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Help 2.3.6 Battery life sucks

I don't think you have to root your phone to go back to 2.3.4.... You can just flash it back. There's a way how here:
Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 SGH-i777 2.3.6 OTA update no... - Page 7 - AT&T Community Support
I got it from the other thread here about this update. A thread that should be merged with this one maybe... But I am going to think a few days about it, but I might do this flash.

update if anyone cares: Juice Defender is working pretty well. I am getting better battery life now than even with 2.3.4. Not promoting this app, but just saying.

Just to clarify, Juice Defender PLUS?
 
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They wanted me to do the same thing and I told them no way. Let us know how it goes. I don't have another cell to use so I need my phone.

I really want to root my phone but may hold off until ICS comes out to see if it fixes some of these issues. Plus there are a lot of things I don't understand yet with kernels, roms, etc.

Agreed, it is a major PITA, but hopefully it helps in some small way to resolve the WiFi bug issue on the GS2 :rolleyes: 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
 
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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.

uLebQ.png
 
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Just to clarify, Juice Defender PLUS?

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...
 
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If wifi is not crucially important to you, there's nothing wrong with this update.

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?
 
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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:

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.
 
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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?

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.
 
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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.

uLebQ.png
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!
 
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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.

Very good point! I'll turn wifi on all day tomorrow after a full charge to see how it behaves.
 
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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?
 
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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.
Interesting :thinking: not sure why there would be variability?
Maybe someone can explain why this would or could happen?
 
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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.

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...
 
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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.
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.
 
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