AT&T Note 5 - unacceptable battery life

[d1nman]

New here, and this question is going go very in depth. I love my note 5 performance wise, along with the beautiful display & camera quality, but the battery life is an absolute joke. It has not always been this way. Let me begin

I purchased this phone through AT&T around a week and a half after release (Sept 2015). 64gb. Fell in love with the phone. Battery life was astonishing. 22-24 hours per charge. Could easily last a solid day, running WiFi, location services, and still have around 30% at the end of the day.

The following January, my battery was pitiful. Along with the fact that the screen was popping out of the frame, and the charging port was iffy about working. Very frustrating considering I manage a phone repair store, but wanted to refrain from opening the device myself because of the warranty.

So I send the phone off, they replaced my screen, battery, and charging port, good to go. Or so I thought. Less than two months later, I was back in the same boat. Sent the device in again.

Recieved ANOTHER battery replacement (they claim) , and you guessed it. Around a month later, I was sending it in for round 3. Yet another battery.

It's not over yet. The phone began getting so hot that the only way I could use it, was to set it in front of some form of cool air. It was too hot to comfortably hold. I could literally watch my battery percentage sink by the minute. We're talking an hour and a half from 100% to 0%, including standby time.

So yes. I sent it in again. New battery and charging port again, from Samsung. And no I'm not joking, the battery life this time was just as bad, right out of the box.

Im furious at this point. I called samsung back and told them, there is no possible way that there is not a serious issue with the motherboard of my specific device. There is no way, after all of these battery replacements, that I still have a phone that lives on the charger, a phone that stays so hot that it cant be held on the sides. Samsung says, "Sir we are sorry, but we only repair devices to the best of our ability. We do not do device replacements"

So off to AT&T. They overnighted me a "new" refurbished phone. This one did great, up until this past September. Surprise surprise, another battery issue. So yep. I sent it in again to Samsung. This time, they took nearly a month, and replaced the battery, AGAIN.

I have completly lost it with Samsung at this point, unless someone can point me in a direction where I can do something about this. Anything. Could I possibly root the device and help it?

Yes, I have factory restored every time. Kept the phone clean to see if some app was the problem, to no avail. My battery usage claims my screen takes the most battery (usually around 30-40%), but I keep my display on the shortest timeout, and Im always keeping my brightness low, unless showing someone a picture.

I have gone through long ago and tried to disable all of the AT&T apps. Really, I mainly use the following apps:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Snapchat
Tapatalk
Spotify
PayPal
eBay
Google Chrome
SwiftKey
Textra

Attached is a photo of my battery usage today. Yes, better than it has been in the past. But nothing like it should be, or like it was new. Notice how I had to use a charger under 5 hours of taking it off the charger. Also, I now keep location services off, sound off, WiFi off, Bluetooth off, and the brightness as low as possible. This is all to squeeze 5 hrs of off one charge. I will report back to this thread with battery details tomorrow. I'm just wondering if there is a way to root this phone, could that would work. Or if anyone else has ran into this issue, what did you do?

 

[d1nman]

So far, today, it seems marginally better. I killed off more apps that seemed to be running in the background when I wasn't on the phone. We'll see as the day rolls on

 

[Jude526]

I am on Verizon. I feel your pain. My battery and phone seem better but not completely happy. I see more drainage with last Verizon update. Wish they wouldn't kill the battery use but updates always seen to do this. If I don't like what's next on Samsung I will be dumping

 

[d1nman]

I am on Verizon. I feel your pain. My battery and phone seem better but not completely happy. I see more drainage with last Verizon update. Wish they wouldn't kill the battery use but updates always seen to do this. If I don't like what's next on Samsung I will be dumping

I don't think I'll be with Samsung next time around. The customer service was a joke. I was told that my battery life was "okay" because my device is, "equipped with Samsung's fast charging system, so that you can charge your phone X times as fast as normal charging" so basically they told me, your phone dies faster, but charges faster so it's all okay. Not what I wanted to hear haha. I want the 128gb pixel xl, but can't seem to get my hands on one. With technology moving as fast as it does, it seems like it is old now even though it's only been out a few months

 

[B. Diddy]

Yeesh, that sounds painful. I did notice that your cell signal doesn't look good on one of those screenshots. Poor signal can be a prime contributor to battery drain, because the phone has to work harder to maintain the signal (which can cause the phone to heat up as well). Charge up to 100%, then let it drain to 20-30% with normal usage, without charging in between. Then show us:

1. The main Settings>Battery screen.
2. The fullscreen battery graph screen (which shows Awake time and Cell Signal Strength).
3. The Screen category (to see total Screen On time).
4. The Cell Standby category, if present (to see Time Without Signal).


