Help Battery drain issue getting out of hand now.

[mattywalnuts]

What's up folks, first time posting on the SGIII forum.

Has anyone had both the SG3 and the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon? Went to the VZ store yesterday to look at the new Razr M and left admiring the SGIII.

I'd really like to know how the standard SG3 battery compares to the Nexus. I do have the Verizon extended battery (2100), but it's still terrible IMO. I may just wait for the HD Maxx to come out, unless I get a good deal on ebay for the SG3.

 

[ylexot]

I just got rid of my iphone to get the s3...the battery in the s3 will outlast the iphone any day of the week. I had to charge my iphone several times throughout the day.

Honestly, your iPhone battery was probably getting to the point where the battery life drops off. The advantage of the S3 is that when that happens, you simply buy a new battery.

 

[En4cer2k11]

It just recently came to my attention that the cell radio (cell standby) does NOT turn off automatically when wifi is turned on and connected. I took my phone off the charger an hour ago and I'm already down to 91%. It says "cell standby" is taking up 22% of battery drainage, and has been on for that whole hour. I used to conserve my G2 battery by connecting to wifi at home and it made a HUGE difference. The GSIII? Not so much...

90% now, as I continue typing this. It appears to melt away by 1% every couple minutes...

 

[En4cer2k11]

89% just that quickly...

The one positive, however, seems to be that it recharges pretty fast. About 40% per hour when plugged into an outlet. My external battery pack seems considerably slower though, around 10%.

 

[Wisheezy]

Just switched from the iPhone to the GS3.

I really love the GS3 more than the iPhone, but the battery issue with this phone is so bad that I might also be forced to return to Apple come September 12th.

I realize there are some posting here saying they have no problems, but it's apparent from the amount of posts from people with problems that there is an issue here that Samsung needs to address.

No. This is what's frustrating. Samsung don't need to address ANYTHING. The battery is completely fine, it's really f***ing good. It's user error and faulty battery to blame. The faulty ones can easily be replaced with a new functioning battery (as the Samsung..you know..lets you CHANGE out a battery) and the user error is usually apps draining the phone, poor common sense and amongst other factors.


As for OPs case..yes that app is clearly messing with your phone. Disable updates, or make them every 24 hours just to test that solves it draining then you'll have your issue. Good luck

 

[En4cer2k11]

No. This is what's frustrating. Samsung don't need to address ANYTHING. The battery is completely fine, it's really f***ing good. It's user error and faulty battery to blame. The faulty ones can easily be replaced with a new functioning battery (as the Samsung..you know..lets you CHANGE out a battery) and the user error is usually apps draining the phone, poor common sense and amongst other factors.


As for OPs case..yes that app is clearly messing with your phone. Disable updates, or make them every 24 hours just to test that solves it draining then you'll have your issue. Good luck

Dude, it is an issue. In the 2 minutes it took me to type out both of my last posts, I lost 3% from my battery. IN 2 MINUTES. Just typing on a message board on wifi, with Bluetooth and GPS OFF. Even the heaviest of usage shouldn't drain a battery at such a high rate as 1% per minute. That would leave you with a mere 100 minutes of battery life. My Galaxy Player with medium-to-heavy usage DESTROYS this GSIII battery with only light usage.

 

[Easilyamused]

Dude, it is an issue. In the 2 minutes it took me to type out both of my last posts, I lost 3% from my battery. IN 2 MINUTES. Just typing on a message board on wifi, with Bluetooth and GPS OFF. Even the heaviest of usage shouldn't drain a battery at such a high rate as 1% per minute. That would leave you with a mere 100 minutes of battery life. My Galaxy Player with medium-to-heavy usage DESTROYS this GSIII battery with only light usage.

so, basically what you are saying is that your phone is normal, and the rest of us whose battery life is fine, have broken phones that somehow results in exceptional battery life?

 

[Minimike]

My S3 battery is usually fine, but occasionaly fast drains. If it has fast drained, I see Awake time as continoudly on - whereas on good battery live cycles Awake time is on very, very little.

What is causing the Awake time to be on continously?

 

[Crafty]

That sort of battery performance is abnormal and there are ways to resolve the issue. For reference my phone is sat on 40%, been running for 1 day, 17 hours 53 mins, 2 hours odd of screen time and I listen to music for most of the day at work.. this is about normal, it will probably last into tomorrow evening, say another 14/15 hours. This is what I usually get out of a charge.

Go look on XDA forums for BetterBatteryStats, the guy who wrote it has a thread on there and it explains how to use it to diagnose problems, I'm sure if you google you'll find other guides.

 

[En4cer2k11]

so, basically what you are saying is that your phone is normal, and the rest of us whose battery life is fine, have broken phones that somehow results in exceptional battery life?

