Help Yet another battery complaint...

[Chops2]

I can't see how some of you guys are claiming 2-3 days out of one charge on your S3's. Two days in a row now, I'll pull the phone off the charger by 7:30am before heading to work. By 6pm and maybe sending a max of 4 or 5 quick text messages in the afternoon (the rest of the time, it is off and in my pocket), the battery drains itself down to 35%. I'll put in on charge on the way home in my car which gets it back up to around 85%.

Last night, I didn't put it on the charger because it was still up around 72% by the time I went to bed (notice that it dropped 13% doing absolutely nothing in just a few hours time). I did not use it at all once I got home and wifi and everything was still turned off. Well I wake up this morning to a completely dead phone. Nothing! I put it on the charger and the battery is at 1%. Lovely.

This happened a couple nights ago as well, but I woke up around 2am and noticed the phone was dead, so I threw it on the charger then.

I love the S3 and the Android OS, better than the iPhone! But damn I hate this battery drainage issue and it makes me not enjoy the S3, unless I have it on charge while I at home off work. It shouldn't have to be this way and is the only thing nudging me back towards the iPhone, making me regret making the change.

With my iPhones, I could literally go for 3-4, sometimes even 5 days without having to recharge! And that's from doing NO tweaking of any kind and receiving/sending quite a few text messages throughout each day, not to mention that everything was turned on on those phones. If I tried using my S3 for one day like I used my iPhones for one day, I guarantee the S3 would be completely dead within 3-4 hours if I'm lucky.


Just a side note, I'm on AT&T, just did their latest 82mb update yesterday (which did nothing) and have both Juice Defender and Easy Battery Saver running at the same time. Those don't seem to help much either.

 

[ldivinag]

This is common.

Learn to recharge at night.

Buy a micro USB for work in case your work uses you S3 alot and you commute both ways listen to songs or watch video...

Remember the 4G is something that likes to suck up juice.

Im just happy I could R&R the battery if needed and micro USB cables are cheap.

 

[omoanya]

I go through 2 batteries each day. I have my screen on full and wifi and bt connected at all times. People claiming long battery life are using power saving softwares and being careful and mindful of what is running and when. I don't want to deal with any of that so I carry three batteries with me at all times.

 

[UserName872]

I can't see how some of you guys are claiming 2-3 days out of one charge on your S3's. Two days in a row now, I'll pull the phone off the charger by 7:30am before heading to work. By 6pm and maybe sending a max of 4 or 5 quick text messages in the afternoon (the rest of the time, it is off and in my pocket), the battery drains itself down to 35%. I'll put in on charge on the way home in my car which gets it back up to around 85%.

Last night, I didn't put it on the charger because it was still up around 72% by the time I went to bed (notice that it dropped 13% doing absolutely nothing in just a few hours time). I did not use it at all once I got home and wifi and everything was still turned off. Well I wake up this morning to a completely dead phone. Nothing! I put it on the charger and the battery is at 1%. Lovely.

This happened a couple nights ago as well, but I woke up around 2am and noticed the phone was dead, so I threw it on the charger then.

I love the S3 and the Android OS, better than the iPhone! But damn I hate this battery drainage issue and it makes me not enjoy the S3, unless I have it on charge while I at home off work. It shouldn't have to be this way and is the only thing nudging me back towards the iPhone, making me regret making the change.

With my iPhones, I could literally go for 3-4, sometimes even 5 days without having to recharge! And that's from doing NO tweaking of any kind and receiving/sending quite a few text messages throughout each day, not to mention that everything was turned on on those phones. If I tried using my S3 for one day like I used my iPhones for one day, I guarantee the S3 would be completely dead within 3-4 hours if I'm lucky.


Just a side note, I'm on AT&T, just did their latest 82mb update yesterday (which did nothing) and have both Juice Defender and Easy Battery Saver running at the same time. Those don't seem to help much either.

Ditch Juice Defender and Easy Battery Saver. Allow androids internal task manager to maintain your device. Ensure you go through the menus of each application and check for erroneous updating, etc. Facebook, for example, has a default refresh rate of 1 hour... You can set this to never as below that are the push notification options, no need to have your feed refresh hourly when you aren't looking at it. Do this same thing with other applications you have, checking all sub-menus.

Once tweaked, yes, you will be able to squeeze 2-3 days of battery life with the usage you say you have. I am running a Hyperion extended battery and with usage like yours I will pull of 4+ days on a charge.

Also remember that if you are in an LTE city and using LTE now, that has a much greater impact on your battery life where your previous iPhone did not have LTE.

