Battery Life and Connection Question - Nexus One Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So far I have been completely loving my nexus one. First android phone and a huge step up from my tilt. But I'm starting to wonder about my phones battery life. At first I figured the battery was dying so fast because of how much I was on it. But it just went down 20% in under 2 hours in my pocket. That was with me killing all running tasks before locking it. This cant be normal.
Also, I got an aluminum case for the phone and now either becuse of that, something i put on the phone, or maybe a defect, my phone is constantly having data connection problems. Any advice would be great.
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

check what services are running:
settings->manage applications->running services (i think)
also turn off all power controls (wifi/gps/sync)
check the battery usage screen?
settings->something..

Which aluminum case did you get?

Its the Monaco Aluminum case. And now today when the case is on, for some reason it makes the touchscreen go friggin nuts. Also when i take it off my signal strength stays steady. I might just go ahead and use the sleeve for now till otter box gets there case for this phone out.
And as for my battery life, i switched back to my original task manager and removed a lot of apps that i added when i noticed this happening and now ot seems better.
Still draining pretty quick though, starting to think i may have to have them send a new battery.

I don't know anything about that case, but I'm pretty sure that anything metal or metallized near the antennas (top and bottom 1/4 of the back) is going to kill your signal. I'd return the case and tell the manufacturer that they're a bunch of bozos.

Related

Froyo + magnet = battery trouble?

Ok, this is going to sound odd but I need to know if our G1 phones with froyo installed could be "held on " if near a magnet when not in use.
I rooted my wifes G1 to match what I have in mine(chromer4.5). She has always had hers stock until now. After I got it all set up, the battery was horrendous while mine was fine. Same phone same age. She did install a couple of widgets I was not familiar with so I removed them 1 at a time. I removed a clock last night and left the phone, battery at 55 percent, on the table not charging. This morning, about 8 hours later, it was at 54 percent. I was sure the clock wan't it but I said "what the hell" and gave it back to her declaring the problem over. She charged it to full and stuck it in her case. By lunch it was at 35 percent. I was stunned. The only difference was it was in her case, one that closes with magnets in the flap. I know there is a car dock app for other phones that can use a magnet to turn on.
If any one actually took the time to read all that, is it possible there is some driver using the compass sensor to keep the phone running in the background when near a magnet?
Thanks,
I highly doubt this was a magnet. Its possible and no electronic device should be near a magnet anyway. But not sure. Did you check if she had more running processes going on than you? Is her screen set brighter than yours. Does she have her screen set to turn off at a certain time. Could of pressed against the case. Popped her screen on. And stayed on? This are all things to think about maybe.
sent from my superfroyo dream
I'm still trying things. I have mine "cooking" in the case now and the results so far are not conclusive. I lost 10 percent in 1 hour with phone doing nothing. I will keep trying different combinations until I think I know exactly what the pattern is. I have tried to set everything the same.
My next test will be to turn the phone around in the case. The magnet location is between the word 'google" and the camera.
I will also try to lay the magnet in the same spot and get a logcat to see if anything starts.
Any news yet? Id like to know. I'm learning from you also uno
sent from my superfroyo dream
Xx12thANG3LxX said:
Any news yet? Id like to know. I'm learning from you also uno
sent from my superfroyo dream
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried so many things its hard to bring you up to date but I am 100 percent sure the case is the source of the battery loss.
I used the case for a day while my wife just kept her phone in a pocket. I was down to 20% in 4 hours of very light use while she had 83% left after 9 hours.
I do have an additional theory for why it drains the battery. It could be blocking the signal so the phone is constantly seeking signal while in the case.
Today she is going to put the phone in the case with the screen facing the magnets.
I will post the results of the test.
Hmmmmm wierd
sent from my superfroyo dream
The case must be pressing buttons on the phone, if ditching the case does not solve the problem.
-charge phone to %100
-turn off phone unplug charger
-reconnect charger and wait for led to turn green
-turn on phone and repeat until phone says %100 instantly and led turns green instantly.
^ This fixed my battery problems i recommend you try it either way (you might get some extra battery life).
Froyo + magnet = battery trouble ? why ?

[HOT!]Charging problems, false drain readings, dialer issue, battery life, SOLUTION

