Samsung Galaxy S2 Battery Drain Fix / Work-Around

[TripleFall]

So i was finally forced to installed 2.3.6 last night after postponing it for a few days.

Of course now my battery is HORRIBLE! I have it charging right now and I'm listening to Pandora. The phone is draining battery at like 2-3% per 10 minutes while I'm listening to music even with it charging!

I'm going to download Battery Defender and see what's up, but it won't work if I'm listening to music on wifi. So I guess i'll have to shut down wifi too.

Can't believe I'm losing battery while it is charging.

 

[TMass]

This fix worked for me. Since I had unlimited data I had just turned off wifi...but now this let's me use it without the horribel drain. Lasy night only lost 3% battery in 7 hours with wifi activated. ALSO: juice defender ultimate is now available to AT&T customers...it was not before.

 

[NinerBikes]

Sounds like being a Newbie, I should just wait for my new phone to arrive and leave it at 2.3.4 version of gingerbread, and load the new ATT defender ultimate app from the get go.

 

[Rolex81]

Holy hell wall of text

 

[misterrunon]

not many people will read your post if you post an entire paragraph of a thesis.. separating them into chunks makes things much easier to read, fyi.

 

[NinerBikes]

I'm not getting something:

Why not just go into Settings/Wireless and Network/Wi-Fi settings/ then Menu/Advanced and go to Wi-Fi sleep policy and select:

"When screen turns off".

Isn't that the same thing you guys are trying to do without needing a 3rd party app?

This setting does not seem to be on version 2.3.4? Can someone else verify this?

 

[bridge]

I've been running JuiceDefender for over six months and it didn't help with the Wifi bug after I allowed the 2.3.6 update. What I've noticed is that sometimes the battery drains quickly and other times it doesn't and enabling the wifi activates the drain. Something is getting activated and it does have something to do with Wifi but, I've always let JD disable wifi and it doesn't always prevent expedited drain. I've experimented with every setting native to the phone and JD and haven't been able to isolate the leak. When looking at the battery meter its obvious when the drain process is running but disabling wifi doesn't stop it. Only a reboot and leaving wifi off stops it.

That said, I've left wifi off until a fix gets released. Due to this fact I got a nice little letter from ATT in my inbox a few days ago:

Dear Mr XXXXXXXXXX,

Like other wireless companies, AT&T is taking steps to manage exploding demand for mobile data. We're responding on many levels, including investing billions in our wireless network this year and working to acquire more network capacity.

As mentioned on a previous bill, we're also taking additional, more immediate steps to help address network congestion and improve reliability. One of these steps involves a change for some customers who use extraordinarily large amounts of data in a single billing period - about 12 times more data than the average smartphone user.

For the current billing cycle, your data usage indicates you could be affected by this change. Here's how it works:

Smartphone customers with unlimited data plans may experience reduced speeds once their usage in a billing cycle reaches the level that puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These customers can still use unlimited data and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle.

We're writing because you are in the top 5 percent of heaviest data users for this billing cycle. Because we recognize that data usage can change from month to month, you will not see reduced speeds this billing cycle.

Beginning with your next billing cycle, we'll send you a text message if you are approaching the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. We'll also send you a second text message if you cross into the top 5 percent of heaviest users, at which point you may see reduced speeds for the rest of the month.

Customers have several ways to manage extremely high data usage.

Wi-Fi offers great speeds and doesn't add to your wireless data usage. Consider using Wi-Fi when possible for applications that use the highest amounts of data, such as streaming video apps, remote web camera apps, large data-file transfers (like video) and some online gaming.

You may also consider switching to a tiered data plan if speed is more important to you than having an unlimited data plan. Customers on tiered plans can pay for more data if they need it, and will not see reduced speeds.

So, I'm left with two options: 1) enable wifi and carry around multiple batteries or 2) Disable wife, use HSPA+ and risk getting throttled or switched to a tiered plan.

 

[wolfyboy359]

so, ummmmmm, are u really using that much data?

 

[bridge]

I didn't think so. I don't watch netflix on my phone or any streaming really. Just the occasional youtube clip, facebook, emails and some texting.

 

[matthay]

hay,

i received a battery update notice about two weeks ago but i wasn't sure if it was a virus or something. since the notification my battery life a has dramatically decreased.

can anyone help me?

 

[matthay]

about two weeks ago a battery update thing came up on my phone but i wasn't sure if it was a virus or something. since that my battery life has dramatically decreased, can anyone please help?

 

[gp362148]

about two weeks ago a battery update thing came up on my phone but i wasn't sure if it was a virus or something. since that my battery life has dramatically decreased, can anyone please help?

