Galaxy S5: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

[erasat]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

I'm no heavy user, I consider myself a moderate one, no gaming, just check my tons of emails and once at home I see my Flipboard magazines and Google Pay News and obviously check my Android forums.

With my Galaxy S4 before the Kit Kat update I was getting constantly 4 hours of Screen On Time, after the Kit kat update, immediately, that same day that it took the update, Android System and Android OS went up and never went back down after almost 11 months constant. It resulted on a screen on time reduction I was barely getting little more than 3 hours. The S5 right out of the box was giving me 4.5 hours of screen time, even with the same Android OS and Android System battery usage, and after a couple of adjustments and removal of unneeded apps and running services I've been able to get since last week 5+ hours of screen time. An average of over 2 hours more than the S4 with Kit Kat, so if we find why the Kit Kat is using so much Android OS and Android System and fix it or modify it, we can get by the logic described above 1 hour more of screen time. In my case an awesome 6+ screen on time.

Here is my stats for last night, used my Gear 2 for hours, so bluetooth was turned on, also it wasn't a normal day, as I didn't work, so I was all day at home using the phone constantly.

 

[Joshua Greenwald]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

So far things do not look much better for me today. Started the day off making sure all apps were closed, that I'm on power savings mode (though not ultra) and I've turned off all the non essential features. After an hour and a half of total non-use, it has still dropped off 12%, which should still put me down to about 5-10% or so left after twelve hours assuming I continue to not touch it. Tonight I'm going to go through and make sure any apps that did NOT come withe the phone are uninstalled and see if that makes a difference on Saturday. Though like I said at the top, when I look at my battery usage statistics, there is nothing using any power but the standard Android stuff.

@Paul - Yeah, I don't have any of those things you mentioned. No case, no power managers, and no antivirus software.

 

[sirmaru]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Run a test on Ultra Power Savings Mode and see if you get any improvements. I charged my S5 last night and GSam shows I have used 15% in 12 hours and 35 minutes. I've been using it extensively this morning but kept in Ultra Power Savings Mode when not being used.

My Usage Monitor shows Android OS using 85% and the screen 7%. The UPSM screen shows 85% should last 10.6 days. It also shuts the screen in 5 seconds versus my setting in normal mode of 5 minutes.

Also, make sure your Google Drive will only sync in wireless mode. I have also not made or received any phone calls with the unit.

Finally, go to the Samsung App site and go to the screen where you can locate your mobile. In Ultra Power Savings Mode it should show as offline and in normal mode it show as online.

 

[edge4628]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Here are my numbers so far today. I haven't used the phone much just some web surfing. I decided to try airplane mode off today just to change things up.
What do you guys think? Still draining to fast? Its been so inconsistent I'm not sure what to expect when its working.

 

[Joshua Greenwald]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

@edge - With a screen time of an hour and a total on time of over seven hours and still about 80% of your battery available - I would personally be more than happy with those numbers....but everything is relative I suppose. Still, you'd like to have some moderate predictability.

 

[Joshua Greenwald]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

@sirmaru

Today was no better with everything turned off I could think of. Everything is set to working under wi-fi only right now. When I swapped my phone out it synced up my apps, photos, etc from the cloud before I got home (because I didn't think to disable that at the store) and chewed up my data plan.....so data is off for right now.

I went in to Verizon today and they swapped out the battery as the first option before having to swap out the whole phone. I'll see how it does between now and when I go to bed. Up until now I've been draining at about a rate of 8%/hour in powersaving mode with virtually no usage, so we'll see if this battery does any better. I'll try out the ultra power savings mode tomorrow and see what happens. I'm sure I will get savings then, I just don't want to have to worry about toggling it off/on when I use the phone just to make it through the day.

The article I was reading about Gsam not working with KitKat was apparently outdated and I've installed it. So I will use it and see if I can find any apps causing wakelocks. Because honestly that is what if feels like. Very steady decline and phone always stays slightly warm to the touch, so I'm just wondering if the cpu is always running for some reason.

 

[dwd3885]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

I am having the same issues of drain. Went to AT&T and they would do nothing for me. But I did call AT&T and they are sending me a replacement. They said it should be better than that. We'll see when I get the new phone on Monday.