Where exactly did you read that backwards azz implication in my post? Don't ever attempt to twist my words again.

And considering the sheer EXISTENCE of this thread in the first place, any LOGICAL individual should be able to deduce that SOME PEOPLE HAVE BATTERY ISSUES. Just because you may not does NOT give you the right to dismiss the apparent problems that people OTHER THAN YOURSELF are experiencing as insignificant. Come down from your high horse one time.

 

[Roll-Tide]

Have you taken in to get a warranty replacement or at least a new battery? Done a factory reset? Done anything besides ask questions on a forum? Here's mine... And this is a typical day for me.....

 

[Jeepmaster]

To the OP, did you try disabling the weather app to see if that solves your problem? It's nice to have the weather constantly showing, but personally I only need to check it maybe once or twice a day. So I just use a different weather app and just open it whenever I want to check the weather. My s3 used to last me 12 hours max, but now it lasts me at least 25hours. I am rooted, removed lots of bloatwares, and have a few tweaks.

 

[hvrc]

to the op, yes it is frustrating, but everyone is trying to help you, stop the widget, delete it, do what ever and see if that helps with your battery life, if not, go take it to your service provider and explain the situation, if you just got it, and get a replacement battery. done.

 

[redhook]

It just recently came to my attention that the cell radio (cell standby) does NOT turn off automatically when wifi is turned on and connected. I took my phone off the charger an hour ago and I'm already down to 91%. It says "cell standby" is taking up 22% of battery drainage, and has been on for that whole hour. I used to conserve my G2 battery by connecting to wifi at home and it made a HUGE difference. The GSIII? Not so much...

90% now, as I continue typing this. It appears to melt away by 1% every couple minutes...

The update to Jelly Bean that is coming out next month fixes the battery issues. I have been running one of the leaks and my battery life is much better than is was with ICS.

 

[En4cer2k11]

The update to Jelly Bean that is coming out next month fixes the battery issues. I have been running one of the leaks and my battery life is much better than is was with ICS.

So is that a general ICS thing across the board, or just with certain phones like the GSIII? I know my Nexus 7 has GREAT battery life no matter what I do with it.

 

[jacksonista]

Like many here, I'm not happy. I did a full drain of my battery and full recharge, turned off all auto updates, screen is only at 50%, talked to my sister for about 45 minutes. Turned the phone on at 10AM, it's now 8:30PM, and it's down to 40%. I have done nothing else on the phone except talk to my sis. Yes. It's 10.5 hours, but seriously? 60% doing nothing except talking for a bit? Screen time usage 13%. Cell Standby 32%. Voice calls 23%. When I first got this phone the battery life rocked. Then 3 weeks later, it's in the crapper. WTF? It was measuring up to my old SII and I was so stoked! But no more. It's feeling more and more like my SII after Samsung/Google/Sprint cursed it with ICS.

My old SII running gingerbread would hold a charge for 24 hours with me doing all kinds of stuff on it. The ill-fated ICS install ruined that phone, absolutely ruined it! I didn't need to dim the screen, turn off updates, email, text, etc. I received updates all day long while on my work WiFi. I played angry birds non-stop and read my kindle app every night for at least 2 hours and lost almost no battery.

I've heard of juice defender, but also heard that it used a huge amount of battery to run. I guess if it helps find out what is going on it's okay long enough to use it for research.

I'm frustrated. And no, it's still not worth it to get an iPhone, I already know the battery life in those is going to blow.

Okay, that being said, what is the best tool I can use to really find out what is causing the drain? Is juice defender the best? I want to remove whatever it is that suddenly took my battery for a ride.

 

[En4cer2k11]

Like many here, I'm not happy. I did a full drain of my battery and full recharge, turned off all auto updates, screen is only at 50%, talked to my sister for about 45 minutes. Turned the phone on at 10AM, it's now 8:30PM, and it's down to 40%. I have done nothing else on the phone except talk to my sis. Yes. It's 10.5 hours, but seriously? 60% doing nothing except talking for a bit? Screen time usage 13%. Cell Standby 32%. Voice calls 23%. When I first got this phone the battery life rocked. Then 3 weeks later, it's in the crapper. WTF? It was measuring up to my old SII and I was so stoked! But no more. It's feeling more and more like my SII after Samsung/Google/Sprint cursed it with ICS.

That's better than mine. On a typical school day, I take my phone off the charger at 8am and am out the door by 9, at which point I'm down to 90%. One hour train right later, I arrive at school with 80%. Just on web browsing alone. That's basically the only thing I CAN do because I'm afraid doing anything more intensive will kill the battery even further. By 2 or 3, its down to 40% or less from more web browsing in between classes (data off in class).

