How long is the Galaxy S3 generally supposed to last on a single charge?

[RayMabry]

This has probably been asked in some form to death on every Android forum in existence. My problem is I've never found a straightforward answer.

I see some people complain that their phone has been off the charger for 6 to 7 hours and it's at 75%. (I've heard of complaints for even lengthier times)
Then others say w/ heavy usage they get 5 hours while others claim they get 10 - 12 h on heavy usage I'm aware that relativity plays a huge role in this of course.
Battery Stats Plus also shows people that have ridiculously long times on their batteries. (Although I suspect foul play.)

I don't think my phone has ever lasted long enough for me. When I first purchased it, it was always dying after I got out of work. So it was probably discharging in about 9-10 hours; heavy usage* for maybe 1 h 45 mins of those 9 - 10 hours.

Full time heavy usage usually got me 5 - 6 hours.

And that's with almost every reasonable power saving measure taken: Brightness on lowest setting, Juice Defender, no live wallpapers.

So what is your phone like without rooting, oem battery, on mobile data...

For heavy usage as I've defined it as well as normal usage.

*Heavy usage to me is screen on for 85 - 90 percent of the time using the phone. Surfing the web, facebooking, gaming...etc. constantly on mobile data. (Maybe even listening to music)

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[bespinct]

And you never will get a straightforward answer. Battery life is too personal to get any sort of definitive answer. The number one complaint I've heard against the Droid DNA is that the battery life sucks. Yet I get more time on a charge than my wife does on her S3. It's all about usage which is very difficult to standardize. Really, all you can compare is your battery life experiences between phones and even then it's tough to compare as apps become more battery efficient.

In the past tear I have had a Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, and the DNA. Even with the extended battery on the Nexus I had a tough time. The S3 and the DNA were much better than the GNex. For the short time I used the S3 before I gave it to my wife, I recall the the life to be consistent to what I currently see on the DNA. But like I said before, I last longer on a charge with the DNA than my wife. Different apps, different usage, different people.

Steve

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[RayMabry]

You're right about that. I guess that I'm really just trying to figure out if it is really possible to get 8 - 12 hours on this thing using it heavily. I can't but think that's an exaggeration. The only way I think I could achieve hours like that is by turning my background data off and going on Wifi. And even then I don't know about that.

I don't really have any experience with any other Smartphone though. I've used a friend's iPhone and it seems to do better on battery than mine, although I suppose it is doing less.

I want to be as realistic as possible about my expectations for battery life. I just keep hoping to get a general idea of what I should expect but given the hype and given the inconsistency of claims from S3 owners I guess I'll never know.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. It is much appreciated.

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[bespinct]

I bet one of the extended batteries or a Mophie case would get you through the day. It's a trade off in size, but the S3 is so light that it probably isn't too bad.

Steve

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[The Hustleman]

S3 does get around 5 hours of heavy usage.

You'll find some people who claim they get 24 hours out of the galaxy s III but they are light users.

And ACTUAL USE you'll get about 4 hours on a new battery and 3 and some change after it ages a little

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[lavrishevo]

This is a nice option.

Amazon.com: Samsung Galaxy SIII Dual Desktop Charger Cradle Dock with Spare Battery Charging Slot for Samsung Galaxy S3 S III - Includes 2300mAh Spare Battery: Cell Phones & Accessories

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Ray, if you check any of the other battery threads, you'll see three screens from Settings that people post. Please do screen shots and post those here. Without data, we can only guess.

Also take a look here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/278622-battery-life-tips-myths.html

 

[gollum18]

I think it makes a difference if you have a Korean made versus Chinese made s3. My s3 was made in China and completely stock with the stock battery it lasts about 6-8hrs with normal use. Whereas my mom's s3 which is Chinese made with the same setup only lasts about 4 hours in between charges.

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[RayMabry]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond!

Ray, if you check any of the other battery threads, you'll see three screens from Settings that people post. Please do screen shots and post those here. Without data, we can only guess.

Also take a look here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/278622-battery-life-tips-myths.html

Thank you for the link it was an interesting read.

I will post screenshots a little while from now. I'm charging my phone right now. After I use it for a while, I'll post.
My usage in the screenshots will probably be quite heavy. Lol.


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[RayMabry]

Here are my screenshots after heavy usage.






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[The Hustleman]

Here are my screenshots after heavy usage.

View attachment 69677
View attachment 69678
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That's normal with HEAVY use.

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[RayMabry]

Yeah, that was browsing the web (lowest brightness), listening to under an hour of music, and trying to find a new sound profile app on Google Play (which caused me to download and uninstall on three
different occasions.

All on 4G. LTE is pretty crappy--at least in my room--so I forced the phone to only work on regular 4G.I usually get 3 or 4 bars on that as opposed to 1 or 2 on LTE. Sometimes LTE would eventually go to 4G but it would never do it fast enough for me.

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[hjmillre]

You may want to try to rule out any unusual battery drainage issues. Try checking under Settings - Battery frequently to see what is using the most battery resources. If you have the screen on a lot, that should be the highest user. If you notice something else is consistently using a lot of battery resources you can try to focus in on that issues. For instances, there is evidently a bug in the Google Play Store app that is causing problems with location services. Google has evidently released an update today aimed at fixing the problem. Other apps too could have issues, so I would suggest keeping current on the updates to your apps.

