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[Q] Terrible battery life

Alright so my skyrocket is rooted with the faux kernel and sky ics 7.4 speed rom. My battery lasts me roughly until 6pm everyday when taken off the charger at 6am for school (obviously aren't using it during school) so that to me, is crap battery life for such a large battery capacity especially only using HSPA+ no LTE. cpu set at 1.5ghz uv -75mv, ondemand governer, screen off to 384mhz. Noticed Android System uses nearly as much battery as display, at minimum brightness.
Can anyone help me reduce this or give me any tips for better battery life?
in the pics below, i left my phone idle overnight after a 100% charge before going to bed at around 12am. woke up with the phone at 98%.
under moderate useage it will die 10%/45 minutes.
img138.imageshack.us/img138/7115/sc20120229175536.png
img822.imageshack.us/img822/237/sc20120229175551.png

rccar said:
Alright so my skyrocket is rooted with the faux kernel and sky ics 7.4 speed rom. My battery lasts me roughly until 6pm everyday when taken off the charger at 6am for school (obviously aren't using it during school) so that to me, is crap battery life for such a large battery capacity especially only using HSPA+ no LTE. cpu set at 1.5ghz uv -75mv, ondemand governer, screen off to 384mhz. Noticed Android System uses nearly as much battery as display, at minimum brightness.
Can anyone help me reduce this or give me any tips for better battery life?
in the pics below, i left my phone idle overnight after a 100% charge before going to bed at around 12am. woke up with the phone at 98%.
under moderate useage it will die 10%/45 minutes.
img138.imageshack.us/img138/7115/sc20120229175536.png
img822.imageshack.us/img822/237/sc20120229175551.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought a external charging kit + spare battery package that samsung sells for around $40. An external charger (equivalent to charging your phone on AC while the power is turned off) is the best charging you can give your battery. The worst type of charging is charging your battery while the phone is on connected to a computer through USB.
Of course, who wants to charge with the phone turned off? That's why you should get this package. I never worry about charging my phone. When I'm running low, I just do a quick battery swap. A seriously annoying issue with this phone becomes a non-issue.
I also make sure I try to do a deep cycle charge. I always let it drain to around 5-15% before I swap batteries.

kind if irrelevant but this might be the first phone I might not root or mess with for a while 2nd day of use.stock everything and i'm running on 1 day and like 6+ hours on battery idk if that's the born or not but i'm not on lte either just thought I would share this lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA

derik.p said:
kind if irrelevant but this might be the first phone I might not root or mess with for a while 2nd day of use.stock everything and i'm running on 1 day and like 6+ hours on battery idk if that's the born or not but i'm not on lte either just thought I would share this lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
derik, how often are you using your phone and do you have facebook or any apps pushing notifications?

I do have Facebook and the accuweather widget that auto updates also Yahoo email.use the browser a moderate amount sent and received a good 200 texts.about 2 hours of calls total and mess with settings and use this app..id say pretty moderate use but that's pretty good I think and i'm coming from the infuse
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA

rccar said:
Alright so my skyrocket is rooted with the faux kernel and sky ics 7.4 speed rom. My battery lasts me roughly until 6pm everyday when taken off the charger at 6am for school (obviously aren't using it during school) so that to me, is crap battery life for such a large battery capacity especially only using HSPA+ no LTE. cpu set at 1.5ghz uv -75mv, ondemand governer, screen off to 384mhz. Noticed Android System uses nearly as much battery as display, at minimum brightness.
Can anyone help me reduce this or give me any tips for better battery life?
in the pics below, i left my phone idle overnight after a 100% charge before going to bed at around 12am. woke up with the phone at 98%.
under moderate useage it will die 10%/45 minutes.
img138.imageshack.us/img138/7115/sc20120229175536.png
img822.imageshack.us/img822/237/sc20120229175551.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a JuiceDefender profile that might be able to help you, send me a message. Also check my thread on the battery thing and see if it works for you.
I'd say that 12 hrs is pretty normal provided you don't shut down radios.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

Try mhx's new rom 2.6, by far best on battery life. Seeing 16-26 hours based on people reviews...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium

My battery is also terrible i'm using an extended battery and now i can make 16hours of average usage
Inviato dal mio Galaxy Nexus usando Tapatalk

