[Q] Only getting around 1 - 1.5 hours of screen time - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
my battery only lasts half a day max, before needing a recharge. I've already tried different custom roms, and currently I'm on Blisspop for android 5.1. The area I live in has good coverage, so that shouldn't be the culprit. I never play games on my device, but even basic web browsing drains my battery very rapidly. I do use android wear, but I don't think that is the reason I only get around 1 hour of screen on time.
Here are the things I've tried already:
- Turning off location reporting
- Disabling Google Now
- Removing Google Fit
- 'recalibrating' the battery by letting it discharge and then charge it fully without unplugging
- Using 3g instead of 4g
- Turning off location access
This is driving me nuts, and I don't know if it's my battery's fault or my phone's fault.
Thanks in advance.

Go to wifi, special, and disable scanning when the wifi is off. It helps A LOT. Also keep location reporting off, as setting it to network only creates tons of wakelocks even when mobile data and wifi are turned off.

I know some custom ROMS have had issues with Bluetooth battery drain in the past. Try turning it off and see what happens.
Turn down the brightness as well. There is significant difference in power usage between %50 and %100 brightness .

Hold power button and select power off. Helps

Related

[Q] poor battery life on my HD7

can anyone help me how to fix this problem of mine in my HD7? I've been searching all this time but all i see is for HD2 battery tweaks thread..anyone?
A) Define "poor" battery life. Smartphones typically get half a day to three days, depending on usage and network quality. My HD7 typically gets about 16-40 hours, depending on whether I use it a bit more or less than normal. I leave it on the charger every night and never run out of battery now unless I'm playing games on it.
B) There are lots of things you can do. Turn off push email, and instead check only every few minutes. The HD7's screen may actually get a slightly better battery life on the "Light" theme (the backlight runs anyhow; darkening a pixel takes more power). Set the phone to turn off the screen earlier. Dim the backlight. Turn down the volume (especially if you listen to music).
C) There's a setting (added in Mango) called "Battery Saver" that does some of the changes mentioned above (some quite aggressively - for example, it turns off all automatic email sync). You could use it, or at least tell the phone to use it automatically.
D) Change your usage pattern. Games, GPS, and cellular data are all huge power hogs. Play fewer games (or only play them when plugged in, or play ones without lots of graphical effects, etc.). Don't leave GPS apps running; check them then back out. Don't stream music (although I do, through Zune Pass, and still get decent battery life for a smartphone), movies, etc.
E) Switch the data mode to 2G instead of 3G, at least most of the time. 3G is power-hungry, and often harder to get a signal through so the phone hs to use even more power. Turn WiFi on (yes, on, not off; it's more efficient than the cellular radio when transferring data) unless you have no usable WiFi nearby, in which case turn it off. WiFi automatically turns off when the phone's screen locks, so no need to worry about it using power constantly at idle.
you're absolutely correct! I've done all those steps..if i will define poor battery I'll say it easily drains. I only use my device for SMS and battery drops 5-10% in 1hr? sometimes when I'm charging it whole night and when i woke-up i see the light indicator that it is full charge but the battery indicator is not (86%) i don't know if my battery is defect or there's something wrong my battery calibration or indicator..this suck!
If the light was green (fully charged) but the indicator showed partial charge (I assume you're using something built-in, not the app? The app isn't totally reliable due to multitasking limitations), then you've got a defect. It's possible that it's in software, but much more likely to be in hardware - either the charging circuitry or, more likely, the battery.
to check the percent of my battery I'm looking at setting>battery saver. If its a software problem how could i fix it? Is there a tweak in registry that can make the battery last longer? I've tried different custom roms but only Eburon rom gave a 2 days life battery but when I flash my hd7 to latest Eburon my battery returns to its old state where its easily drain so flash it back to old version of eburon.

Wifi draining battery??

I've only had my nexus for a week now and I'm trying to hunt down the reason I'm getting poor battery life. At first it was nlp wakelocks but that went away on its own somehow. Now its my wifi draining battery, in 8 hours of idle overnight it went from 100% to 79% and wifi was the top usage. I've never seen this before on any phone with any rom so I'm not sure what to do about it.
Hi,
Try Settings/Wi-Fi/Menu/Advanced/ and untick Scanning always available...
This is what I did to improve my battery:
1. Location Services : If you are not in a neighborhood with a lot of wifi spots you will most likely feel this draining your battery life. Under settings make sure that Location Services is set to battery saving and not High accuracy.
2. Widgets : Weather widgets, games eat battery by constantly fetching information . Check the settings for these widgets and make sure they are using wifi and not updating the weather information every 30 mins or so. I keep my settings to update weather information every hour to keep it reasonable. The Gmail widget sometimes eats your battery too. I removed the widget and used an icon in the dock at the bottom to check my email. Another thing I noticed was that some widgets are just more battery intensive than others. For example I found HD widgets consumed nearly twice as much battery as Chronus on the home screen but both displayed the same information.
3. Restart your phone : Sometimes residual processes from closed apps could cause issues. Restart your phone if you haven't done it in a while and it should clear up any unnecessary things.
4. Keep wifi on during sleep : I made sure my phone uses wifi even when its sleeping. 3g / 4g eats the battery like crazy if you turn off wifi when your phone sleeps. This should be a default setting as pointed out by some users. In my case it had been changed probably when I was tinkering with the phone. You can find this setting in the Settings -> Wifi -> advanced -> Keep wifi on during sleep.
You can also use apps like Greenify , Tasker , and Llama.
5. Don't use Automatic Brightness : Turns out if the sensors are constantly looking to adjust brightness it takes up more battery. I set my brightness at around 60% and it works just fine throughout the day.
6. Use wifi over 3G/4G/LTE if possible
7. Switch off wifi when using Data: Android doesnt switch off your WiFi when you use data because Google wants you to use it for Locations and help build their database of networks.Switch off WiFi completely when using data to save a good chunk of battery.
8. Turn off Vibration on touch : Typing uses quite a bit of battery over the course of a day. Try switching Vibration on touch off.
9. Use Franco Kernel: : This will require rooting your device however it makes it a lot more power efficient.
10. Turn down the Facebook refresh rate : Make sure it updates not very often( every 3-4 hours) or never. IMO your phone is better off without Facebook or any other battery hog social networking apps.

