Database Develop

Battery life in the last few days

Anyone notice a change in their battery life in the past few days? My girlfriend and I both are going through our batteries in just over half a day with no use. It's like the phone isn't sleeping. Looking at battery use Display is using all of the battery. I'm running CM7.0.3 and she's on stock. Looking at mine right now the phone has been on battery for 1 hour 34 minutes, and Display is taking 57% of the battery and I'm down to 84% battery.

Yes! I've had my N1 since January 2010. I stayed stock until recently when I installed CM 7.1 RC1 shortly after it was released. Battery life had always been great, both stock and under CM7, especially with SS4N1. Then, a few days ago it just fell off a cliff. I now get only about 7-8 hours, even with little to no usage. Before I'd barely lose anything if the phone wasn't being used (a percent every couple hours).
Now the Nexus One Battery Calibrator application shows a drain of ~200 mA or more constantly.
I've been tearing my hair out for the last few days, uninstalling apps right and left, trying in vain to figure out what's causing this. I even considered a full wipe and reinstall of CM 7, thinking that some system setting somewhere had gotten horked.
I've always had WiFi set to never sleep, since I'm usually either at work or home. I've also had preferred network type (*#*#4636#*#* -> Phone Info) set to "GSM auto (PRL)" for months.
I've not made any other changes I can think of that would've had such a drastic impact on power consumption. I didn't track all the app updates that happened around the time it started, so I suppose it could be one of those. But I've uninstalled just about everything and it's still happening.

I have the same issue! Just in the past week or so. I have about 50% battery then a hour or so later it's dead! I was going to get a new battery today but maybe it's a CM7 issue. I use the nightly as soon as they hit the mirror.

An update on this... There may be a big issue going on with T-Mobile or some recent update:
http://www.tmonews.com/2011/07/t-mobile-g2-users-suddenly-suffering-from-huge-battery-loss/
Looks like other users on different phones have the same issue!

Thanks for that article, Lost Dog. Makes me feel a bit better. At least I know I'm not just going nuts.
My phone still has increased battery drain even if I put it in airplane mode though. It helps, but it's still much faster than before. This makes me really puzzled as to what the cause could be. How could the cell network still be causing increased drain if the phone's completely disconnected from it? Some sort of configuration information it received that persists even after the cell radio is turned off? EDIT: I may be wrong on this one, see below.
Last night I tried a complete wipe (using Temasek's full format "Format-signed.zip" first), and re-installed CM7.1 RC1 completely fresh. I installed only the minimal Google applications and a couple crucial tools (my password safe app). However, I'm still getting the same quick battery drain today.
I hope we (or T-Moblie) can figure out how to fix this. It really cripples my phone as a useful tool to have such short life!
EDIT: I'm going to try a workaround I've seen mentioned in comments on the TMoNews and Phandroid articles about this: limiting the cellular connection to 2G/EDGE only. It seems to have made a significant difference so far. I may have been incorrect then about airplane mode not having an impact. I'd only been checking current drain with the N1 Battery Calibrator app, and never left it in airplane mode for long. Anyway, I'll post back later this afternoon with results.

Ok, so switching to 2G-only for the cellular connection seems to have made a HUGE difference. The drain rate seems to be back at around what I'd expect. Everything else I left exactly the same (WiFi on, GPS enabled, same applications, etc.)
So, I'm starting to suspect something may be up with T-Mobile's 3G/3G+ service in some areas that's preventing phones from idling properly.
Anyone else want to give it a try?

Interesting, I'll switch over to 2G only and see how that affects my phone.
I've gone as far as wiping everything and that didn't help so if it really is a t-mobile issue then that would shed some light on the situation.

I see the same trend when switching to 2G only. Very steep power usage with 3G then a dramatic decrease in the discharge slope in 2G.
T-Mobile has an issue. The trick will be getting someone there to listen.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Here is my screenshot. You can clearly see when I turned on 3G. Dramatic difference. Looking on the T-Mobile forum there are many people seeing the same issue but there's mostly finger pointing and speculation as to the cause.

nir0th said:
Anyone notice a change in their battery life in the past few days? My girlfriend and I both are going through our batteries in just over half a day with no use. It's like the phone isn't sleeping. Looking at battery use Display is using all of the battery. I'm running CM7.0.3 and she's on stock. Looking at mine right now the phone has been on battery for 1 hour 34 minutes, and Display is taking 57% of the battery and I'm down to 84% battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also got the same rapid battery drain since last Wednesday. At that time, I thought there may be a hardware/battery issue for my nexus one. To test this, I switched my rom from CM7 back to GB stock. After a few updates for the GB stock and used it for a day, same battery drain happened. So, I changed to use another backup battery yesterday. It did not help also. I thought it may be a real hardware issue.
Then, I found this thread and research a bit in the web. I found out it could be either caused by tmobile or google map updates. I first uninstall google map and reinstall the new version right from the market again. I also switch off 3G as well. No rapid battery drain for the entire day. The battery runs normally. When I came back home today, I turned on 3G, let it for a couple of hours, checked a couple of emails and received a 20min phone call. Everything seems to work fine. No noticeable rapid battery drain was observed. My conclusion so far is: this is caused by google map 5.8 update.
Try to uninstall it and reinstall the google map from the market to see if it helps.
Good luck.

