How does ICS battery life compare to Gingerbread?

[daevion0]

I want to know before I upgrade.

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[DubSanchez]

It depends on usage, but I went from 26 hrs on full battery with moderate use on GB to 19 hrs on ICS with similar usage.

Definately a difference.

Although I will add that the battery performance initially after ICS update was 12hrs. I've heard that battery takes time to "readjust" itself after a few charges. seems to be true for me. Hopefully after a few more charges my battery will get back in the 20's

 

[sub150#AC]

Taking the plunge right now. Will go a couple days without a hard reset, and then hard reset. I get around 24 hours with wifi on and moderate usage.

 

[aust1nz]

My battery life decreased substantially after getting ICS. From 18-24 hours for moderate usage to 6-8 on light usage. Unfortunately, even when I downgraded back to rooted GB, my battery life didn't change much. My theory is that something didn't go well with my upgrade, which caused the phone to run very hot. That, in turn, messed up my battery, leading to a reduced battery life. I suppose I can find out if that's the case with a new battery...

 

[bigdave757]

My battery life has been great on ics. I can see a huge difference and I am happy

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[Sideman7]

I went from 10-16 hours on GB to 4-6 at best with ICS. If I use slingplayer, the battery will go from full to dead in an hour. Unbelievable... It's as bad or worse than my EVO was at this point...

 

[carole6m]

Mine is WAY better. Used to get 19 hours at most on GB. Now I get at least 25-30 with regular use. The most recent time it lasted 56 hours with me only checking emails and using the browser and stuff. So on light use it lasts more than 2 days. And phone is not rooted with stock battery.

 

[bkang22]

My battery life decreased substantially after getting ICS. From 18-24 hours for moderate usage to 6-8 on light usage. Unfortunately, even when I downgraded back to rooted GB, my battery life didn't change much. My theory is that something didn't go well with my upgrade, which caused the phone to run very hot. That, in turn, messed up my battery, leading to a reduced battery life. I suppose I can find out if that's the case with a new battery...

Ditto for my galaxy SII as well after the ICS upgrade, have to plug it in during the day instead of being able to go several days. I had very few apps and removed them with zero improvement. I will never accept another upgrade and deal with the annoying reminder until I know the upgrade works without major issues.

 

[packhntr]

After the OTA upgrade to ICS, my battery life was almost halved....then did a reset, and it was better, but not the same. Running rooted FF18 and the battery life is almost as good as GB.

 

[fjitb]

on GB it was ok, 6 to 8 hours with moderate use. After ICS it dropped to 4 hours or less. I've managed to get some battery life back after a battery pull and uninstalling Chrome.

 

[michaeljc70]

We have 2 phones in our household and agree on that.

For the record, one was upgraded OTA, the other using the one click utility doing a complete overwrite (got rid of apps/data). Both suck for battery life.

One thing I would suggest for anyone is go to ebay and order 3 batteries with a charger for like $12. It is a life saver whether you have GB or ICS. The batteries are small and light enough to carry in your pocket, purse, car, etc when you think you might need it.

 

[kb64]

My battery life is less but not as bad as some of the other comments I've seen. Right after the upgrade i was still using the default launcher and didnt notice lower battery life. I then installed Go launcher and have seen a decrease in battery life. I could go back to the other launcher but not sure it is bad enough to mess with. I have chargers all over the house and in both cars so i think i can get by.

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[thenameisnigel]

I have actually had better battery since ota.

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[Ma55Hole87]

Mine is turrrrrrrrrrrrrble (charles barkley impression). I can't give you numbers, but if im using my phone (putting in contacts, checkin facebook on wifi) It will go down 1% every few minutes.

I did a factory reset, and am thinking about going to Sprint and having them do the official reset that only they can do (as i read on another forum). Any other options? Its only been a few days so ill let the battery calibrate itself before I go see a sprint tech.

 

[Dirge72]

Received the update this morning. By 5:30, I was @ 5% with light use. Up until yesterday, I could go well over 24 hours. This is not good for me, as I work 12 hour shifts.

 

[Robcy]

ICS: 9% of the battery per hour under lite use
GB: 4% of the battery per hour under lite use.

My daily routine is very repetitive. If I turn on WiFi then ICS jumps to 13% per hours. I actually went back to GB so that my phone would make it thru the work day. I will state that FF02 uses 4% to 5% per hour, but the bluetooth does not connect to my car .

 

[Tsukiyomi]

Mine was terrible for the first several days. I did a Factory Reset/Restore which helped and then installed Go Launcher and Go Power Master and am getting much better results now. One of the things that's definitely making a big difference is having Wi-Fi turned off a lot. I've gone from losing about 9% an hour when I installed ICS on release day to this (with light use):

 

[davis.rob]

For those reporting that having WiFi on is draining battery, have you checked the "Keep WiFi on" setting? I've found that using "Only when plugged in" makes a huge difference. I think there's a bug that keeps the phone from going to Deep Sleep mode when it's got a WiFi connection.

 

[Dortch]

My S2 is not even a month old....the ICS OTA came after about 10 days. Battery life was noticeably less. Well, I did a reset..moving apps to SD...yet no measurable difference. .Android OS still ridiculously high. I searched and found two helpful posts for a noob such as myself. Ignoring all the rooted phone solutions, I was left with a factory rest at DN 2's direction and also draining and charging the battery so that ICS could "learn" the battery. I can't recall the post in order to give due credit, yet it was real simple: 1) discharge the battery to where the device turns off; wait a while...then turn it back on and let it discharge again...do this a couple of times until you cannot turn the phone back on. The battery is now completely drained. 2) Take out the battery...wait 10 seconds or so, and replace. 3) Plug in the charger and allow the "off" device to completely charge. Unplug the charger...wait a few seconds, then plug it in again and allow it to completely charge again..still in the off position. 4) unplug the device, turn it on and enjoy.
Well, the above battery adventure did appear to work, yet Android OS was still a major drainer. So, I was left with doing DN2's factory reset. I followed this to the "T", yet did not save any apps to my SD card....wiped SD and phone completely...phone was new, so nothing to lose.
I then set up my emails and went into "Play" and put back on only the apps I totally trusted and actually intend to use. Finally I went int to the settings as DN2 suggested...made changes and disabled apps I knew I would not use.
Like I said it has only been a day, yet my, my, my what a difference so far....Also, lagginess is gone! It is as fast now as it was with GB.
Dark Night 2's advice seems, at least for me, to be spot on....there are other solutions (xda developers) for those of you that are rooted and know all about kernels and flashing the rom flavor of the day.
If you are having issues....take off your photos, sync your contacts and then do a factory reset and reformat the card. It worked for me! The true test will be how the battery is working in 4-5 days.
Next I want to do this on my wife's phone...she and I got one at the same time. ( I went from a BB and my wife was on a Samsung Seek) My daughter was up for renewal too, yet she went to the dark side...peer pressure I guess.

 

[cyber_nicco]

Mine has dropped to something like > 50% of what it was before. Before the upgrade, I'd get something like a day and a half of moderately heavy usage before thinking about a recharge, now after about 4 hours of VERY light usage, it drops to around 60%. I'm sure some of this has something to do with the way the battery is monitored - I guess I'll have to run the battery all the way down a few times to see really how long it lasts now...