What is classed as heavy battery use?

[ScruffyDoug]

Hi folks. Got my Z3 a couple of weeks ago. Liking it a lot, but the battery life isn't living up to my expectations, given the claims of 2 days use.

I've only used my phone for maybe half an hour combined of twitter and Facebook checking across the day, played Plague Inc for 25 mins, checked my email a couple of times, had a quick 5min browse through Google Play and sent maybe a dozen texts. Battery is currently at 49%, after coming off charge 12hrs ago.

Now to me I don't see this as anywhere near what I would deem as heavy use, yet I've lost over half my battery in half a day. The biggest drain appears to be my screen, at 62% according to the power management list. I've got it set to about 35% brightness, no auto adjust, off after 1 minute.

Is this normal for the Z3? Is my battery a dud or am I just expecting too much from it?

p.s. Even typing up this post has dropped me another 5% in just 5-10 minutes.

 

[Rukbat]

Two days of a five minute phone call an hour, maybe. Twitter and Facebook apps are huge battery eaters. So are most games.

49% after 12 hours with that use sounds about normal. (And start thinking about charging it - for maximum battery life, don't discharge it below 40%.)

The screen, Android System and Android OS will be the largest consumers if you aren't using anything that uses a lot of power.

Most people want to be able to go through an 8 hour day without having to recharge. 12-14 hours is something some people would kill for.

 

[ScruffyDoug]

Really? So the claims of 2 day battery life only applies if I don't actually use the phone?

Think I may need to look at changing to a handset with swappable batteries if that's the case. I do 16hr shifts, so need a phone that can last my day, which is what I was led to believe this was.

Oh well, cheers for the reply anyway Rukbat

 

[LuvMusic]

As Rukbat said, Facebook and Twitter are major battery hogs. I don't use them and I can easily get two days. You may want to check your notification settings. You may be able to adjust them for Facebook and Twitter so that you can extend your battery life.

 

[TheUnknownUser]

Good luck finding a phone with better battery life, and I don't mean that in a mean mannered way. I've gotten by far the best battery life with my Z3 and I've owned many phones. If I may ask please post a picture of your usage screen so we can take a look. Also do you have Stamina mode on or off?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ibbyj]

49% at 12 hours should allow you enough juice to get through 16....

Whats your screen on time?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[JBeef]

We need screen shots of your battery usage to better understand if things are fine (most Z3s really do have very good batteries) or if you have a fault.

 

[makie]

You should check battery stats on gsmarena. I do own a note 4 myself at the moment, but this phone won't do you any good. The Z3 is actually a good phone if you look at battery life!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ScruffyDoug]

Just noticed the additional replies.

Re lasting to 16hrs based on it being 49% after 12hrs - that 49% was based on me using the phone way less than usual so as to try and figure out if it was a specific app to blame or if I was generally just using it too much.

Re screen shot, I'll need to wait till I can post from computer as can't find option to post a pic from mobile site.

Stamina mode - I didn't have it activated before but I've now got it set so only certain apps stay live, with everything else off, and have set the time-check thing on aswell, so I'll see if these changes make a difference and let you know.

 

[TheUnknownUser]

Just noticed the additional replies.

Re lasting to 16hrs based on it being 49% after 12hrs - that 49% was based on me using the phone way less than usual so as to try and figure out if it was a specific app to blame or if I was generally just using it too much.

Re screen shot, I'll need to wait till I can post from computer as can't find option to post a pic from mobile site.

Stamina mode - I didn't have it activated before but I've now got it set so only certain apps stay live, with everything else off, and have set the time-check thing on aswell, so I'll see if these changes make a difference and let you know.

Install the Android Central App from the Play Store it will allow you easier access than the mobile site.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[KennyJohnson]

I can get through a full day of heavy use and still have enough juice not to have it die at bedtime. Much better battery life than my Nexus 6 or Moto X 2014.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[George H Martin]

Are you closing your apps after using them? (Recent Apps Screen)

This really does help with battery life. I can usually get from home to work and still have 100% battery. Today i got to work and noticed i was on 98%. This happened because i forgot to close my apps last night before bed.

 

[Slashyou]

Really? So the claims of 2 day battery life only applies if I don't actually use the phone?

Think I may need to look at changing to a handset with swappable batteries if that's the case. I do 16hr shifts, so need a phone that can last my day, which is what I was led to believe this was.

Oh well, cheers for the reply anyway Rukbat

Or get a power bank

 

[cfoied]

Im constantly on my phone, using the Internet and other social media apps. My Z3 gets burned out FAST

 

[HawaiiD]

Hi folks. Got my Z3 a couple of weeks ago. Liking it a lot, but the battery life isn't living up to my expectations, given the claims of 2 days use.