 

[ylexot]

For me, I can get through a day at work, but the battery is pretty low at the end of the day. However, I know the reason for that is that my office is in a horrible cell reception area. On the weekends running around town, I can make it through the day with more than 50% left at the end of the day. Bad reception areas will kill any battery.

Chops,
have you looked at the battery stats to see what it says is killing the battery?

 

[mrhomiec]

buy Tasker. or use free alternatives (like AutomateIt).

setup triggers to turn off LTE when connected to Wi-Fi, or better yet, just turn off data when you know you're not going to use it. for me, i don't have a reason to use my phone at work. i just need to be able to receive texts and calls in case of anything. so i setup a trigger to turn off data, Wi-Fi, bluetooth while i'm at work.

just a reminder, when you were using your iPhone, you were connected to a 3G network. which doesn't require as much battery drain. take any 3G only Android phone, and you'll have the same battery life as any older iPhone.

oh yea, and see about buying Better Battery Stats. you will be able to see more specifics on what is draining your battery with this app. alternatively, look at your Settings > Battery to see the basic stats of your battery drain.

 

[Chops2]

Ditch Juice Defender and Easy Battery Saver. Allow androids internal task manager to maintain your device. Ensure you go through the menus of each application and check for erroneous updating, etc. Facebook, for example, has a default refresh rate of 1 hour... You can set this to never as below that are the push notification options, no need to have your feed refresh hourly when you aren't looking at it. Do this same thing with other applications you have, checking all sub-menus.

Once tweaked, yes, you will be able to squeeze 2-3 days of battery life with the usage you say you have. I am running a Hyperion extended battery and with usage like yours I will pull of 4+ days on a charge.

Also remember that if you are in an LTE city and using LTE now, that has a much greater impact on your battery life where your previous iPhone did not have LTE.

I uninstalled Juice and Easy earlier this morning, as well as turn off Mobile Data. I also went into Settings/Personal/Accounts and Sync and have that turned off. It has my Gmail, Dropbox and Facebook in there. I went into FB's settings and changed it's sync setting to "Never", just as an extra step.

After all of these changes, I've been using the S3 quite a bit today after the full charge this morning (from being completely dead), and I seem to be getting much better battery life now. Even took a phone call for the first time on the S3, which was about 15 minutes long. I'm only down to 77%, which considering what I've been getting on this phone is pretty good!

Turning that mobile data off, is that essentially turning off LTE? I notice I can't send MMS with it off.

buy Tasker. or use free alternatives (like AutomateIt).

setup triggers to turn off LTE when connected to Wi-Fi, or better yet, just turn off data when you know you're not going to use it. for me, i don't have a reason to use my phone at work. i just need to be able to receive texts and calls in case of anything. so i setup a trigger to turn off data, Wi-Fi, bluetooth while i'm at work.

just a reminder, when you were using your iPhone, you were connected to a 3G network. which doesn't require as much battery drain. take any 3G only Android phone, and you'll have the same battery life as any older iPhone.

oh yea, and see about buying Better Battery Stats. you will be able to see more specifics on what is draining your battery with this app. alternatively, look at your Settings > Battery to see the basic stats of your battery drain.

You're usage sounds a lot like mine. I just need to receive texts/calls while at work in case of an emergency (especially when I work 50 miles away from my family).

It's quick and easy enough to just go in and turn off/on wifi and mobile data when I need to if that's all that needs to be done.

I'll look into that battery stats app. So far though, I'm actually mildly happy with the battery results today.

 

[UserName872]

Glad to hear your battery life is improved today!!

Yes, turning off mobile data would love prevent MMS from being sent or received. Unfortunately there is no toggle switch for LTE on our phone like some other devices. Hopefully you'll see your battery life continue to be better now!

 

[Chops2]

Yes, and thanks for the very helpful tips. I too hope to see the battery last this long every day, if not even better.

 

[mrhomiec]

Glad to hear your battery life is improved today!!

Yes, turning off mobile data would love prevent MMS from being sent or received. Unfortunately there is no toggle switch for LTE on our phone like some other devices. Hopefully you'll see your battery life continue to be better now!

Oh wow, totally didn't realize the Galaxy S3 lacked this feature. I assumed it was there like the Galaxy Nexus. No matter, if I can't be connected to LTE, I wouldn't want to use data anyways.


And glad we could help ya. You could always check for an extended battery. I'm currently using a 4500 mAh. Overkill, but nice.

 

[Chops2]

No matter, if I can't be connected to LTE, I wouldn't want to use data anyways.


And glad we could help ya. You could always check for an extended battery. I'm currently using a 4500 mAh. Overkill, but nice.

The only thing that stinks about not having LTE active is that you can't send or receive MMS messages.