Hey guys,
I would like to make your situation easier, so you don't have to read like 1000s of forum threads to get information I'm giving you here. These are the issues I faced with my incredible s, and the so called solutions.
The device:
Stock EU htc incredible s/ htc droid incredible 2 on Gingerbread. NO software mods at all.
According to my knowledge the same applies to the htc desire s and the htc desire hd as well. Most of these problems come forward after updating to gingerbread. If you are still on froyo, I wouldn' recommend updating.
1st issue. High standby drain.
According to Currentwidget and battery monitor my incredible s doesn't have lower battery consumption in standby than 38Mah.
Solution:
Drain readings are corrupted, there is a bug involved.
In reality You only have around 5-6Mah drain in standby.
Proof.
Left phone in standby for 2 days without messing with it, ended up with 40% left.
So if you have a minimum of 40Mah drain for two days. (48hours x40Ma=1920Ma) The battery's capacity is no more than 1500Ma, so it's obvious that standby drain readings are corrupted.
IGNORE drain readings!
2nd issue: You take it off the charger and it's 95%
Some say that phone charges till 100% than shuts charging down till battery reaches 90%, than charging starts again.
Some say our Lithium battery cannot get charged till 100% which is normal. This is the reason our device doesn't show % in notification area.
Solution: Ignore battery monitor, use inbuilt battery charge indicator, and be happy.
If you want to test battery life, start test at 90% and your test won't be corrupted.
3rd issue: Dialer using too much battery.
This might to be a bug as well. Still to be confirmed. The dialer doesn't use that much of power it only gets stuck in built in battery use indicator giving false drain data.
Some say it doesn't stop using proximity sensor after being in a call, hence the big drain. Incredible s's proximity sensor is visible during call, check it in the dark, it blinks. After call it stays inactive. So the dialer using it 24/7 seems to be a false statement.
4th issue: Declining calls in pocket.
When taking or declining a call, you swipe vertically on the screen. If you have your phone in your pocket with the screen facing your body, you can easily take or decline some calls when pulling out. This is more likely if you have a pocket made of thin material.
Solution: Put your phone in your pocket with the battery cover facing your leg. Don't worry about bumping into like a table corner and smashing your screen. Our gorilla glass is almost indestructible. Using a pouch or cover does the trick as well.
Not sure why htc is so obsessed with the vertical answer procedure. With horizontal swipe we wouldn't have this problem and users have been complaining about this since the desire came out.
5th Issue: Wifi disconnects when signal low, but still would be fine under froyo.
Connection gets disconnected when signal is 86db or lower.
This is a gingerbread related problem, htc cannot do anything about it.
No solution just yet.
For those who complain about battery life, I am on gingerbread with loads of apps installed and with very heavy use 3hours of display, wifi, skype,internet browsing I can use the phone for 12 hours. With moderate use min 2 days.
Battery saving tipps:
-Don't let google and htc sync. It uses lot of data and battery resources.(I don't like my sensitive data to be copied on their servers anyway.) Sync with your pc regularly.
- If u use data for e-mail and weather sync, use Gsm only mode, you don't need that much of speed for those, turn WCDMA on if u need it for skype, etc. Hspda and 3g are big battery killers.
-Everything on manual sync. There is a sync all widget in sense to use. U can hit it anytime you want to.
-No live wallpaper
-Hotspot uses excessive amount of battery. Use it on charger only.
-Screen light to be turned down. Use Screen filter app nighttime.
-Turn wifi and mobile data off when not in use, so phone can sleep properly. (wifi timeout app)
-Turn off wireless network positioning.
-Keep bluetooth off when not in use.
-Select short screen timeout like 15s.
-Screen on time is the main culprit in appalling battery life. Use your watch to check time rather than turning the screen on.
-If u struggle to find 3g or Hspda for data or network itself, change provider, because no matter what phone u have, u will have this problem. Try to find spots in your flat with better signal for data. Searching for network uses a lot of battery.
-Try to charge your phone from 0% overnight with the phone off for a couple of times (8-12hrs)
-When gps is on it doesn't mean that it uses battery. If you see the sattelite icon blinking or just on, that's when it uses battery, a significant amount of battery.
-Consider buying the official extended battery available in US (droid incredible 2 2100Mah), coming to EU soon. I wouldn't recommend buying the unofficial ones just now.
Obviously if you apply some of these battery life will be better. If you apply all of them, battery life will be exceptional.
Hope I helped.
Have fun guys!
Hi!
Thanks you for this! I buy my incredible s a couple of days ago, upgraded instantley. I met most of these problems and now I am happyer with my phone knowing these.
Could you give link to the battery you wrote about???
i appreciate what you're trying to do - but if you are going to follow all those steps you might as well have bought a nokia 3210
"Use your watch to check time rather than turning the screen on"
i mean.... really??
As I said, you don't have to follow all the steps.
You might face conditions when you need every drop of your juice, so it's good to know how to get the most out of your battery, isn't it?
Sent from my HTC Incredible S using XDA App
IncredibleSSS said:
Hi!
Thanks you for this! I buy my incredible s a couple of days ago, upgraded instantley. I met most of these problems and now I am happyer with my phone knowing these.
Could you give link to the battery you wrote about???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.bargaincell.com/-p-509714.html
