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[Q] How do I solve my terrible battery performance?

I got a refurbished AT&T Galaxy Note 3 about a month or 2 ago. From the very beginning the battery has been awful. On a full charge--which takes at least 6 hours--I can get about 4 hours of regular use (i.e. no games, just web, maybe some maps, email, turning off Wifi & GPS when not in use, lowering the brightness, etc.) and sometimes up to 8 if I don't use it at all. If I play a game or listen to an audiobook, I get maybe 2-3 hours. Even if it's plugged in to the charger, the battery will slowly drain if I'm using it. The phone is also very often really hot.
As suggested on other threads about battery problems, I've downloaded Battery Doctor to help close open apps--and that's given me a tiny bit more time, but nothing substantial. I've also been using GSam to see what the problem might be. 25% is used by the Android Sytem, 22% is used by the screen, 11% by facebook (which I've started force quitting), 8% by the Kernel, 8% by the phone radio, etc.
Nearly everyone says what a great phone this is, but I just find my self seriously limiting how much I use it--which defeats the purpose of even having it.
Any ideas of what's going on? Anything else I should be looking at or trying? Between this and the fact that I can't root (I have KK), I'm about ready to sell it and go back to an iPhone.
Thanks.

conanh said:
I got a refurbished AT&T Galaxy Note 3 about a month or 2 ago. From the very beginning the battery has been awful. On a full charge--which takes at least 6 hours--I can get about 4 hours of regular use (i.e. no games, just web, maybe some maps, email, turning off Wifi & GPS when not in use, lowering the brightness, etc.) and sometimes up to 8 if I don't use it at all. If I play a game or listen to an audiobook, I get maybe 2-3 hours. Even if it's plugged in to the charger, the battery will slowly drain if I'm using it. The phone is also very often really hot.
As suggested on other threads about battery problems, I've downloaded Battery Doctor to help close open apps--and that's given me a tiny bit more time, but nothing substantial. I've also been using GSam to see what the problem might be. 25% is used by the Android Sytem, 22% is used by the screen, 11% by facebook (which I've started force quitting), 8% by the Kernel, 8% by the phone radio, etc.
Nearly everyone says what a great phone this is, but I just find my self seriously limiting how much I use it--which defeats the purpose of even having it.
Any ideas of what's going on? Anything else I should be looking at or trying? Between this and the fact that I can't root (I have KK), I'm about ready to sell it and go back to an iPhone.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may have a bad battery, pop the back off and replace it!

First and foremost, try and figure out what might be hogging up all your battery.
Go to System Settings -> General Tab -> Battery
Look at this list of apps that are eating your battery up. The top 3 are usually 'Android System', 'Android OS', and 'Screen', depending on your current usage (unless you have been loving up a game or other resource intensive app recently, in which case it will be up top). If you see an app that seems to be eating away at it constantly, even when you aren't usuing it, try uninstalling it.
You might also have a problem with wake lock (where an app, or apps keeps your phone from going into its deep sleep). If your phone is rooted you can get the wake lock detector from the app store and use it to figure out what is causing the problem.
If its a system app that casuing wake lock, or just eating through battery like there is no tomorrow, it might be a known bug someone can help you with.
Also a thing to consider is the health of the battery. You say its a refurbished phone, who knows what that battery has been through (if its not a new one, no idea if they do that for refurbs). Its not a cheap option, but if all else fails getting a new battery might be the way to go. Also if no else fails there is as they say the nuclear option, as in doing a good factory reset once or twice.
Hope all that helps

