Terrible Battery Life on new OOTB device?

[TheWa1L]

So I've been talking to anyone and everyone for the last 6 months about how awesome a phone Note 2 would be. And finally when I got the chance, I upgraded to it (you know, dog eat dog food?) from iPhone 4. Well, about a week or so in, I'm frustrated with this phone. The battery life is terrible. Terrible. All I run is Gmail (unsynced) and my exchange email (push, from 9am to 5pm on M-F; manual otherwise). No other apps are open. Screen brightness is set to 20%. I'm on Wi-Fi for 22 out of 24 hours a day. During the 2 hours that I'm not on Wi-Fi, I'm in a train and the 4G LTE signal is pretty good. I cant get more than a day's worth of use out of this phone. I have to recharge overnight, every night to ensure my phone doesn't die during the day.

I was using an iPhone for the last 3 years. My phone usage pattern between the iPhone and Note 2 hasn't changed. With similar usage (Exchange Email, Gmail unsynced and Facebook opened), iPhone 4 would last 4-5 days on a single charge. I was hoping the Note 2 would atleast last 2-3 days on a single charge given that it has this gigantic 3100mAh battery.

I've not figured how to take and post screenshots but when I do, I'll add them here. Until then, the phone was fully charged at 7am this morning. Unplugged it, put it in my pocket and hopped on a train. An hour later, at 95% charge, I was back on wifi. In that one hour, I probably used the <10 mins reading and replying to 1 email all of which happened before 9am.

Now its 4.30pm and the battery is at 60%. This has been typical experience for me with this phone. What's draining the battery is the Android OS. Here's the usager:
Android OS: 58%
Screen: 12%
Android system: 7%
Device idle: 7%
Cell standby: 6%
wifi - 5%
media server - 4%

Whats that media server? Where do I kill that? How do I bring the Android OS battery usage under control?

Another thing I've noticed is that RAM usage is high - 1.1 to 1.2GB for running Email and Gmail sounds too high. Are there deadbeat apps that are occupying memory?

I've disabled sync from every account except my Exchange email account. I've disabled auto-update for all the apps installed through Play Store. I turn off wifi when I'm on the train. What else can I do to get more out of this battery?

 

[ItsaRaid]

So I've been talking to anyone and everyone for the last 6 months about how awesome a phone Note 2 would be. And finally when I got the chance, I upgraded to it (you know, dog eat dog food?) from iPhone 4. Well, about a week or so in, I'm frustrated with this phone. The battery life is terrible. Terrible. All I run is Gmail (unsynced) and my exchange email (push, from 9am to 5pm on M-F; manual otherwise). No other apps are open. Screen brightness is set to 20%. I'm on Wi-Fi for 22 out of 24 hours a day. During the 2 hours that I'm not on Wi-Fi, I'm in a train and the 4G LTE signal is pretty good. I cant get more than a day's worth of use out of this phone. I have to recharge overnight, every night to ensure my phone doesn't die during the day.

I was using an iPhone for the last 3 years. My phone usage pattern between the iPhone and Note 2 hasn't changed. With similar usage (Exchange Email, Gmail unsynced and Facebook opened), iPhone 4 would last 4-5 days on a single charge. I was hoping the Note 2 would atleast last 2-3 days on a single charge given that it has this gigantic 3100mAh battery.

I've not figured how to take and post screenshots but when I do, I'll add them here. Until then, the phone was fully charged at 7am this morning. Unplugged it, put it in my pocket and hopped on a train. An hour later, at 95% charge, I was back on wifi. In that one hour, I probably used the <10 mins reading and replying to 1 email all of which happened before 9am.

Now its 4.30pm and the battery is at 60%. This has been typical experience for me with this phone. What's draining the battery is the Android OS. Here's the usager:
Android OS: 58%
Screen: 12%
Android system: 7%
Device idle: 7%
Cell standby: 6%
wifi - 5%
media server - 4%

Whats that media server? Where do I kill that? How do I bring the Android OS battery usage under control?

Another thing I've noticed is that RAM usage is high - 1.1 to 1.2GB for running Email and Gmail sounds too high. Are there deadbeat apps that are occupying memory?