It's for the droid incredible 2, but thats equivalent to Incredible s.
Sorry if this seems sarcastic, but if you're gonna buy a smartphone and turn everything that makes it a smartphone off, then save yourself a few hundred quid and buy a Nokia 1100
I use mine to sync everything and anything I want, and don't worry about it, as long as it lasts the day, which it does, I'm happy.
Clivectmob said:
Sorry if this seems sarcastic, but if you're gonna buy a smartphone and turn everything that makes it a smartphone off, then save yourself a few hundred quid and buy a Nokia 1100
I use mine to sync everything and anything I want, and don't worry about it, as long as it lasts the day, which it does, I'm happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you misinterpreted what the op said. He is just stating what you could do if you found yourself in a situation where you had to maximize battery usage. Obviously most of us are around an outlet or usb plug most of the day so that we can charge the phone often.
Thanks for the info OP. I just wish that current widget would show us the right info. Or some other app :/
Thanks for the info OP. My buddy has had endless problems with his Incredible. I'll Chrome to Phone this thread and send it to him!
sdxda said:
Thanks for the info OP. I just wish that current widget would show us the right info. Or some other app :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not the apps fault, the phone just reports wrong. So any other app should also fail.
@superman, perhaps a faulty app is causing the problems
Wifi issue should be resolved with the ota update.
However there is a network at my workplace which I couldn't connect to. I guess it is some kind of wifi repeater, it doesn't look like an actual wifi router. There is no cable connecting to it. Apparently I can connect but I get 0 signal next to it. Others can connect with full signal. Any idea?
RicarduZonta said:
Hey guys,
Our gorilla glass is almost indestructible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the glass on my phone broke on the third day falling face down from a a height of about 1 feet. so is it a gorilla glass or normal?
Not trying to be rude or anything but thought some other members would find what I have to say useful (I hope!)
Not everything you say is true.
RicarduZonta said:
Put your phone in your pocket with the battery cover facing your leg. Don't worry about bumping into like a table corner and smashing your screen. Our gorilla glass is almost indestructible. Using a pouch or cover does the trick as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is FAR from "almost" indestructible. Some people also say it's impossible to scratch it, yet mines been scratched (this AND nexus one) It's nice glass but indestructible? I think not, not even "almost"
Oh the guy above me also had his cracked!
RicarduZonta said:
Battery saving tipps:
-Don't let google and htc sync. It uses lot of data and battery resources.(I don't like my sensitive data to be copied on their servers anyway.) Sync with your pc regularly.
- If u use data for e-mail and weather sync, use Gsm only mode, you don't need that much of speed for those, turn WCDMA on if u need it for skype, etc. Hspda and 3g are big battery killers.
-No live wallpaper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Live wall papers do eat your battery, but it's almost close to nothing. I've read that whatever uses more than 2% of your battery will be displayed in the "battery usage" I've used live wallpapers and it's never even shown that. (I think it also depends on what kind of wallpapers you use though.. let's say you had one that interacted with you) perhaps that might drain more battery.. but who turns on their phone to play with their wallpaper lmao
I've tested and disabling google sync barely makes a diff. I also don't think it uses a lot of data. I don't completely disagree with you though, manual sync is probably a better idea. On the other hand, I don't really think Hspda/3g are big battery killers, I notice that if you use the browser, the battery drops quick. Let's say you used "gsm" / "2G" and the webpage takes longer to load whereas 3G would have it loaded within seconds.. Which would waste more battery? I'm not 100% sure but I'd say just keep 3G and turn on 2G if you're not doing anything else with your phone. To my surprise, 2G is horribly slow.
RicarduZonta said:
-Screen light to be turned down. Use Screen filter app nighttime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely false. This is only a cover on top of your screen. It doesn't change the power being outputted to the screen. If you look at what RogerProdacter is making, you'll see that he's trying to modify the phones brightness output.
RicarduZonta said:
-Select short screen timeout like 15s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disagree again. It's really up to user though, that's insane. I'd be pissed if my phone kept shutting off in 15s! What you can actually do is turn off the phone yourself or get something like Lock screen widget which instantly turns off your screen. Two reasons it's better - You don't have to worry about the timeout - you shut it off sooner than 15s.
RicarduZonta said:
-Screen on time is the main culprit in appalling battery life. Use your watch to check time rather than turning the screen on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's crazy.. You're saying that for us to check battery life/uptime we should use our watches? That's insane! That's a lot of effort to keep track JUST for your battery. Is it worth it? (I wouldn't think so.. but it's up to whoever uses it lol..)
RicarduZonta said:
-If u struggle to find 3g or Hspda for data or network itself, change provider, because no matter what phone u have, u will have this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what kind of world you live in, sounds way too good to be true. Just instantly change providers eh? Where I live.. that's not really easy to do. I'm sure most people getting cell phones would have enough common sense to pick something that works in their area anyway.

