Why is my battery life so bad?

[mggopher]

OK, I'm going to humble myself and ask for help here and on XDA. This is my 4th day with the phone on Sprint, and my battery life absolutely sucks. 2.5 SoT maximum. The second I take it off the charger in the morning, it starts plummeting. I've tried lots of tweaks: WiFi calling and scanning off, WiFi off when sleeping, auto brightness (usually very low), location on GPS only, location history off. Was worried LTE signal was the issue, so I switched my radio to CDMA only. My M7 was fine, and my wife's iPhone 6 is fine, but I'm trying that as well. I hate to be melodramatic, but this is breaking my heart. I LOVE the phone other than this. It's my 7th (?) Android, but I'm so close to returning it.

*By the way, I restarted at about 83% this morning when I switched from LTE to CDMA, so that's the discrepancy with use time. But essentially, I took it off the charger at 7:45 am, and it's now 3:30 pm at 20%. Over 10% an hour with light use. Help?

*Edit: Obviously took the app sucker photo later...30 min later, and down 7% more :-(

 

[Owen Kim]

OK, I'm going to humble myself and ask for help here and on XDA. This is my 4th day with the phone on Sprint, and my battery life absolutely sucks. 2.5 SoT maximum. The second I take it off the charger in the morning, it starts plummeting. I've tried lots of tweaks: WiFi calling and scanning off, WiFi off when sleeping, auto brightness (usually very low), location on GPS only, location history off. Was worried LTE signal was the issue, so I switched my radio to CDMA only. My M7 was fine, and my wife's iPhone 6 is fine, but I'm trying that as well. I hate to be melodramatic, but this is breaking my heart. I LOVE the phone other than this. It's my 7th (?) Android, but I'm so close to returning it.

*By the way, I restarted at about 83% this morning when I switched from LTE to CDMA, so that's the discrepancy with use time. But essentially, I took it off the charger at 7:45 am, and it's now 3:30 pm at 20%. Over 10% an hour with light use. Help?

View attachment 173104View attachment 173105View attachment 173106

I'm using Sprint as well and also have battery issues, but your seem to be too much. Try getting a replacement

 

[erasat]

OK, I'm going to humble myself and ask for help here and on XDA. This is my 4th day with the phone on Sprint, and my battery life absolutely sucks. 2.5 SoT maximum. The second I take it off the charger in the morning, it starts plummeting. I've tried lots of tweaks: WiFi calling and scanning off, WiFi off when sleeping, auto brightness (usually very low), location on GPS only, location history off. Was worried LTE signal was the issue, so I switched my radio to CDMA only. My M7 was fine, and my wife's iPhone 6 is fine, but I'm trying that as well. I hate to be melodramatic, but this is breaking my heart. I LOVE the phone other than this. It's my 7th (?) Android, but I'm so close to returning it.

*By the way, I restarted at about 83% this morning when I switched from LTE to CDMA, so that's the discrepancy with use time. But essentially, I took it off the charger at 7:45 am, and it's now 3:30 pm at 20%. Over 10% an hour with light use. Help?

*Edit: Obviously took the app sucker photo later...30 min later, and down 7% more :-(

View attachment 173104View attachment 173106View attachment 173108

As I can see in those screenshots, your phone has been awake more than a Third of the time since unplugged, so you should check the battery Stats that comes with the phone, maybe you will easily see there what app or service is keeping awake your phone, also, click on the App usage on GSAM and see if you find the app in there. GSAM also has a feature that tells you the Wakelock, so that's another way.

Other than that, and seeing that you already have done your part on tweaks, I'd suggest to try a Wipe Cache Partition on recovery Mode, and do a full charge after that and see what it does, if still the same do a Full backup with Samsung's Smart Switch for PC and then just go to Recovery mode and do a Wipe Data/Factory reset, then after the reboot and when it ask you to restore from a previous device say no and set it as a new device, then once you set the initial stuff do a Restore of the Smart Switch backup plus disable the Scanning Always available and Smart Network and other stuff you have already done and know you don't need.

Also, go to your Google Accounts and be sure that you are just syncing the Google Services and apps you use, everything is on by default and obviously not necessary if you don't need them, see if after that it gets better, it should, if not, get a replacement.