I've disabled sync from every account except my Exchange email account. I've disabled auto-update for all the apps installed through Play Store. I turn off wifi when I'm on the train. What else can I do to get more out of this battery?

DISABLE All Your AT&T Apps other than Hotspots...are you on 4.1.2?

 

[TheOtherBill]

Especially AT&T Locker.

Don't worry about RAM usage, Android manages it. You have plenty. There are things loaded that aren't being used, they'll be wiped if the system decides it needs the memory.

 

[TheWa1L]

Yes, I'm on 4.1.2.

Disabled everything...including AT&T Hotspot and AT&T Locker. I'll turn it on when I'm in need of it. I've never understood the use for AT&T Locker...given how good Dropbox is or how much storage something like adrive can offer. Or even pogoplug on its various offers.

 

[jneusch]

How in the heck were you getting 4 - 5 days on an iPhone 4? I got 1 day and was thrilled coming from the 3gs. The N2 battery is a beast and I don't have anything turned off. I think the realistic expectation for smart phone battery life is about 1 day of use. There is nothing harmful about charging nightly. There are reports of people getting longer than a day, but it is probably out of the ordinary.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[TheWa1L]

How in the heck were you getting 4 - 5 days on an iPhone 4? I got 1 day and was thrilled coming from the 3gs. The N2 battery is a beast and I don't have anything turned off. I think the realistic expectation for smart phone battery life is about 1 day of use. There is nothing harmful about charging nightly. There are reports of people getting longer than a day, but it is probably out of the ordinary.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

As I said before, my usage pattern is probably on the low end for smartphone users - Exchange, Gmail, Facebook, 1 or 2 calls a day (no more than 15 mins of talk time) and not much else. I email myself the news and articles I want to read later. I read those when I'm on the train. Since they're already on the phone via push, I didn't have to use the network all that much.

That usage pattern hasn't changed at all. I don't think its too much to ask a reasonable life of this battery. I don't expect 4-5 days with this processor but I didn't expect <12 hours either. Most others that have posted about battery life issues have a screen on time being the significant user of the battery. I think I maybe the first one reporting that the Android OS is killing my battery. I'm wondering if my battery is a lemon.

 

[rankar7]

As I said before, my usage pattern is probably on the low end for smartphone users - Exchange, Gmail, Facebook, 1 or 2 calls a day (no more than 15 mins of talk time) and not much else. I email myself the news and articles I want to read later. I read those when I'm on the train. Since they're already on the phone via push, I didn't have to use the network all that much.

That usage pattern hasn't changed at all. I don't think its too much to ask a reasonable life of this battery. I don't expect 4-5 days with this processor but I didn't expect <12 hours either. Most others that have posted about battery life issues have a screen on time being the significant user of the battery. I think I maybe the first one reporting that the Android OS is killing my battery. I'm wondering if my battery is a lemon.

I would get almost two days with my iPhone 4 on more usage than you. But on my note2, it's a solid day of use with having to recharge every night. It appears to me that samsung's battery management is different from iPhone in that the power curve (or at least in how it displays battery life, akin to how cars today display the engine temperature needle as "stuck in the middle" even though the temp fluctuates quite a bit so as not to alarm the driver). The iPhone tends to display a longer (more like a bulge) battery time when above 30%, but after 30% the drain display accelerates. The note2 seems to display a flatter battery curve, so seeing 60% actually means you're close to 60% left (with little acceleration at the end). Just like a car's fuel gauge when you first fill up; it feels like it stays pegged to the F for quite a while on full, then seems like when you get below 1/4 tank it depletes rather quickly.

I've gotten used to seeing 50% or so when 5 to 6pm rolls around, and by 11pm is down around 30%. I tested to see how long it would last few times into the next morning and it only dropped by 15% or so overnight. So for me, it was an adjustment in seeing somewhat lower battery values at the end of a typical workday (5 to 7pm), but then adjusting to the fact that my workday was virtually over and still had an almost true 50% of battery life left. Even when using kindle and music player for a train ride home, there was still plenty of juice left til bedtime.