ricky9237 said:
I also got the same rapid battery drain since last Wednesday. At that time, I thought there may be a hardware/battery issue for my nexus one. To test this, I switched my rom from CM7 back to GB stock. After a few updates for the GB stock and used it for a day, same battery drain happened. So, I changed to use another backup battery yesterday. It did not help also. I thought it may be a real hardware issue.
Then, I found this thread and research a bit in the web. I found out it could be either caused by tmobile or google map updates. I first uninstall google map and reinstall the new version right from the market again. I also switch off 3G as well. No rapid battery drain for the entire day. The battery runs normally. When I came back home today, I turned on 3G, let it for a couple of hours, checked a couple of emails and received a 20min phone call. Everything seems to work fine. No noticeable rapid battery drain was observed. My conclusion so far is: this is caused by google map 5.8 update.
Try to uninstall it and reinstall the google map from the market to see if it helps.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm willing to give it a try, but I'm skeptical. If it were the Maps 5.8 application that was preventing the phone from idling correctly, or transmitting tons of data, wouldn't we expect it to happen regardless of whether the phone was using the 2G or 3G radio connection? Sure, there might be a slight difference in the drain rate, but we'd still expect to see it in both cases. And yet the accelerated drain is alleviated completely by using only 2G. I have the Maps 5.8 application and can fix the problem by using 2G only. That indicates to me it's not an issue with the application.
I'll try uninstalling Maps tomorrow (I'm using CyanogenMod, so it's possible to remove it completely). Then I'll put the phone back on 3G and report back on what happens.

I've been experiencing similar battery issues the past week or so too. It looks like turning on 2G only seems to fix it, but what I don't get is why I'm still getting horrible battery life?
I have tasker auto turn off my 3G all together whenever my screen is turned off, and yet I leave my phone on my desk untouched all day and I end up at 40% when I get off work.
Wouldn't turning off 3G via Tasker be the same (or close to it) as turning on 2G only in the settings?
Hope t-mobile gets this worked out pretty soon!!

Glad I saw this thread. My wife and I both have N1s and have each been noticing unusually fast battery drain just in the last 3-4 days.
Last night I charged both phones to the same percentage, turned off 3G on hers and let them both sleep for a while. The phones are configured pretty similarly (stock, latest Maps installed, similar push settings etc). After about an hour and a half, my phone had lost 11% of its charge and hers had only lost 2%. That's enough of a delta for me to point to the 3G usage as the culprit. I guess I will be leaving my phone on 2G when I'm not using it if I am going to be away from a charger for a while.

It's NOT the Google Maps update.
Well, I did my experiment yesterday to rule out the Google Maps 5.8 update as the cause of this issue.
I'm running CyanogenMod so it's possible for me to uninstall Google Maps completely, not just the updates. I did so on Saturday night. Still set to 2G only, I removed my phone from the charger Sunday morning. A few hours later I enabled 3G. Later that afternoon I turned 3G off again.
I think the screenshot speaks for itself. Again, this is without Google Maps installed at all.
I asked around this weekend, and my friend's wife (also here in Portland, OR) is experiencing the same issue on her G1 on T-Mobile. Reading online I've heard about the problem affecting the MyTouch 3G, the G2, and many here with the Nexus One. The common elements seem to be: T-Mobile 3G service, particular models of phones, and some particular geographic areas.
Bottom line (IMHO): T-Mobile has a problem with the configuration of their 3G service in some areas, and it's preventing many phones from being able to idle/sleep properly, resulting in huge battery drain.

Here's mine, I posted this several days ago in the TMONEWS thread.

keenerb said:
Here's mine, I posted this several days ago in the TMONEWS thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. Even locking the phone to 2G/EDGE didn't have an impact? (not a Nexus One there it appears, what model?)
How did you go about disabling the 3G connection? I'm not sure if there are multiple ways to do it, but I used:
Settings -> Wireless Networks -> Mobile Networks -> Use only 2G networks
Really strange that even pulling the SIM didn't seem to make a difference. Or maybe that's not the same as turning off the cell radio entirely? Perhaps the issue is lower-level, like the radio constantly polling the tower or something even in the absence of being able to successfully register on the network for active use.
Does enabling airplane mode fix the drain issue for you?