conanh said:
I got a refurbished AT&T Galaxy Note 3 about a month or 2 ago. From the very beginning the battery has been awful. On a full charge--which takes at least 6 hours--I can get about 4 hours of regular use (i.e. no games, just web, maybe some maps, email, turning off Wifi & GPS when not in use, lowering the brightness, etc.) and sometimes up to 8 if I don't use it at all. If I play a game or listen to an audiobook, I get maybe 2-3 hours. Even if it's plugged in to the charger, the battery will slowly drain if I'm using it. The phone is also very often really hot.
As suggested on other threads about battery problems, I've downloaded Battery Doctor to help close open apps--and that's given me a tiny bit more time, but nothing substantial. I've also been using GSam to see what the problem might be. 25% is used by the Android Sytem, 22% is used by the screen, 11% by facebook (which I've started force quitting), 8% by the Kernel, 8% by the phone radio, etc.
Nearly everyone says what a great phone this is, but I just find my self seriously limiting how much I use it--which defeats the purpose of even having it.
Any ideas of what's going on? Anything else I should be looking at or trying? Between this and the fact that I can't root (I have KK), I'm about ready to sell it and go back to an iPhone.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery drain on Kitkat is a common problem, but that is ridiculous. Sounds like to me that you have a messed up battery. You should be able to call Att and have them send you out a new battery. Or Samsung might have to send you out one. I don't know who, but the battery should be covered under the warranty of the phone.
EDIT : Also, check if the battery has any bumps, dents, etc.

Might try turning off location services as well
Sent from my XT907 using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] Is this normal?

I had a post a while back on how my battery life was pretty abysmal but since then it has gotten worse and now i barely seem to make it to 3 hours SOT and 17-18 hours of total use. Is something wrong? Some days of heavier use it doesn't even last me 12 hours. Screenshots included for evidence.

Something seems to waking your phone up a lot bud. It's usually location settings, google play services or a rouge app that does this I had this problem on the turbo when I had the location tracking in for the command center widget, but a reboot fixed it for me and it hasn't happened since. I would try clearing cache on Google play services or uninstalling updates and re downloading them. It doesn't even show up in my battery list with 17 hours on and an hour screen on time. There is a thread about it in the Q&A section I believe. Do you have Gsam app?

I have the Gsam app but can't seem to find anything other than app usage is around 50% with android system and kernel taking up a combined 30% and Phone and google services another 10%. I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling updates for play services now and I've already tried clearing cache. I might wipe my phone and restore it as soon as i can find a good way to back everything up without root

Let me know if any of the above work, if not we'll get it figured out man. A FDR may be the best solution

richiec64 said:
I had a post a while back on how my battery life was pretty abysmal but since then it has gotten worse and now i barely seem to make it to 3 hours SOT and 17-18 hours of total use. Is something wrong? Some days of heavier use it doesn't even last me 12 hours. Screenshots included for evidence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your signal is also really weak, so you should take in mind that bad signal is a real hog for your battery.
Wait for Lollipop, it should release today according to the rumours and for sure it would give you a lot more of battery.

after a complete wipe, app usage in gsam went down from 50% to around 28% which to me says it was a rogue app waking my phone. I guess the bad signal just contributes to the problem. Seems like I'll be able to get 4-4.5 SOT which i can live with. I just wish we had root and an unlocked bootloader so i could really utilize the power of this battery

Deleted original post.
Never mind... Was talking about a different phone lol.

TMO NEXUS 6 Battery life since newest update

My device is unrooted
Everything was going great until the newest update that came last week. Since this my battery life has gone down hill fast. I feel like I'm back on my G1.
I have two questions is anyone else having this issue at all?
My other question is all my previous phones have had SD card spots so when I reset myphone all my pictures are stored there. If I reset myphone do I lose all my pictures?

Battery life has been good for me on that build and the recent fi build as well. Do you have a secondary battery meter like better battery stats? There is no sd card in the phone so yes that would be lost.

of course you can check why your battery times have dropped.. like maybe a stuck process or a certain app draining battery. im nearly 100% sure its not because of the update, but it can be user related. your signal quality could be worse as well, which will also drain battery faster.

wondercoolguy said:
My device is unrooted...
My other question is all my previous phones have had SD card spots so when I reset myphone all my pictures are stored there. If I reset myphone do I lose all my pictures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes
why not use an auto photo backup app like picasa or similar?
you really should be doing this regardless. countless times people have come on here all frantic because something happened to their device and they lost all pics needlessly.

