Samsung Galaxy S4 Battery Life

[Jennifer Stough]

So basically, it does all the things I do already, except it takes up some space on my internal memory

Pretty much, and it take a week to "learn."

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[pwnicus]

Ok so perhaps I'm going to sound totally foolish on here. But I've been an avid iPhone user for the past two years and recent decided to switch to something more...advanced. Enter the S4. I consider myself a fairly heavy user, constantly checking twitter and FB, pic taking and editing, and music, glorious music! And I've noticed that my battery even though its brand new (I've only had this thing three days) is pretty much draining in front of my eyes. I'm not used to having to constantly shut off apps and stuff. Is there anything I can do to keep this thing from becoming a battery draining monster while still maintaining some semblance of my version of "normal" usage?

 

[Jennifer Stough]

Ok so perhaps I'm going to sound totally foolish on here. But I've been an avid iPhone user for the past two years and recent decided to switch to something more...advanced. Enter the S4. I consider myself a fairly heavy user, constantly checking twitter and FB, pic taking and editing, and music, glorious music! And I've noticed that my battery even though its brand new (I've only had this thing three days) is pretty much draining in front of my eyes. I'm not used to having to constantly shut off apps and stuff. Is there anything I can do to keep this thing from becoming a battery draining monster while still maintaining some semblance of my version of "normal" usage?

Well first, if you are shutting off apps manually, there may be a problem. Android is advanced enough to run ram useage and shut down apps when more ram is needed. Manually shutting down services can drain battery as they may reopen again when needed. If you are talking about third party apps, use the back arrow to back out of apps. This will close them and keep them from running in the background. The s4 has a large screen so it will consume quite a bit of battery. Turning down your brightness can help with this. Also turn off GPS and Bluetooth when not in use so that your radios aren't constantly reaching out for a network. Also, consider your signal. If you have iffy 4g, your device will constantly be reaching for that signal, or switching radios when not in range.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[blackmalcoda00]

My battery was not that great when I first got the phone but after a week and a half it got sooo much better. I would have about 40% left after a full day (14 hrs-ish) with normal to slightly heavy use. I just got LTE where I live and it really hasn't made a noticeable effect on battery life. I love it!

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Android Central Forums

 

[Love Divine]

Screen on time or bust.

On a good day, I can get 5 out of it. Usually 4.5 hours is standard. That's pretty good in my book.

 

[Aquila]

The padawan is correct. If something you're doing in Android seems too complicated, it is.

 

[Bob Balser]

I have a higher mAh battery fitted,thicker so has a replacement back,lasts over two days with moderate use,plenty on ebay but BEWARE the "Gold" make,their not what they claim,seem to be regular battery relabeled higher mAh

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

What is snapdragon guru?

Snapdragon battery guru, its an app in the play store.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

It's a power saving app with features that QUALCOMM designed specifically the snapdragon CPU. It's found in the play store for free. I used it on my S3 and it made no difference but haven't tried it on the S4....

Is it any good?

It learns the pattern of your WiFi and data useage and turns them off accordingly to try to spare battery.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

So basically, it does all the things I do already, except it takes up some space on my internal memory

Pretty much, and it take a week to "learn."

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

After hearing about it from my brother in-law, I decided to try this app out on my S3, and so far I think I like it.

As mentioned, it takes about a week to "learn" your habbits, and because it uses location cues for some services, you do have to have location services turned on. Since using it, I have noticed a bump in my battery life. It does stuff like turn off wifi when you're away from home, but then it also turns it back on when you return. It also turns off syncing of some apps when during times when you don't use them as frequently. It does all this automatically, but you can go in and tweak it if you don't want it doing certain things. A lot of the stuff it does you could do manually, but of course you'd have to actually remember to do it (which I don't).

I've been using it for about 6 weeks now I think, and there have been a few rare times when I've had to turn my wifi back on manually after returning home (usually on weekends when my schedule is different), but for the most part I find it quite remarkable at how well it works. I've literally been on the elevator on the way to my apartment and noticed wifi is off, and then after entering my apartment noticed it had already turned on and connected to my router. It also has "learned" to turn on wifi when I'm at my sister's house visiting.

I'd recommend at least trying it out. Best case scenario your battery life gets better, worst case scenario you just uninstall it. It's only taking up ~10MB on my device, so it's not exactly going to eat up your storage.

