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Getting frustrated with unreliable battery life

Ok. Android phones are not blackberries, and I'm well aware of that. This Thunderbolt is not my first android device, so I am very familiar with setting it up and using it in such a way to make the battery last.
I'm not posting this to complain of the battery life sucking. I'm complaining that the battery is fine one day, and horrible the next.
So here's what happens. Yesterday, i unplugged my phone at 730am like i do every day. By 3pm with light usage, i was down to 40% or so. Charged it up before I left work, no big deal, lasted the rest of the night.
Today, unplug the phone at 730am, phone is completely dead, as in, won't even boot by 11am. Same apps, same usage, same location, same strong 4G signal, same everything. It has happened multiple times on consecutive days when i was rooted on the stock rom, and still on VirusRom. I just dont get why this happens. I am doing nothing different and my phone either lasts all day, or a few hours. It's getting to the point where I am finding it very hard to rely on this phone when i'm out and about. It makes no sense. Especially if i'm not really using my phone, just checking for texts once in a while, there is no reason why it should die. What if i need it? I couldn't even call or text my gf tonight while I was working because my phone battery was ZERO only a few hours after leaving the house with a 100% charge.
Is anyone else experiencing this?

yesterday I had abnormal drain on my battery. I get 18 - 24 hours on a charge normally, but yesterday I went from 100% to dead in 5 hours. Called VZW and they said it was a documented problem and they were working on it.
IDK, they are pretty good about pushing updates. Also, yesterday I kept dropping out of data. bizzare....

I burned through the extended battery in 9 hours yesterday, really hope they figure out some better power management soon,

Switch it to 3G cdma rev.a and see if that helps. The 4G radio is always being searched for. I love the tb so I can deal with no 4G til they get the bugs out.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

You have to use current widget and see how much power draw your phone is pulling. Then use system panel monitoring to track apps using the highest CPU.

Definitely an issue and I'm glad that Verizon is aware of it. I've had this unusual drain happen four times now, all on 4G. Last time I noticed it (seeing the battery percentage drop like 2% every five minutes or so), went to the Market and snagged System Panel.
The offending process is "system." Had my CPU spiked at 100% for over an hour before I rebooted, which does fix it, at the cost of another 10% of your battery, of course.
Hope they get this ironed out soon. Love my Thunderbolt, but this is a major issue and seems to be happening to a lot of people.

The best thing to do is dial *#*#4636#*#* and turn the radio to CDMA auto (PRL) mode.
I am already seeing much better battery life, as I am in a non 4g area.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to give that a try. I got into the radio settings, and after flashing VirusRom, my phone defaulted to LTE mode only. I put it to cdma/lte auto, to see if that helps. If not, i'll just disable LTE unless i really need it.

No need to dial all of that crap. TeamAndIRC has a toggle app called "LTE OnOFF TeamAndIRC" that allows you to toggle between CDMA and CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto.
I found out two things dealing with my massive nighttime battery drain. One, wifi doesn't seem to work correctly. I've never had the problem before but for some reason it doesn't sleep correctly. What I've done is changed the sleep policy to "15 minutes" which allows it to switch back to 3G fifteen minutes after I turn off the screen. That allows me to have wifi while I'm using it but 3G while it's idle. This has seemed to fix my problem along with... Second, I am on the fringe of 4G/3G here on the outskirts of Cincinnati. At work I am solid 4G but at home it can't make up it's mind. Well, that has certainly played into the battery issue as it is constantly searching. So, what I do is as I walk in the door from work I use the app listed above to switch to "CDMA auto (PRL)" and it sticks to 3G. When I get to work I switch to "CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto".
So, to summarize:
I have eliminated my nightime drain by doing two things:
1) I use the Y5 app to automatically start wifi as I walk in the door but have changed the sleep policy to "after 15 minutes".
2) I use the app above to switch from 4G/3G auto to 3G only.

ridobe said:
No need to dial all of that crap. TeamAndIRC has a toggle app called "LTE OnOFF TeamAndIRC" that allows you to toggle between CDMA and CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto.
I found out two things dealing with my massive nighttime battery drain. One, wifi doesn't seem to work correctly. I've never had the problem before but for some reason it doesn't sleep correctly. What I've done is changed the sleep policy to "15 minutes" which allows it to switch back to 3G fifteen minutes after I turn off the screen. That allows me to have wifi while I'm using it but 3G while it's idle. This has seemed to fix my problem along with... Second, I am on the fringe of 4G/3G here on the outskirts of Cincinnati. At work I am solid 4G but at home it can't make up it's mind. Well, that has certainly played into the battery issue as it is constantly searching. So, what I do is as I walk in the door from work I use the app listed above to switch to "CDMA auto (PRL)" and it sticks to 3G. When I get to work I switch to "CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto".
So, to summarize:
I have eliminated my nightime drain by doing two things:
1) I use the Y5 app to automatically start wifi as I walk in the door but have changed the sleep policy to "after 15 minutes".
2) I use the app above to switch from 4G/3G auto to 3G only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTEonoff is just a shortcut to the menu. In essence, it saves no time because you have to download it. If you're flipping it on and off all the time, then yeah, it might behoove you to just dl the app. But, as a one time thing, it's unnecessary.

^You are correct. I switch daily but I didn't see earlier that you were not in a 4G area.
I would highly suggest this to anyone who sees their data connection switch back and forth as I was in my house.

Battery life has been strong the past couple days now. I haven't had any unusual drains since i switched from LTE only mode to EVDO/LTE auto mode. I dont know if this was for sure the issue, but it seems to have made a huge difference. I haven't been plugged in for 2 hours and i still have 92% battery left.

