Epic 4G Touch Battery Life is Terrible

Ricolando

Well-known member
Aug 31, 2010
157
4
0
Visit site
I have Exchange Activsync with the default settings and I'd call my battery life stellar. I've had it set since day one so I can't measure it against a baseline.
 

Cobravision

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2010
1,271
40
48
Visit site
do this test for me ..browse on your phone for 3 minutes straight and i guarantee that the phone will lose 4% in battery charge ..I guarantee it
I browsed for 4 minutes and lost 1%. It's probably less than 1% since it was at 85% for a while before I started my timer. It was nytimes.com in case you're wondering.

Do I win anything?
 

jazzmanx33

Active member
Oct 3, 2011
31
1
0
Visit site
UPDATE - 3:01PM EST, 10/10/11

The phone has been off the charger for a little more than 1 hr using the above settings, and after minimal use (checking my test emails sent to my Gmail and Exchange accounts and of course checking the battery) the phone is at 95%. I'll let it go a bit longer to see if I see any ramp up in the battery drain.

Does this seem right to you all?
 

oskar1995

Well-known member
Aug 9, 2011
341
20
0
Visit site
While 4% would be considered a godsend after my Evo 4G with Gingerbread, I think that is a tad high for the E4GT. I would really be looking for something in the 1-2% per hour range. Experiences certainly vary but I wouldn't expect more than 2% per hour if you don't touch it.
 

jazzmanx33

Active member
Oct 3, 2011
31
1
0
Visit site
While 4% would be considered a godsend after my Evo 4G with Gingerbread, I think that is a tad high for the E4GT. I would really be looking for something in the 1-2% per hour range. Experiences certainly vary but I wouldn't expect more than 2% per hour if you don't touch it.

Now at 1:16 off the battery and now at 93%, with only looking at battery status and the emails that came in since the last update... there may be something wrong with the battery...
 

jazzmanx33

Active member
Oct 3, 2011
31
1
0
Visit site
How many times have we already recommended you do this? *facepalm* :confused:

I'm sorry if this is a waste of your time, but I'm only trying to be thorough in trying to diagnose what's happening here. I want to have at least some base to my argument when I go into the Sprint Store and tell them I need a replacement phone. Also, I want to make sure I go through the steps and document it so I feel a bit better about the situation, and that I'm not dreaming it up or that I have unrealistic expectations about the device. I'm also trying to do this for anyone else having a similar experience, so they can read this thread and come away with a definitive answer instead of having the thread trail off to nothing.

That said; from all accounts, it seems I have a bum phone, and based on other users' experiences, I will be seeking a replacement. Thank you all for your help, and I will report back once I get the new unit and test it.

EDIT - I realize that your quote wasn't directed at me personally, but I wanted to make sure that every response here was given due consideration. I apologize if I sounded a bit annoyed back there. Just bummed out, is all.
 

skyo12

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2011
102
2
0
Visit site
I'm sorry if this is a waste of your time, but I'm only trying to be thorough in trying to diagnose what's happening here. I want to have at least some base to my argument when I go into the Sprint Store and tell them I need a replacement phone. Also, I want to make sure I go through the steps and document it so I feel a bit better about the situation, and that I'm not dreaming it up or that I have unrealistic expectations about the device. I'm also trying to do this for anyone else having a similar experience, so they can read this thread and come away with a definitive answer instead of having the thread trail off to nothing.

That said; from all accounts, it seems I have a bum phone, and based on other users' experiences, I will be seeking a replacement. Thank you all for your help, and I will report back once I get the new unit and test it.

EDIT - I realize that your quote wasn't directed at me personally, but I wanted to make sure that every response here was given due consideration. I apologize if I sounded a bit annoyed back there. Just bummed out, is all.

Just to give you my experience with the phone so far OP, since I think I have a similar usage pattern as you do:

- I have 5 email accounts with periodic syncing (I think once every 1 hour) and two of them on Exchange. I've disabled background data to test the effect on the battery.
- Weather/Clock (Simi Widget), AP Mobile, Google reader, Yahoo Finance, More Icons (like 4 of them) widgets active.
- I hardly use the phone to actually talk but use it to check emails, browse on occasions, don't really game too much but will use it to read the news.
- Round trip commute to work is about 2 hours total and I use the phone's bluetooth to stream music.

