SHOCK: Battery drain 400% worse LTE (I found out why!)

[pcguys]

My battery performance was simply spectacular BEFORE I UPGRADED TO KITKAT on ATT.

I tried many of the tips & tricks discussed here (I'll post a summary of those below).

When I realized that my battery performance was awesome on wifi and terrible on LTE, I recorded the following measurements using gSam Battery monitor (1 hour on wifi, 1 hour on LTE from same location, then 1 hour back on wifi from same location)

As you can see, it's doing something when connected to LTE and it is not doing via wifi.

I did get some goofy knox message when I first got my phone, so I suspect something related to that (or the NSA phoning home when not on wifi).

In any event, I'm about to wipe my phone, clear cache, and start from scratch. Before I install any apps, I want to see if I can get similar drain rates on LTE as on wifi (before I load all my apps).



Here's some of the things I tried (as referenced in this thread I started, before I realized it was a wifi vs. lte thing):
http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...k-vs-cpu-battery-drain-pics-before-after.html

I'll report back here what happens!

Mike

 

[pcguys]

OK. I wiped it, cleared system cache, and was LTE drain dropped to 1.2% per hour. I'm installing some of my most important apps now, and will monitor the situation.

So, I guess my revised advice is not to upgrade to kit kat unless you are willing to wipe it if things go off the rails.

 

[FBA]

No, I upgraded and all was perfect, only I thought I could do better, so I wiped and started again, but it was the same. BTW, LTE is a known battery hog. I don't use LTE...

 

[pcguys]

@FBA , relative to my S3, the Note3 was a miracle - amazing battery life (before the upgrade). I hope to get back to that place. I have a hunch that perhaps knox got me messed up. I remember getting some goofy knox wifi warnings when I first got my phone. I ended up suppressing or ignoring them, but I think in the upgrade, things went bonkers.

 

[FBA]

Well, there are a lot of things to consider. May things that need to be turned off if you want great battery.

1) Motion / gesture control should be turned off
2) Smart scroll and anything that would keep the device awake while waiting for user input
3) Disable pen detection if you don't use it
4) LTE - keep it one level down from LTE instead
5) WiFi on while in WiFi coverage
6) Bluetooth OFF while not in use
7) Remove permissions from apps using the GPS that you don't need using the GPS, like "Phone", Weather etc...


Those are the not-obvious things. The obvious ones are easy to deal with...

 

[pcguys]

Thanks @FBA. That's some good suggestions. I don't know that I want to give AT&T all this money each month and hobble myself and not get all the LTE goodness I'm paying for.

And, don't forget the biggie: to disable the wake-up voice within s-voice and the google widget!

Mike

 

[pcguys]

@FBA I will have to research how to individually disable gps permissions from apps (didn't know you could do that). Thought it was all or nothin!

Mike

 

[cellomj]

I also toggle off LTE unless I'm doing some serious web browsing or downloading. Battery lasts me an extra hour or two per day by doing this. Here's a great app that saves you from digging into the settings to find network mode:

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...m.wmba.android.toggle4gforrazr&token=DtvOchaR

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3!

 

[pcguys]

Thanks but I'm on AT&T GSM so I don't think that's an option.

_Mike

 

[FBA]

@FBA I will have to research how to individually disable gps permissions from apps (didn't know you could do that). Thought it was all or nothin!

Mike

Yup, download App Ops; any version that works on KitKat!

 

[pcguys]

Here is my success story after doing my factory wipe, and some battery tweaks.

The 0.5% is overnight, on LTE (AT&T Philly). WOW! I'm delighted I wiped it and started over.

I jotted down what setup options I did, which I'll post back here eventually.

 

[pcguys]

This is the over-night plus a few hours before bed (talking, walking around town).

I'm including this to show the wake graph:

 

[FBA]

Get rid of your weather app...

I usually go 6.5 hours with 1-2% loss (overnight), but I have mobile data / WiFi and Sync off between 12 and 6.30 AM, your numbers are now pretty much inline...

 

[pcguys]

If I didn't have a weather app, I wouldn't know whether or not bring an umbrella. Besides, 5s of cpu fo the weather wasn't the problem. Before I did the wipe, I had about 20 minutes/hour of awake, and lots of crazy cpu kernel, etc.

I am literally thrilled with 0.5% overnight with LTE and bluetooth on, NFC on, etc. Simply awesome!

I'm going to wipe my partner's phone tonight!

Mike

 

[Almeuit]

OK. I wiped it, cleared system cache, and was LTE drain dropped to 1.2% per hour. I'm installing some of my most important apps now, and will monitor the situation.

So, I guess my revised advice is not to upgrade to kit kat unless you are willing to wipe it if things go off the rails.

Yeah big software upgrades sometimes have issues and need a factory reset to fix. From what I've seen it's a luck of the draw kind of thing haha .

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[zmann]

We don't have iPhones,, we can change the battery with a fresh fully charged battery. Sometimes I need to in a day,, most days I don't,, point being we don't have to worry about battery life when it's just a pleasure to pop a fresh one in if /when needed.. Enjoy your note 3 in all its glory.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[pcguys]

When a note3 is running great, a single charge can certainly last me a day. When it was misbehaving, it was close. I'm delighted that it's humming along great again!