Nexus 6p battery life

[Bratticus44]

Well... My battery life at 50%...
Android OS - 22%
Screen - 11%
Android system - 10%

And those stats are always like that... I did try safe mode last night and the battery was Wayyyyy better. And I deleted some apps that I thought were the issue but no dice....

Just looking for suggestions.

 

[Bratticus44]

Update on how battery life is..
At 31%... Top 3...
Screen 16%
Android OS 15%
Android system 13%

 

[GSDer]

Sorry, percentages aren't really much to go on. You could try the following:

(Settings -> Battery -> touch the graph to see History details)

(Generated by GSam Battery Monitor Pro https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...etails?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm.pro&token=h_u_ldMU [there's also a free version], with further detail if you select each app shown [note that you'll have to issue an ADB command if you want the full details without root])

Or you could try AccuBattery https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s?id=com.digibites.accubattery&token=UMLYA1mb for a slightly different breakdown.

 

[GSDer]

You can also try Wakelock Detector Lite https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...umapps.wakelockdetector.noroot&token=APAZN5P9 (root not required, but you need to run a Chrome extension to enable this app) to get a view of which apps are keeping your device awake (when it should normally be in a sleep state)

 

[LeoRex]

One thing to keep in mind.... Unless you are a 'turn and burn' type who has their phone on most all the time.... you are going to see the Android OS and kernel items showing high on the battery usage stats.

Think about it, if your phone is just sitting there on a table, doing nothing, the system processes... the processes that keep the running running... should be the only things running. Something has to be using power, right? If your phone has been sitting there and you see an app ranked really high on that list, that's a sign that it's gone rogue.

Now, if your phone is draining really fast while idle, or never going into deep sleep that is a problem that you need to address.

Here is a quick shot of my 5X as it stands right now: Off the charger for about 2 1/2 hours, 79%... I had Waze up for my commute and about 30 mins of SOT.

Kernel and System up there in the 1 and 2 slot. Which is really what you would expect unless you are hammering on a fairly resource intensive application for an extended amount of time.

 

[anon(661246)]

The battery life is awful on this phone ever since I updated to Nougat. I did a factory reset and same results. No rogue apps either.

I used to get 5.5 hours of SOT and now about 3SOT

 

[Bratticus44]

Yah like overnight it uses like 15-20%
Two days ago I did a factory reset and loaded it as a new phone. I do have to out the network settings to 3G. Cuz if I don't in the signal bar graph it is always yellow. And garbage. Not even sure if it's signal associated. All I know is that stupid Android OS and Android System is always in the top of the list.

 

[Bratticus44]

I have the same paid app as you... And "combined app CPU is 68.6% and then everything below is like 1% or lower. And your Android Kernel os is really high and mine is wayyyy at the bottom..

 

[soma4society]

The battery life is awful on this phone ever since I updated to Nougat. I did a factory reset and same results. No rogue apps either.

I used to get 5.5 hours of SOT and now about 3SOT

I had the same problem and for me at least a full factory reset, with a set up "as new", and cache wipe gave this device a new lease on life. Even my doze wasn't working well before. This thing would just drain all the time. Now I'm back to near 5 hr SOT and really solid standby time. So as basic as this sounds for the Android savvy, did you restore as new device and do a cache wipe last time?

Best of luck...

 

[GSDer]

I have the same paid app as you... And "combined app CPU is 68.6% and then everything below is like 1% or lower. And your Android Kernel os is really high and mine is wayyyy at the bottom..

If you are seeing a line item 'combined app CPU' then you aren't seeing the detailed breakdown (as shown in posts 3 and 5). You need to use ADB to grant the necessary permission for GSam:

adb -d shell pm grant com.gsamlabs.bbm.pro android.permission.BATTERY_STATS (this assumes you're using the paid version; leave off '.pro' if you're using the free version)

 

[GSDer]

I do have to out the network settings to 3G. Cuz if I don't in the signal bar graph it is always yellow. And garbage. Not even sure if it's signal associated.

You should try putting it in Airplane mode overnight just to see if a poor cellular signal is causing your drastic battery loss.

 

[GSDer]

The battery life is awful on this phone ever since I updated to Nougat. I did a factory reset and same results. No rogue apps either.

I used to get 5.5 hours of SOT and now about 3SOT

Screen on Time is not the only measure of battery life, and doesn't serve as a sufficient data point to determine what might be going on.

 

[Bratticus44]

What app is best for adb permissions? (Sorry I know quite about about Nexus phones except for that stuff). Before I factory reset this phone last week I did try the cache wipe. And it took like 1 second lol. I was like.. hmm that seemed useless lol. So yah. I did a factory wipe. And set up as new... And only downloaded necessary apps.

 

[LeoRex]

What app is best for adb permissions? (Sorry I know quite about about Nexus phones except for that stuff).

Do you mean accessing ADB? The 'best', I would guess, is the Android Software Developer's Kit from Google, but that can be a bit overkill because it comes with EVERYTHING... There's a portable fastboot/ADB installation kit kicking around (I think the safest source is from XDA). There are a few toolkits that interface with the ADB and fastboot command line tools. Best one by far, in my opinion, is Wugfresh's Nexus Root Toolkit.

 

[Bratticus44]

Yah I don't know if I wanna root.... I know it would be handy to see detailed apps in this gSam app.. but meh. I don't know what to do anymore lol. I guess just charge it at work and accept that the battery sucks on mine

 

[GSDer]

Yah I don't know if I wanna root.... I know it would be handy to apps in this gSam app.

This doesn't require you to root your device. You just issue the command I provided from a Command window (with elevated privileges) in Windows from wherever you have the ADB package loaded.

