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hi all,
I've installed a raft of apps in the last few days (perhaps that was foolish) on my sim-free white Hero, and suddently the battery life has gone to pieces. It now won't even last the night *in standby with wifi off*.
Any ideas as to the known battery killers, or any way I can track down which is causing this? I don't really have to want to start removing apps at random and monitoring.
There's nothing particularly unusual in my list of running apps, following a power cycle (is there?):
Shake Awake, NetCounter, AK Notepad, OI Update & Countdown, Tube Status, Battery Widget, BBC News widget, Peep
(although that does raise a separate question: why do things like ShopSavvy, AK Notepad, start at boot, when presumably they're not really doing anything until you use them?)
Of course, I have other things that get started asynchronously, just not at boot, e.g. SMS Popup.
anyone got any ideas, please?
thanks much indeed.
cdmackay said:
hi all,
I've installed a raft of apps in the last few days (perhaps that was foolish) on my sim-free white Hero, and suddently the battery life has gone to pieces. It now won't even last the night *in standby with wifi off*.
Any ideas as to the known battery killers, or any way I can track down which is causing this? I don't really have to want to start removing apps at random and monitoring.
There's nothing particularly unusual in my list of running apps, following a power cycle (is there?):
Shake Awake, NetCounter, AK Notepad, OI Update & Countdown, Tube Status, Battery Widget, BBC News widget, Peep
(although that does raise a separate question: why do things like ShopSavvy, AK Notepad, start at boot, when presumably they're not really doing anything until you use them?)
Of course, I have other things that get started asynchronously, just not at boot, e.g. SMS Popup.
anyone got any ideas, please?
thanks much indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue when i put on battery widget, I saw the % going down while watching the phone.
oh! that's ironic
I do get the impression that it's more recent than that, but it could well be, I suppose. I'll remove it and see... thanks.
I've heard that the bbc widget drains the battery.
This is something Google should address with android market. The system should apply various forms of stress testing to all applications and rate them according to connectivity requirements, CPU load, power consumption etc.
I think for people who have a serious drain they need to hard reset and start again, put 1 program on at a time and leave it a day or so with that program on, finding out whats causing the drain.
Logically thinking, i'd expect it to be a program that is using internet in the background, like the bbc widget which could still be downloading without you knowing.
good points, ta.
I already noticed this. I checked the CPU load in idle mode and normally it should be around 10% (using "System Monitor").
Sometimes however, depending on what apps were running, it is increased to 30-40% and staying there constantly.
Closing all apps (incl. Sense) does not help either, the CPU load won't go down again until i make a complete device reset.
So i guess some processes are stuck in thise case causing the high load (and draining the battery empty).
My GPS did not disconnect, after foto geo-tagging, and that goes quick as well.
Also the BBC-app was installed, but got rid of it because I didn't use it. Might be a coincidence.
The BBC app polls really often. There's no setting to tell it how often to poll. It really kills the battery fast
I wonder though: even when the phone is in standby? something is killing me in standby. Oddly, it seems better if the phone is on
I'll try removing the BBC app overnight, and see...
then the battery widget tomorrow, etc...
cdmackay said:
I wonder though: even when the phone is in standby? something is killing me in standby. Oddly, it seems better if the phone is on
I'll try removing the BBC app overnight, and see...
then the battery widget tomorrow, etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn on usb debugging... download the SDK.. cd into tools.. and run
adb logcat
or to send it to a file:
adb logcat > log.txt
(and ctrl + C to stop logging)
Inspect the log file and you'll see what its upto pretty quickly. Maybe its overkill, but I fire that up when it starts behaving strangly.
EDIT: err to answer your question.. yeah the widgets wake the phone up to grab new data, which eats battery. The BBC news one seems to be polling reallllly often, which is unecesarily using power.
quick update: removed BBC News and Battery Widget (separately), no change; phone still dies overnight, in fact in about 5 hours on standby, from a full battery, to totally dead.