Above is my general usage pattern and to summarize today's usage:

- Took the phone off charge around 6:20 AM
- Used the bluetooth to stream music on my way to work and noticed the battery was around 91% when I arrived to work at 8 AM
- I updated my contacts with some photos from previous emails which took around 30 minutes.
- Read some news via 3G for about 20 minutes.
- Checked emails periodically.
- Have not been connected to Wifi at all today
- Decent coverage at work.

Currently, I'm checking my usage stats and I'm at 6 hrs and 35 minutes on battery and have 57% remaining. 54% of my usage is eaten up by the display which is at below 50% brightness settings.

Is this great? Not really, but it will get me through the whole day on a single charge. I have not experienced the awesome battery life a lot of folks here have been seeing but somewhere in the middle of the AWESOME to CRAP.... so basically acceptable.
 

Epsom_D2

Active member
Jun 7, 2010
38
2
0
Visit site
The first day I got my Epic I put it on the charger in the evening and took it off as soon as the charge indicator was blue it remained off the charger all night. The next day I completed configuring, installing, etc. and I got 28 hours out of the battery (I live and work in areas with between 1 and 3 bars). I had the windmill live wallpaper going at that time. I have two exchange accounts that push as well as the requisite Gmail push and 4 other email accounts set to 3 hour download intervals (it would be unacceptable to turn off push mail for exchange accounts as I cannot miss an email).

Recently, battery life dropped off to around 15 hours/day which was frustrating and I was able to determine that it would wake up and stay running for some 15 minutes randomly. Watchdog, et. al. did not indicate the rogue program so it became a hunt for the violator. Turns out Beautiful Widgets were updating weather every 3 hours, as I had set, but keeping the phone awake and grinding for an extended period during that time. During this period I stopped all the live wallpapers trying to find the problem.

After uninstalling beautiful widgets I am back to stellar battery life (75% after 8 hrs and 25 min). The same is true of others that I know with other Galaxy SII devices.

I would say that as you have basically a stock device you must have a bad handset or battery (likely the battery if you are seeing no heavy awake time except when you use it).

Best of luck and based on experience you may be underwhelmed by the iphone, except for the early availability of apps. Availability should change as Apple has lost in the marketshare game and good apps will draw consumer $.
 

JayWill

Well-known member
Jun 21, 2011
2,631
571
0
Visit site
EDIT - I realize that your quote wasn't directed at me personally, but I wanted to make sure that every response here was given due consideration. I apologize if I sounded a bit annoyed back there. Just bummed out, is all.

Yeah it was not directed at you at all. It was a side effect of dguidry12 posting in your thread. I'm all for trying to help you work on your issue, which is why I posted my other replies in the first place. Sorry for taking a negative tone but it's been the same story from dguidry12 for weeks, yet after multiple suggestions that he probably has a defective phone he finally says ...

"ok i may have a defective unit"

*head explodes*

Anyhoo back on topic ... based on your usage patterns I do think you should be getting better battery life than you're getting. If you can't isolate the problem then go exchange it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oskar1995

jazzmanx33

Active member
Oct 3, 2011
31
1
0
Visit site
The first day I got my Epic I put it on the charger in the evening and took it off as soon as the charge indicator was blue it remained off the charger all night. The next day I completed configuring, installing, etc. and I got 28 hours out of the battery (I live and work in areas with between 1 and 3 bars). I had the windmill live wallpaper going at that time. I have two exchange accounts that push as well as the requisite Gmail push and 4 other email accounts set to 3 hour download intervals (it would be unacceptable to turn off push mail for exchange accounts as I cannot miss an email).

Recently, battery life dropped off to around 15 hours/day which was frustrating and I was able to determine that it would wake up and stay running for some 15 minutes randomly. Watchdog, et. al. did not indicate the rogue program so it became a hunt for the violator. Turns out Beautiful Widgets were updating weather every 3 hours, as I had set, but keeping the phone awake and grinding for an extended period during that time. During this period I stopped all the live wallpapers trying to find the problem.