bweN diorD said:
yes
why not use an auto photo backup app like picasa or similar?
you really should be doing this regardless. countless times people have come on here all frantic because something happened to their device and they lost all pics needlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cause I dont want Obama see my pictures!!! J/k
You bring up a good point I'll start the back up process when I get home....As I move closer to resetting my phone to see if it will fix my batterylife issue

simms22 said:
of course you can check why your battery times have dropped.. like maybe a stuck process or a certain app draining battery. im nearly 100% sure its not because of the update, but it can be user related. your signal quality could be worse as well, which will also drain battery faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I feel my phone getting hot or I notice the drain is going on I turn off my phone let it set to cool down or I just straight up restart it.
I live a pretty routine based life, Work, Church, Gym, Home.... So my signal life hasn't changed. My usage hasn't gone up or down....but my battery has since that update.
I do have battery apps to keep an eye on things. Display is number (of course) and number 2 which isn't normal is Android OS.

simms22 said:
of course you can check why your battery times have dropped.. like maybe a stuck process or a certain app draining battery. im nearly 100% sure its not because of the update, but it can be user related. your signal quality could be worse as well, which will also drain battery faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing else I just noticed is my phone doesn't hit deep sleep either
Deep sleep is at 4hrs and 300mhz is at 13hrs

wondercoolguy said:
When I feel my phone getting hot or I notice the drain is going on I turn off my phone let it set to cool down or I just straight up restart it.
I live a pretty routine based life, Work, Church, Gym, Home.... So my signal life hasn't changed. My usage hasn't gone up or down....but my battery has since that update.
I do have battery apps to keep an eye on things. Display is number (of course) and number 2 which isn't normal is Android OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, what ive found out iver the years that im with android is that battery apps are pointless, and end up using your battery. just check you regular battery usage/stats. nobody uses their phones the exact same way every single time, its impossible. and when you are out, walking around, or driving, your signal quality will change, constantly. and apps, many times they will get a process stuck, and drain much more battery than normal. and then there is google play services, that will occasionally drain lits of battery, especially when its updating itself. in reality, there are numerous other reasons, besides the update, that will make you battery drain quicker. too numerous to list, lol.

simms22 said:
well, what ive found out iver the years that im with android is that battery apps are pointless, and end up using your battery. just check you regular battery usage/stats. nobody uses their phones the exact same way every single time, its impossible. and when you are out, walking around, or driving, your signal quality will change, constantly. and apps, many times they will get a process stuck, and drain much more battery than normal. and then there is google play services, that will occasionally drain lits of battery, especially when its updating itself. in reality, there are numerous other reasons, besides the update, that will make you battery drain quicker. too numerous to list, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my battery also has been going deep underground after last security update! nothing changed in the usage or the number of apps that i keep installed, so the suspect that the drain depends on the update in my opinion is becoming more and more real.
i also keep checking battery's stats and there isn't any anomaly or discrepancy compared to pre-update's stats.

I am in the same boat. I was using about 2-3 percent an hour before the security patch. But since the patch dropped I've been averaging about 10 percent an hour. I have to recharge at least once in the middle of the day. None of my apps changed.

Same here, noticeable difference in battery performance since last weeks update. Only change to apps is I am now using Google fit since last week, thought it was that but battery stats say otherwise.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app

So last night I backed up all my pictures on my computer and the cloud. Tonight I will reset my phone before bed Ill have a better idea of what it will do tomorrow. It kinda stinks because I have this zooper/launchy/popup widget masterpiece going on my homescreen
Ill report back....

I have noticed the same issue since the OTA patch. Reminded me of my old Galaxy S where it would not go into deep sleep after being unplugged at a full charge without a reboot. I've gone without a reboot and with rebooting since the update and my phone is much better off after a reboot. About 7% per hour lost without compared to about 3-4% per hour lost with a reboot. Pretty consistent usage on a daily basis. Just my personal observation. I'm on AT&T though.

I got better battery life after the update... But then it went back to normal. I was being about 30 to 45 minutes extra SOT but now I'm back to my average times of 4-4:15 hours
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Take this for what it is.... I wake up at 545 grab my phone since the update by the time I get to work 7am it would be 96 or below.... I reset my phone last night and the phone seems back to normal at 99%-98%when I sit at my desk..... All apps reloaded and working before bed.....

