The truth about battery life/apps/android.

[Princepia]

So, I want to point something about to everyone, but note, this is anecdotal evidence only.

I'm neurotic when it comes to my battery life. I came from a pootacular Galaxy S3 battery that wouldn't get me through half a day. I now monitor my battery life like a crazy person.

I'm starting to believe that it's YOUR fault or a random app developers fault that your battery life isn't up to snuff. Like I said, I monitor my battery life daily. When I install a new app, I watch it even closer. Some apps work great, other very popular apps, I install and see a significant decrease in battery life. I unistall them, and tada, I'm back to the good life.

It's extremely important that you are aware of what you put on your phone. Some people cruise the play store downloading random sketchy [language removed by mod] (or even popular apps) that haven't been adapted for lollipop. This is unfortunate and a flaw, but not Samsung or Googles. It's reluctance by the developer, or perhaps apps that are no longer being developed. You probably don't want to let that fave app of yours go, but again, that's a sacrifice unfortunately you'll have to make.

We expect when we pay a certain amount for technology that it works exactly to our own personal standards, and that we are entitled to everything. But we're not. The Android environment is complex and involves many other people's skills and consideration to ensure that you get the best experience possible. Your carrier, Google, your manufacturer, app developers, all need to work in harmony. But it's a case of too many hands in one pot. With so many variables, comes so many chances for mistakes.

This is something you need to keep it mind when opting for Android.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[SpookDroid]

Nice write up, but I would add that it's not only for Android (and yes, sometimes manufacturers and/or carriers have a bit to do when they mess up with their custom ROMs, but mostly it's about the apps).

 

[sstephen17]

I rarely download apps that haven't been downloaded by over 100 thousand and/or have relatively high review scores.

 

[SpookDroid]

Even so, good apps CAN be battery hogs. Nova is UBERPOPULAR and highly rated... yet, on my Note 4 and Tab S it drained the battery like Koolaid on a hot day with 50 thirsty kids.

 

[magichoward]

But wouldn't it show in battery usage that Nova is using a high percentage?
I have Nova but I am really unhappy about my battery

Posted via the Android Central App. Magichoward

 

[zkyevolved]

I would love to 100% agree with the OP, but it's not the case. While apps have VERY big influence on battery usage, I for one get poor battery life on a fresh install with NO apps installed except for Whatsapp and Line (messengers). Now, you would say, Yes, it's their fault. Nay my friend, nay. I have had MANY android phones, and windows phones, and in my day iPhones, not one of those phones had drain due to Whatsapp or Line. So, if I have a clean install and i'm getting battery drain, and I have no apps running, and, in fact, a great many have been disabled, except for these 2 apps... Then... Whose fault is it really? ONLY on my Note 4 I am seeing poor battery life due to these apps? So... Whose fault is it? Samsung's and Google's for poor optimization...

Now, being realistic, it's not Whatsapp or Line.... It's generally poor coding (either by Google, Samsung, or your app developer). There are also cases that the actual hardware is a power hog, but if Samsung can boast X hours standby and 20 hours talk time... I believe it's not the hardware's fault. I think the issue is the software. There is this race to get the software out as fast as possible to boast. This of course only accounts for flagship devices. While the Note 4 is a flagship device, it's being treated as a Samsung Galaxy S5. They're focusing now on their Note 5 and S6/Edge variants... Saddens me... ...

I hope they fix these battery drains and issues with lag.
and yes, I've cleared cache, yes I've tried 3 different official ROMs. And I'm back on KK because I get 20% better life with all my apps than with Lollipop with no apps! also, switching apps lag is much less than on LP. But camera lag is double than Lollipop. arg... What a buggy device

 

[Tahertboy]

So, I want to point something about to everyone, but note, this is anecdotal evidence only.

I'm neurotic when it comes to my battery life. I came from a pootacular Galaxy S3 battery that wouldn't get me through half a day. I now monitor my battery life like a crazy person.

I'm starting to believe that it's YOUR fault or a random app developers fault that your battery life isn't up to snuff. Like I said, I monitor my battery life daily. When I install a new app, I watch it even closer. Some apps work great, other very popular apps, I install and see a significant decrease in battery life. I unistall them, and tada, I'm back to the good life.

It's extremely important that you are aware of what you put on your phone. Some people cruise the play store downloading random sketchy [language removed by mod] (or even popular apps) that haven't been adapted for lollipop. This is unfortunate and a flaw, but not Samsung or Googles. It's reluctance by the developer, or perhaps apps that are no longer being developed. You probably don't want to let that fave app of yours go, but again, that's a sacrifice unfortunately you'll have to make.

We expect when we pay a certain amount for technology that it works exactly to our own personal standards, and that we are entitled to everything. But we're not. The Android environment is complex and involves many other people's skills and consideration to ensure that you get the best experience possible. Your carrier, Google, your manufacturer, app developers, all need to work in harmony. But it's a case of too many hands in one pot. With so many variables, comes so many chances for mistakes.

This is something you need to keep it mind when opting for Android.

Just my 2 cents.