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[dorrien12]

My battery life is way lower than I expected, but when I brought it in to the Verizon store today, the manager tried to convince me that KitKat sucks and it is normal to get less than 12 hours of battery life on even low usage with android phones loaded with KitKat....which does not match up with what I've been reading.

This is just the stock system, with no added loaders or crazy apps or widgets constantly running or updating stuff. I have wifi on, but GPS and Bluetooth are off and the screen is set to auto-brightness. I also have the background processes under Developer Settings limited to just 2.

The past several days since I got it my phone has been down to < 10% battery after about 11 hours. This is almost all standby time in my pocket. Maybe a dozen text messages, 10-15 minutes on the phone and about half an hour to an hour surfing the web or checking emails, but that is it. All total, hardly more than an hour of basic use a day. Which, coming from my Razor Maxx which would last well over two days with such activity, seems really bad.

So this morning when I unplugged the phone to kick off the day I made sure all apps were closed and I haven't used it all day other than to read a few texts and emails. So now, after 9.5 hours, I'm at 28% remaining. Better, but not by much. I've just looked under the battery setting and there are still no rogue apps listed there and practically all of the usage has come from Android OS & System (Screen has only used 3% for example.)

I also just noticed that it is currently in Power Savings mode, but I don't think I had that set before. My guess is that the Verizon guy did it when he was looking at the phone. Which means that even on Power Savings mode the phone has used up 23% of the battery in the last 4 hours of standby-only use (I was at 51% when I brought in the phone during lunch.)

I'm well within my two weeks so I can have Verizon swap it out, but that is such a headache I wanted to know what my expectations should be and if there is anything else I should look at trying first. Thanks!

My battery for today, 16 hrs with 7 hrs of screen time, & 44 min on voice calls. I'm on Kitkat, but that was the same for me with Jellybean. This is with light to moderate use.

The day before I had 8 hrs on battery and about 7.5 hrs screen time, but that was continuous/heavy use (I never put it down).

I only have WIFI & syncing & power saving mode on (2 email accts), brightness at lowest point (no auto), everything else if off.

Sorry didn't see the phone type in the title, mine is a Note 3, reading thru seems like everyone referencing the S5. Sorry if this is no help to you.

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[Joshua Greenwald]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Update....

It looks like it was almost definitely the battery. After the Verizon rep swapped out my battery I made no other system changes and stuck it in my pocket and didn't use it for 4 hours (which is my baseline with original battery)....so far the results are night and day.

Original Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was approximately 30-35%
New Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was 3%. (It was at 31% when I put in my phone and it is now sitting at 28%)

So yeah, about a 10x improvement just by swapping out the battery. So for other people who are having major battery life issues, that could be it. I will also say that the GSam battery monitor sirmaru recommended is really good. It does a great job going into really detailed coverage of all the apps using the cpu, so if you need to find if there are any apps forcing the cpu to keep running while the phone is supposed to be asleep, it will do a better job of helping you track them down. I don't think I will leave it installed because for general use the built in battery settings are fine. But if I'm worried about life issues in the future, it will be a go to app to look into why.


@dwd3885 - Unfortunately, I'm not all that surprised you had an issue dealing with your store rep. The first Verizon store I went to (the one where I bought it) they basically just shrugged me off and said that was normal. The manager was a real jerk and finally admitted that he could swap the phone out within two weeks of purchase, but was pressing heavily not to bother, that it wouldn't make any difference and it would just be a huge hassle for me and I'd be using up my only swap allowed for nothing. I went to a different store today and the rep was infinitely more helpful. Recommended trying a new battery first just to make sure that wasn't the issue, but if that didn't work to come back the next day and they would give me a new phone. So yeah, all stores are apparently not created equal. Good news is, I'm betting when you get your new phone in things will be fine. If you still have issues, I would try and pressure the store to at least try a different battery.

 

[dwd3885]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Update....

It looks like it was almost definitely the battery. After the Verizon rep swapped out my battery I made no other system changes and stuck it in my pocket and didn't use it for 4 hours (which is my baseline with original battery)....so far the results are night and day.