I've only used my phone for maybe half an hour combined of twitter and Facebook checking across the day, played Plague Inc for 25 mins, checked my email a couple of times, had a quick 5min browse through Google Play and sent maybe a dozen texts. Battery is currently at 49%, after coming off charge 12hrs ago.

Now to me I don't see this as anywhere near what I would deem as heavy use, yet I've lost over half my battery in half a day. The biggest drain appears to be my screen, at 62% according to the power management list. I've got it set to about 35% brightness, no auto adjust, off after 1 minute.

Is this normal for the Z3? Is my battery a dud or am I just expecting too much from it?

p.s. Even typing up this post has dropped me another 5% in just 5-10 minutes.

In your wifi settings select advanced, select keep wifi on during sleep. Make sure it selected. As for your apps? I know for example candy crush ad Facebook drains a good amount of battery

Sent from my Sony Xperia Z3 via the Coconut Wireless \ooo/...

 

[Stwutter]

As a general comment, it's best to be cute about manufacturers claims of 2 day battery life and so on...

If you ask you average punter on the train how much they use their phone, it'd likely be a few calls, texts, bit of social networking... and not much else. With this, the Z3 may get you towards 2 days use, but even then that may be unlikely. If you're a member of Android Central , or anything like that, your interest in phones and Android is already vastly more than Joe Average, and your usage will be likely be higher as well.

I use my Z3 a lot. 7 or 8 calls a day, lots of Twitter, FB & IGram. Sometimes a bit of GPS, 2hrs gaming to and from work 5 days a week. Bluetooth is also on and linked up to the Sony Smartwatch 3. I unplug at 6am most days, and back on the charger at 11pm or so. I usually have 20-30% left. To me, that's excellent, but that would likely get me to midday the day after at best, should I not plug it in at night.

As said above, a lot of non-Sony owners would kill for that kind of battery life.

 

[Levitschi Alexandru]

test

 

[09wukd1]

I have been using my Z3 for a week now, my gf has the Z3c which she got at the same time as me. I am a heavier user than her definitely.

I can get a good days battery out of it, and I charge it every night before the next day.
If I want to I can push it for 2 days.

By the way I do play Clash of Clans which is a heavy battery drainer and can survive a day or 2 on it.

Make sure you're on stamina mode, turn off unnecessary notifications, NFC, LTE, haptic touch, and more things that you can find.

Using the screen for movies will drain it the most because of its 1080p display. However for standby its one of the best phones dropping 1 - 5% overnight. Just keep watch on your phone and what you guys are doing.

By the way, facebook is a big battery drainer, especially messenger - which i use a lot - i don't know why but it has been on most phones.

If you guys want me to post my stats or anything lemme know, will be happy to help out.

 

[abackholm]

Especially if you are in 3G or one of the older LTE networks, the frequent background chatter of Facebook, especially Messenger, and others will drain battery pretty quickly even if you don't use the phone. The challenge with Stamina and other blocking techniques is that they may block incoming notifications so that you wouldn't get the messages in unless you are already actively using the phone. We spent the last couple of years analyzing the application background traffic patterns to see how they could be optimized to have battery extend longer. A Google Play search to "open channel seven networks" could be an interesting solution for you.

 

[Stwutter]

I have a similar issue...


I Just had my Z3 for over a week now, and after a few full charges and fully drains I hoped that the battery would have been on a good cycle and I could used it to its full potential. But since day one I've seen that my screen consumes more than anything. Looking for solutions on this and other forums, and finding various screen grabs I've seen that the average screen consumption is about 30 to 40%; Mine is at 60%! The most I could get it down to was 54%.

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Basically after about 12 hour of average usage with 3 hour of screen time my battery is gone. My wifi is mostly off, I only use facebook, twitter and I receive about 10 emails a day on gmail. I turned off all my location based apps.

Am I doing something wrong? is this normal? I use the phone mostly for emails, texts and social media.

Alex

You say you're off WiFi mostly - what's the service like where you are when not on WiFi? If you're 4/3/2G/LTE or whatever is patchy, this can effect battery. Also, do you have Location-Based WiFi switched on? This prevents the Z3 from constantly searching for a WiFi connection unless you're in range of whatever networks you choose to save.

Other than that, you're battery usage does seem quite a bit higher than I would expect with the usage you say you have. Having said that, 12hr 37min using 74% actually works out at over 17hours battery in total should you carry onto 100%. That's not all that bad even if it's lower than expected from the Z3.

Another suggestion is to set the adaptive lighting to on, and on the lowest brightness setting. It may not be for everyone, but I find the display more than adequate with this setting both indoors and out.