Android OS is eating my battery!

axne1

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2010
356
21
0
Visit site
It's a bug with ICS it shouldn't effect your battery power. It just reports it wrong. I know it's ugly. Lol. Look it up. :)

Kanged out Google phone +
Franco's Magic :)
 

zzz0ned

Member
Mar 21, 2011
13
1
0
Visit site
When I did the update.zip ICS upgrade that was published here, I kept getting a couple of minor errors at startup. So I did a complete reset, but I let all my apps reload automatically. My battery life plummetted to something like 4 hours; my phone became a pocket-warmer because it was noticeably warm while it was doing whatever it was doing to run down the battery.

So I reset it again. Unfortunately I loaded on a bunch of apps and again the battery life was pretty short (~6 hours).

So I factory reset again and only put on like 5 essential apps. The battery life is now back to normal, but after about 6 hours I notice that the browser starts up and begins consuming resources and the phone heats up. I'm not sure why the browser starts while the phone is in my pocket. I have 3 email accounts (2 Google, 1 Exchange) that are syncing. Does this sync process use the browser?
 

flipfone

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2010
338
7
0
Visit site
goto accounts and synch. hit one of your gmail accts, look to see if the browser is synching, if so uncheck it. mine hangs like this and kills the battery in 2-3 hours. pocket warmer as you said. once i disabled the synch with browser its fine. i noticed this after trying the chrome browser and uninstalling it.
 

evilhugbear

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2011
81
0
0
Visit site
goto accounts and synch. hit one of your gmail accts, look to see if the browser is synching, if so uncheck it. mine hangs like this and kills the battery in 2-3 hours. pocket warmer as you said. once i disabled the synch with browser its fine. i noticed this after trying the chrome browser and uninstalling it.

I'll try this and see what happens :D
 

rogneal@yahoo.com

New member
Jun 28, 2011
2
0
0
Visit site
I am also having the problem. I did not noticed it for the first week or so since I upgraded to ICS. I first noticed it about 4 days ago and really noticed it today when I unplugged my phone from the charger at about 9:20 am and did not use it at all for the next 3 hours, pulled it out and it was warm and the battery was at 30% or less. I do not have the browser sync so that is not the problem. Normally the display is the battery hog and everything else is far behind that. But today the Android OS was something like 57%.

I wonder if it was an app that updated in the past few days. I recall updates for Google Maps, Battery Indicator Pro, and maybe a few others.
 

jtexans

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
138
5
0
Visit site
F&*#!!! I'm having the same problem now! The 1st 3-5 days, battery was excellent with only the display killing the battery. Now the Android OS is the battery hog.

I've removed all Google+ updates and signed out from it. I can't completely delete the app. I'm losing about 10% per hour on standby.

I also went into Maps and unchecked "Automatic check-ins" and I signed out of Latitude which was also in the Maps app settings.
 

jeffrok

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2011
577
21
0
Visit site
My browser syncing was already disabled.. I'm running stock ICS, and this wasn't happening before ICS.

My battery was at 75% at 10am, and then at 25% by noon (off charger at 6:10am).. Phone was warm-hot to the touch, and I believe in that 2 hours, something was going kookoo in the OS. Like a process or service was stuck in a loop and killing battery. I'm thinking it's maybe the FB app, as that was opened shortly before 10am.
 

bugz_92

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2011
46
2
0
Visit site
I think everyone should buy watchdog. And set CPU limits on all the apps that they don't trust. It works like a charm, it tells you when apps start going crazy with the CPU in the background. And if gets too high it kills them. That's how I keep g maps in control, with its random starts. Its a must have!
 

jeffrok

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2011
577
21
0
Visit site
Here's what happened since last night.. I'll try to explain this best:

Swapped out my dead battery at 10:45pm, so I could use my other fully charged battery for a little while. Did a very small bit of gaming (5 minutes of Words, 5 minutes of Draw Something, 5 minutes of Scramble With Friends), posted a Facebook update, and plugged my phone into its charger and went to sleep.

Woke up today, unplugged the phone from the charger at 6:15am, and at 9am looked at it and saw my battery was down to 34%!! 34% from a fresh charge and being unused for almost 3 hours.

Something is going on here. What thing I thought was maybe my charging system is lying to me.. I know I have issues with the micro-usb connection sometimes (probably common on these because of the stupid location of it).

I may take the phone in to Sprint (since it's under 1 year old) or Best Buy for a swap (I have Black Tie).. and see if a new phone is any better.
 

mlief

Member
Dec 2, 2008
24
1
0
Visit site
My battery life has been horrible since the update. As described by others I've had several episodes of the phone getting really hot and draining the battery as well as regular use. I've also had numerous times the phone just restarts spontaneously.

I even installed chrome browser and tried to dc and sync that was unnecessary (eg Google currents). So far no clear answer but i agree with others that it's likely due to a rogue program or system process running uncontrolled. Either way it really negates one of the best features this phone has over others (eg: HTC EVO etc) - excellent battery life.
 

jtexans

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2011
138
5
0
Visit site
It's the facebook app.

Refresh interval: Never.

Notifications: Inactive.

Android OS is down to 6% after over 4 hours of usage.

2012-04-25
 

trishkeegs56

New member
Sep 23, 2011
3
0
0
Visit site
zpithika:

Mine showed the same thing, but I got warnings to charge my battery. Like you, it showed I had time left on the battery.
I'm trying everything. I disabled Google+, un-synced the browser, turned off sports notifications, deleted the White House app(never turns off) and etc. Pretty soon my nexus S 4g will be a dumb phone to save the battery. It's a shame because I really like the system.

Thanks, Patti
 

rogneal@yahoo.com

New member
Jun 28, 2011
2
0
0
Visit site
My problem is now resolved. I did a complete wipe of the phone, then gradually loaded apps back. Based on info I found somewhere else, I have not loaded Widgetlocker. Also I have not loaded back Flash player, Battery Indicator Pro, and Folder Organizer. Battery life is back to normal or maybe even better than on GB.
 

pingcharlie

Member
Jun 28, 2011
6
0
0
Visit site
I uninstalled Facebook and turned off all notifications and syncs. I think Facebook may have been the mail culprit. I am now slowly re installing everything and keeping a close eye on power consumption. So far I went from 7 to 24+ hrs under regular use. I am running stock ICS.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
943,144
Messages
6,917,506
Members
3,158,841
Latest member
kirk781