dksmoove

Just to clarify, Juice Defender PLUS?

rmreid

Agreed, it is a major PITA, but hopefully it helps in some small way to resolve the WiFi bug issue on the GS2 by Samsung replicating the issue we may get a fix....
I would have to believe that Samsung can take the device and replicate the issue but they continue to deny that their hearing any complaints. I wore them out on Twitter similar to a a few of the other members here have done and the Galaxy S Support team stopped answering my tweets and started sending me private messages on twitter instead

We shall see what happens

enojy

I just wanted to illustrate that battery life seems to be just fine with wifi turned off. If wifi is not crucially important to you, there's nothing wrong with this update. This was with a fair amount of texting, a few brief phone calls, and a little bit of Hanging With Friends (battery hog!)

I did plug the phone into my PC for around 15 minutes for data transfer purposes, and even excluding that small charge (maybe 1-2%) I am pleased with 2.3.6 battery life.

Last edited by enojy; January 20th, 2012 at 03:10 AM.

wolfyboy359

Ok, here's the deal: I was initially using Battery Defender, but after a few days decided to try Juice Defender Plus. I haven't been using that very long but so far I am impressed. Mainly with the intellegence of the design, I don't know about battery life yet. But it works with our phones now, so maybe if you want to shell out $2.99...

Skaziwu

Wifi isn't literally "crucial" to me, but it is an advertised feature of a phone that I paid for, and this update effectively broke my usage of it.

I'm definitely disappointed by the lack of acknowledgement and action from AT&T/Samsung/Google on this. Also, there seems to have been a severe lack of testing before the (forced) push of the update.

A couple of questions for the scrum:

1. How widespread is this issue? Is anyone NOT seeing it?

2. Is anyone outside AT&T/Galaxy S II seeing the same issue? In my searching, I've only found this happening on the AT&T GSII. Has 2.3.6 been pushed by other providers?

Skaziwu

I attempted to get some information on this issue via AT&T's Wireless Support Chat yesterday. I didn't get far. Basically, the rep said he's heard of the issue, but knows nothing about it, AT&T can do nothing about it, and that I should contact Samsung.

In my opinion, he was either lazy about escalating for me, or they're stonewalling the issue.

Here's the complete chat session, with the interesting bits highlighted, if you're interested:

Quote:

Chat InformationPlease wait for a chat representative to respond. Chat InformationYou are now chatting with '<ATT Rep>' <ATT Rep>: Hello, <Me>, thank you for completing the pre chat survey where you verified the account information. I will be a few moments to verify the information you have provided. Thank you for your patience. <ATT Rep>: Sorry for the delay, I see that you are having an issue with your phone. I know how frustrating this can be. It is my priority to resolve this issue today and respond to any other questions you may have. What seems to be the issue with the battery after the update? <Myself>: With the phone sitting unused, but on (screen off), the battery will only last about 12 hours. Before the update, it would last almost 2 days. <ATT Rep>: Okay. Were there any new applications downloaded around the same time or are there maybe applications running in the background that weren't before? <Myself>: no <Myself>: this is a widely seen issue (many reports on the Internet), I was wanting to know first if the issue has been acknowledged by AT&T/Samsung/Google <Myself>: and second if there is a fix in progress, and when it might be available <ATT Rep>: Yes, I understand, thank you. I have heard of this before but I would have no information on any fix being presented. AT&T doesn't have any hand in the software development. I'm going to look into what sort of options we have, though. Is it alright if I take 2-3 minutes for this? <Myself>: yes, that would be great <ATT Rep>: Sorry for the wait, <Me>. I'm not finding any real information on this. I do have some suggestions, though. <ATT Rep>: What you can try is to actually contact Samsung to see if there's any way to either reverse the update or find a fix for the issue. If not, we at AT&T could certainly look at a warranty exchange for either the phone or even just the battery, depending on where the issues stems from. <ATT Rep>: I have the contact information available for Samsung, if you'd like to try that route. <Myself>: Sure, that would help <Myself>: Since this only seems to being experinced by AT&T customers, will there be any attempt by AT&T to push the issue with Samsung? <ATT Rep>: I have no way of knowing, <Me>. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. <ATT Rep>: Samsung's toll-free number is 888-987-4357. I don't have any hours of operation available but I know I have called them well into the night before so they should be pretty well available. <Myself>: It seems strange to me that AT&T is not helping to resolve such an issue their customers are experiencing. <ATT Rep>: Well <Me>, I'm just a tech support guy. I'm not saying there's nobody working on this, in fact I'm sure they are. I just don't usually get this information at my level until they've reached a conclusion. I'm sorry once again that I don't have the information you are looking for. <Myself>: OK. Is it possible for me to log a support ticket that might be escalated? <ATT Rep>: There's no ticket for this issue that I can file. Our department files network tickets. A device and software issue is better addressed through the manufacturer. <ATT Rep>: Is there anything else you needed help with today, though? <Myself>: Nope, that's it <ATT Rep>: Alright then, please enjoy the rest of your day. <ATT Rep>: We value you as a customer with AT&T and we appreciate your business. Thank you for visiting AT&T Live Support Chat. Please click the close button to end your session and a customer satisfaction survey will automatically appear. We appreciate your feedback. Chat InformationChat session has been terminated by the chat representative.

