IF you're not having battery issues...

**caddyman#AC** · 07-29-2012, 11:16 AM

Those that aren't having battery may want to show what setup you're using to the people that are. I figure this will give a few ideas to try.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

**blars1206** · 07-29-2012, 12:01 PM

My battery seems to be doing well. I rebooted my phone at 91% so the is actually the starting point from where these stats were measured. I took the screen shot at the time of writing this post. I also addressed the AudioOut_1 bug by turning off all the system sounds, I.e. touch, lockscreen, dial sounds, etc. With the phone in idle I am losing approx 1-2% an hour. While using is hard to say because it varies so much depending on what I am using it for. With the EL29 modem my speeds are 4x better than FF18, and my reception is a little better. Hope this helps.

**cqpearson** · 07-29-2012, 10:01 PM

Running stock OTA ICS and just amazed at the issues reported. No problems post-update for me.

I am the Galaxy E4GT and I
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**blars1206** · 07-29-2012, 10:17 PM

I know, ICS isn't perfect, but many people fail to realize that most battery drain issues are app related, not all, but most.

**Stearmandriver** · 07-29-2012, 11:45 PM

Here's my experience, maybe it can help someone:

I updated to ICS by using sfhub's one-click root Odin package. I used the version that does NOT erase your apps and data. So, with the exception of it being rooted, my phone should have been in the same condition as someone who took the OTA. I had the battery drain issues big time.

I did power cycles and charge/drain cycles for a couple days. No improvement.

I wiped cache in recovery. No improvement.

I wiped dalvik cache in recovery. SOME improvement, but still worse than GB. (I don't think there's a way to wipe dalvik without being rooted w/custom recovery, short of a factory reset. This may be where the improvement from a factory reset comes in.)

THEN, I tried a trick I read about somewhere, out of desparation. I powered my phone down and removed the back cover (you'll see why). I plugged it in and charged until it was full (the LED turns blue). WITHOUT unplugging the phone, I pulled the battery. (That's why you remove the cover first). I then unplugged and let the phone sit for 5 minutes, then installed the battery and powered on. Problem SOLVED. Seriously, no exaggeration, no placebo effect. I went from getting around 6 hours (maybe 8 after wiping dalvik) to 14 with my normal use.

I credit some combination of the dalvik wipe and that battery pull trick. I don't know if it has to be done exactly like I described it, that's just how I read it so it's what I did. Maybe if you stand on your head and do it during the waning crescent moon while sacrificing a dodo bird you can get 20 or 30 hours. Try it and report back! ;-)

(Seriously, try the battery pull. I'm curious if it works for others.)

In spite of having my battery life back, I just don't like the phone as much with ICS on it. I love the new Swype, and the new task manager is kind of nice. But I don't like how bloated the OS seems. The phone is using almost twice the RAM at idle than it did on GB. I see some UI lag here and there. I hate how double-tapping now works in the browser (though at least Boat browser brings back text reflow without the battery drain of Maxthon). I'm going to try a custom ICS rom and see if any of these issues - notably the bloat - is fixed.

**atl10pnr** · 07-30-2012, 03:29 AM

@Stearmandriver I just did it. Will let you know in a day or two how I made out.

**carole6m** · 07-30-2012, 01:50 PM

Here's mine. Stock unrooted. And I'm even using Go Launcher which consumes more battery. While on GB I could never get more than 19 hours. After the update the battery life at least doubled.
I do have vibration and haptic feedback disabled. Still using auto brightness and animation. Of course this is under light use- made a couple of phone calls and checked a bunch of emails and stuff. Under regular use it normally lasts 24-30 hours.

**MatazMolina** · 08-01-2012, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by carole6m

Here's mine. Stock unrooted. And I'm even using Go Launcher which consumes more battery. While on GB I could never get more than 19 hours. After the update the battery life at least doubled.
I do have vibration and haptic feedback disabled. Still using auto brightness and animation. Of course this is under light use- made a couple of phone calls and checked a bunch of emails and stuff. Under regular use it normally lasts 24-30 hours.
Click to view quoted image

Hey Carole,

how to you have your phone set up? I'm not very tech savvy, but I've followed what you have done and don't see much of an improvement. 62% after a full day seems insanely good. Would love some feeback. Thanks!

**jivegirl14** · 08-09-2012, 08:22 AM

I was reading about the battery issues some are having. One of the things I wondered is if anyone has tried disabling background processes? I did and while I wasn't having battery issues such as mentioned here I did see an improvement. Whenever I clear my RAM I noticed that it would close 40 or more processes, sometimes 59, even though I'm not autosynching stuff. So I wondered what would happen if I limited the running processes.

