet (but it's only the first day). However, how can I check to see what my battery usage is (I know you can check in "About Phone" but is there a numeral amount that would tell you guys something of significance)? Therefore if I posted something like that here people could tell me, "That really sucks, it's not working for you", or "Hey, working fine!"
Also, where I sit at work doesn't have that great of a cell reception, meaning maybe one bar if I'm lucky. Would having no cell reception drain the battery so much that it's almost dead by the end of the work day?
Would turning my wifi ON help the battery usage reduce some because the phone wouldn't constantly be searching for 3G?
Thanks again for everyone's help so far!
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Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
VrikkGWJ said:
Update: Running it today, haven't seen much change yet (but it's only the first day). However, how can I check to see what my battery usage is (I know you can check in "About Phone" but is there a numeral amount that would tell you guys something of significance)? Therefore if I posted something like that here people could tell me, "That really sucks, it's not working for you", or "Hey, working fine!"
Also, where I sit at work doesn't have that great of a cell reception, meaning maybe one bar if I'm lucky. Would having no cell reception drain the battery so much that it's almost dead by the end of the work day?
Would turning my wifi ON help the battery usage reduce some because the phone wouldn't constantly be searching for 3G?
Thanks again for everyone's help so far!
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Click to collapse
There are so many variables, I don't think there's any given number or threshold which will make us say "That really sucks, it's not working for you" ...
I've found that lack of cell service is the number one thing that will kill my battery regardless of kernel etc. I get between zero and one bars of (roaming) 1x at my house and if I set my phone somewhere that blocks the signal just a bit more, it can kill my batt. a lot faster. If your phone is using data throughout the day and you have a wifi signal available, I'd definitely experiment with leaving wifi on all day - that's what I do at home to have any data connectivity worth using. Using wifi like this doesn't seem to be too big a hit on my battery.
Also experiment with your phone to see if you can find a location or orientation which gives you a better phone signal - go to Settings -> About Phone -> Status and scroll down to see "Signal strength", this will be a number expressed as -dBm where the higher magnitude of the number (ie. -99 is a higher magnitude than -80) the worse your signal is. Keep in mind that this scale is logrithmic, so a change of magnitude of a few dBm indicates a fairly large signal strength change... So if setting the phone on the right side of your desk gives you -85 dBm and setting it to the left gives you -95 dBm, your battery will die faster with the phone set to the left... Keeping the phone in your pocket can really knock the signal strength down - experiment with the phone lying on your desk, check the signal strength and then cup your hands around the "bottom" end of the phone, covering the optical track ball and the buttons, etc... In my experience, just covering this antenna area like this drops my signal by 5 dBm or more.
One more thing which it sounds like you might be aware of already is that people report that due to small differences in hardware, these kernels don't work the same for different phones, so maybe trying a different one of Lou's kernels (or a different developers altogether) might work better for you (although trying each of the myriad kernels available sure sounds daunting to me). Good luck!
I think the most complained about issue with SGSII is the battery.
But is it such a big issue.
My situation : Inspite of heavy use I usually make an entire work day with atleast 10-20% battery left.
I always have a micro usb cable in my locker at work which is an emergency back up.
The reason for poll : To correct my ignorance as I think majority of people are unnecessarily complaining
I'm with you, OP.
Certainly, the battery life of the GS2 is unimpressive. I would even agree if someone said that the battery life is below average.
But it does seems like a lot of people who complain about the battery life just have unrealistic expectations. Using the phone will lower the battery level. That seems pretty natural to me. If you're going to keep the display on for over an hour, you can't expect the battery level to dip just 1% or 2%.
Then there are people who talk about the Android-OS bug. They show some impressive data on usage depending on scenarios. It's an interesting read and I understand what they're trying to say. But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter to me. Before I knew about the Android-OS bug, my usage patterns meant that my battery level drops to about 30% by the time I get home from work. After I read about the Android-OS bug, it didn't change my usage patterns and my battery performs same as before.