(G)

There's talk on the GS2 International forum about "weird wi-fi issues" and "poor battery life" but I'm not sure if those folks (seem to be mostly in Britain) have had 2.3.6 pushed to them or not.

__________________
If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

jackal2001

I've already chatted with samsung and they don't know anything about it, or so they say.

rmreid

I think that everyone agrees that the battery is fine when not using "WiFi" but since I am not on an unlimited data plan, WiFi is critical to me so that I don't have any overages, plus it is usually faster than my 4G connection for synching or downloading - So WiFi is critically important to me!

enojy

Very good point! I'll turn wifi on all day tomorrow after a full charge to see how it behaves.

jackal2001

I'm at 1 day 6 hrs at 62% battery with wifi turned off. I turn it on only when checking something at home. for the most part my phone is used lightly.

rlstrickler

Can anyone suggest a good battery life extender? And how to configure it? 7 am !00% 7 pm 6% and having to charge in car on way home. UGH
I am thinking of returning the galaxy for an iphone.

jackal2001

turn off wifi. i have had mine on for over 2 days now and battery is at 23%.

weaver4

Here is some new information.

With WiFi on at my work I get over 20hours of use.

But at home, same setup, WiFi on, the battery only last about 10-12 hours.

My work WiFi has about 10x the traffic on it as my home network. But my home network has several DNLA devices on it.

Anyone else see a relationship between low battery life and DNLA devices on their network?

weaver4

Have people been successful downgrading 2.3.6 to 2.3.4? Or do they run into other problems.

rmreid

Received an email today from Samsung Support stating that they had received my GS2 and had begun testing with a specific focus around WiFi battery consumption, and the abnormally high Android OS battery usage when WiFi is on.

I'm hoping that they find something that helps us with this issue.

weaver4

rmread: They may not be successful. My initial testing shows that it may depend on what else is on the network that you connect to. I have tried my Samsung phone on three networks; Home, Work and Church and the battery life varies by 3x; yes 3x.

rmreid

Interesting not sure why there would be variability?
Maybe someone can explain why this would or could happen?

weaver4

Probably because some application or service on the network is "Hammering" the Samsung Phone. Like sending it a broadcast message, or pinging it, or send a DLNA Discovery, Arp, ...

I have been thinking of setting up WireShark to see if I can find out what the service is; but I just don't have time today.

Last edited by weaver4; January 21st, 2012 at 05:07 PM.

dksmoove

I don't understand why they need a consumer's SG2 to inspect the issue... can't they just inspect one of the models that they have at their place?

As this issue seems to be ubiquitous...

rmreid

I did some testing with my families phones on my WiFi home network and battery life.
Phones in test all are AT&T: 3gs, HTC Inspire 4G, BB 8310
I tried to set up all of the above phones with the same or similar apps as I have on my GS2 where ever possible and removed any other apps.
All 3 phones had no issue with "abnormal" battery drain and spent the entire day (about 14hrs) on WiFi

Not scientific testing but IMHO proves there is an issue with 2.3.6 on WiFi and battery life on the GS2.

j510

Previously :Stock 2.3.6 . Battery = 18 hrs. - 23 hours. Moderate - heavy use.

Currently : Stock 2.3.6 . Juice defender (free version) setting: aggressive. Battery = 1 day 15 hours. Moderate to heavy use.

j510

Forgot to add wifi used almost all the time at home and carrier service when out

j510

Also on phone calls for hours ( what use to kill my battery fast )

TripleFall

I am right now at 60% -- 7h 29min 39sec on battery.

Android OS - 34%
Display - 30%
Skyfire- 9%
Android System - 9%
Web - 7%
Cell standby 4%

rmreid

Here is what Samsung Tech Support found:
Original Problem:
TECHNICAL INQUIRY - POWER - POWER CYCLE

Problem found:
WON'T DOWNLOAD SW/PRL

Solution:
S/W UPDATED - PASSED ALL FUNCTIONAL TESTING UPDATED WITH NEW SOFTWARE

The Tech admitted that there is a bug in 2.3.6, and tried to explain the correlation between the phone continuously doing a PRL update search and why it only happens when WiFi was on (my interpretation of the conversation)
Not sure what all of the above meant but it appears that a fix is forthcoming for this bug. I should have my GS2 back on Wednesday so I will keep everyone posted.

Last edited by rmreid; January 23rd, 2012 at 01:37 PM. Reason: Updated Post

wolfyboy359

HEY That is great!!! Good work!

dksmoove

Thx for doing this.

jdCaptivate

Thanks man. Great update and solid confirmation. Gave you thanks and put you in for Tip This (highlights your post as newsworthy).

Uncle_Rico

same issue here.. just for S&G's, i turned off WiFi yesterday with a full charge.. almost 24 hrs later, this is what i got:





before this with WiFi on, I was getting MAYBE 5-6 hours before dropping to less than 30%.. just SITTING there doing nothing!?!

