Help Has become a bit laggy and has terrible battery life. Help!

[ship69]

Hi
My Galaxy Note 2 (running Android 4.3) has started to become quite 'laggy' and has an extremely poor battery life. In fact even after a reboot the phone went from 16% down to zero in about 1 hour (not helpful late at night!), even after a reboot with the screen as dim as it could go.

The phone is only 1 year old and I have been charging the phone over night, every night.


I also tried:
- turning off WiFi
- turning off GPS
- turning off Bluetooth
- turning on "Power saving" mode

However I still need "Mobile data" on in order to receive emails.

I fear it may be something to do with the three email system running
- the default Email system and
- Touchdown for Smartphones (+ Touchdown Pro License)
- Gmail

Other apps I have installed
- Adobe Reader
- AirBnB
- Android Forums
- AnkiDroid Flashcards
- App Cache Cleaner
- Audible for Android
- BBC iPlayer
- BBC Weather
- Chrome Browser
- CityMapper
- Clipper - Clipboard Manager
- DropBox
- Eight Forums
- Evernote
- Facebook
- Facebook Messenger
- FileManager (from Rhythm)
- Flipboard
- Gmail
- Hailo
- Joiku Phone Usage
- JuiceDefender
- LastPass
- London Transport Live
- Opera Browser for Android
- Opera Mini
- Quora
- Ringo
- Skype
- Swiftkey Keyboard
- System Monitor (Pavel Petrov)
- System PanelLite (NextApp)
- TED
- Temp +CPU V2
- TFL London Bustime Countdown
- TheTrainline
- Three
- Trello
- TubeMap London Underground (Visual IT)
- Twitter
- Viber
- VoiceSearch
- WhatsApp
- WikiPedia
- Youtube

The following apps, I *tried* to uninstall but Google Play refuses and then it instists in updating them if I try to "update all".

Chaton
GoogleEarth
GooglePlay Books
Google play Games
Google play mnusic
Google Play news stand
Google Search
Google Text-to-Speech
Google +
Group Play (Samsung)
Samsung Print SErvice Plugins
AllshareCas Dongle s/w Update

How do I find out what is gobbling up all my battery life?
I am a newbie and "rooting" my phone is not an option.

How do I find out if my battery is knackered? (If so what could have caused this?) Obviously I could buy a new battery but that is expensive and may not help.

I could possibly carry a spare battery but that is a pain too as I want everything to fit inside my packets.

With thanks

J

 

[tube517]

Spare battery is always good to have. Your battery won't last forever. If you can get a spare, you can test to see if the original one is getting old

 

[ship69]

Spare battery is always good to have. Your battery won't last forever. If you can get a spare, you can test to see if the original one is getting old

1. Yes I am thinking that would be a good idea. The question is how to carry the spare battery around? As I dont really want a loose battery in my pocket, in case it something metal (e.g. a pen or a coin) short-circuit the contacts...

2. The other question is whether I might not be be better off with something that doubles up as a solar panel, so that I am not completely dependent on finding power points.

3. If I must use a mails charger, I need something extremely pocket-sized, and preferably needing to carry extra wires around too...

Any suggestions?

Including where is the best place to get a reliable spare (genuine?) battery from? I would quite like a longer life battery but only if it is no physically larger...

Meanwhile I feel in my bones that there must be ways to stop the phone from using quite so much juice.

J


P.S. What about this sort of thing?
http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/40618-ST...-iPhones-MicroUSB-Devices-Reviews.htm#reviews
Fits in the pocket nicely. Built in (albeit v short) cables so no need to carry extra cables...

 

[Rheumatoid]

sounds like a badly behaved app update using resources and keeping phone active. Have you installed a battery app or event used android battery reports to see what the main users are?

 

[girolez]

Hi

To find out what the culprit(s) is try this:

install GSam Battery monitor
and
Wakelock Detector (Uzumapps)

both free from Playstore. Let them run for a day from full charge or until your phone is nearly flat again, and have a look at what is discharging it and what is causing the mostCPU wakelocks (ie most cpu time).

