Help Battery Draining Quickly/Phone Getting Hot

[Dankees]

What about Task Killers and Battery Savers?

And, is Auto-Brightness better than having 15% - 20% screen brightness? Which is better?

 

[Tim K]

Sandroidfan is on the money.

Don't touch task killers or battery managers. You don't need them.

Control the biggest battery hogs and everything will be fine.

1. Screen. Don't use auto brightness. Put a power widget on one of your screens for quick access to the settings. Set the brightness as low as you are comfortable. I keep mine at 10% and while I am indoors most days its plenty good for me. If I go somewhere bright I use the widget to bump it up to 30% while I need it.

2. Wifi. If you can use it, do so, as much as possible. 3G and 4G eat battery....especially 4G. If you have a weak signal and no Wifi at work there isn't much you can do about that. If you don't have 4G or you have poor 4G I would suggest setting your phone to CDMA only mode.

3. Syncing. Some apps background sync data a lot....and usually its not necessary. Google+ and photos are two apps that seem to keep the OS running way more than needed. Many of us have disabled these, and any other syncs that we don't need. I only sync gmail, email, calendar, contacts and browser. Most of the other apps/services you don't need to keep constantly updated. Things like twitter and facebook can update when you open the apps, and as long as you don't need instant notification that your buddy John had a great lunch today, you'll be better off.

Also keep in mind that talk time eats battery too. A lot of people forget that nowadays with all the focus on 'online communication'.

With these 'tweaks' I can get 20+ hours on a charge with 2-3 hours of screen-on time. I usually plug back in after about 16-18 hrs with 20-30% remaining. I've been as high as 29.5 hours with 3:45 of screen-on time. That said, 80+% of my time I am connected to Wifi so that's a big help.

 

[stenzor]

If you want auto-brightness that you can edit and that works awesomely, try Lux Auto Brightness. You can use it to link a certain brightness level to the surrounding environment. You can also go lower than the lowest brightness setting with it. For example, in complete darkness, I have my brightness set to -74%. Right now in fairly dim light I'm at -2%. In the brightness of sunlight it goes up to 100% as it should. It adjusts the brightness automatically and much smoother than stock brightness. You can also set it to manual control.

 

[Dankees]

Sandroidfan is on the money.

Don't touch task killers or battery managers. You don't need them.

Control the biggest battery hogs and everything will be fine.

1. Screen. Don't use auto brightness. Put a power widget on one of your screens for quick access to the settings. Set the brightness as low as you are comfortable. I keep mine at 10% and while I am indoors most days its plenty good for me. If I go somewhere bright I use the widget to bump it up to 30% while I need it.

2. Wifi. If you can use it, do so, as much as possible. 3G and 4G eat battery....especially 4G. If you have a weak signal and no Wifi at work there isn't much you can do about that. If you don't have 4G or you have poor 4G I would suggest setting your phone to CDMA only mode.

3. Syncing. Some apps background sync data a lot....and usually its not necessary. Google+ and photos are two apps that seem to keep the OS running way more than needed. Many of us have disabled these, and any other syncs that we don't need. I only sync gmail, email, calendar, contacts and browser. Most of the other apps/services you don't need to keep constantly updated. Things like twitter and facebook can update when you open the apps, and as long as you don't need instant notification that your buddy John had a great lunch today, you'll be better off.

Also keep in mind that talk time eats battery too. A lot of people forget that nowadays with all the focus on 'online communication'.

With these 'tweaks' I can get 20+ hours on a charge with 2-3 hours of screen-on time. I usually plug back in after about 16-18 hrs with 20-30% remaining. I've been as high as 29.5 hours with 3:45 of screen-on time. That said, 80+% of my time I am connected to Wifi so that's a big help.

Excellent help, Tim!

 

[streetfish]

for what it is worth, I also have Facebook and Kik app installed, and I believe they suck a lot of battery life - especially kik, it seems. try doing a test with them uninstalled and see if it improves any

 

[Sandroidfan]

What about Task Killers and Battery Savers?

And, is Auto-Brightness better than having 15% - 20% screen brightness? Which is better?

Don't bother with task killers at all. It doesn't help anything. You may try Juice Defender if you wish. Some Nexus users are having good results with it, but you have to live with your emails not pushed in real time. I personally don't see any need for battery saver app as it's already good enough for me.

So before trying battery saver app, see if your phone gets much better with our suggestions first. Like Tim K mentioned, signing out of Google+ is pretty big saver. It's a known battery hog now and I forgot to mention it. Good luck.

 

[g nexta]

Task killers actually SLOW the phone down, because ICS has its own task killer, and others just conflict with it. I've thoroughly tested this myself, too.

 

[Dankees]

The dude at Best Buy said he uses Easy Battery Saver and he says it works for him.

 

[Tim K]

The dude at Best Buy said he uses Easy Battery Saver and he says it works for him.

Oh, you're not gonna start trusting blue shirts now are you?

 

[Dankees]

Well, he does use it. I mean, if I try it and it works, is that bad? I can always ditch it. Although, I do trust you (probably more).

I am gonna test it out, compared to my wife's phone at rest for 30 minutes. If mine drains way more, I am gonna go there tomorrow and demand a new battery.

The dude already told me that at rest, it should only go down to about 90% after an hour, with the WiFi turned off.

 

[Dankees]

Here is an unscientific test I just ran...

I just took a look at the battery life on my phone and the battery life on my wife's phone. I turned both screens off for a half hour (exactly).

Her phone battery dropped 2% (from 95% to 93%) and mine dropped from 59% to 54%.

Now, the only applications I have downloaded on mine are Facebook, Foursquare, Kik, and Yahoo! Mail.

She has the same ones, except for Foursquare, but she has a few others. I just reset my phone this morning.

