Yet another battery drain thread

[EMT3816]

Hi All, I'm sorry for creating another battery drain thread, but I'm getting to the end of my wits and am looking for help. I have a stock S5 on Verizon. Battery seems to drain relatively quickly. A little while ago I left my phone on a portable USB charger in my car while I was out eating. After reaching 100% the charger turned off. Within 40 minutes of the charger turning off, my phone was down to 92%.

I have 4 Gmail accounts set to Push, and an Outlook account (I'm guess it's Push only, there are no settings).

I own and use a Gear S2 Classic.

I tried attaching screenshots from GSAM, but I don't have enough points to post links. I do a cache wipe on a regular basis. I really hope someone can say "it's this" or "do this". I really don't want to do a factory reset but will if I need to.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[chennaite]

Try charging with another charger or data cable. Don't charge it for 100% for some days. If this doesn't work change your battery and look it for again.

 

[EMT3816]

Try charging with another charger or data cable.

It happens on and off regardless of which charger and cable I use - Anker charger at home with stock S5 cable, portable USB charger with charge only cable, or 2A car charger.

Don't charge it for 100% for some days. If this doesn't work change your battery and look it for again.

I guess this recalibrates the battery? I could give it a shot.

 

[EMT3816]

 

[EMT3816]

Yay, I can post links now!

I attached the GSAM logs from last night.

 

[can3gxw]

Can you post some screenshots of SETTINGS > BATTERY?

Let's see if there is more information there - one thing that WILL kill your battery is if you are not getting a strong cellular signal. If you're in a fringe area, your phone will be working harder, causing the battery drain.

 

[BlurryEyed]

Question - when you got the phone, what flavor of Android did it have initially? If you went 4.4 to 5.0 and are having battery drain issues, you need to factory reset.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[EMT3816]

Can you post some screenshots of SETTINGS > BATTERY?

Let's see if there is more information there - one thing that WILL kill your battery is if you are not getting a strong cellular signal. If you're in a fringe area, your phone will be working harder, causing the battery drain.

I'll post one when I get a chance for the phone to be idle.

There are times I am in fringe areas. I can usually compensate by turning mobile data off (if it actually works - I have a suspicion the data doesn't turn off)

Question - when you got the phone, what flavor of Android did it have initially? If you went 4.4 to 5.0 and are having battery drain issues, you need to factory reset.

Posted via the Android Central App

It had 4.4, maybe even the version before that. I did perform a factory reset after going to 5.0.

 

[can3gxw]

There are times I am in fringe areas. I can usually compensate by turning mobile data off (if it actually works - I have a suspicion the data doesn't turn off)

Turning off the data helps a bit, but it's the cellular radio that sucks the power dry when you have a crappy signal. I was also incomplete on my instructions above - I missed one step.

Settings > Battery > Tap on the battery graph itself to see a breakdown - your mobile network signal should be at the top of the list. If it's green across, then you're good. The more yellow and red that you see means your signal is low and the phone is working harder to maintain a cell connection. It really has nothing to do with the data, it's the connection to the towers. Good luck!

 

[EMT3816]

 

[ColbyJvonBrown]

Your signal could definitely be better. But I once had that issue on a S5 after upgrading to 5.0. It turned out to be a SD Card that wasn't working correctly. So I moved everything from the SD Card onto a computer, formated on the SD Card in the phone, then reset the phone. After that I restored everything to the SD Card, and restored the phone. And it's worked fine ever since. Try giving that a shot if you have a SD Card?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[EMT3816]

Your signal could definitely be better.

Yeah, unfortunately I have no control over that.

But I once had that issue on a S5 after upgrading to 5.0. It turned out to be a SD Card that wasn't working correctly. So I moved everything from the SD Card onto a computer, formated on the SD Card in the phone, then reset the phone. After that I restored everything to the SD Card, and restored the phone. And it's worked fine ever since. Try giving that a shot if you have a SD Card?

I do have an SD card. You said you reset and restored the phone, I'm guessing you did a factory reset? I can definitely try formatting the SD card as I can fully back that up without issue, but I really, really don't want to do a factory reset.

I guess my biggest concern is how "awake" my phone is when I'm not using it. Android System and Android OS are almost always the top two consumers on the list.

 

[BlurryEyed]

How old is the phone? Considered a new battery? I got one off Amazon for around $12

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(1017475)]

I've followed these tips below to have pretty good battery life on my device:

Location Services and Bluetooth: toggle on when needed.

I've found that the drain from Spotify, TuneIn and Amazon Kindle, even when not in use is significant.