Here's my interpretation of the issue:
There seems to be some kind of problem or bug with the radio which makes it drain an enormous amount of power from some towers (700mA+ is shown on current widget). Even with good signal, I'll repeatably drain a lot of power in certain areas. The "fix" is to disable mobile data or switch to wifi. This lowers the power usage back down to (slightly lower than) normal levels.
For some reason, the radio will not admit to drawing practically 90% of your battery in the battery use menu (nothing does, in fact ... it just looks like normal battery use).
I'm glad to hear that they are aware of an issue that maybe causing this.

I can't stand the battery life either other than that I love the phone
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

Yeah i'm still at 83% battery after being unplugged for 4 hours, light usage.
Another thing i noticed is that when my battery was draining stupid fast, the phone would be warm to the touch even when it was just sitting on my belt clip. All seems well for now.

Mine is good
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

My battery life has recently become terribly inconsistent. Last week I was actually getting through a 16 hour day with light usage, but this weekened I must have installed something because now the phone is lasting 3-4 hours with hardly any usage at all.
The battery information is pretty worthless because it's not showing anything except display using the battery and the display has only been on maybe 8 minutes.
Checked the partial wake info and nothing seems to be running in the background. The battery is just discharging like crazy all of a sudden. Guess Ill start uninstalling stuff to see what might be causing it

I am also having a weird battery experience today. I am rooted running Adrynalyne 1.9. Last few days I was doing great, moderate usage and was staying charged for 16-18 hrs. Today my phone has died twice during my 8hr shift at work. I KNOW something is wrong there. Hopefully a fix is found soon.

On all my Androids (4 of them currently in daily use), I've found that Words With Friends is often a HUGE battery killer...and I don't mean because you play it a lot, I mean leave it running and put your phone down, walk away a while, come back to the phone and it is HOT to the touch! Obviously killing the battery. Something to look at for sure.
I've got the extended battery and just went over 48 hours, with moderate to heavy use by my standards on a single charge. Pretty amazing and I guess I'm not in a bad radio area.
hammer4203 said:
Switch it to 3G cdma rev.a and see if that helps. The 4G radio is always being searched for. I love the tb so I can deal with no 4G til they get the bugs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing I love about the TB is the 4G...everything else on it, been there, done that. I wouldn't keep the TB if 4G had to be turned off to make it usable in terms of battery life. Hopefully it will be fixed quickly!
Zshazz said:
Here's my interpretation of the issue:
There seems to be some kind of problem or bug with the radio which makes it drain an enormous amount of power from some towers (700mA+ is shown on current widget). Even with good signal, I'll repeatably drain a lot of power in certain areas. The "fix" is to disable mobile data or switch to wifi. This lowers the power usage back down to (slightly lower than) normal levels.
For some reason, the radio will not admit to drawing practically 90% of your battery in the battery use menu (nothing does, in fact ... it just looks like normal battery use).
I'm glad to hear that they are aware of an issue that maybe causing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that analysis. With that in mind, if it's accurate, could a Tasker app profile be set up that does your fix if the drain works that high? Would be a nice safety feature for those who aren't willing to have to look at their phone frequently to check battery life.

You have to use the current widget to record your idle power readings, its the only way to know what's going on. Then use system panel monitoring to see which app CPU is highest.

Battery life after 12 days

I know there is a bunch of threads about this but I am considering about a replacement at this point.
My battery is draining pretty fast doing same task as with my Galaxy S 4G. Web, few games, texts, few calls.
My battery life is around 5-9 hours and gotta recharge twice a day at this point. I though it would get better with time, had the phone since launch day.
What are your experiences?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

Any advise?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

moshe22 said:
Any advise?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get 12-16+ hours heavy use
I'm in a 3g only area so I'm guessing people that live in a 4g network see worse battery drain.... I'd honestly stop all synching and do a full charge with battery wipe
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Any one with same experiences?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I already tried with about 3-4 factory reset, deleting battery stats with battery calibrator and clock work mod.
Still horrible
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

nate420 said:
I get 12-16+ hours heavy use
I'm in a 3g only area so I'm guessing people that live in a 4g network see worse battery drain.... I'd honestly stop all synching and do a full charge with battery wipe
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
I don't think 3G/4G makes a difference on battery usage. It's HSPA vs HSPS+, both are 3G, just one is a bit faster. It's not like Verizon where you have 3G and LTE 4G, and one sucks up more juice than the other.

lol yeah, it's pretty funny how all T-Mobile has to do is put a "4G" icon in your notification bar and people think the phone is running on a different network. The only thing that's different than, say, a N1, is that the G2x has a higher top end. Wireless companies have really effed everyone in the head with this 3G/4G BS.

mapin0518 said:
I don't think 3G/4G makes a difference on battery usage. It's HSPA vs HSPS+, both are 3G, just one is a bit faster. It's not like Verizon where you have 3G and LTE 4G, and one sucks up more juice than the other.
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Click to collapse
i just guessed
but this device is know for having driver issues/mega bloatware running unless frozen or removed
and its a android phone... its not going to have a lot of battery left after powering all the bull spit that is running on it/screen/tethering/gps/mms & texting let alone all the other stuff people do with this phone....
talk to tmobile maybe you can get a new battery sent after saying yours is bogusly sucking.....
other than that wait for the drivers to be fixed.... a stable rom like BIONIX that krylon is baking in the oven and a UV/OC kernel MorFic is putting in the steamer as well....
its been less than 20 days this phone obviously has some issue's since LAUNCH
but to just give up like some people are doing and going to the HTC crapsation with 3.0 sense and a locked (not encrypted thank god) bootloader that will most likely have some issues as well is just flat out idiotic....
(i dont mean people dumping the phone are stupid... just expecting too much out of a 2 week old phone)

moshe22 said:
I know there is a bunch of threads about this but I am considering about a replacement at this point.
My battery is draining pretty fast doing same task as with my Galaxy S 4G. Web, few games, texts, few calls.
My battery life is around 5-9 hours and gotta recharge twice a day at this point. I though it would get better with time, had the phone since launch day.
What are your experiences?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
all battery's like that....(hd2, nexus s, nexus one, g2x)

My battery goes from full to 99% in about 6 hours when I sleep and wake up. The phone is not turned off btw. I am now using "Juice Defender Ultimate". Paid $3 and change when you get the free version and upgrade it from that free app (otherwise I think it is around $6). I have it at the "extreme" profile which shuts all wifi and data. I disable it and then turn on either wifi or data when I need to use it (Use Switchpro to toggle on and off easily from my home screen). I also the free Advanced Task Killer with only ATK and Juice Defender running. In 12 hours of using the phone a few times, texts, and even surfing the web, and watching 20 mins of video I still have about 80%. It makes a big difference.
I just make sure to use my ATK before I turn the screen off on my phone.

