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Help Moto X (VZW) 5.1 update cell standby battery drain?

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johnnybirdman

johnnybirdman

Android Enthusiast
Nov 5, 2009
342
188
Erie, PA
#1
Anyone with a VZW Moto X who updated recently to 5.1 having bad cell standby battery drain issues and know of any solutions? I updated Google Play Services to Ver. 8.1.15 but that doesn't seem to help. I did a factor reset right after I upgraded.
Screenshot_2015-09-16-12-29-47[1].png Screenshot_2015-09-16-12-29-52[1].png Screenshot_2015-09-16-12-30-04[1].png Screenshot_2015-09-16-12-30-09[1].png Screenshot_2015-09-16-12-38-06[1].png
 
#4
I'm not using my '13 X anymore but my '14 is on 5.1. Don't have an issue with cell standby but Android OS is killing me. Haven't gotten to the bottom of that yet. Awake time is about 50%, hours and hours of awake time. Something is very wrong. Sometimes a reboot clears it, sometimes not. Shouldn't have to reboot every day anyway. Grrr.
 
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#7
johnnybirdman said:
I thought I had the cell standby figured out yesterday with the GP Services update... and then this AM the first thing I noticed was OS taking up a lot... then at some point cell standby kicked in. I have a feeling if I get past cell standby that OS will be the next issue.
Click to expand...
Cell standby is going to be an issue if you have a poor mobile signal. The phone has to provide more power to the antenna to hold a signal - just the way it is.

Remember that something is using the battery, so if you have a light use day, it's going to be something like Android OS, Google Play Services, Kernel, etc., that reports highest. Even if you drain a minimal amount per hour, something will be on that list.
 
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#8
doogald said:
Cell standby is going to be an issue if you have a poor mobile signal. The phone has to provide more power to the antenna to hold a signal - just the way it is.

Remember that something is using the battery, so if you have a light use day, it's going to be something like Android OS, Google Play Services, Kernel, etc., that reports highest. Even if you drain a minimal amount per hour, something will be on that list.
Click to expand...
I understand that it's all relative. It is also relative to my experience with KK. I have the same phone/hardware so if there is a perceived problem (maybe not actual, but perception is reality) then I tend to blame the software since it's the only thing that changed (I still live/work in the same place with the same cell towers). When over a given 8ish hour period I have approx 1 hour of SOT taking up 3% of the battery and cell standby over the same time is taking up 31% it just seems like an issue. This is relative to the fact that with KK my SOT, generally, was the biggest user of power. We'll see over time.
 
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#9
I have a 2013 GSM developer edition and have been having Cell Standby issues since around mid August (I think). No significant change in use or areas in which I travel, but Cell Standby is almost always at the top of my list, with "time without signal" often exceeding 25% (this number is BS, since it never used to be anything like that in the same areas). I'm running in Safe Mode today as a test.
 
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#10
johnnybirdman said:
I understand that it's all relative. It is also relative to my experience with KK. I have the same phone/hardware so if there is a perceived problem (maybe not actual, but perception is reality) then I tend to blame the software since it's the only thing that changed (I still live/work in the same place with the same cell towers). When over a given 8ish hour period I have approx 1 hour of SOT taking up 3% of the battery and cell standby over the same time is taking up 31% it just seems like an issue. This is relative to the fact that with KK my SOT, generally, was the biggest user of power. We'll see over time.
Click to expand...

Don't know if you have tried this yet, but with my Verizon Moto X, I had the same issue.....insane.

What i've seen suggested is to check your Cell network settings. Settings --> Wireles&networks --> More-->Cellular networks--->preferred network type. If the settings is set to "Global", change it to LTE/CDMA. So far, I see a major improvment with "Cellular Standby"....it's not at 2% rather than 20-40% for me.
 
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#13
I experienced the same. Whenever i turned on Mobile Data and after using turned it off, the Mobile Radio Active time keeps on increasing which makes the Cell Standby consume the battery . But if we Reboot/Restart, this solves the problem until we again turn on the Mobile Data. It seems we have to keep rebooting till the next update
 
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#14
Last night my almost-dead battery usage showed 87% cell standby. It's ramping up again today. I'm in my usual places ... nothing new, so unless a cell tower fell down, it shouldn't be signal strength. But how do I check signal strength on my Verizon Moto X (2013) sporting Lollipop? Everyone else seems to be able to do Settings > About phone > Status, but on my unit there is no Signal Strength field on the Status page.
 
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#15
garyp said:
But how do I check signal strength on my Moto X (2013) sporting Lollipop? Everyone else seems to be able to do Settings > About phone > Status, but on my unit there is no Signal Strength field on the Status page.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about Lollipop, but on KitKat you went into settings / more... / mobile networks / network type and strength

The results should be in dBm, in negative numbers. The closer to zero, the stronger the signal (though zero is an impossible result - just a way of saying the less negative, the better).
 
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#16
doogald said:
I'm not sure about Lollipop, but on KitKat you went into settings / more... / mobile networks / network type and strength

The results should be in dBm, in negative numbers. The closer to zero, the stronger the signal (though zero is an impossible result - just a way of saying the less negative, the better).
Click to expand...

Thanks, but on my Lolli there is no "mobile networks" after "more..." There is Cellular Networks, but clicking into that does not reveal signal strength.
 
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