Now, how can mine have dropped about 2.5 times more battery life at the same time, in the same home (my WiFi on the phone was shut off - I think hers was on), with both screens off?

Is my battery bad?

 

[Tim K]

if she was on wifi and you are on 3g/4g yours will drain faster. also, if you were both on 3g/4g its possible hers had a better signal and thus yours drained a little faster.

 

[Dankees]

We both had 4G off and my WiFi was shut off. Both were also in the same room.

 

[Dankees]

Is that normal? Isn't that weird?

 

[Sandroidfan]

Is that normal? Isn't that weird?

Unless you provide all the details, no one can answer exactly for you. What is your wife's phone? I guess Wifi on your wife's phone vs 3G on your nexus mainly accounts for that drain rate difference. why don't you also keep yours on WiFi and compare them?

 

[Dankees]

It is the same phone. We bought them together.

 

[pacothebandit]

OK I downloaded this app yesterday. So far it really doesn't save me much battery. More or less it gives you better stats and information. In that respect, its decent. Its by trend micro, and is free

 

[Tim K]

Is that normal? Isn't that weird?

Yes its normal. You were on 3G and she was one Wifi. 3G uses more power than Wifi. That's why every thread about battery life states to use Wifi as much as possible. If you were on 4G it'd probably use 3x as much battery.

Also, the weaker the cell signal the more power the phone uses to try to boost the connection. So if the signal was on the low side in your house it would drain even faster.

 

[FloatingCoder]

Also remember battery percent meters are not exactly precise, and discharge rates on the meter can very at different levels of charge. IE using 10% of the actual power starting from 100% may show up as 8%, or 12% using 10% of the actual power starting at 50% may show up as 8%, or 12%. This can vary by phone and by battery.

Here is what I would suggest. Stop worrying so much at the moment. Trying to judge 2 - 5% drops here and there will get you no where, especially as battery meters in phones are not specialized scientific equipment and diffrent batteries will appear to discharge at different speeds at different levels.

This is still a new phone and new battery that may settle down over a little time. I would take these steps...

1. Plug the phone in to a wall charger over night to get a good charge. Unplug it int he morning and take the charger with you. (Hopefully you will not need to forever, just for now)

2. Use the phone as normal through out the day, not obsessing over every percent of battery drop, not looking at the battery charge every 5 minutes or even 30, just glance at it when you use the phone for other things, and then only at the standard meter to see if it is about to die.

3. If the battery gets to red on the notification bar, plug it into a wall charger for a bit. Note the time mentally, but not obsessively.

4. Plug it in over night again.

5. Repeat for at least a week and see if it is working at a reasonable level. This will give the battery time to settle in and you time to figure out how its working and if it's working for you.

6. Think about when you use the phone, when it discharges and when good times to charge are. For me, If I charge at night it will USSUALLY last the day at work, unless I use it an awful lot more then normal. I plug it in on the drive home (car charger) I have a bit of a drive, so this gives it a nice kick for the evening. Occasionally I need to give it a little juice during the day if I use it a lot, I keep a second charger at my desk for that as the USB to computer does not charge fast, but in a pinch I'll use that too. I rarely use wifi, and am on 4g most of the day with varying signal strengths.

7. If after a week it still seems off, run it from full charge in the morning until almost dead, under normal usage and then post all the graphs here again so they can be compared. Posting a full discharge will give a lot more info the just 30 minutes, due to the reporting fluctuations mentioned earlier. If it looks drastically different then others when comparing screen times and signals to battery life, then take it back and get a new battery. If it looks normal, but you can't deal with the need to charge during the day (many jobs that doesn't work well with) and you use it all up to fast, look at a bigger battery, or a phone with better battery life. I think you have 30 days to take it back if your not satisfied.

 

[Dankees]

OK, here's what I tried. I went to Best Buy and put my battery in their phone for an hour. The screen was shut off, and nobody did anything with that phone. After an hour, it dropped from 52% to 50%. That's good.

Then, we put it in my phone, turned off the screen, and I waited in the store for 30 minutes. It went from 50% to 38%.

So, it seems like the phone was killing battery life for some reason.

 

[FloatingCoder]

Sounds likely with that test. Did you buy it at best buy? Did they exchange it for you?

 

[Dankees]

Yes, at Best Buy. The replaced it. From what I could tell, this one didn't have any banding, so that was a plus. I hope the battery doesn't die so fast.

And, they reinstalled my Zagg protector. There's one tiny speck under it (maybe two, I haven't really inspected it yet). I hope it doesn't make me mental.

 

[Sandroidfan]

OK, here's what I tried. I went to Best Buy and put my battery in their phone for an hour. The screen was shut off, and nobody did anything with that phone. After an hour, it dropped from 52% to 50%. That's good.

Then, we put it in my phone, turned off the screen, and I waited in the store for 30 minutes. It went from 50% to 38%.

So, it seems like the phone was killing battery life for some reason.

I'm not sure if that is valid test unless wireless setting, apps are all identical. Anyway glad that you got it exchanged with better one. But I'm just afraid battery drain will be back to like your first one after you add your apps, settings. Just be aware of the tips given in this thread. Good luck.

 

[sanjeeva7]

About the only time my battery lasts me the whole day is when I literally don't use it at all. With normal use I am charging it twice a day. My Droid X extended battery lasted me all day with no issues. Wifi is not an option for me while at work. I tried turning off 4G and that did not make a difference either. My office has Verizon repeaters anyway so I get a great signal.

I was forced into an early upgrade because my X died so I figured I'll get the latest and greatest with ICS stock.

 

[g nexta]

From what I understand, ICS eliminates the need for battery savers. Adding one actually therefore causes problems.