Deliamber said:
That's interesting. Even locking the phone to 2G/EDGE didn't have an impact? (not a Nexus One there it appears, what model?)
How did you go about disabling the 3G connection? I'm not sure if there are multiple ways to do it, but I used:
Settings -> Wireless Networks -> Mobile Networks -> Use only 2G networks
Really strange that even pulling the SIM didn't seem to make a difference. Or maybe that's not the same as turning off the cell radio entirely? Perhaps the issue is lower-level, like the radio constantly polling the tower or something even in the absence of being able to successfully register on the network for active use.
Does enabling airplane mode fix the drain issue for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a G2.
2G has been much better than 3g, but still probably only 3/4 of my former battery life, optimistically. I checked "Use 2g networks only", same as everyone else. The graph above is a little misleading, since I really saw better battery life, that initial flat and quick drop actually averages out to "decent", rather than "horrific.
At the "Pulled SIM and SD card" mark I re-enabled 3g, so the drain afterwards is still 3g related.
Pulling the SIM doesn't disconnect it from the radio tower, you can still make emergency calls/etc. so it has to maintain a connection I suppose.
Twice I hard-reset the phone, pulled out SD and SIM, and still had huge huge battery drain. Powertutor said IDLE draw was 1437mw on average, no SIM, no WIFI, just sitting there on my desk.
In Airplane mode it'll last for days...

Wannagotopopeyes said:
I've been experiencing similar battery issues the past week or so too. It looks like turning on 2G only seems to fix it, but what I don't get is why I'm still getting horrible battery life?
I have tasker auto turn off my 3G all together whenever my screen is turned off, and yet I leave my phone on my desk untouched all day and I end up at 40% when I get off work.
Wouldn't turning off 3G via Tasker be the same (or close to it) as turning on 2G only in the settings?
Hope t-mobile gets this worked out pretty soon!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not familiar with Tasker. However, maybe it's just disabling cellular data use, not actually disabling the 3G radio? From what we've seen it appears the problem is very low-level, perhaps something to do with basic communication/negotiation between the cell radio in the phone and the towers, as there's no indication of particular application activity or significant data transmission that the Android OS is aware of.
In the T-Mobile support thread there are reports that T-Mobile is now acknowledging there's an issue with changes to their HSPA+ network in some areas.

I've had 3G off all day and my battery life is back to normal. I'm at 87% after at least 6 hours on battery. Yesterday I was down to less than 50% by this time. Luckily, I am able to be on Wifi at work so I don't have to deal with EDGE speeds, which make the Baby Jesus cry.
deliamber, you probably noticed this already but I'm also in the Portland market. It's gotta be a network issue.

I'm having the same issue on my N1 (I'm around the Portland area myself)
I did everything as well, 2g is the only thing that saves me..
Can't wait for a fix!

[Q] Horrible battery on 4.3 sense roms?

Has anyone else had this problem? since upgrading to a 4.3 sense based rom (tried 3 different roms), my battery life has become horrible..i can barely get 2 hours of screen on time whereas i used to get 4+ on 4.2.2 roms.
i know alot of people have said that 4.3 improves battery, but it hasnt for me, its done the opposite.
also has anyone noticed strange heating up of the device? for example in asphalt 8 the device thats slightly hot and then cools down while playing. but in games like candy crush or zynga poker the device continuously gets hotter and hotter..
tips/fixes/stories anyone?

Mine has been really good. Like, 3-4 hours screen time good. When I'm on wifi (N only, G wifi drains a lot) my battery percent just flatlines on the graph until I pick up the phone again. Sounds like a rogue app since I don't have this issue. I run ARHD 20.1.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Bhavpreet said:
Has anyone else had this problem? since upgrading to a 4.3 sense based rom (tried 3 different roms), my battery life has become horrible..i can barely get 2 hours of screen on time whereas i used to get 4+ on 4.2.2 roms.
i know alot of people have said that 4.3 improves battery, but it hasnt for me, its done the opposite.
also has anyone noticed strange heating up of the device? for example in asphalt 8 the device thats slightly hot and then cools down while playing. but in games like candy crush or zynga poker the device continuously gets hotter and hotter..
tips/fixes/stories anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you upgrade your firmware to 4.3 ( 3.09.401.1 ) also ?
met few guys who had the same problem and upgrading FW helped.
good luck

