New to android / Z3 so after general advice

[geordieninja]

Hi guys first post,
My contract was due an upgrade so I moved to android with the new Z3 and I am very happy. The phone seems all round a solid choice and initially very stable. Where I come unstuck is on general set up - what should be set to on or off so as to ensure I'm maxing the much announced battery life.
I have it set to sync, GPS is on, lifelog is on and have accepted all the Google content as and when I have opened them. Generally Bluetooth is switched off but I'm not sure what should/should not be on?
I'd say I'm an average user with a combination of browsing streaming downloading listening to music taking photos..... Oh and nearly forgot making calls
I take the phone off charge around 6.30 am and if stamina is off it shows 16hrs ( 1 day 1 hour standby expected) and with stamina on it shows 1 day 16hrs (2 days 10 hours in standby expected) is this OK?
So since 6.30 today battery has been on stamina with battery discharging at 65% to this point, having been on for around 11.5hrs - screen on time about 1hrs 50 Walkman on for 1hrs 45, 15 mins of calls and some pics.
I used it the other day quite heavily for browsing and at 52 % was about 3.5hrs screen on time.
I would have uploaded the screen pics but don't know how lol.....or how to read the lines under battery usage section . I suppose what is asking is this about right? I am happy with this but don't really know how it should be configured and what norm looks like.

Thanks guys

 

[Roy Droid]

Welcome to the forum. User "pchain" had a helpful post on maximizing battery life. Although, it's regarding the Z3v on Verizon, the info is useful and could be applied to the Z3 as well.

Sony Xperia Z3v Battery Life Advice:

So below are some of the key things to check if you're not getting the battery life you would like from the Z3v. It is actually how I have my phone set up right now and I've never gotten less than 8 hours of Screen Time. Averaging about 9 hours screen time overall. I've gotten as much as 11 hours of screen time. I charge nightly so I don't need two days, but I tested the longevity once and got 42 uptime hours with 7 hrs 12 minutes screen time. I know several Turbo owners that aren't getting that much. It probably has to do with settings which many of the things I lay out below would apply to Turbo users and any other Android users as well. All of this is my own experience and your mileage may vary depending on your type of usage.

1. Factory Reset: The first thing I do when I get a new phone - even if it's straight out of the box - is to do a factory reset. This way you can be 100% sure you are starting with a clean slate. Some testing may have been done with your phone or someone at the store played with it and you just don't know if any settings were changed. Is this step necessary, no, but it could possibly fix an issue you'll never figure on your own after you set things up.

2. Turn the phone completely off, and charge it to 100% with the OEM cord and power block that came with the device. This was something I was dubious about working until I had an issue and tried it for myself and it improved things dramatically. It's easy - just do it. Apparently the theory is the device cannot accurately read the battery level, so by powering it off and then charging it until it's at 100%, then powering it back on, it will reset and know exactly where 100% really is. Basically recalibrating itself.

3. Disable Verizon apps. When using the phone for the first time you will be asked for several Verizon apps to be launched, connected, and activated. Unless you know ahead of time that there is something you need, say no. Just say no. You can always go back later and enable those that you think you need, but initially say no. Go into Settings > Application Manager > and select the Verizon apps you want to disable, then select disable. It may ask you if you want uninstall updates and restore to factory settings - that's perfectly fine. I personally don't use and have disabled Verizon Cloud, Verizon Message+, Verizon Support & Protection, and VZ Navigator.

4. Disable Amazon App Suite plus any other Amazon apps you know you won't use. The Amazon App Suite is a battery hog - disable it immediately. I still use Kindle, and the Amazon app, and the Amazon app store only when I need it, but have disabled Amazon Music and a few other Amazon apps. But that Amazon App Suite killed my Z3v battery.

5. If you don't use an app, disable it. Some would argue why should I have to do this? Well, you don't have to, but why wouldn't you if they were using battery? Some things I have noticed that I don't use a dedicated app for and to watch out for are:
> Facebook app - If you really like it great, keep it but know that the app will take some juice. I just use the mobile site to read general wall postings etc. For messages I just use the Facebook Messenger app. (I'm only a casual Facebook user at best)
> Google+ app - If you really like it great, keep it but know that the app will take some juice: I pretty much never use Google+ except for forums now and then - and then I just go to the mobile website. I don't use it often enough for the battery it takes.
> Audible app - For some reason this app really eats battery on my Z3v. I don't listen to books on my phone so I disabled it - problem solved.
> Google Currents - this has been known to drain battery in conjunction with high MediaServer usage.
> Google Play Books - I use Kindle so I've disabled this one.

