Possible fix for battery drain under 4.4.2??

lanzador49

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Jul 15, 2014
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I don't know if this has been addressed, but the battery drain on my Galaxy s4 Active since the recent AT&T upgrade to 4.4.2 has been atrocious. I charge overnight, and within an hour, 15 - 20% of my battery life is drained just when I get my email messages. It drains consistently and exponentially there on out.

Looking around, it seems to be said that "skype" seems to be a culprit, and has to do with the camera settings.

Thinking about it, one of the features of 4.4.2 was the camera shortcut on the lock screen. Maybe that is causing the battery drain?? I removed the camera shortcut...and un-installed Skype...and will see how it goes. But it seems odd that there is this camera shortcut on the lock window all of a sudden by default, and then reports of battery drain. Any connection?

REMOVE CAMERA SHORTCUT ON LOCK SCREEN: Settings > My Device > Lock Screen > Shortcuts > None.
 

benrk

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Jul 28, 2013
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Has the camera shortcut helped?

I have terrible battery life with my Moto X on 4.4.2, and I don't even have Skype.

I even have location settings and all cellular turned off, and still, Android OS and Android System take up 20-60% of my battery.
 

ship69

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I have terrible battery life with Galaxy Note 2. According to GSam Battery Monitor

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 also just uninstalled Facebook (i.e.back to factory version) and have disabled it, because it was suddenly using 8.5%.
I have done the same thing (including ignoring the warnings about disabling causing other apps to fail...) to:
- ChatON
- Google+
- Hangouts
- GooglePlay Movies & TV

Fwiw these usual suspects seem fairly well behaved:
Google+ 0.1%
Chrome 0%

On the other hand, 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?

Likewise I have an alert form about "Video Player service" using too much juice... (e.g. 39% of CPU) according to Watchdog Lite.

J

P.S. I couldnt find the camera shortcut on lockscreen within settings. Perhaps different for my phone - Galaxy Note 2.
 

madmaxII

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Jul 23, 2014
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I was having the same issue with the battery after the upgrade. I found a suggestion for Sony while they are fixing their software that disabling and uninstalling updates for Google Play Services would help, so I did but my phone didn't allow me just disabling and the next step was to downgrade it so I did. It was disabled and downgraded to the original version when I got my phone.

I had to charge my battery at least twice a day, but I tested this solution and with the phone fully charged at midnight I turned it on and left it running, the battery with no so heavy load, just checking emails, facebook crap and some tweeter lasted almost 24 hours, I charged it again around midnight when it was 8-7%.

The only issue I found is that by downgrading Google Play Services some google applications need the latest version, so it keeps showing notifications and for example youtube doesn't allow you to use it if Google Play Services is not enabled, so I did today, but didn't upgrade it and I am just monitoring how long the battery lasts this time with that google crap enabled. Also the network seems to respond slower and who knows what else is affected, but at least the battery doesn't drain that fast.

Here is the link I found: http://www.androidpit.com/android-4-4-2-battery-drain-fix-for-sony-xperia-z

Hope this helps.
 

xperia2995

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May 1, 2014
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Camera. Skype.
Google already confirmed the bug in 4.4.2
They fixed it for the nexus in 4.4.3
Other carriers and OEMs must customize it themselves.
If the battery drain is very very heavy you have 2 options.
1.Root your phone, Install wakelock detector to detect which app is using.
2.Install a custom ROM. It has done wonders in all phones I saw with battery problems. Esp OEMs S4, S5
 

Brian K2

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Jun 26, 2013
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I haven't used either the camera or Skype. Is that all Google said could be causing battery drain in 4.4.2?

Also, where would I go to see Android bugs confirmed by Google?

Thank you
 

xperia2995

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Yes it was all google said.
A kernel service running on and on even after the screen was off.
It was all over the news. After 4.4.3 came out, no one complained about skype.

