Develop Bugs

Ughh battery drain definitely too fast.

I feel like I make a thread for each phone I go through. First Blackberries, then Droid X, now Galaxy Nexus.
I am getting pretty horrible battery drain that is definitely worse than others' Nexuses. I have gone to the extended battery now for a few days, yet in the morning, when I unplug from charger (says 98% but charged?), with brightness only a quarter of the way up from lowest, I can literally watch the percentage (battery number mod in corner) drop one-by-one each minute or a few...So if I am actually using the phone, you can imagine it drops pretty fast. Yesterday, with very very moderate use the phone was still dead within 5-6 hours. It was at the mid-80s within an hour or more. Again, with moderate use.
It is stomach-dropping watching the percentage number just go down and down. Yet my friend's Gnex using the extended battery his first day did not hit 85% yesterday until 5+ hours later. The battery stats page on mine shows nothing with high numbers except Screen and Android OS, so I assume no apps are draining it. I am rooted with unlocked BL, on bigxie's deodexed ROM with softkeys mod, battery percentage mod, and power menu mod. I have 100-something apps and many widgets but no battery draining/updating ones. Others with the same ROM report fine battery.
I believe after using the ext. battery for a couple days, it should be "conditioned" if needed at all, yet I see no improvement.
I'm getting very angry watching this drop.. For example, 40 minutes off the charger with almost NO use except for turning the screen on here and there, I am at 94% battery with Screen at 46%, Android OS at 34%, Phone Idle 11%, Cell Standby 9%, and Android System 2%.
And then 1 hr 20 min in, at 88% battery with 55% Screen, 27% Android OS, 6% Phone Idle, 6% Cell Standby.
This doesn't sound normal right? Keep in mind, those numbers are with almost no phone use..very minimal settings menus visited and one update from Market.
Jesus, literally almost every time or two I turn the screen on just to check these numbers, I see the damn battery percentage drop a number. Not even using the phone how/as much as I normally would be. This is infuriating. Luckily, it doesn't seem to drain much with the screen off.

Quit checking and wait til the bug is fixed and blood pressure stabilizes?
Crazy world, ay?

Update to 4.0.2 or 4.0.3 with an improved kernel = success.
Use the phone for 1-2 weeks to stablize battery life - mine is better now than it was when I began using it. But the kernel/rom makes a big difference.

Thanks. Any suggestions on with combo to use now? 4.0.3 preferrably I guess.
Then why does my friend on totally stock 4.0.2, non-rooted have that great battery life from the first day using the extended battery?? I'm pretty much basing mine off of his and other's who are getting ridiculously long life. I never understood how it varies SO much. We should all have the same relative to usage.

just4747 said:
Thanks. Any suggestions on with combo to use now? 4.0.3 preferrably I guess.
Then why does my friend on totally stock 4.0.2, non-rooted have that great battery life from the first day using the extended battery?? I'm pretty much basing mine off of his and other's who are getting ridiculously long life. I never understood how it varies SO much. We should all have the same relative to usage.
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No. Because no two phones are set up the same. Too many variables to say relatively same usage. For instance, when i go to bed i get 2-3 hours standby per percentage point. Not everybody is going to get that.
Crazy world, ay?

@rbiter said:
No. Because no two phones are set up the same. Too many variables to say relatively same usage. For instance, when i go to bed i get 2-3 hours standby per percentage point. Not everybody is going to get that.
Crazy world, ay?
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Maybe, but the fact that I have no other visible outstanding draining factors, and I get no 4G at home and therefore have it set to CDMA only...I should not be seeing 1% drops almost every time I turn the screen on for more than 30 seconds. Especially with an extended battery.
God forbid I want to use GPS or 4G.

More battery life threads please.

case0 said:
More battery life threads please.
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Wow, really? At first glance in all sub-forums I saw about two, if that. I have a legitimate concern, especially when my friend is getting about 4 times better life. Thanks for your help though in the device forum where this 'doesn't belong'.
..And over the course of only a few minutes of the screen being on maybe twice and sending one email, I saw it go from low 82-83 down to 77. ****ing awesome.

just4747 said:
Wow, really? At first glance in all sub-forums I saw about two, if that. I have a legitimate concern, especially when my friend is getting about 4 times better life. Thanks for your help though in the device forum where this 'doesn't belong'.
..And over the course of only a few minutes of the screen being on maybe twice and sending one email, I saw it go from low 82-83 down to 77. ****ing awesome.
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You probably have a misbehaving app. Download better battery stats from the android apps and games section here at xda and let it run for a day or so and see what processes are being used the most and what your wakelocks are, etc.
Also, find a 4.0.3 rom with a kernel that can be undervolted and try that out.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

joshnichols189 said:
You probably have a misbehaving app. Download better battery stats from the android apps and games section here at xda and let it run for a day or so and see what processes are being used the most and what your wakelocks are, etc.
Also, find a 4.0.3 rom with a kernel that can be undervolted and try that out.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Thank you, downloading now and will check it out.