6. NFC - turn it on only as you need it. Why have it on unnecessarily if you're not using it? It takes juice.

7. Bluetooth - turn it on only as you need it. Why have it on unnecessarily if you're not using it. It takes juice.

8. Location: I leave this on all the time with high accuracy. If you become desperate for battery life use the stamina modes or airplane mode or turn this off (just remember to turn it back on later)

9. WiFi Advanced Options: Go to settings > WiFi > Advanced Options (3 dots lower right hand corner). Uncheck all boxes EXCEPT WiFi Optimization "minimize battery usage when WiFi is turned on". Make sure this is checked.

10: Mobile Network Mode: If you are on Verizon exclusively, there's absolutely no reason to have all global radios turned on. Change your mobile network mode to LTE/CDMA only. The phone comes defaulted to Global. Go to Settings > More > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > select LTE/CDMA

11: Xperia Connectivity: Turn off anything you may have turned on that you don't use. Use on demand only. Go to Settings > Xperia Connectivity > run through all the settings to make sure everything is off if not being used.

12. Live Wallpaper: Live wallpaper is cool. It also takes a little juice. Keep it if you really like your live wallpaper.

13: Things to keep in mind: Using video camera, camera, and voice calls, and intensive video games will drain batter relatively quick compared to other apps.

14: WiFi and Unlimited Plans: I have a grandfathered unlimited plan with Verizon. Because of this I have learned that I get better battery life keeping WiFi off altogether. I'm in a fairly low LTE reception area - 105-110 dbm, but my connection is strong enough where it's faster than my home WiFi. I don't need to worry about how much data I use so the only time I use WIFI is when there is no LTE reception. I know I'm a minority in this respect, but I needed to mention this as it does seem to affect battery life.

15 Reboot your phone every once in awhile. This should be obvious, but just do it.

Some of the above may seem obvious, some of it not. But either way I hope it helps! It certainly has worked great for me!

One other note: Mediaserver! There are a multitude of things that may cause mediaserver to kill your battery. Mediaserver basically indexes everything for easy retrieval. Sometimes files, apps, pictures, songs, videos, etc corrupt and messes with Mediaserver. There can be a lot of trial and error to determine what's going on. Things I would check:
1) SD Card. if you're using an SD card I would make sure it was formatted for the phone before using it.
2) Check your pictures... I've seen it where sometimes a picture can corrupt and all you see in a gallery is a black image. Delete it.
3) Trial and error by app - see which app it's tied to. Could be anything. Ugh.
4) Many people give up and do a factory reset, then add things back one at a time over time to figure out what is causing the mediaserver battery drain. My own experience is that I jump to a factory reset right away. I'm about 50/50 in solving this. It happens on all makes and models of Android phones.

 

[geordieninja]

Hi,
Thanks for that.
I have reset everything and went through the new install, I also switched off and charged fully as pchain said. I went into the app manager and disabled or removed Facebook and Amazon suite etc. I also changed the setting on Google services from highly accurate and selected the option which relied on WiFi not GPS and wifi, but I have left sync on and location is selected in my quick launch menu.
Another noob question and one which has me confused is, does it take the handset a few days to adjust and give you an accurate battery estimation?, as since I have reset it without stamina on it went from 16hr to 2 days 8hr and with it on from 1 day 16hrs to 4 day 16hrs. The reason I ask is that I reset it a few days after I first got it and saw a similar change, and apart from adding a few already installed widgets to my home screen and general use nothing else has really changed on either occasion to see such a change, so I'm wondering if the initial longer duration shown is just a generic estimation and the latter an accurate one once the handset gets to know your habits?
If you could advise me please as I am really confused by this.

Thanks guys

 

[Rukbat]

Another noob question and one which has me confused is, does it take the handset a few days to adjust and give you an accurate battery estimation?

Yes to the first, no to the second.

It takes a new ROM (or even a new update usually) a few days to "settle in" and stop using a lot of battery and data. However, there's no "adjusting" for battery charge level indication - it's determined by the voltage at th battery terminals. (It's not the best way to determine charge in a lithium battery, but a chemical analyzer would be a lot larger and heavier than the whole phone.)

, as since I have reset it without stamina on it went from 16hr to 2 days 8hr and with it on from 1 day 16hrs to 4 day 16hrs.

I'm assuming you mean from fully charged to pretty well discharged. That's a no-no, if you want to keep the battery for a while. See Battery University - How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries,

so I'm wondering if the initial longer duration shown is just a generic estimation and the latter an accurate one once the handset gets to know your habits?

No, it's a change in how the battery is working. The phone doesn't "estimate" the amount of charge in the battery, it assumes a particular voltage to charge curve (one that's pretty much the same for all batteries of the type used in the phone) and expresses the voltage in terms of percent of charge. If you keep records of battery voltage and indicated charge for a while, then drew a graph, you could look at the voltage and the graph would tell you the amount of charge left - and that number should be within a percent or two of what the phone says.