[Q] Battery life not as it should be?

Hi
First of all I'm back on Android and back on the forum after four years of iOS, really enjoying Android and the forum again!
I just got my Z3 for about 2 weeks now and I'm not getting the 2days out of my single charge, when I take the charger out at about 7 in the morning, I'm left with about 30-40% at 11 a'clock at night. I'm just wonderring if these 2 days should be able to reach with heavy whatsapp usage (groups, really almost receiving a couple of messages a minute ) and moderate Facebook, Snapchat, browsing, and maybe some app downloads? Are there some settings you guys recommend to increase battery life? (already using stamina, doesn't really make a big difference).
Thanks in advance!
You can follow the battery life thread.
I have autosync, location and WiFi calling enabled and I still get 6-9 hours of screen time out of a 24 hr period with heavy usage with or without WiFi calling. At first I got no more than 5-6 Hrs screen time but as I used it and it settled/calibrated it got better.
Whats your signal strength like? It can have a big impact.
As for battery saving tips:
Try turning off or reducing the nunber of apps syncing. Facebook can also be a killer at times, I disabled, I barely use it and when I do need to I just use the mobile site.
Also turn off background WiFi scanning and set the following option -> WiFi off when screen off or on w/screen off only when connected to power.
Lastly try calibrating the battery as even Apple as you probably know reccomends for their devices:
1. Full drain
2. Full uninteruppted charge
3. Discharge with regular use to 0-1%
4. Full charge and use normally
As for stamina its not done anything for me either so I disabled it. More like placebo effect lol, I think they will fix it.
abhinav.tella said:
You can follow the battery life thread.
I have autosync, location and WiFi calling enabled and I still get 6-9 hours of screen time out of a 24 hr period with heavy usage with or without WiFi calling. At first I got no more than 5-6 Hrs screen time but as I used it and it settled/calibrated it got better.
Whats your signal strength like? It can have a big impact.
As for battery saving tips:
Try turning off or reducing the nunber of apps syncing. Facebook can also be a killer at times, I disabled, I barely use it and when I do need to I just use the mobile site.
Also turn off background WiFi scanning and set the following option -> WiFi off when screen off or on w/screen off only when connected to power.
Lastly try calibrating the battery as even Apple as you probably know reccomends for their devices:
1. Full drain
2. Full uninteruppted charge
3. Discharge with regular use to 0-1%
4. Full charge and use normally
As for stamina its not done anything for me either so I disabled it. More like placebo effect lol, I think they will fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for quick response!
I've searched for a battery life thread but I couldn't find one, where can I find it?
My signal strength most of the time has all the bars, except at my house I have only one or two bars in various rooms, I didn't know about its big impact so this might indeed be a reason for my battery drain. Turned off almost all the syncing for my apps, and did the WiFi settings you mentioned, if the setting 'WiFi off when screen off" is enabled should my WiFi be of when I light up the screen without unlocking my phone or just really when the screen is off? Thanks for the tips, I hope I can get more hours out of it now!
At some time I had a short battery too and after those same steps I have 3 days battery without any problem:
abhinav.tella said:
Facebook can also be a killer at times, I disabled, I barely use it and when I do need to I just use the mobile site.
Also turn off background WiFi scanning and set the following option -> WiFi off when screen off or on w/screen off only when connected to power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery thread is in "General" its called "Battery Life is Insane".