metal571 said:
Mine has been really good. Like, 3-4 hours screen time good. When I'm on wifi (N only, G wifi drains a lot) my battery percent just flatlines on the graph until I pick up the phone again. Sounds like a rogue app since I don't have this issue. I run ARHD 20.1.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running arhd 20.1 aswell. And I would LOVE to see that happen again, my battery drains around 10% overnight, and I'm a really late sleeper, so that means in 5 hours it's lost 10% on standby..and it's weird cause WiFi shuts off after about two hours,so I know that's not causing the problem.
App usage shows android system as the app using the most battery. When I check in the morning it shows android system and kernel to be the top two users.
Could it be a radio problem? I've seen a decrease in signal since ive upgraded to the 4A.17 radio from firmware 2.24.
I'm thinking about flashing the minsense Rom or even a ge rom and see if that helps the problem.
It doesn't seem to be a rogue app cause I actually have less apps then I did on 4.2.2, and none that are new..
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Bhavpreet said:
I'm running arhd 20.1 aswell. And I would LOVE to see that happen again, my battery drains around 10% overnight, and I'm a really late sleeper, so that means in 5 hours it's lost 10% on standby..and it's weird cause WiFi shuts off after about two hours,so I know that's not causing the problem.
App usage shows android system as the app using the most battery. When I check in the morning it shows android system and kernel to be the top two users.
Could it be a radio problem? I've seen a decrease in signal since ive upgraded to the 4A.17 radio from firmware 2.24.
I'm thinking about flashing the minsense Rom or even a ge rom and see if that helps the problem.
It doesn't seem to be a rogue app cause I actually have less apps then I did on 4.2.2, and none that are new..
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still running the current T-Mobile firmware, not 3.x. (I'm still S-ON with hboot 1.44) Thought that was worth noting.
Have you tried putting the phone on WCDMA/GSM auto instead? If your LTE signal is weak (or any kind of signal is weak in general) I see this phone's battery life usually take a nose dive. It has so far from my testing saved me a ton of battery to switch the phone manually into GSM only when I'm inside a building at work to get more bars, then switch back to LTE auto when I leave. Try leaving it on overnight on different radio settings, and with and without wifi. It could be a cell radio drain. And btw get GSAM battery monitor, the stock stats don't seem right to me. Android System being high in the HTC battery stats tells you nothing really from what I'm seeing so far.

metal571 said:
I'm still running the current T-Mobile firmware, not 3.x. (I'm still S-ON with hboot 1.44) Thought that was worth noting.
Have you tried putting the phone on WCDMA/GSM auto instead? If your LTE signal is weak (or any kind of signal is weak in general) I see this phone's battery life usually take a nose dive. It has so far from my testing saved me a ton of battery to switch the phone manually into GSM only when I'm inside a building at work to get more bars, then switch back to LTE auto when I leave. Try leaving it on overnight on different radio settings, and with and without wifi. It could be a cell radio drain. And btw get GSAM battery monitor, the stock stats don't seem right to me. Android System being high in the HTC battery stats tells you nothing really from what I'm seeing so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the funny thing is i dont have data, since i get wifi wherever i am. i also think its a radio problem though, my gsm signal never seems to be full, and people constantly tell me on the phone that they cant hear me. so what im doing (right now) is flashing a ge rom, specifically sinless rom, then im going to flash the new ge radio, 4A.18, and see how that plays out, prolly going to flash a 4.3 kernel aswell so i can uc to 162mhz or whatever the value is.
i seriously believe its the radio+lack of kernel on 4.3 sense roms that are causing this problem for me. so once this is all done ill test it for the rest of the day and see how it goes. thanks so much for your help

Bhavpreet said:
I'm running arhd 20.1 aswell. And I would LOVE to see that happen again, my battery drains around 10% overnight, and I'm a really late sleeper, so that means in 5 hours it's lost 10% on standby..and it's weird cause WiFi shuts off after about two hours,so I know that's not causing the problem.
App usage shows android system as the app using the most battery. When I check in the morning it shows android system and kernel to be the top two users.
Could it be a radio problem? I've seen a decrease in signal since ive upgraded to the 4A.17 radio from firmware 2.24.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't use any apps, of course system uses the most.
You need to check for wakelocks. If you have unexpected battery drain, it's likely that the phone is not sleeping properly, i.e., being kept awake. Betterbatterystats, gsam, wakelock detector etc.
What was the change in signal attenuation, or are you just saying the the display bars are different?