Anyway you can find the option in Settings > Developer Options > Limit Background Processes. I set mine to "no more than 4" and haven't seen any degradation in my phone running. It's originally set to "standard" which can be as many as 59. I also noticed when I limited it the Android standby usage of my battery dropped significantly.

Note than when you restart the phone, it resets this back to standard - so check it if you restart.

**jivegirl14** · 08-09-2012, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by blars1206

I know, ICS isn't perfect, but many people fail to realize that most battery drain issues are app related, not all, but most.

Hanging With Friends drains mine faster every time.

**davis.rob** · 08-09-2012, 09:09 AM

I found two things which have greatly improved battery life after the ICS update. First a Factory Reset (and I also recommend a battery pull after that) did wonders. But it was still worse than before, and it appeared to me that being connected to WiFi constantly (at home or office) kept the phone from going to the Deep Sleep state (which shouldn't happen but clearly was). I fooled around with settings and found that having WiFi awake set to "only when plugged in" helped greatly (better than "never", which make no sense, but that's what I saw).

**redhdgirl417** · 08-10-2012, 10:33 AM

Looking at Carole's battery screen compared to mine, my screen shows Swype, Facebook (even though I've killed the task still shows up on there), Media server, and Email usage. Her Screen is only 8%?! Mine is always on top and consistently showing 60-65% of the usage for that.

Just received my 2nd E4GT yesterday and this one came shipped with ICS on it...bummer. I'm coming from a Blackberry so the battery drain is a huge change for me.

But understandable with the difference in the size and power of this phone compared to the BB.

**jivegirl14** · 08-10-2012, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by redhdgirl417

Looking at Carole's battery screen compared to mine, my screen shows Swype, Facebook (even though I've killed the task still shows up on there), Media server, and Email usage. Her Screen is only 8%?! Mine is always on top and consistently showing 60-65% of the usage for that.

Just received my 2nd E4GT yesterday and this one came shipped with ICS on it...bummer. I'm coming from a Blackberry so the battery drain is a huge change for me.

But understandable with the difference in the size and power of this phone compared to the BB.

I had a Blackberry 9900 which had relativelyt poor battery performance. The SG3 does a lot more so I was expecting the usage to be higher, however like you my screen typically showed 55%-60% usage of battery power... seemingly even when it wasn't on for most of the time. I was concerned so I've been checking and testing I now have it down to 36%! I would love to know how to get it to 8%.
I've reduced battery drain quite a bit. My Samsung Galaxy S3 is not rooted.

Here are some of the things I've done (and am testing):
Limit Background Processes to no more than 4 (it's in settings > developer options> limit background processes. By default it's set at standard... and that has over 50 processes running.

I turned on power saving mode, but as I did not like the black screen in my email unchecked this option
I close tasks from task manager when I'm not using them (and clear RAM)
Turned off automatic brightness and haptic feedback.
Turn off smart stay... I rarely use it.
Set the screen shut-off time to after 1 minute of inactivity.
I also clear the memory...from task manager. It frees up ram as it closes stuff that really doesn't need to be running.

The most important thing I've done - is get Juice Defender (Ultimate) and I can see the improvement in battery life already. If you get it you will see why and you can see what saps the battery... seeking wi-fi/mobile signals is the worst battery sapper. Try the free versions of Juice Defender, you will probably see a marked improvement. JD also gives many tips for maximizing battery on the phone.

I also make the phone sleep when not in use (switch off the screen not power down) and I have my email synch every 15 mins. Widgets drain battery so any auto-synching I've disabled (including Facebook). Using social networking sites makes the screen use lots of battery. I manually synch my weather apps

What else? Oh yes, I removed Google Plus and in Battery saving mode limited max CPU.
Also be sure to turn off location/gps apps auto synching or altogether, as they eat battery.

Juice defender is still training my phone to spot wi-fi and connect/disconnect as needed. I believe when this is done the battery life will improve even more.

Note that if you limit background processes and then restart the phone the phone resets the background processes back to standard, which is rather annoying. And I have not noticed any degradation in performance so I ensure I limit background process.

Hope this helps.

**GiantJay** · 08-10-2012, 07:12 PM

I turned off screen sounds and sounds when locking, then click on WiFi and make it sleep when the screen is off unless plugged in.
I get excellent battery. It was bad at first but got better over about a week. Also I did a factory reset and wiped data after the update through recovery.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**speedblurr** · 08-10-2012, 09:18 PM

Here are mine. I haven't had any issues and this is typical for me with mild to moderate use.

**shortyjacobs** · 08-10-2012, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by redhdgirl417

Looking at Carole's battery screen compared to mine, my screen shows Swype, Facebook (even though I've killed the task still shows up on there), Media server, and Email usage. Her Screen is only 8%?! Mine is always on top and consistently showing 60-65% of the usage for that.