 

[jstkdn]

So, I performed a master reset last night since tomorrow is day 14 and the end of my return period. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 Plus, so I know I'm spoiled by battery. My question is "is this normal?"

I'm on AT&T. I have not disabled enhanced LTE, but I did the WiFi modifications that are supposed go help with battery life. Should I give up and return this or suck it up and realize it's not as bad as I feel it is?

 

[droidguy1964]

So, I performed a master reset last night since tomorrow is day 14 and the end of my return period. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 Plus, so I know I'm spoiled by battery. My question is "is this normal?"

I'm on AT&T. I have not disabled enhanced LTE, but I did the WiFi modifications that are supposed go help with battery life. Should I give up and return this or suck it up and realize it's not as bad as I feel it is?

If that's the best that it's going to do I would give up, that's not good at all.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[erasat]

So, I performed a master reset last night since tomorrow is day 14 and the end of my return period. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 Plus, so I know I'm spoiled by battery. My question is "is this normal?"

I'm on AT&T. I have not disabled enhanced LTE, but I did the WiFi modifications that are supposed go help with battery life. Should I give up and return this or suck it up and realize it's not as bad as I feel it is?

If that's after the reset, then, you still have something else affecting your Cell Standby, and that's part of your draining issue. I know some people will disagree here but your Display Brightness is taking it's toll also, I know that most of people will have your exact settings, around 50% and in Auto, but remember having it in Auto will definitely hit the battery as it is constantly adjusting the brightness to compensate for the light. I'd suggest you to lower a little more your brightness, if that's the lowest you can go, fine, but then, definitely don't use Auto, when you go outdoors then use the auto brightness if you need it, but not all the time.

About the Enhanced LTE, I can't really tell you as people have posted results with both on and off and some say it's better off and some that it doesn't do anything, in my case, T-mobile definitely there's something wrong when Wifi calling and VoLTE is on all the time, because the only day that I have seen the CelL Standby and saw some unexpected drain was when the Wifi calling for some unknown reason turned on by itself, I discovered it when I was looking for the unexpected drain and Cell standby usage, as soon as I turned it off, it hasn't come back and my battery has been just like it has been since day 1.

I'd try some of this today, if you still don't like results, try luck with a replacement, but definitely don't keep it if it's not working as expected.

 

[stevelam]

About the times you quoted...
I work nights. That is my usage during my awake times. My usage is drastically far more intensive them anything you do on your phone. Above all, the latest software screen shots are with nothing turned off. Nothing crippled. In fact, with some things added that was not on by default.

No one wants you to cripple your phone. I won't for mine. Why should you. Sadly, you're too funny to even know that you are wrong about my battery life. Others have proven you wrong too with thier screen shots. Wrong is wrong. And got are wrong on this. You've proven nothing but that your mad. Grow up.

Your battery life was bad because your carrier messed up some part of the software, and the rest is Google's fault. If it is worse than most, then you got a lemon. But on AT&T and most other carriers the phone has great battery life.

Posted via the Android Central App

So tired of hearing these lame excuses. Oh its the carriers fault. Oh its googles fault. Oh its the app developers fault. Oh its the users fault for not turning off a bunch of services.

 

[mggopher]

As I can see in those screenshots, your phone has been awake more than a Third of the time since unplugged, so you should check the battery Stats that comes with the phone, maybe you will easily see there what app or service is keeping awake your phone, also, click on the App usage on GSAM and see if you find the app in there. GSAM also has a feature that tells you the Wakelock, so that's another way.

Other than that, and seeing that you already have done your part on tweaks, I'd suggest to try a Wipe Cache Partition on recovery Mode, and do a full charge after that and see what it does, if still the same do a Full backup with Samsung's Smart Switch for PC and then just go to Recovery mode and do a Wipe Data/Factory reset, then after the reboot and when it ask you to restore from a previous device say no and set it as a new device, then once you set the initial stuff do a Restore of the Smart Switch backup plus disable the Scanning Always available and Smart Network and other stuff you have already done and know you don't need.

Also, go to your Google Accounts and be sure that you are just syncing the Google Services and apps you use, everything is on by default and obviously not necessary if you don't need them, see if after that it gets better, it should, if not, get a replacement.

Thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm feeling so desperate that ANY help at all feels like a drink in the desert, lol! I think I'm going to take the leap and factory reset. I'll set it up as a totally fresh device and hope that helps.

 

[erasat]

Thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm feeling so desperate that ANY help at all feels like a drink in the desert, lol! I think I'm going to take the leap and factory reset. I'll set it up as a totally fresh device and hope that helps.

Best of luck to you, I hope that it gets finally fixed for you.

 

[Nidwow]

I am on AT&T.

I did everything suggested on these forums except disable some junks that came with the phone. Just got this one yesterday, didn't have time to do all that yet.

Here is my 1 day old 64GB S6 first battery cycle. Normally I don't use the phone much, I just want to see how far I can push it.

I'm sure the battery will improve in a few cycles.

 

[erasat]

So tired of hearing these lame excuses. Oh its the carriers fault. Oh its googles fault. Oh its the app developers fault. Oh its the users fault for not turning off a bunch of services.

Man, I've been trying to refrain from posting in your ever lasting complaints, our memory is not short, you were here bashing the S6 even before most of us had the phone, hell even before it was released, always comparing to the iPhone, but you know, give it a rest now, just go to your carrier and return the phone that I don't know why you got because it was so obvious you had an agenda since way before. Saying that the Browser had an issue with redrawing pages, as far as I can see nobody else has mentioned this, talking about stutter and lags even before people had their phones, talking about Demo units or reviews with pre release software on it, I even remember that you said that because of that you will look elsewhere, then why you bought it?, and now that you bought it, why haven't you even try to see if the issue you have can be fixed like the majority of people here that have tried one or various of the possible solutions? Where are your battery stats screenshots showing your faulty device?

You bought a phone with a 2550mAh moving a QHD display not the crappy iPhone's "Retina Display" running Lollipop 5.0.1 version that EVERYBODY know that it has lot of bugs, and most of them affecting battery with the Wakelocks, so what else were you expecting, really? I'm not a Samsung fanboy, I've had 6 phones in the last 12 months, Galaxy S5, LG G3, Sony Xperia Z3, Note 4, OnePlus One and now the Galaxy S6 edge, so when something is wrong is wrong, but it's obvious when people come here with their agendas, that indeed gets old, and me as most of the rest here are tired of it.

Again, when the phone is working as it should and I 'm sure that as Samsung expected when designed it, it gives great battery life, 5-6 SoT for a normal user, and that it's even better when you take in consideration the small battery and the Highest specs. When the phone has some of the bugs that people are already aware of, then it can get seriously bad, but that's what this forums are for, you either do something about it and try to fix it, or return it if you don't want to wait for a permanent fix. In your case, please do all of us a favor and return yours, yesterday was Instagram, today is battery and tomorrow you'll find something else to complain about, just like you are doing since the last week of March.

I rarely gets involved in this nonsense online discussion, but come on, we are not stupid, you had a problem since way before it was released, you have been saying forever that the iphone is better basically in every department, so I can't keep quiet while people with obvious agendas come to this forums that are suppose to help people with real interest on the phone, and just bash and bash but never seem to do something about it, again, please do yourself and the rest of us a favor and return your phone and go back to your iPhone, you surely enjoy it a lot more.

 

[Ken Allen3]

Man, I'm already frustrated with some users here, we try our best to collect as much info as possible to try to look for a fix as a community and there are people that don't participate, look for their selfish attitude and even criticize those that come here to provide hints or solutions to their problems.

First thing I do when I buy a new device (7 in the past 12 months) is to let it run with my personalized settings and Bloat removed or disabled and that gives me an idea of what that device is capable of in relation to battery, then I may or may not do some more tweaks here or there to try to accomplish what I want. Pretending to buy a device, leave every possible features or options ON all the time, syncing everything possible in all the accounts and then complaints about poor life on a 2550-2600mAh battery device with a QHD display is totally nonsense to me. Yes, it maybe a bug with Wifi that is causing havoc, but the only way to know if you have a device affected by it or not is adjusting and turning things off so you should know for sure what it is.

