GSII - Changing my status "from love it" to "like it"

**alandr** · 02-20-2012, 12:05 PM

I'm changing my status of the Galaxy S2 "from love it" to "like it"
The reason for that is the very poor battery life.
I came back to AT&T the next day after I got my GS2 cause battery drained in the few hours to 35% after being fully charged earlier.
I found that being very odd.So they exchange my unit to the new one.
Got better, by battery still draining fast.
I have set my phone to all suggested settings like turn of WIFI , screen brightness etc.
Still not going well.
I know I'm not the only one and would appreciate any suggestions or please route me to the proper thread on this forum.
Many thanks!!!

**jbliv63** · 02-20-2012, 02:38 PM

Yeah, battery life is my sole complaint. I have updates on apps set to every hour, and still I am at 30% by end of work day. Not good. I even have JuiceDefender running on aggressive. I really thought battery life was one of the reasons to buy this phone but apparently not true.

**1jaxstate1** · 02-20-2012, 02:46 PM

Strange,, I get through a day with my phone while streaming Spotify and all the normal apps working.

**I Monarch** · 02-20-2012, 02:55 PM

WiFi is the best thing for battery life, if it's available. The UMTS radio uses more battery than the WiFi radio. Use it if you're in a hotspot.

**alandr** · 02-20-2012, 04:31 PM

Well, many people - many opinions.
I went to some other Android forums and people were saying that WIFI should be turned off cause eating battery life.
Oh,Well. I have installed Juice Defender a few hour ago and it currently running in advanced mode.
I'm not familiar well enough with that app yet ,but it shows X1.78 on the home screen whatever that means.
I'm hoping this app would help.
I have used my phone only for one call today the rest of the time it was idle.
Currently, the battery gadget shows 70%.
Thank you all who replied.

**anneoneamouse** · 02-20-2012, 04:55 PM

I expect that you have an application that is eating your battery. Before you assume that the phone is broken, you may want to try running it completely stock (no added applications) for a couple of days, and assess the battery life that way. Add applications one at a time, and judge their impact.

For example, I run touchdown exchange client with "push", and I can typically get about 40 hours of phone use for work, with about 2 hours total of screen-on time and moderate emailing. I don't use any social networking apps, or games. Now, If I install the yahoo mail client for android (which is also push-based, and one would assume written by professional software engineers), battery life drops unacceptably to somewhere on the order of 15 hours.

For more forensics on battery use, get "better battery stats" and "cpu spy". Check over at the XDA forums' "known identified battery drainers thread", for instructions on how to use the apps, and some other great advice.

Here's the link:

Hope this helps, consider pressing thanks if it did; that makes me smile.

AoN

PS, I'm still on 2.3.4 (I used TiBu to freeze the update manager)

**Angelsnecropolis** · 02-20-2012, 05:03 PM

Turn wifi off if you're not able to connect to a wifi hot spot. From all that I've read wifi uses less than radio but leaving wifi on when it's not available will waste some of the battery.

I bought Tasker and set it up to turn off all data and wifi but turn it on every 10 min to check for incoming email. It turns on airplane mode when I sleep too. I really like my live wallpapers but when I'm in a situation where charging my phone will be difficult ill turn LW off. I also bought 2 more batteries and a battery wall charger for all day phone usage when I can't easily charge.

Even after all the adjustments I get about 9hrs. I use the app Bad *** Battery Monitor to calculate battery usage.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II

**gsrrr** · 02-21-2012, 12:15 AM

Damn, guess I better go return my phone now.

**mcl5000** · 02-21-2012, 07:15 AM

The update is the reason for the poor battery life. Before the update, I got a solid day (4:30 AM - 10 PM) without having to worry about my battery. After the update, I'm lucky if I make it til 6 or 7 PM, and if I actually use it for anything that day other than a few text messages, I'm lucky if I make it past 2 or 3 PM.

As a couple others have said, the wifi is the culprit here. Something in the update really screwed up the wifi. It's not that the wifi itself is eating your battery, but when wifi is on, your phone is "awake" almost all the time. When you turn the wifi off, it wakes up way less often.

I also think there's something else at play here, because even having wifi off for a whole day, I get way less time out of my battery than I did before the update.

It's almost unbearable, but I like everything else about the phone enough to make it worth it to me to have to charge it constantly.

**badams1** · 02-21-2012, 02:04 PM

Im running the updated software (KK6 2.3.6) When I plugged my phone in before bed last night it had been off charger 17hrs. and 13mins...with a screen on time of 2hrs. and 15mins....and I had 37% remaining.

However I don't use wifi at all. I have a pretty strong data signal at work, home, and all points in between. If you go over to XDA and do some reading you will see that the horrible drain is due to a wifi bug in the KK6 firmware that causes your phone to be awakened every few seconds when wifi is on...even if your screen is off.

So if you must use wifi...simply turn it off when your finished using it...cause its not really going to sleep when you think it is otherwise.