I'll admit I'm using the GSM version so my experiences may not apply but for the first few days my battery life was utter crap.
Its been MUCH improved over the last few days, I dont have the wakelock issue and with the screen off the battery drain is literally only about 3% per hour, and thats with background data on.
YES, the screen DOES use a lot of battery, it isnt really avoidable and is somewhat expected with a 720p 4.6 inch super AMOLED screen.
The one thing I can recommend doing is finding a modded kernel and undervolting that CPU - It seems they've been really rather generous providing power to the thing, I've been able to take off at least 100-150mv across the board.

Antzor said:
I'll admit I'm using the GSM version so my experiences may not apply but for the first few days my battery life was utter crap.
Its been MUCH improved over the last few days, I dont have the wakelock issue and with the screen off the battery drain is literally only about 3% per hour, and thats with background data on.
YES, the screen DOES use a lot of battery, it isnt really avoidable and is somewhat expected with a 720p 4.6 inch super AMOLED screen.
The one thing I can recommend doing is finding a modded kernel and undervolting that CPU - It seems they've been really rather generous providing power to the thing, I've been able to take off at least 100-150mv across the board.
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Click to collapse
This - My battery on the stock battery on GSM sucked first few days, and I was really concerned I made a poor purchase. But with the screen on probably 5 or 6 hours of my work day it lives through the day and just enough to get home after that. I can charge it at work too, which I usually do. On my day off it survived 18 hours and still had ~20% battery life left on 4.0.3 AOKP/Francisco.Franco Kernel

From my experience, the battery life isn't bad. I did install the "extended" battery as soon as I bought the phone but is isn't much bigger than the stock battery. I am on stock rooted 4.02. With LTE off I use about 2% per hour in standby. With LTE on it is almost double that (3-4%/hour). I have several widgets running and gps enabled. (wifi when available) I can easily get a 16-18 hour day and have 50% remaining when I go to bed unles I sit around gaming for a couple hours.
I may try a new ROM tonight but I expect it will probably make things worse.

Im running a bone stock setup and im getting 12 -14 hours a day... normally I read posts like the one skiddingus posted and wonder why I never can achieve those readings so i feel your confusion . I do have 4g on and gps off screen is about 1/4 of the way up brightness wise

4G Battery Drain

Hey, im on Telus so i dont have any other modes I can switch to to lower the drain. Ive noticed my battery drain is HORRENDOUS
Over the past 4 hours ive dropped 60%!
Now im wondering if im just running too many apps or if my stock battery may not be holding a proper charge anymore, and wanted to compare with others to see if others are running the same amount of apps and getting better battery or what
Ive got the following on:
Trillian (IM app)
K9-mail checking 2 aps
Regular Sync (Twitter, FB, Dropbox, Google(Calendar, Gmail, Contacts)
The battery usage summary seems to lie, 35% is the screen but only 13 minutes. Yet im at 40%
Android System at 20, Cell standby 13, Phone Idle 8
While heading to work, i ran DI Radio(music streaming), and lost 20% over around 35 minutes.
Im using the Tuesday rom with it's default kernel.
Is there anything I can do for better battery, because I dont have wifi in most places, and im running 3-4 bars constantly yet the phone just drains rentelessly. Even my Mugen battery was only lasting 16 hours...

It's quite possible that it's the ROM. I used to always get 8 hours on a single charge, regardless of location or ROM. I'm running Eugene's CM7 and I'm getting 13 hours on the same typical usage.
I'm running on Telus as well, with no wifi at all.
Although I am not running all of your apps, I would still consider myself a moderate to heavy user.
Sent from my Samsung SGH-T989D using xda premium

skadude66 said:
It's quite possible that it's the ROM. I used to always get 8 hours on a single charge, regardless of location or ROM. I'm running Eugene's CM7 and I'm getting 13 hours on the same typical usage.
I'm running on Telus as well, with no wifi at all.
Although I am not running all of your apps, I would still consider myself a moderate to heavy user.
Sent from my Samsung SGH-T989D using xda premium
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Seems rather sad that the phone can only do 8 hours on a charge. Im going to restore my juggernaut and see how that compares i guess.

Rekzer said:
Seems rather sad that the phone can only do 8 hours on a charge. Im going to restore my juggernaut and see how that compares i guess.
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Yeah, I know how you feel. Just experiment other ROMs and see if you get any changes.
How much usage would you get out of juggernaut?
Sent from my Samsung SGH-T989D using xda premium

Its been a while since ive run juggernaut. But it used to only drain 10% an hour i believe on 4g. I've restored my nandroid of Jugg and will be monitoring that.