Stock kernel sux for on screen time. Use a custom kernel and undervolt. I was getting 8 hours on stock, k or I'm getting about 13 with heavy usage, so trust me when I say u don't need to flash a new rom, but a kernel is a must. Strongly recommend sky-kernel 009m by faux
Sent from my SGH-I727R using XDA

Anyone wanna tell me how to extract the JuiceDefender backup so I can share it?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

If not mistaken if hit backup in JD it will put backup file on root of sdcard.. it does mine
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

icenight89 said:
Stock kernel sux for on screen time. Use a custom kernel and undervolt. I was getting 8 hours on stock, k or I'm getting about 13 with heavy usage, so trust me when I say u don't need to flash a new rom, but a kernel is a must. Strongly recommend sky-kernel 009m by faux
Sent from my SGH-I727R using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I read somewhere that faux's kernels don't support Wifi tethering. Is this still true? Do other custom kernels have this problem?

I flashed the Paradox rom on the T989 forums with Faux's Skyrocket kernel and I didn't download System Tuner with this ROM (Just kept it the way it was) and it has zero lag and from 6 am to 2am the next night, I only went down to 32% so battery life is the most amazing I've had ever

I had a similar problem on my old captivate. I found a rogue app that was using a ton of battery. Like 74% of my battery. Bat stats said it was Android OS using it. Delete some of the recent apps you may have installed b4 you noticed the bad battery life. I am on SkyICS 7.4 my battery life is pretty good. The rogue app that I found was a game Pirates from Disney.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA
Running SkyICS 7.4

I put up a thread with JuiceDefender profile for all. Check it out and let me know how it works.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

12 hours isn't too bad for a Skyrocket.
On my phone, I'm rooted, running SkyIce ROM with Faux Kernel. My usage is as follows:
Display-64%
Android System-6%
Android OS-5%
Cell Standby-2%
I average around 10 hours of heavy (constant) use, and about 16 hours with normal use. I'm quite satisfied with the Skyrockets battery life. I've only had the phone for 10 days, so the battery is still settling in. It's much better than the battery life on the SGS II, which got around 8-11 hours.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA Premium App

Horrible battery life Verizon model

After 7 hours, I'm at 14%. Screen was on for 2 hours and I haven't been doing anything intensive (3d games or movies etc) just some web browsing. On automatic brightness. Are other people getting battery life this bad?

what about gps, nfc, app update intervals, there can be a lot going on in the background.

What is the top battery consumer under your battery usage?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

ptaros said:
What is the top battery consumer under your battery usage?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screen is, with 48%
Wifi is on, Bluetooth, NFC, and gps are off.

to be fair, my gf's verizon GS3 is ridiculously efficient. granted she was on wifi most of the day and doesn't use internet as much, but she was at 53% with 13 hours and 2 hours 14 min of screen time.
my att on the other hand, wifi off and on LTE, was at 53% with 6 hours and 2 hours of screen time.

dLo GSR said:
to be fair, my gf's verizon GS3 is ridiculously efficient. granted she was on wifi most of the day and doesn't use internet as much, but she was at 53% with 13 hours and 2 hours 14 min of screen time.
my att on the other hand, wifi off and on LTE, was at 53% with 6 hours and 2 hours of screen time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But both of those are higher than 15% after 7 hours with 2 hours of screen time

OlympusGod said:
Screen is, with 48%
Wifi is on, Bluetooth, NFC, and gps are off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the LTE signal in your area, if its not strong and swapping back and forth from 3g to LTE all day it can take a huge toll on your battery.

Try it without wifi and 4g. ONLY use 3g. I have a theory...
Sent from my Galaxy S3

Forgetfull said:
Try it without wifi and 4g. ONLY use 3g. I have a theory...
Sent from my Galaxy S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll do that tomorrow and get back to you

Mine seems to be doing great. The signal isn't that great in my house either. This is more real time use as I was asleep for a while. But when I woke up at 10am this morning it was at 92. I've been using it moderately ever since. I get about 8 hours with ridiculous use(4+hr screen on time).
Never on wifi.
Edit: I realize its kind of a bad example since it was in standby more than awake. But I'm getting great battery.

Screenshots
Screenshots for those of you wondering

I had the same problem as you did. What made a significant change for me was changing amount of apps to keep running at 4 instead of default. Also I found the xda app runs in the background, continues to drain the battery. I have to manually kill the xda app every time I exit it. For today I'm at 12 hour running, and screen on 1.5hrs and 59 percent battery life.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

OlympusGod said:
But both of those are higher than 15% after 7 hours with 2 hours of screen time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right, and im saying my gf's VERIZON model spanked mine.