Original Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was approximately 30-35%
New Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was 3%. (It was at 31% when I put in my phone and it is now sitting at 28%)

So yeah, about a 10x improvement just by swapping out the battery. So for other people who are having major battery life issues, that could be it. I will also say that the GSam battery monitor sirmaru recommended is really good. It does a great job going into really detailed coverage of all the apps using the cpu, so if you need to find if there are any apps forcing the cpu to keep running while the phone is supposed to be asleep, it will do a better job of helping you track them down. I don't think I will leave it installed because for general use the built in battery settings are fine. But if I'm worried about life issues in the future, it will be a go to app to look into why.


@dwd3885 - Unfortunately, I'm not all that surprised you had an issue dealing with your store rep. The first Verizon store I went to (the one where I bought it) they basically just shrugged me off and said that was normal. The manager was a real jerk and finally admitted that he could swap the phone out within two weeks of purchase, but was pressing heavily not to bother, that it wouldn't make any difference and it would just be a huge hassle for me and I'd be using up my only swap allowed for nothing. I went to a different store today and the rep was infinitely more helpful. Recommended trying a new battery first just to make sure that wasn't the issue, but if that didn't work to come back the next day and they would give me a new phone. So yeah, all stores are apparently not created equal. Good news is, I'm betting when you get your new phone in things will be fine. If you still have issues, I would try and pressure the store to at least try a different battery.

I will definitely try for new battery. I don't know if the phone replacement I'm getting has a new battery or not!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[edge4628]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Update....

It looks like it was almost definitely the battery. After the Verizon rep swapped out my battery I made no other system changes and stuck it in my pocket and didn't use it for 4 hours (which is my baseline with original battery)....so far the results are night and day.

Original Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was approximately 30-35%
New Battery: Battery drain for 4 hours on standby was 3%. (It was at 31% when I put in my phone and it is now sitting at 28%)

So yeah, about a 10x improvement just by swapping out the battery. So for other people who are having major battery life issues, that could be it. I will also say that the GSam battery monitor sirmaru recommended is really good. It does a great job going into really detailed coverage of all the apps using the cpu, so if you need to find if there are any apps forcing the cpu to keep running while the phone is supposed to be asleep, it will do a better job of helping you track them down. I don't think I will leave it installed because for general use the built in battery settings are fine. But if I'm worried about life issues in the future, it will be a go to app to look into why.


@dwd3885 - Unfortunately, I'm not all that surprised you had an issue dealing with your store rep. The first Verizon store I went to (the one where I bought it) they basically just shrugged me off and said that was normal. The manager was a real jerk and finally admitted that he could swap the phone out within two weeks of purchase, but was pressing heavily not to bother, that it wouldn't make any difference and it would just be a huge hassle for me and I'd be using up my only swap allowed for nothing. I went to a different store today and the rep was infinitely more helpful. Recommended trying a new battery first just to make sure that wasn't the issue, but if that didn't work to come back the next day and they would give me a new phone. So yeah, all stores are apparently not created equal. Good news is, I'm betting when you get your new phone in things will be fine. If you still have issues, I would try and pressure the store to at least try a different battery.

Thanks for the update. If you can, keep us posted on the new battery. Try to throw some screen shots of the time and screen use as well. I am interested in trying a new battery as well.

 

[robertopod1968]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Pretty happy with this. Still think it could be better. Still working on it

 

[anon(27512)]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

My battery life is way lower than I expected, but when I brought it in to the Verizon store today, the manager tried to convince me that KitKat sucks and it is normal to get less than 12 hours of battery life on even low usage with android phones loaded with KitKat....which does not match up with what I've been reading.

This is just the stock system, with no added loaders or crazy apps or widgets constantly running or updating stuff. I have wifi on, but GPS and Bluetooth are off and the screen is set to auto-brightness. I also have the background processes under Developer Settings limited to just 2.

The past several days since I got it my phone has been down to < 10% battery after about 11 hours. This is almost all standby time in my pocket. Maybe a dozen text messages, 10-15 minutes on the phone and about half an hour to an hour surfing the web or checking emails, but that is it. All total, hardly more than an hour of basic use a day. Which, coming from my Razor Maxx which would last well over two days with such activity, seems really bad.

So this morning when I unplugged the phone to kick off the day I made sure all apps were closed and I haven't used it all day other than to read a few texts and emails. So now, after 9.5 hours, I'm at 28% remaining. Better, but not by much. I've just looked under the battery setting and there are still no rogue apps listed there and practically all of the usage has come from Android OS & System (Screen has only used 3% for example.)