Just received my 2nd E4GT yesterday and this one came shipped with ICS on it...bummer. I'm coming from a Blackberry so the battery drain is a huge change for me.

But understandable with the difference in the size and power of this phone compared to the BB.

Her screen is only 8% because it was never on.

Look at the pic she posted. Directly under the battery graph, above "Android System", you'll see little blue ticks. Blue is when the screen was on. It was barely on. Go to your own phone's battery page, look at all the blue. Better, click on the graph, and you'll get a breakdown of screen on, GPS on, charging, etc.

**omahawildcat** · 08-10-2012, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by blars1206

I know, ICS isn't perfect, but many people fail to realize that most battery drain issues are app related, not all, but most.

I don't have anything running that wasn't running before, although I don't know what the f is running on this pile of as it seems as though everything runs even though I haven't opened some of the apps in months. Android is a pile period.

**PanchoPlanet** · 08-11-2012, 12:20 AM

This works for me.
Pp.

Transmitted from the future using gingerbread infused plasma conduit injectors.

**carole6m** · 08-11-2012, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by shortyjacobs

Her screen is only 8% because it was never on.

Look at the pic she posted. Directly under the battery graph, above "Android System", you'll see little blue ticks. Blue is when the screen was on. It was barely on. Go to your own phone's battery page, look at all the blue. Better, click on the graph, and you'll get a breakdown of screen on, GPS on, charging, etc.

Yes. Like I said in my post, that was under light use. With normal use it still lasts around 25-30 hours.

**xtn** · 08-11-2012, 10:02 AM

Completely stock and not rooted...

The OTA update severely messed up my battery drain. I cannot be precisely quantitative because i had never used Better Battery Stats or CPU Spy. But it sure seemed like my battery life was literally cut in half or worse.

I tried doing the factory rest and formatting my card as suggested. Meh, a marginal improvement. I turned the system sounds volume all the way down and tried a few other little tricks I found suggested in the forum. Improvements, but small ones.

I tried something else I hadn't seen mentioned. I looked at the apps and processes that were running after a fresh startup and notices several that had started without me having run the associated apps. Now I manually stop those after any reboot. I'll uninstall some of them later but right now I'm just manually stopping them. Going from memory here but the list includes things like the NBC Olympics app, a couple news apps, Facebook, Social Hub, Media Hub, and even the Voice services which I never use anyway. That isn't an all inclusive list, but you get the idea.

The next thing I did was look at my account sync settings. I realized that under my gmail account a whole bunch of crap was syncing that i don't need. I don't need google plus syncing in the background, i don't want my photos synced, etc. I only need the email, the contacts, and the calendar thank you very much. Set my Exchange account only to email and contacts, and shut off Facebook and Fring entirely. Now we're getting somewhere...these changes actually made a real, substantial difference. My phone would actually deep sleep for long stretches of time when idle, and the OS started sucking less juice than the screen as long as I had at least light usage of the phone.

I was reasonably happy, but still getting some weird behavior from my year old battery, so I replaced it with one that won't spin like a top on the counter. Now my battery life is great. After shutting down those apps or processes, I can get about 1.3% drain per hour while idle in a decent 3G signal area. Yesterday I went sixteen hours and had 37% left, and that included about an hour and a half worth of phone usage, an hour and a half worth of emailing, forum reading, and other light web surfing, and an hour and twenty minutes of Netflix, all over 3G.

xtn

**carole6m** · 08-11-2012, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by MatazMolina

Hey Carole,

how to you have your phone set up? I'm not very tech savvy, but I've followed what you have done and don't see much of an improvement. 62% after a full day seems insanely good. Would love some feeback. Thanks!

That's pretty much it. Turned vibration off completely - ringer, haptic feedback and stuff. In exchange email setting, change the interval from "push" to 1 hour or so. I downloaded betterbatterystats and it looked like Exchange Email was using up the most battery so I changed the interval. I'm using Go Launcher and Go Locker which use more battery and I have auto brightness on but my battery life is still great.

**bkang22** · 08-15-2012, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by blars1206

I know, ICS isn't perfect, but many people fail to realize that most battery drain issues are app related, not all, but most.

Well I guess that is true for some the only apps I have are weather, time, android, play books (only because it wont' let me remove it)... in otherwords I'm down to the apps that came with the phone. I did have an anti virus, facebook and angry birds all of which have been removed with no improvement. I have systems sounds off, tacticle feel off, wifi off, 4g off, sync off for gmail If I get a phone call battery drains quickly and with this annoying ICS upgrade not only is the battery life bad, I now have a weaker signal and phone drops in my house when it didn't for the past year. It is supposed to be a smart phone and it is barely a useable phone from home. Oh I forgot to mention I now get the constant roaming error no matter what setting I use for Roaming I get the error message.
I have Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4g