My N6 is worse off for battery too after OTA update of last week. Seems like Google Services has just gotten a lot more aggressive doing what it is supposed to be doing. I hope Marshmallow will fix this.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Well, mine also loses a lot per hr...and it alsways is the cell interface that is being kept awake over hours of time during a day.
Mainly email and Google services are the apps sucking it off...
Any ideas?

Factory reset and back to normal so far.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app

Battery life

Are you guys seeing a change in battery life on 5.1.1 as oposed to 5.0.2? I am, and I miss my old battery life. It's not bad by any means, but I do notice a difference. Right now, I am using greenify, and package disabler. Is there anything else I can do to get back to 2-3 days usage and over 10 hours sot?
Also, is there any way we can get smart Manager back?

Well I'd start from getting rid of greenify... It's useless on modern phones
Please excuse brevity and typos, written on a mobile device

I've suspected that causing an issue so I Uninstalled it. Any other manager like a smart Manager that we can use?

I get all day battery,and coming from V10

M S6 updated to 5.1.1, and I noticed that Google Play Services is draining my battery very quickly. Have you noticed anything unusual?

When there are updates in the play store, I have noticed that it causes a drain. This is Google play services

metlmangreg said:
M S6 updated to 5.1.1, and I noticed that Google Play Services is draining my battery very quickly. Have you noticed anything unusual?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After the last update I had the same issue and still not have figured out completely. But I installed a couple apks for play store and Google services. It fixed those but still disappointing battery life.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9aqi478kk1rp2o9/AAAJSYZlzT4rmbgInZ5_bYrRa?dl=0

I have Google Play Store working now! I had to contact Google, they called me within a minute and walked me through a couple steps ( beyond the ones they provide as a troubleshooter) with no luck. the last step before a factory reset was to delete my google account and reinstall it. I am happily updating apps as I am writing this!!

Something definitely happened to the battery life and it must be a google app problem. My battery was fine after the 5.1.1 update few months ago and suddenly a week ago (or two) the battery started draining fast. Also in the morning instead of the usual 3-6% drop I see at least 13% drop.
Do you know a good app which can show me why the drainage?

My friend had a similar problem on his Note 4. His battery went from 100% to 20% in one day with maybe 15min usage.He downloaded app Clean Master and cleaned the system (or what ever that app does). That solved the problem for him,at least so he said.

My battery life is back to normal, after removing my Google account and reinstalling it! I am happy again!

I haven't had a single problem after the update. I'm getting several days out of my battery - but I just use it for calls and texts. Still the best battery life of any phone I've owned...

Battery life after December update

Hi everyone, December update decreased my battery life..now I can't reach more than 6h/ 6:15 of sot while with the same usage I could reach 7:30 h and sometimes 8h..I have also the Wifi issues, what could I do to solve the problem? Merry Christmas ti everyone

Heisemberg_91 said:
Hi everyone, December update decreased my battery life..now I can't reach more than 6h/ 6:15 of sot while with the same usage I could reach 7:30 h and sometimes 8h..I have also the Wifi issues, what could I do to solve the problem? Merry Christmas ti everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get around 9.5 to 10 hours sot. I took following measures.
1. format phone using recovery.
2. perform graphic test. It will re-install your update.
3.reboot your phone.
4. Setup your phone fresh Do not recover any apps from your google account. Manually install from play store or take a backup of apk's on your memory card/pc.
5. Enter your google account only after entire phne setup is complete.
6. Install all your apps.
7. Setup your apps under Adaptive battery as per requirement.
8. Disable adaptive brightness.
After setting up your phone, messages and other stuff force stop and disable google and google play store(wipe data and cache of both apps). This may seem controversial but it seems Google apps are causing some issues. You can activate them on need basis.
Your battery will drain faster for a week as Adaptive battery learns your battery usage. Post one week it will perform as a charm. Also recalibrate your battery from 15-100% 1-2 times, it might help.
I would also like to point that I am not using Nokia's quick charge but rather Sony's normal charger. It charges a bit slow by also keeps my device cool.
I can confirm this as for the last cycle my Sot was 9hrs 40 mins(90%to 15%) and for previous to last cycle it was around 7 hrs 43 mins(this was when I deactivated google apps and play store at 53%). Sorry I forgot to take screenshot to prove it. Refer screenshot below. I started video loop at 53%. At this time my Sot was 4.5 hrs.
I am sure you would have tried every word in the dictionary to get you battery performing good, there's no harm in trying this one too. But, it's your call.
I am not saying that you should try it. This is what worked for me and I am sharing it with you.
My entire test was with 90% Volte and 10% wifi(I exhausted my data pack).
P.S: I have deactivated all the fancy stuff like glance, wake up on pick etc. Brightness at 35%. I am using dark theme for app drawer and wallpapers.
Hope this works for you.
My only gripe is how to reduce battery standby time. It seems rooting would be the only option.