After uninstalling beautiful widgets I am back to stellar battery life (75% after 8 hrs and 25 min). The same is true of others that I know with other Galaxy SII devices.

I would say that as you have basically a stock device you must have a bad handset or battery (likely the battery if you are seeing no heavy awake time except when you use it).

Best of luck and based on experience you may be underwhelmed by the iphone, except for the early availability of apps. Availability should change as Apple has lost in the marketshare game and good apps will draw consumer $.

Thanks for the info. As an update to my earlier posts, I am now at 3h8m on the battery, and with no use other than emails received, checking said emails and checking the battery, I am down to 80%. Granted, that might not sound horrible, but again, I'm not doing anything with the phone. Here is a rundown of the listed services and the % they used of the battery, for reference:

Android OS: 68%
Email: 14%
Display: 11%
Cell Standby: 4%
Phone Idle: 3%

Epsom: Regarding your return to stellar battery life after uninstalling Beautiful Widgets; Did you return to your normal usage pattern? Yours seems about how I would use it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oskar1995

Epsom_D2

Active member
Jun 7, 2010
38
2
0
Visit site
Yes, I'm back to my normal usage pattern (same as I had with my EVO) which amounts to 30+ texts, 100+ emails (reply to about 20 from the phone), 2 hours of talk time, 20 min web browsing, 20 min of gaming during the day and 1 hr after work (sudoku, words with friends and hanging with friends).

When I had beautiful widgets installed I had to curtail my use, but for some reason I could still talk 5 hours and not kill the phone. It appears to be very efficient at using the cellular radio for that function.

I regularly got 15 hours out of my EVO. I was anticipating better with this phone, but not this much better. Your use % looks similar to mine so I would say you've got a bum battery or handset.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oskar1995

oskar1995

Well-known member
Aug 9, 2011
341
20
0
Visit site
Thanks for the info. As an update to my earlier posts, I am now at 3h8m on the battery, and with no use other than emails received, checking said emails and checking the battery, I am down to 80%. Granted, that might not sound horrible, but again, I'm not doing anything with the phone. Here is a rundown of the listed services and the % they used of the battery, for reference:

Android OS: 68%
Email: 14%
Display: 11%
Cell Standby: 4%
Phone Idle: 3%

Epsom: Regarding your return to stellar battery life after uninstalling Beautiful Widgets; Did you return to your normal usage pattern? Yours seems about how I would use it.

Jazzman, based on those battery stats, this seems like a device afflicted with 60% or higher Android OS. While the email % also seems high, this is clearly where your battery is being impacted. I would suggested a hard reset (fresh install of the OS) there are also some threads within this board that deal directly with the high Android OS issue. I'm not sure what the solution has been, but I know its something that isn't isolated to just your device. I've avoided those threads as I didn't feel like I could offer much.

You certainly should be doing better than 80% after 3 hours. That's close to 6% an hour and I've only seen that usage rate when I was downloading multiple podcasts, while i had the display on the entire time. I would give a quick peek to the posts about the Android use and look into a replacement handset.
 

dguidry12

Banned
Jun 4, 2010
408
12
0
Visit site
Guys I am not trolling if you think so.. I am actually having the same problems he is having ..I even have my battery protection starting at 70%and it does me no good ..I don't have anybody Widgets either ..oh and another thing is that my phone is rapidly charging now but rapidly decreases ..I plug it in and it gains 20% in like 15 minute of charging
 

oskar1995

Well-known member
Aug 9, 2011
341
20
0
Visit site
Yes, I'm back to my normal usage pattern (same as I had with my EVO) which amounts to 30+ texts, 100+ emails (reply to about 20 from the phone), 2 hours of talk time, 20 min web browsing, 20 min of gaming during the day and 1 hr after work (sudoku, words with friends and hanging with friends).

When I had beautiful widgets installed I had to curtail my use, but for some reason I could still talk 5 hours and not kill the phone. It appears to be very efficient at using the cellular radio for that function.