I just this minute discovered that my phone whilst in standby is still polling my IMAP server to try and connect, and I have a huge inbox, which it was prob failing to get the headers for. Seems like a possible bug that it still does this whilst in standby, but I've disabled that account anyway. It might be the cause...
What do you mean by Standby? Just inactive? Airplane Mode?
sorry, poor terminology, perhaps. No, not airplane mode, just the screen-off state it goes into after a few minutes.
It does seem a little bit of a waste, if the phone is going to spend all night checking for new Twitter, Gmail, etc, updates, when I'm not awake to read them? So I'd naively assumed that perhaps it wouldn't do that when it's in the screen-off state. Unless you've asked for notification other than on the top bar, of course?
cdmackay said:
It does seem a little bit of a waste, if the phone is going to spend all night checking for new Twitter, Gmail, etc, updates, when I'm not awake to read them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, the phone doesn't know when you're going to asleep now does it? (especially if you're a night worker).
I notice that there's an application in the market now which can automatically turn airplane mode on according to a schedule, so that may help but of course this does mean you won't get phone calls!
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
To be fair, the phone doesn't know when you're going to asleep now does it? (especially if you're a night worker).
I notice that there's an application in the market now which can automatically turn airplane mode on according to a schedule, so that may help but of course this does mean you won't get phone calls!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't but I'm developing a widget which will disable data access at certain times (dependent on user) so overnight it wont use data and save battery.
foxmeister said:
To be fair, the phone doesn't know when you're going to asleep now does it? (especially if you're a night worker).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right; I really meant the following, but worded it wrongly...
I had expected apps not to do data access when the phone's screen is off, unless they have been configured to notify via sound, vibrate or light.
i.e. if an app either isn't notifying, or is only notifying via the top bar, then it should disable its data access when the screen is off.
That would mean a short delay in getting updates, when the screen is back on, but I'd rather have that than spending much battery time pointless checking for updates when I'm not going to see them for ages, whether that's at night or just when the phone is sitting on the desk for hours.
nicelad_uk said:
No it doesn't but I'm developing a widget which will disable data access at certain times (dependent on user) so overnight it wont use data and save battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aha! that sounds great, thanks in advance
would you update us here when you have something testable, please?
and if it's not pushing my luck to ask: any chance that it might also have a manual switch too, for those of us who go to bed at wildly different times?
Or perhaps there is already a way to disable data access manually, with a single setting change, without disabling the phone? I think there might be...
ah yes indeed, there's even an HTC widget to disable mobile networking, whilst leaving phone enabled. That will do for now
I installed 3G WatchDog and its in constant use. I installed SpareParts to look at network usage and the first item is 0 and when I tap on it, it FCs. I am going to wipe and reflash the ROM later and take a look later but anyone have this problem or a solution? Or a way to see what app is using my connection constantly?
Not sure if this helps, but in Settings - Wireless & networks - Mobile networks - there is an option for 'Enable always-on mobile data' which I believe keeps your 3g running all the time.
http://androidforums.com/147137-post14.html
That is probably one of the better explanations for what disabling 3G Always on does. Seems like it's a huge battery saver.
OP: have you tested the suggestion in the article donatom3 linked?
Let us know...
My Wifes EVO is having the same issue. Her phone is contantly downloading data. I got a clue when I looked at her data useage and she clock 14GB for the partial month.
I shut down services until I found the culprit. It was "People". I checked sync setting and all and it seems they are all set to 1 hour or more intervals. When I force a close of "People", the data access stops and goes to normal even if I restart "People".
If I shut down the phone and then turn back on, then it seems to start all over again.
As a bandaid, I have set Advance Task Killer to kill the "People" service automatically every 30 min.
I would sure love for someone to find a more permanent resolution.
Can't you just remove it from the home screen, and it will stop using the data?
