Help Battery Issues on Latest Update

[Citizen Coyote]

Has anyone tried reinstalling WidgetLocker yet? I'm waiting a few days to make sure everything is stable before trying it again. I really hope it is a temporary problem as I love WL and miss having a custom lock screen.

 

[drexappeal]

I use Widget Locker and my phone has been fine since after the update.

 

[Skrillex]

Maybe if you disable and re-enable WidgetLocker it will be okay? I loved it too so hopefully this is not permanent.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Maybe if you disable and re-enable WidgetLocker it will be okay? I loved it too so hopefully this is not permanent.

I tried this earlier today finally and can report it does not work. Within a half hour my phone was hot and the battery drained 10%, pretty much in line with what was happening before. Obviously WL is doing something.

Drexappeal, since you seem to be one of the few still able to use WidgetLocker without problems, can you report some of your settings? Specifically:

1. Usage/Error Reporting on or off?
2. Disallow WL suspend on or off?
3. Using Custom Timeout, and if so what setting?
4. Screebl Integration on or off?

 

[zombdroid]

I am seeing the similar results. The battery seems better, post update.

 

[brushrop03]

Yeah my battery was dead by noon today. Took it off the charger at around 730am.

Very warm to the touch.

I also use widget locker...will try phone with WL disabled tomorrow though this is unacceptable. Going to post in the other forum also.

edit: According to SystemPanel Widget Locker hasnt been using that many resources. According to Battery Usage it's being drained while Idle

 

[Citizen Coyote]

edit: According to SystemPanel Widget Locker hasnt been using that many resources. According to Battery Usage it's being drained while Idle

That's what makes this issue so strange, and one reason why I never would have thought to disable WidgetLocker myself had someone not said they discovered a conflict between it and another app (that I don't have, incidentally). Something else is going on, some interaction between WL and the phone that does not show up as WL battery usage. I've emailed the developer with my log file to see if he can shed some light on this problem; I'll report back if I hear anything from him.

 

[clgwli]

I admit the battery life isn't pathetic but it sure is no where near as good as the last update. I was getting several days of usage easily and now it's draining much faster than before.

I've tried formatting my phone but now I'm about to try to wiping everything and not even restoring stuff via my gmail account.

I haven't had any issues at all on this phone so not to happy when updates only make things worse.

 

[brushrop03]

Just so you guys know, the Dev of WidgetLocker replied to the Motorola Forum

I have received several emails from people on this forum.

WidgetLocker actually never holds a wakelock for longer than ~5 seconds. However it's possible MotoBlur is holding excessive wakelocks when the lockscreen is replaced or something. If I can figure out where it's doing this I can try to work around it.

I have some users trying a beta of WidgetLocker and looking at logs. I also am trying to get my hands on a Photon.

If you want to help sending a bug report via Settings > Report Bug and simply putting "Photon battery issue" at the beginning of the body of the message will let me look for a pattern in WL or system configuration. Please don't expect a reply via email though as I might get several and will have nothing to report until right away.


PS The registration process for this forum is horrible.

 

[wubbie075]

I also tried reinstalling WL after I saw improvement after uninstalling and it went right back to the quick drain. It;s a real shame cause I like the app.

For those who like Go products, they have a lockscreen app in beta right now. For the moment it is kinda crappy cause you cannot customize it at all (there are a few themes, but you cannot change anything within the theme, not even the wallpaper), but I expect they will flesh out the features as they continue to develop it. But, even in its bare bones form I like it better than the stock lockscreen.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

I also tried reinstalling WL after I saw improvement after uninstalling and it went right back to the quick drain. It;s a real shame cause I like the app.

I tried messing with WidgetLocker settings without any luck in countering the battery drain. I guess it will have to remain disabled until TeslaCoil figures out what's going on. (FYI, link to the Moto forum thread brushrop03 mentioned.)

For those who like Go products, they have a lockscreen app in beta right now. For the moment it is kinda crappy cause you cannot customize it at all (there are a few themes, but you cannot change anything within the theme, not even the wallpaper), but I expect they will flesh out the features as they continue to develop it. But, even in its bare bones form I like it better than the stock lockscreen.

The Go devs are very productive. I'm pulling for WidgetLocker and will enable it once this bug gets worked out, but this might be a decent substitute in the meantime. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[wubbie075]

Link for Go Locker: GO Launcher | GO?? : GOLauncherEX Locker V1.0 Beta

 

[ORD84]

Since the update with moderate use at work out and about I'm getting about 10hrs max battery life...beforehand i was seeing about the same battery life, with heavy usage (primarily downloading 250mb files) I'm seeing about a 4-6 hour battery life...

I have noticed though that my phone is ALOT warmer than previous update...this is especially true when downloading...