Oh yeah I also rooted my phone and removed all bloatware.

Well, when I had a G2x, it wasn't too bad at the start, but after I tried the HDMI output, the battery life went to hell in a heartbeat, i.e. full to dead within 8 hours with no network connectivity, and the phone always using the battery even when off. I think the HDMI output got shorted somehow to always on, and thus never stopped drawing power for nothing. Besides, my G2 was never anywhere near as bad as the G2x in power usage, even back at stock unrooted Froyo, so to give a blanket statement of "all Android phones suck down batteries like nothing" is simply an over-generalization.

wildone81 said:
Well, when I had a G2x, it wasn't too bad at the start, but after I tried the HDMI output, the battery life went to hell in a heartbeat, i.e. full to dead within 8 hours with no network connectivity, and the phone always using the battery even when off. I think the HDMI output got shorted somehow to always on, and thus never stopped drawing power for nothing. Besides, my G2 was never anywhere near as bad as the G2x in power usage, even back at stock unrooted Froyo, so to give a blanket statement of "all Android phones suck down batteries like nothing" is simply an over-generalization.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not saying all android phones batteries suck..... but take into consideration what these phones are doing.... and you cant really compare the G2x to any other android phone except the Atrix and o2X because its a dual core...... so comparing it to a galaxy s 4G or a nexus s isnt really giving this phone the credit it deserves

nate420 said:
im not saying all android phones batteries suck..... but take into consideration what these phones are doing.... and you cant really compare the G2x to any other android phone except the Atrix and o2X because its a dual core...... so comparing it to a galaxy s 4G or a nexus s isnt really giving this phone the credit it deserves
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Click to collapse
I will try once again and see hoe much it last before it is down to 10%. Wiped battery stats last night and realized that i had unfreeze my account. So i just froze it again and recharged the phone.
Don't get me wrong though i really like this phone alot better than my other two smartphones.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I have the answer
*** TO GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT, SKIP TO THE BOTTOM BOLD POINTS****
*** READ ENTIRE THING TO GET DETAILS AND COMMENTARY, I TALK TOO MUCH****
All:
I've always had Motorola Droid phones. They have excellent battery out of the box, but I truly bumped it up with a few steps.
First off if I buy a phone that has GPS, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc. I plan to keep those functions ON and running ALL THE TIME as I don't want to get in my car and say, ohh yeah let me renable bluetooth etc. No, that's now how I operate. So all the tips below greatly extended battery life without disabling functionality. I do however disable autostarting of apps like Skype, Fring, and Qik. I mean let's face it how often is someone video calling you randomly?
This phones are turning into computers, think about how long it takes to install windows, load all your applications, configure and tweak your settings, register your software etc etc. But just like the more apps you install in Windows the more sh1t wants to autostart when you boot into Windows and load up your task tray (taking resources) is the same way the phones are working.
I recently returned a G2X, not for battery life but for other reasons. I actually was able to improve the battery life using the methods below.
First off, everyone always talks about a task killer. This is a must have. BUUUUT! You have to use it properly and this isn't the main thing that will help you save your battery.
Another must have but NEVER talked about app is AUTOSTARTS. **Root Required**
Autostarts let's you disable items that always enable themselves on certain actions. For example, why does an app you killed relaunch itself randomly? Why does it load on start up? Well autostarts let's you see all apps set to load on startup, also when certain criteria is met. For example, some apps are set to start on "click" of a button for example.
Autostarts let's you disable those apps from EVER starting unless you specifically start it. Let's face it, most apps we download only need to be used when we launch it.
Task killer let's you kill unnecessary apps running in the background, or an app you're down with that you want to kill versus it running in the background using CPU cycles and battery life.
THE KEY IS, YOU MUST NOT KILL OR DISABLE A SYSTEM SERVICE. Most system services are obvious GMAIL, CORP EMAIL, BLUETOOTH SERVICE, WIFI SVC, GOOGLE SERVICES, AT&T/VERIZON/T-Mobile/SPRINT (etc) SERVICES (with the exception of bloatware services).
Task killer will let you see what's running, and place certain items on the IGNORE list so you don't accidentally disable it in the future. Then you need to set your options in task killer to HIDE IGNORED items to further take it from your view.
Those are the first steps. I don't know why AUTOSTARTS isn't more popular. For you computer geeks, it's like MSCONFIG in windows where you disable services that load automatically for no reason.
Also believe it or not WIFI seems to use much less power than AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint's 4G network. And let's face it, neither of the aforementioned carriers are really giving us much with their 4G. Wifi still beats them in speeds, and of course Verizon LTE sh1ts on them. So keep your WIFI on when in an WIFI area like home, work, etc. You'd be amazed at just how much battery life that alone can save.
Next, I followed the steps below taken from another thread started by spencersir2, many of the steps I had never done before on previous phones, but I did on a G2X and Atrix and it actually did help even further. I only listed the steps I used that helped, he recommended installing a lot of other software that in my opinion only adds to the problem.
All the steps work for any Android phone, but some of the steps are specific to T-Mobile (i.e. wifi calling option)
Root The Phone. There is plenty of links and help if you don't know how or have questions about rooting.
(Root Needed) Set CPUand it does nothing but save battery. I currently have it set on 216 - 1000 for when the screen is on and the only profile i have is for when the screen is off and it is at 216-216.
(Root Needed) Battery Calibration. I'm still skeptical if this helped but it can't hurt. Because I did everything at once, I didn't individually test this to see if it made a difference. It doesn't hurt so just do it.
Wifi Never sleep. Supposedly according to some if you change wifi to Never Sleep it will stop some loop in the programing which in turn will save battery. - TRY AND SEE IF THIS HELPS, I THINK IT DOES HELP THE G2X NOT SURE IF IT HELPS OTHER ANDROID PHONES
T-Mobile specific - Wifi Calling. If you didn't decide to freeze/uninstall this app. Make sure that this is OFF, because whenever you have wifi on it will constantly flip between Wifi Calling and normal radio towers, which once again is bad for your battery life.
RECAP:
- Root Phone
-Download SetCPU from market. G2X users, select NVIDIA Tegra 2 at launch of app. Other users select one best appropriate for your device. Create a profile that says SCREEN OFF MIN=216 MAX=216. You may need to adjust the max to wake phone up faster depending on your phone. You shouldn't need to bump the max up to more than 400 something. This only reduces CPU speed when screen is off. Helps with battery!
- Download Autostarts from market, look at all that's running under each column, disable anything you don't need to autostart
- Download Taskiller (it's the red guy, not the green one). Hide system services by long pressing on icon, then select IGNORE. Then go to options and say HIDE IGNORED ITEMS. This so you don't KILL an important system app. (Read above for details on what is a system app)
- Use WiFi whenever possible. Uses much less power than 4G. Not sure about 3G but 4G is a battery killer. If you have Wifi, use it. It's faster anyway.
- Change Wifi settings to never sleep (test for a day see if helps or not, if not change it back to default setting). It helped G2X not sure if it helps other Android phones.
- Disable Wifi Calling (T-Mobile only)
- Download battery calibration from market, not sure if it helps but it def didn't hurt anything. and it's very simple.