**alandr** · 02-21-2012, 03:47 PM

My WIFI, GPS and Bluetooth have been turned off for a few days now.
In addition, I went and turned off the bunch of apps by using force stop option.
Some of them like annoying AP app(Associated Press) for some reason keep turning it self on.
I think that my email app which is required by my work place is accessing Microsoft Webmail Server and I believe keep synchronizing emails calendars etc way to often.
often.
I'm not familiar with all SGC2 places yet since I'm new to this, but where should I go to change configuration on this?
I think when I set up my email account the first time everything got configured by default: like sync time and calendar options .
Could you guys please route me to the right place for that?
Many thanks

**Entropy** · 02-21-2012, 04:20 PM

I get great battery life with my GS2 - but other than compatibility testing and experiments, I never run UCKK6. UCKK6 is completely and totally broken when it comes to power management, especially wifi.

I9100 XWKL1 completely changes the phone compared to UCKK6, and XWLA4 seems to be even slightly better (too early to tell so far...)

There are now quite a few pre-ported firmwares based on KL1 and LA4 on XDA now, including my own.

**mcl5000** · 02-22-2012, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by badams1

So if you must use wifi...simply turn it off when your finished using it...

This thread is about not loving the phone anymore, and simply liking it. Not being able to use standard features of your cell phone without draining your battery certainly stands in the way of "loving it".

I'd go the rooting route, but it doesn't seem like anybody is willing to completely start from the beginning on their instructions. It's almost like you have to pull 3 or 4 threads together, hope you understand the terminology in all of them, and then execute them in the correct order. If you ask questions on the process, you get "read the threads about it".

**konazxiii** · 02-22-2012, 07:56 AM

Rooting, customizing and ROM flashing on Samsung Android phones are among the easiest of all smartphones. If you can't figure it out by reading a few threads trade it for an Apple and enjoy yourself. It's a great phone. Android isn't for everyone and at this point its obvious Android isn't for you. that doesn't make you bad or dumb. It is what it is. Do what makes you happy.

With that said, I too wish the battery on smartphones with bright crisp displays were better than it is, but I'd rather have a this phone hooked to a charger 4ish hours a day than G1 Razr that last 2-3 days.

**1jaxstate1** · 02-22-2012, 08:49 AM

Another thing. I bought a external power charger and it chargers my battery completely. For some reason its lasting longer than charging via the included charger.

Sent from my Galaxy S II

**alandr** · 02-22-2012, 11:03 AM

"If you can't figure it out by reading a few threads trade it for an Apple and enjoy yourself. It's a great phone. Android isn't for everyone and at this point its obvious Android isn't for you. that doesn't make you bad or dumb. It is what it is. Do what makes you happy."

I have dumped my IPhone 4g after having it for past 2 years and got Sam Gal 2.
It was my second Iphone 4G unit in these 2 years.I went trough hell with dropped calls, being constantly in AT&T and Apple stores back and force for a month , using that useless Apple's "bumper" plastic frame and finally my IPhone was getting stuck every other day while me browsing internet.
I have to pull IPhone battery out a few times cause it was no other way to bring that phone to life,after dealing with these tiny screws in order to get to it.
So, based on all of the above I would disagree with your statement that's IPhone"It's a great phone"
Sam Gal 2 makes me happier, period.

**mcl5000** · 02-22-2012, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by konazxiii

If you can't figure it out by reading a few threads trade it for an Apple and enjoy yourself. It's a great phone. Android isn't for everyone and at this point its obvious Android isn't for you. that doesn't make you bad or dumb. It is what it is. Do what makes you happy.

Haha...thanks for proving exactly what I'm talking about. I'll give you a pass considering you know nothing about me, but I can perform many computer-related tasks more complicated than rooting an Android. The difference is that if I screw up other things, I can just buy a $70 replacement motherboard or $100 replacement power supply when I have some extra cash.

I don't really feel like buying a $600 replacement phone the next day if I miss a crucial step somewhere along the process.

Also, keep in mind that I didn't start this thread. I'm very happy with my GS2 (for the most part), and I've recommended it to quite a few of my friends. I'd rather not trade it in for an Apple. Thanks for the advice, though.

**aknbad23** · 02-22-2012, 03:56 PM

I too change my status from love it to like it. Too many random reboots and issues with being stuck in shutdown mode. I love all the freedom of android but miss the polish of iOS.

**konazxiii** · 02-22-2012, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by mcl5000

Haha...thanks for proving exactly what I'm talking about. I'll give you a pass considering you know nothing about me, but I can perform many computer-related tasks more complicated than rooting an Android. The difference is that if I screw up other things, I can just buy a $70 replacement motherboard or $100 replacement power supply when I have some extra cash.

I don't really feel like buying a $600 replacement phone the next day if I miss a crucial step somewhere along the process.

Also, keep in mind that I didn't start this thread. I'm very happy with my GS2 (for the most part), and I've recommended it to quite a few of my friends. I'd rather not trade it in for an Apple. Thanks for the advice, though.

Fair enough.

Keep in mind that Samsung Galaxy phones are pretty hard to perma-brick. Even then there are fixes cheaper than buying a replacement (see AdamOutler XDA). This is one of the attractive things about them to someone like me.

I never tried to flash a phone's firmware until I got a SGS Captivate, just over a year ago. Never in the 14ish months that I've owned it did I get stuck with anything worse than a bootloop...which, is easily solvable via Odin/Heimdal.

