Help Oh no! Ally has the dreaded 50% bug.... :(

[TPR300C]

Well I really dont know I guess I'll know for sure if its battery or phone with Froyo, but I believe the GSM is there because of Verizon's LTE, Verizon already said that their 4G (LTE) will be compatible with current 3G network so the Ally might be ready for 4G, who knows, but then again its just a guess because LTE does require a SIM card and LG Ally does not have a SIM slot.

From what I kept reading, when I worked at verizon, LTE will not be backwards compatible so in order to take advantage you will have to upgrade to a lte capable device later on. Think of the Evo for sprint. None of the devices were able to use the new 4G. It will be compatible in the sense that it could make voice calls but not data transmission. It would be great if we didn't have to upgrade.


So is it normal for the phone to display 99% without signal. I kept having people complain that they would call me and I didn't answer but my phone would not ring. Do I decided to test the phone. I locked the phone and left it for 20 mins and then decided to call it from my house phone and it would sound like out was ringing through the house phone but my ally would actually not ring. If I unlock my screen then lock it again then call it within 5 mins it rings. I tried this multiple times and it seems after the phone is left alone for 10 mins or more it won't receive calls unless I use the phone. Anyone else having this problem?

 

[savoxis]

From what I kept reading, when I worked at verizon, LTE will not be backwards compatible so in order to take advantage you will have to upgrade to a lte capable device later on. Think of the Evo for sprint. None of the devices were able to use the new 4G. It will be compatible in the sense that it could make voice calls but not data transmission. It would be great if we didn't have to upgrade.


So is it normal for the phone to display 99% without signal. I kept having people complain that they would call me and I didn't answer but my phone would not ring. Do I decided to test the phone. I locked the phone and left it for 20 mins and then decided to call it from my house phone and it would sound like out was ringing through the house phone but my ally would actually not ring. If I unlock my screen then lock it again then call it within 5 mins it rings. I tried this multiple times and it seems after the phone is left alone for 10 mins or more it won't receive calls unless I use the phone. Anyone else having this problem?

I have been able to correct this problem be it purely cosmetic or otherwise, by putting my phone in airplane mode while I sleep. Not the best solution but it does work. Phone sits around 14% time without signal, get all my messages/calls (except for at night)

I have been keeping up with the Velocity builds and so far this issue is not resolved with the velocity rom, but I have noticed improvement in battery life with the build. Not sure if my airplane switching actually saves battery or if it is velocity

 

[thedrizl]

airplane mode and Battery Booster seem to be doing the trick for me. cell standby was at 10% yesterday.

I wonder how many of us will find these habits hard to break once we get 2.2?

 

[zonker]

I have some info that may be related. I had a problem with txt messages not sending or being rec'd for a few days until I rebooted my phone (Ally) then I immediately rec'd like 15 messages 1st time and around 6 the 2nd. I also shortly after started to rec replies to messages sent days before.

after doing some explaining to people about why I hadn't answered or why
my replies seemed out of context:

I called Verizon and gave them hell and eventually they had an "engineer" call me. He speculated that my phone was not reregistering when it went through a no service area and came back into a service area. The phone had a signal but was not letting the network know it. The flaw in this theory is that I was able to get calls they didn't go straight to voicemail.
Unless there is a separate registering for SMS?

from reading through this thread my guess is that if you are seeing exactly 50% sometimes and more other times than I think the poster who speculated that the bug is the phone looking for GSM as well as CDMA makes a lot of sense. The baseline would be about 50% and go up as you truly go through signalless areas. I am trying the settings fix (at first glance was 74% no signal) and after an hour an 1/2 still see 56%. It does seem counter-intuitive to tell the phone to look for GSM if it doesn't have it

While the battery life prompted me to get an extended battery the phone does last all day on the original battery if I don't go crazy with apps.

 

[thedrizl]

thought i'd post this in the hope that it may help someone else. i've tried a few different things to help the battery life, but i have a routine that is really working.

i charge my phone at night while sleeping, then after waking up turn on airplane mode and do a manual reboot.

am also using battery booster and systempanellite to stop unnecessary processes.

for the last week i've been getting 16+ hours(usually +) from my battery with moderate to heavy use.

 

[UncleMike]

I've been using a Droid since the day (after) it came out, and a week ago I bought a used LG Ally on eBay for my son. Since then I've been trying to catch up on Ally-specific issues, knowing that the phone would arrive soon. The plan was to turn off mobile data and use only Wifi for data, with a Wifi Sleep Policy of Never.

