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jroyjohnson

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**** I realize this is a bit wordy for a forum entry, but I could really use some help/advice. I'm also new to this forum, so if this is better suited in another area I can move it. *****


I have been a blackberry user for some time. I recently switched to the Samsung Galaxy s3 for many reasons. I tried android one other time and didn't like the low level of customization on the phone itself. I had to get 10-12 apps to get the same base phone setting I had on my blackberry.
the s3 is a lot better, but there are still somethings that I am not used to and could use some advice on the best way to tackle these issue.

First and foremost, I hate the fact that I can't just close an app for good. That is always saved and running in the background, eating up ram and battery life. The rep at the store showed me that you can hold down the home button and cancel tasks that way...but when I go to the task manager I see that there is still a ton of ram being used even though it looks like there is nothing running. When I hit the 'clear memory' button it tells me it just closed anywhere from 30-50 applications and frees up usually at least 500mb.

Can anyone suggest some tips or tricks to help with this. My batter life the first few days was horrible of course from playing around with it. but the last week it was barely making it thru the work day and I had hardly used it. (a few quick calls, few texts, and 10 min of spotify...no wifi, blutooth, gaming or web browsing).
 
Hello and welcome to Android Forums! :)

You think that was a long post? You should read Why You Don't Need a Task Killer. ;)

It will explain to you why you don't need to "close" those apps you think are running and that it doesn't negatively effect the battery life.


Modern Li-Ion batteries do not have a memory and do not need to be conditioned, but Android needs to be taught exactly what a full charge represents so that it can manage power appropriately.

One of the things I recommend all new phone owners to do is to perform a deep power cycle.

Let your phone discharge completely, keep it on until you are warned about low battery and then just let it run out. Most phone will shut down automatically around 5%.

Plug the phone into the original a/c charger, not the usb cable. Let it charge to full uninterrupted.

When the phone says full, unplug the phone from the charge and reboot. Once the phone is completely restarted, plug it back into the charger and shut the phone off. Even if it says fully charged, let it charge for at least one more hour.

Unplug the charger and reboot the phone one more time. Now you should start seeing (possibly significantly) longer charge times.

Without a deep power cycle, it doesn't know the true capacity of the battery. Be advised that you should only need to do this once as regularly deep cycling the battery can harm it. Li-Ion batteries perform better and last longer with incremental charges.
 
Welcome to the Forums. I going to assume the Task Manager is stock, meaning it came with the phone. If this is the case, see if you can add apps to an auto end list. If so, add all the apps you don't want running in the background, and they will end when the screen times out. Make sure that wifi, bluethooth and GPS is off when not in use. Don't have the screen brightness at 100%. Have it at a lower setting indoors. Either manually update email and social network or have them to update every few hours or so.
 
Regarding RAM...Android is based on Linux and Linux handles RAM differently - and more efficiently - than Windows. Linux correctly assumes unused RAM is just wasted RAM, so keeps most RAM loaded with cached data, ready for instant retrieval. IOW high RAM usage is both normal and desired.

DO NOT use any task killers, RAM optimizers, etc. Android does an excellent job of properly handling running processes and memory with no help from 3rd-party apps or user input. Relax, let Android do it's job and enjoy your phone.
 
jroyjohnson said:
I have been a blackberry user for some time. I recently switched to the Samsung Galaxy s3 for many reasons. I tried android one other time and didn't like the low level of customization on the phone itself. I had to get 10-12 apps to get the same base phone setting I had on my blackberry.
Click to expand...

What phone was it that you had to get 10-12 apps? What were the features that you wanted that you had to get these apps to do?

the s3 is a lot better, but there are still somethings that I am not used to and could use some advice on the best way to tackle these issue.

First and foremost, I hate the fact that I can't just close an app for good. That is always saved and running in the background, eating up ram and battery life. The rep at the store showed me that you can hold down the home button and cancel tasks that way...but when I go to the task manager I see that there is still a ton of ram being used even though it looks like there is nothing running. When I hit the 'clear memory' button it tells me it just closed anywhere from 30-50 applications and frees up usually at least 500mb.
Click to expand...

Holding down the home button brings up your recently used apps whether they are currently running or not. The recently used apps are not an indication of whether or not they are actually running in the background. In any case, even if you did not close the app down, a good app that doesn't need to do anything while in the background should not be using any processor cycles or battery. It should be suspended or at least not running. Other apps like timers will be running in the background because it needs to. The recently used apps do not distinguish between running apps and apps just suspended or not running at all.

Android also manages memory differently than other, older OS's. If you have memory unused, Android will try to anticipate what apps you may likely want to use in the future and load them into memory. That way, when you launch those apps, it starts up faster because it is already loaded. Note that if you use a task killer, it will confuse Android into thinking that the apps you are killing are ones that you are likely to use in the near future. If you use a task manager to kill an app that you don't plan to use much, it may have the opposite effect that you intend as Android will keep loading it into memory instead of another app that you are more likely to use often.

Can anyone suggest some tips or tricks to help with this. My batter life the first few days was horrible of course from playing around with it. but the last week it was barely making it thru the work day and I had hardly used it. (a few quick calls, few texts, and 10 min of spotify...no wifi, blutooth, gaming or web browsing).
Click to expand...

