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

What's up with my "Battery Use" list?

JohnJSal

Android Expert
Jun 17, 2010
952
72
I've had my Evo for just over a week, and up until yesterday my Battery Use list only listed the following:

Android 96%
Cell Standby 2%
Phone Idle 2%

No matter what I did, it always showed only those three things. But yesterday and today, when I check it, it now shows Display, WiFi, Maps, etc., all of which I've been using since I got the phone.

Why are these things only showing up now? I assume that's normal, but it's weird that they weren't there before.

Thanks.
 
I think that Android should not have been using 96% of the battery if it were sleeping properly. The other things you listed were probably below the reporting threshold for the program until whatever was keeping your Evo from sleeping stopped.

Does it seem that your battery has been lasting longer yesterday and today?

The only time that I've seen the Android system listed high on mine was just that; some service got stuck on and prevented the phone from sleeping, and awake time and up time were the same.
 
Upvote 0
I think that Android should not have been using 96% of the battery if it were sleeping properly. The other things you listed were probably below the reporting threshold for the program until whatever was keeping your Evo from sleeping stopped.

Does it seem that your battery has been lasting longer yesterday and today?

The only time that I've seen the Android system listed high on mine was just that; some service got stuck on and prevented the phone from sleeping, and awake time and up time were the same.

Well, since the first day of full use I've been getting what seems to be pretty good battery life, so I don't feel like the battery *hasn't* been performing well even with the 96% Android. What should it say for Android? I don't understand why it would say that if that's too high.

With light usage I tend to get at least 12 hours out of one charge. Once I got over 24 hours on a single charge, but that was mostly with no use that day, except small bursts of maybe an hour at a time two or three times over that period.

What exactly does "sleeping" mean? Is it something more than just putting it into standby mode? It always goes into standby mode after 2 minutes of non-activity. It's never just stayed awake, unless it actually still is awake even when the screen shuts off. How can I check to see?

Edit: Wow, I just saw the Battery Use screen of the "61 hours" post. His Android use was 4%! How in the world is mine 96%!?
 
Upvote 0
Mine was like that (9x% android use) when i first had my phone...then one day as with you, the other list items showed up....but at the same time that happened, my android system use dropped significantly...

I followed the battery saving tips found here on this site...ran the "network app trick" and unconnected my facebook acct from the sync list...and started charging thru my usb port instead of the wall...

which of these made it change, is anyone's guess...certainly not and un-techie like me..i just follow instructions that make sense to me, and make observations...
 
Upvote 0
I'm beginning to think that the 96% usage doesn't inherently mean that Android is using more battery power than it should. It seems to me that the percentages only have any kind of meaning in relation to the other items listed. So between the three things I had listed, Android was using most of the battery, but no more than it would be using even if it was only 50% and several other items were in the list to account for the other 50%.

Does that make sense? I'm assuming that the percentage itself isn't an indication of how much the app is draining the battery, but simply a number relative to the other items in the list.
 
Upvote 0
I just checked my phone and it says uptime 159:11 awake time 80:13 That can't be right. Is something keeping my phone awake? I charge it at work come home get it to a 100 take it off and let it sit all night unplugged. I did notice when I woke up today the light was on and I had shut it off when I went to bed. I am rebooting my phone cause that's weird.
 
Upvote 0
Up time is the amount of time that the phone has been on since the last boot, and awake time is the amount of time that the phone hasn't been sleeping. If the awake time and up time are very close, then chances are that your phone isn't sleeping when you aren't using it. Sleeping isn't just the screen being off, it's also a lot of system things that shut down to conserve power when not being used.

A good way to test it is to write down both the awake time and up time, put the phone to sleep (quick power press), wait 10 minutes, and then check the awake and up times again. The up time should have gone up by 10 minutes and the awake time should be close to what it was before sleeping.
 
Upvote 0
Up time is the amount of time that the phone has been on since the last boot, and awake time is the amount of time that the phone hasn't been sleeping. If the awake time and up time are very close, then chances are that your phone isn't sleeping when you aren't using it. Sleeping isn't just the screen being off, it's also a lot of system things that shut down to conserve power when not being used.

A good way to test it is to write down both the awake time and up time, put the phone to sleep (quick power press), wait 10 minutes, and then check the awake and up times again. The up time should have gone up by 10 minutes and the awake time should be close to what it was before sleeping.

Ah, I see. Well, my uptime is 275 hours and my awake time is 37 hours, so that's not a problem. But I still don't understand why the awake time is so high. It's certainly been unused during the past 37 hours, so what exactly does it take for the phone to go to sleep?
 
Upvote 0
I have a buddy who's evo's awake and up time are the same, i would say HIS is not sleeping...yours, i wouldnt worry...hime, i cant seem to find what is running in the background...

I would assume, the phone has to be "awake" to receive an incoming call..to "sleep" it as you want to do, just shut it off, all the way off...but then, no calls...(unless your not using it for its phone capabilities...but then also no alarms, reminders, etc...)
 
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