Questions about S5

[black_thorne]

My wife and I recently bought S5's. I have a few questions, as I'm new to android and the galaxy. We've always had iPhones up to this point, and wanted to try something different.

Battery Life-
I see many people are complaining about length of the battery. I'm also experiencing short battery life. About 12-14 hours a day seems to be average for both my wife and I. Maybe about 1.5 hours on the internet plus checking emails and a few apps. That's it. Seems like it should last longer than that. iPhone would go 1.5 to 2 days between charges with all options on and fairly heavy usage. Is this all I can expect to get from the battery?

Also, while using GPS and charging at the same time the battery still drains instead of increasing a charge. Is this normal?

USB connection in vehicle-
Specifically a 2013 Toyota Tacoma and a 2012 Acura TSX. While plugged into the USB, the vehicles don't recognize the phones as a device to play music. I can only use Blu tooth or aux cable to play. Would be nice to use the USB again so I can use the radio to switch through music instead of scrolling through the phone. Has anyone else had issues with their vehicles not recognizing the galaxy? If so, did your vehicle recognize previous galaxy phones?

 

[ffejjj]

Can't answer many Galaxy specific questions but my LG G3 won't play via usb either

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ibcop]

My wife and I recently bought S5's. I have a few questions, as I'm new to android and the galaxy. We've always had iPhones up to this point, and wanted to try something different.

Battery Life-
I see many people are complaining about length of the battery. I'm also experiencing short battery life. About 12-14 hours a day seems to be average for both my wife and I. Maybe about 1.5 hours on the internet plus checking emails and a few apps. That's it. Seems like it should last longer than that. iPhone would go 1.5 to 2 days between charges with all options on and fairly heavy usage. Is this all I can expect to get from the battery?

Also, while using GPS and charging at the same time the battery still drains instead of increasing a charge. Is this normal?

USB connection in vehicle-
Specifically a 2013 Toyota Tacoma and a 2012 Acura TSX. While plugged into the USB, the vehicles don't recognize the phones as a device to play music. I can only use Blu tooth or aux cable to play. Would be nice to use the USB again so I can use the radio to switch through music instead of scrolling through the phone. Has anyone else had issues with their vehicles not recognizing the galaxy? If so, did your vehicle recognize previous galaxy phones?

I have seen where the battery will actually decrease when using the GPS even though you are plugged in. The culprit is going to be the car charger - are you using one that you've had? I highly recommend you get a 2 amp charger and that will cure the drain. Older car chargers don't have enough "umph" to keep up. This is one for reference but you'll see what I mean:

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU3853085

I have a F150 with Sync and I have to switch between "user device" to get the USB to work. Your system may not have this option.

As far as your battery goes, there are many variables that come into play. What options are on, signal strength, screen brightness, screen timeout, etc. The S5 has a bigger screen to power and if the setting are jacked all the way up, your battery life will take a toll. I can get about 17-18 hours on a charge. While I really dislike having to cripple the device to get good battery life, sometimes you have to. I also use GSam Battery Monitor (https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm.pro&hl=en&token=p7Wx3Yat) you can also go into the settings menu and take a look at the battery consumption there.

 

[black_thorne]

Thanks for the replies and info. I'll have to try a different charger. The only one I have is the usb/charger cable that came with the phone.

 

[ibcop]

Thanks for the replies and info. I'll have to try a different charger. The only one I have is the usb/charger cable that came with the phone.

You're using the USB cable that came in the box (white cable) with a car plug?

 

[joe watson1]

Thanks for the replies and info. I'll have to try a different charger. The only one I have is the usb/charger cable that came with the phone.

It's probably not the cable but the charger itself.

 

[black_thorne]

Yes and no, to the question of usb to car charger. The white cable that came with the phone, but plugged into the USB of the truck. It also charges from there.

 

[joe watson1]

But is the USB of the truck rated at 2.1 amps?

 

[black_thorne]

I don't know what the usb output is. I'll end up getting a car charger for the phone.

I'm just going to use my iphone as an ipod for music and podcasts so I can use the stereo interface screen to scroll and choose options.

 

[joe watson1]

That's a good idea.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Regarding playing music through the USB port on your car: Unfortunately, a lot of manufacturers still assume everyone has an iPhone or iPod, and their in-car systems don't deal with other devices.

As far as battery life, as others have suggested the S5 has a MUCH bigger screen than the iPhone, which does use more juice. You might check out this post: Battery Life: Tips and Tricks – Part One - Samsung Update

Also, if you go into the phone's settings, and click on battery, it will show you a screen that indicates what apps are using the most battery. If you tap on the screen row, it'll tell you how much the screen has been on. With a brand new phone, you may be playing with it more than you realize. If you tap on the graph, it will show you some additional information.

If you do screen captures of those battery screens, and post them here, we can take a look and see if anything looks amiss. For the most accurate results, make sure you charge the phone to 100% and unplug the phone. (That resets the battery stats.) Then use the phone normally until the battery is down below 50%, or lower, and do the screen captures then.

 

[Chief G-Hawk]

I currently use this: http://www.spigen.com/accesories/sgp-compact-car-charger-kuel-p12q-c-series.html

It's rated at 2.0A (10W) and charges just fine. On long trips, it fully charges my phone and stays at 100%.

Looks like you need a better car charger.

 

[black_thorne]

Thanks for the info everyone. I'll get the screen shot tomorrow after work and post it.

 

[black_thorne]

I wanted to mention what I did in case anyone else has the same questions and searches.

I started force quiting all apps when done using them. I didn't realize this was needed, but it seems to be helping battery power. I turned off a motion home screen that I had. With normal use of the phone I seem to be getting a full day out of it. Which is much better than I was getting.

I ended up buying a car charger and that seems to charge much better than the usb port.