Today the phone arrived and I activated it on Page Plus with no issues. A quick test before disabling mobile data showed that it worked fine. However, I quickly noticed that it had the "50% bug" - showing approximately 90% time without signal, and a battery down to about 70% after 1 hour. The Airplane Mode trick didn't seem to help, and neither did changing the preferred network type to "GSM/CDMA auto (PRL)". What did work was changing the preferred network type to "CDMA only". I suspected this would eliminate any possibility of a 3G connection (if mobile data was enabled), but in my situation that would not matter. Another quick test with mobile data on confirmed that I only got a 1x connection, but I'll double check that tomorrow in an area with a better signal.

The reason I'm going into such detail here is that I'm seeing some odd results along with my much improved battery life. After 5 hours 18 minutes with relatively little use my battery level is at 71%, but my Cell Standby battery usage is at 48% with a time without signal at 96%.

I'm a relative noob on this subject, but the time without signal seems way out of whack relative to the battery level, so I though maybe something I did might provide some insight into the problem.

 

[Johnny Langton]

Here's what I've noticed in relation to this "bug" on my Ally. I live in an area that has marginal signal, so most all cell phones have a difficult time getting more than 2 "bars" of signal strength outside my home, and even less inside. I charge my phone every night, and cannot put the phone in "airplane mode" because I'm on call 24/7. I can get around 16 hours of battery life or more if it just sits and doesn't get used much at home (weekend)-as long as it's sitting somewhere that it can keep a good signal and not drop out to search for signal. If it has to search for signal even one time, the battery drains very fast-even when the phone has signal. On my commute to work(45 miles one-way), there are a couple of places on the way that will drop signal for a few brief moments. If I do not switch to "airplane mode" and then back to normal mode after passing through these areas, then by the time I arrive at the office (approx 1 hr drive), the phone is already down to ~80% battery, with the cell standby's "time without signal" at nearly 100%. If I do the airplane mode trick after I pass through these low signal areas-battery life is absolutely stellar, and the "time without a signal" never goes above ~5%, until my commute back home when I pass through those areas that have weak signal. Then of course, it's back to it's battery draining self, and it appears to me that the phone is searching for signal even though it has a good signal. It's as if the phone gets "stuck" searching for a signal if it ever loses a good signal strength.
JL

 

[UncleMike]

It's as if the phone gets "stuck" searching for a signal if it ever loses a good signal strength.
JL

I just created a Tasker profile that will log date, time and Cell Service State any time the Cell Service State is not "service" or "emergency", while Airplane Mode is off. Once the Cell Service State returns to either "service" or "emergency" it will log same information, and turn Airplane Mode on for 30 seconds and then turn it back off again. I'll let the phone sit all day, and see how things go.

 

[Outlaw.99]

On this device I have tried both solutions and still have the same issue... I hope fixong this will be targeted with the 2.2 update....

 

[robersonj]

Just talked to my husband. We just got our Ally phones a few days ago, and he checked his time without service and it was 76%. It died in about 6 hours from the time it was fully charged until now. Mine is showing about 17% and our exchange student's is about 18%. I did the airplane mode without even realizing it was a fix. One night I had a full charge and took the phone to my room. I slept 7 hours, and the phone was on standby the entire time. I woke up to a dead phone, so the next day I kept it in airplane mode for about two hours, then rebooted it when my sound notifications weren't working. After starting it up, the battery life improved A LOT. In fact, I drained the battery down to about 20% before going to bed, then I slept about 6 hours or so, and the phone was still fine when the alarm went off this morning. It's a big improvement.

He has his phone in airplane mode right now, and I told him to turn the phone off for a few minutes then turn it back on. I'll see if that helps first before I try this fix. About roaming... how do I turn the data roaming off?

 

[savoxis]

Just talked to my husband. We just got our Ally phones a few days ago, and he checked his time without service and it was 76%. It died in about 6 hours from the time it was fully charged until now. Mine is showing about 17% and our exchange student's is about 18%. I did the airplane mode without even realizing it was a fix. One night I had a full charge and took the phone to my room. I slept 7 hours, and the phone was on standby the entire time. I woke up to a dead phone, so the next day I kept it in airplane mode for about two hours, then rebooted it when my sound notifications weren't working. After starting it up, the battery life improved A LOT. In fact, I drained the battery down to about 20% before going to bed, then I slept about 6 hours or so, and the phone was still fine when the alarm went off this morning. It's a big improvement.

He has his phone in airplane mode right now, and I told him to turn the phone off for a few minutes then turn it back on. I'll see if that helps first before I try this fix. About roaming... how do I turn the data roaming off?

To set data roaming, just got to:
Settings>Wireless & network settings>Mobile Networks>Data Roaming

There is also a great app called Extended Controls for a dollar on the market, this allows you to turn on/off 3g/2g/evdo and all kinda of other settings from a widget alternatively, you can get a widget called 2G-3G OnOff for free that allows control of 2g and 3g network modes

I have found that if I turn 3g (data) off and only on when i need to use the interweb my phone lasts ALLOT longer. it turns out that 3g is always trying to find a better signal, leaving your battery hurting.