metal571 said:
I'm still running the current T-Mobile firmware, not 3.x. (I'm still S-ON with hboot 1.44) Thought that was worth noting.
Have you tried putting the phone on WCDMA/GSM auto instead? If your LTE signal is weak (or any kind of signal is weak in general) I see this phone's battery life usually take a nose dive. It has so far from my testing saved me a ton of battery to switch the phone manually into GSM only when I'm inside a building at work to get more bars, then switch back to LTE auto when I leave. Try leaving it on overnight on different radio settings, and with and without wifi. It could be a cell radio drain. And btw get GSAM battery monitor, the stock stats don't seem right to me. Android System being high in the HTC battery stats tells you nothing really from what I'm seeing so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenPope said:
If you don't use any apps, of course system uses the most.
You need to check for wakelocks. If you have unexpected battery drain, it's likely that the phone is not sleeping properly, i.e., being kept awake. Betterbatterystats, gsam, wakelock detector etc.
What was the change in signal attenuation, or are you just saying the the display bars are different?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use apps, just nothing new compared to when i was on 4.2.2.
and no wakelocks according to gsam, i lost 20% overnight (7 hours)
i dont get what it is. i upgraded the radio to 4.19 now, but for the signal issues, it included lower bars, bad audio in calls, and random loss of wifi.
i removed basically every app, besides some essentials like facebook, whatsapp, and a few others.
i tried switching to an ge rom, but i just cant stay on it for too long, vanilla android is so plain compared to sense.
so the last thing i can think of, is a rom known for its battery life. not asking for a comparison, just your opinion in which rom gives the best battery on 4.3. any suggestions?

Bhavpreet said:
i use apps, just nothing new compared to when i was on 4.2.2.
and no wakelocks according to gsam, i lost 20% overnight (7 hours)
i dont get what it is. i upgraded the radio to 4.19 now, but for the signal issues, it included lower bars, bad audio in calls, and random loss of wifi.
i removed basically every app, besides some essentials like facebook, whatsapp, and a few others.
i tried switching to an ge rom, but i just cant stay on it for too long, vanilla android is so plain compared to sense.
so the last thing i can think of, is a rom known for its battery life. not asking for a comparison, just your opinion in which rom gives the best battery on 4.3. any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charge your phone up all the way, put it in airplane mode, and unplug it for an hour then don't touch it. Then post your battery percentage. If it isn't still 100 or 99 then you have a more severe problem that actually relates to the battery itself.

metal571 said:
Charge your phone up all the way, put it in airplane mode, and unplug it for an hour then don't touch it. Then post your battery percentage. If it isn't still 100 or 99 then you have a more severe problem that actually relates to the battery itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good idea, testing it now, will report back in an hour.

metal571 said:
Charge your phone up all the way, put it in airplane mode, and unplug it for an hour then don't touch it. Then post your battery percentage. If it isn't still 100 or 99 then you have a more severe problem that actually relates to the battery itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
been an hour and 5 minutes, still 100%.
so im guessing it has something to do with the radio?

Bhavpreet said:
been an hour and 5 minutes, still 100%.
so im guessing it has something to do with the radio?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Show us a graph of your signal strength from GSAM, and show us a screenshot with how many bars you have. At least you know now that the battery is definitely not shot. It is probably mobile data related...hmm did you ever try letting the phone sit with mobile data disabled as well? It should drain almost as minimally as airplane mode.

metal571 said:
Show us a graph of your signal strength from GSAM, and show us a screenshot with how many bars you have. At least you know now that the battery is definitely not shot. It is probably mobile data related...hmm did you ever try letting the phone sit with mobile data disabled as well? It should drain almost as minimally as airplane mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
funny thing is, i dont have data..long story.
i just use wifi as its always available basically everywhere i am.
and thanks for all your help so far, helped me eliminate one possible problem

Bhavpreet said:
funny thing is, i dont have data..long story.
i just use wifi as its always available basically everywhere i am.
and thanks for all your help so far, helped me eliminate one possible problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So wait, your signal is really good but your phone drains like crazy, and while you're on WiFi? Okay, what wifi router are you using and is it G or N and is it dual band?

metal571 said:
So wait, your signal is really good but your phone drains like crazy, and while you're on WiFi? Okay, what wifi router are you using and is it G or N and is it dual band?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its absurd i know..its already down to 93% with 9 minutes screen on..
and its a dual band router, im normally connected to the 2.4ghz band, and its with wireless ac, which the one supports. Which is weird cause i thought ac improved battery life..
edit: im an idiot, wireless ac only works on 5ghz bands, but that still doesnt explain the drain on wireless n..as my previous router was also wireless n

Bhavpreet said:
its absurd i know..its already down to 93% with 9 minutes screen on..
and its a dual band router, im normally connected to the 2.4ghz band, and its with wireless ac, which the one supports. Which is weird cause i thought ac improved battery life..
edit: im an idiot, wireless ac only works on 5ghz bands, but that still doesnt explain the drain on wireless n..as my previous router was also wireless n
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried 5 ghz N by forcing the router or your phone to operate only at N speed? I use a TP-Link dual band N router and I remember seeing s drain of about 4 percent overnight for 8 hours of full idle with full sync.

