Verizon Galaxy S3 Battery Drains Odd

[HIMAN1998]

My S3 that I got used a few days ago has a weird battery drain thing. It will drain just sitting in my pocket, with nothing on besides cell signal and a strong WiFi connection. It will drain kinda quick when just listening to music through headphones, if I do it for like 45 minutes, it will go down about 10%. Right now, I'm listening to music from it without headphones plugged in, it's just sitting on my stand I have playing music through the speakers. It's been doing that for the past 30 minutes or so. The battery has only dropped like 3% at most. When I play Tetris, it will drain like 6% or so in like 15-20 minutes. Is there a fix to it? I was thinking maybe a soft reset, but I have no idea how to do that on the thing. Attached is a screenshot of the battery monitor thing. The reason the graph goes up in a couple places is because I was charging it while in the car and at school from my laptop.

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you been in areas with poor cell reception? That can really suck battery life. You can tell by looking at Settings/Battery/Cell Standby, and see how much "Time without a signal" is listed.

I also recommend a good battery stats app like GSam Battery Monitor, which can give you a nice breakdown of what's using your battery.

 

[HIMAN1998]

Have you been in areas with poor cell reception? That can really suck battery life. You can tell by looking at Settings/Battery/Cell Standby, and see how much "Time without a signal" is listed.

I also recommend a good battery stats app like GSam Battery Monitor, which can give you a nice breakdown of what's using your battery.

When I'm at school, I have it in Airplane mode with WiFi on. That's from 8:15 AM to 3:30 PM. My bus ride is down I-95 and I pass through a couple areas where I have my signal drop. My time without signal is listed as 0%. I'm more concerned with the drain when I'm doing nothing being larger than if I'm doing something. Could me clearing the RAM and clearing open apps be part of it?

 

[B. Diddy]

Clearing apps in an attempt to free up RAM (aka task-killing) is generally not helpful in Android, and you are correct, it can contribute to battery drain, since it takes some CPU cycles and therefore battery to open apps up again. Remember that Android wants to keep RAM mostly full, to improve task switching and accessing frequently used apps. See this article: RAM: What it is, how it's used, and why you shouldn't care | Android Central

It would be helpful to see your full battery stats with the battery down to about 20-30%, after starting from 100%. Remember that screen-on time is often the main determinant of how long a single battery charge will last. Depending on your use, your total screen-on time will usually be 4-5 hrs with a standard battery, and maybe 5-6 hrs with an extended battery (or a monster battery like the Droid Razr Maxx, Maxx HD, and the new Maxx).

 

[GSDer]

The reason the graph goes up in a couple places is because I was charging it

Your screenshot didn't come through (at least, not in the Tapatalk app - that's been happening a lot lately).
1. You should never charge the phone when you're trying to gather useful data - it just invalidates the data that we need to look at.
2. There are three screenshots that you should provide.

3. You can also try:
SystemPanel: http://market.android.com/details?id=nextapp.systempanel.r1
or
Wakelock Detector: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector
to get a better handle on your battery usage.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[HIMAN1998]

I'll post those screenshots today and I won't charge it until it needs it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[HIMAN1998]

Ok, I went the day without charging it. The only time it for any charging was when being used as a GPS, and that was like 5 minutes.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[B. Diddy]

That is pretty short battery life. Have you tried installing GSam Battery Monitor, as previously suggested? It can give you a better breakdown of what apps and processes are using how much battery and causing wakelocks.

 

[HIMAN1998]

That was with 18% left, I didn't want to sleep and have it die when I was asleep. I will install that app later today.

 

[GSDer]

There are several things worth noting:
- (in the first screenshot) your cellular signal is marginal (it's that dingy yellow), which would account for poor battery life
- you're running Facebook - what a POS (less than 4.0 rating in the Google Play Store)
- (in the first screenshot) there are a series of Awake events that don't correspond to Screen On events - those apps that were recommended will help pinpoint the cause of that

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[HIMAN1998]

There are several things worth noting:
- (in the first screenshot) your cellular signal is marginal (it's that dingy yellow), which would account for poor battery life
- you're running Facebook - what a POS (less than 4.0 rating in the Google Play Store)
- (in the first screenshot) there are a series of Awake events that don't correspond to Screen On events - those apps that were recommended will help pinpoint the cause of that

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

To the Facebook thing, I have noticed from my own usage that it does not drain the battery faster than anything else. It actually is an app that the battery drains the least during usage.

 

[GSDer]

As a reminder, GSam will also show you a breakdown of your cellular signal

so that you can get a better feel for how a marginal signal may be affecting your battery life.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[HIMAN1998]

I went today on battery, didn't charge it at all during the day. It's at 12% now, and I've almost went 17 hours. I guess I was maybe having quicker drain when I got it because the previous owner (traded my Lumia 928 for S3) might have kept it plugged in a lot and the battery didn't get used, and had to get used more to get the better life.