Help AWFUL battery life on samsung S2

garba

Lurker
Hi everybody, just wanted to share with you the ridicolously low battery life I'm experiencing on my S2. I believe something is wrong with my battery, it battery dropped from 100% down to 65% in a mere 1.5 hours with the navigator running (with I could post a pic but I can't because of some forum restriction rules) :(

Some extra info:

- display brightness at 100%
- data connection on all the time
- wifi off

what do you guys think? Thanks for your feedback
 

steslatt

Android Expert
Navigation will run your battery down a lot because your display is constantly on and so is gps. Not sure about your figures because I have never used navigation for that long. Maybe someone else could confirm?
 

Riche101

Android Enthusiast
Navigation will run your battery down a lot because your display is constantly on and so is gps. Not sure about your figures because I have never used navigation for that long. Maybe someone else could confirm?



gps will kill your battery if you leave it on plus you have your brightness set at 100% which is not that necessary tbh as the screen is a good quality and looks fab even at 30%
 

Hammerpgh

Member
That sounds way too much to be honest! I used navigation software on my SG II for the first time yesterday and had it going for abt 20-30 minutes and it only dropped my battery by abt 2-3%.

There must be something else sucking the juice dry or a problem with the battery.
 
That sounds way too much to be honest! I used navigation software on my SG II for the first time yesterday and had it going for abt 20-30 minutes and it only dropped my battery by abt 2-3%.

There must be something else sucking the juice dry or a problem with the battery.

Either you're lucky or my phone battery sucks too.

I have 2G data only on, wifi off, display off and I use more than 2-3%!! With navigation (GPS) on, I use way more than that.
 

steslatt

Android Expert
I use bluetooth to stream audio on my journey to and from work for around 35mins and that drains my battery by around 10% thats with the screen off. So I can imagine GPS with screen on constantly using even more.
 

hellybob

Member
Yes I use sat nav all the time on my phone and with that bluetooth and the screen brightness at about 50% my phone struggles to remain at the same level of charge even with a top charger.
 

Fluffer

Newbie
I've found that Nav will drain battery quicker than the in-car charger can keep it at a set level. But I also have screen at full with everything on. I charge the S2 whenever I can and leave it plugged in everynight. It is poor but I also appreciate I need to look at ways to reduce battery consumption.
 

garba

Lurker
Thread starter
Thanks everybody for your feedback! Wow, I can't believe that the charger would be unable to keep up with the power drainage coming from nav + 100% display brightness + data connection (see Fluffer's post)... but this makes sense: it takes about 6 hours to fully recharge the phone (stock charger, phone switched off), in my usage scenario, in 1.5 hours the battery dropped from 100% down to 65% i.e. that would have fully drained the battery in 4.5 hours. Need some extra amperage here...

PS you amperage may vary :p
 

heshanj

Android Expert
screen brightness is definitely a reason it drained so fast. like others have mentioned, it looks great at 30%, and even in direct sunlight, ur not gonna need 100%. the screen being on for 1.5 hours at 100% brightness, im not surprised it drained so fast :p with GPS on too.

however, u could u check out the battery usage graph, see if any other app has been eating ur battery.. or check ur running services etc..make sure no other app is to blame.. and which firmware are u running?
 
D

Deleted User

Guest
Stock S2 - Android 2.3.3

Used Sat Nav today for around 2.5 hours (full navi volume) with the screen at 30% brightness, sent SMS and browsed FB a fair few times whilst flicking between sat view and normal view. Battery dropped 15-20%

Screen brightness at 30% is more than enough imo as the screen is utterly fantastic anyway.

Do you use JuiceDefender? i have the basic free version and it saves a decent amount of power.
 

Shocky

Android Expert
Hi everybody, just wanted to share with you the ridicolously low battery life I'm experiencing on my S2. I believe something is wrong with my battery, it battery dropped from 100% down to 65% in a mere 1.5 hours with the navigator running (with I could post a pic but I can't because of some forum restriction rules) :(

Some extra info:

- display brightness at 100%
- data connection on all the time
- wifi off

what do you guys think? Thanks for your feedback

That sounds about right to be honest, full brightness + data connection + GPS for 1.5 hours will hurt your battery.
 

biffsmash

Well-Known Member
Mine doesn't use half as much as that using SATNAV but then I also dont ever use 100% brightness and it burns away my retinas lol. I almost always plug in a mobile to charge while using sat nav though so can't say it's an issue.

My phone charges in around 4 hours though, shouldn't be taking 6 hours to charge while the phone is off.. although I am using a HTC 1000ma charger.
 

DeAtomizer

Lurker
Ive owned my Galaxy S2 for a few weeks now and i was about to throw the phone out the window because of the appalling battery life. My battery was lasting less than a day. I thought i tried everything to fix the problem. I lived in this forum for weeks trying to figure the problem out. I found the problem that was draining my phone. I turned of the Tilt feature and now all of a sudden im getting 3-4 days easy on my phone with casual usage.
 

vic2pc

Newbie
I turned of the Tilt feature and now all of a sudden im getting 3-4 days easy on my phone with casual usage.
Do you mean you turn off "Auto Rotate" ? I may have to try that.

BTW, my phone had appalling battery life too, until I did the "turn airplane mode on then off" trick, which fixed it. Coupled with your tip, maybe I can get even more battery life!
 

DeAtomizer

Lurker
Sorry, not the tilt feature. I deactivated the Motion Feature (settings/motion). As soon as i turned this off the phone started holding its charge days longer. I must also mention i use Juicedefender and have all the Power Saving Mode (settings/Power saving mode)feature on.
 

DeAtomizer

Lurker
what does turn airoplane mode on/off do??

You cant have your phone on when flying, so the Airplane Mode allows you to turn off the 3G on your phone so you cant make or receive calls while still allowing you to access the rest of your phone. Like apps and music etc.
 

Sydney99

Android Expert
yeah, sorry, badly phrased question. i didn't mean what does airplane mode do, i meant what does swithcing it on then off again do to the battery???:cool:
 

vic2pc

Newbie
I read somewhere in these forums that airplane mode toggling fixes a bug of some sort, that affects battery life. My phone used to last less than 12 hours before running flat. I tried the airplane mode trick (after finishing charging, just in case) and started getting 3-4 days of battery life as a result. No other changes to my phone at all. Worked for me, YMMV, etc. :D
 
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