I have tried with both 2.4ghz n and 5.2ghz ac, same problem persists
Awake is 3x screen on, I don't think that's normal, somethings keeping the phone awake much longer
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

metal571 said:
Have you tried 5 ghz N by forcing the router or your phone to operate only at N speed? I use a TP-Link dual band N router and I remember seeing s drain of about 4 percent overnight for 8 hours of full idle with full sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so ive done a bunch of other tests, and i can confirm its wifi thats causing this massive drain, not wakelocks, not roms, or anything else.
when the phone is left with wifi on, but not being connected to any network, battery drain is minimal overnight.
its the same on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands, so it this a router problem? if so, do you know any tips that could fix it?

Do you have "Best wifi performance" checked? That seems to eat battery.

iElvis said:
Do you have "Best wifi performance" checked? That seems to eat battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have no option for best wifi performance, just "wifi optimization". i found the problem, it has something to do with my new router and its bad compatibility with android devices. the phone seems to be awake 2x the screen on time and the main culprit is "wlan_rx_wake" wakelock

n910c note 4 wifi battery drain bug or hardware issue, owners please contribute

I have noticed that the WiFi on my note 4 drains 30% of the phones battery on average and this exceeds the battery drain of the screen even with an SOT of 4 hours.
this is easily overlooked because the stock battery monitor does not show how much battery WiFi consumes. It only shows if its on or not. However the GSAM app will show it.
My phone is an n910c.
Smart network switch and WiFi scanning are both off. Phone is connected to a stable WiFi but when in the WiFi menu it shows that its scanning ever few seconds. this might be normal.
Attached are screenshots of battery consumption of WiFi and my settings.
Please post here if you have the same issue.

I find the GSAM app very incorrect, just look at the SOT, my said max screen on time per charge like 5 hours while i was at my 6th, so automatically was wrong.

Scanning is off for lication services but you have notification for open networks which requires frequent scanning and you have keep alive during sleep.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

If you have set your Location service in "high accuracy" or "power saving" modes, then you have also permitted use of Google's location service, which scans wi-fi and/or mobile networks at all times - including when you have supposedly turned your wi-fi "off".

Have you tried a reset of your phone and see if the problem is still there?

Is that an n910c?
henklbr said:
Have you tried a reset of your phone and see if the problem is still there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

shinasurada said:
Is that an n910c?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated in my signature: SM-N910F

Just got confirmation from another n910c owner that the WiFi can account for up to 53% 53% of the battery consumption when turned on. From what I see on the battery thread, the n910f even when connected over WiFi for 40 hours only takes less than 3%.
If we figure this out we will definitely be seeing Snapdragon like battery life.

I'm trying to combat this myself. On another note, how do you have access to WiFi Timer? I don't have that as an option. N910V 4.4.4

That would explain so much. The phone still lasts me a day but I was always surprised by the WiFi battery stat in GSAM and thought it might just be reporting it wrong. I hope this issue (if it is indeed one) is addressed in the 5.0 ROM magically ;_;

I too had massive battery problems. I couldn't use my phone for more than 8 hours.
Then I downloaded this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rrr.android.mediaserverkiller
Set it to kill the server every 1 or two hours.
Now my battery lasts three days!

N910U wifi is 3% for me

Thanks for the datapoint ausboy.
Seems like n910c is the only variant affected.
Samsung should take note, this is why the battery life on the n910u is much better even though both are exynos.
I'm on 4g now and the battery life on 4g is way better than with wifI on. I've tried different routers and it doesn't make too much of a difference.

Not sure why you guys are getting such poor battery life I am getting consistently 7-8 hours screen on time with location on Bluetooth on connected to my gear s sync on pushing 5 email accounts wfi about 75%and when I lte I don't really have a good signal most of the time - I also have a 10,000 mah zero lemon battery but I get such good battery life with the stock battery it is never really needed the extra time

And do you have the n910f or n910c?

DEdwards22 said:
I'm trying to combat this myself. On another note, how do you have access to WiFi Timer? I don't have that as an option. N910V 4.4.4
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There is a exposed based app called amplify which you can chance service scan times for pretty much everything. Highly reccomend.

snowblind2142 said:
There is a exposed based app called amplify which you can chance service scan times for pretty much everything. Highly reccomend.
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I actually meant the feature that let's you set up specific times for WiFi to be turned on automatically. I've got a third party app for that currently and would prefer to have the Samsung version.

Can anyone with the n910c try other firmwares and report back if the n910c still experiences the same problems?
So far two users with the Malaysian firmare experience this wifI battery drain issue. I'm not sure if the others are on the same fw.

