Got a new S4 last week, is this extreme battery loss? Return it or what you all suggest?

[cdepue79]

I bought my Galaxy S4 (Verizon) 6 days ago and i'm still within the 14 day return policy and today noticed much more battery loss than usual so i'm debating returning it for a new one. I came from a Droid Razr and am experiencing a little better battery life than my Droid, but today was a little worse than yesterday. Unplugged my phone from the charger around 5:30am and at 3:30 pm my battery was at 24% already, while only using it for 45 minutes on my lunch break. I have everything turned off, but Mobile data, Sync, Screen rotation, and even have Power Saving enabled. My screen timeout is set at 30 seconds and brightness to auto. Again i only used it for about 45 minutes ( facebook, internet, and 2 quick phone calls) on my break the rest of the time it sat in my car while i was at work.
Any suggestions or should i go to where i got it and exchange it for a new one?

 

[heelanaya]

I bought my Galaxy S4 (Verizon) 6 days ago and i'm still within the 14 day return policy and today noticed much more battery loss than usual so i'm debating returning it for a new one. I came from a Droid Razr and am experiencing a little better battery life than my Droid, but today was a little worse than yesterday. Unplugged my phone from the charger around 5:30am and at 3:30 pm my battery was at 24% already, while only using it for 45 minutes on my lunch break. I have everything turned off, but Mobile data, Sync, Screen rotation, and even have Power Saving enabled. My screen timeout is set at 30 seconds and brightness to auto. Again i only used it for about 45 minutes ( facebook, internet, and 2 quick phone calls) on my break the rest of the time it sat in my car while i was at work.
Any suggestions or should i go to where i got it and exchange it for a new one?

Seems your issue is the screen can you do a test ? charge your phone to full and turn off auto brightness i usally set my screen on low so it can last longer im sure auto brightness is killing your phone

 

[cdepue79]

In the 10 hours between my full 100% charge and 24% left i only used my phone 45-60 minutes at most so the screen brightness shouldn't really be a factor right? My phone was in my car while i worked all day besides my break. Something just doesn't seem right if the screen was off 90% of that time and it's responsible for 61% of my battery drain.

 

[heelanaya]

In the 10 hours between my full 100% charge and 24% left i only used my phone 45-60 minutes at most so the screen brightness shouldn't really be a factor right? My phone was in my car while i worked all day besides my break. Something just doesn't seem right if the screen was off 90% of that time and it's responsible for 61% of my battery drain.

right.... have you tried to factory reset it ? is nfc on and all that stuff?

 

[asanatheist]

Auto brightness can kill battery life.
Disabled it, and keep a constant brightness usually 40% works well.

 

[cdepue79]

But how does brightness, whether it's on Auto or set to low, affect my battery that much? My phone was in idle mode or with screen off for 9 of those 10 hours and it was already down to 24% battery.

Yeah Nfc, Air view, all of that was off.

I realize I wouldn't get a lot of time out of my battery if i were constantly watching videos, streaming music, or even on it a lot, but my phone sat there doing nothing almost all day so i'm wondering if this is definitely out of the norm and should return it for another.

 

[Haalcyon]

Also was your signal good during that time or was your phone hunting for signal. Also did you have GPS or location services on...those are battery vampires. Do you have power saving enabled? Forgive me if you already answered these questions. I haven't read all the posts preceding mine.

Sent from my humble S4

 

[asanatheist]

But how does brightness, whether it's on Auto or set to low, affect my battery that much? My phone was in idle mode or with screen off for 9 of those 10 hours and it was already down to 24% battery.

Yeah Nfc, Air view, all of that was off.

I realize I wouldn't get a lot of time out of my battery if i were constantly watching videos, streaming music, or even on it a lot, but my phone sat there doing nothing almost all day so i'm wondering if this is definitely out of the norm and should return it for another.

My suggestion would be to let the battery drop to 3%, leave it charging overnight and giving it a try again.
Could be an issue with the battery/software not communicating properly.
If that doesn't work get it exchanged.

 

[heelanaya]

My suggestion would be to let the battery drop to 3%, leave it charging overnight and giving it a try again.
Could be an issue with the battery/software not communicating properly.
If that doesn't work get it exchanged.

auto brightness kills the battery due to the sensors reading and sometimes reads wrong why dont you just try setting it up with the light the display you need

 

[cdepue79]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, after 14 hours off the charger I'm still at 69% battery with light to medium use

The additional changes i made this morning were:
1. letting it run down to 1% then got a full charge
2. went into Google Now settings and turned off the reporting for location/history
3. turned off Auto Brightness and set it to about 30% and will just manually adjust it
4. turned off mobile date along with almost everything else while my phone was in my car at work
5. and when i got home, where i have wi-fi i turned off mobile data

hard to tell if it was just a few things that helped or if it all helped, but i'm very relieved. I'll slowly turn a few features back until i get a good compromise of battery and features.

Also just got my Spigen Slim Armor case and some TechArmor screen protectors today and i'm very happy with my new Galaxy S4!

 

[Jet300]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, after 14 hours off the charger I'm still at 69% battery with light to medium use

The additional changes i made this morning were:
1. letting it run down to 1% then got a full charge
2. went into Google Now settings and turned off the reporting for location/history
3. turned off Auto Brightness and set it to about 30% and will just manually adjust it
4. turned off mobile date along with almost everything else while my phone was in my car at work
5. and when i got home, where i have wi-fi i turned off mobile data

hard to tell if it was just a few things that helped or if it all helped, but i'm very relieved. I'll slowly turn a few features back until i get a good compromise of battery and features.

Also just got my Spigen Slim Armor case and some TechArmor screen protectors today and i'm very happy with my new Galaxy S4!

So. You've turned off everything that basically makes your smart phone smart in order to achieve good battery life.

It took my GS4 battery about 4 days to "settle in". After 10. 5 hrs or so I'm usually at 46% to 40% battery. GPS On. Location On (including Google Now) . Data Sync On. WiFi On. NFC On. Bluetooth On. Air view On. Air gesture On. Smart Stay On.

I also use the phone for 5 or 6 calls a day. And screen on time is usually around 2 hrs give or take. When I look at battery stats the number 1 culprit is the screen at 53% or so. The number two lately has been Google Services at 28% or so.

IMHO I think you can do better on battery. Then again my GS4 is on TMobile. Maybe the VZW gets worse battery life? I know if your searching for a signal it'll kill it quick on VZW. Interested to see how you make out with this.

Posted via my Samsung GS4 using the Android Central App

 

[starbuckk]

Battery life can vary a lot with this phone. Great performance a few days then a sudden drop. Happened to me several times. I attributed it to a problem with a process keeping it from going into sleep mode. When you see a sudden drop, restart the phone. Seems to fix mine.

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4