• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help [OFFICIAL] Battery performance

I had a power bank I needed to use for my aged Note 2. It couldn't survive a day without needing a charge once or twice a day. Expected as I never replaced the battery after 4.5 years. Note 8 is impressive coming from the Note 2. I have most of the bell and whistle features turned on (notifications, location, Wi-Fi, mobile data, etc) and it seems to last me the entire day going down to 50% by the end of the day.

Of course, I still carry my power bank just in case.
 
I've noticed it depends on how often I fully wake my phone as to how fast the battery drains. I too have most of the bells and whistles on and if I don't wake my phone a ton my battery lasts well into evening. Love this phone!
 
Battery lasts well into the evening for me and i have it on high performance, an HD infinity animated wallpaper, AOD, download / upload stats on the home screen that show me the DL/UL speed (consumes energy), and a bunch of other mischief.

I use this device a lot.

Phone has been off power since a little after 4AM pacific time. This screen shot was just snapped at 1331 hours (1:31 PM PACIFIC)

Screenshot_20171004-133130.jpg
 
The Galaxy Note 8 features a non-removable 3,300mAh battery. It's not quite as big as the Galaxy S8+'s 3,500mAh battery, but battery life between the two devices is certainly comparable. Also by comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus carries a 2,691mAh battery.

Here's the official word from Samsung, including estimated usage times:

Screen Shot 2017-10-11 at 4.32.24 PM.jpg
 
i'm a heavy user, work mainly. countless emails and text messages per day. google feed for news stories. the only games i play are chess with friends and words with friends. i have it connected via bluetooth to my gear s3 all day.

I am consistently getting 10-11 hour on a charge with 3-4 hours of screen on time. thats not any better or worse than my use on the pixel or galaxy s8+
 
I am getting a 35% battery drain overnight on idle? That's definitely not right is it. The battery usage has been 9% device idle 8% android system 7% screen and so on the first being the biggest users. How can 7% screen drain occur on idle overnight?? Anyone?
 
I am getting a 35% battery drain overnight on idle? That's definitely not right is it. The battery usage has been 9% device idle 8% android system 7% screen and so on the first being the biggest users. How can 7% screen drain occur on idle overnight?? Anyone?

This is weird. Android 8 limits what can run in the background. If nothing is obviously showing ...could very well be a system bug.

When you first noticed this issue, do you remember changing anything on your phone or setting something new up? Maybe this was happening since you got it?
 
I take my Note 8 (and my Zenwatch 3) off the chargers at 530 AM
When I get home at 530PM they both have at least 30% most days (more like 40% many days) left

No dropping issues with the Zenwatch 3 by the way

WiFi is on all day.

I use my phone a lot - Checking 6 different Emails (Mail Droid & auto check every 15 minutes)

I would "guestimate" I use the phone at least 10 to 15 times a day usually not long 2 to 5 or 6 minutes each

Oh - 2 SIM Cards not sure what if anything that does to Battery life

I Read Documents, and Ebooks daily also. Time ? Not sure at least 30 minutes of reading a day.

Not to mention checking These Forums and Facebook Linked in XDA etc.


(edit) I should also add: I Have used HP Calculators for decades - Now days I use an app go41cx
It gets used off and on all day at work when quoting and converting Metric to English Prints

I am VERY happy with battery life!
 
Last edited:
Hello
First of all, how long should the battery of the new - nonrooted - Samsung Note 8, after 2 weeks of use, last?
I use it for
  • occassional (like 1 or 2 every other day) phone calls.
  • Check Whatsapp msgs every 15 mins.
  • Check Email once every morning.
Nothing else.

Secondly, when I check the battery log, I see that Screen (15%) and Device Idle (11%) use up most of the battery. Rest are around 9 to 3 % each.
I have Power saving mode enabled.

Yet, with all these, I get only 24 hours of battery life. Is this OK?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks
 
There is no way anyone can tell you how your phones charge will last because everyone uses their phones differently.


You dont mention how often you are on wifi, how often you are on cellular.

Also when on cellular, if the signal weak where the phone has to output more power?

Do you flip between wifi and cellular often? Etc etc etc.

The battery in the note8 is a couple ticks less in capacity than last years note, so not fair to test against that.

This phone has more ram, better screen, faster cpu.. those things consume battery.

The note 8 i use is in maximum performance mode. I have animated HD infinity wallpaper, super brighter screen, i check WhatsApp all day long, text all day long, keep the screen on all day long.