 

[RayMabry]

You may want to try to rule out any unusual battery drainage issues. Try checking under Settings - Battery frequently to see what is using the most battery resources. If you have the screen on a lot, that should be the highest user. If you notice something else is consistently using a lot of battery resources you can try to focus in on that issues. For instances, there is evidently a bug in the Google Play Store app that is causing problems with location services. Google has evidently released an update today aimed at fixing the problem. Other apps too could have issues, so I would suggest keeping current on the updates to your apps.

Thanks for the advice. I've been doing that for a little while now.

I have Battery Stats Plus, Better Battery Stats, and Wakelock Detector as well. I've been checking them like crazy. I'm paranoid because of my run in with the Media Scanner issue that seems to haunt these phones ans I'm naturally curious too I guess lol. I figured out that if I force closed the media scanner it restarted using FAR less cpu. And my battery temperature would immediately lower itself.

I also have system panel and it doesn't show any app using more cpu than it ought to.
I've had to turn a few useless functions off to stop some wakelocks.

Overvall things seem to be more normal now than ever. The battery life though hasn't impressed me much.


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[Golfdriver97]

Thanks for the advice. I've been doing that for a little while now.

I have Battery Stats Plus, Better Battery Stats, and Wakelock Detector as well. I've been checking them like crazy. I'm paranoid because of my run in with the Media Scanner issue that seems to haunt these phones ans I'm naturally curious too I guess lol. I figured out that if I force closed the media scanner it restarted using FAR less cpu. And my battery temperature would immediately lower itself.

I also have system panel and it doesn't show any app using more cpu than it ought to.
I've had to turn a few useless functions off to stop some wakelocks.

Overvall things seem to be more normal now than ever. The battery life though hasn't impressed me much.


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If your device shifts from HSPA to LTE it can cause a battery drain. I think you said something about being at work drains a lot of battery power. Does your signal suck in your building? If you can't take calls at work, I would suggest turning on Airplane mode. It kills the signal, but not the power.

Finally, do you have wifi at home? I would suggest doing that too.

Otherwise, it pretty much sounds like you have a fairly weak signal.

 

[RayMabry]

If your device shifts from HSPA to LTE it can cause a battery drain. I think you said something about being at work drains a lot of battery power. Does your signal suck in your building? If you can't take calls at work, I would suggest turning on Airplane mode. It kills the signal, but not the power.

Finally, do you have wifi at home? I would suggest doing that too.

Otherwise, it pretty much sounds like you have a fairly weak signal.

My signal isn't so bad at work. It's pretty bad at home though.
I just have my phone forced to only use 4G (no LTE) and it's still getting me nowhere. I have found that turning the internet off increases my battery life notably when the phone is idle. I had to do this this week when I left my charger at home.

This still means nothing to me though when I'm actually using the phone.
I use Juice Defender Ultimate (or whatever the heck the paid version is called lol) anyways. I'm not so concerned about the drain when it is mostly off. I dealt with some program settings that were causing unreasonable wakelocks and it's fine. I also don't have Wifi yet though, I'll be getting it soon. I've experienced longer battery life on wifi before and it's well worth the investment.

I guess I'm just kind of frustrated because it seems like the phone comes with all of these cool things, not to mention the apps, but I have to be stuck to an outlet if I want to use them and maintain a charge throughout the day. And the frustration is in part from reading of others that claim heavy use and far longer hours than I see.

And of course having a friend that has a Note II that lasts all day under heavy usage doesn't help. Lol.


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[Golfdriver97]

My signal isn't so bad at work. It's pretty bad at home though.
I just have my phone forced to only use 4G (no LTE) and it's still getting me nowhere. I have found that turning the internet off increases my battery life notably when the phone is idle. I had to do this this week when I left my charger at home.

This still means nothing to me though when I'm actually using the phone.
I use Juice Defender Ultimate (or whatever the heck the paid version is called lol) anyways. I'm not so concerned about the drain when it is mostly off. I dealt with some program settings that were causing unreasonable wakelocks and it's fine. I also don't have Wifi yet though, I'll be getting it soon. I've experienced longer battery life on wifi before and it's well worth the investment.

I guess I'm just kind of frustrated because it seems like the phone comes with all of these cool things, not to mention the apps, but I have to be stuck to an outlet if I want to use them and maintain a charge throughout the day. And the frustration is in part from reading of others that claim heavy use and far longer hours than I see.

And of course having a friend that has a Note II that lasts all day under heavy usage doesn't help. Lol.


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Well..not fair. Note 2 still has a bigger battery. And a weak signal is probably your worst enemy right now.

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[RayMabry]

Well..not fair. Note 2 still has a bigger battery. And a weak signal is probably your worst enemy right now.

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Hahaha. I know. I've read some B.S. online in a review that basically presumed their battery life of the Note II to be similar to the GS3 because the bigger screen basically used up the battery.

But I know this is not true. Before I got my smartphone he was easily the heaviest user around. He's shown me 16 hours on that thing on more than one occasion. I never remember to ask for screen on time, but I know he's on it a lot gaming and using Facebook and Instagram.

If the N2 wasn't so big, I'd upgrade to it next year.

I'm sure a lot of the drain is signal. But I guess for now, I'm out of luck when it comes to that. Maybe I'll force it to use EDGE and use the wait time to do something productive.


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