I regularly got 15 hours out of my EVO. I was anticipating better with this phone, but not this much better. Your use % looks similar to mine so I would say you've got a bum battery or handset.

Epsom, thanks for your post regarding Beautiful Widgets. I installed this one a couple of days ago (the version on GetJar) and I did notice one day where it updated and it DESTROYED my battery. Kept the phone away for like 2 hours. When you selected the weather provider do you remember which you selected? I have a theory about this one.

Thanks!
 

oskar1995

Well-known member
Aug 9, 2011
341
20
0
Visit site
Guys I am not trolling if you think so.. I am actually having the same problems he is having ..I even have my battery protection starting at 70%and it does me no good ..I don't have anybody Widgets either ..oh and another thing is that my phone is rapidly charging now but rapidly decreases ..I plug it in and it gains 20% in like 15 minute of charging

dguidry, I think the reason many people take exception with your posts is that you haven't provided any screen shots of your usage patterns and battery graphs for people to be able to help you. Jazzman provided a lot of information regarding what he did and added in his exact battery % amounts. He actively tried to solve the issue where in many instances it felt like you wanted to attribute this to the phone being a POS.

A lot of people are having a phenomenal experience with this device and it just came off very "Buzz Killington" like.

I'd love to be able to help troubleshoot the issues you are having with your device. I only hope everyone can love this phone as much as I do.
 

skyo12

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2011
102
2
0
Visit site
Just to give you my experience with the phone so far OP, since I think I have a similar usage pattern as you do:

- I have 5 email accounts with periodic syncing (I think once every 1 hour) and two of them on Exchange. I've disabled background data to test the effect on the battery.
- Weather/Clock (Simi Widget), AP Mobile, Google reader, Yahoo Finance, More Icons (like 4 of them) widgets active.
- I hardly use the phone to actually talk but use it to check emails, browse on occasions, don't really game too much but will use it to read the news.
- Round trip commute to work is about 2 hours total and I use the phone's bluetooth to stream music.

Above is my general usage pattern and to summarize today's usage:

- Took the phone off charge around 6:20 AM
- Used the bluetooth to stream music on my way to work and noticed the battery was around 91% when I arrived to work at 8 AM
- I updated my contacts with some photos from previous emails which took around 30 minutes.
- Read some news via 3G for about 20 minutes.
- Checked emails periodically.
- Have not been connected to Wifi at all today
- Decent coverage at work.

Currently, I'm checking my usage stats and I'm at 6 hrs and 35 minutes on battery and have 57% remaining. 54% of my usage is eaten up by the display which is at below 50% brightness settings.

Is this great? Not really, but it will get me through the whole day on a single charge. I have not experienced the awesome battery life a lot of folks here have been seeing but somewhere in the middle of the AWESOME to CRAP.... so basically acceptable.


Here are my screenshots of the usage. Just FYI, I rebooted the phone by accident and dropped the batery bar by quite a bit which is a bug that's known. My battery is at around 47% at the current time. If anyone can tell what I can do to improve my battery from the images, any tips would be appreciated.
 

JayWill

Well-known member
Jun 21, 2011
2,631
571
0
Visit site
Thanks for the info. As an update to my earlier posts, I am now at 3h8m on the battery, and with no use other than emails received, checking said emails and checking the battery, I am down to 80%. Granted, that might not sound horrible, but again, I'm not doing anything with the phone. Here is a rundown of the listed services and the % they used of the battery, for reference:

Android OS: 68%
Email: 14%
Display: 11%
Cell Standby: 4%
Phone Idle: 3%

Yeah that is not normal. Something is going on. As suggested, do a factory reset, re-set up your emails and set your syncs then monitor again. If it doesn't improve take it in.

Attached are shots of my usage today. I've had the screen on a lot today fiddling with Widget Locker, plus streaming via Bluetooth for about an hour, some calls texts and emails. I'm at just under 7 hours on this charge and I have 60% remaining.
 

garrettfarnum

Well-known member
Mar 13, 2011
400
29
0
Visit site
Turn down your brightness to about 50% and check your Screen settings.
Note: Does anybody with bad battery life have a live wallpaper by any chance?