[Q] Galaxy S batteries - short life

Hi
Can see a number of threads about short battery life, none quite match mine:
When I got the phone about 6 months ago I took it abroad with me in the first few weeks. Battery life with normal usage was about 24 to 36 hours with fair use.
Dropped the phone, back came off, battery fell out and gold contacts got damaged.
Ordered replacement OE battery from Amazon. Looks identical to original. Battery life as before, for about the first two weeks. Then got worse and worse until down to about 4 hours. Sent it back, replaced. Replacement is going the same way.
Haven't done anything with the ROM, it's all as it originally was, albeit I've installed more apps since it was new.
Battery meter thing built into the phone (in Settings) shows nothing remarkable.
What is odd, and coincidental: if I leave the phone next to me in the house, it won't always pick up emails on ActiveSync (Exchange) unless I activate it (e.g. bring it out of power down mode). At which point you can see it's dropped Wi-Fi. The icon has gone. A second or two later it reconnects (though not before it's used some 3G data - 3G is OK upstairs, barely a signal downstairs as we live at the bottom of a hill so often drops to "G") and then brings down the emails.
This means it churns through 500MB+ of data over its own 3G connection in a month even if I don't take it out of the house, and even when Wi-Fi is available to it, it chooses not to use it. Wi-Fi reception is pretty poor, compared with e.g. our laptop (that shows excellent strength downstairs, phone shows one bar). It did not do this when I first got it. Curiously my old HTC phone did this too, it struggled to switch properly between its own 3G and Wi-Fi and just got stuck on one or the other. We are in a weak signal area.
Are these things related?
Has the phone become faulty? (Bearing in mind battery life much better with the original one)
Is it just a duff batch of batteries and I should send the battery back for a refund, and get one somewhere else?
Thanks
Mark
Typical behavior for a counterfeit battery but the other symptoms suggest that something got damaged and is stressing the battery. Try re flashing the phone. A sudden loss of power could potentially damage some system files.
Thanks rogem_kk - can I just clarify, when you say "reflashing the phone" do you mean resetting it back to its original state (I'm guessing there's a key sequence you press, I can look in the manual to find that out) or completely reloading the OS?
As regards "sudden loss of power" sadly this happens quite often, because the phone crashes now and again and I have to take the battery off the back and put it back in again. The Android OS seems able to be completely taken down by a failing application (I think Flash movies on web pages are the main culprits) quite readily but I'd got very used to that since my last phone was a Windows Mobile one (the old one not the new one) which had the stability of a damp cardboard box in a strong wind.
I mean wiping it clean and installing the ROM from scratch. Factory reset only removes your data and does not restore/replace system files.
Now may be a great time to flash a custom rom, if it all goes well then do a back up with Nitrality app or similar, while you're at it try out a modem i9000 ZSJPG, you can flash it separately via ClockWorkMod, doubled my battery usage with it, great reception & coverage, that way if you at least get a genuine SGS battery you'll get the most from it.
If you're unsure of flashing you'll need to get reading in the rom section, not too hard to learn.
Many thanks.
Down to 3 hours idle time now - it drops by the day.
Have emailed Samsung on the off-chance they can identify a counterfeit battery from the serial number, so I'll see what they say. Could make for an interesting exchange with Amazon (direct, not via a reseller or third party).
Argos appear to be the "official" resellers for Samsung products in our area but they don't actually sell batteries. As otherwise I'd be tempted to buy one there on the basis that it ought to be genuine, and compare. But haven't rebuilt the phone yet, waiting to see what Samsung come back with.
Hmmm...
"Problems like this, although seemingly severe, can occur when the
Android software on your phone becomes out of date. You can update the
software by simply downloading our Samsung Kies programme. Follow the
link below and choose option ‘save’. Then for safe installation of the
drivers, once save is complete, turn your computer off for a few minutes
and reboot the PC. Once fully loaded again, without opening any
applications on the computer, simply connect your phone to the PC with
the USB lead, and your phone should be automatically set you finish the
installation of Kies. When Kies loads and finds your device, you should
be offered an update that will iron out these issues.
If you require any further assistance, please contact Samsung again and
we will be more than happy to help."
I had one of those so called 'original batties' it was a load of rubbish. Still using original one but its no holding charge for as well after a year of use. Maybe time for a real replacement...
dtmark said:
Hi
Dropped the phone, back came off, battery fell out and gold contacts got damaged.
What is odd, and coincidental: if I leave the phone next to me in the house, it won't always pick up emails on ActiveSync (Exchange) unless I activate it (e.g. bring it out of power down mode). At which point you can see it's dropped Wi-Fi. The icon has gone. A second or two later it reconnects (though not before it's used some 3G data - 3G is OK upstairs, barely a signal downstairs as we live at the bottom of a hill so often drops to "G") and then brings down the emails.
This means it churns through 500MB+ of data over its own 3G connection in a month even if I don't take it out of the house, and even when Wi-Fi is available to it, it chooses not to use it. Wi-Fi reception is pretty poor, compared with e.g. our laptop (that shows excellent strength downstairs, phone shows one bar). It did not do this when I first got it. Curiously my old HTC phone did this too, it struggled to switch properly between its own 3G and Wi-Fi and just got stuck on one or the other. We are in a weak signal area.
Are these things related?
Has the phone become faulty? (Bearing in mind battery life much better with the original one)
Is it just a duff batch of batteries and I should send the battery back for a refund, and get one somewhere else?
Thanks
Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive the curtness of the email, am at work typing one handed while chowing down lunch
First point - you dropped your phone. I know that the new battery went okay for a while but is it possible that the phone itself may have been damaged?
Secondly, Email on Activesync over 3g will absolutely smash the hell out of your battery. Especially if you have push email going. Is it on push or is it set to check every so-and-so amount of time? Too short a period will kill the battery. The "Stock" email app that comes with Gingerbread 2.3.3 or lower seems to be just a big hog over push (for me at least). I also recommend changing the email "Amount To Sync" to a shorter number of days and set the amount of data to a lower value than stock (ie, "Headers Only" or 50k or something) so you download attachments on **your** terms.