Rekzer said:
Its been a while since ive run juggernaut. But it used to only drain 10% an hour i believe on 4g. I've restored my nandroid of Jugg and will be monitoring that.
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Alright keep us updated!
Sent from my Samsung SGH-T989D using xda premium

any syncing or usage of the network will take a drain. any usage.
you can always turn on airplane mode and let it sit a few hours and see the drain, that determines whether its network or a ROM/kernel drain.
But yes, using 4G has big battery cost

Battery Life
I will tell you what, I have wasted so many hours playing with different ROM's and what not to find the one with the best battery life. And I will tell you what, the DARKSIDE:IGITAL::WARFARE ROM's out do any other ROM out there. I dunno what it is that thederekjay is doing, but Samsung should get this guy on pay roll because his work is the best.

I'm at hour 8 today on Darkside Digital Warfare, and 70% free from 8am to 4:30pm. I have push corporate email, automatic brightness, friendcaster push, and a slew of accounts and it runs like a champ with amazing battery.

Make sure your phone is going into Deep Sleep as often as possible when screen is off. My phone seems to be extremely picky in regards to which charger it likes and more often than not (even had this happen on the stock charger) the phone refuses to sleep after being charged (even if only for a few seconds...).
Download CPUSpy from the market and after each charge, go to CPUSpy, press menu and Reset Totals (phone cannot enter Deep Sleep during charging so it's important you start fresh after a charge to get accurate sleep time). Turn the screen off for a minute or two and turn it back on. Press menu again and Refresh Totals. In my experience, if the phone is not sleeping at this point - Deep Sleep showing in Unused States - then it will not sleep all day and remain in 384Mhz for hours, killing the battery rather quickly. From then, if I plug the phone in a supported charger (even for a second) and disconnect, Deep Sleep resumes normally. Rebooting always fixes it too.
If, like me, a lot of people also have this problem with the stock charger as well, I bet many are dissatisfied with the battery performance... The phone is supposed to spend the majority of it's time in Deep Sleep. I get this issue with several different chargers and cables and on different ROMS / kernels (including stock... go figure).

Im pretty sure its the signal itself draining it. It uses sleep for at least 40% of the time its on. I use my phone a good amount, but its the fact that if it sits on 4g even with the screen of, its rapidly draining during this time. ive even reset timers and left it sitting for an hour and itll be in sleep but lose 8% over an hour just doing nothing. I still wanna be able to recieve notifications tho so turning off data isnt an option. I will test turning off data anyways to see if the drain stops.

The battery drain is all those persistent internet apps running. That is what you call heavy usage. Trillian and the FB app being the two biggest. Music streaming would be up there as well if you aren't in good signal area. Look at your battery stats and see what your signal strength is.

wh01sl1k360d said:
I will tell you what, I have wasted so many hours playing with different ROM's and what not to find the one with the best battery life. And I will tell you what, the DARKSIDE:IGITAL::WARFARE ROM's out do any other ROM out there. I dunno what it is that thederekjay is doing, but Samsung should get this guy on pay roll because his work is the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. If battery problem persist download better battery stats to see if you dont have any kernel wakelocks
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[Q] How to super Optimized Tmo Sammy S2 for best battery performace?

So I switched from the iphone with edge to the Tmo S2 with Jugg 5.0 ROM + Go Launcher. I really appreciate the 4g speed. However, the overall experience is not as smooth as the iphone and the battery life sucks big time. I normally have to constantly plug the phone in whenever I can. It works ok when I'm at work but when I'm out all day my battery won't last more than half a day. It's so bad to the extent that I have to turn off my phone and turn on when I need to call or text so I can keep the phone alive the whole day. I tried Juice Defender but it didn't help my battery at all.
Yesterday I spent a few hours on XDA and I came up with these solution to my battery problem:
+DarkSide Digital Warfare v2.7 ROM (couldn't find 2.5.1 version)
+Flash Synergy Kernel over (supposed to give better battery)
+SetCPU app (auto detection)
+Zeam launcher
So far, it seems to be better on the battery. Is there anything else I could add to make my battery last longer? I need the phone to last at least the whole day without charge. I'm constantly on 4g looking up stocks, reading news, email, google voice, grooveip, facebook, turn by turn navigation, music, netflix, youtube ...
Thanks,

Welcome to Android.
From what it appears, you seem to be a heavy user. The most you can get out of a Android device with heavy usage is 3/4 of a day (14-18hrs) tops.
You have 2 choices, either you travel with the power cord not to far away and plug it when you need it or you invest a whooping 10$ and buy another battery.
There are tricks to keeping your battery healthy but lasting all day as a heavy user will be very difficult.