Give the battery sometime.

I've been getting worse battery on wifi than 4g for some reason. I also noticed my idle power usage is around 115mA, where on my thunderbolt it was around 20mA

arkard1 said:
I had the same problem as you did. What made a significant change for me was changing amount of apps to keep running at 4 instead of default. Also I found the xda app runs in the background, continues to drain the battery. I have to manually kill the xda app every time I exit it. For today I'm at 12 hour running, and screen on 1.5hrs and 59 percent battery life.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto on the xda app, it was burning up cpu cycles while in the background, enough to make my phone warm. So I just close it every time I'm done using it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

I have gps, wifi, data, and sync on still netting 27-30hrs battery life. The key is rooting and debloating....

d1ez3 said:
I've been getting worse battery on wifi than 4g for some reason. I also noticed my idle power usage is around 115mA, where on my thunderbolt it was around 20mA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woh how are you getting your current draw? The apps that I've tried won't support the s3.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I have the Verizon model of the S3 as well. I have had it for over a week now because I was an early pre-order so I got it really early. For the first few days I was getting really bad battery life. I would maybe only get 8 - 9 hours with moderate usage, that being about 2 hours of screen time. I would play no games, and just browse the web and text. I am a big texter though, but on my DINC as long as I had mobile data switched off I could get plenty of life out of my phone. With this phone for some reason after about 70 percent, mine will start to drain much faster regardless of what I am using it for, even if the screen is is off. Just to test it I left all the radios on while the phone was at 100 percent over night, and the next morning it was at 96. The next day I tried the same test when my phone was at 50 percent battery, and when I woke up it was at 10 . I don't really understand what is going on here either. I keep seeing all of the reviews for the device even the Verizon version to point towards great battery life, but I am just not seeing it. Maybe rooting and a re-flashing the stock rom plus removing bloatware will help. I also got another battery just to see if that was the problem, but it doesn't seem to be. I'm hoping this is just a software issue, because I don't know why some can get such great battery and some can't. I would also hate to have to get a replacement phone.

im getting around 10 hours with Heavy use ... 6 hours of pandora, youtube, email, facebook, twitter, web
On day 6 with the phone

[Q] Batt life

Am I the only one who doesn't get 4 hours of screen time from a charge? I've seen many posts about it, and I average about 2. This is on aosp/touchwiz and many different kernel combos.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Aarongauntt said:
Am I the only one who doesn't get 4 hours of screen time from a charge? I've seen many posts about it, and I average about 2. This is on aosp/touchwiz and many different kernel combos.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't typically get 4. I get about 3 or less. And I don't overclock like most do. It all depends on what you use your phone for , how good your service is, phone calls/ texting you do. I listen to music every day which hurts my amount of screen time, and I don't get very good service most of the day, which also hurts it. I have noticed that installing JuiceDefender dramatically helps so my battery drains much slower when I'm not on it by turning off wifi/4g after a few seconds, and back on at intervals to sync. CPU Sleeper is also a noticeable gain after you install it. It shuts off the extra core or something when you don't need it.

On a regular basis, I've only gotten around 2-3 hours of screen time from a full charge.
I've used stock, CleanROM, and SynergyROM
All the same.

emckai said:
On a regular basis, I've only gotten around 2-3 hours of screen time from a full charge.
I've used stock, CleanROM, and SynergyROM
All the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are SO many variables that can contribute to lower battery life. Screen brightness, constant device wakes, account sync, application efficiency, etc. I normally get 3 hours of screen time because I keep my sceeen at half brightness and I wake my device up a lot throughout the day. I'm willing to bet I would get 4 hours if I reduced the amount of device wakes. But who knows.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah I understand wake locks and such I just thought I was getting abnormal battery life. Maybe not. I only lost 10% after sleeping in for 12 hours. Medical classes haha. But my screen time seemed low. Oh well, I carry a charger everywhere
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