I have been able to keep my 50% issues in check by putting my phone into airplane mode after I wake up in the morning while I am doing my morning routine (shower shave coffee) then turning it back on before I head to work, I have had a time without signal hovering around 15% since I started, I am not sure if this has effected my battery as I have been using extended controls to turn everything off when not in use

 

[UncleMike]

After 3 days of no signal loss identified by Tasker, and *some* improvement in battery life by switching to CDMA only, I switched back to CDMA auto (PRL). After 8 hours unplugged, my time without signal is at 100%, but my battery is at 91%.

 

[UncleMike]

Just a quick update. Since switching back to CDMA auto (PRL) from CDMA only, my son's Ally has had virtually no use, but with Wifi on and a Wifi sleep policy of never, after 29 hours the battery level is at 68%, with Cell standby using 51% of that, and a time without signal at 99%.

 

[13fullmoon]

My phone says it's in cell standby 51% of the time and without a signal 98% of the time... what does this mean exactly?

 

[Outlaw.99]

My phone says it's in cell standby 51% of the time and without a signal 98% of the time... what does this mean exactly?

After some research and time on the phone with Verizon it does appear like its a false reporting....Mine has been at 100% before on Ally and i was still sending texts and getting my calls.... It seemed to be a higher number though in areas where I had less than 2 bars...

 

[Giant96]

Will this bug be fixed when the 2.2 Froyo hits these phones?

 

[darkxsun]

Will this bug be fixed when the 2.2 Froyo hits these phones?

Yes, *if*.

 

[warttack]

Have any of you noticed that it doesn't matter if you change the settings to gsm/cdma auto prl, when you restart the phone it goes back to cdma auto?

It might be just on my phones but no matter how many times i change the settings if i restart it reset to default.

And if you check under "wireless & networking/mobile networks/network mode" you will see that when you change the settings to gsm/cdma it shows "global" and if is the default cdma auto it shows "digital only hybrid"

Does anyone have anything to say about that?

 

[skater95]

I don't even notice my battery life difference, If I use gsm/cmda, or the airplane trick. I just quit worrying about it. It actually helps.

 

[sistermidnite]

I posted a "fix" for this on Verizon Forums:
How to "Fix" the 50% dreaded bug issue on almost all android devices. - Verizon | Forums and Blogs - Verizon Community

Hi, Android newbie here.

I live in Canada, and I just got the LG Shine Plus.
I'm having the same problem, and I tried to read your forum post - it's been deleted. Could you please post or PM me how you fixed this? Thanks!

 

[Stefenatefun]

I have the LG Ally and I have version 2.1 update 1 and the bug is still there.

 

[Afteraffekt]

This must be a serious coding flaw if they have decided to ignore it so blatently and just carelessly move on to 2.2, 2.3, and now 2.5! Wow!

 

[darkxsun]

This must be a serious coding flaw if they have decided to ignore it so blatently and just carelessly move on to 2.2, 2.3, and now 2.5! Wow!

What?

This was a 2.0/2.1 bug. Whether you think it's merely a reporting error (as I do) or an actual battery-draining bug, it was fixed in 2.2, which hasn't been given to the Ally yet. 2.3 is Gingerbread, *just* came out (on very few devices), also does not have this bug, and will likely never come to the Ally. 2.5 is... nothing. It probably doesn't exist, rumors indicate that Honeycomb will be 3.0...

 

[bhl62]

I have the Froyo update. Just checked this morning and found the time without signal at 50%, which confirms other posters reports that the 50% bug still exists in 2.2. After switching to Airplane mode, it gradually dropped to 48%.

To start with a fresh baseline, I powered off the phone and back again, switched to Airplane mode, left the display off for a minute or so and then turned off Airplane mode.
- After 7 minutes of on-time, time without signal is at 1%, total cell standby time is 32%.
- After 21 minutes, cell standby is 41%, time without signal is 0%

Guess that's a good sign!

 

[odbo255]

I have the Froyo update. Just checked this morning and found the time without signal at 50%, which confirms other posters reports that the 50% bug still exists in 2.2. After switching to Airplane mode, it gradually dropped to 48%.

To start with a fresh baseline, I powered off the phone and back again, switched to Airplane mode, left the display off for a minute or so and then turned off Airplane mode.
- After 7 minutes of on-time, time without signal is at 1%, total cell standby time is 32%.
- After 21 minutes, cell standby is 41%, time without signal is 0%

Guess that's a good sign!

Re-iterating what has been said before, I don't think this bug has any effect on battery life.

Since the 2.2.1 update I only have a percentage decrease of 1-2% battery overnight.