You should have known better before buying it, and the fact that this phone is giving to a lot of us more than 5 hours and up to 6 hours of SoT is the proof of what this device is capable of, if yours is not giving you that, you may have a rogue app, defective device or your usage and/or personal preferences related to brightness and features and options On will make this and any other device suffer in this department and sorry my friends but if this is your case then there is nobody else's fault but yours, you couldn't pretend to achieve better battery life than the 5-6 SoT of us or whatever you are getting if you are a heavy user and/or your settings and preferences won't allow for similar results, you should have opted for a Phablet or something like the Xperia Z3 with Huge batteries and in the case of the Z3, great optimization in Standby mode for better battery life.

One thing you must accept even when you hate or simply criticize Samsung and the S6, is that if they give us 5-6 SoT in a device with a 2550-2600 mAh battery on a QHD display with one of the thinnest and lightest bezel, they managed to designed a wonderful device with even greater potential once the bugs are all figured it out and fixed.

AGREE totally. I'm easily getting 5hrs SOT with over 16hrs uptime. I haven't everything disabled cause I USE my phone. I DO however, have it optimised for my usage. I browse twitter, FB, news etc, use WhatsApp, play some pool, stream to my chromecast.
Anyone blaming the S6 and hardware for being sub Par here clearly has a defective device. Go get it changed peeps.

 

[Adranalyne]

Man, I've been trying to refrain from posting in your ever lasting complaints, our mind is not short, you were here bashing the S6 even before most of us had the phone, hell even before it was released, always comparing to the iPhone, but you know, give it a rest now, just go to your carrier and return the phone that I don't know why you got because it was so obvious you had an agenda since way before. Saying that the Browser had an issue with redrawing pages, as far as I can see nobody else has mentioned this, talking about stutter and lags even before people had their phones, talking about Demo units or reviews with pre release software on it, I even remember that you said that because of that you will look elsewhere, then why you bought it?, and now that you bought it, why haven't you even try to see if the issue you have can be fixed like the majority of people here that have tried one or various of the possible solutions? Where are your battery stats screenshots showing your faulty device?

You bought a phone with a 2550mAh moving a QHD display not the crappy iPhone's "Retina Display" running Lollipop 5.0.1 version that EVERYBODY know that it has lot of bugs, and most of them affecting battery with the Wakelocks, so what else were you expecting, really? I'm not a Samsung fanboy, I've had 6 phones in the last 12 months, Galaxy S5, LG G3, Sony Xperia Z3, Note 4, OnePlus One and now the Galaxy S6 edge, so when something is wrong is wrong, but it's obvious when people come here with their Agendas, and that indeed gets old, and I'm and most of us are tired of it.

Again, when the phone is working as it should and I 'm sure that as Samsung expected when designed it, it gives great battery life, 5-6 SoT for a normal user, and that it's even better when you take in consideration the small battery and the Highest specs. When the phone has some of the bugs that people are already aware of, then it can get seriously bad, but that's what this forums are for, you either do something about it and try to fix it, or return it if you don't want to wait for a permanent fix. In your case, please do all of us a favor and return yours, yesterday was Instagram, today is battery and tomorrow you'll find something else to complain about., just like you are doing since the last week of March.

I rarely gets involved in this nonsense online discussion, but come on, we are not stupid, you had a problem since way before it was released, you have been saying forever that the iphone is better in every department basically, so I can't keep quiet while people with obvious agendas come to this forums that are suppose to help people with real interest on the phone, and just bash and bash but never seem to do something about it, again, please do yourself and the rest of us a favor and return your phone and go back to your iPhone, you surely enjoy it a lot more.

You beat me to this. I was just about to call him out for this iPhone/S6 nonsense. Enough is enough, man. You don't like the phone or like the iPhone 6 much better. This phone absolutely destroys the iPhone, but you have your preferences. Return it, if you even have it, and go back to your iPhone.

Posted via Galaxy S6 edge

 

[Techno-guy]

This thread, and all the others like it, are so depressing. The S6 is such an utterly terrific phone in so many ways. But Google, through Android Lollipop, has burdened it with massive battery issues, mostly inexcusable standby drain, which is spoiling the experience for so many.

Next Monday, I will have owned my S6 for a month (I was a T-Mobile first day pre-release) with no true Lollipop drain fix in sight. I still have my iPhone 6 Plus and I can tell you on days I bring my 6 Plus to my office, my mind is so much more at ease with no worries about changing this setting, modifying that setting, cache refreshing, Factory Resetting, runaway apps, out of control Google Services, etc. It might drain 1-2% all day on WiFi if i don't use it, and even using it quite a bit lets me go home with 90% battery left.