I've tried all the tricks listed before (freezing apps, doing the secret menu, etc), and still had TERRIBLE battery life. I tried installing an app (switch pro), and had a toggle switch for data on and off thinking it might help. It helped just slightly. What did work, was putting a 2g-4g toggle switch on, and it has made a night and day difference. This, and I used the battery calibration program a few times, and in clockwork. Normally, I wake up at 6:30am and by the time it's 4pm I was normally down to 35ish %. Now, I'm at around 85% when I leave work. I'm thinking it has to do with the 2g, but it doesn't make sense that when I toggled data off, I got terrible battery, and just switching to 2g makes that big of a difference. Either way, I'm SUPER happy with battery life now.

i really have to question people saying they get 20+ hours of battery life, i mean if i stop all sync, disconnect 4g and only use 2g, not use the internet, shut off wifi, no bluetooth and do all the tricks that people have suggested. I still don't get a full day's use. but what the H is the point of having a super phone that i can't use it's functions i might as well get a clam shell phone that lasts 3 days without charging. I really like this phone but at this point the battery life is killing me i have to take like 3 different chargers everywhere i go!!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

I don't see how you guys are still having battery problems. One a full charge, i'm able to get at least 12+ hrs with moderate to heavy use. Facebook and 3 email sync is set at 1 hr. About 100+ text and 10 emails a day. Wifi is on the whole time. Wifi calling as well. My screen brightness is set to auto. GPS is also always on.
I have to admit, the first few days, the battery life was about the same as my hd2 running android, but its gotten better now and its amazing.

Solution: buy a new battery.

DROID CHARGE Battery Life is Terrible

So i got the charge a couple of weeks ago. I had the thunderbolt before it but then i switched it out for the charge just because the thunderbolt was kinda heavy. Now i have terrible battery life. I am on stock rooted EE4 and have tried everything short of throwing the phone at the wall. I have 2-3 bars of 4g signal usually (metro detroit). I have tried AC Altered beast, tried gummycharged, tested my own rom, used kangfucius, PB&J Time, and VOODOO, all to no avail. I leave at 7 am and come back home at 3 pm and the battery will be down to its last 5 percent, running on fumes. I even turn off mobile data or i put it on airplane mode and that doesnt even seem to help. MY THUNDERBOLT GOT A WHOLE DAY EASILY WITH IMOSEYONS KERNEL ON 4G but the charge with supposedly better battery life is worse?!?!?! Any advice?

Let it go through a few Charge cycles (heh heh). I went about 12+ hours or so with fairly heavy usage yesterday. Always on: 4G, Bluetooth, GPS. Running: EE4 debloated, PBJT kernel, Voodoo enabled, automatic brightness, 2min screen timeout, 2 GMails, facebook, 2 emails, NoLED, etc. I even tested the mobile hotspot to dl a few big things (free PSN goodies FTW).
That should give you a good idea what's using up my battery. YMMV.

Mine is new and I think it also needs a few charge cycles, getting better but my thunderbolt was terrible for a month before I pushed 10hrs consecutively
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App

You're doing it wrong...
Without any info about what you have setup on your phone, no one can really give you much of any useful advice.

rami98 said:
So i got the charge a couple of weeks ago. I had the thunderbolt before it but then i switched it out for the charge just because the thunderbolt was kinda heavy. Now i have terrible battery life. I am on stock rooted EE4 and have tried everything short of throwing the phone at the wall. I have 2-3 bars of 4g signal usually (metro detroit). I have tried AC Altered beast, tried gummycharged, tested my own rom, used kangfucius, PB&J Time, and VOODOO, all to no avail. I leave at 7 am and come back home at 3 pm and the battery will be down to its last 5 percent, running on fumes. I even turn off mobile data or i put it on airplane mode and that doesnt even seem to help. MY THUNDERBOLT GOT A WHOLE DAY EASILY WITH IMOSEYONS KERNEL ON 4G but the charge with supposedly better battery life is worse?!?!?! Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my impression as well.
I think the "great" battery life is only on Samsung's slow stock ROM. I feel totally duped that I bought this phone for great battery life when its no better than the TB.
binglejellsx2 said:
Let it go through a few Charge cycles (heh heh). I went about 12+ hours or so with fairly heavy usage yesterday. Always on: 4G, Bluetooth, GPS. Running: EE4 debloated, PBJT kernel, Voodoo enabled, automatic brightness, 2min screen timeout, 2 GMails, facebook, 2 emails, NoLED, etc. I even tested the mobile hotspot to dl a few big things (free PSN goodies FTW).
That should give you a good idea what's using up my battery. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's had the phone for several weeks! My guess is that he's been through many a charge cycle!