 

[rankar7]

As I said before, my usage pattern is probably on the low end for smartphone users - Exchange, Gmail, Facebook, 1 or 2 calls a day (no more than 15 mins of talk time) and not much else. I email myself the news and articles I want to read later. I read those when I'm on the train. Since they're already on the phone via push, I didn't have to use the network all that much.

That usage pattern hasn't changed at all. I don't think its too much to ask a reasonable life of this battery. I don't expect 4-5 days with this processor but I didn't expect <12 hours either. Most others that have posted about battery life issues have a screen on time being the significant user of the battery. I think I maybe the first one reporting that the Android OS is killing my battery. I'm wondering if my battery is a lemon.

and no, i don't think you have a bad battery. after reading your usage description, of course Android OS will command a larger percentage of usage because that's all that's essentially running. i'd suggest living with this for a while. and after a month of usage if the battery life is really eating away at you, then yes, try another battery and if that doesn't do it, then I'd suggest rooting your phone and going with a pared down ROM that will add to your battery life.

 

[BeRich]

Let me get this straight, you're upset because you have to charge the Note 2 at night? Is this correct?

If that is truly upsetting you (I'm personally thrilled to not have to bother with charging it during the day like I had to with my Blackberry devices, Skyrocket, and S3...), why don't you look into rooting your phone and really taking control of what it runs?

 

[TheWa1L]

After going through the many suggestions yesterday, today my battery went from 39% at 7am to 33% around 6pm while it was on Wi-Fi the entire day. Now that's more like it. Tomorrow I'll see how it fares with an overnight charge.

BeRIch - I had a Blackberry Pearl before switching to iPhone. I charged it only once a week - every Sunday night. It never ever died on me. And I used to talk a lot on that phone - almost 500-600 minutes a month. When I moved to the iPhone4, I was still getting 4-5 days of usage with significant drop off in my call time (went to 100-200 mins or so per month). So at a minimum, I'd expected to get atleast 2 days of battery life between charges for me. I don't think that's too much given my usage pattern. Perhaps 2 days for others who use the phone more is too much but for me, I don't think so.

 

[BeRich]

I've also had the Pearl, three Bolds, and two of the Torch models. All had to be put on charge in the middle of the day, including the Pearl. My phone doesn't sit on the table all day long. I actively use it for most of the day. This is the first device that I haven't had to charge before the day is over. I unplug it at 5:30 to 6 AM and will plug it back in at 11 PM. I put it on charge when I'm not using it (sleeping) which is hardly an inconvenience. I still don't get why you're upset that you have to charge your phone at night. There has to be a point where it's not in your hands and charging it wouldn't be an inconvenience.

 

[TheWa1L]

I did the following changes:
1. On the advice received on this thread and other similar ones, I've disabled all AT&T apps except for AT&T Messages (need it for visual voicemail).
2. I've disabled notifications on ALL apps in the App Manager.
3. I've disabled "Allow automatic updating" on all apps in the PLAY Store.
4. I've disabled Samsung Push Service.
5. I've disabled sync for all accounts except for my work email (Exchange). That account is set to use push 9a-5p on M-F. Otherwise its at manual. I had to enable sync on Gmail app because Gmail wasn't working as expected (without sync on, messages deleted in the app wouldn't be deleted in Gmail).
6. Screen is set to 20% brightness.
7. GPS, Multi-Window, Bluetooth are all off.
8. Wi-Fi is off when I'm not in a Wi-Fi area. For me, that's 2 hours a day.
9. Turned off all vibration settings that I could find. Two that still exist are the Facebook messages (when I have the app open and I get a message) and the calendar appointment reminder. I've not found the option to disable those individually (I don't want to turn on power saving mode to disable haptic feedback).
10. Ask for more tips on this forum

Now the charge went down from 100% to 84% in 24 hours. That's acceptable. At this rate, I should go a full work week without needing to charge. Although that would be too much to ask and pointless in having a smartphone.

Here are screenshots post changes.