 

[tenyc424]

That's strange, when this update was giving me problems I just did a hard reset on my phone didn't want to bother uninstalling apps one by one. The hard reset eliminated the battery drain problem. I re-installed everything including widget locker and I have had no problems since and the moto update is still installed.

 

[ORD84]

Link for Go Locker: GO Launcher | GO?? : GOLauncherEX Locker V1.0 Beta

Thanks, do you know how to make it require pin to unlock though?

 

[wubbie075]

Thanks, do you know how to make it require pin to unlock though?

Nope! It does not really appear to do much yet other than unlock.

I have no affiliation with the dev, and I don't really know anything about the app or when features will be added. I just happened to run across it by accident when looking for themes for my launcher and thought I'd share since some of us cannot use WL right now.

 

[ORD84]

Thanks i like this type of lock screen, it kinda sucks that you cant pin lock it, hopefully they put it in a later version.

 

[Go Blue]

OK -- so I'm getting into this one a little late .... but I am seeing same issue. Installed update last night, put on charger overnight, when I picked up phone this morning it was warm, and 3 hours later had consumed 70% of battery, with only about 5 minutes of use.

I then did a battery pull (which I had NOT done after the update install), and battery use went back to what I see as normal -about 5% per hour, or 20 hour max life. No other changes.

I have Widget Locker installed -- have not removed it -- but battery life seems back to what is normal for my phone. (Although I will say there is no way I would ever get 2 or 3 days).

My wife's phone evidently got the update on its own previously (neither she or I installed the update but the version shows it's the latest) -- no battery life problems noted. Not sure when the update happened, but the dropped call issue she has been experiencing over the last couple of weeks seem to be gone now.

These are great phones when they work right -- but lots of little bugs that aren't worked out yet .......

 

[wubbie075]

I then did a battery pull

Can someone explain what the benefit of a battery pull is supposed to be? It's never helped for any issue I've ever had.

I guess I just wonder if it is simply a placebo, or if there are certain things that are confirmed to happen when you do it?

 

[drexappeal]

Can someone explain what the benefit of a battery pull is supposed to be? It's never helped for any issue I've ever had.

I guess I just wonder if it is simply a placebo, or if there are certain things that are confirmed to happen when you do it?

Battery pull is also known as a "soft reset." When you take the battery out for 60 seconds and then put it back in, it's supposed to help with any "cached" errors that might have been stored on the phone.

Thing is, I spoke to a Sprint rep one time and apparently, they also do something on their end whenever doing a "soft reset." I'm not exactly sure what that is, but wanted to mention in case a soft reset by the user doesn't help.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Update on WidgetLocker: the developer is currently testing a beta of the app that looks very promising and solves the battery drain issue. Hopefully we'll hear more soon.

 

[mikey78]

i dont know how anybody is getting 2 or 3 days out of this battery but im def getting around 13hrs with normal use which is great to me compared to my friends evos

 

[floorguy]

Battery pull is also known as a "soft reset." When you take the battery out for 60 seconds and then put it back in, it's supposed to help with any "cached" errors that might have been stored on the phone.

Thing is, I spoke to a Sprint rep one time and apparently, they also do something on their end whenever doing a "soft reset." I'm not exactly sure what that is, but wanted to mention in case a soft reset by the user doesn't help.

Here is something for you on a battery pull....

Did one today (1st since update) but it back in loaded it up....signal and 3g ARE JACKED UP!!!

I get full bars up stairs and for sure outside, i had 1..... for a long while to, did a speed test 100kb


Did a prl update and profile.....drove around for a while, had work and what not....

well right now at the desk i am back to full bars oh well still 120kb

hummmmmmmmm wonder what the crap is going on around here

anyway, as much as sprint has been ok for me, i may be done...the local store is having huge turnover I dont know anyone there, and when i stopped in today to say hey and look around again....had to pee and they treated me like a criminal for wanting to go into the back to pee (which i have done TONS) Point is I been with them 10 yrs had a great relationship with the store personal, and now its gone to crap.....like when i was with tmobile/voicestream

And i am the kinda person that when i got 7 lines and 10 yrs, i want a little "extra" personal support.... not your gonna jack our stuff taking a leak

 

[pscpa97]

still no improvement in battery life since WL was disabled. I bought the photon because of the battery life. The battery was awesome prior to update. Turned my phone on 1h 21 min ago and circle battery says 13% down already!! When will motorola come out with downgrade to previous update or maybe new patch to fix bug in the last update???

 

[unkledude]

The latest update has killed my battery life. Lasted less than 3.5 hours from 100% to dead with very little use other than listening to a few minutes of music in the morning.

Has anyone else had this issue?

since the prl update my battery life has been abnormal. i was getting about 12 hrs. use and now it's at bout half life before i've done anything with it. stand by is 65% , display is 17% browser is 10% and the rest make it up to 100 %...........wtf