So for the second day straight my phone battery has dropped to half in about 4 hours screen off in my pocket... After closing every program and turning off data sync, the 3G connection is still constantly in use. I downloaded a network traffic program to check usage, and to my surprise my phone had downloaded over 60MB in just 1 hour. I restarted the phone and the problem seemed to be fixed, however it's started back up again, even after restarts and switch from airplane mode and back.
I'm already using SwitchPro, I have all sync options turned off already. The problem didn't come up until a few days ago.
I haven't installed any new programs or widgets in the last couple of daysIs anyone else having a similar issue? Have you been able to solve it?
I had the same issue then I flashed Fresh. Now it is working proper. I would suggest flashing a dif ROM or factory reset.
Load aLogcat or Quicksysteminfo , from market and look at your logcat file. The cause will be obvious from there. If the phone is "idle" and the logcat is recording what's doing the data moving, you can then kill it.
Is it me or is the hands free Bluetooth constantly running even when unchecked.Maybe im looking at the log cat wrong but it appears that way
It looks like location services was using all that data. I think anyway, I'm not sure If read the logcat right, but a lot of that information dealt with location stuff. I went to settings, privacy, and disable google services from using my location and the constant 3g seems to have stopped.
Why would it just go ape **** like that after having the phone for 3 weeks?
I just noticed the same problem, turns out it was the people app that was causing it. I killed it and data traffic stopped. You can launch it from the menu and it loads back up and is fine. Just seems to be when it starts by itself when you first boot up the phone.
/I posted this in another thread but I'm desperate for help at this point.
At one point last week, my Nexus 7 had been running on eight hours from a full charge, screen had only been on for 1:15 and Android OS had kept the device awake for almost five hours, and used 50 minutes of CPU total. My battery was at 71%.
After receiving advice to do a factory reset, I did so on Friday and my battery life improved dramatically over the weekend. Android OS was using a much less percentage and keeping the device awake less. My battery lasted over two days with +4 hours of screen time. But once I commuted to work this morning, my problems started again. Android OS' percentage used and time kept awake shot up and my battery is down to 61% in 22 hours (1:11 of screen time) and Android OS has kept the device awake for over 6 hours.
Is this an operating system problem? Does anyone else commute to work and use Google Now for public transit updates? I have Latitude updating off but otherwise all GPS, etc. is turned on.
I am absolutely baffled and would love some help. Thanks in advance.
crazygameofpoker said:
(...) I have Latitude updating off but otherwise all GPS, etc. is turned on. (...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems to be the culprit. Try turning ALL options in the Location services off (Google's location service, GPS satellites, Location & Google search) and turn them only on when you need them.
This did the trick for me.
Otherwise use the tools CPU Spy and BetterBatteryStats (both available in the Google Play store) to get a better idea what exactly is causing the battery drain on your device.
Cybermancer said:
That seems to be the culprit. Try turning ALL options in the Location services off (Google's location service, GPS satellites, Location & Google search) and turn them only on when you need them.
This did the trick for me.
Otherwise use the tools CPU Spy and BetterBatteryStats (both available in the Google Play store) to get a better idea what exactly is causing the battery drain on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. That's probably my last resort. I mean, I bought this device because of features on Jelly Bean such as Google Now, which relies heavily on location services, and I have to turn all of them off? That disappoints me.
It's interesting to me that I had all of these services on at home over the weekend, yet it did not have this effect on my battery. Only because my device leaves the house should it freak out. That's a serious flaw.
crazygameofpoker said:
Thanks for the response. That's probably my last resort. I mean, I bought this device because of features on Jelly Bean such as Google Now, which relies heavily on location services, and I have to turn all of them off? That disappoints me.