Limit Facebook notifications to only those really necessary if you have the app installed on your device at all. SOME of these can only be controlled from the UI on the actual PC/Mac website (i.e. from your friends page, only get notifications from posts from a handful of friends...if you're getting notifications from hundreds of friends posts during the course of a day...you're battery is going to be toast.)

Use something other than the default Samsung music player. I cant put a finger on it...but other things are going on even when the app is not in use. Believe it or not, I've had great luck with Amazon Music...I'm a Prime member and I'm pleased with the Prime Music selections/downloads and pre-configured playlists. Plus I like the UI for music stored locally too.

Google account sync settings...this can get expensive re: battery. I have App Data, Calendar, Contacts Gmail, People Details and Photos Backup turned on; and Photos Backup will only sync while on wifi.

Google Play Store settings: I have auto-update apps and notify when app updates are available turned off. I can manually visit the Play Store and update apps when I want.

Web Browsers: A lot of people are big fans of Chrome, but I pass due to its font rendering and readability for some sites along with its memory overhead. I liked Dolphin but again...there is a lot going on in the background there too. I've been going back and forth with the Samsung browser and Opera.

Be wary of what I'll call junk apps or just poorly optimized apps. IMO apps such Words with Friends, Clean Master, and the like are just poorly written and are big drainers...even when not actively in use. I throw Instagram, Google Messenger, BBC News and Weather Channel into this category too.

Package Disabler Pro. If you can't root (I have a SM-G900A) just pony up the couple bucks and get it. I've disabled all ATT and Samsung bloat this way. See below for my disabled apks on my device:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<importExportSetting>
-<disabledPackages class="java.util.ArrayList">
<string>com.monotype.android.font.rosemary</string>
<string>com.matchboxmobile.wisp</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.galaxyfinder</string>
<string>com.drivemode</string>
<string>com.vlingo.midas</string>
<string>com.osp.app.signin</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.sdk.spenv10</string>
<string>com.att.android.digitallocker</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.withtv</string>
<string>com.telenav.app.android.cingular</string>
<string>com.infraware.polarisoffice5</string>
<string>com.sec.android.widgetapp.easymodecontactswidget</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.samsungapps</string>
<string>com.sec.android.widgetapp.activeapplicationwidget</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.billing</string>
<string>com.dsi.ant.service.socket</string>
<string>com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.yahoo.att</string>
<string>com.sec.android.directconnect</string>
<string>com.samsung.SMT</string>
<string>com.samsung.dcm</string>
<string>com.mobitv.client.tv</string>
<string>net.aetherpal.device</string>
<string>com.dsi.ant.sample.acquirechannels</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.sdk.samsunglink</string>
<string>com.sec.android.widgetapp.dualclockdigital</string>
<string>com.yellowpages.android.ypmobile</string>
<string>com.sec.android.pagebuddynotisvc</string>
<string>com.sec.android.widgetapp.ap.hero.accuweather</string>
<string>com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.mail.att</string>
<string>com.asurion.android.mobilerecovery.att</string>
<string>com.dsi.ant.plugins.antplus</string>
<string>com.sec.kidsplat.installer</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.sounddetector</string>
<string>com.att.android.mobile.attmessages</string>
<string>com.sec.spp.push</string>
<string>com.dsi.ant.server</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.allshare.service.fileshare</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.sns3</string>
<string>flipboard.boxer.app</string>
<string>com.monotype.android.font.chococooky</string>
<string>com.sec.android.service.health</string>
<string>com.ipsec.vpnclient</string>
<string>com.android.noisefield</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.beaconmanager</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.FileShareClient</string>
<string>com.sec.android.app.shealth</string>
<string>com.sec.android.emergencylauncher</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.watchmanagerstub</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.app.FileShareServer</string>
<string>com.sec.android.widget.samsungapps</string>
<string>com.samsung.groupcast</string>
<string>com.monotype.android.font.cooljazz</string>
<string>com.sec.msc.nts.android.proxy</string>
<string>com.samsung.android.sconnect</string>
</disabledPackages>
</importExportSetting>

If the above pointers are all fails for you...go thru the motions...backup everything you want to keep...and do a FDR and then revisit the pointers above.

 

[EMT3816]

The phone is about a year old. I might try getting another battery.

Regarding Location and Bluetooth: With my job, my parents tend to worry, so we use Life360 to track where we all are. I had the drain before using that, so I'm thinking its not that. I have a Samsung Gear S2, so I need the bluetooth on for the watch to work.

I use Spotify as my music player in the car (usually plugged in), and I also use Kindle. Shame they are battery hogs, but I'm not giving up either.

I did just see on another post about the Outlook app using a lot of battery. I am using that as well. I don't like that there isn't any way to change the sync settings on it. I may try uninstalling it and see if that helps.