I haven't used my S3 in a while since I got my Nexus 5 but never got around to selling it. I was thinking of giving it to my mom instead, who's never used a smartphone but expressed some interest in getting one.
I had unrooted and flashed a stock Rogers 4.3 in anticipation of selling it.
Last week my Nexus 5 died and while waiting for my replacement I was using the S3 again as a backup. Since I only needed it for a few days I didn't do any rooting or customization and lived with the stock experience.
However, I found there was serious battery drain. Much more than I recall when I was using it prior to 4.3 (which came out around the time I switched phones). Based on betterbatterystats it looked like this was being caused by a wakelock related to google network services. I see the same wakelock on my Nexus 5 but it doesn't seem to cause any drain while sleeping while on the S3 it's probably losing 20% per hour while sleeping which is a major issue. Is this a known issue with Samsung's 4.3?
So I want to give her the phone in a state that is as maintenance free as possible. I planned to just keep it stock but the battery drain is going to make this phone useless for her and any kind of apps/utilities to tweak battery usage is not going to be a tenable solution with the phone in her hands. She's going to have her hands full just learning the basics.
Is there any way to fix the stock ROM to fix this battery drain issue? If not, is there a custom ROM that does not exhibit this problem but is fully stable and usable by a non-technical user? My experience with custom ROMS has been they all seemed to have various bugs or issues, probably related to incomplete driver support. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get a Nexus. But I haven't followed S3 development since so any suggestions on stable ROMS that don't need any tweaking would be appreciated.
Thanks!
On the stock side, you could start with a non root debloating effort.
Two basic principles are:
Eliminating 2x & 3x built in apps & services like email client, music store, contacts sync, social networking updater, weather widget etc. That is to say pick from the Samsung, Google or AT&T (or no) version and "Turn Off" the others in Application Manager, as able. Obviously root & say, App Quarantine would give greater reach there.
Secondly, reducing unneeded background activities like synching in selected apps' (like Gmail or Skype) settings menu and, if sufficient wifi uptime is available, "Restricting background data" per app; below the pie chart (in Settings/Data usage, after scrolling downward from the bar chart to click on individual apps.) This will limit top background data hogs from overusing cellular data connection activity (with its battery impact) & restrict them to the wifi connection. This works (non destructively wherever real time data can wait for wifi).
My rooted, modded stock 4.3 may be a little less restrictive than yours, but these procedures can make a pure stock flash tamer while considering root options.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Related
Ok, so I got my new EVO last week. I haven't updated to the new 2.2 (Froyo) yet, though I keep getting the popup saying I should do it. I'll get around to it eventually .. lol. Anyway, my question is ... my battery seems to drain rather quickly throughout the day. I'm not necessarily doing anything spectacular, I have gmail and an exchange (outlook) mail account that are synching .. oh, and the weather widget and bluetooth is always on. I do check my facebook account every once in a while but don't keep it running all the time (at least I don't think it is ... I didn't add the widget, rather just the app to my home screen). I am not putzing with my phone all the time but here it is, almost 2:30 and my battery is at 47% since unplugging it from the charger at 6am. Will updating to 2.2 help with my battery issue? How can I see what is draining my battery?
Yea I'm having the same problem ... IDK I got task killer but its not helping
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
g00fette said:
Ok, so I got my new EVO last week. I haven't updated to the new 2.2 (Froyo) yet, though I keep getting the popup saying I should do it. I'll get around to it eventually .. lol. Anyway, my question is ... my battery seems to drain rather quickly throughout the day. I'm not necessarily doing anything spectacular, I have gmail and an exchange (outlook) mail account that are synching .. oh, and the weather widget and bluetooth is always on. I do check my facebook account every once in a while but don't keep it running all the time (at least I don't think it is ... I didn't add the widget, rather just the app to my home screen). I am not putzing with my phone all the time but here it is, almost 2:30 and my battery is at 47% since unplugging it from the charger at 6am. Will updating to 2.2 help with my battery issue? How can I see what is draining my battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to check your battery there are apps in the market for that... you can also go to menu --- settings-- about phone---battery---battery use. Also try these tips from this website it has worked wonders for me on my stock rooted Evo http://www.techhackz.com/2010/06/how-to-increase-your-htc-evo-4g-battery.html
You're not doing terrible compared to most users, although I'll bet Bluetooth is taking a significant amount of juice. Froyo isn't a magical battery saver, though it is supposedly more efficient. You may be better of rooting and getting an undervolted ROM in combination with some conservative "Screen off" SetCPU profiles.