Thirdly, you state you're in a poor reception area. This will most definitely affect the battery as the phone on a low signal or zero signal will waste battery trying to reconnect to the tower. Check your "Cell Standby" and see how muck time without connection you have. If it's anything above nothing, it's draining your battery. I recommend flashing a new modem (you'll need to investigate which one is good for your region/country/carrier) through ODIN (or Heimdall). Be careful when doing this and make sure you read up on the hows and what-to-do and what-not-to-do before you do - there is a (small) chance of you killing your phone and I do *not* want you to come back onto this thread and say it blew up (I want you to say "YAY THANKS WOGFELLA" ) Doing this voids your warranty so only do it if you either don't care or you really really want to fix your issue (and by default you don't care)
Fourthly, your wifi coming on and off - go to your Wifi settings, press your menu button and click ... advanced? Can't recall exactly (on ICS now). From there you can set your "Wifi Sleep Policy" to either "Never" or the other option that I can't recall. The default is set to turn the Wifi off when screen is off which of course means you lose your Wifi connection. **For your Email issue, try this first.**
Fifthly, your Wifi signal being weak in your display does not *always* equate to an actual poor connection. Sammy does many great things, but he does mess about a bit with icons and funny business. Check step four above and if you get bad Wifi reception when the phone is off (or while using it) then try messing about with your Router settings and also with the settings on your phone (take notes before doing so, I'm just throwing you ideas here....don't come back to me and ask me how to reset your router settings either!!!)
If that doesn't help then try flashing a custom kernel (kernel controls the Wifi). As above, doing this will void your warranty.
Sixthly, you say that everything was hunky dory and then went haywire. I reckon there may be an app doing funky things.
Try installing CPUSpy from the market and check to ensure your phone is going into decently long periods of "Deep Sleep"
Also, try installing the below app from this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
You're looking for high "Wakelocks" which will impact on your phone being awake instead of...well, asleep...when the screen goes off. Awake phone = cpu processing (even if it's not doing anything) = battery drain. Use Chamonix's recommendations on what is classed as a high amount of wakelock.
Facebook 1.7 for example, keeps the phone awake while checking notifications that just plain ain't there. For me, once I wiped this app, I regained about an extra 2-4 hours per day in use.
Seventhly, look over this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=939752
Has a heap of tips that helped me (before I got sick of stock Sammy and jumped to CM7 and then ICS)
Eighthly, and this is one that probably doesn't need to be said - cycle your battery and (controversial) bump charge. I mean, let the battery drain fully. Take the battery out for 5 mins. Put it back in and see if it turns on, and if it does repeat. Then fully charge to 100% and then unplug and plug back in. If your phone is already rooted then you can also wipe Battery Stats from Recovery.
Lastly - have you tried factory resetting your phone? It may wipe whatever it is that's making your phone freak out (if not the email) and you can start again. If you find that the battery goes bananas again after installing that app, you've found your issue.
So...to sum up:
Check your phone contacts.
Check your Wifi sleep policy.
Check your Email update rate.
Check the length of time you have the sync set for,
and the amount of data per email downloading.
Check to see if you are going into deep sleep.
Check to see if there are any apps holding wakelock (and bugger them off)
More extreme:
Factory reset.
Mess with your router settings if your wifi signal is still weak.
Very Extreme.
Flash Modem
Flash Kernel.
One thing not specified: What version Android are you running? SGS comes from Eclair up to (once Cyanogen and TeamHackSung get it rolling properly) Ice Cream Sandwich.
Hopefully *SOMETHING* in the above helps you.
Good luck!
Thanks for taking the time.
Sorted out the Wi-Fi sleep issue, CPU Spy showed the phone was going into deep sleep when idle, so no "smoking gun" discovered with that.
Reset phone, and set it back up again with basic email and no new installed apps. Have left it on default (minimal) donwload settings. Had already got rid of Facebook.
Battery life is better. Have begun reinstalling a few apps now and keeping an eye on it.
Will report back - thanks again all.
dtmark said:
Thanks for taking the time.
Sorted out the Wi-Fi sleep issue, CPU Spy showed the phone was going into deep sleep when idle, so no "smoking gun" discovered with that.
Reset phone, and set it back up again with basic email and no new installed apps. Have left it on default (minimal) donwload settings. Had already got rid of Facebook.
Battery life is better. Have begun reinstalling a few apps now and keeping an eye on it.
Will report back - thanks again all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No dramas - just be careful as CPU Spy will show length of time in deep sleep but a high proportion of wakelocks won't really be detected and those wakelocks are the ones that smash your battery when sitting "idle"
As you have reset then I think you need to let your battery calibrate first (let it drain fully and recharge fully a few times and that's all you can do if you haven't rooted your phone)
.. one more update..
Battery life is better, but not much better. It still won't last a day without charge even with very light use, 7 hours is about the maximum. I'm certain it used to be better than that when I got it e.g. it survived a whole day on holiday using email and maps quite a bit.
Have changed to 3 from O2 but will have to revert back as 3 doesn't get a signal at all downstairs in some parts of the house. Does mean the phone is going on and off network a lot at the moment.
I reverted to Samsung to tell them their link didn't work and they have sent a link to an authorised dealer for parts if I wanted to buy another battery. I'm all for buying the real thing which is why I bought an (apparently) OE one from Amazon which was about £16 not the £5 that some were.
However this is, er, forty four pounds for a tiny little battery.
http://www.4mysamsung.co.uk/cgi-bin/product.pl?PID=2986318&brand=&model=galaxy s&part=
They also sent links to repair centres.
Now I plugged it into charge earlier, and even after 8 hours, it was dead. Plugged it in again - beeps once as normal - nothing on the display - still not charging. Take battery out, put back in, repeat. Charging now.
Might make you wonder if that part of the phone got damaged e.g. the "socket" where the mini USB thing/charger goes in, but, it's always worked before. It doesn't for instance fail to detect if I plug into the PC and it's never done this before either.
Given how much the battery is and the fact it might be getting to the point of dying altogether I wonder whether to just get a quote for repair and go that way for certainty.
One might have thought it's as simple as: take the thing somewhere and have the battery tested to prove one way or the other.. but I'm really not sure where would do that other than the repair place.
I'd be prepared to try replacing the OS as suggested, but it does remain the fact that the thing worked better when I first got it and even after a complete reset it's still playing up so I feel a sort of mental paralysis over what's best to do now
I'll have a look at the wakelocks thing next when it charges again. If it charges