 

[thegronz]

Hi,

The S4 is my first Android phone and I have to say that battery life is great.

I just plugged in my phone to charge after 18 hours of heavy use and stand by (5% left before charge).

 

[L N]

Today I turned up the brightness on my S4 and turned on location services, and the battery started dropping.
Turning off location services and dropping brightness and I should be back to a solid 8+ hours of battery with heavy usage (phone, text, internet.)

So what is turned on really matters.

 

[epphllps]

Today I turned up the brightness on my S4 and turned on location services, and the battery started dropping.
Turning off location services and dropping brightness and I should be back to a solid 8+ hours of battery with heavy usage (phone, text, internet.)

So what is turned on really matters.

Brightness is a killer on any smartphone. I don't usually turn of my location services off, but today I didn't even use google maps at all and it kept my device awake for 55 minutes since 1:30pm. I've been away from android since the iPhone 5 came out, anything new with google maps to keep it from running in the background so much?

 

[loonie01]

He's mine for today.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[epphllps]

He's mine for today.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Pretty impressive. Wifi use or 4g?

 

[monsieurms]

How long does your battery last for? how long do you spend on your phone?

I travel a lot and am often dismayed at how quickly every phone's battery seems to go when you actually use its features.

Last night, not traveling, I took a 96% charged phone to bed, read an ebook while listening to MP3s on bluetooth for 60 minutes, then read another half hour longer without music, but phone on (stand-by, not being used), and my battery was down to about 67% when I put it on the charger this morning. That seems like a substantial hit for not much use to me.

I never go anywhere without a spare battery --and that's also why I will NEVER buy a phone without removable batteries.

Over the years, the best comment I've found on phone batteries is the simple truth--technology of the devices has far outstripped the ability of batteries to handle it, given the small form factor of the devices. For the record, lest this be viewed as an attack on Samsung or Android, both of which I like a lot, I was traveling with a friend abroad on business and he was an iPhone user. His phone was constantly dying in the midst of long trips. When mine had problems, of course, I just flipped a new battery.

I have a higher mAh battery fitted,thicker so has a replacement back,lasts over two days with moderate use,plenty on ebay but BEWARE the "Gold" make,their not what they claim,seem to be regular battery relabeled higher mAh

There are SO MANY phony batteries around that make grandiose claims. I've been ripped off so often, I don't see the point of even trying them any more.

If I see a battery the exact size and weight of the OEM but claiming to be 30% bigger, my first question is how?
And if there's a way, that way is probably not going to be achieved by offering a cheap battery that can be sold at 1/3rd the price of the OEM for 1/3rd more capacity.

I measured one supposed "high capacity" (supposedly 50% more) battery I got on eBay from a seller in China with an app and it had no more capacity than the OEM. I left negative feedback. The guy actually had the audacity to say I should remove it and he'd give me my $$ back. I said, "Well, but your battery seems to be a fraud. I tested it. You deserve the negative feedback." If it was legit, he might show me his tests confirming the supposed capacity of this. Or have some response. Never responded. Gee. Wonder why?

My general view: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[PeachAdamson]

I use my Galaxy S4 for calls, text, watching youtube videos, taking pictures, and other things like normal people would do and I can get through the day without recharging it. It is really impressive how it is able to do this even with its 5-inch screen.

 

[loonie01]

All 4G

Pretty impressive. Wifi use or 4g?

 

[Leilan]

Turned off all the novelty and I'm running on over 30 hours without charging, last time I had a phone that stayed charged for that long was when Clinton was president! Also, taking a screen shot has never been so easy!

 

[thegrants82]

View attachment 69948
Turned off all the novelty and I'm running on over 30 hours without charging, last time I had a phone that stayed charged for that long was when Clinton was president! Also, taking a screen shot has never been so easy!

Lol. Me too. Turn off the novelties and this battery rocks hard.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ksung4]

He's mine for today.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Did you have to charge it once during those 17 hours?
I can barely get up to 11 with out reaching 2% battery with a screen life of 2.5 hours max!

 

[Joe_Perone]

Haha, I've decided to actually try the Snapdragon app. 4 days from now I'll update on the progress with it. Hopefully it does something and I'll have something reliable to report, mark my words take it easy guys!