Three things: First, you can turn off the OTA notification by going into your settings menu - Software Update and turning off the scheduled check. You'll still be able to check manually whenever you want. Second, turning off "always on mobile data" will save a good amount of battery, but you'll lose Gmail push and some other minor things. Third, think long and hard before you accept that 2.2 OTA update. It can't be rooted yet, you can't go back to 2.1, and we still don't know if/when a root method will be found. If you want Froyo and there's a 0.001% chance you might want to root sometime in the future, you're better off rooting NOW and flashing a ROOTED stock OTA update from the Development section.
Just my thoughts.
Ok, so I downloaded System Panel (the free version for now) from the Market and was able to identify some things that were running that I thought were closed. Not sure what, if any, impact that will have ... time will tell. Here's my next question. After going to Settings/Applications/Running services I'm trying to figure out what some of these things are to determine if I need them running:
Mail - MailService (I'm guessing this is my Gmail?)
Mail - EASDirectpush (I'm guessing this is my Exchange (Outlook)?)
Calendar - ObexService (ummm ... is this my synch'd calendar from Outlook?)
Calendar - ConnectivityService (no idea what this is?)
Touch Input - Touch Input (is it as self explanatory as it sounds?)
HTC DM - HtcDmService (no idea what this is?)
HTC IQAgent - AgentService (no idea what this is?)
com.smithmicro.dm - DMServiceApp (no idea what this is?)
g00fette said:
Ok, so I downloaded System Panel (the free version for now) from the Market and was able to identify some things that were running that I thought were closed. Not sure what, if any, impact that will have ... time will tell. Here's my next question. After going to Settings/Applications/Running services I'm trying to figure out what some of these things are to determine if I need them running:
Mail - MailService (I'm guessing this is my Gmail?)
Mail - EASDirectpush (I'm guessing this is my Exchange (Outlook)?)
Calendar - ObexService (ummm ... is this my synch'd calendar from Outlook?)
Calendar - ConnectivityService (no idea what this is?)
Touch Input - Touch Input (is it as self explanatory as it sounds?)
HTC DM - HtcDmService (no idea what this is?)
HTC IQAgent - AgentService (no idea what this is?)
com.smithmicro.dm - DMServiceApp (no idea what this is?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not the functionality you want out of systempanel - what you're refferring to here is essentially using it as a task killer, which you shouldn't be using. Those items will just keep restarting - it's more efficient to just leave them in the background where they're not using cpu or battery.
The main functionality of systempanel lies only in the bought version, I'm afraid. What it does is allow you to set it up to monitor your phone - so you can go back to it a day later and see how your battery, cpu, and device usage were affected over a period of time.
Honestly though, for non-rooted, you're not doing too bad on battery. If you want better, you're probably going to want to root, which will allow you to use custom ROMs and kernels that allow overclocking and underclocking. And also allow you to remove bloatware.
Regardless if your rooted or not, make sure you go into all of the stock apps, like talk, stocks, news, etc, and set them up to never login and never sync. Then install the network app from the market and make sure that you're set to cdma auto prl. this should help.
And note what SilverZero mentioned - CURRENTLY THERE IS NO WAY TO ROOT AFTER THE 2.2 OTA UPGRADE. This really can't be stressed enough. So if you do decide to go through with the OTA, your options will be very limited for any tweaking.
Average apps that run on everyones phone. those apps are running on mine as we speak and I am still getting good battery life. I have been off the charger since 7a.m. and I am at 78% phone calls and text with wifi and 3g running all day. try that link I posted
This may sound like a real stupid noob question but if I root my phone do I have to flash a ROM? Or will the stock ROM (2.1) still be there?
g00fette said:
This may sound like a real stupid noob question but if I root my phone do I have to flash a ROM? Or will the stock ROM (2.1) still be there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stock rom will be there - you have the option to flash a rom once rooted, but if you want, you can just stop once rooted - some people root just to be able to run titanium backup.
noob. jk ;-)
Hi, hoping that someone out there will have some answers or solutions for me! My boyfriend is knowledgeable enough to help me flash new roms/radios to my phone, but is not confident enough to change anything like overclocking, or any of the advanced settings in my current rom, CM 7.2
Even back in 7.0 and 7.1, my phone was always losing signal--for example, losing data connectivity in my office for several hours! This is using the radio that comes with 7.2, as well as several others (my current radio is 12.28h.60.140fU_26.06.02.25). I'm kind of at my wits end---it's frustrating when everyone around me is using their phone no problem and I can't even get a signal because my phone is saying it lost data connectivity because it's out of range/roaming! Is this an issue I could bring up with my wireless provider, or is this a rom or hardware issue?