DroidOnRoids said:
There are SO many variables that can contribute to lower battery life. Screen brightness, constant device wakes, account sync, application efficiency, etc. I normally get 3 hours of screen time because I keep my sceeen at half brightness and I wake my device up a lot throughout the day. I'm willing to bet I would get 4 hours if I reduced the amount of device wakes. But who knows.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
im in the middle of demonstrating this and making a post about it. Battery life is dependent on user and the phone. Nobody will get the same battery life.
im on the stock size battery and im at around 1 day 4 hrs of battery .... 3+ hrs of screen time...and i still have 39% left.
runnning AOKP M1

ddurandSGS3 said:
im in the middle of demonstrating this and making a post about it. Battery life is dependent on user and the phone. Nobody will get the same battery life.
im on the stock size battery and im at around 1 day 4 hrs of battery .... 3+ hrs of screen time...and i still have 39% left.
runnning AOKP M1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said I realize that it varies by user, was mainly trying to determine if I had a bad battery. I had seen many people post about 3-4 hours but hardly any about 2 hours
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Battery Life Complaints?

I was just wondering why there are so many complaints about the battery life on the s3...right now I'm on aosp pure Google and with 18 hours on the battery for the day I'm at 87%...This is pretty average with most of the aosp Roms I have used...I turn of WiFi and 4g unless I'm using them and I have a few battery tweaks in my init.d and build.prop that are on just about every site that is android related and are pretty easy to apply... If .7 % per hour is really something to complain about then get a junky flip phone...you should be able to get like 3 days out of that...battery drain is going to happen when you basically have a handheld laptop with the power and capabilities the s3 has...Just sayin

jamesd1085 said:
I was just wondering why there are so many complaints about the battery life on the s3...right now I'm on aosp pure Google and with 18 hours on the battery for the day I'm at 87%...This is pretty average with most of the aosp Roms I have used...I turn of WiFi and 4g unless I'm using them and I have a few battery tweaks in my init.d and build.prop that are on just about every site that is android related and are pretty easy to apply... If .7 % per hour is really something to complain about then get a junky flip phone...you should be able to get like 3 days out of that...battery drain is going to happen when you basically have a handheld laptop with the power and capabilities the s3 has...Just sayin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of people here are considered in the 'heavy usage' category, which the stock battery drains quickly. For me, I could drain the battery in 5-6 hours easily. And fyi the time the phone is on matters very little, it's all about screen on time. With my extended battery I get 8-10 hours of SCREEN ON which is the most important aspect, glad the stock battery works okay for your usage, everyone is different.
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S III using xda-premium

el o el
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

AndrewH05 said:
A lot of people here are considered in the 'heavy usage' category, which the stock battery drains quickly. For me, I could drain the battery in 5-6 hours easily. And fyi the time the phone is on matters very little, it's all about screen on time. With my extended battery I get 8-10 hours of SCREEN ON which is the most important aspect, glad the stock battery works okay for your usage, everyone is different.
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S III using xda-premium
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Click to collapse
Geeez...what are you doing to kill an extended battery like that? I get that much while playing games and using my browser...i am also over clocked at 2106mhz...i wonder if there a lot of these going out with bad batteries...i see more complaints from people getting drain with screen off than on

jamesd1085 said:
Geeez...what are you doing to kill an extended battery like that? I get that much while playing games and using my browser...i am also over clocked at 2106mhz...i wonder if there a lot of these going out with bad batteries...i see more complaints from people getting drain with screen off than on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I believe you're confusing uptime with the amount of time the screen is on, I can guarantee you do not get 8-10 hours of the screen being on in a single charge with the stock battery, even at the lowest brightness setting. Post screen shots of those two screens when you get that much, I'd love to see it! That was only my 3rd cycle with the 4400 mAh battery, it's even better now, I just haven't taken any new screen shots.
Oh, and my brightness was at 50-75% that day.
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S III using xda-premium

I hit 10 hrs screen time with my 4400mah battery
Sent from using xda premium

I get amazing battery life, anywhere from 2-4 days, depending on the on-screen time. which is around 2-5 hours.
stock battery, CleanROM 5.5.1

andybones said:
I get amazing battery life, anywhere from 2-4 days, depending on the on-screen time. which is around 2-5 hours.
stock battery, CleanROM 5.5.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here! On CM10.1 I average 2-4 days, with normal usage. Very happy here!
Sent using Tapatalk

post your battery usage here

Thought the s4 needed an official thread for this. That way, we get a variety of types of users and people can see what type of battery life they can expect and plan accordingly.
Please include a screenshot & also list what battery you are using, and if applicable any custom rom or hacks implemented that effect battery life at all.
I believe you can take a screenshot by using the power & home buttons at the same time, correct me if im wrong.
I.e. stock battery, cyanogenmod 11, 9505 verizon
<screenshot here> (will post mine when I get it of course)