I see your point.. I too have issues with my battery life...it's barely a week old and doesn't even last till the end of the day...my question is how do you know which apps are draining your battery exessively other than seeing the battery stats

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Neo_ii_Droid]

Even so, good apps CAN be battery hogs. Nova is UBERPOPULAR and highly rated... yet, on my Note 4 and Tab S it drained the battery like Koolaid on a hot day with 50 thirsty kids.

Now this is of particular interest to me.

 

[Mustafa Bepari]

Great post! And I'd like to add, one of many battery draining culprits is the Facebook app. I get 18 to 28 hours of battery on my Nexus 5 depending on the frequency of usage on average. It all comes down to how you optimize your settings to get the best out of your battery.

 

[Alex Wetzel]

I rarely download apps that haven't been downloaded by over 100 thousand and/or have relatively high review scores.

Same here. But just because an app has high reviews doesn't necessarily mean that it will perform the way you want it to.

 

[SpookDroid]

Great post! And I'd like to add, one of many battery draining culprits is the Facebook app. I get 18 to 28 hours of battery on my Nexus 5 depending on the frequency of usage on average. It all comes down to how you optimize your settings to get the best out of your battery.

Yup, the Facebook app has a bad habit of being a battery drain lately. It's gotten better though, especially if you're on the Beta program, but still...

 

[Mustafa Bepari]

Yup, the Facebook app has a bad habit of being a battery drain lately. It's gotten better though, especially if you're on the Beta program, but still...

The best way I've come around this is by deleting the Facebook app and using the normal Facebook site. Using Messenger for chats. I believe that's a much better way to save battery as the Messenger consumes less battery than the actual Facebook app.

Posted via the Android Central App, Lollipop 5.1 / White Nexus 5 (32GB)

 

[SpookDroid]

The chat portion has long been removed from the Facebook app. It's just the Messenger one now. Even if you open a conversation from the main app, it launches the Messenger app to follow.

 

[natehoy]

Even so, good apps CAN be battery hogs.

Agreed. Battery drain only affects reviews when it gets really bad, and many apps will drain battery by the nature of what the app does (games, and in particular location-based games also use continuous streams of data like Ingress, are going to be battery hogs but there's not much you can do about it.

Nova is UBERPOPULAR and highly rated... yet, on my Note 4 and Tab S it drained the battery like Koolaid on a hot day with 50 thirsty kids.

I'm curious, how are you measuring this? I don't think I've seen Nova Prime pull any noticeable amounts of juice, but I only use the default battery view. Does some of the battery usage get hidden in "Android System" or something?

 

[SpookDroid]

Agreed. Battery drain only affects reviews when it gets really bad, and many apps will drain battery by the nature of what the app does (games, and in particular location-based games also use continuous streams of data like Ingress, are going to be battery hogs but there's not much you can do about it.




I'm curious, how are you measuring this? I don't think I've seen Nova Prime pull any noticeable amounts of juice, but I only use the default battery view. Does some of the battery usage get hidden in "Android System" or something?

Not measuring and not even interested in measuring. Without Nova, the tablet would go from 100 to 50% on standby in two or three days; after Nova, it wouldn't last a single day on standby. ON STANDBY! Tried it two or three times, same thing. In my book, Nova is out. I'm sure there have been updates ever since, but that was enough to keep me away from it. On my phone I use Themer anyway.

 

[magichoward]

I too use Nova.. Using gsam battery it hardly shows as using any battery.. But I also get bad battery

Posted via the Android Central App. Magichoward

 

[skatergirl]

My two cents is that it is all about screen size versus battery size.

If my phone is sitting and doing nothing, with GPS, WIFI and Bluetooth all running, I barely use battery. As soon as my screen comes on it starts to fade. If I did not turn on my screen and left everything running, I would get at least 33 hours on the battery.

I chose to have this ginormous beautiful screen and I do swap batteries often. With quick charge capabilities and and a back case so easy to remove, I do not mind not having an all day battery, though I would like an all day battery and some Note users do get a full day from their batteries.

Some apps will kill your battery, like games. Nothing kills my husband's Droid Turbo battery like two hours on a game after all day use. Even my tablet, games kill it in about four hours when four hours of watching movies only sets me back about 40 percent.

So, yes, some apps are killers, but when you have a screen the size of the Note with an average size battery, you will not get Droid Maxx or Droid Turbo days out of your phone. We have the glorious screen. They have the glorious batteries.

 

[SpookDroid]

Not entirely true. Screen tech evolves (trust me, I've been to 3M's Innovation Center and have seen them produce super bright screens powered by a single LED just by adding a space-age reflective layer underneath, it's impressive) and battery tech evolves. If you look at each Note iteration, the battery doesn't change that much, yet screen size increases and resolution nearly dobules... and your battery is usually much better than the last.

Motorola has done a tremendous job of optimizing their power consumption on their devices, and if you pair that with a humongous battery like the Maxx's, then you're in for a battery-life treat! But a small-screened phone with crappy power management can last a lot less than a big screen phone with good optimization and with the same battery size.

Just like apps aren't all created equal. Some games might optimize processor usage and be very battery-friendly while other simple games that shouldn't take too much (I'm looking at you, latest Disney games) are battery hogs.