Getting the most out of your battery

Ok going to try and start a conversation here to get feedback from everyone on what you guys do to get the most out of your battery. I see alot of people always asking what kernal is best for battery life and some people seem to have horrible battery life and some have exceptional battery life. I personally get decent battery life. Nothing super amazing but that comes down to the way I use my phone.
My current battery I'm using - Andida 2000mah battery
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/280843217453...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_4497wt_1396
I also have - GTMax 3500mah battery
http://www.amazon.ca/GTMax-Extended-Battery-3500mAh-Microfiber/dp/B006VAP102/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_t_4
The Andida gives me generally a extra 2-3 hours more over the stock. I had to cycle the battery 4 times before I started seeing any real improvements. If I take these off the charger at 6:30am I can ussually make it to around 10pm without needing to charge.
The GTMax get me through a day (630am - midnight) with around 50% left.
Now keep in mind this is based on my usage habits, and when I'm at work my signal is horrible so it drains a bit harder for the 8 hours I'm at work.
I don't have LTE where I live or work, I do get LTE in areas close by but on a regular day I don't see it. With the bad signal at work I've started to switch to gsm only mode (phone was constantly switching from Edge to 3g/4g and wouldn't provide a stable connection most of the time). This seems to have helped my battery at work.
When I flash a new rom I always give it at least 2 good full battery cycles before judging the battery life on it.
Ok onto some apps. My first foray into getting better battery life started with wanting to control my data. I used Juice Defender to that but I found that having to wait for the data to turn back on was at some times taking way to long and even sometimes I would have to reboot to get it back. Tried a few others and had similar experiences. When it works its nice and I did see some gain from it but at the same time it seemed bloated and slow and I decided I like having my data on and readily available quickly. After some searching I found an awesome app...
Better Battery Stats
Play Store link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats&hl=en
XDA Forum link - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
I highly recommend reading up on this app and trying it out. If your seeing a big drain on you battery while the screen is off, it's probably because there is something that is keeping it from going into a deep sleep mode. This won't save you any battery just by installing it but with a little work it can make a pretty good difference.
Ok now this is where I'm looking for suggestions, are there apps that you find specifically run smoother or are lighter than their stock counterparts or rival apps that put less of a strain on the battery?
Instead of the stock messaging app I run Pansi SMS. It gives me a few extra options but I never really used the stock mms on ICS so I can only compare it to Handcent SMS and I think it is definitely lighter and a lil bit more battery friendly. It's not a huge difference but I try and squeeze everything I can w/o giving up functionality.
For a launcher I'm running apex right now, but for a lightweight launcher I'd recommend FTL. Runs really nice and smooth, nothing fancy about it, just fast and light.
Some apps sometimes can just be poorly coded and thus have a bad effect on battery life. Alot of people seem to feel the Facebook app is one such app that suffers from that. The app that gets the most recommendations as a replacement and being a bit easier on the battery is Friendcaster. I tend to agree with that, and would recommend trying it out.
I'd really like to hear about what everyone else does to try and squeeze out the most of their battery. Theres more stuff that I do, such as reducing the amount of things that are synced to only the stuff I actually want, default settings just sync everything and I don't feel I need to sync my contacts on a daily basis as I rarely change them around. So share your tips, experiences good and bad with apps in regards to your battery, and if theres enough feedback I'll try and re-organize this into a bit better structure.
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
iStatiK said:
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right here, this is the key. I have data off all the time. I only turn it on when I need to look something up or browse. IMO auto updates really kill the battery and aren't worth leaving your data on all the time. I'm on wifi a lot as well. Currently I'm on DarkRaider and I'm ending the day with around 30-40%, great improvement over stock.
It seems that with every new handset that comes out this is one of the hottest topics but the parameters all always the same with regard to battery life.
The 3 biggest things that drain our batteries are Display Usage, Data Connection & Radio Cell Connection. These are listed in order of current used. Of the 3 we can have some control over the 1st 2. Lower screen brightness and disconnect data when not needed and use wifi when possible. While wifi does use a good amount of current it's not as much as mobile data. The last one, Radio Cell Connection, we have very little control over. It's also the reason we see people having great differences in battery life. The further the phone is from the tower it's connected to the more juice it needs to make a good connection. So other than leaving the phone in airplane mode or planning your life around where towers are, neither of which are very practical, there is not much we can do there.
To get the best all around life from Li-ion batteries do not fully discharge them very often and also don't keep them plugged in after they're fully charged. It's best to recharge them when they get down to 20-30% and unplug them after they're charged. They also don't need to be fully charged every time, they have no memory. If your on the go and can only leave it plugged in for a short period of time that's fine. Also if you have more than one battery and your not going to use the 2nd one for a while don't store it at full charge. drop it down to 50-60% before pulling it out.
I'll update this post when I get home tonight with more info and links. Hope it helps.
slapshot30 said:
Right here, this is the key. I have data off all the time. I only turn it on when I need to look something up or browse. IMO auto updates really kill the battery and aren't worth leaving your data on all the time. I'm on wifi a lot as well. Currently I'm on DarkRaider and I'm ending the day with around 30-40%, great improvement over stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
