Early S6 users, how's your battery life?

[Techno-guy]

I think I'd be upset about the battery life of this phone if it was much worse than my expectations and it didn't provide so many ways to charge the device, one of which will charge it extremely fast. If I can get through a 9 hour work day with moderate to heavy usage, make it home to charge for 20 minutes, and have enough to last me the rest of the night, I'm more than okay with that. If my usage doesn't require me to charge it for that brief period, then that's fine, too.

Don't disagree entirely with you. Problem is, my S6 edge has zero chance of making it through a 9 hour work day. I'm burning about 5% per hour just in Standby on WiFi (my iPhone 6 Plus was 0-1% in the same conditions) and another 20% per hour or more actually using the phone. It can be as high as 30% per hour under use. I can unplug at 8:30am and be at 50% by noon and completely depleted by 3pm and worrying about my battery life the entire time.

The battery life is horrendous on the S6. I do think there may be a T-Mobile component to this since the Cell Standby seems to be taking up huge amounts of battery and WiFi is draining it like mad so hopefully it's fixable (and soon) but as it stands now, it is like me going back to the early LTE days where you were ruled by battery life.

Maybe I've been spoiled with my last few phones but my BB Z30 had great battery life and the Lumia 1520 and iPhone 6 Plus have been absolutely phenomenal (almost no drain on standby and extremely efficient screen on) so as someone coming back to Android after a while, it seems I'm in a battery depletion time warp that I left a few years ago constantly worrying about and checking my battery life.

 

[Adranalyne]

Don't disagree entirely with you. Problem is, my S6 edge has zero chance of making it through a 9 hour work day. I'm burning about 5% per hour just in Standby on WiFi (my iPhone 6 Plus was 0-1% in the same conditions) and another 20% per hour or more actually using the phone. It can be as high as 30% per hour under use. I can unplug at 8:30am and be at 50% by noon and completely depleted by 3pm and worrying about my battery life the entire time.

The battery life is horrendous on the S6. I do think there may be a T-Mobile component to this since the Cell Standby seems to be taking up huge amounts of battery and WiFi is draining it like mad so hopefully it's fixable (and soon) but as it stands now, it is like me going back to the early LTE days where you were ruled by battery life.

Maybe I've been spoiled with my last few phones but my BB Z30 had great battery life and the Lumia 1520 and iPhone 6 Plus have been absolutely phenomenal (almost no drain on standby and extremely efficient screen on) so as someone coming back to Android after a while, it seems I'm in a battery depletion time warp that I left a few years ago constantly worrying about and checking my battery life.

Your case seems to be unique in that it varies far enough from what most others are reporting that it could be device specific. I'd factory reset if you haven't already, give it 2 more charge cycles after that, and then return/exchange it if there's no improvement.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

Great. Now I'm reconsidering whether to order the S6 or not.

My M8 barely gets through my day (and even then I usually have to kick in power saving towards the end), sounds like the S6 wouldn't stand a chance of lasting. Problem is, some days I won't have access to a power until late night sometimes. My M8 gets about 5 hours screen time, which for a phone is decent, but some days for me I wish it had more juice in it.

Might have to invest in a power pack or invest in a different phone.

 

[Almeuit]

I will say battery is an issue. For those who can charge at work or carry a pack... No issue. I am one of them so I am not super worried. I also use wireless at home.

Today I watch a stream for an hour and a half at high brightness.... About ~2 GB of usage.... Then back to normal brightness and sporadic usage every few mins.

 

[warpdrive]

Don't disagree entirely with you. Problem is, my S6 edge has zero chance of making it through a 9 hour work day. I'm burning about 5% per hour just in Standby on WiFi (my iPhone 6 Plus was 0-1% in the same conditions) and another 20% per hour or more actually using the phone. It can be as high as 30% per hour under use. I can unplug at 8:30am and be at 50% by noon and completely depleted by 3pm and worrying about my battery life the entire time.

The battery life is horrendous on the S6. I do think there may be a T-Mobile component to this since the Cell Standby seems to be taking up huge amounts of battery and WiFi is draining it like mad so hopefully it's fixable (and soon) but as it stands now, it is like me going back to the early LTE days where you were ruled by battery life.

Maybe I've been spoiled with my last few phones but my BB Z30 had great battery life and the Lumia 1520 and iPhone 6 Plus have been absolutely phenomenal (almost no drain on standby and extremely efficient screen on) so as someone coming back to Android after a while, it seems I'm in a battery depletion time warp that I left a few years ago constantly worrying about and checking my battery life.

Did you turn off wifi calling? Is on by default and is what is giving you that standby bug.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[warpdrive]

I will say battery is an issue. For those who can charge at work or carry a pack... No issue. I am one of them so I am not super worried. I also use wireless at home.

Today I watch a stream for an hour and a half at high brightness.... About ~2 GB of usage.... Then back to normal brightness and sporadic usage every few mins.

Do you have wifi calling still turned on? Try turning it off and it should fix the bug that is eating your battery.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

I will say battery is an issue. For those who can charge at work or carry a pack... No issue. I am one of them so I am not super worried. I also use wireless at home.

Today I watch a stream for an hour and a half at high brightness.... About ~2 GB of usage.... Then back to normal brightness and sporadic usage every few mins.