 

[ItsaRaid]

I did the following changes:
1. On the advice received on this thread and other similar ones, I've disabled all AT&T apps except for AT&T Messages (need it for visual voicemail).
2. I've disabled notifications on ALL apps in the App Manager.
3. I've disabled "Allow automatic updating" on all apps in the PLAY Store.
4. I've disabled Samsung Push Service.
5. I've disabled sync for all accounts except for my work email (Exchange). That account is set to use push 9a-5p on M-F. Otherwise its at manual. I had to enable sync on Gmail app because Gmail wasn't working as expected (without sync on, messages deleted in the app wouldn't be deleted in Gmail).
6. Screen is set to 20% brightness.
7. GPS, Multi-Window, Bluetooth are all off.
8. Wi-Fi is off when I'm not in a Wi-Fi area. For me, that's 2 hours a day.
9. Turned off all vibration settings that I could find. Two that still exist are the Facebook messages (when I have the app open and I get a message) and the calendar appointment reminder. I've not found the option to disable those individually (I don't want to turn on power saving mode to disable haptic feedback).
10. Ask for more tips on this forum

Now the charge went down from 100% to 84% in 24 hours. That's acceptable. At this rate, I should go a full work week without needing to charge. Although that would be too much to ask and pointless in having a smartphone.

Here are screenshots post changes.

Go into wifi settings advanced...wifi on during sleep is more than likely set to "always" change it to never. Thats what happened with the upgrade tto 4.1.2...they screwed with wifi. Watch your battery percentage soar like a eagle as before. Was confirmed!!

 

[jdub1981]

Im calling BS on the 4-5 days on a single charge. I and many others on this forum have had every iphone. No one has ever gotten that amount of time. Heck thats beyond anything apple has claimed was possible.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ItsaRaid]

JDub and BeRich

LucidMike76 just did another daily note 2 on you tube. This one is dedicated to the Battery Pooper 4.1.2 upgrade. When I called Samsung to ask why the change in Batt performance, they said AT&T had done some "things" to wifi because people were complaining. LucidMike76 says its the wifi always on in advanced wifi settings. I do not remember what it was set at prior to the 4.1.2 upgrade.. but if my memory serves me right, someone on xda said the same thing. "It will make a huge difference" " Battery Performance will return t9 what it was on 4.1.1@♡♥"
I have changed the setting to never and turned off multi window per a tier3 tech suggestion at Samsung. He claimed his personal is a Note2 with ATT and the bloatware is also disabled which should be a plus to Batt performance. We shall see...

 

[jdub1981]

I have great battery life with wifi staying on. I charge everyday anyways cuz I never know how much ill use it the next day. I never feel like I HAVE to charge, I do it because its a habit and I dont have a spare battery. Never in my life has a cell phone battery lasted 5 days even prior to smartphones.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ItsaRaid]

Changing the wifi advanced setting to never from always made a huge difference in battery usage. Does anyone remember how it was set under 4.1.2.? Also turning multiwindow off in notications. 25-30%!

 

[rankar7]

Now the charge went down from 100% to 84% in 24 hours. That's acceptable. At this rate, I should go a full work week without needing to charge. Although that would be too much to ask and pointless in having a smartphone.

that's some serious hypervolting. nice job.

 

[FitMomXtine]

sorry for this noobish question i'm about to ask =X

but how do you "disable" for example notifcations on all apps? I kind of hate when I get notified of someone posting something on FB and then whenever someone comments I get notified too..
and how do you disable automatic updating? (very new to the note 2) and noticed my battery isn't that great..

I originally got this phone because the battery life was said to be waaay better than the iPhone 4S (what I originally had).. and I'm disappointed to say it's about the same =( and i've already made sure not all apps are running all the time and the brightness is down.. but that being said what's the point of using the phone if the battery dies so easily.. and I just browse instagram/twitter/fb not for long periods of time either.. =(

i did download that GS battery app and i'm not even sure i understand it lol..

 

[intheb0x]

Your having a issue with abnormal drain with android os sucking battery, it's been logged and brought up many times I think I.

I say wipe it and load the OS fresh.

Android os is never the highest app in the list.

Search around you will find out what the bug and issue is.
After that light usage you should be at least at 80%

Sent from my ATT Note 2!