This exactly happened to me. I believe this spam now appears in the night and within few hours the battery is fully discharged. I emailed this to Google.

 

[katnyp]

I've just started having similar problems with the battery when I'm using mobile hotspot. I was on for 3-4 hours yesterday, and the battery was continuously discharging, even though I was plugged in. When the battery got below 30%, it would not charge from an outlet, had to flip over to charge from USB to my laptop. My husband the engineer couldn't believe it was possible until I proved it. Just leaving it plugged in with hotspot activated was causing it to lose power even tho it said it was charging..any more advice anyone can offer is appreciated, thanks.

 

[gianmarco]

As of now, let me make sure I have allt he information from the first post to the latest one in terms of relevance:

-Juice Defender does not seem to fix this via the workaround (though someone stated that Plus or Ultimate Version can solve this).

-wolfyboy359 and TripleFall says they was trying Battery Defender (no update yet).

-ATT Wifi App is a no-go.

Has anyone tried Battery Defender with results yet?

Edit: Installed Battery defender, how do I go about setting it so that Wifi is off when screen is off? App description reads:"Automatically disable wifi and data connection after you turning off your screen(with 15~20s latency)" but I had the screen off for 60 seconds and wifi was still active (app was on of course).

Thoughts?

Edit 2: Last night I installed and activated Battery Defender. Here are the results as of a few minutes ago:

With this workaround, should Android OS still be using the batetry the most?

 

[orbiton]

I recently got interested in this problem as two weeks ago my battery drain problems started and it would only last between 1-4 hours, and would take ages to recharge, and the phone was getting hot.

I went to the battery usage in settings and found that the OS was consuming around 70% of the battery. It was being drained rapidly even when in idle. The screen was also becoming hot at the top of the phone, an S2.

I downloaded betterbatterystats and found two processes being run pretty much constantly. They are svnet and svnet-dormancy. They are involved in the sending of data packets. I then checked my current data usage with my provider. This month it has gone from an average use of 40mb per month to 360mb and were only just over half the way through this month!!

So for me what is happening is that a process is constantly sending and receiving data packets. I wondered at first whether this was a faulty app so I bit the bullet and deleted all updates and downloaded applications. No joy. Still the same problem. I then thought maybe its a virus so I download a virus checker. Nothing. Still the same problem. Scratching my head now.

I then noticed the box in Settings/Accounts and Sync/Background data and unchecked this, problem solved. Battery back to normal, no heat problems, no recharging problems.

Whether this is a client or server fault I don't know. I have google/yahoo/facebook/exchange server account settings. I know of five people personally who have been affected by battery drain issues within the last month. I don't know why. Two have sent there phone back for repairs. Others are looking at exchanging their's for an iphone.

My temporary fix may not be the answer for everyone but it explains why the battery is draining so quick, why the phone is getting so hot, and why it takes so long to recharge.

On a side note, why is the android OS so user unfriendly to upgrade. You go to the settings/software update/check for updates (mine is android 2.3.3) and the phone says no update available, yet i know android 4.? something exists. Can someone point me in the direction of how you upgrade the OS. Thanks in advance.

 

[ssk80]

I have been using Samsung GS2 for six months and recently been suffering from severe battery drain. I would get just 8-9 hours on a full charge with very light use.
Went through the Internet and searched forums and finally hit jackpot.

Here's wht I did:
1. Calibrated the battery. I let the battery drain completely and allowed the phone to automatically shut down. Then charged the battery from zero till 100 per cent.
I did it three times over a week.
The last time I did this, once my battery was 100 per cent, I removed the battery, waited for 5 minutes, reinserted it and switched on.

2. Turned location services off
Go to Settings, Location services:
Untick Google's location service
Untick GPS satellites
Untick Location and Google search
(Unless u r using Google Navigation a lot u dont need these)

Optional settings:
3. If u want to desperately save battery life...
Turn Auto Sync off:
Settings-Accounts and sync
Turn it off

4.Turn wi-fil off during sleep
Settings--wifi--Advanced (menu key) Keep wi-fi on during sleep ---Never

These steps hve worked for me, especially the first two, hope u guys will find them useful.

Thanks

 

[daniel diaz]

That's the best solution in my opinion cause like this you don't need to load an app cause its the same thing in myopinion.

 

[Leah M]

You are a legend al I tried the battery defender And it totally works on my samsung s2 I'm so happy because my battery has lasted all day ever since I downloaded battery defender thanku thanku I'm so glad I seen your quote thanku again!!!!!! Cheers