3 hours screen on time..... :S

That's not so great. Maybe I should just get a power pack, or just suck it up and turn on power saving mode earlier.

Or maybe I should stop trying to justify things I can to get better battery and just look elsewhere. I should get a phone that works around my life, not one that requires me to work around it.

 

[warpdrive]

3 hours screen on time..... :S

That's not so great. Maybe I should just get a power pack, or just suck it up and turn on power saving mode earlier.

Or maybe I should stop trying to justify things I can to get better battery and just look elsewhere. I should get a phone that works around my life, not one that requires me to work around it.

Hero,
It's a bug in T-Mobile. Most see this after turning off wifi calling.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

Hero,
It's a bug in T-Mobile. Most see this after turning off wifi calling.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/01/8207cd9b663b3e55b03a9216171b0cf0.jpg

Oh wow, that's quite good then.

Well if it's a bug, then sweet, I don't have to worry. Or at least I hope there's no bug on release here. That's a relief. I'm just hanging out for Android Central and Android Police's review of the phone before I pull the trigger on one.

 

[Almeuit]

Hero,
It's a bug in T-Mobile. Most see this after turning off wifi calling.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/01/8207cd9b663b3e55b03a9216171b0cf0.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/01/4c5cb125c69c45af75aa896db20d96e6.jpg

Nice!

I will have to try turning off wifi calling if it does this .. that is seriously crazy .

 

[UJ95x]

Hero,
It's a bug in T-Mobile. Most see this after turning off wifi calling.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/01/8207cd9b663b3e55b03a9216171b0cf0.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/01/4c5cb125c69c45af75aa896db20d96e6.jpg

Woohoo! May I ask what brightness settings you have and if you use location services or have exchange services pushing in the background?

 

[warpdrive]

Woohoo! May I ask what brightness settings you have and if you use location services or have exchange services pushing in the background?

This is not my phone, but someone on xda forums. So I can't really say much more on this. I'm waiting for tomorrow and will check on any new updates.

Some say it doesn't work for them (turning off wifi calling), but most are experiencing a difference like the above screen shots.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[darthhen]

Would appreciate it if more people can confirm turning off wifi calling does increase the battery juice.
Thanks!

 

[UJ95x]

This is not my phone, but someone on xda forums. So I can't really say much more on this. I'm waiting for tomorrow and will check on any new updates.

Some say it doesn't work for them (turning off wifi calling), but most are experiencing a difference like the above screen shots.

Posted via the Android Central App

Oh, OK. Will have to look out for that. Thanks

 

[Techno-guy]

Your case seems to be unique in that it varies far enough from what most others are reporting that it could be device specific. I'd factory reset if you haven't already, give it 2 more charge cycles after that, and then return/exchange it if there's no improvement.

Posted via the Android Central App

I'm not sure I'm so unique. In addition to lots of posts from other Android Central S6 users, there is a 7 page thread on XDA Developers with some calling the battery drain on the S6 "severe". Their suggested fix (turning off T-Mobile WiFi calling) did not work (that much) for me yesterday evening unfortunately.

I suppose, it did help a tad - my Standby power drain went from about 5% an hour to 3-4% per hour on WiFi (which is still absolutely terrible) and the Cell Standby % did drop some but the phone gets hot (84 degrees+) just sitting in my pocket on WiFi but not being used.

I've tried a soft and a hard (Factory) reset but there's some bug in this phone right now that is draining this battery.

Galaxy S6 Edge Battery Life | Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | XDA Forums

 

[clevin]

I'm not sure I'm so unique. I addition to lots of posts from other Android Central S6 users, there is a 7 page thread on XDA Developers with some calling the battery drain on the S6 "severe". Their suggested fix (turning off T-Mobile WiFi calling) did not work for me yesterday evening unfortunately.

Galaxy S6 Edge Battery Life | Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | XDA Forums

May need to turn wifi off when not in use, and disable tmobile wifi management.

 

[warpdrive]

May need to turn wifi off when not in use, and disable tmobile wifi management.

Yep. That seems to be the full answer and I'm sorry if my early reports confused the issue.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Techno-guy]

I turned off WiFi calling already...I don't see a separate T-Mobile WiFi management setting anywhere. Is there a separate setting that I'm just not seeing?

 

[clevin]

I turned off WiFi calling already...I don't see a separate T-Mobile WiFi management setting anywhere. Is there a separate setting that I'm just not seeing?

Need to open tmobile my account app, press menu button, goto options. Goto wifi manager and disable it.

 

[BlueGoldAce]

Well after two days my battery life has improved dramatically.

I turned off location reporting, turned off smart scan and wifi always scanning, disabled tmobile bloat ware, disabled the bundled amazon app(this made a huge difference, app was crashing a lot, the phone stopped stuttering and over heating), and turned off location cards in Google now.

Got 4.5 hours screen time yesterday.

I woke up this morning at 4 am and took the phone off the wireless charger, and went back to sleep. Woke up at 730 with 99% battery left, that immediate decreased to 98 by the time my email app opened. So we will save 2% lost in almost 4 hours.

Wifi and wifi calling was on the entire time.

Cell standby still reads as eating excess battery. I don't know if I believe that.

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