Oh yes, and I just lost 4% of my battery just from typing this post.

 

[En4cer2k11]

For those who seem to think that all of us are somehow LYING about the quality of our phone's battery life, I give you Exhibit A:

This after only a HALF day of "practical" usage, unplugged at 4:30pm - web browsing, 35 minutes of YouTube, and about 5 minutes of Asphalt 7.

Nearly one hour since I took this pic, I now sit at 10%...

 

[Roll-Tide]

For those who seem to think that all of us are somehow LYING about the quality of our phone's battery life, I give you Exhibit A:

This after only a HALF day of "practical" usage, unplugged at 4:30pm - web browsing, 35 minutes of YouTube, and about 5 minutes of Asphalt 7.

Nearly one hour since I took this pic, I now sit at 10%...

My issue was not the possibility of lying... It's that it seems that nothing has been done to try and fix the problem. If your car was screwing up and you had a warranty, would you just keep driving and bitching or take it in and get it checked out?

 

[Crafty]

As I already said instead of posting how crap the battery is redirect your efforts in to finding out whats causing the drain.

You have abnormal battery performance, millions of others don't - so lets figure out what the problem is.

 

[John P]

To those with battery problems.

We will be in a much better position to help you if you download

1) 'Better Battery Stats' app (either in the play store, or free if you are a member on xda site here http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1179809).

2) 'GSam battery monitor' app.
With these you can check up if certain apps are causing your battery to drain.

I previously had a really bad drain on my battery, which I overcame using these apps and some patience by testing day on day, my battery now lasts exceptionally well both whilst in use and in standby mode.
I would say its more than likely an app causing your battery drain rather than a problematic/faulty phone. I spent weeks thinking I had a faulty phone then discovered these battery apps to find the problem... my battery lasts very well now. It just takes some patience to find the culprit.

To help we need the full picture.

When you use these battery apps you need to see whats causing problems 'since unplugged'. With GSam battery monitor, if your problem is a standby mode drain pay particular attention to the apps sections 'View time held awake' and 'View num times waking device'. If your phone is draining excessively whilst the screen is on - we need to look at all sections then narrow it down.


Try these and report back with the findings/screenshots and we may be more likely to be able to help you.
We will also need to know your screen on time. Settings >> Battery >> click on screen and it will tell you the screen on time.

John

 

[En4cer2k11]

With brightness on zero, this is the only thing that stands out...

For one thing, I posted my first graphic to see if somebody else might notice something that I didn't. Others have posted graphics without receiving such hostility in response.

I also mentioned a concern about cell standby in my initial post, but nobody seemed to even acknowledge it whatsoever. Instead, everybody gets mad at ME for even SUGGESTING the mere capability of any problem. Its as if to say "everybody else is fine, so screw you for being the odd man out". What is a forum FOR if we are apparently not allowed to voice our potential concerns? Might as well delete this whole thread then.

At the moment, I'm not really in a position to buy a new battery that isn't of the suspiciously cheap Chinese variety (I couldn't even get a screen protector), nor do I wish to pay a restocking fee associated with a return. So as you can see, I'm painted into a corner...

 

[En4cer2k11]

Here's the screen on also. Again, on zero percent.

 

[John P]

Referring to my post #46 above. I wasn't in any way intending to sound hostile towards you (if you were talking about my post?), I was trying to help you and advise the next steps you need to take for us to help you further.
I do want to help, as from my own experience I know first hand how frustrating battery draining is.

If I can refer you to my post #46 above again, and the battery apps to download. Once you have done this and posted the results we can try to pin point a possible problem, or at least rule certain things out. Without the information these apps gives we are guessing at best.

John

 

[Roll-Tide]

With brightness on zero, this is the only thing that stands out...

For one thing, I posted my first graphic to see if somebody else might notice something that I didn't. Others have posted graphics without receiving such hostility in response.

I also mentioned a concern about cell standby in my initial post, but nobody seemed to even acknowledge it whatsoever. Instead, everybody gets mad at ME for even SUGGESTING the mere capability of any problem. Its as if to say "everybody else is fine, so screw you for being the odd man out". What is a forum FOR if we are apparently not allowed to voice our potential concerns? Might as well delete this whole thread then.

At the moment, I'm not really in a position to buy a new battery that isn't of the suspiciously cheap Chinese variety (I couldn't even get a screen protector), nor do I wish to pay a restocking fee associated with a return. So as you can see, I'm painted into a corner...

My apologies... All this whining about battery life with nothing being done to try and fix the problem (it HAS a warranty)... No one here can tell you or anyone else what's wrong with your phone...My comments are directed to ANYone who fits in this category... Not just you.