Hi, I have been noticing that I have not had that great a battery life as with other users of the note 4. Was searching all this while for an explanation until I came across this thread. I am also using a SM-N910C with XSG firmware that is UAE and am also facing this drain. I installed GSAM as you mentioned and can see that Wifi is accounting for up to 27% for me. I will post the screenshots once I run through and entire charge cycle.
Had earlier contacted Samsung online support about the same but they simply asked to go to a service center and get the battery checked. But I guess that this is a particular issue to only the N910C.
shinasurada said:
Can anyone with the n910c try other firmwares and report back if the n910c still experiences the same problems?
So far two users with the Malaysian firmare experience this wifI battery drain issue. I'm not sure if the others are on the same fw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

shinasurada said:
Can anyone with the n910c try other firmwares and report back if the n910c still experiences the same problems?
So far two users with the Malaysian firmare experience this wifI battery drain issue. I'm not sure if the others are on the same fw.
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Click to collapse
I m with pre-installed firmware from U.A.E, no root, no disabled app, using as it's came out of the box, SM-N 910C

Terrible Standy Time on US T-Mobile Note 5

Hello all.
I have had the T-Mobile variant of the Note 5 (SM-N920T) since early October and while I truly think it is an amazing phone in all regards, I have found that the standby time is absolutely atrocious. If I leave the phone charged at 100% overnight I wake up and it is probably around 50 or 40%. If I leave it unplugged at 50%, it is certainly below 5% or dead by the time I awake.
My phone is unrooted and is running 5.1.1 as of January 25th. My two big questions are:
1) Is anyone else with the same model or another Note 5 having similar issues with standby and if so...
2) What are some remedies for this issues. Would rooting and putting a different kernel on imporve things or is this an issue that should theoretically be patched in an OTA.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
-therealdanwilson

therealdanwilson said:
1) Is anyone else with the same model or another Note 5 having similar issues with standby and if so...
2) What are some remedies for this issues. Would rooting and putting a different kernel on imporve things or is this an issue that should theoretically be patched in an OTA.
-therealdanwilson
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Click to collapse
Don't want to break your hopes but here, you're not alone and so far no solution to this other than turn off wifi, and go to airplane mode.

Octa_core said:
Don't want to break your hopes but here, you're not alone and so far no solution to this other than turn off wifi, and go to airplane mode.
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Click to collapse
Thanks...I hope when I get the 6.0 update (fingers crossed for that in the next couple of weeks), that Doze will help with that some....

I'm running Arter kernel & stock debloated COJ5, no crazy standby drain on my N920T. Never tested with wifi on but connected to mobile network, my phone only dropped 3% overnight the last time I checked for this.

A couple things you can do is disable WiFi calling then to into applications and clear the cache for wfcservice and WiFi calling settings.
Another thing you can do is go into WiFi> more>advanced and change "keep WiFi on during sleep" to never and also make sure you have always "always allow scanning" disabled

shouren04 said:
I'm running Arter kernel & stock debloated COJ5, no crazy standby drain on my N920T. Never tested with wifi on but connected to mobile network, my phone only dropped 3% overnight the last time I checked for this.
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Click to collapse
I'm hesitant to root at this moment as I'm waiting for my 6.0 update and I don't want to go to the trouble of having to unroot just to update. But when that comes I will probably root it simply for the battery benefits

Tremendous battery drain on WIFI

Hey guys, I am running stock 4.0.3 rooted with supersu and using the latest franco kernel. I am getting massive drains even while using the phone on wifi and keeping it on standby, while connected to wifi. Getting drains about 3.3-4% per hour on standby on wifi. This is absolutely crazy. I tried some older suggestions mentioned here https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62074306&postcount=118 . But even that doesn't work. Battery drain is normal on mobile data, but when connected to wifi it absolutely goes crazy. Can anyone provide any insight? There are no rogue apps, I have been checking through better battery , wld , accu battery, etc.

You've probably already turned it off, but I'll just point it out in the rare instance, but make sure scanning is off. However, I did notice that you said it is when wifi is on and your phone is sleeping when you get that drain. A fix is to go into wifi settings and under "Keep Wi-fi on during sleep", pick the only plugged in option. Ideally, you should get to the bottom of this issue, but if you don't have the time and no one else figures it out, this may help.
EDIT: I wonder if smart wifi switcher has anything to do with it? Wifi connectivity fluctuates and if you have two connections that have very similar signal strength, would your phone constantly switch between the two networks in a futile manner? If this does happen, I can see that draining your battery significantly, but this is based on the premise that the switcher does not have some type of buffer zone where it does not switch if the difference is negligible.