If this is a new phone it takes a week or so for the battery to settle in a hold a charge well. After a week or so you'll notice your battery is lasting longer. Also make sure that nothing is keeping your phone awake 100%. Some apps don't play nice and cause issues. Welcome to Android.
Note: navigation kills battery fast, when your using it try to plug into a car charger or something.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

There are a lot of things you can do to improve battery.
1. Juice Defender (which you say you have already tried)
2. Limit the number of widgets you run or run no widgets like I do
3. Turn the screen brightness down all the way
4. Don't use Live Wallpaper, also, try to pick a dark coloured wallpaper since white/light colours seem to use up more battery.
5. Uninstall apps you don't use.
6. Turn off GPS unless you need to use it.
7. Turn off sync completely or only have your gmail sync. I don't need to be notified when I get a facebook message so I don't need it syncing every few minutes or every hour, I can check that manually myself.
8. Turn off animations.
9. Close background apps that are running that you aren't using.
10. Use Task Manager to close open apps when you are done using it. Task Manger is your friend.
11. Enable Power Saver Mode.
etc etc.
Those are the main things that I tend to do. I plug my phone in every night before I go to bed as well so I am not sure how long my battery actually lasts. But typically after 16hrs of use I still have 60% battery when I go to bed.
Currently my phone has been on for 7hrs 15mins and I have 87% battery. So you can do the math. I am not as heavy a user as you seem to be, but hope this helps. Peace.

Check out this video it helps show you how to save battery. Enjoy!

Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
Chochiwpg said:
1. Juice Defender (which you say you have already tried)
2. Limit the number of widgets you run or run no widgets like I do
3. Turn the screen brightness down all the way
4. Don't use Live Wallpaper, also, try to pick a dark coloured wallpaper since white/light colours seem to use up more battery.
5. Uninstall apps you don't use.
6. Turn off GPS unless you need to use it.
7. Turn off sync completely or only have your gmail sync. I don't need to be notified when I get a facebook message so I don't need it syncing every few minutes or every hour, I can check that manually myself.
8. Turn off animations.
9. Close background apps that are running that you aren't using.
10. Use Task Manager to close open apps when you are done using it. Task Manger is your friend.
11. Enable Power Saver Mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm up 5hr 45mins on battery and my battery is at 41%. Let's see if it will last for today. I will put Juice Defender in tonight to test out the battery tomorrow.

DroidNo0b said:
Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
I'm up 5hr 45mins on battery and my battery is at 41%. Let's see if it will last for today. I will put Juice Defender in tonight to test out the battery tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could run Juggernaut with Faux Kernel and Gideon's battery scripts. Or Telus T989D stock ROM lightly tweaked with same kernel and script. Got good results on those as well. Good luck.

Btw, has anyone had tremendous increase in battery life using the after market extended battery?
Thanks,

Use fox star rom
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium

DroidNo0b said:
Btw, has anyone had tremendous increase in battery life using the after market extended battery?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about extended batteries that don't require a custom enlarged back cover, you will not get the battery increase that you are looking for, not even close. I cannot speak for the heavy duty ones that require an enlarged back as I do not own one

Gideon's scripts are great with Juggs. Underclock it as well like 384-1080 is a great setting. Also let die all the way down and charge all the way up and repeat for a few cycles. And don't stare at your phone every few seconds either lol! Another thing are the notification lighting buttons at the bottom. Drop to 1.5 seconds.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

yoft1 said:
If you are talking about extended batteries that don't require a custom enlarged back cover, you will not get the battery increase that you are looking for, not even close. I cannot speak for the heavy duty ones that require an enlarged back as I do not own one
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Click to collapse
I have the extended 3800mah battery. It's insanely fat and makes the phone look hideous. On top of that I really don't feel like the battery lasts all that long at all. It's in my pocket all day at school and by 3:30 I'm at 35%. This thing cost me 65$. Total ripoff. I'd suggest spending 20$ and buying two more regular batteries. See what that does for you all
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA

A few things you can do on ANY ROM to improve battery life.
*) Decrease screen timeout to the lowest possible setting.
*) Adjust screen brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate.
*) Decrease the backlight key timeout to the lowest setting ( or off if you have the option )
*) Be sure to only have wifi and gps on if you are using them.
Those will help quite a bit in general however, a ROM like Juggs is meant to really take advantage of the power of your device so its probably wise to move to a different one if max battery is your goal. I love Juggs but had to move on to the AOSP stuff. Also, heed the advice above, allow the ROM a few days to "settle" before making a switch or even a judgement of its performance.

Thanks for the replies guys. So my phone lasted for 9hrs today which is a little bit of improvement. I was streaming netflix for half an hr on the train on the way back home so that may have drained the battery. I have just installed JD, will post back how it goes tomorrow.
So the extended battery is a no go eh. I really don't want to lug around a few extra batteries. I want to carry as little as possible. I normally carry my phone and my ipad but now I tend to not use the ipad much now because the S2 screen is pretty gigantic for a phone.