odd battery usage stats, poor battery life

hi
i have a new (3 months old) unrooted nexus 5 update to latest OS version which is showing some very odd stats wrt battery consumption.
first i had heavy battery drain but then i disabled the scanning options in the location menu which helped. but still even with brightness at only 18%, battery saver on 95% of the time, location & mobile data off all the time & wifi only used for short bursts it still seems to drain quite quickly.
app usage stats as reported by the inbuilt battery stats option differs quite a bit from other battery management apps (du battery saver, battery doctor, gsam battery monitor)
for eg. inbuilt battery stats doesnt even show wifi consumption in the stats even if i use it for few hours (then suddenly one time it showed up with some excessive consumption stats - 1500mah for 2 hours usage; photos attached). very often it shows gravity screen app as the biggest consumer of battery while other apps show gravity screen as consuming very little power. otoh gsam shows battery doctor as consuming the most of all the apps.
what could be the issue?
gsam shows average battery life with screen on as 3h 42m. is that ok?
was also wondering if the optimization options of the battery management apps work or are they gimmicks? for eg both du battery saver & battery doctor show 'x' number of apps consuming power in background & when you press the optimise/close apps button it shows some cool effects of shutting down those apps but you come back after a few hours & the same apps show up in the running in background.
also, the front camera is very grainy. cant believe its that bad in what was a flagship phone. is it just my phone or is that the how it is for other users?
anyone with any inputs?
You got nearly 5 days on a single charge??? Yes, your battery consumption is fine. Nearly 4 hours of SOT is fantastic.
The graininess of the camera will depend a lot on the lighting. Unless you have a light shining directly on your face, the picture is probably pretty dark. That said, it's "only" like a 3MP camera. It's well known as a sub-standard front camera (I'm not a selfie machine so I don't really care). When you think about how microscopic the light sensor is on the front camera, it's no wonder the picture is grainy.
exninja said:
You got nearly 5 days on a single charge??? Yes, your battery consumption is fine. Nearly 4 hours of SOT is fantastic.
The graininess of the camera will depend a lot on the lighting. Unless you have a light shining directly on your face, the picture is probably pretty dark. That said, it's "only" like a 3MP camera. It's well known as a sub-standard front camera (I'm not a selfie machine so I don't really care). When you think about how microscopic the light sensor is on the front camera, it's no wonder the picture is grainy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your reply exninja
that 5 days was a one time thing where i barely touched the phone & then only to test it. i wish it were that good LOL. normally i get about 2 days with very conservative usage (brightness at only 18%, battery saver on 95% of the time, location & mobile data off all the time & wifi only used for short bursts, 0 talktime)
is 4 hrs SOT that good? i see a lot of people getting 5 to 6 hours + & that too without those conservative usage patterns.
the thing that got me worried is the strange battery usage stats reported in the stock settings.
Honestly I wouldn't worry that much about what each app says is using energy. They're each consuming very little anyways. I'm not familiar with gravity screen so I wouldn't know about it.
I haven't heard of many people getting 5-6 hours of sot, especially since lollipop. I got 4 hours on KitKat, then dropped to 3 or less on lollipop. Now it's usually around 2 hours.
@fguy76
First of all, just to let you know, recently Google Play Services have been acting up. Sometimes I get normal battery drain overnight when I sleep, and sometimes it drains like crazy. For now, there is nothing we can do about Google Play Services.
However, if u noticed that WiFi has been turned on the whole time via the battery history chart, despite the fact that you did not even turn on WiFi at all during that period, then this can only mean one thing. You must have enabled WiFi Scanning (the famous Scanning always available bug in Lollipop & KitKat).
To disable WiFi Scanning, go to Settings first. Then on the top of settings, there is a search bar. Type in "Scanning".
Then u will see the following options. Make sure u disable WiFi Scanning.
Having said this, there is another annoying bug. This bug is when you have left a WiFi hotspot and forgotten to turn of WiFi. So after awhile u realised it and u proceed to turn off WiFi. But hours later, u check your battery stat, and it still shows your WiFi have been active the whole time despite turning it off. For this, the only workaround is to reboot the phone. To avoid this bug, always turn off WiFi b4 u leave the WiFi hotspot area.
@pcphobic i have wifi scanning off & i always remember to turn wifi off when not using it so that second scenario is not an issue with me
fguy76 said:
@pcphobic i have wifi scanning off & i always remember to turn wifi off when not using it so that second scenario is not an issue with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@fguy76
The other solution that I can offer is under Location settings, go to Google Location History and make sure it is turned off.
You can still use GPS based apps with Google Location History turned off.
I suspect that if u find intermittent wifi showing up in your battery history, it could only mean that Google Location History is periodically waking up and using wifi to get an approximate location. I used to get this until I turned off Google Location History.

How to schedule WiFi on/off every 10 minutes?

Dear all
I would like save battery life on WiFi. Is there a way I can schedule WiFi on/off at certain interval? Example: Turn on WiFi for 1 minutes then turn it off for 10 minutes and repeat these 2 steps indefinitely.
There are several automation apps on the play store that should be able to do this but using an automation app will cause you problems. The problem will be that when you want to turn it on for an extended period of time it will turn off at the next interval, so you might be in the middle of something and then it turns off. Have you looked at how much battery your WiFi is using? Settings>Battery>(and for me I touch the battery at the top) It shows my battery usage, charging spikes, how long it's been since a full charge and below that everything that is using battery and at what percentage by group. i.e. Apps, Mobile network standby, System, Phone idle, Bluetooth and WiFi. My WiFi is on 24/7 and is currently sitting at 0% 6 hours after being taken off the charger. Just saying. Tasker is probably one of the best automation apps, but it's a paid app and has a bit of a learning curve. There are some that are simpler for free that will likely work.

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