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Help Battery Questions

scarchelli

Lurker
Apr 18, 2012
3
0
First off, if this is the wrong spot for this, sorry, new here.

So, my battery life on my GS2 was always great, I kept it in good condition because I know how to manage it well, ie. not run things when I don't need them, for starters.

Lately, my battery life has been downright awful. The first thing I don't get, is why does my phone get warm so much now? That means it's searching for a signal, right? That would make sense because the last two times I noticed it getting warm, I was in spots with hardly any signal. Is there a way to disable it from searching though?

The other thing I'm wondering, is it maybe a "rogue app"? This is irrelevant if non running apps don't drain the battery. Meaning, I always make sure NOTHING is running. So can rogue apps drain the battery even if they aren't running, just installed on the phone?
 
Hello and welcome aboard - thanks for joining the community. :)

The best place to get some responses for your concern.. would be inside the support area for your device. Battery life varies from one device to another, and it also depends on how good of an internet connection you're getting. I'm sure you'll find tips on how to squeeze out a little more life out of these batteries over @your device forum.

I would've moved your thread, but i don't know what phone carrier you have. Anyway, you can choose your device model from the list here.

I hope you'll find this place helpful.
 
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So, my battery life on my GS2 was always great, I kept it in good condition because I know how to manage it well, ie. not run things when I don't need them, for starters.

Uh, that sounds a lot like you are using a task killer to kill apps you aren't using at the moment. Using task killers eventually drain your battery faster if used regularly.

Each time a task is killed. Android thinks it forced crashed, so it restarts the app in the background on its own. Do this often enough, and Android may think that a lot of apps have been force crashing and trying to restart them. The bigger problem is when the number of apps that Android thinks force crashed exceeds the RAM capacity. For example your phone is capable of running 20 apps at the same time, but wants to start 21 apps because of the memory log caused by task killer usage. Android will repeatedly kill one app because of the extra app it wants to run, but it will kill another to run the other app again. Vicious cycle which actually causes increased battery heat due to usage.

Android has its own memory and app management system which should be left alone. If an app supposedly runs in the background, let it be. It won't be using any battery at all unless its an app that is actively working. Otherwise its an idle process.
 
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Hi Scarchelli, and welcome to AF :)

A phone getting hot generally means that it's active. So screen on, CPU active, running GPS or a live 3G data connection will all do this.

You can't really stop a phone searching for signal, but if you are in a weak region then at least with GSM handsets 2G signals are generally stronger than 3G, so if you don't need the data connection setting it to 2G only may help.

An app can't drain battery or cause heating if it isn't running. There are various apps that can be used to monitor what is running, but perhaps the simple "about phone" menu is enough in this case: if any app shows up as a unexpected drain there then it's worth thinking about. Otherwise I have an app called "System Panel" which can be set to monitor applications' resource usage, and other apps such as Spare Parts or Quick System Info can be used to display more details of battery usage.

Since you have a SGS2, you might also want to visit the device forum. The most general is probably Samsung Galaxy S2 (International) - Android Forums, but there are also forums for specific network variants of that handset.

Finally, a general diagnostic principle is to try to identify what might have changed before the situation arose?

Anyway, sorry if that's a bit generic - it's getting late here. Hope there's some help there, and that you enjoy your stay here. :)

Edit:
OK, I clearly took too long writing that! ;)
 
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Thanks all.

My bad, I have Sprint version.

And I don't use a task killer and never have. Not sure how my post indicated I use one...I meant I don't have things running when I don't need them, GPS, 4G, etc.

Anyway, I changed my wallpaper to solid black (probably won't do anything), I deleted my weather widget which might have been the cause, I also deleted facebook shortcuts to 3 contacts I had, but I dunno if that matters.
 
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Thanks all.

My bad, I have Sprint version.

And I don't use a task killer and never have. Not sure how my post indicated I use one...I meant I don't have things running when I don't need them, GPS, 4G, etc.

Anyway, I changed my wallpaper to solid black (probably won't do anything), I deleted my weather widget which might have been the cause, I also deleted facebook shortcuts to 3 contacts I had, but I dunno if that matters.
I'm almost certain that your problems is a result of a 'rogue' installed app. The problem is finding it without "resetting" the device.

I hope deleting those applications - the culprit was among them. :)
Best of luck.

P.s. I moved your thread to the Samsung Epic 4G Touch forum, just in case you might still be having problems.
 
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But if the rogue app isn't running, then it shouldn't mattet right?

I do have my contacts synced to facebook and then thru social hub as well. Then the gmail sync and twitter. Do these kill the battery?

I have facebook for social hub then just facebook then gmail and then twitter for social hub.

I've noticed that having contacts synced to Facebook and other social sites do drain the battery. Every time someone changes their profile picture on Facebook the phone is looking for that and changes it on your phone. I personally turned that syncing off and just turn it on once a month or so to get new pics and such....
 
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