I also just noticed that it is currently in Power Savings mode, but I don't think I had that set before. My guess is that the Verizon guy did it when he was looking at the phone. Which means that even on Power Savings mode the phone has used up 23% of the battery in the last 4 hours of standby-only use (I was at 51% when I brought in the phone during lunch.)

I'm well within my two weeks so I can have Verizon swap it out, but that is such a headache I wanted to know what my expectations should be and if there is anything else I should look at trying first. Thanks!

I agree with the salesman about kit Kat battery life. It ruined my note 3's battery life and it ruined Glass's battery life too.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

 

[ItsMeMandi]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

My battery has been amazing...two nights ago though my battery drained WAY down. Extremely extremely fast. I looked at it said something like 1m left on battery...which obviously wasn't true since it still held at 50%. I restarted it and it jumped up to 15hrs. I know my S3 used to do that sometimes too.

 

[Joshua Greenwald]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

I agree with the salesman about kit Kat battery life. It ruined my note 3's battery life and it ruined Glass's battery life too.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

You can agree with the salesman and I'm sorry if it messed up your phone, but the fact for me at least is that he tried to convince me I should be happy to get 10 hours on mostly standby with my new S5 because of kitkat. I'm glad I didn't take him at his word since it is obvious the vast majority of S5 owners get way more than that. And now that I have a new battery, I know kitkat was not my problem as all my issues have disappeared. I'm easily going to be able to go 2 days on this phone with low to moderate use.

 

[Paul lebbon]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Did you know you can disable apps you don't use, these include the junk that comes on the phone pre installed. After 23 hours I have 77% battery left! Bluetooth ON continuously with Gear 2 Neo running. Location ON (wifi power saving option). 3G OFF. Brightness on 10% auto brightness OFF. Smart stay ON. Sync ON. Weather 6 hour update. Facebook installed, Hotmail, Gmail, (received about 10 messages in a day) I disabled the music app with the earphones, drive app, and uninstalled the pre installed games. Battery rundown: WIFI 21%, Google search 18%, Cell standby 17%, Device idle 15%, Android OS 11%, Android System 6%, Screen 5%, Google play 4%, Facebook 3%. Screen time was low because I have been using the Gear watch to receive, check and answer messages today because of work. But yesterday I got 18 hours with 12 updates, 90 minutes of screen time using internet, three calls, 35 messages from Facebook and on and on...... Anyway all I am trying to say is don't give up and good luck.

 

[JOEY NEAT]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Is this good performance. I am not 100% happy with battery life so far.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[erasat]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

View attachment 113854 Is this good performance. I am not 100% happy with battery life so far.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Turn off the Samsung Link Platform, your Google Play Services are way too high, it seems that your Location Reporting and/or History is using a lot of battery usage, just use on your Google Account the Sync for the services you use, and turn off the rest.

That's the most I can tell you just by seeing your Screenshot, in my case is giving me constantly 5.5 hours and almost 6 yesterday where the S4 was giving me 3.5 hours, so It's a Huge difference.

 

[JOEY NEAT]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

Thanks I'll give it a try.

 

[Phil Lewis1]

Re: What battery life should I expect with low to moderate use?

My take is that you take whatever the manufacturer or carrier tells you and reduce it 50-60% to get a reasonable number us humans that operate in the real world can expect. I turn on power saving but have given up on all the power savings apps and other bulls hit you get told will make your phone run for 21 days straight without a recharge. Unless you are willing to be perpetually tweaking and checking battery state it doesn't matter a damn bit. If you just want to get on with doing everything else in your day, then accept a little more phone bulk and put in a bigger battery. I run a hyperion 5400Ma battery on my s4 and run all day with every thing including GPS and bluetooth media turned on. I do charge during the day if I can and think about it. If not between 8 hours of music and everything else running my battery drops to about 40 % in a day. With tethering active I can go 6-7 hours continuously and drop to 20%. I just don't bother with trying to 'manage' my phone battery any more. The bigger battery does increase thickness a good deal but it not too bad and the phone fits into a galaxy note armband for workouts. Adding the Gear 2 Neo produced no perceived reduced run time on the battery. Power man event are mostly all removed now.

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