I have had my stock ee4 RUNNING with wifi, gps, and interminentant 4g for twelve or thirteen hrs now and just got my battery warning. I have been reading forums all morning, and made several phone calls. The battery seems very good. I think you should check your bat. use its probably mostly screen use. I think that is everyones highest usage
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

My charge easily gets 3hrs MORE than my tbolt.

chromiumcloud said:
He's had the phone for several weeks! My guess is that he's been through many a charge cycle!
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Click to collapse
You assume he's let the phone die, turned off the phone, let it power all the way to full and then repeated this 2 - 3 times.
which is an asinine assumption seeing as most people don't let their phone die before charging and don't turn it off while charging - my guess the number of full cycles its been through is 0.

Given that he's tried 3 ROMs and 3 kernels, that gives 9 different possibilities. Using each for 2 days, which isn't really enough time to fully judge battery life, that gets us to 18 days, nearly 3 weeks. I'd say you have to have your phone with a ROM/Kernel combo for 3 days before you can get a sense of normal usage/battery life as the first two days, you'll still be setting stuff up the way you want and tinkering with it. The 3rd/4th/5th days is when you get a true sense of battery usage as by then, you should have most stuff setup the way you want it and your normal usage should be more consistent.

I haven't run out of battery yet but the longest I have kept it off the charger is 15 hours. I leave the radio on and get 4g mostly, stock EE4. I use my charge to listen to music and make a few calls/texts during the day. Screen seems to be the biggest drainer, nothing else comes close.

Not seeing bad battery life on my charge.... Running gummy 1.5 + pbj time kernel + voodoo lag fix + voodoo system fix... heavy use im getting about 18 hours on one charge
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App

Battery sucks on both the Thunderbolt and the Charge. I'd forgotten how bad the Thunderbolt was until I switched back from the extended battery to the stock.
Any comparison of battery life must include a thorough discussion of how you use the phone. What apps and services are running in the background and ideally some screen cap of the battery use screen. Without that kind of reference your definition of light, moderate, or heavy use is meaningless.
I think both phones have similar performance, it's the price we pay for that 4G lightning bolt.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

chromiumcloud said:
That was my impression as well.
I think the "great" battery life is only on Samsung's slow stock ROM. I feel totally duped that I bought this phone for great battery life when its no better than the TB.
He's had the phone for several weeks! My guess is that he's been through many a charge cycle!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep every day iv'e charged it so it's gone through at least 20 cycles.
And i'm running stock EE4 and PBJ kernel (not the overclock one) with lagfix not enabled but it's the voodoo version. Does voodoo save battery?

oh and i have a few apps running in the background like google voice and fb but thats about it. I dont have skype or any of that just fb and google voice. the rest of my apps are mainly games and stuff like pulse that doesnt run in the background. my display is on about 20-25 percent. some days i put it on airplane mode sometimes on mobile data off but even then, the battery is either close to dead or has about 30% left. Keep in mind thats only 7 hours no use at all and that only leaves me with about 2 or 3 hours of actually usage. and the only thing that i do then is browse the web. maybe a 1 minute voice call but that is it.

try going into your settings..accounts and sync....and turning off the auto sync option and then turn off all the accounts you have syncing..I see no reason why google has to constantly sync my contacts when there not changed and use my battery up..you can always do a manual sync and turning the auto sync off hasnt affected my FB updating.
Also on any kind of social updating widget or new ticker you can adjust how often it updates itself too. Again unless your just dying to have it updated all the time then expect the battery to drain faster when it updates. Also when I am not using my phone I turn the data, GPS, and wifi all off. I have been happy with my battery performance and Im running just like urs with rooted PB & J kernel but EE4 stock..I have lagfix enabled though

rami98 said:
oh and i have a few apps running in the background like google voice and fb but thats about it. I dont have skype or any of that just fb and google voice. the rest of my apps are mainly games and stuff like pulse that doesnt run in the background. my display is on about 20-25 percent. some days i put it on airplane mode sometimes on mobile data off but even then, the battery is either close to dead or has about 30% left. Keep in mind thats only 7 hours no use at all and that only leaves me with about 2 or 3 hours of actually usage. and the only thing that i do then is browse the web. maybe a 1 minute voice call but that is it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your getting 9-10 hours then that's not bad... and is significantly more than the TB.
chiahead52 said:
try going into your settings..accounts and sync....and turning off the auto sync option and then turn off all the accounts you have syncing..I see no reason why google has to constantly sync my contacts when there not changed and use my battery up..you can always do a manual sync and turning the auto sync off hasnt affected my FB updating.
Also on any kind of social updating widget or new ticker you can adjust how often it updates itself too. Again unless your just dying to have it updated all the time then expect the battery to drain faster when it updates. Also when I am not using my phone I turn the data, GPS, and wifi all off. I have been happy with my battery performance and Im running just like urs with rooted PB & J kernel but EE4 stock..I have lagfix enabled though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with the wifi and GPS off, but the data off? The phone is a smart phone and should be able to handle data all the time. Else, why not recommend an iPod touch and a moto razer LOL

chromiumcloud said:
I agree with the wifi and GPS off, but the data off? The phone is a smart phone and should be able to handle data all the time. Else, why not recommend an iPod touch and a moto razer LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I never get the turn off your data and everything that makes a smart phone smart approach, but to each his own. Just depends on your priorities.
As a 100% exclusive google voice user (for calls, texts, voicemail) I have to leave data on, or I don't get my SMS and voicemails. I don't want to have to manually check for emails either.
Things like twitter, facebook, etc are all optional for me, so I make them either manual or long intervals on the checks for new posts.
Words With Friends is an absolute battery whore. It defaults (at least it used to) looking for updates to your games EVERY FIVE MINUTES...that's insane, and all you have to do is watch the darn thing try to update games to see how much radio it's wasting, takes forever. Turn it off. LOL