I was looking at those extended batteries. The only thing about them is that I wouldn't be able to use my Otter Box case anymore. IDK, maybe one day.

 

[sherlock5545]

I kind of agree that battery life isn't phenomenal on the S3, but seriously, 3 days without charging an iPhone? I barely used to get 1 day and 1/2 with my iPhone 4. Seems like you would barely do anything with it.

 

[Chops2]

I kind of agree that battery life isn't phenomenal on the S3, but seriously, 3 days without charging an iPhone? I barely used to get 1 day and 1/2 with my iPhone 4. Seems like you would barely do anything with it.

I mostly do texting and photos. I very very rarely ever get any phone calls. Although, oddly enough, today I have received two phone calls. LOL

One thing to note, the S3 certainly sounds a lot better than the iPhone's when talking on the phone. The S3 is much cleaner, louder and fuller sounding.

 

[toolazytothink]

My battery life is completely dependant on what I do on the phone:

Gaming or navigating without a charger attached > couple of hours

"Normal use" (Whatsapp spamming, Facebook, random photographs and an occasional phonecall)> About 14 - 18 hours

Not using it at all drains about 1/3 to 1/2 of the battery in a day.

I do keep the power saving mode on all the time though.

Battery life on an S3 isn't all that great in my opinion. although I can't compare it to other high end smartphones yet. (My last phone the LG Optimus One had excellent battery life even up to multiple days with full use so I guess I'm a little spoiled on the battery life department.)
But with charging at ngiht/in the car I can get through every day without downtime. (I barely even bring the spare battery I have.) So I guess battery life could qualify as sufficient.

 

[hbryder]

I go through 2 batteries each day. I have my screen on full and wifi and bt connected at all times. People claiming long battery life are using power saving softwares and being careful and mindful of what is running and when. I don't want to deal with any of that so I carry three batteries with me at all times.

I have all my features on, I use bluetooth at least 4 hrs a day listening to music, send lots of texts, go through flipboard, occasionally browse the internet and I am almost always at 20-30% heading to bed. ( I do however reduce screen brightness to 1/2, unless I'm outside or watching video) The biggest drain on my battery is when I forget to put wifi on at home. I have horrible reception at home so it drains the battery looking for signals. I also do not use a lot of widgets only Calendar, tune in, pandora and player pro.

 

[NYYFan]

I found the worst culprit for bad battery is poor cell signal.

 

[nyrmetros]

Once tweaked, yes, you will be able to squeeze 2-3 days of battery life with the usage you say you have. I am running a Hyperion extended battery and with usage like yours I will pull of 4+ days on a charge.

The most I got is 17 hours on my Hyperion 4200 extended battery... How do you get 4 days?

 

[iSyn]

I found the worst culprit for bad battery is poor cell signal.

So how would I work against this besides turning off mobile data?

BTW is there a way to create a shortcut to the mobile data settings? That way I cud turn it off, when I using it, faster.

 

[johnnylighton]

Here is the real problem: I believe they made the phone so thin so it would wow us in the store and we would bring it home. But do we need such a thin and light phone? I wish they would have made it just a little bit thicker and thus had the room to give us a bigger battery (and a better internal speaker, too)!

 

[GTWalling]

Here is the real problem: I believe they made the phone so thin so it would wow us in the store and we would bring it home. But do we need such a thin and light phone? I wish they would have made it just a little bit thicker and thus had the room to give us a bigger battery (and a better internal speaker, too)!

I does have a good sized battery. I has an LG G2x, it only had a 1500 mAh battery.

 

[Jeepmaster]

So how would I work against this besides turning off mobile data?

BTW is there a way to create a shortcut to the mobile data settings? That way I cud turn it off, when I using it, faster.

There are many data toggle apps and that put an icon on your home screen to quickly turn on and off data.

 

[scooter1942]

Here is the real problem

good sized battery

yeah, one of the selling points of the s3 is its battery capacity. i believe the only android smartphone currently on the market with a higher cap battery is the razr maxx

 

[johnnylighton]

OK thank you both for cluing me in.

I just turned off Facebook hourly updates thanks to a recent thread here, so I will check out the other advice and I'm sure I will see an improvement.

 

[scooter1942]

OK thank you both for cluing me in

sorry, didnt mean to call you out... you could choose to make the phone thicker, and get a larger battery with a replacement backplate. but that would make your phone incompatible with the plethora of cases out there.

 

[Easilyamused]

The most I got is 17 hours on my Hyperion 4200 extended battery... How do you get 4 days?

Wtf? I average 50% longer on my 2200.. And I turn nothing off. Ever.