The documentation that came with my last two phones state that new batteries do not last as long as batteries that have been used for some time. Probably after a few weeks, the battery life will get better. I experienced this with my last two phones.
 
Thanks for the inside info on android. However, I still fear that I may have a lemon for a battery. I have always allowed my new phones to drain all the way for the first several cycles. I haven't tried to the trick with restarting after a charge and what not. I'll give it a shot. Today I literally only used my phone for 20 min on Spotify and sent 2 text messages and it was at 45% by noon!! In less than 6 hours it was more than half way dead! And it was on the charger all night.
It also seems to take an extraordinarily long time to charge. I'm used to my old blackberry taking only 2 hours to get a full charge. I started charging it at work around 1:30 (at which time it was about 33%) and by 5 it was at 87%. 3.5 hours for only about 50% charge? How long is it taking for other S3 users to get a full charge?

What phone was it that you had to get 10-12 apps? What were the features that you wanted that you had to get these apps to do?
Click to expand...
to answer your question, it was the first Galaxy S that I had at one point. Swapped it out for the BB Torch after 2 weeks.
 
I have installed Nova Launcher to replace the Touch Wiz. Not sure if that is what could be zapping the power. However, I was noticing pretty bad batter life before the installation.
 
The task killer that Samsung include will not show system apps running in the background, they are excuded from the list.

But you don't need to close these, theres more than enough memory available for them, just make sure you have the latest firmware, I know the latest update for the international version frees up more memory.

According the task manager I have around 200MB free at any one time, even the most demanding games available won't use that much and Android will free up more memory when it's needed anyway.

So bascially, don't worry about memory. :p

As for battery life, that's been great for me so far, I'm easily doing a day or more, just make sure you don't leave things enabled all the time like GPS, Data, Wifi or bluetooth.

Also if your not doing anything that needs the full performance of the phone consider enabling the power saving mode.
 
GPS, blutooth, wifi, all are turned off. Only mobile data, screen rotation and sync are highlighted in my drop down menu. Auto brightness is turned on. The thing that is eating up my battery life, according to the battery menu, is Cell standby. Right now it's taken 33% of the battery usage so far this morning and after 1 hr 45 minutes I am already down to 80% battery life. I have made 2 text messages and checked a few emails. That is all. Really irritated at the battery life so far. Anyone else have accounts where the battery life got better after a few weeks? I really don't want to miss my window of taking it back to Best Buy to get a replacement in case I did get a lemon for a battery.
 
The phone is constantly searching for a signal due to poor coverage (likely) or a poor/defective phone (unlikely). That can burn through a battery fast.

You need to try another carrier or phone. Or, maybe a signal booster at home will help. Most carriers (I'm talkin' to you VZW) charge for those. Charging customers for the carrier's signal problems is a ridiculous rip-off. T-Mobile offers them free.
 
jroyjohnson said:
GPS, blutooth, wifi, all are turned off. Only mobile data, screen rotation and sync are highlighted in my drop down menu. Auto brightness is turned on. The thing that is eating up my battery life, according to the battery menu, is Cell standby. Right now it's taken 33% of the battery usage so far this morning and after 1 hr 45 minutes I am already down to 80% battery life. I have made 2 text messages and checked a few emails. That is all. Really irritated at the battery life so far. Anyone else have accounts where the battery life got better after a few weeks? I really don't want to miss my window of taking it back to Best Buy to get a replacement in case I did get a lemon for a battery.
Click to expand...

Could you post a screenshot of the battery usage? if the awake bar is constant even when the screen is off then an application is keeping your phone awake constantly and that's why.

It's worth checking.
 
It's not the signal. I have bars and have never had a problem gettin coverage with other phones at work. It's a small building in a good size town. never have a problem with AT&T coverage here. Plus the details show Time without signal at 0%. So far the time awake bar is only at 35 min which is probably about the amount of time I've had the screen active.

Are there any battery booster apps that would be worth a shot? I've read that a lot aren't really worth the while. But at this point I just need to try something to help out. I did have a Jared Co. battery saver app on my last torch that I think helped. It looks like a lot fo the Jared Co apps aren't as consistent on android though. They were amazing on BB.
 
jroyjohnson said:
Thanks for the inside info on android. However, I still fear that I may have a lemon for a battery. I have always allowed my new phones to drain all the way for the first several cycles. I haven't tried to the trick with restarting after a charge and what not. I'll give it a shot. Today I literally only used my phone for 20 min on Spotify and sent 2 text messages and it was at 45% by noon!! In less than 6 hours it was more than half way dead! And it was on the charger all night.
It also seems to take an extraordinarily long time to charge. I'm used to my old blackberry taking only 2 hours to get a full charge. I started charging it at work around 1:30 (at which time it was about 33%) and by 5 it was at 87%. 3.5 hours for only about 50% charge? How long is it taking for other S3 users to get a full charge?
Click to expand...

This does sound unusual for a good battery. I've ordered a new battery for my phone that I've had for over a year an a half. It was losing its charge unusually quickly starting late June. One time, it was not able to fully charge up after 5 hours. Haven't received mine yet.

It is possible that you have a bad battery. Even when my phone was new, it didn't drain so quickly like yours is right now.
 
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