fanboy_android said:
2. perform graphic test. It will re-install your update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is hoax, it just shows all possible recovery animations, it doesn't do anything.

aPosix said:
This is hoax, it just shows all possible recovery animations, it doesn't do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said in my previous post, I tried all the possible solutions to get a good battery. This was part of the last thing I tried and I got a pretty decent Sot. Hence I am sharing it.
The graphics setup may work for some, it may not for some... but for sure it won't brick your device. So no harm trying it.

Completely charging and draining the battery twice fixed my problems. I get good battery life on Pie.

fanboy_android said:
I get around 9.5 to 10 hours sot. I took following measures.
1. format phone using recovery.
2. perform graphic test. It will re-install your update.
3.reboot your phone.
4. Setup your phone fresh Do not recover any apps from your google account. Manually install from play store or take a backup of apk's on your memory card/pc.
5. Enter your google account only after entire phne setup is complete.
6. Install all your apps.
7. Setup your apps under Adaptive battery as per requirement.
8. Disable adaptive brightness.
After setting up your phone, messages and other stuff force stop and disable google and google play store(wipe data and cache of both apps). This may seem controversial but it seems Google apps are causing some issues. You can activate them on need basis.
Your battery will drain faster for a week as Adaptive battery learns your battery usage. Post one week it will perform as a charm. Also recalibrate your battery from 15-100% 1-2 times, it might help.
I would also like to point that I am not using Nokia's quick charge but rather Sony's normal charger. It charges a bit slow by also keeps my device cool.
I can confirm this as for the last cycle my Sot was 9hrs 40 mins(90%to 15%) and for previous to last cycle it was around 7 hrs 43 mins(this was when I deactivated google apps and play store at 53%). Sorry I forgot to take screenshot to prove it. Refer screenshot below. I started video loop at 53%. At this time my Sot was 4.5 hrs.
I am sure you would have tried every word in the dictionary to get you battery performing good, there's no harm in trying this one too. But, it's your call.
I am not saying that you should try it. This is what worked for me and I am sharing it with you.
My entire test was with 90% Volte and 10% wifi(I exhausted my data pack).
P.S: I have deactivated all the fancy stuff like glance, wake up on pick etc. Brightness at 35%. I am using dark theme for app drawer and wallpapers.
Hope this works for you.
My only gripe is how to reduce battery standby time. It seems rooting would be the only option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for sharing your experience and giving me your help..I will consider this option

Try disabling adaptative battery and checking that it is dosable because it likes to activate itself.

shubham412302 said:
Completely charging and draining the battery twice fixed my problems. I get good battery life on Pie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly which I tried for the past two weeks and am getting mixed results altogether.
Medium usage 6h 30min SOT with 42 hour standby
Roughly 2 days since i charged and it has been connected mostly on wifi. That is a good mix.
Flat out if i use it from 100% then it will/may last even 9-10 hours SOT

shubham412302 said:
Completely charging and draining the battery twice fixed my problems. I get good battery life on Pie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean draining battery completely to 0 % ?