Actually it doesnt depend on just skype. Any app, even written by google may malfunction.
I disabled every google app because even though they are cool, the heavily rely on locations, syncing etc
Im still running 4.4.2. The drain stopped. It will start once in say 1 month. A simple restart will solve it.
 

Brian K2

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Thanks for the quick response.

I first noticed the battery drain about 1 week after updating to 4.4.2. At first, a restart didn't solve it. Instead, I had to do a battery recalibration. Now, after removing some apps and disabling some others, the battery drain only occurs about once a week, and restarting the phone does stop the drain (for about a week). I'll try disabling more Google apps.

I'm anxious for the 4.4.3 update to be released for my HTC One (M7).
 

xperia2995

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May 1, 2014
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Yes go ahead.
Also in developer settings, make sure you have that option "Dont keep activities" ticked.
I can start my battery drain anytime I want by using a weather & email widget in autosync. And turning location data on.
So its actually some kind of background syncing I feel is responsible.
Btw, HTC neednot bring out 4.4.3 for your phone. Android must be customized for each phone and is a pain in the a** for them. So usually they just go with "buy a new phone". If that happens, maybe you should consider rooting.
 

speedlever

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I find my GS4 (i337) running 4.4.2, unrooted, but running Nova Prime launcher to be very satisfactory in battery use. I disabled a number of the bloatware apps and keep wifi and GPS on all the time. Here are some screenshots of Battery Mix set to capture results on 3 hour intervals. I pulled it off the charger at 11pm and it seems to use just over 1% per hour over night.

JOk20Ny.png


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MCzxWgE.png


Apps I have turned off are:

Amazon Kindle
AT&T FamilyMap
AT&T Hot Spots
AT&T Locker
AT&T Messages
AT&T Navigator
AT&T Smart Wi-Fi
Beats music
Blurbcheckout
briefing
chaton
chocoEUKor
Drivemode
Google Play Books
Google Play games
Google play movies & tv
Google play music
Google play newsstand
Google+
Lookout Security
Mobile TV
S Health
S memo
S note provider
Samsung apps
Samsung books
Samsung calendar syncadapter
Samsung cloud data relay
Samsung cloud quota
Samsung Contact Syncadapter
Samsung games
Samsung link
Samsung music
Samsung push service
Samsung SNote Syncadapter
Samsung syncadapters
SamsungSans
Story album
Story album widget
tripadvisor
 

Brian K2

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Jun 26, 2013
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Thanks for the info.

My battery is typically very good. Like yours, I typically only get a 1% battery decrease overnight. However, at times, there seems to be a process (i.e., MediaServer) started on my phone. The MediaServer seems to run in some kind of endless loop, which I can only stop by restarting the phone or recalibrating the battery.

From what I understand, the MediaServer process is a general term that can be associated with any media (audio, video, ect.) process. For me, the never ending MediaServer process seems to be associated with my phone receiving a call. For a while, I thought it started running when I received a voicemail message, but yesterday it started when I just received a call that I answered--the call didn't go to voicemail. It seems that the MediaServer process should run a short time when the phone rings, but then should stop. On my phone, sometimes the MediaServer process won't stop. I am only using stock ringtones.

Receiving a call doesn't always start the MediaServer process running without stopping. But, whenever I have the battery drain issue, the MediaServer process is running after I recently received a phone call.
 

Chris Skalski

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May 1, 2015
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same here on my galaxy s3. I have version 4.4 2, and I installed Battery Doctor - which really helps save some battery life, but the Android OS is definitely the culprit.I bought a wall charger for $3.75 on eBay, and I have two batteries. the wall charger is totally separate from the phone, so it's really convenient. also I'm tired of buying new phones due to charge port issues. I downloaded a file explorer but could not find a system folder or the bin file I am supposed to rename in order to fix this. it was said that this fix doubled his battery life. I am a former network engineer and understand the basic concepts. hav Dell servers I am used to working on Dell servers and micro soft operating systems.
 
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