DroidNo0b said:
Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the point was already made but just to reiterate, you can get 2 Anker extended batteries (same size as regular battery) and a universal charger for like $20. This will leave you with three batteries. One for the charger, one for the pocket, and one for the phone. With this system its pretty easy to always have one full battery ready to go and one charging. The battery is small and can just go in your pocket, or maybe even in your wallet depending on your preferences. It solves the problem completely. I don't think you are going to do much better because if you are a heavy user then your battery is going to be used because your phone isn't going to be sleeping.
Good luck.

tablador said:
I know the point was already made but just to reiterate, you can get 2 Anker extended batteries (same size as regular battery) and a universal charger for like $20. This will leave you with three batteries. One for the charger, one for the pocket, and one for the phone. With this system its pretty easy to always have one full battery ready to go and one charging. The battery is small and can just go in your pocket, or maybe even in your wallet depending on your preferences. It solves the problem completely. I don't think you are going to do much better because if you are a heavy user then your battery is going to be used because your phone isn't going to be sleeping.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read my post above. I'm against the idea lugging around too many things. It's also a hassle to swap the battery and keep them all charged. I may be a heavy user but it's not like I use the phone all the time. I use the phone heavily early in the morning on the way to work and after 5pm on the way home after work. The commute each way is roughly 45 mins. In between the commutes i make a few calls and texts through GV. I don't think i'm that of a really heavy user.
Anyway, it's noon and I'm at 75% with JD on and setCPU to 384-1084mhz which is pretty promising.

Questions go in the Q&A section

Since you changed kernals, you aren't going to benefit from TDJ's battsaver script you can use with the stock 2.7 kernal.
Go lower on the max frequency. Something below 800 mhz. Setting a negative gloval mV doesn't hurt, and if you can get to -62.5, that's great.
Oh, and when using data, try GSM only...
To be honest, the larger problem with battery life is typically the user. There's no real magic on making the phone last longer other than using it less. If you're going to be power using the hell out of it by using 4g for hours streaming media, your battery is going to be ****.

8Fishes said:
Since you changed kernals, you aren't going to benefit from TDJ's battsaver script you can use with the stock 2.7 kernal.
Go lower on the max frequency. Something below 800 mhz. Setting a negative gloval mV doesn't hurt, and if you can get to -62.5, that's great.
Oh, and when using data, try GSM only...
To be honest, the larger problem with battery life is typically the user. There's no real magic on making the phone last longer other than using it less. If you're going to be power using the hell out of it by using 4g for hours streaming media, your battery is going to be ****.
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Click to collapse
Don't you think it is ironic for me to switch from the iphone to the S2 because I couldn't stand the slow 2g Edge connection then have to lower data speed to GSM (2g) just so I can use the S2 long enough?
I think the S2 is one heck of a device but the OS and Apps are not running very efficiently.
I tried the ICS ROM ARKSIDE.UCLE2:: x[BETA07.1] in the last 2 days with setCPU at 384-1026Mhz. I have had great battery life. I got home at 12 am yesterday with a 2% battery. Today it's been 7 hrs on battery and my battery is at 70%. I don't know if it is the ROM, setCPU or a combination of the two but I'm pretty happy with the phone right now. ICS is awesome too.
I highly recommend that solution to anyone having a short battery life problem with their S2.

It is a little ironic since you did bring up the comparison. What I was attempting to do was to bring the phone more into spec of an iphone to get similar battery life. You're probably going to even get better runtimes due to the battery having a much larger capacity and better screen technology. All that superior hardware packed in the t989 is going to need more juice to run.
It's great you're getting good runtimes now. From my personal experience, once I drop down to the single digit percentages, it starts lasting a lot longer per percent. If you wanted to squeeze all you can from the device, those 2000mah aftermarket cells might add another 15~30 minutes.