You might have to install a 3rd party battery monitor, like GSam Battery Monitor, to get the Cell Signal Strength graph.

 

[pduffer]

It looks to me like Snapchat is a big drain as well.

 

[d1nman]

I do agree that Snapchat pulls a good bit. I'm going to refrain from using Snapchat tomorrow and report back.

That, combined with my poor signal may be eating battery life.

I live in a relatively rural area, for instance, I have 3 bars of 4gLTE on one of the busiest streets in town right now sitting at work. I rarely see full signal.

Here are some screenshots. I know you said run it to 20-30%, here I am at 38%. I'll report back later when it gets into the 10's.

I also appreciate all the efforts guys. I'm a member on some other forums, mainly car forums such as MBWorld and GMFullsize, you really don't get much input on threads over there. I go to ask a question about my car, and some people are like "honestly just take it to the dealer man". So again, I appreciate you guys effort in trying to help me. If I can get this battery life figured out I'll keep this phone as long as possible. Because other than the battery life I love this thing.

 

[d1nman]

For instance, I posted the above message 2 minutes ago (probably 3 by now) at 38%. I am now at 35%. It's very inconsistent, that's what makes it annoying

 

[B. Diddy]

Your cell signal is relatively mediocre, but it isn't terrible, so we might not be able to blame everything on it. To be honest, your projected screen-on time of about 3.5 hrs or so isn't all that unusual -- it's about what I get on my Nexus 6P.

Go to Settings>Privacy>Location. Make sure the GPS radio is off (i.e., just use wi-fi and cell signal). Also, tap Improve Accuracy and turn off Wi-fi Scanning, if that's on.

The assistance you're receiving here is what we strive for!

 

[d1nman]

Welp, I got excited whenever you suggested turning GPS off and wifi scanning. Both wifi and Bluetooth scanning were on. I figured they would be huge culprits. But, right now, I'm sitting at 61% battery life after a mere 1 hour and 40 minutes of time off the charger

Also, what in the world is this that claims it's taking the most of my battery today?

 

[B. Diddy]

That 10234 listing often refers to something you recently uninstalled -- did you uninstall something? Whatever it was, it was using a good amount of battery. Charge back up to 100% to reset the battery stats, then see how things go again.

 

[d1nman]

That 10234 listing often refers to something you recently uninstalled -- did you uninstall something? Whatever it was, it was using a good amount of battery. Charge back up to 100% to reset the battery stats, then see how things go again.

That would make sense. Because Facebook messenger was moving so slowly that I got mad and deleted it.

Let's try this again

 

[B. Diddy]

Yeah, anything Facebook has the potential to suck battery. I've been seeing some recent posts about Messenger sucking even more (battery) () recently, so that's probably why you were having recent issues.

 

[d1nman]

Yeah, anything Facebook has the potential to suck battery. I've been seeing some recent posts about Messenger sucking even more (battery) () recently, so that's probably why you were having recent issues.

So yeah, as can be seen here, Facebook sucks

So I deleted it. Don't need It that much to not be able to use my phone efficiently. I'll get on a computer to do that

 

[B. Diddy]

The Facebook mobile site works just about as well as the app.

 

[d1nman]

It seems like no matter what, the screen is always pulling the most. Do you guys see the same thing? I have my screen set very efficiently, at least I think so

 

[B. Diddy]

That's normal, assuming you're actually using the phone in a normal way and it isn't idle for most of the day. The screen is typically at or near the top, since it takes energy to push those pixels.

 

[Climb14er]

It seems like no matter what, the screen is always pulling the most. Do you guys see the same thing? I have my screen set very efficiently, at least I think so

My screen has always drained the most by a lot compared to other apps. I run a very conservative phone, brightness at 40%. No social media apps at all. Suggestion... just settle in and let your phone get used to what you're doing with it. Also, a weak signal, on either wifi or 4G LTE will drain battery faster.

 

[d1nman]

Well today guys, my battery is doing awesome. 3 1/2 hrs of time off the charger, and I'm only down to 77%. I turned my brightness down a little more.

Also, this may or may not have anything to do with it, but usually I use a Ghostek atomic 2.0 case (which is a bulky, waterproof, fully enclosed aluminum case). I took it off last night, and I'm seeing much better cell service in certain areas today. Maybe the metal case interferes somehow? Or maybe I'm just full of it.

 

[B. Diddy]

The case could be part of the problem. In general, it's not a good idea to have a metal case, since that can interfere with the signal.