iStatiK said:
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With my 3500mah battery I don't really worry about turning anything off. That thing is great. Made a bumper case for it but I miss having a real case on it so I picked up the 2000mah andida battery so I could get a few more hours on some days. If someone ever made a real case for those big batteries i'd use it all the time.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try 2x Battery from the store. It will shut off data as soon as the the phone sleeps, it reconnects at screen on after unlock almost instantly. It also allows you to white list apps, like Pandora. The free version only allows 1 app though.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The DarkRaider ROM I am using has a nice extended settings menu in the notification bar with a data toggle. I also have a nice widget from switchpro widgets where I can customize what kinds of things I want to be able to toggle from my homescreen. Currently I have data/wifi/vibrate-silent/gps. Doesn't take long at all when I toggle the data on/off, it's pretty much instant.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the 2X Battery app. When the phone goes to sleep, the app turns off the data radio. I can still get calls and text messages. I don't have a need for push notification of e-mail, etc., so this saves me some battery usage. Of course, if e-mail and other app notifications are important, this app will help only if you are willing to wait until you wake up the phone.
Here's what I do. I'm on the stock HTC battery.
I SetCPU screen off to 192/192 ondemand, in call to 810/192 ondemand, and regular use to 810/192 ondemand.
I listen to about 2 hours of music a day, have 3 GMail accounts on autosync, a Facebook account on hourly autosync and HTC Weather on hourly sync. Automatic brightness. Roughly 1.5 hours of cumulative web-browsing, no apps/games used.
I never use WiFi and I don't live in an LTE area.
I typically end the day (19-21 hours unplugged) with ~40% remaining.
Now I am not sure if living in area with LTE is a bless or curse....
I would unplug around 7am everyday, and by the time I get home (around 6pm) I would always in red mode (meaning, it is either 14% or under). Using the Holics-0.6 with the kernel that came with it, battery seems to die fast. Even when I am on the stock ICS before this, seems LTE would just bleed this baby to death....
Reading other comments, might as well start looking for a bigger battery....
It actually seems like I'm getting better battery since LTE came to my town. I'm on dark raider using kozmick's rc1 kernel and it's even better now. Try turning off vibration feedback...I think it's located in the sounds menu in settings. You can also try using automatic brightness or even just setting it to stay at 50% or lower. The screen is a battery hog. There's a stickied thread somewhere on here that has other things you can try too.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Really is a shame that we have to disable or ease everything back so much to get through the day on a battery. Anyhow, I have a Velocity (which comes out of the box with the processor running at 1500) on Dark Raider. Therefore I use SetCPU to throttle the beast back, depending upon the circumstances. It only is allowed to run at 1500 when on charge and down to 400 when battery below 25 percent. I also use 2X Battery to take care of the netowrk and Wi-Fi and have purchased the andida battery for extended life. I also have JD installed, however it is rarely used - reason is that I am in agreeance with "citsong" that it takes too long to establish connections, even causing me general connection issues from time to time. So for around $25 AUD you can get through the day on a battery with moderate use and reasonable performance. I have not tried the extended battery pack, though I will probably get one of those as well...not sure which are the best???
I personally don't like the vibrate response thing, so I turn that off right out of the box, also, auto brightness is another that I set. When I go in the battery tab to see what is bleeding it to death, and most of it would be the display....
Though, vivid seem to have a smaller battery compared to other phones of similar functions and/or size, so that might be the reason I am not really seeing a very good battery life?
deathnai said:
I personally don't like the vibrate response thing, so I turn that off right out of the box, also, auto brightness is another that I set. When I go in the battery tab to see what is bleeding it to death, and most of it would be the display....
Though, vivid seem to have a smaller battery compared to other phones of similar functions and/or size, so that might be the reason I am not really seeing a very good battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
rignfool said:
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My solution was to get a larger battery (2100mAh, the largest one with stock format) and using juice defender to control my Data Connection. I am getting about 60% more using time on a normal usage whan before!
I actually have both Motorola Atrix 2 and HTC Vivid. However, my Atrix 2 would last about two days between charges, which is kind of weird. I have my personal account and company account on that phone (personal is to activate the google stuff), so it eats up data twice as fast, yet it is almost twice as long battery life.
And to update a little bit from my post before, it seems I am getting better battery life now, after 4-5 days of flashing the new ROM, let's hope it is true....or I am just going to go hunt for a bigger battery
---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 PM ----------
rignfool said:
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the Samsung Galaxy Note is way bigger than either Atrix or Vivid, so with a bigger body, I would assume that a bigger battery is possible. But if you look at current phones, I rarely see batteries that are above, say, 1800mAh, let alone 2000mAh and above, stock of course.
ideaLduK said:
My solution was to get a larger battery (2100mAh, the largest one with stock format) and using juice defender to control my Data Connection. I am getting about 60% more using time on a normal usage whan before!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you share the details on the battery?
Andida batteies are easily found on Ebay, but beware of Chinese fakes!! I got mine from a seller in Canada, all good.
I get good battery life by turning off data while I'm working . 70% with 8hrs unplugged
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using XDA