I took the phone off charger this morning at 4:05 am pacific time .

Here’s a photo of my battery stats. Currently its 11:54am pacific standard time. Ive had the note8 since launch of the T-Mobile first run units.

Stock non rooted tmobile variant. Some bloatware running in the background..

0D094112-61D8-45A8-8809-78590AF34620.jpeg
 
if you are wanting to save battery and not charge overnight, then yes. the phone will use cellular (which is just as bad if you want to save power) unless you have it turned off...
 
After a couple of weeks with the note 8 (dual sim) i can say im extremely happy with it and the battery life is just as good as an iphone 7plus for example, which is absolutely fine.

I use it ALL day, with pretty much everything turned on, emails, whatsapp, browsing, some Facebook, phone calls etc and i get a good 10 hours a day with around 3 - 4 hours screen time and still have around 45% left of battery. I do however turn off auto brightness and bluetooth (under location accuracy) as well as turned off bixby page (left swipe). Turning off those 3 things made a HUGE impact on my battery life, highly recommend you turn those things off.
 
I was looking forward to the LCD or e-ink displays we were promised some years back, a secondary display just for the messages etc would have saved so much power. It never happened.

Mobile telephony has already gone full circle as far as batteries are concerned, my first Motorola Microtac battery uses to last 6 hours tops, we moves on and Nokia 3310 for instance would go a full week on a charge. Now, we're delighted with one whole day again.....
 
I was looking forward to the LCD or e-ink displays we were promised some years back, a secondary display just for the messages etc would have saved so much power. It never happened.

Mobile telephony has already gone full circle as far as batteries are concerned, my first Motorola Microtac battery uses to last 6 hours tops, we moves on and Nokia 3310 for instance would go a full week on a charge. Now, we're delighted with one whole day again.....
The Yota phones had a (large) secondary e-ink display, and I think there was talk of another one in the pipeline. But that's very much a niche device. Samsung would probably tell you that their "always on display" serves the same function (and that as it only turns on a small fraction of the display they don't need a separate display to save power).

As for the Nokia 3311, to make the comparison fair you need to turn off data and WiFi, set the phone to 2G-only mode, and only use it when you want to make a call or send a text (and turn-off any features like "double tap to wake screen" that will be looking for inputs other than from the power button). I'm confident that with that usage my current smartphone would last me a week.
 
Hello
2 days before, I was getting upto 36 hours of battery life on my new Note 8. Yesterday, I installed the bixby apps - bk package disable, bk plugin2, and bx actions pro. I charged my phone yesterday evening - 100%, and today, morning I had only 44% left.
Has anyone else got this also?
thanks
ps: I have uninstalled the above apps, and charged my phone again. Hopefully, I'll be back to 36 hours battery life.
 
Anyone else noticing their battery depleting faster since the December 2017 security patch update? FWIW, I have an unlocked Note 8 that I'm using on Verizon.
 
I'm have consistently gotten horrible battery life on my Note 8. I am lucky to get 8 1/2 hours out of one single charge, with 3 1/2 hours max of SOT. Sometimes I dont even get that. I am a heavy user due to work. But i mainly am only using the phone for email, text, calls and web browsing. I rarely ever play games.

I dont see how people are getting these 5-6 hours of screen on time. If I take my note 8 off the charger and go to battery under device maintenance, it usually says 9 1/2 hours before dead estimated. I keep the display on FHD, not QHD. It just seems that when i have my screen on, the battery cant handle it.

I have did 3 factory resets with clean installs and its not improving my battery life on my Note 8. I have a Pixel 2 XL, and get 15 hours on a charge with 5-6+ hours of SOT, with the same usage. I know the Pixel has a bigger battery, but 250 mAh shouldnt be anywhere near that big of a difference.

Is it possible that I have a bad Note 8? Do you think that Samsung would send me a replacement based on this?
 