My other current concern is that in the last week, my phone has been running very slowly--there is a delay almost every time I press an icon, whether it be messaging, gmail, or facebook. Facebook and other apps have been especially slow--if I haven't opened it recently, it will take about 10 seconds to start loading, with a black screen in the mean time. I've tried switching apps from the phone to the SD card and back, and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'd hate to re-install the rom and go through the work of changing all of my settings if it ends up not fixing anything (waiting for an official release of CM9 anyways). Is there any settings I can change that would speed it up?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
your best off trying a new radio and flashing your rom over, yeah this can suck but im sure it will be well worth the time spent in the end.
you can restore most apps+data to the same point with titanium backup
if you use a custom launcher most of those settings can be backed up
sms backup + will take care of messages and call logs for you
really it wont take too long and you will be much much happier.
just make sure to do a full wipe when you reflash the rom
and when you change radios you can wipe efs and change ril-libs
this may also help out a lot -- here is some info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=970809
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1335127
again - read through this material first - do a full wipe - reflash rom - try new radio -
wipe efs and change ril-libs
you are now happy... after you restore everything to your desire!
do a nandroid!
I think that what demkantor said regarding radio and the sorts is pretty solid. Radios are a trial and error thing, it's different for everyone, so test and see what works for you in terms of performance/battery life.
Performance wise, if you like CyanogenMod, I would highly recommend switching to ILWT CM7. It is considerably faster and has better battery life when compared to official CM. You can find it under the development section in this forum.
From there you can use the Supercharger V6 script, which also adds a boost most welcome. Try to avoid using task killers, they'll only slow down the phone as it will try to restore the killed processes. Also, try to keep your app count as low as possible. Having many apps slows things down A LOT. Ideally you should only keep the apps you need, in addition to 20~ complimentary (games and so on). There are also other apps called 'rogue'. They tend to hog your system resources and drain battery. You should notice this by looking at the battery stats/running processes windows. You'll have to
From there, you can achieve more performance you can overclock. My suggestion is to use CPU Tuner, get familiarized with it and set up some profiles, in order to preserve battery as it degrades.
(Hopefully) last edit: I wish I could add more to this subject but my provider's reception up here does not allow me to. I hope the above info will suffice.
Sent from my DZ.
OK, first of all, @demkantor, Titanium Backup is awesome! it kept all of my presets for EVERYTHING. Thanks for that referral!
I reflashed CM7.2 last night and all seems good so far--not as laggy as it had been, though I haven't opened tons of programs since last night, either.
I will take a look at the efs and ril-lib details--I've used that thread to find radios before, but kind of ignored those subjects, since the new radios technically worked, but not WELL.
@crestofawave Thanks, I might try ILWTCM7, at least until CM9 comes out, because battery life has also definitely always been an issue for me. However, not super confident about adding the supercharger V6 script and fiddling around with my CPU. Is there any sort of beginner's guide you can recommend for doing this? If I switch to ILWTCM7 but don't run the script or overclock, can I still expect a significant change in performance/battery life?
I really can't do much else about reducing battery usage--I've recently switched to the paid versions of some games, to eliminate those battery-eating ads I hear so much about, and I keep bluetooth, GPS, and WIFI off unless I am actively using them.
Not sure if this is a bug or something, but my Android OS usage is extremely high from 40-50%. Also the Android OS always is downloading something, my wifi icon is always downloading when on wifi, but it doesn't when I'm on a mobile network. Is anybody else having the same issues? Also my auto-sync is only for my Google account which includes Gmail, Calendar, Contacts and Google Music. See the attachments for usage statistics.
Install BetterBatteryStats (there's a free xda version available), do some reading on how to use it, and you'll find your issue easily.