It's interesting to me that I had all of these services on at home over the weekend, yet it did not have this effect on my battery. Only because my device leaves the house should it freak out. That's a serious flaw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may or may not help, but I too was having battery problems but narrowed it down to being only when I was away from any Wi-Fi connection whether I was connected or not. I think there is a bug whereby if the tablet cannot establish your location from nearby Wi-Fi access points, rather than giving up it just keeps on trying to the detriment of your battery. I solved this issue by using an app called Automateit to instruct my Wi-Fi to turn off when the screen is off (as it would be the majority of the time while travelling). These kinds of apps allow all kinds of qualifiers, for example my Wi-Fi doesn't turn off if Spotify is in focus as I am streaming music using Wi-Fi. Give this a go and see if it helps.
akalias1981 said:
This may or may not help, but I too was having battery problems but narrowed it down to being only when I was away from any Wi-Fi connection whether I was connected or not. I think there is a bug whereby if the tablet cannot establish your location from nearby Wi-Fi access points, rather than giving up it just keeps on trying to the detriment of your battery. I solved this issue by using an app called Automateit to instruct my Wi-Fi to turn off when the screen is off (as it would be the majority of the time while travelling). These kinds of apps allow all kinds of qualifiers, for example my Wi-Fi doesn't turn off if Spotify is in focus as I am streaming music using Wi-Fi. Give this a go and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. When I'm at work it stays connected to the same WiFi access point as far as I know.
Here's an update to the situation: I looked at my data usage over the last few days. Over the weekend, Android OS used virtually no data. Since then, it has used about 50 MB of data in the background. I work at a university so maybe it's trying to connect with other access points on campus even when I'm in my office. Any ideas? Thanks.
Edit: At work, the down arrow on my WiFi signal is constantly on, like it's always doing something. At home, not.
I am on my 5th charge, and Google Play services is my number one battery sucker.
I have location services, BT, on 24/7. I only connect to BT when in my car though, so 5% of the day maybe.
If I let me phone sit idle for about 4 hours, Google Play services will be the only thing that consumed battery.
Any advice on troubleshooting it? So far i've tried disabling NFC, google hang outs, ambient screen. I am trying things one at a time to see what's causing it.
There are no wakelocks, because I click the graph and I show it's only awake when I am actually using it. GPS is rarely, if ever on. WIFI is never on, as I have green signal everywhere + unlimited data via tmobile. I also do not have any other always connected apps like facebook, or facebook IM, twitter, or whatsapp, etc.
vivithemage said:
I am on my 5th charge, and Google Play services is my number one battery sucker.
I have location services, BT, on 24/7. I only connect to BT when in my car though, so 5% of the day maybe.
If I let me phone sit idle for about 4 hours, Google Play services will be the only thing that consumed battery.
Any advice on troubleshooting it? So far i've tried disabling NFC, google hang outs, ambient screen. I am trying things one at a time to see what's causing it.
There are no wakelocks, because I click the graph and I show it's only awake when I am actually using it. GPS is rarely, if ever on. WIFI is never on, as I have green signal everywhere + unlimited data via tmobile. I also do not have any other always connected apps like facebook, or facebook IM, twitter, or whatsapp, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am getting the same thing right now. I didn't yesterday.
I know it shows Google Play Services if you have Google Photos backing up your photos and videos. It is defaulted to do it whenever you are on wifi I believe. I have mine set to only backup while charging. I still see the Google Play Services drain though even with it not backing up, so I think my drain is coming from some other place.
Yeah, I am going to turn off background data, and if that's the culprit. I will play with each of the back up options. I only have a few enabled. I do have google photo's set to sync when on cell network or wifi, because I have unlimited data I do not care when they go up.
I noticed an odd bug when I unchecked google+ and google+ uploads as OFF/not sync, my google photo option to sync was gone. I enabled it, and it showed up. I have since rebooted a few times, and disabled those (did this an hour or so ago), and it will still sync, so maybe that was it? Will report back.
Currently enabled sync options:
app data
calendar
chrome
contacts
gmail
google opinion rewards
google photos
google photos backup
vivithemage said:
Yeah, I am going to turn off background data, and if that's the culprit. I will play with each of the back up options. I only have a few enabled. I do have google photo's set to sync when on cell network or wifi, because I have unlimited data I do not care when they go up.