I get all my texts and what not with the data turned off....and when I go to use the phone for anything I turn it back on and use it for whatever...I dont need the instant gratification of getting the email the second it is sent. I guess some people need that feature. Once the syncing is not running all the time from your various apps, then leaving the data on shouldnt drain much battery at all. I am still quite a newbie at this stuff so if I say something stupid please excuse me

chiahead52 said:
I get all my texts and what not with the data turned off....and when I go to use the phone for anything I turn it back on and use it for whatever...I dont need the instant gratification of getting the email the second it is sent. I guess some people need that feature. Once the syncing is not running all the time from your various apps, then leaving the data on shouldnt drain much battery at all. I am still quite a newbie at this stuff so if I say something stupid please excuse me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, no, nothing stupid at all, that's why I said "to each his own" and "just depends on your priorities." We all use our phones differently. Do what works best for you.
IF your texts are via Verizon SMS, that stuff comes in over the voice channel, not data, so it's not impacted by turning off data. Google voice comes in over the data connection, so no data means no texts! If you're in a wifi area, you could turn off mobile data and you'd still get GV stuff, but no need to since wifi will take precedence over the mobile (cellular) data anyways.

rami98 said:
yep every day iv'e charged it so it's gone through at least 20 cycles.
And i'm running stock EE4 and PBJ kernel (not the overclock one) with lagfix not enabled but it's the voodoo version. Does voodoo save battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, voodoo doesn't save battery in itself, but some of the other changes in that kernel increase battery life.
i still think you need to swap that phone out. You're working too hard to get decent battery life, and shouldn't have to.

Battery Lifesaver

Saving Your Droid Charge's Battery
We all know that the droid charge is decent with battery but some functions just drain it so quick that it seems like its the phone itself. I have posted in several other threads about saving batter. I wanted to put together a single thread on all of the many ways as to save your battery. Some of these ways can be done through various apps free and paid. Some users of android opt to buy an extended battery for their phones to combat the high power consumption of the phone. This isn't always the best way to handle this as with the extended battery, you are very limited almost never going to find a case that protects your phone. Here are several factors that drain the charge's battery:
1. 4G. Its a known fact that Verizon's 4G connection is the fastest LTE that is in the market. This function is one of the most battery intensive functions that the phone has. While this radio is active it pulls a lot of juice from the battery to ensure that you stay connected and have the highest bandwidth possible.
2. Mobile Data. Keeping this function on allows you to recieve your email notifications, mms, and all other apps that require a data connection. This function can use 3g or 4g connection for data.
3. Screen Display. Though with the super Amolled plus screen is the best on the market, this is THE most drain on your battery.
4. Accounts and Sync. This function is a harsh one to control because it isn't always active and can run in the background or while the phone display is off.
I have listed some of the major functions of the phone that drain the battery. Below are some steps to prevent and/or help your droid charge last throughout the day. I use my phone at work while I am away from my computer or just during breaks and can last throughout an entire 10 hour work day without worry of my charge going dead.
1A. 4G. There are several things to be done to ensure that you don't let one of the droid charge's best feature become your worst enemy. While not using your phone for any data intensive apps, you should always turn this feature off to conserve battery. To turn this feature off, while on your home screen: Menu-->Settings-->Wireless & Networks-->Mobile Networks-->System Selection-->and choose CMDA Only (this is the 3g Network).
There is an easier way to get this feature on and off by a 4G toggle app and is linked here--> https://market.android.com/details?id=com.coreyapps.togglelte
2A. Mobile Data. While the above should be done every time you use/don't use your phone for data, this should be turned off always if you are connected to any wifi source. This also ensures that both your 3g and 4g radios are turned off while in a poor signal area and will save your battery the strain from trying to gain a signal. While turning this off, you will not receive data unless you are connected to wifi, but you will be able to receive calls and sms messages.
3A. Screen Display. This is the number one cause of battery drain. While there are preventative measures to ensure that you limit the strain, if you are using your phone a lot for anything, you will need to charge any device. You should pick a screen lock out timer that best suites you and you should let the phone turn the display off. I have mine set to 30 seconds and believe this to be the happy median between the two extremes. 15 seconds seems to be to short and 1 min is way to long. Note: If using the phone there should be no reason to use over 30 seconds.
4A. Accounts & Sync. This function isn't as bad as the others but can leave you puzzled if this is your first droid. This is the silent killer...To combat this only allow your phone to sync over wifi and the best is to set times to sync every 12 to 24 hours. I use 24 hours and it syncs around 2 a.m. while I am sleeping. To get your phone on a schedule like this, stay up to the wee hours of the morning or until you know for sure that you will be at home at the time for the sync to occur. When the time is right, go through the Manage Accounts and through each of your accounts and sync.
There are many other factors that could play a role in your phone not lasting the day. With the newer phones and the 4G capabilities, we should train ourselves and not our batteries. With this it is up to each individual user to ensure that they manage their phones in a proper manner for proper results. I have used an extended battery until i got fed up with not having a case for my phone. Once going back to the stock battery, I had to train myself to manage my phone to ensure that I could last an entire day on one full battery charge.
Contrary to popular belief, giving your Droid Charge some extra juice throughout the day isn't a bad thing. A full uninterrupted charge is best at night but throughout the day it isn't bad to sneak a good 10-15 min charge in. My battery life is amazing with following my routine of things when I use and don't use my phone.
There are several apps that can aid you squeezing the most life out of your battery. Juice Defender is the main one with many options and very customization.
Please let me know if anyone else has any more information on either battery intensive apps or functions and ways to correct them and I will be sure to update this post for everyone. Hope you enjoyed my write up.
~jkbucksot

Whats the point of having this great phone if you have to go through all that?

blueis300 said:
Whats the point of having this great phone if you have to go through all that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me I use it while away from my desk and don't want to take my laptop into the server room. I don't have time to sit at my desk and charge my phone. I am in a work place where there is no cell service.
Go ahead and see how long your battery last without service, your radios will suck it dry within a couple of hours.
Didn't say you have to do all of that, as there are apps to help you achieve it.