How To: Better Battery Life

I hear it all the time... Does this rom provide good battery life? How's the battery life? Why is my battery life suck? So; it may have been done already somewhere; but I figured after watching and logging my own battery life, I could really help some others. I'll section this out; no specific order at all.
ROM: No matter how many times I look at a ROMs thread, I get to see a multitude of "How is the battery life" posts. You know it, I know it, and we all know it. Truth is; after using plenty of ICS roms out there; most of them have similar battery life. Currently I'm running the Blu Kuban rom, and I get just as good battery life as I do with most other touchwiz based roms. To each rom their own. Read up on the rom itself before you go blaming the rom for battery life. I've noticed the JB builds aren't the best with the battery, but we must remember those are usually noted for having bad battery life. Either way, most of the ROMs I've used personally perform rather similar in actual battery life.
Kernel/Governor tweaks: I can't stress this enough. Governor's and Kernel Thread. That thread will teach you more than anything you want to know about kernel and governor tweaks. Some of these governors can send your phone to absolute battery immolation, while others can set your phone up to last 2x as long. I prefer the more conservative approach and end up with a ton of battery left at the end of the day. While these settings are important, the most important is yet to come.
APPS. I can't stress this enough. I used a quite a few different setups to find what all really uses battery, what doesn't, and what I should to to maximize my own battery. For those of you who don't know me at all, I work ten hours a day, and I used this time frame to measure the battery usage while it's sitting in my car for ten hours. I have a Trexcell 3800mAh battery, so it's roughly 2x the power as the stock battery.
What's the number one usage on my device? NOTIFICATIONS! All of those apps that automatically feed their greed by getting updates from the servers or whatever. Facebook, Hotmail, Tapatalk, and EVEN just the gMail app could drain 10% of my battery in ten hours. Let me show you my findings.. These are the normal apps I use that can automatically update over certain time frames.
Hotmail
Tapatalk (Xparent Red version)
gMail
Facebook
Now if they all automatically update on the stock settings, ten hours of work will mean I'm coming back to a phone with only 75% battery. With only 4-6 hours of deep sleep! That means these apps are waking my phone up to do whatever they want for quite a while. With all of them set to be manually updated; I come to 95-97% battery life. That's quite a stretch in a difference you know?
So, I tested each with the others off and here is what I found. (I tested for three days, wrote my results for each day, then switched to a different app)
Hotmail set to update hourly would leave me with about 90% of the battery at 4:30. Average deep sleep times were in the 8-9 hour ranges.
Tapatalk was setup stock for 15 minute updates. I'd lose at least 10% on the battery every day! Deep sleep however would range in the 8.5-9.5 hour range.
gMail was set to update hourly and would leave me with 95% each day with only keeping the phone awake for 30 minutes on average.
Facebook updates are odd; since they don't happen all the time. So I had a good friend post on my wall three times a day and noticed that it would eat a LOT of battery, usually 10-15% and keep my phone awake for about 30 minutes a pop.
Now I must note, for my tests I had almost nothing installed on the phone aside from the apps listed and the basic apps available in the blue Kuban rom. For the tests, I set google voice to do not disturb so phone calls and the like wouldn't be an issue.
With all four of the apps set to default updates however (no messages on facebook aside from one day), the battery life ranged from one day being 67%, second day ended with 74% and the third day left me with 72%. That's a LOT of battery for just sitting in my car.
After these findings, I've switched all my apps to update only when I manually refresh them, and I'll tell you what, my battery life has never been greater. I literally come home with 95% battery on average and can sit and play on my phone almost all night without charging until it's nightly stay on the charger.
Just some other tips I've learned along the way.
Wifi is a battery slaughterer if it's not connected. Driving around the city and having the wifi detect all kinds of networks is just battery slaughter. So, my rule of thumb now is, when I leave the house the wifi goes off. It's true that wifi uses less battery than 3g and 4g, but when you're picking up random networks and the radio is searching through them, it's just no good for the battery.
Brightness, it's a key. I can't stress this enough, if you don't need 100% brightness and want better battery life, turn that screen brightness down to an acceptable level.
As an ending to this short but sweet little tidbit of information, I'd like to share why I wrote this, did all this testing, and why it mattered to me since I have an extended battery. My phone is my link to the world, my family, potential jobs, and just my favorite handheld entertainment device. Me and my fiancee` both have the E4GT, and I have the extended battery. She has the stock battery and it doesn't last long at all for her. So my plan now is to work with her on her battery life, and give her this extended battery. I won't need it since I literally have to try to get to 50% battery life with it. I usually end up plugging my phone in for the night at 65-75% battery. I just figured I'd share this with people on the forum as maybe a different approach to saving some precious battery. If you like it, tap the thanks button. If you have any ideas to better this, let me know!

How's battery life on this ROM
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VVVVVV
ÄÖK¶ B4
"420 Special Edition 10/16"

Just like to add for people to check their batteries lol...these stock batteries that come with the phone don't last all that long..a lot of these batteries go bad quick and need to be replaced (a simple spin of the battery will tell you if you need it changed)...and for a lot of people to stop constant deep charges and to charge when needed instead of pushing the battery to low critical levels
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss

I will also add that if you're going to try and mess with settings such as I/O or over/under clocking do your research so you don't jack your phone trying to save a battery. I say this from experience lol
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I understand leaving your phone on all day long so you can see texts and missed calls and stuff but why not just turn off your data during the day instead? I use this widget when I am in a poor signal area, don't need data, or sometimes overnight https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.data.enabler&hl=en Simple and effective and you can let your apps sync for times when you are using the phone
Undervolting also helps a little

Step 1. Install CM10 or ParanoidAndroid.
Step 2. PROFIT!
Battery life between stock and AOSP is night and day.

The questions about battery life are there because not every kernal is the same. Especially ones that are early in development. Pretty much every AOSP rom will defer some amount and even more so if 1 of them is in its early stages.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

What battery problem I'm, all good
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

What most people need to know is no matter what tweaks are applied.. YMMV. It's all down to the user.. Best way to save battery on your phone.. Turn it off!!!! lol But I agree with the things posted. I'm always messing around to find the best settings.. So far i've gotten over a day (1d 3 hours) with over 2 hours screen on with my setup. Which is great for me. But all in all, it's how i use my phone.

MiguelHogue said:
Just like to add for people to check their batteries lol...these stock batteries that come with the phone don't last all that long..a lot of these batteries go bad quick and need to be replaced (a simple spin of the battery will tell you if you need it changed)...and for a lot of people to stop constant deep charges and to charge when needed instead of pushing the battery to low critical levels
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean spin the battery? As in literally put in on a counter and spin it?

VeEzyZ32 said:
What do you mean spin the battery? As in literally put in on a counter and spin it?
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Click to collapse
Yes.. If it's spins that means it's bulging.. And that equals a bad battery
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss

MiguelHogue said:
Yes.. If it's spins that means it's bulging.. And that equals a bad battery
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if it jumps up and starts doing flips.... YOUTUBE THAT SH!T!!!!! :laugh:

milky1112 said:
And if it jumps up and starts doing flips.... YOUTUBE THAT SH!T!!!!! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol if it jumps and starts doing flips.. Stand back... That thing about to explode
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss

Oh everyone loves the magical blue smoke! (i was an airvraft electrician in the navy, seen batteries that werent happy lol noooooo funn)
Sent from my braille Epic Touch

I wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences with battery life on my E4GT.
On GB I had great battery life...As soon as I got on any version of ICS I started having battery life issues. I eventually learned that my battery was buldging so I ordered a new one. Once I got my new battery, I thought life would be grand...NOT so much!!
Over the last month or so and ROM after ROM, tweak after tweak and even going straight stock I figure it was actually the device itself that was the problem...AND it was the problem from the day I got it last Dec. From reception to battery life to buzzing camera.
Something I've seen as is that "freezing" an app doesnt always disable it...I've had to completely uninstall something to get it to not run...even though its frozen and all of its startup references are disabled in Autostarts.
I dont care for the stock browser, but I've learned that 3rd party browsers such as Firefox and Chrome continue to run and use CPU even after exiting...Now, FIrefox has an actual "Quit" option while chrome doesnt...So if you Quit out of Firefox its ok, but unless you close your tab in Chrome it just keeps on chugging battery power.
A TEP replacement phone is what finally resolved my issues!!
I've only had my new phone for 2 days now, but I'm already seeing better battery than before, plus better reception and a camera that doesnt buzz.
I've got Agats ROM with the BluKuban 1.8 Kernel. This Kernel has a few more options enabled so I use that but I like how Agat put his FI27 ROM together.
Thanks for reading...

Found this one to be very helpful (written for the nexus but some does apply to our device):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1599025
Also if you have a newer version of maps, make sure to go to settings-location settings and disable location reporting and location history, these two kill your battery when turned on.

Never understood some people's philosophy on extending battery life.

I've read a lot of posts complaining about battery life, and other posts about users suggesting ways to improve battery life. I've read stuff like, disable LED, haptic feedback, lower volume, lower brightness, LTE turned off, underclocking, turning off sync, live wallpapers, etc, etc. To me a lot of people are crippling their phones. If your battery can last you 10 hours, that's enough because you'll probably be somewhere you can plug in. What's the point of being able to go for 20 hours when you'll probably have the opportunity to charge it before then? It's better to have and enjoy all the features.
Maybe somebody can chime in and give me their point of view.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I agree. I would never want to sacrifice a feature just to extend the phone's battery life. Instead I use a custom rom that has all the features (and more) and 12 to 18 hours of battery life.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Part of the issue is a sociological thinking pattern between wanting "more" and needing it. Depending upon the type of lifestyle you live, sometimes, battery life is of dire importance to have if you're constantly migrating around. But I agree, some people who aren't in that sort of disposition go overboard with it.

I just bought a bigger battery :good:

I agree wholeheartedly. If your battery is lasting you through your day (which mine does, and more) then why try to conserve it?

Yea its funny stuff people complain their battery only lasts 20 hrs but yet they want it to be able to do everything a computer can do and more....
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

The only conscious effort i made to extend my battery life was to undervolt the CPU a bit, but this was more for the lower temperature advantages with extra battery life being an added bonus. Beyond that i turned off things i dont use like BT, no need having something running that i have no use for. Overall i was happy with the stock battery except for any kind of heavy video or game usage which drains it pretty quick - solution : bigger F'n battery :highfive:

i agree that some people seem a bit obsessive about it. but we shouldn give bad battery life a pass either. hopefully we will see some sort of advancement in batteries to have better battery life while keeping them at a decent size.
i was kinda worried id have horrible battery life with the S3 being that its LTE. my last LTE phone was so bad it would die after 8 hours idle.