My betting is on Facebook, Google search. You could use Juice defender to keep the radios off when the apps are not running (it automatically starts the radios when the apps are opened - this can save a lot of battery) If you are in a place with wifi, it is much better to turn off mobile data and keep the wifi on - the wifi radio uses much less power.

Perhaps post back the results and we will see if we can help more

*You can get an original note2 Samsung battery on amazon.co.uk for under

 

[ship69]

OK, I have installed both GSam Battery Monitor and Wakelock Detector. However in the mean time I have also attempted to uninstall all manner of apps AND even if I cant uninstall them I have stopped them from "notifying" me. I don't know for sure what caused it in the end but battery life has suddenly become VERY MUCH better. I fear I may have uninstalled too much but we'll see.

I haven't used the phone much today but the graph in GSam Battery Monitor shows that I only lost about 10 to 15% in 12 hours, whereas before I was losing the entire charge withing about 16 hours, even when barely using the phone.... Anyhow let's see what happens when I start using it more actively. Watch this space!

 

[ship69]

I did various things to the phone and power consumption had become massively better (well over 24 hours).

But now I have installed Android 4.4.2, and battery life it terrible again.

GSam Battery Monitor tells me the worst offenders are:
Kernel (Android OS) - 17.8%
Android system - 17.8%
Android Core Apps - 11.6%

I have got "Power saving" in top menu switched on.
I also have "JuiceDefender" app installed (will these two things conflict??)

I installed WaveLock Detector which say "Awake 34%" since 1d 11m.

Basically I've not been using my mobile phone very much in the last 24 hours so why has it been Awake 34%? And how can I change this?

ALSO Watchdog Lite keeps giving alerts about Video Player using too much CPU (e.g. 45%). This is quite worrying being as I've not been watching any videos since the last reboot. (Possible virus?)


[Fwiw, it also says "Access Permission was exchanged in KitKat, Now Advanced statistics need ROOT access " ]

 

[girolez]

Hi again

Now you know how to see what is causing the problem you can experiment and find what app or setting is doing it. In my experience the main culprits are Facebook Google now and Chrome if they are left running. But I don't use 4.4 so have no experience of it's oddities!

Roger

 

[ship69]

%ages of battery power consumed by the Apps you mention, according to GSam:

Facebook 0.8%
Google+ 0.1%
Chrome 0%

No, the worst offenders seem to be part of Andriod 4.4.2 itself:
Android System: 20.8%
Kernel (Android OS): 14.0%
Android Core Apps: 12.9%

What if anything can I do to stop them using some much juice?

I have a widget called MeClockWidgt that is using a disgraceful 4%. I dont want to uninstall it as I like having it to show me the time. How can I stop it from using quite so much power though?

J

 

[girolez]

Hi again

The system and kernel will always use some power, but the % depends on what else has been running eg if you had been using chrome to browse for 5 hours, the system and kernal % would be lower and chrome higher. Facebook and google+ look OK. Dont forget that the biggest user is the screen if its on.

I have found a few widgets that I really like but have un-installed because of high power consumption - dont think there is much else you can do, its a choice.

Another thing that can use a lot of power is leaving wifi and/or mobile data enabled where there is no (or a very poor) wifi and/or mobile data signal. The phone keeps hunting for a better signal - mobile data is particularly power hungry.

Roger

 

[daehttub]

I am a bit late to this party but my GN2 running stock 4.3 is having the same issues. Lately it becomes nearly unusable from time to time. I am always rebooting or using Clean Master. The problem seems to be related to the various Google Updates which have tried to make Google my default music player and seem to have messed up my email and phone contacts (non google contacts not pulling up automatically anymore). I suspect my increasing use of Google Currents might be an issue. I am afraid to do the 4.4.2 update (Sprint) but am tempted to do a factory rest and start over with a barebones installation and slowly add back in apps until I find the culprit. The System app hasn't helped me identity the offending apps but does show the 99% CPU load at times. Is there a "Process Explorer" app for android like windows has? My battery drain has noticeably increased but it's manageable with my spare batteries and easy battery changes. It almost makes me feel bad for the iPhone users ; )