Sure, it would be great if the battery never dips below 90% but unless the day comes when we have tiny self-sustaining fission reactors built-in to your devices, it won't be happening. (I'm thinking about that thing that Doc Ock invented in Spiderman2, just smaller.)
ohyeahar said:
Sure, it would be great if the battery never dips below 90% but unless the day comes when we have tiny self-sustaining fission reactors built-in to your devices, it won't be happening. (I'm thinking about that thing that Doc Ock invented in Spiderman2, just smaller.)
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You got me all excited.
I dream of the day when we have batteries the size of a grain that will last for few years, like most watches
Missing selection
never happened rarely charge .
jje
JJEgan said:
Missing selection
never happened rarely charge .
jje
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may be next time
Completely depends on usage. Generally have 30-40% remaining everyday - screen use of 3-4 hours. gmail, FB on 30 min syncs, EDGE always on. Ended up with 78% remaining on a day on which I had a lot of work to do (so less time on the phone)
Can't expect more from a smartphone at this point of time. (using Lite'ning ROM 1.5, Tegrak OC 1.4 Ghz)
Unfortunately My device battery life is poor too
I can make it most of the day through work without recharging, and that's considering having both bluetooth turned on and either music or podcasts playing most of the day, and that the building I work in being very good at blocking wireless signals, so my phone spends alot of time trying to find a connection.
Knock on wood, ive been really lucky
i have an optus ke2 that has been rooted and all ive done is remove the optus stock and other not need apps, and so far, still being at the stage where the phone gets turned on every 5 min, ive needed to charge every second day or so with brightness on full.
i love my SgsII
How many of you with bad battery life have also got an sd-card plugged in?
I've just taken mine out (class 10 16GB) and it seems to have improved battery life?
Without SD card, and with power saving mode on, I get 3 days but with only EDGE on and routine voice calls.
Facebook takes the most battery and also the browser, I feel.
BUT NO WIFI and NO 3G! Its bad, thinking of extended battery if I have to used all that stuff.
So a few days ago I installed Nova Launcher, got root, changed my dpi to 170, applied the screen off SMS fix, and installed accuweather. I feel like battery life has decreased considerably. I usually don't leave my phone plugged in overnight, but did yesterday. Today, I am down to 81% with 22m on screen time -- at this rate, I would get an hour and a half on a full charge, where I've gotten 3 days and 5 hours of on screen time before when the phone was 100% stock. I had the phone in airplane mode for most of the day, but the battery graph still shows a sharper than usual decline. I just uninstalled accuweather to see if that would help, and will do a complete drain this charge cycle. Anyone else seen something similar to this?
I installed nova launcher prime and my battery life is still amazing. Although I'm not rooted, I wouldn't think that root is the issue. Have you installed an app that has gone rogue and is constantly running? For my part devices that was the problem most of the time. Check your battery stays to see if you can identify which app is exhausting your battery and if you can't, my suggestion is to hard reset to get better results.
One of the great things about the note is the battery life. It would suck to have this advantage become a disadvantage. Good luck
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app
Search for better battery stats here on Xda. You can get the paid app for free (though I recommend purchasing it).
It may help you identify the app, or service eating cycles, or draining your battery.
Did you by chance recently enable Google now?
Or do you have maps reporting/updating your location with GpS radio enabled?
sent from my ginormous Note II
Yes, I experienced something very similar, as did at least one other user in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1977476
My battery suddenly went from being awesome to draining about 1% every 5-10 minutes with no apparent cause, even while sleeping. I wiped and re-flashed, which did not seem to help, then tried an odin re-flash, with still questionable results immediately thereafter. The next day, it seemed to be spontaneously resolved - though, I'm not convinced my battery life is quite as good as some people are reporting.
Interestingly, better battery stats did not show any suspect activity.
I know that's not a solution, but you are definitely not alone. There is something weird going on here. That other user theorized it might be a calibration issue. Seems as plausible to me as anything else. If you are feeling patient, perhaps let it be for a day or two and see if it does indeed spontaneously resolve for you. That would be a helpful data point. If you can't bring yourself to do that, at least keep us updated on what you do and the results.
Hey everyone, first post.