Incorrect battery percentage. Phone dies at when not even close to 0%.

Hello,
Been a while since i was on XDA because i chose a good enough rom and never had to back again. I've used android for quite a while. My first android phone ever was a HTC Tattoo. This is like my 7th android phone now and i've modded every phone i ever had with a custom rom because the stock ones were full of stupid additions that just took up space for no reason. I've encountered many issues along the way and solved most of em. But here is another issue i just cannot fix no matter how hard i try.
I have a regular Xperia Z1 c6903 and i've used it for quite a while. Played Hearthstone alot on it even tho it did make the phone feel like a radiator. After time, the back glass started loosening up bit by bit. I think it has something to do with the glue loosening because of the constant heat of me playing Hearthstone. Didn't worry about it too much, until i started having these weird battery issues. The phone started dying on weird percentages, jumping from 14% to instant 0% and shutdown. I've encountered this issue before on other phones and it just happened to be a software issue where reinstalling the rom or installing another would fix the issue.
I tried this on this phone multiple times. Worked once. Then it came back. Tried even installing the stock firmware again so its in factory settings even tho i didnt relock the bootloader. Issue didnt get fixed. Tried switching to a kitkat stock firmware, didnt work. Tried installing another custom firmware, didnt work. So i reverted back to the rom that i found worked best for me despite the battery issues, DStrikerZ1 Kai.
The issue just got worse. It started dying on 30% and just went higher and higher each time. Then it kept dying on like 64% or so each time. At this point, every time i charged it it just jumped from 1% to like 54% in less than a minute. I charged it each time while it was off. I didnt turn it on to then charge it.
2 days ago, it died on exactly 84%. It's at this point i was looking into options because i cant have a phone that charges only to what it THINKS it 100% and then stops charging to just die then at 84% while discharging per percentage at a normal rate.
Next day, the battery and the back glass i ordered arrived. There was one issue tho which i realized much later, the battery i got was too fat. Mostly on the lower part of it. I was able to plug the battery in but i couldnt put on the back glass entirely because the battery is too fat. So i put it on as much as i could and just taped it around with white tape around the phone but above and below the screen so it doesnt block it. Also cut out what was needed with a scalpel so sound and camera arent blocked. While trying to replace the battery, i think i may have accidentally pulled a little bit on the back camera so it popped out just a tiny bit. Pushed it back in and it looks fine. Although now i can't launch my camera app and it crashes each time. Dont use it much anyway so not a big loss for me.
Here is the result of this new battery:
It works. Although i still have the battery percentage issues. But it charges a bit differently now and discharges differently. NOT CORRECTLY STILL. 1 hour ago i put on charging because it died outside again at a wrong percentage. Was like 60%, dont remember. I turn it on again and while its turning itself on, i plug it into the charger. It says 52%. So i launch Pokemon GO and run it for about a minute. Then it dies again. Then i turn it on again and NOW its on 1% and it starts charging what i THINK is normally. 20 minutes later after charging, i check it and its on 11%. Then the really weird thing happens. As im watching the percentage go up, it goes from 11% to 15% in a matter of seconds as if it went up by 1% per second. It's been 1 hour now and its on 27%. One thing that i think is just a coincidence but i have no idea, it died like 6 times only while Pokemon GO was running.
I seriously don't know what to do. I don't know if the issue isnt with the battery but the phone itself, or if it just needs a bit calibration. But you can't use a phone reliably if you cant know when it needs recharging. I can't buy a new phone for at least 2 more months. I have a Galaxy S2 somewhere that i can use in the meantime but its cracked a bit and the top left part of the glass just above the display is just gone. Taped over it to keep it covered. But it'll get the job done in the meantime.
I know i should have made a book about this. I did write alot. But i feel people will be able the help me if they know exactly every detail.
What does the community of XDA have to say about what i should do or try?
Thank you in advance!
Sounds like you got a damaged or used battery that is bad. It has dead cells in it thus the voltage and percent drop. Besides that original Sony 3000mAh battery will fit perfectly and look exactly like replaced original battery (bar it can have different text/icon layout on white sticker).
EQ2000 said:
Sounds llike you got a damaged or used battery that is bad. It has dead cells in it thus the voltage and percent drop. Besides that original Sony 3000mAh battery will fit perfectly and look exactly like replaced original battery (bar it can have different text/icon layout on white sticker).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one i got by mail actually is also the original Sony 3000mAh battery. I did the comparison and it does look exactly the same with only the sticker being a tiny bit different in what exact code it had on it. But this one was thicker on the bottom part of the battery. I'll just order another one then i guess...
finalfantasy said:
The one i got by mail actually is also the original Sony 3000mAh battery. I did the comparison and it does look exactly the same with only the sticker being a tiny bit different in what exact code it had on it. But this one was thicker on the bottom part of the battery. I'll just order another one then i guess...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if it is thicker then it is a used one that has swollen cells in it due to dendrite which makes cells go bad and ultimately shortcut the cell(s) resulting in sudden drops in voltage thus the percentage jumps down or goes directly to 0 depeding on severity.
Return the battery and get a new one and make sure it is original. When you get it weight it and compare with the old one. IIRC battery should weight about 42-43 grams. On the sticker you see 2 numbers with a W inbetween. First is year it is produced and second is the week eg 13W32 which means 2013, week 32.
I suggest you order from Teknikdelar.se (since you live in Sweden) which has original Sony batteries and they are new, fresh ones. Avoid anyone selling batteries without "original Sony" inserted into description.
EQ2000 said:
But if it is thicker then it is a used one that has swollen cells in it due to dendrite which makes cells go bad and ultimately shortcut the cell(s) resulting in sudden drops in voltage thus the percentage jumps down or goes directly to 0 depeding on severity.
Return the battery and get a new one and make sure it is original. When you get it weight it and compare with the old one. IIRC battery should weight about 42-43 grams. On the sticker you see 2 numbers with a W inbetween. First is year it is produced and second is the week eg 13W32 which means 2013, week 32.
I suggest you order from Teknikdelar.se (since you live in Sweden) which has original Sony batteries and they are new, fresh ones. Avoid anyone selling batteries without "original Sony" inserted into description.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This actually now makes a whole lot sense. It is kind of swollen as if its been used up. I will order a new one as soon as i can from the website you linked. Appreciate the help! :victory: :laugh:

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