Inflection said:
You've probably already turned it off, but I'll just point it out in the rare instance, but make sure scanning is off. However, I did notice that you said it is when wifi is on and your phone is sleeping when you get that drain. A fix is to go into wifi settings and under "Keep Wi-fi on during sleep", pick the only plugged in option. Ideally, you should get to the bottom of this issue, but if you don't have the time and no one else figures it out, this may help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I always keep scanning off! And i did try with that suggestion too, I changed the setting to never and it still drained battery. Wifi stayed on for sometime even though i set it to never and then finally turns off after a period of time, but i think that could potentially drain more battery? Are you using wifi all the time? What are your stats?
I have all those settings turned off, smart switcher, ipv6, scanning, etc

Anomaly65 said:
Yep, I always keep scanning off! And i did try with that suggestion too, I changed the setting to never and it still drained battery. Wifi stayed on for sometime even though i set it to never and then finally turns off after a period of time, but i think that could potentially drain more battery? Are you using wifi all the time? What are your stats?
I have all those settings turned off, smart switcher, ipv6, scanning, etc
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Last thing I can think of is trying to use stock kernel to see if it is FK that is the culprit. FK shouldn't be the issue, but perhaps something screwed up during the flashing process? Now I'm essentially just asking you to do trial and error

Inflection said:
Last thing I can think of is trying to use stock kernel to see if it is FK that is the culprit. FK shouldn't be the issue, but perhaps something screwed up during the flashing process? Now I'm essentially just asking you to do trial and error
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Click to collapse
Nah man, I trust FK more than stock
I have had similar issues with stock as well.
What are your battery statistics?

Anomaly65 said:
Nah man, I trust FK more than stock
I have had similar issues with stock as well.
What are your battery statistics?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that I'm in Beta 3 and running its stock kernel so I don't really see the usefulness of giving my battery stats, but yes, battery life for me has been good and unaffected by wifi draining.

Inflection said:
Note that I'm in Beta 3 and running its stock kernel so I don't really see the usefulness of giving my battery stats, but yes, battery life for me has been good and unaffected by wifi draining.
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Click to collapse
Whoa, how the hell do you even get 2 hours 17 mins sot with 85% still remaining?
Is it really just me suffering from this wifi drain bug?

Anomaly65 said:
Whoa, how the hell do you even get 2 hours 17 mins sot with 85% still remaining?
Is it really just me suffering from this wifi drain bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's most likely not just you, but based on my perusal of the 3T forums (especially on the FK thread because that's most relevant to how you set up your phone), not many people are facing this issue. Does betterbattery stats not show anything funky or out of the ordinary? Can you post a screenshot of your betterybattery stats including the kernel wakelocks, alarms, and partial wakelocks page?

Inflection said:
It's most likely not just you, but based on my perusal of the 3T forums (especially on the FK thread because that's most relevant to how you set up your phone), not many people are facing this issue. Does betterbattery stats not show anything funky or out of the ordinary? Can you post a screenshot of your betterybattery stats including the kernel wakelocks, alarms, and partial wakelocks page?
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Click to collapse
Check these out. I am totally fed up. I think I might have a faulty unit.
Getting 4% drain on standby!

Anomaly65 said:
Check these out. I am totally fed up. I think I might have a faulty unit.
Getting 4% drain on standby!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm beginning to think it's not wifi, but the app Saavn. It may act differently when on wifi vs on cellular data and remain active constantly when on wifi. I google searched the app and its potential of being poorly optimized app, and there are reports of it never turning off and running in the background. If that is the case, it should be showing up on BBS as more of a drain, but for some reason it isn't. Still, try uninstalling the app and see what happens.
In the end, if this doesn't solve the issue, I'm beginning to think a factory reset maybe in order. I wish you also gave me BBS alarm wakeups page because that would help see if Saavn is constantly firing off alarms or not.

Go to your "Location settings" and into the 3 dot menu in upper right. Turn everything off.

do you have wifi calling on? turn it off and see

smajlo said:
Go to your "Location settings" and into the 3 dot menu in upper right. Turn everything off.
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I have them turned off since day 1
masri1987 said:
do you have wifi calling on? turn it off and see
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Click to collapse
Where exactly is the setting to turn it off?

Anomaly65 said:
I have them turned off since day 1
Where exactly is the setting to turn it off?
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Click to collapse
settings > sim and network > look towards the bottom

masri1987 said:
settings > sim and network > look towards the bottom
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Click to collapse
I don't have any option to turn off wifi calling in there. I am running the beta 7.1.1 now though. But the problem still persists. Too much drain when using wifi, it's being shown as android system drain. I've seen many people reporting it, so it's not just me. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what's causing it!

Issue resolved with latest 4.1.0 and some usage pattern changes. Mod, please close the thread. Thank you!