Phone in idle nearly all the time, no apps running, yet battery drains a few percent every 30 mins.
Ok...I realize this question has been asked probably like a hundred times on here, so I'm sorry in advance. But I've searched other topics for problems similar to mine, but it seems like my situation is slightly different. Just got a new phone, an Android ZTE Score, about 2 weeks ago. I've noticed that my battery, on some days, drops EXCEEDINGLY faster than other days, even when I do the exact same stuff on it. One night it dropped 60% in 4 hours, and died on me while I was sleeping. It was fully charged this morning, I did nothing on it but maybe send...25-30 text messages, kept it on idle the rest of the time, and it was at 67% by the end of the day. An hour long phone call has drained 30% of my battery before. I have went to all of the "How to conserve your battery" topics and such out there, but what I do doesn't seem to help. I have:
Wi-fi turned off
Bluetooth turned off
No background apps running
My screen's brightness is as low as it can possibly get
etc.
I've even turned off Data Application before because I heard that can use up battery life too. I don't go online unless I'm plugged into a charger.
Is there...ANYTHING that could possible be draining my battery that I don't know about? It's extremely frustrating not even being able to get a full day of battery life out of a phone that somtimes I barely even talk/text on. I mean...is my phone really going to drop 33% every day even if it's in idle all day? Is that what the 33% thing means? Because that's a little absurd.
Also, the Cell Standby thingy says "Time without a signal 87%"
I'm not...entirely sure what that means since I've never been able to not get calls or anything...just seems weird. Could that have anything to do with why my phone's battery is dropping so low all of the time despite doing nothing on it? If I'm using it pretty much the same amount each day...I don't understand why some days it drops way faster than others. Now, there really hasn't been a day when it hasn't dropped fast as hell, just days when it drops slower than others.
Device(s): Evo 3D & 4G, Epic Touch, Epic 4G slide, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
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Yes it looks like your cellular signal is poor, and that will cause the phone to try to ramp up the signal to try to stay in coverage. That will eat up battery life.
And just a quick update, I was out today for a few hours and kept checking my battery and it only dropped 1%. I checked the same battery stats and it said "Time without service 24%" or something like that. The Cell Standby and Phone Idle percentage were down but the Android System battery percentage was up. I wonder if it has to do with my phone always trying to find a signal in my house maybe? I don't know.
My carrier is Cricket. And no I haven't called to say anything because I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or not. Right now my signal is at -122 and since I've been home for 2 hours it's lost 20% of battery. Is there...anything I can do on the actual phone that can stop this at all? Or at least limit it? So it doesn't go in and out looking for service?
I'm not sure if this will work but here's a suggestion: When at home, connect to your home WiFi, I believe the data is turned off when you're connected to WiFi, but I'm not sure if that also applies to signal for this problem. Someone will have to check me on that
Device(s): Evo 3D & 4G, Epic Touch, Epic 4G slide, Captivate. (Moment, LG Optimus S, Vibrant)
Thanks: 483
Thanked 464 Times in 338 Posts
Good point. Try turning off 3G. Not sure how you do that on a Cricket phone, but in Sprint phones you can go to "wireless and networks" and turn off "3G", which then puts the phone in 2G, which helps with battery life significantly when coverage is poor.
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I don't know how to get it in 2G to be honest. I know if you go to Wireless and Networks and then click on "mobile networks" it takes me to a screen with a "data enabled" box that says "Enable data access over Mobile network", if that's checked then that means I have 3G coverage...if it's unchecked then the little thingy at the top vanishes completely and I don't think I get any G cause I can't get on the internet, I can just do basic texts and calls.
If I go to Accounts and sync settings, there's a box that says "Background data" under which says "Applications can sync, send, and receive data at any time." If I go to check that off, I get an Attention things that says "disabling background data extends battery life and lowers data use. Some applications may still use the background data connection. Disabling that doesn't actually do anything for my signal strength though...it's still at over -100.
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having data access over mobile network does not mean you have 3G or not, it just means you have data. Switching 2G and 3G is in the same menu as that, but under "network mode". You have a manual switch between 2G (GSM) and 3G (UMTS), or an automatic switcher (dual mode) to switch to whichever has the stronger signal at the moment.
Even if data is off and the phone is using WiFi, the lack of cellular signal will still cause greater battery drain that with, although a bit lower since the apps can use the WiFi to update and sync, with only the phone and SMS apps desperately trying to get a connection through network.
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having data access over mobile network does not mean you have 3G or not, it just means you have data. Switching 2G and 3G is in the same menu as that, but under "network mode". You have a manual switch between 2G (GSM) and 3G (UMTS), or an automatic switcher (dual mode) to switch to whichever has the stronger signal at the moment.
Even if data is off and the phone is using WiFi, the lack of cellular signal will still cause greater battery drain that with, although a bit lower since the apps can use the WiFi to update and sync, with only the phone and SMS apps desperately trying to get a connection through network.
Sorry...where is "Network mode" at? I can't seem to find it. It's not under wireless and networks.
Just had a 45 second call and it dropped 5%. And that's even WITH the thing checked off that says "Disabling this will conserve battery life." Pissing me off now.
I must be using a CDMA phone then cause it's not there =(
It was really good the other day...didn't drop at all despite me being at home. Then today it dropped 30% in a few hours. I don't get it...obviously I'm in the same spot so you would think it would either always be dropping as fast as it does. I'm gonna try turning on the wi-fi maybe that will do something.
Yeah Wi-Fi did nothing. And it's strange, if I go to my battery usage little picture thing with what looks like those people in the Hospital are hooked up to, a heart monitor, at the very bottom there's like a signal bar. If the bar is ever green, it means the signal is really good, so the heart monitor is a straight line accross at the top, meaning the battery is barely dropping. If it's solid yellow signal bar, it means the signal is just ok, so the battery drops a bit, so the line at the top is gradually moving down slightly. If it's neither, and it's just like a grey shady bar, it means the signal is crap, so the battery is dropping a lot, so the line at the top is like...spiking down. But then after that...there's a solid yellow bar, but the battery is still dropping. A 1 minute phone called dropped my battery life ELEVEN percent. Starting to think it's the battery now.
I checked, you are using a CDMA phone.
Do you have roaming switched on? According to the almighty wikipedia, Cricket does provide part of their 95% coverage via roaming agreements. It should be in the same menu as the data transfer etc.
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No I don't have roaming on, will that help? I'll turn it on and see what happens.
And another thing I'm confused about...I just had a 5 min call where my battery literally drained 20%, but when I go to battery usuage...it says "Voice Calls-3%, 17 mins". I mean...It dropped 2 percent in 20 seconds. Even if it's trying to find a signal that's insane, shouldn't Voice Calls be much higher? It was at 90% before I made 2 quick calls now it's at 65%.
I do that. When I'm on the phone making a call it doesn't matter. Lately, my phone actually hasn't been dropping down much, UNLESS I'm on the phone. For some reason, and I don't know why, it seems like the battery drains 10 times as much as it would even if I was on the internet. I can't have an hour phone call without it dying. But just texting and stuff now it hasn't dropped much just a few percent every hour. Data on, Data off, doesn't matter. I guess I'll just have to be plugged into a charger while on the phone if I'm at my house. If I'm away from my house it won't drop nearly as much.
I have the same phone with really bad battery draining issues. I Seen on cnet reviews for the phone that several pages of complaints of people with no battery life.
Phone in idle nearly all the time, no apps running, yet battery drains a few percent every 30 mins.
Samsung Galaxy S2-TMobile UK Android 2.3.6