fade2green514 said:
Thought the s4 needed an official thread for this. That way, we get a variety of types of users and people can see what type of battery life they can expect and plan accordingly.
Please include a screenshot & also list what battery you are using, and if applicable any custom rom or hacks implemented that effect battery life at all.
I believe you can take a screenshot by using the power & home buttons at the same time, correct me if im wrong.
I.e. stock battery, cyanogenmod 11, 9505 verizon
<screenshot here> (will post mine when I get it of course)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to post a screen later as I didn't take one when I woke up this morning. But I actually forgot to put my phone on the charger lastnight as I fell asleep. Woke up with 13% left on the battery after 17 hours of it being on. Over 4 hours of screen on time this is Stock no root with the stock battery after 1 full charge Sprint SGS4. Texting all day after the full charge installing apps was on WiFi for awhile and just in general playing with the Camera and settings just getting a feel for the phone.

This is after the first full drain and charge cycle. I'm content with this. It'll likely get better as well.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

k2buckley said:
This is after the first full drain and charge cycle. I'm content with this. It'll likely get better as well.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks pretty good to me!

I getting mixed messages. Some people are reporting under 3hrs screen time while others get 5+...wtf???
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

cell128 said:
I getting mixed messages. Some people are reporting under 3hrs screen time while others get 5+...wtf???
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The former have bad apps or settings. This phone should be pulling around 6 hours of screen time.

cell128 said:
I getting mixed messages. Some people are reporting under 3hrs screen time while others get 5+...wtf???
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably with wifi on all day. The latter with lte
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Here is mine : 4h20 with 20% remaining, 2nd charge.

I reckon you guys should be getting 6hrs easily. I am getting 5 and a half on my One, although I must admit a number of posters on the One forum are saying they are getting poor results. A number of 2 - 4 hours screen time. Do you think the extra real estate is making a difference. Do you think the extra battery size will nullify the extra real estate? Will be very interested to see how much of a difference there is between the octa and the snapdragon.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium

Today I dropped mine down to 12%, with just under 3 hours of screen time. I had data, NFC, wifi, and sync on the entire time. I thought it would do a bit better than this, luckily I am going to pick up a new Anker replacement battery on Tuesday.

The difference likely wont be effected a huge amount between exynos and snapdragon , maybe 30 minutes (probably less lol) if I had to guess. Chances are a snapdragon with battery saving mode will outperform (battery wise of course)an exynos without battery saving mode enabled.
Im using a droid 3 with the screen set to 8.6% brightness.... running steeldroid gingerbread rom which is fairly minimalistic and it gets worse battery life than any of these other people.
Im just glad I wont be wasting a ton of battery waiting for it because its so slow and it dumps memory all the time because it only has 512mb ram lol

I didnt take screen shots but my first full charge got me about 14 hours with 10% left. I intentionally left power savings off and turned off all air and smart functions because I don't use them.
Today is my 2nd charge and im at about 6 hours with 52% left (screenshot). A few phone calls, text, pictures, & 2 hours of spotify in the car. Again, power savings is off. So are all the air and smart features. Brightness around 35%.
S4 on Sprint.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

galaxy s4 battery
awesome battery life :good:

Anyone with Octa version?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Please post screen on Times
Thanks
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Post screen on times with 4G enabled and 12+ hours discharged.

On my Note 2 and S4, battery saving is turned on all the time except the heavy games (even on Note 2 I can play real racing fluidly with battery saving)
Smart features I turn on hovering feature only

This is my S4 battery screen on time after the first charge. 5h45m with still 19% left.
- Battery saving: Off
- Version CPU: Octa
- Screen on time used: Surf web with 3G on.
- No root and don't remove any apps.
- Temperature via battery widget monitor: only 31,5-32,7 °C

Can I get an opinion? This is while driving around los angeles all day. About 3h30m screentime, but probably another hour or so of google music and podcasts playing with the screen off. I turned battery saving and green power on at about 40%.
Had about a 15 minute jump charge when I was at 18% before I drove home. I have major audio_out2 and directtrack partial locks, but I figured that was the podcasts.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium

Not really a full day of use, and only light-moderate use. But I'm about to head to bed and charge again, so here is my current info:
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Edit: also, Wi-Fi and GPS on the entire time.