A black wallpaper helps too.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

Ive seen other posts like this before. I know you're trying to help but there's no way I would go through all of that to have a smartphone. What kernel are you using? What Rom? I use my phone throughout the day a lot. I can go 10-12 hours with HEAVY use without turning my phone into a dumbphone. Not all of the time but most of the time you are doing something wrong if you're getting 4 hours of heavy phone use. Either that or you're on the wrong Rom/kernel and/or haven't calibrated it correctly. In my opinion, what's the use of even having a smartphone like this if you're going to constantly turn it into a dumbphone?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

SOTK said:
Ive seen other posts like this before. I know you're trying to help but there's no way I would go through all of that to have a smartphone. What kernel are you using? What Rom? I use my phone throughout the day a lot. I can go 10-12 hours with HEAVY use without turning my phone into a dumbphone. Not all of the time but most of the time you are doing something wrong if you're getting 4 hours of heavy phone use. Either that or you're on the wrong Rom/kernel and/or haven't calibrated it correctly. In my opinion, what's the use of even having a smartphone like this if you're going to constantly turn it into a dumbphone?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had a steady rom/kernel package in the last week. I have been testing Imnuts new infinity1031 build.
Your not turning your "smartphone" into a "dumbphone". You are managing your phone. No one said to completely turn off notifications/app updates (ie weather) on your phone.
When you say that you get 10-12 hours of heavy use, do you mean data use or just sms messaging etc? Also there is no phone out there that can stay connected to 4G using data and last 10-12 hours.
So your heavy use, isn't really heavy...

I agree, I can get two days or whatever on my battery UNTIL I run Sirius Radio online (& I have 4G)
If I listen to the NFL Sirius online channel I can't make it through a standard work day without using a fat extended battery (& it doesn't matter what ROM/modem I'm using)
~John

jkbucksot said:
I haven't had a steady rom/kernel package in the last week. I have been testing Imnuts new infinity1031 build.
Your not turning your "smartphone" into a "dumbphone". You are managing your phone. No one said to completely turn off notifications/app updates (ie weather) on your phone.
When you say that you get 10-12 hours of heavy use, do you mean data use or just sms messaging etc? Also there is no phone out there that can stay connected to 4G using data and last 10-12 hours.
So your heavy use, isn't really heavy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never turn anything off. Data is always left on (4G). When I am at home, I will connect via wifi but when I go to work or church or whatever Im on 4G. I have my notifications set to check every hour (Facebook, twitter, tapatalk, Gmail, weather, and Google plus). I text quite a bit throughout the day. Probably on the phone talking an average of 30 minutes a day. I jump on the browser quite a bit. I read twitter, Facebook, and tapatalk quite a bit throughout the day so screentime is average of about two hours. I listen to music at least an hour or so a day. So, again, consider myself fairly heavy user. It seems like I'm always on my phone.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Same bosy ad sodk msybe a bit more ecyensive about 7 hours i am comoletely dead i am runnung humble 1.6 looking for a rom kernal package that gets me a bit better than that
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

bfitzpatrickd2d said:
Same bosy ad sodk msybe a bit more ecyensive about 7 hours i am comoletely dead i am runnung humble 1.6 looking for a rom kernal package that gets me a bit better than that
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Sorry don't know. About. This. One might have been drinking. This. Time my bad thanks anyway
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

I work in a huge metal building, opposite in a 4g area. I've found my 4g radio will drain my battery fast if the 4g signal is low. This is because the phone will keep increasing the power out until it gets good 2-way communication with the tower. If you're using 4g in a good coverage area and have good signal you're probably not going to see the battery drain nearly as much. Personally I use tasker to automatically control the data connection as I move between work and home. I use WiFi at home since its less battery intensive than 4g.

My Mom's GS3 is dying fast. I think it's LTE but I may be wrong.

OK, so my wife and I both have GS3's through T-Mobile and our batteries last very long. I'm a heavy user and get a fully day while my wife is a light user and easily get's two days. My Mom on the other hand has her GS3 through Verizon and her battery is dying in roughly half a day. She is not a heavy user at all. In fact, her old Droid 2 would last longer than her GS3 which really has her frustrated.
I think it may be due to the fact she doesn't get a good 4G signal at work and at home. In fact, she gets 1 bar at work if she's lucky. She also said the phone is constantly bouncing back and forth between 3G and 4G while at work. She took it to Verizon today and they swapped SIM cards to be sure that wasn't the problem. Obviously that didn't work because I'm posting here. I will see her on Thursday and she want's me to look at her phone.
Do you guy's think this is most likely the reason as to why her battery is draining so fast? Also, if it is. Would there be a way I can show her how to disable 4G so her battery lasts longer?

It's most likely 3G and 4G switching back and forth or a rogue app. For to turn off the 4G it can't be done without rooting I'm pretty sure.