Aftcomet said:
I've read a lot of posts complaining about battery life, and other posts about users suggesting ways to improve battery life. I've read stuff like, disable LED, haptic feedback, lower volume, lower brightness, LTE turned off, underclocking, turning off sync, live wallpapers, etc, etc. To me a lot of people are crippling their phones. If your battery can last you 10 hours, that's enough because you'll probably be somewhere you can plug in. What's the point of being able to go for 20 hours when you'll probably have the opportunity to charge it before then? It's better to have and enjoy all the features.
Maybe somebody can chime in and give me their point of view.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep the brightness to the lowest setting anyway, but I do all of this because I go to school fairly far from my home, and I'd like to be able to play games on my phone without wasting 5% battery every 15 minutes. I haven't switched power saving off since I bought the phone.
Stock ICS on my S3

I bought the extended battery because I like playing games from time to time and I don't want tl have to worry about my phone dropping 15% after playing something for 5 minutes. Like someone else said earlier. It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you live. I for one don't mind having the extended battery on my phone but I do miss how light it used to be.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Naldonnis said:
I bought the extended battery because I like playing games from time to time and I don't want tl have to worry about my phone dropping 15% after playing something for 5 minutes. Like someone else said earlier. It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you live. I for one don't mind having the extended battery on my phone but I do miss how light it used to be.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How heavy is it? Does it fit in a case?

For me, and I want as much battery life as possible to avoid those situations where there is no way to charge you phone even if that only happens 1 a month or less.. As a parent I can't just let my phone die on me... I always need enough to be able to take or make that important calls/text. My goal is to have at least 20-30 hours of battery life per charge.
I think the only major feature I've given up is live wall paper. Other then that, it is just disabling other unused apps like gtalk, talkback, Google bookmarked sync. As well I've uv my phone as much as I can and run a 1350 max clock speed. I really don't see any major dip in performance as long as you do it right . I do use Tasker to disable syncing globally when the screen is off and make sure it automatically disable bluetooth after 10 mins once it disconnect. Also I have the Y5 app to automatically toggle wifi based off my network location. The most useful battery saver I've found is to set my wifi to only connect when the screen is on. Seems kind of backwards but it works well when very little data is process during idle rather the the phone requiring to keep a constant connection to wifi.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

I'm also one of those people that closes an app as soon as I'm done with it. Use an app, press the home button, release and hold home, swipe the app away, sigh in relief. An old habit carried from my S2 Skyrocket, where getting 8 hours on stock was above average.
Stock ICS on my S3

sly-tendencies said:
I'm also one of those people that closes an app as soon as I'm done with it. Use an app, press the home button, release and hold home, swipe the app away, sigh in relief. An old habit carried from my S2 Skyrocket, where getting 8 hours on stock was above average.
Stock ICS on my S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that feel, I was on an LG nitro HD.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

I have my screen brightness at 40-50 auto off.. i cant imagine turning it all the way down like alot of people say.. even when auto brightness is on it look very dull and dark at night to me.. Same thing for my tv with auto brightness.. but i still get good battery life. I am fully charged at about 6pm i use it till bedtime and use it for my alarm.. get up 4 am and when i get home at 2pm its still over 40%.. only thing i do is close all my running apps by holding home button a few times a day and same with ram

I work in an office so it's plugged in for the 2 hours before I leave so I have everything on full most of the day (brightness, lte...). Also, by undervolting I'm getting 30% more battery.
I think tips on increasing battery life like turning off lte and brightness are for people who can't plug in throughout the day or for emergency situations when you want to get the most out of your phone because there's some reason you can't charge.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I get anywhere from 12 - 23 hours depending on whether I'm at work or off. I can live with that...but there are situations where being unreachable poses a problem.
So, to deal with my phone addiction, I got an original replacement battery. Always have it charged and on me. When the phone shuts down, pop in the replacement and your done. About a minute without a phone. This way I don't have to UV, worry about brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc...
I can't deal with the bulk of an extended battery.
sent from my SIII i747

derberts said:
I work in an office so it's plugged in for the 2 hours before I leave so I have everything on full most of the day (brightness, lte...). Also, by undervolting I'm getting 30% more battery.
I think tips on increasing battery life like turning off lte and brightness are for people who can't plug in throughout the day or for emergency situations when you want to get the most out of your phone because there's some reason you can't charge.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
30% more battery by simply undervolting? I think that's quite an overstretched statement. How is that even possible?

Aftcomet said:
30% more battery by simply undervolting? I think that's quite an overstretched statement. How is that even possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not possible. Not by solely UVing. The sole purpose of undervolting is so that your phone dosent overheat when running high clock speeds. Saving battery is just a perk. You might save a few percent with the undervolt but nowhere around 30%. But don't take my word for it.....
>>>> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33282284