Of course, you'll need the drivers installed, but Windows should take care of that.
You also need to be in USB debugging mode (from within Developer options).

Edit: you can find the package http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

 

[grover5]

The battery on my 6p has been bad for awhile now as well. I'm on the 7.1.1 dev beta and I've been losing around 5% an hour while in standby so my doze isn't dozing. Screen on time has taken a major hit too. No idea what's causing it.

 

[Bratticus44]

yah i lost like 50% just from morning to lunch time, with just random facebook browsing.
i can't even set it to LTE network speed because if i look in the signal area.. it's always yellow or whatever.
im so sick of this. people at work only lose like 15% battery maybe... such JUNK

 

[Andie708]

Although your battery level % decreases rapidly, that doesn't necessarily imply the battery is actually draining fast, because the % is estimated by the phone and can be wildly inaccurate.

On my ZTE Obsidian phone (Android 5.1, build 29 update) the % can jump 80% or more simply by powering the phone off and then on. I've attached a screenshot of the phone's Settings/Battery screen that shows three such huge jumps following three corresponding power off/ons. It proves the phone's estimation of the remaining battery charge can be wildly inaccurate, since the battery charge can't really jump like that. (The charger wasn't connected, and even if it had been connected, batteries don't charge that fast.) Once I played videos for 2 hours after the % had dropped to 1%, which proved the battery still had a lot of charge remaining in spite of the low %.

Here's a quick & easy test: When the battery % on your device shows a low value, do NOT connect your charger. Instead, power the device off, then power it back on, and look again at the % to see whether it jumped to a high value. (Note: Powering off/on is essential for the test; rebooting won't cause the % to jump.) If it's still low, connect your charger. But if it's not low, keep track of how many more hours of usage you get, and how many more times you can get the % to jump by powering off/on.

My Obsidian didn't use to behave that way. I suspect one of the following: (1) The build 29 update may have a bug that manifests only with some kinds of hardware, or (2) There may be malware on my phone that makes the phone lie about the battery % (in order to fool users into installing battery monitors & task killers and replacing their phones or batteries, or just for the perverse fun of making users panic).

One reason to suspect build 29 (which became available as an OTA update during the spring of 2016) is the reports of rapid battery drain from many users of recent Android versions, including the Nexus 6p with Android 7 Nougat. In other words, recent Android code has also found its way into older versions of Android via updates, and may be buggy. Maybe the users reporting rapid battery drain aren't really experiencing rapid battery drain and are actually experiencing inaccurate battery %. I hope some of the users who believe their battery drains rapidly will try the power off/on test and report their results... and if the result is a huge jump after power off/on they should also report that to Google, so that the Android developers and phone manufacturers trying to fix the battery problem will stop believing the battery is really draining.

I tried replacing my Obsidian's battery with the battery from my brother's Obsidian (which has almost never been used) but that didn't help the battery % behavior, so I stopped suspecting the battery may be failing. I tried the battery % calibration procedure (discharge until phone turns off, then charge fully until voltage stops rising) but that too didn't help the battery % behavior.

Also, note that the screenshot shows the Screen used more than 100% of the power. It shouldn't be possible for anything to use more than 100%, which is another clue that there's a bug or malware. (I've also seen it show over 100% for Phone Idle.)

 

[Andie708]

[An update since my previous post.]

1. Three days ago I spoke with ZTE tech support about the "software enhancement update" listed in my Obsidian phone's notification screen. I wanted more information before I installed it, because T-Mobile's support page doesn't list any updates more recent than May 2016 and my phone already had the May update. A few hours after I spoke with ZTE, the phone did something I never saw it do before: I woke up the phone's screen, saw that GSam battery monitor showed 26%, and a moment later the phone shut itself off. Holding down the power button didn't turn it back on. Connecting the charger didn't turn it back on either, but about twice a minute the screen flickered on for a fraction of a second; I think it was trying to display the large image of a battery charging. Holding down the power button still did nothing. I tried holding the power button again about an hour later, and this time the phone worked and the battery level displayed 100%. The Obsidian shutting itself off at 26%, and its non-response until after being connected to the charger for a long time, seems extremely close to the descriptions of the bad battery behavior of the Nexus 6p. (Except I haven't read about any 6p screens flickering on & off while charging.)

I don't know if ZTE tinkered remotely with my phone after I spoke with them. If they didn't, then it's quite a coincidence that it behaved differently (worse and unacceptable) soon after I spoke with them. On the other hand, all of its radios (cellular, wifi and bluetooth) were off, so it shouldn't be feasible for anyone to remotely tinker with it (unless there's a backdoor available in airplane mode).

2. Yesterday I installed the update, which updated my Obsidian from build 29 to build 30 (released by ZTE in November 2016, still not listed at T-Mobile's site). It doesn't seem to have helped at all with the wildly inaccurate battery level %. I had hoped it would help because ZTE tech support had told me the update would "improve performance and reduce battery usage," which might have really meant it would reduce the apparent battery usage by fixing the bug in the estimation of usage.

3. I think I understand how the Settings/Battery screen can show apps using more than 100%: Instead of normalizing so all apps' percentages will sum to 100% (which is the behavior I expected) it's probably showing the usage relative to a full charge, since the most recent full charge. For example, if one were to keep the battery level between 20% and 80% (recharging each time the level drops to 20% and disconnecting the charger each time it reaches 80%) then the most recent full charge would be a long time ago, and the phone would have used 80%-20% times the number of "partial" charge cycles since the most recent full charge, which would add up to 120% after two "partial" charge cycles, 180% after three cycles, etc. Since these totals exceed 100%, each app's portion of a total can exceed 100%.