To be fair, I probably take for granted the ability to be confident with what I learned about the SGS1 into the SGS2, so I'll concede there...

**surf1** · 02-22-2012, 04:14 PM

Another thing to consider is your carrier and area, if you in an area where you carrier has a weaker signal that will cause big drain on the battery from the radios trying to keep an lock on the signal. The update caused battery life issues as well. But my phone still last a bit longer then our 4S in daily use.

Just root your phone, and flash a custom Rom, search the i777 board on XDA and you'll see tons of ROMs with huge threads on comments. Pretty much all the main ROMs will have much better battery life.

**fldude99** · 02-22-2012, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by alandr

I'm changing my status of the Galaxy S2 "from love it" to "like it"
The reason for that is the very poor battery life.
I came back to AT&T the next day after I got my GS2 cause battery drained in the few hours to 35% after being fully charged earlier.
I found that being very odd.So they exchange my unit to the new one.
Got better, by battery still draining fast.
I have set my phone to all suggested settings like turn of WIFI , screen brightness etc.
Still not going well.
I know I'm not the only one and would appreciate any suggestions or please route me to the proper thread on this forum.
Many thanks!!!

Are you on 2.3.6? I picked mine up a couple weeks ago and am pleasantly surprised with the batter life. I came from the Captivate, so anything is an improvement. At idle-like overnight-I'm losing about 4% over 8 hours. "Normal" use I get a day and a half. I did have a couple of bad battery days though and noticed GPS Status when I looked at the setting "what is using the battery". I also noticed this app in the list of known battery drainers. If you're not on 2.3.6,, which is definitely a problem, then you must have a rogue app. Moral of the story is NOT to udate to 2.3.6

**alandr** · 02-23-2012, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by fldude99

Are you on 2.3.6? I picked mine up a couple weeks ago and am pleasantly surprised with the batter life. I came from the Captivate, so anything is an improvement. At idle-like overnight-I'm losing about 4% over 8 hours. "Normal" use I get a day and a half. I did have a couple of bad battery days though and noticed GPS Status when I looked at the setting "what is using the battery". I also noticed this app in the list of known battery drainers. If you're not on 2.3.6,, which is definitely a problem, then you must have a rogue app. Moral of the story is NOT to udate to 2.3.6

I got my phone a week ago and 2.3.6 was already there by default, so i didn't update anything .
So to the Battery life, I have noticed that it could be different at times.
For example today after phone got fully charged overnight:
Began using it around 8:00 am with battery gadget displaying 100% :
Browsed internet for 10 min, killed running apps after,no phone calls ,the only running app now is a Juice Defender in aggressive mode, screen brightness very low. What else, oh WIFI, GPS,Bluetooth are off as well.
Time now: 11:45 am battery gadget shows 77%.

**surf1** · 02-23-2012, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by alandr

I got my phone a week ago and 2.3.6 was already there by default, so i didn't update anything .
So to the Battery life, I have noticed that it could be different at times.
For example today after phone got fully charged overnight:
Began using it around 8:00 am with battery gadget displaying 100% :
Browsed internet for 10 min, killed running apps after,no phone calls ,the only running app now is a Juice Defender in aggressive mode, screen brightness very low. What else, oh WIFI, GPS,Bluetooth are off as well.
Time now: 11:45 am battery gadget shows 77%.

That's excessive, something else is causing drain or glitching. My phone was at 100% around noon - 1:00, and it's 6 now, used the internet on hspa+ and wifi for about 15-20 min, facebook a couple times, and streamed pandora in the truck w/o the charger attached, and used it in Publix with Out of Milk for grocery list and I'm at 80% now. I just have the screen on auto and BT off. I'm on 2.3.6 as well.

**fldude99** · 02-23-2012, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by alandr

I got my phone a week ago and 2.3.6 was already there by default, so i didn't update anything .
So to the Battery life, I have noticed that it could be different at times.
For example today after phone got fully charged overnight:
Began using it around 8:00 am with battery gadget displaying 100% :
Browsed internet for 10 min, killed running apps after,no phone calls ,the only running app now is a Juice Defender in aggressive mode, screen brightness very low. What else, oh WIFI, GPS,Bluetooth are off as well.
Time now: 11:45 am battery gadget shows 77%.

Seems a little excessive. However: I would RETURN the dam thing. When I picked up mine I told the sales person that if it had 2.3.6 I didn't want it. First one she opened had 2.3.4 so I got it. Haven't been hassled yet with ATT trying to force the "upgrade", so maybe ATT pulled it. Anyway, since you're in the first 30 days I wouldn't even spend another minute trying to figure out ANYTHING! Just go exchange it and make sure the one you get has 2.3.4. You won't be sorry

**Entropy** · 02-24-2012, 01:16 PM

Specifically, make sure it doesn't have UCKK6. There's nothing wrong with 2.3.6 in general - plenty of great firmwares (such as XWKL1 and XWLA4) are great and also 2.3.6. It's just UCKK6 that REALLY, REALLY sucks.

Sometime down the line AT&T might actually get out of bed with Apple and allow an update to be pushed out.