Make sure all bloatware is removing from your phone, that did the trick for me.. I get 22-24 hours of usage.. on 4G of course.
I have the same problem here. Android OS uses most of the battery, whereas display only uses 20-30%, kind of weird
But the phone still gives me power for all day long
sent from my Optimus G E971
All my bloatware is removed, I got factory unlocked so I don't have the usual carrier stuff. Think I'm going to root and flash the AOSP rom onto my phone.
Its an error in reporting with ICS, it is not actually draining.
I have flashed many Roms over the last year, Jedi Roms, Infamous Roms, Stock, and most recently Rushing's Shadow Rom. I have stuck to only Touchwiz based Roms since I need WiFi Calling to use my cell phone in my apartment.
The one thing I noticed every time I flashed is that the phone would get significantly slower after I rebooted the phone the first time after I installed a bunch of apps. (Not after the first one I do after the phone has resynch'ed contacts and stuff from google) Additionally, after a couple months the phone would get so slow that I would reflash a new Rom (generally, by this time a new version, but if a new version is not available, I usually switch Roms)
The apps I usually download include:
Google - YouTube, Maps
T-Mobile -Visual Voicemail
Media - Pulse, BeyondPod, a music player
Root stuff - Titanium, Rom toolbox, ES file explorer, etc.
Popular apps - Facebook, twitter, ebay, bank of america, etc.
Are any of these apps known to degrade the performance of your phone over time? Is there a way to diagnose which of these apps are running and when?
A second theory I have is that something on my SD card is either corrupt or not getting wiped properly. Then, these corrupt sectors/files cause performance to decrease over time? Has anybody heard of anything like this? Are there any utilities out there to look for corrupt file. Can anyone reccomend a SD cleaning app that might help if this is the case?
A third theory is that these customized Roms aren't as stable as they are thought to be. I don't believe this is the case since the developers on this forum are much smarter than me, and thoroughly test their roms. Additionally, I have seen this happen with Stock rooted also, which also discounts this theory.
Most of this is spit-balling so that people can see my symptoms (if you had similar symptoms, please share troubleshooting steps and resolution) as well as maybe trigger an idea in someone that has an easy fix to my issue. I like this phone a lot and I don't want to buy a new phone just to avoid these issues. I think this phone is still capable of handling the workload of a 2013 smartphone.
Please let me know any tests/logs that would help you help me solve this problem.
i want to downgrade my htc one m8 from lolipop to kitkat 4 again. can you please help me i dont like this os . kitkat was perfect
mohamedabdallah2010 said:
i want to downgrade my htc one m8 from lolipop to kitkat 4 again. can you please help me i dont like this os . kitkat was perfect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to unlock/s-off to get 100% downgrade, or, you can unlock bootloader, flash twrp, and install a kittkatt custom rom.
thanks
thanks but i was on iphone i dont know whats all this. can you please tell me steps
It's not a case of following some steps. What you want is very technical and not for someone with no prior knowledge of rooting Android phones.
What don't you like about lollipop? It's no different, visually, to Kit Kat on the M8
slower
its slower and more battery consume and i dont like the notifications
mohamedabdallah2010 said:
its slower and more battery consume and i dont like the notifications
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Sounds like you update by OTA. In which case, updating by OTA and keeping user data is often the root of random issues. Try backing up any important personal data and doing a factory reset (to wipe user data - and NO this will not return you to a former OS version as some folks mistakenly believe). Lollipop isn't slower than KitKat in any significant way that I've noticed. You're probably seeing bugs due to conflicts with pre-existing user data (settings and apps).
Battery consumption may be due to the new radio. But it might also be a bug caused by pre-existing data, or you may just need to do a full charge-discharge cycle to properly calibrate the battery meter (mandatory after a major OS update).
Also, OTAs contain important security updates. So it should be considered that you won't have these if you "downgrade".
Something to consider - do you use Facebook Messenger? Turns out since the new Google Play services it's been eating battery like no one's business! Read the reviews on the Play Store for proof but it does seem to be linked to Lollipop and (for me) Google Play services 6.7.74
There's bugs even in OTA updates from 4.4.4 seems most if not all manufacturers having problems and they can really screw your handset up - apps consuming battery (not just Play Store) bad mobile internet, losing Wi-Fi , corrupting system, removing apps, deleting SDCard data.
