• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Help me diagnose my battery

mister_tu

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2009
199
38
Yesterday was the first day it really irritated me. I took the phone off the charge around 8am and by 1pm it was dead!

Texting and moderate web browsing, no phone calls, brightness down to 50%, wifi and bluetooth off.

Do you think this is a defective battery? I have to carry around a usb cord everywhere I go it dies so much. I am running ATK, but all the primary apps/programs that run are always left on, I have it only killing apps that I open.

So frustrated. I love this phone, but the battery is killing me. It's like having a supermodel girlfriend with herpes.
 
Yesterday was the first day it really irritated me. I took the phone off the charge around 8am and by 1pm it was dead!

Texting and moderate web browsing, no phone calls, brightness down to 50%, wifi and bluetooth off.

Do you think this is a defective battery? I have to carry around a usb cord everywhere I go it dies so much. I am running ATK, but all the primary apps/programs that run are always left on, I have it only killing apps that I open.

So frustrated. I love this phone, but the battery is killing me. It's like having a supermodel girlfriend with herpes.

It sounds like something is not letting your phone sleep at all!

The first thing you need to do is to compare your Up Time vs. Awake Time.

Now if you are like me and you do not power your phone down every night, it may make sense to reboot your phone to get a good reading.

Once the phone is up and running, put it right to sleep and let it sit for a while (30 minutes maybe). Go ahead and wake it back up and go to

Settings ->About Phone->Battery

If you put it right to sleep as soon as it is booted, your Up Time and Awake time should be close to 30 minutes apart.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mister_tu
Upvote 0
Ok, so I did what you said for 10 minutes and the up time and awake time is identical! GAAHHHH!!

How can I remedy this?

Well there are a couple of things you can do:

1. Uninstall all your apps and add each one back till you find the culprit. This may or may not yield results and can take a long time.

2. Install Spare Parts from the market and check to see what is using your battery and get rid of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mister_tu
Upvote 0
Well there are a couple of things you can do:

1. Uninstall all your apps and add each one back till you find the culprit. This may or may not yield results and can take a long time.

2. Install Spare Parts from the market and check to see what is using your battery and get rid of it.

Grrr...none of the apps seem out of place. This is really pissing me off.
 
Upvote 0
The first thing you need to do is to compare your Up Time vs. Awake Time.

Now if you are like me and you do not power your phone down every night, it may make sense to reboot your phone to get a good reading.

If you put it right to sleep as soon as it is booted, your Up Time and Awake time should be close to 30 minutes apart.
What if there's more than 30 minutes between them? What does that mean?
2. Install Spare Parts from the market and check to see what is using your battery and get rid of it.
I installed this and have no clue what I should be looking for in order to see what's eating battery?

Thx for any help.
 
Upvote 0
What if there's more than 30 minutes between them? What does that mean?

The thirty minutes was just a random time I told him to try. Basically, reboot the phone and your Up Time and Awake Time will be 0 (zero), immediately put your phone to sleep (on/off button) and wait a little while (10, 20, 30 minutes as an example)

Then, you wake up your phone and check Up Time and Awake time and the difference between them should be roughly (within a couple of seconds) the amount of time your phone was sleeping. If they are the same you have something preventing your phone from sleeping and you need to find it cause it is killing your battery.

I installed this and have no clue what I should be looking for in order to see what's eating battery?
Thx for any help.

So you followed my procedure above and you established that your phone is not sleeping, this is when you run Spare Parts. Look at the usage stats since the last boot and see what the usage is for everything. Something would be "awake" for the duration the phone was booted.

EDIT: and remember to set Spare Parts to look at time since "last boot"!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: izzy35
Upvote 0
Then, you wake up your phone and check Up Time and Awake time and the difference between them should be roughly (within a couple of seconds) the amount of time your phone was sleeping. If they are the same you have something preventing your phone from sleeping and you need to find it cause it is killing your battery.
Ok did this and nothing is keeping it awake I guess bc the difference in time was close to accurate :). Another question, if you don't mind..If I get a notification, life a twitter notification or an email notification (the one that stays in the status bar), but I don't read those messages as soon as they come in, does this keep the phone "awake"??

So you followed my procedure above and you established that your phone is not sleeping, this is when you run Spare Parts. Look at the usage stats since the last boot and see what the usage is for everything. Something would be "awake" for the duration the phone was booted.
If nothing is keeping it awake, is having Spare Parts installed, worth it??

THanks so much for all of your help. Much appreciated.

14 hours up time 1.5 hours awake time - 54%

Not bad all things considering. I'm at least content my phone sleeps now.
It's awesome that you got some resolution right?! Especially when it comes to saving some battery! :D

U checking that with Spare Parts or the regular battery settings menu??
 
Upvote 0
Ok did this and nothing is keeping it awake I guess bc the difference in time was close to accurate :). Another question, if you don't mind..If I get a notification, life a twitter notification or an email notification (the one that stays in the status bar), but I don't read those messages as soon as they come in, does this keep the phone "awake"??

No, it SHOULD not! ;)
There is an easy way to check it though, follow the earlier instructions and in the time you are checking to see if your phone is sleeping, have someone email you or txt you and just don't check it for the test period.

Then you will know for certain.

If nothing is keeping it awake, is having Spare Parts installed, worth it??

Naaah! Unless/until you determine your phone isn't sleeping, I would uninstall.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones