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please help
- Thread starter ianbaker
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- samsung galaxy s2
Hello and welcome to Android Forums! 
There are many many threads here discussing those very same issues, but ultimately, there is no universal set of apps to install or settings to configure. You have to determine what you need the phone to do for you, then we can recommend what you need to optimize it.
One of the things I recommend all new phone owners to do is to perform a deep power cycle.
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.
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.
As for data usage, you should make sure you don't have a lot of widgets sync'ing all the time like weather, email, facebook, etc. They can burn through the megabytes if you're not careful. Set the widgets you do want to sync moderately. I find once every hour sufficient. You can always sync manually if you need to check.
Use WiFi whenever possible, but make sure you have a strong signal. If you have a weak or marginal signal for Wifi, it will continually jump back and forth between Wifi and 4g, which will eat into your battery as well.
Read up on the issues that interest you and give it a little time to get used to things and I'm sure you will have more specific questions. We'll be here ready to help you.
There are many many threads here discussing those very same issues, but ultimately, there is no universal set of apps to install or settings to configure. You have to determine what you need the phone to do for you, then we can recommend what you need to optimize it.
One of the things I recommend all new phone owners to do is to perform a deep power cycle.
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.
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.
As for data usage, you should make sure you don't have a lot of widgets sync'ing all the time like weather, email, facebook, etc. They can burn through the megabytes if you're not careful. Set the widgets you do want to sync moderately. I find once every hour sufficient. You can always sync manually if you need to check.
Use WiFi whenever possible, but make sure you have a strong signal. If you have a weak or marginal signal for Wifi, it will continually jump back and forth between Wifi and 4g, which will eat into your battery as well.
Read up on the issues that interest you and give it a little time to get used to things and I'm sure you will have more specific questions. We'll be here ready to help you.
Hello and welcome to Android Forums!
There are many many threads here discussing those very same issues, but ultimately, there is no universal set of apps to install or settings to configure. You have to determine what you need the phone to do for you, then we can recommend what you need to optimize it.
One of the things I recommend all new phone owners to do is to perform a deep power cycle.
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.
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.
As for data usage, you should make sure you don't have a lot of widgets sync'ing all the time like weather, email, facebook, etc. They can burn through the megabytes if you're not careful. Set the widgets you do want to sync moderately. I find once every hour sufficient. You can always sync manually if you need to check.
Use WiFi whenever possible, but make sure you have a strong signal. If you have a weak or marginal signal for Wifi, it will continually jump back and forth between Wifi and 4g, which will eat into your battery as well.
Read up on the issues that interest you and give it a little time to get used to things and I'm sure you will have more specific questions. We'll be here ready to help you.
thanks alot that was really helpful
seemehappy
Lurker
i'm also new here... i had my phone for about 2 weeks...
i've got a question about the reply post of lunatic59
rebooting means? turning my phone off right?
what do you mean by manage power appropriately? like it will extend the battery life?
i know some of you might think i'm kind of dumb or something with my questions but i just want to make sure everything before i execute actions...
one more thing.... longer charging time... my phone actually charge atleast 3 hours
( and it would be drain... and wouldnt even last a day...
so i hope someone would reply
i've got a question about the reply post of lunatic59
rebooting means? turning my phone off right?
what do you mean by manage power appropriately? like it will extend the battery life?
i know some of you might think i'm kind of dumb or something with my questions but i just want to make sure everything before i execute actions...
one more thing.... longer charging time... my phone actually charge atleast 3 hours
( and it would be drain... and wouldnt even last a day... so i hope someone would reply
i'm also new here... i had my phone for about 2 weeks...
i've got a question about the reply post of lunatic59
rebooting means? turning my phone off right?
what do you mean by manage power appropriately? like it will extend the battery life?
i know some of you might think i'm kind of dumb or something with my questions but i just want to make sure everything before i execute actions...
one more thing.... longer charging time... my phone actually charge atleast 3 hours
so i hope someone would reply
Rebooting means exactly that. Press and hold the power button until you get the option to turn off the phone. When the phone is off, press the power button again until it turns back on.
By managing power, Android has some advanced power management features that are based on the current state of the battery. When a phone is new, the system bases those functions on a generic (and somewhat conservative) estimate of what a 1500 mA battery voltage should be at full charge. By performing the deep cycle you let the phone know exactly what the voltages are of your battery at both the time of complete charge and complete discharge and the system will adjust itself accordingly. Not only that, but it continues to monitor and make small adjustments as the battery is used.
By extending the battery life i am assuming you mean having more time between charging. It won't do anything to the battery itself, but it helps Android report power realistically and it should show longer times.
I'd like to point out that there are power issues with the 2.4.6 update (which is the latest version of Android officially from AT&T). When I was using that stock, I would have horrible battery drain under certain conditions. Once I rooted and put 4.03 on my phone, it's exponentially better. Let me know if you want to try that, And we can help you get there.