Reviewer Needs Battery Life Guidance: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 upgraded to Lollipop

[dark77star203489]

Hello there,

I am currently writing a review for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The site I work with focuses on longer term reviews (90 days or more) and the ability of technology products to match lifestyles; we focus on real world use, not features and specs.

In the case of the Note 4, we have been reviewing two variants of the device, an AT&T variant and one through T-Mobile.

During the review process, we noticed that the battery life, with around 2 hours of on screen time per day, varied between 6-9 hours. Device encryption was not turned on during this time. This was similar between the two variants.

We recently upgraded our AT&T device to Lollipop. After the upgrade, our battery life diminished by over an hour, down to around an average of 5-8 hours, with still around 2 hours of on screen time. We also noticed significant stuttering in the UI, which was surprising, since the new ART runtime is supposed to be faster. We then turned on device encryption...ouch.

After turning on encryption, we have been getting around 8-9 hours of battery life, but with only an average of 15 minutes of on screen time. In addition, the security storage (com.sec.Android.providers.security) process routinely spikes up, with the entire CPU being maxed out for hours at a time.

At this point, our review for the Note 4, and indirectly Lollipop, will not be great.

That said, we really want to give the Note 4, and Android in general, a fair shake. As such, we are reaching out to experienced Android users to get worthwhile suggestions on what we might do to address the battery life issues.

Here are some pertinent facts:

-We have a 64 GB micro SD in the slot.
-The device has 2.7 GB of free space.
-Our network signal ranges from 3-5 bars most of the day, with some spots that we frequent down to two bars.

Please see the forthcoming screenshots for more details. (The Android central app denied the ability to attach a screenshot).

This request will also be posted on XDA developers for a broader audience.

We are trying to be as impartial as possible, so your help is appreciated.

Best regards,
Eric

 

[dpham00]

It seems to me like you have something wrong with your phone. Since you are doing long-term testing, take the time to head on over to our note 4 forums and read through the various battery threads.

Personally, I see 5-7 hours SOT in the normal usage a day. Now when using the phone as a hotspot, the battery life goes down dramatically, but that is to be expected.

My suggestion would be to remove the sd card and do a factory data reset. Then do not install any apps and see what battery life you are getting. If it is still 2 hours SOT with normal usage and 9 hours idle, try a new genuine battery. If that doesn't work then contact tmobile or ATT for a replacement.


As a mod Note, I am sure that you are aware of this, but advertising of any kind is strictly prohibited and is an instant ban offense. We don't want people to advertise for their own Android sites. Hope you understand.

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[UJ95x]

Agreed with DPham. I got my Note 4 a couple of weeks ago and was easily getting 6 hours SoT over a full day of use. Upgrade to Lollipop and I'm still getting about the same. Currently have 37% left with 3.5 hours SoT, 2.5 hours of Spotify streaming at the highest quality, and about half an hour of phone calls over 25 hours.

 

[dark77star203489]

Thank you all for the information. Did either one of you have full device encryption turned on during the tine you used the phone? The security provider using so much CPU is the thing that's raising my concern.

 

[UJ95x]

I do not. Not willing to sacrifice performance for extra security. If need be, I can do a remote wipe on the phone.

 

[Rukbat]

1) Did you do a factory reset after the Lollipop update? Phones that are updated and not reset tend to show higher battery usage for some reason.

2) Decryption takes CPU, and the better the encryption used, the more CPU it takes. Are you familiar with the acronym TNSTAAFL? You don't get something for nothing. A new update is doing a lot of work, and encrypting everything it's doing could, reasonably, max the CPU for hours at a time. That's not an apples-to-apples comparison. If you want a "90 day use" comparison, use the phone for 90 days after the update (and factory reset), then compare SoTs and total recharge times. You probably didn't get 6-9 hours when the phone was first activated either. (But with encryption, you're definitely going to get less battery life.)