Apple has somehow figured out how to sandbox all these battery draining apps, but yet every single one of the apps still works - I still have Google updating all of its services, Microsoft services humming along, Facebook, Twitter, even WiFi calling, etc. It's perplexing why Google doesn't address these issues in Android, still leaving the tremendous flexibility and features that Android has brought to the table. And, frankly, Android's own services seem to be the biggest battery hog of all in Standby.

Google NEEDS to address this for the S6 and all the other phones plagued by these Lollipop drain issues. I'm reading about this all over the Forums. What a travesty that Samsung built such an amazing phone only to have so many people constantly worrying over battery issues.

 

[Adranalyne]

This thread, and all the others like it, are so depressing. The S6 is such an utterly terrific phone in so many ways. But Google, through Android Lollipop, has burdened it with massive battery issues, mostly inexcusable standby drain, which is spoiling the experience for so many.

Next Monday, I will have owned by S6 for a month (I was a T-Mobile first day pre-release) with no true Lollipop drain fix in sight. I still have my iPhone 6 Plus and I can tell you on days I bring my 6 Plus to my office, my mind is so much more at ease with no worries about changing this setting, modifying that setting, cache refreshing, Factory Resetting, runaway apps, out of control Google Services, etc. It might drain 1-2% all day on WiFi if i don't use it, and even using it quite a bit lets me go home with 90% battery left.

Apple has somehow figured out how to sandbox all these battery draining apps, but yet every single one of the apps still works - I still have Google updating all of its services, Microsoft services humming along, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It's perplexing why Google doesn't address these issues in Android, still leaving the tremendous flexibility and features that Android has brought to the table. And, frankly, Android's own services seem to be the biggest battery hog of all in Standby.

Google NEEDS to address this for the S6 and all the other phones plagued by these Lollipop drain issues. I'm reading about this all over the Forums. What a travesty that Samsung built such an amazing phone only to have so many people constantly worrying over battery issues.

The fact that you can literally charge it for 20 minutes and get 40-50% back more than makes up for this right now. It does need to be fixed, but if history serves, it will be.

Posted via Galaxy S6 edge

 

[warpdrive]

Thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm feeling so desperate that ANY help at all feels like a drink in the desert, lol! I think I'm going to take the leap and factory reset. I'll set it up as a totally fresh device and hope that helps.

Sometimes it's just a bad phone. So if it doesn't help just bring it back and get a new one. Good luck

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[DavidTechGuy]

Many people are having battery drainage on Lollipop on other devices, too...

 

[Techno-guy]

The fact that you can literally charge it for 20 minutes and get 40-50% back more than makes up for this right now. It does need to be fixed, but if history serves, it will be.

Posted via Galaxy S6 edge

I really hope you're right and Google pays attention and gets a fix out soon for all Lollipop users. You can hear the pain from so many people that are having issues, especially for a phone as popular and important for Android (the S6) gets more widely released.

 

[Adranalyne]

I really hope you're right and Google pays attention and gets a fix out soon for all Lollipop users. You can hear the pain from so many people that are having issues, especially as a phone as popular and important for Android as the S6 gets more widely released.

Considering my experience with the S6 Edge so far, the ceiling for battery life is pretty decent on this phone. It'll never be the type of performer the Note 4 is due to the battery size, but the efficiency of the hardware is pretty impressive. Add in the fact that I can charge this for a short period of time and gain substantial battery back, it's not all bad. Plus all the wireless charging capabilities. It's not a bad alternative.

Posted via Galaxy S6 edge

 

[stevelam]

You beat me to this. I was just about to call him out for this iPhone/S6 nonsense. Enough is enough, man. You don't like the phone or like the iPhone 6 much better. This phone absolutely destroys the iPhone, but you have your preferences. Return it, if you even have it, and go back to your iPhone.

Posted via Galaxy S6 edge

This isn't about preference. This is about performance. Im merely comparing the two since then iPhone is what im used to. Not my fault there's so many faults with lollipop, android app developers and whatever carrier issues everyone is trying to place their blame on.