I did a search for similar issues and maybe I didn't look deep enough (if so could someone redirect me and mods please delete this post), but I think I'm experiencing some unique issues with my Galaxy S3.
The phone itself is less than 45 days old. It is also my first Android device (switched from iPhone 4) and I am loving everything about it except for this intermittent issue I seem to be having.
My battery life on my S3 has been very intermittent to say the least. Some days I can get into bed at the end of the day and charge it with 20-30% remaining, others I have to charge it mid-late day on my drive home. I have never let the battery completely die on me as I've read lithium ion batteries are best kept moderately charged.
I figured the above is normal, and mostly depends on my usage, however, today I received a notification for low battery (15%) less than half way through my day, and some odd SIX hours after unplugging it.
I've attached some screenshots - let me know if I am missing some and I will try my best to upload them (phone is currently charging off my laptop).
I have no idea what is going on, and as you can see, there's hardly any usage!! I disable WIFI because my LTE is faster and I hate when it searches for my network when I'm on the can (sorry, TMI). BTW my connection is usually full signal with LTE here in the office.
Am I missing something here? Are there some hidden applications running which can be sucking my battery?
Any insight would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Perhaps there is a hidden culprit draining your battery that does not show up in the stats screenshots you provided. Usually it's called a wakelock or partial wakelock, or sometimes it's a Rogue drain. There are KNOWN culprits. Best if you get the Better Battery Stats and post some screen shots. It has more detailed information.
Also, if nothing is in fact OVER taxing the battery, then it might possibly be a bad battery that does not hold a full charge or even possibly the calibration is somehow messed up. That would be easy for me to compare because I have a spare stock battery.
Apart from the wakelock suggestion, LTE tends to eat battery life - just not to the extent that seems to be going on here.
There was another thread I remember seeing recently about charge occasionally starting to plummet while LTE is active, and I'm seeing similar behaviour in that first screenshot. Let me see if I can find the relevant thread again...
EDIT: This thread is the one I was thinking of.
Hi, I bought my wife a used 2014 edition some months ago and it seemed to work great but the battery didn't last very long. Recently I started playing a few games on it and realized that the problem was worse than I thought. It would say it was at say 60% but after 5 minutes playing a game it would go into power saving mode and be at around 14%. So I bought a new battery and it does the exact same thing! When I go into the battery setting it doesn't show anything using much power but something drains the battery as soon as you use it for almost anything.
Has anyone seen this before. If it doesn't tell me what app is draining the battery, how can I fix this? thanks
you are preaching to the choir. this is a big problem with these. the batteries are honestly easy enough to change but it is pretty much impossible to find an actual samsung replacement. they are all cheap knock offs that cant handle the voltages of the tablet which causes its own set of problems. I got one and it does help get more out of it but when you do anything too intense especially with less than 60% the thing will just shut off. total bummer. there are a lot of batteries out there just be careful of what you buy. and if you find a good replacement let us know!
I found a thread that seems to attribute this to faulty battery connection to the motherboard and someone who can weld can fix the problem. Has anyone else had success with this? thanks
nate39 said:
Hi, I bought my wife a used 2014 edition some months ago and it seemed to work great but the battery didn't last very long. Recently I started playing a few games on it and realized that the problem was worse than I thought. It would say it was at say 60% but after 5 minutes playing a game it would go into power saving mode and be at around 14%. So I bought a new battery and it does the exact same thing! When I go into the battery setting it doesn't show anything using much power but something drains the battery as soon as you use it for almost anything.
Has anyone seen this before. If it doesn't tell me what app is draining the battery, how can I fix this? thanks
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As graffix31 said, this is a common issue. If you contact Samsung, they should be able to tell you where you can get a direct factory replacement battery (if they are even available still). Other than that, all you can really get is aftermarket ones that, like graffix31 said, can't handle heavy loads. I can vouch for that myself. Replacing my battery was definately an improvement over the old battery. I still have some issues though, but I've found ways to avoid them. If you are rooted, with any cpu management app, you can shut down 1 of the cores and reduce the maximum output of the others. This prevents mine from overloading the battery. It isn't ideal, but it works.