No, it's because you have task running. I had the same thing happen to me. If you exit an application by pressing home, the program will continue to run in the background. I had gallery take up 38% of my battery life. If you press the back button, it will FC the application.
Good bye HTC Rezound, hello Galaxy S3!

jrwingate6 said:
OK, so my wife and I both have GS3's through T-Mobile and our batteries last very long. I'm a heavy user and get a fully day while my wife is a light user and easily get's two days. My Mom on the other hand has her GS3 through Verizon and her battery is dying in roughly half a day. She is not a heavy user at all. In fact, her old Droid 2 would last longer than her GS3 which really has her frustrated.
I think it may be due to the fact she doesn't get a good 4G signal at work and at home. In fact, she gets 1 bar at work if she's lucky. She also said the phone is constantly bouncing back and forth between 3G and 4G while at work. She took it to Verizon today and they swapped SIM cards to be sure that wasn't the problem. Obviously that didn't work because I'm posting here. I will see her on Thursday and she want's me to look at her phone.
Do you guy's think this is most likely the reason as to why her battery is draining so fast? Also, if it is. Would there be a way I can show her how to disable 4G so her battery lasts longer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on verizon as well and I find that my battery dies extremely fast. Full charge in the morning and by bedtime its just about dead, that's with moderate use. Some things that I have found to help is I generally keep bluetooth, and gps off unless I need either. I keep power saving mode on, and really minimized what Sync's through my accounts.
It's not exactly the answer you were looking for but it should help you until a more long term solution can be figured out.

Does anyone know how to turn 4G off?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Low tower signal will kill the battery very fast. Frustratingly fast. I have Verizon GS3, have very low signal at work, and I burn 8% battery per hour when phone is idle. With almost no use, my battery is down to 30% by time I go home.
At home I have good tower signal and my battery drops very slow in idle, maybe 1% per hour. At both work and home I have WiFi connected and set to keep WiFi on during sleep always. Therefore I don't think it's data traffic / sync causing the issue. Instead its hyperactive radio hardware or firmware killing itself as it constantly finds/loses tower connection. The only thing I've been able to find to reduce the drain is going into airplane mode... which is obviously a terrible option.
Hope Samsung can improve this self devouring nature in the future!

jrwingate6 said:
Does anyone know how to turn 4G off?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to the playstore and download "phone info" open it and go to device information
Swith the " lte/cdma/evdo" into cdma auto (PRL)
I also turn off 4g at work due to weak signal
VERIZON GALAXY S 3

I believe its a signal search at where she spends most of her time. At my work the signal is very bad and the phone goes from 100% to 20% in 10 hours without even touching the phone. Now I turn on airplane mode and it never drops the battery.
She can disable the data and find out how much that would save her

First make sure it's not a rogue app by going into Settings -> Battery, your top 2 battery usages should be Screen and Cell Standby. As long as you don't have some random app eating away at your battery then it's definitely signal strength related. Does she have Wi-Fi available at work? If so make sure she connects to it. I have a Verizon S3 and the battery life on this phone is better than any Android phone I've ever owned (and I've had a lot). I leave GPS and Bluetooth on all day and can easily get a full day with mid to heavy usage. The biggest thing would be to get her on Wi-Fi if available. This will stop the phone from constantly trying to poll data off a poor signal and significantly increase battery life. If no Wi-Fi available, then the above post would come into play, Phone Info app and switch into cdma to keep it locked into 3g will help, but only if there's a decent 3g signal. If the 3g signal is weak also, then you're not going to help anything, and she will just need to remember to turn data sync off while she's at work.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Try switching batteries to see if she has a defective battery. If thats not the case, then make Verizon give her a replacement S3.

Add me to the list of people who think its the signal search in low service areas.. I disabled 4G with the Phone Info app and my phone lasted way longer than before..
Since you pointed out she has a low signal, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the culprit..
Sent from my Commodore 64..
READY.
load"*",8,1

Pagaldesi4life said:
Try switching batteries to see if she has a defective battery. If thats not the case, then make Verizon give her a replacement S3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I did, kept the old battery too...then they swapped me for a w S3. My battery is doing much better now.

The5Venomz said:
This is what I did, kept the old battery too...then they swapped me for a w S3. My battery is doing much better now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh so it wasn't the battery itself?
When you got a replacement S3, did you go back to the same store where you had originally purchased them from or tried a different store?

I disabled 4G today at work with my stinky cell signal and my battery nose dived like usual. Therefore, if you have no signal, 3G/4G doesn't seem to matter. The radio hardware will still destroy itself happily.

Anyone know of a widget my Mom could use to disable data completely while she is at work?

jrwingate6 said:
Anyone know of a widget my Mom could use to disable data completely while she is at work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pull the task drawer down and uncheck mobile data. Why do you need a widget?

You might have a system process called "gsiff_daemon" draining the battery. I have that problem and others have reported that process has been draining their battery as well. Or it could be other have mentioned already, signal switching, rogue programs, etc.

Today at work I ran with mobile data off. I still had a really bad battery drain. Therefore the voice 3 g radio must be responsible. Not much we can do about that unless a new firmware comes out.

Another battery tip...
Scrappy1 said:
Today at work I ran with mobile data off. I still had a really bad battery drain. Therefore the voice 3 g radio must be responsible. Not much we can do about that unless a new firmware comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's also an option in the settings>developer options to restrict how many processes are running in the background, and to kill an app after leaving it. The only problem I've noticed with the second option is that the fb app won't allow you to post a status, I think because it causes it to start a new activity, which kills the main fb activity when you leave it. But limiting the background stuff seems to have saved some more juice on top of only using 3g.

getheart mcliar said:
There's also an option in the settings>developer options to restrict how many processes are running in the background, and to kill an app after leaving it. The only problem I've noticed with the second option is that the fb app won't allow you to post a status, I think because it causes it to start a new activity, which kills the main fb activity when you leave it. But limiting the background stuff seems to have saved some more juice on top of only using 3g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Naw man, at home I have good cell signal and have almost no idle drain. At work I have terrible signal and it drains like nuts. It's not an issue with apps, processes, services, etc.