Battery life question

[bryanmsi]

So battery life on my Z2 has been nothing short of awesome. I can easily get through a normal day (normal for me). In fact my average per-hour drain is around 2% (2.5% if I really push it). I'm not playing games on it but using it for browsing, phone calls, email, calendar. So no complained about a running averaging 35-40 hours.

But, the biggest battery drain by far is
-Cell Standby 19% according to Android OS
-Phone Radio 44% according to GSAM

The phone radio awake time is 100% which I suppose makes sense. I would not want the phone actually disconnecting from cellular. But that still seems high. My last monitoring session had over 5 hours of screen on time and still screen power use was half of the phone radio power use.

Cellular signal is poor where I live and work but am connecting to strong wifi almost all of the time in both places.

On one hand I am super happy with overall battery life. One the other hand I wonder if it could be even better without the phone radio drain?

What is everyone else seeing?

 

[soma4society]

So battery life on my Z2 has been nothing short of awesome. I can easily get through a normal day (normal for me). In fact my average per-hour drain is around 2% (2.5% if I really push it). I'm not playing games on it but using it for browsing, phone calls, email, calendar. So no complained about a running averaging 35-40 hours.

But, the biggest battery drain by far is
-Cell Standby 19% according to Android OS
-Phone Radio 44% according to GSAM

The phone radio awake time is 100% which I suppose makes sense. I would not want the phone actually disconnecting from cellular. But that still seems high. My last monitoring session had over 5 hours of screen on time and still screen power use was half of the phone radio power use.

Cellular signal is poor where I live and work but am connecting to strong wifi almost all of the time in both places.

On one hand I am super happy with overall barely life. One the other hand I wonder if it could be even better without the phone radio drain?

What is everyone else seeing?

I'm on the OG Z Play, so I can't speak to user experience on the Z2. However, since it sounds like you've identified your main issue (i.e., poor signal), you may want to force the phone onto its non-LTE radios and use those. A great app to do this is called "Radio Switcher" in the Play Store.

*Generally speaking*, the 4G/HSPA signal is stronger in most locations than LTE is. Using the non-LTE radios also has the added benefit of saving you some juice, as the LTE radios drain your battery a bit faster. Doing this MIGHT alleviate your drain issues. Downside: data speeds are a bit slower, though I use 4G regularly to stream audio and video with no issues.

Glad to hear the phone is treating you well overall. I just recommended the Z2 Play to a friend and will likely upgrade to it myself sometime in the next several months. Good luck!

 

[bryanmsi]

thanks! I will try changing the radio settings and see what happens. and yes, loving the phone!

 

[soma4society]

thanks! I will try changing the radio settings and see what happens. and yes, loving the phone!

Sure thing. If you have any questions about using the app feel free to ask. It works well, but it's not the most user friendly interface.

 

[bryanmsi]

I have tried changing the network settings to avoid LTE but it didn't seem to make much difference. Overall battery life is still excellent but the standby drain is higher that I expected. Phone radio is powered on as soon as the phone starts up and stays on until the entire phone is powered off. Doze mode is working but the radio never sleeps. Which may be totally normal?

Does anyone use GSAM? can you verify your radio on time is the same as phone on time is? I.e. radio always on?

 

[soma4society]

I have tried changing the network settings to avoid LTE but it didn't seem to make much difference. Overall battery life is still excellent but the standby drain is higher that I expected. Phone radio is powered on as soon as the phone starts up and stays on until the entire phone is powered off. Doze mode is working but the radio never sleeps. Which may be totally normal?

Does anyone use GSAM? can you verify your radio on time is the same as phone on time is? I.e. radio always on?

Out of curiosity, when you say it "didn't seem to make much difference"...did the signal itself become a bit stronger and you still saw the battery drain? Or was the signal strength the same along with the battery drain?

 

[bryanmsi]

The latter. Signal strength seemed to be roughly the same as was battery drain. The real issue seems to be that the phone radio never sleeps....it runs nonstop.

 

[dgcamero]

Have you tried activating Wi-Fi calling?

 

[Teejai80]

I got a Z2 play a few days ago. I've noticed that for some reason in the battery use display my reception is mostly always poor or worse. Even though this isn't the case, I can have full strength all day long and it still shows as poor signal.