Looking forward to the fix for this awesomeness of an upgrade!?!

Last edited by Uncle_Rico; January 26th, 2012 at 01:30 PM.

weaver4

You might want to look at this forum:

Horrible battery life after 2.3.6 - xda-developers

It appears that going back to 2.3.4 has helped some users.

It looks like it is related to ARP broadcast message not being filtered properly by the WiFi chip; at least in some cases.

rmreid

Update:
I am calling BS on Samsung
My guess is they simply reflashed 2.3.6 and really didn't do any troubleshooting as I am not seeing any difference at all
I WILL be on the phone with them tomorrow - Sorry to share bad news

rmreid

Update
Called Samsung Galaxy S Support today and escalated to executive tech support who admitted that they did not troubleshoot the issue but simply ran a diagnostics test with no errors found and reflashed 2.3.6
Needless to say I flipped out (but I did apologize) for being lied to by Samsung.

Cliff notes version: We are stuck without an official fix - Guess I am off to read up on rooting/flashing my phone

str8bucs

OK I pulled mine off the charger this morning @ 7am and with about 50 texts or so its down to 88% and its now 11:20am. This just doesn't seem right to me. I did turn off all WIFI and BT today, i know yesterday was horrible 100% at 3pm and dead @ 8pm with just light use

jdCaptivate

After your reply yesterday... figured we were at this point. Thanks for taking one for the team

misterrunon

been using my phone with unnamed rom for about a month now and i haven't noticed any battery life issues (it's 2.3.6)

astral trekker

That's because it's a custom ROM..it's just based off 2.3.6

(G)

What's interesting (to me at least) was that I switched out the stock battery with a fully charged Hyperion battery I'd gotten a few months ago and used it for two days. It seemed MUCH worse than the stock battery. I was down to 85% by mid-morning both days, and that was with zero use except for checking the calendar a couple of times. The stock battery was still in the mid-90s at that time of morning.

Going to put the stock battery back in tomorrow and see if that still holds true.

str8bucs

Well battery life has increased since turning off wifi. I was able to go all day with out having to putting it on the charger

rmreid

Agreed, just be careful if you are pulling a lot of data and don't have an unlimited data plan so that you avoid any additonal charges.

FlyingPigL

So that 2.3.6 "upgrade" was a total disaster for me. Memory leak on Map program, loss of voice-to-talk functionality, loss of GPS and battery life shrunk to a vague memory. Called AT&T and they referred me back to Samsung. Samsung had the incredible nerve to inform me that this thing runs like a laptop (please!), and that a battery life of 6-8 hours is "normal". Huh? This phone may be great - perhaps. But so far I have to say - DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. For Samsung to up and state that a 6-hour battery life is "normal" is crazy. Plus bouncing me back and forth between AT&T and Samsung is not acceptable. So the Samsung experience is to include the joys of charging my phone 3 times a day. Last item I buy from them *EVER*.

hyp3rdr1v3

Turning wifi off definitely helps battery life, but there's still something else going on. With wifi off and minimal usage I can push about a day, before the update I was routinely able to go 2 days under the same circumstances. Kind of frustrating

jdCaptivate

WAY OVERREACTION, for what amounts to an update bug.

Chill.

Skaziwu

I dunno, the Samsung / AT&T lack of work on this has become infuriating. It's been a month now.

From what I can tell, Entropy512 in the xdadevelopers forum has already done their footwork for them in identifying the issue (ARP spam).

If this amounts to an update bug, where is the something that amounts to a fix?

IndyDave

I was wondering if one of you more tech-inclined could post a summary paragraph of what the problem really is - beyond it being android OS and WiFi after the update? Obviously its time to start bugging them all over again, but I would like to be able to recite exactly what the issue is, simple enough that anyone can understand it, and with any needed acronyms explained. I tried to track down the reference in the last post to the xda developers forum, but got lost in there. I've got most of this week to be in the home office working on some writing/editing, so plent of time to harass AT&T and Samsung, but I would like to be directly on message with my complaint.

Thanks in advance!

FlyingPigL

You're probably right. That said, however, the Samsung lack of customer support for what has to be a known error is infuriating. The scripted indifference and lack of knowledge ("I do apologize for the inconvenience YOU are experiencing" ) does not do the trick, nor does it resolve the issue at hand. And even more maddening was the glad tidings that the manufacturer considers a battery life of 6-8 hours NORMAL.

I've often wondered if I just have a defective unit. Prior to this "update" I would notice my battery getting really hot after a few minutes of use. Now, that seems to have gone away, but so has battery life. I'm thinking of going in to AT&T for a warranty exchange.

NinerBikes

Well then, I guess my refurb ATT Samsung Galaxy S II is going to come loaded with 2.3.6, and I'm going to get to root it after I get it back to 2.3.4, which will be as soon as possible.

Hopefully I get my phone on 1/30/2012, or the day after. Then I'll b8tch about needing a new battery too, perhaps.

misterrunon

can't you just use kies to revert back to 2.3.4?

wolfyboy359

when does ics come out for us?

Uncle_Rico

dude.. not SOON ENOUGH for me!?!