Jim,

first off I have a tmobile variant. locked, stock and barrel. :)

its not possible for anyone over the internet to diagnose your phone to find out if you have a faulty device or not.

everyone uses their phone differently than everyone else.

i know with the iphone debacle recently, ive seen threads across the internet from people wondering if their "insert device name" manufacturer is slowing down their phone because of this or that reason..

what people can do is share ideas on things to try.

here are things to be aware of:

using wifi /keeping that radio on will use battery.
using cellular data-making phone calls-sending MMS messages will all use battery. if you are in a fringe cellular area, expect more battery cost
live wallapers
AOD usage
using high perfomance mode
screen brightness
rogue app running amok in the background/not shutting down
selfies
video
capturing video
optical image stabilizer on the lenses


and your usage patterns throughout the day

all of these and more will determine how much battery you use in a typical day.

example, I run HD infinity wallpapers that change randomly (these take us a MAJOR battery cost), high performance mode, keep screen on often, I have 10 email addresses with my own email server in "push" mode so the phone is constantly pinging the internet, screen brightness is really high, I have a lot of apps moved to SD card (takes some battery cost because the phone has to go back and forth between external and internal storage). I also use the phone with a samsung VR camera for some things I do on the job that I stream (2-3 days a week).

my phone is on a pad overnight. i take it off around 4am pacific time. when i get home around 2:40pm pacific, I have on average 37-40% battery remaining. I use the phone A LOT!

that's my typical day. of course my day is vastly different from your day.

if you feel you should be getting better battery performance, you should absolutely reach out to samsung and get with their support team. the phone is under a warranty.

samsung will determine if the phone should be replaced, based on some online things they will ask you. at some point they may ask for it to be shipped to a repair facility so they can look at it. if they find fault, they will send you a replacement, refurbished model.

be aware, that if they do send a replacement, it may be worse than your original. you can search the web on horror stories with that. :)
 
I've had my N8 for almost 2 weeks now. Just upgraded from the N4 which I loved, but it was time. My N4 had serious battery life issues after its swim a year and a half ago so I've been in the habit of putting my phone on the charger all day. Today was the first day I left my N8 off the charger through an entire work day. I'm impressed! Took it off at 6:30 am PST. This screen shot is after 9 hrs 40 min. I watched a few YouTube videos, toggled WiFi several times (social media is blocked on my school's WiFi), posted on fb and Instagram, made and received several texts, took quite a few pictures (science projects!) have AOD running, push notifications from 3 email accounts and had a few conversations with Bixby. Not bad!
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20180111-162152.jpg
    Screenshot_20180111-162152.jpg
    120.4 KB · Views: 304
I'm have consistently gotten horrible battery life on my Note 8. I am lucky to get 8 1/2 hours out of one single charge, with 3 1/2 hours max of SOT. Sometimes I dont even get that. I am a heavy user due to work. But i mainly am only using the phone for email, text, calls and web browsing. I rarely ever play games.

I dont see how people are getting these 5-6 hours of screen on time. If I take my note 8 off the charger and go to battery under device maintenance, it usually says 9 1/2 hours before dead estimated. I keep the display on FHD, not QHD. It just seems that when i have my screen on, the battery cant handle it.

I have did 3 factory resets with clean installs and its not improving my battery life on my Note 8. I have a Pixel 2 XL, and get 15 hours on a charge with 5-6+ hours of SOT, with the same usage. I know the Pixel has a bigger battery, but 250 mAh shouldnt be anywhere near that big of a difference.

Is it possible that I have a bad Note 8? Do you think that Samsung would send me a replacement based on this?

I fully charged my N8 at 9am. Been using it quite heavily, many calls, SMS, WhatsApp, checking my Facebook a few photos, browsing the net, Flipboard. It's 21:59 and I'm on 23%. With my old S7 edge I would have had to get it on charge by 19.30.
 
With 4 hours music a day and 3-15 Draw Something games played as well as some general web searches and opening gallery images I usually end the day on 55%-70% battery (off charge at 6am, end of day at 00:00.

Setting the background to black helps. Installing an all black theme helps. It also looks kind of cool on an all black note.

Doing such I can squeze 2 days moderate usage out of mine but 3rd party app usage with white screens will kill that.Dark themes for the win on the note 8 screen.

Look for Substratum for overall dark themes on apps as well as Material_Black (Free) from the samsung themes. With darker themes you can keep your brightness down to 35-40% (I can go to 20% in my flat) due to better contrast and with an all black background you save a shed load of battery as even dark colours consume a reasonable battery on OLED at a half decent res.

Check how your GPS is running and which apps are constantly accing it:Setting->Connections->Location

If there are apps you don't need to know you location turn them off. Check the frequency of weather app locations.

Which social media sites are polling your location regularly?

Can you make do with location by wifi and mobile networks only so you don't spend battery on the GPS, a comprehensive array of sattelite array connections on the newer phones.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom