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

Help 8%/hour drain with light / minimal usage - normal or not?

robersml

Newbie
Jul 7, 2011
43
4
Right now 5hrs off at 65% (light use)

Sim card issues. It is on ST ATT but I had to use a Tmobile sim.
Signal is constantly low , only 1 or 2/5 bars all the time.
Also grey & not blue data/wifi colors.

I've heard battery use should be better than this. It's drained 5% in the last 20ish mins of me sitting her playing with it.

One poster in XDA said he was getting 4%/hour drain with heavy usage & 2% light

anyone have any ideas? would a wacky sim card and a weak signal do this?

It was draining quickly with the ATT sim card as well. I am about to send it back.

thanks for any help

*UPDATE* After reading this thread
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756696-droid-maxx-battery-life-promised.html

My battery drain is HORRENDOUS. I still have no clue how to fix it or why it is happening

*UPDATE*
Booted in Safe Mode & battery drained 5.5% on a 15-minute youtube video (kevin hart grown little man part 2)
Wouldnt this indicate a defective phone? Also though my signal strength is still sucking at the same time - 1/2 bars and grey
 
anyone have any ideas? would a wacky sim card and a weak signal do this?

It was draining quickly with the ATT sim card as well. I am about to send it back.

Yes, a weak signal will drain the battery faster than anything else, except maybe setting the display to 100% brightness. With a weak signal the phone needs to throw a lot of power at the antenna to hold a signal.

The phone was designed to be used on Verizon with a Verizon SIM; the GSM radios are meant just for Verizon customers who travel overseas. There's no guarantee that the phone will do well on US GSM carriers, though I suppose it could if you had a good signal.

However, that said, settings / More... / Mobile networks / Preferred network type - does setting that to "LTE/GSM/UMTS" work better? While you're there, "Network type and strength" - what are the dBm numbers shown?

Wouldnt this indicate a defective phone? Also though my signal strength is still sucking at the same time - 1/2 bars and grey

I'd say it's only defective if it does all that with a Verizon SIM.

You may want to go to settings / battery usage. Take a screen shot of that screen, then tap the graph and take a screen shot of that screen and post them. It may show something else.

Also - playing a 15 minute YouTube video - yes, that can drain the battery fast, too.
 
Upvote 0
Phone call was 10ish minutes long
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_2014-07-23-10-58-39.jpg
    Screenshot_2014-07-23-10-58-39.jpg
    32.5 KB · Views: 108
Upvote 0
I have a Droid Maxx. I use it on my Verizon service (the way it was designed). I measured battery time to depletion on three different occasions. They were all right around three days.

If you want to proceed with this investigation of using it in an environment that it wasn't intended for I suggest you try running in Safe Mode as a test. I could guess at which app might be causing it ... I won't.

... Thom
 
Upvote 0
Phone call was 10ish minutes long

What is "Meet Me"? If you uninstall that app, do battery stats get better? Did you ever get a screenshot of the screen you get when you tap on the graph in battery stats? ( It's probably better to do that after the phone has been running for a few hours at least.)

I still think if you're getting -100 dBm or worse the signal is draining the phone a lot and it's time for a different carrier. Maybe AT&T will be better.
 
Upvote 0
Yes screenshot is attached a few posts up... meetme is a social networing app, it's about half the size of the facebook app I think... I sure hope youre right about signal strength... it was doing this too w/the ATT sim in my ST starter kit... maybe I just got a bad batch of sim cards possibly bc ever since I put in the tmobile sim in it (had to), my data is sketchy, cant text over 4g, never blue signal bars, weaker coverage
 
Upvote 0
Yes screenshot is attached a few posts up...

Yes, but go back into that screen and tap the graph. That will bring up another screen that shows signal bars, awake bars, WiFi bars, etc. That would also be helpful to look at to see if there is an app or service that is holding the phone awake while the screen is off, for example.

meetme is a social networing app, it's about half the size of the facebook app I think...

Based on the screenshot you posted, it's also using a lot of battery - second on the list above the display, which is unusual. That's why I'm wondering if the drain would be less if you uninstall for a day or so.
 
Upvote 0
Here ya go

Notice that awake bar with the screen off in the second graph? The phone is always considered awake with the screen on, and during a phone call, and while playing music with the screen off, but if you weren't on a call or playing music, otherwise it could be an app holding the phone awake.

25% after almost 4 hours is a little worse than what I see, but not terribly different (I also live in an area with poor signal). I still think that app may be spiking up battery use, though. Try uninstalling it for a day to see if you notice a difference.
 
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