Probably due to crap OTA "patched" system updates. Myself, once handset is back from warranty repair (12 days use, 4 of which OTA stuffed it up) I'll not use OTA again that's for sure.
Bashing away at my HTC Desire C
Since I've removed Facebook Messenger my phone is back to normal, battery life as it was on 4.4.4 and everything is OK so I'm happy (don't use FB Messenger enough to warrant having it!)
thanks
thank you all about reply's. i searched google and i see all people talking about battery and fb messanger on all phones. so you recommend to me to stay on lollipop ? but i dont like really this notification control
So I'm not alone in facing issues with Lollipop
When I update, I was getting terrible battery life so I performed a hard reset from bootloader.
Now almost everything is fine but Google Play Services, more specifically "Mobile radio active" has been eating into the standby time, not like before but still bad, goes on upto 3 hours. "Keep awake" also goes on upto 2 hours.
Any fix or suggestions would be helpful. I don't use Messenger and Facebook, as they were the major battery eaters.
Rather than keeping an eye on pointless stats, how long does your battery actually last? I honestly think people are making up issues. Now, the FB Messenger HAS been eating battery but once I removed that my battery life went back to normal
My battery was better but mobile data was screwed, WiFi only showing my router and no others, never used facebook (so it's not that app alone) blinkfeed consumed 46% of battery use. All on 4.4.4 update so to say people are making a big issue of it, yeah damn right, it was 100% better without the update!
Bashing away at my HTC Desire C
But that's your individual issue between your phone/router/apps/etc. I've had zero issues with Lollipop bar this one with FB Messenger since the new Google Play services so I uninstalled it and now I'm back to running perfectly so clearly the OTA update isn't the issue
Have you done a factory reset to clear out anything left over from 4.4.4? It's always recommended to do so, as annoying as it is, when moving to a new version of Android. I set my phone up from scratch and have no problems with 5.0.1
I have done... Update still goosed it, so maybe you having no problems it's you that's the lucky one! That's why it's back at HTC!
If these patched updates were any good nobody would have issues!
Makes more sense than... It's just your issue!
Bashing away at my HTC Desire C
---------- Post added at 07:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Uninstalling facebook so obviously not stock so the fact you're flashing quite possibly other ROM's negates your lack of problems. Fully stock phone updated worked worse than what I'm using now. Full stop.
There is also the fact I was told by my phone supplier that problems with updates are industry wide since 4.4.4 and if all the update are, are patches, then it's not going to be a quick fix, like it's known there's variations in the handsets with the carriers.
Bashing away at my HTC Desire C
If there were issues they'd pull the update and there'd be more media coverage. I've not flashed anything on my phone, I'm 100% stock and I've not rooted a phone in well over a year. My phone is running the latest Sense build released and have no issues. Now I only use about ten third party apps so it could just be that that means I'm not having issues. Or it could be I close all apps once I've finished with them. I don't know. But I don't think there's anything wrong with what HTC have released
Doesn't explain the problems people are having, my handset was working 100% A-ok the update which I never applied or accepted stuffed it, maybe it's not in the media because it's not affecting, like yourself, people who don't use it as heavily as others, like I said I've been told the industry is having problems with them, maybe the lucky ones less or not affected are low use.
Bashing away at my HTC Desire C
Who told you the industry is having issues, though? I've not heard of Samsung of LG owners having issues, nor those with Nexus devices (well, not huge numbers of people anyway!), so I don't think Lollipop as a whole is the issue at all. Now, I'm not saying people don't have issues, but I think those issues are down to individual setups (apps installed, usage, even the components used in that particular handset). Perhaps I am lucky, but if I am I've been lucky with every phone I've ever owned
thank you all . here is what i did. i did a hard reset and restored my data then installed whatsapp only and now my battery is back to be very good as it was on kitkat and better. i will install every single app one a day to check which one eating the battery. and i will update you with details. and i see much people talking about this issue on other sites and other handsets.thanks
For me battery works good sometimes and then suddenly starts losing charge during standby, so I check and find Mobile Radio Active has been eating away the battery, while this was not the case with 4.4.4. Even with FB and Messenger installed I didn't have any problems but now I do. I uninstalled both so battery is better than what it was with them but still I lose charge mysteriously in standby randomly.