Battery use unacceptable

[kc0olm]

I have owned many Android phones in the past. I love the S7, but from day ONE, it was almost unusable. I mean, it cannot go without a charge, practically speaking, for more than 4 hours - if you use it at all during that time. Of course, if you just leave it in cool location, turned off, or not in use, it lasts much longer!


But seriously - is this phone just bad? Or is it just more like a land line phone - something to use at home?


It's odd, because the battery is bigger than any other! Except the S7 Edge tablet, which starts on fire. And the iPhone 7. But with such a big battery, what is the problem?


I have installed (and uninstalled) many cleaners and booster. So far, only Clean My Android has any effect. But only to make the phone useable when it is charged.


I need some advice, please!

 

[AZgl1500]

don't have one, mine are the S5 and the Note 4.

I think there is something seriously wrong with the configuration on your S7.

Personally??? turn off Data manually and leave it off forever, UNLESS you specifically need it away from the home WiFi.

and 2nd, use a macro to turn off the WiFi when the screen is locked. I have been doing that for years, and it works a champ!!!

 

[chanchan05]

It's not data. I have data on forever and my phone (S7Edge) can last 17hrs with more than 3hrs SOT.

If the phone is hot an a task killer is helping, then there's a rogue app installed. And you shouldn't use task killers anyway. Prolonged use of Task killers also causes the symptoms the OP is mentioning. At this point first diagnostic step is to show us detailed battery stats and try to run the phone in safe mode and see if the problem still occurs.

 

[bIOforger]

Yea same here lasts well over a day 24hrs+ with 3-4hrs SOT on average with normal usage. Or 2 days or more with say 1-2hrs SOT. Depends on your usage. If you are a heavy gamer and the screen is on for long periods and the CPU is maxxed then it won't last as long obviously.

Data is ALWAYS on, no point having a smartphone and turning off data as you won't get live updates for email, social media or anything else that uses the net, when no wifi is available.

As chanchan says get rid of all your batt "saving" apps they do more harm than good, Android does a perfectly good job at managing app usage, unless again as chanchan says you have a crap/rogue app installed which is keeping the CPU awake. Or you could simply have really poor cell reception, which will cause batt drain as the phone is constantly searching for a stronger signal.

 

[chanchan05]

Yeah, blOforger is right. I forgot to mention cell reception. The signal bars on the top really aren't a very good indicator. 5 bars is over -90, and 4 bars is over -110, but -110 and under is already call droppingly bad sometimes. Perfect signal is greater than -60. The poorer your signal, the greater the battery drainage.

 

[AZgl1500]

Different approach:

I hate notifications, and I refuse to allow them....
if a new email has arrived, when I open the app is time enough to find it.

same for crap social apps like Facebook.....

doing it my way, the battery only drops maybe 4 or 5 percent over 12 hours....
that gives me lots of juice to play with when I do leave the house and need the smartphone features.
Just because the thing is called a "smartphone" does not mean it all has to be left on....

My wife's S5 goes for 5 to 7 days between charge cycles......
It has never seen the Internet now in 3 years. she don't need it, it is a telephone and once in a great while, she plays a game called 'Crush'. but here in the hospital, where she has been since August 19th, it will go a full week between charges....

 

[chanchan05]

Different approach:

I hate notifications, and I refuse to allow them....
if a new email has arrived, when I open the app is time enough to find it.

same for crap social apps like Facebook.....

doing it my way, the battery only drops maybe 4 or 5 percent over 12 hours....
that gives me lots of juice to play with when I do leave the house and need the smartphone features.
Just because the thing is called a "smartphone" does not mean it all has to be left on....

My wife's S5 goes for 5 to 7 days between charge cycles......
It has never seen the Internet now in 3 years. she don't need it, it is a telephone and once in a great while, she plays a game called 'Crush'. but here in the hospital, where she has been since August 19th, it will go a full week between charges....

Doesn't matter. Internet connection still does not explain the problems of the OP. As previously explained, 4hrs battery life is something wrong.

 

[mikedt]

Doesn't matter. Internet connection still does not explain the problems of the OP. As previously explained, 4hrs battery life is something wrong.

From experience, poor signal strength can definitely cause excessive battery drain without using data. When I spend time in the grasslands of Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia. At a friend's farm house, a long way from cell towers, here my phones run noticeably warm and drain battery a lot quicker than what they normally do in the city.

 

[mikedt]

Different approach:

I hate notifications, and I refuse to allow them....
if a new email has arrived, when I open the app is time enough to find it.

same for crap social apps like Facebook.....

I'm pretty much the same, only notifications I have are ones from my bank, things like salary going in and payments going out. Those come via SMS, which doesn't need internet access of course.

Any social network messages and emails, can wait until it's convenient, like after classes or I'm at home.

 

[bIOforger]

Different approach:
Just because the thing is called a "smartphone" does not mean it all has to be left on....

Yea but it depends on the user and their preference! So you shouldn't really give out advice in a way which suggests you should always have data turned off. It may suit you but it probably will not suit a lot of other users. There are more people who use social media than who don't and Facebook is only one of many types as you know. Live notifications are key for these users. And as for opening an email app to check at the time, that doesn't cut it for me, i need to hear and see the notification live in real time, otherwise i might get distracted by something else and forget to check my phone.

 

[chanchan05]

From experience, poor signal strength can definitely cause excessive battery drain without using data. When I spend time in the grasslands of Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia. At a friend's farm house, a long way from cell towers, here my phones run noticeably warm and drain battery a lot quicker than what they normally do in the city.

Not that much. My signal isn't very good either (usually at - 100db), and I get more than thrice his battery life. Unless his signal is nearly nonexistent, the battery difference seems too much.

 

[jejb]

I have owned many Android phones in the past. I love the S7, but from day ONE, it was almost unusable.

If this has been an issue since day one, I'd suggest exchanging it for a new phone. Some of these things are just buggy. You should be getting much better battery life, assuming you don't have it maxed out gaming all the time.

It's odd, because the battery is bigger than any other! Except the S7 Edge tablet, which starts on fire.

You're thinking of the Note 7. The S7 Edge and S7 don't have that issue.

 

[Nick The Great]

Mine will go "all day" on normal usage. Which means sitting on my desk at work, being used sporadically throughout the day. And I'll generally have 40% of battery left when I go to bed at 10:30/11:00.

But I have days where the battery life sucks. Seems to be after updates too. I got bit hard by the Oculus update a few months back. I bought GSam Battery Monitor app and helps to diagnose what is stealing my battery life. Seems like every week or so I need to restart the phone and it'll get back to normal.