I noticed an odd bug when I unchecked google+ and google+ uploads as OFF/not sync, my google photo option to sync was gone. I enabled it, and it showed up. I have since rebooted a few times, and disabled those (did this an hour or so ago), and it will still sync, so maybe that was it? Will report back.
Currently enabled sync options:
app data
calendar
chrome
contacts
gmail
google opinion rewards
google photos
google photos backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw this after upgrading to the newest factory image. let things settle and it was back to normal on the next day. Also updated to play services 8.3.0.1
I actually tried to do a reinstall the other day, and it brought me up to 8.3.01 (2385995-440) ... which was what it previously had.
Are you saying you just wiped your phone and started from scratch again?
vivithemage said:
I actually tried to do a reinstall the other day, and it brought me up to 8.3.01 (2385995-440) ... which was what it previously had.
Are you saying you just wiped your phone and started from scratch again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt wipe anything. I flashed the system.img and vendor.img from the Nov. update and i then noticed that play services was eating up about 22% of battery on a normal cycle. Updated to 8.3.0.1 and after charging and watching on the second go around, it seems to be returning to normal. Down to 44% and play services has only eaten 4%.
elreydenj said:
I didnt wipe anything. I flashed the system.img and vendor.img from the Nov. update and i then noticed that play services was eating up about 22% of battery on a normal cycle. Updated to 8.3.0.1 and after charging and watching on the second go around, it seems to be returning to normal. Down to 44% and play services has only eaten 4%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4% seems solid for 66% bat used... i'll try that if this doesn't work. Does flashing just system.img and vendor.img muck with any data?
maybe try wiping the cache partition -
Nexus 6P Wipe Cache Partition
Power Down the Nexus 6P
Boot the Nexus 6P into Fastboot Mode
Boot the Nexus 6P into Recovery Mode
Press the Volume Down Button to Control the Highlighter
Highlight the ‘Wipe Cache Partition’ Option in Recovery Mode
Then Press the Power Button to Select This Option
Make Sure the ‘Yes’ Option is Highlighted
Then Press the Power Button to Select This Option and Confirm the Wipe
Wait Until the Nexus 6P Wipes the Entire Cache Partition
Make Sure the ‘Reboot System Now’ Option is Highlighted
Then Press the Power Button to Reboot the Nexus 6P
http://www.androidexplained.com/nexus-6p-wipe-the-cache-partition/
What does wiping cache do again?
I disable.any Google apps I don't use ,which most if them,I have Google now always listening and I don't use chrome which seems to hit the battery,and play services is hardly ever in my battery list,but today a new play service update and reading reviews it's sucking battery by all accounts ,not seen it yet myself
I have wiped cache and I will report back.
After reboots it still is eating up battery like nobody's business. Bone stock not rooted too.
Wifi and bluetooth on, location set to device only. Google Now on, "okay google" detection from anywhere.
tluley51 said:
I have wiped cache and I will report back.
After reboots it still is eating up battery like nobody's business. Bone stock not rooted too.
Wifi and bluetooth on, location set to device only. Google Now on, "okay google" detection from anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i suffer no hardships doing this -
Battery Tips for Android
1. Toggle off High Accuracy GPS Mode, Bluetooth, NFC,
Hotspot/Tethering. Toggle on only as needed. (Set GPS Mode to "Battery
Saving" Mode).
2. Display Brightness - Turn off Auto Brightness and Reduce Setting
Bar to Minimum Acceptable to you.
3. Sign out of any unused Google Services like G+, Google Now, Hangouts, etc.
4. Disable Location Reporting and Location History.
5. Beware of constantly syncing in background Apps and Bloatware like
Facebook, Twitter, Weather Channel, Games, Google News/Weather,
Non-Push Email, etc. Set Sync interval for every 1 hour or more and
change settings to stop the syncing of data you don't need. Delete
their Apps and use their Web Page if acceptable.
6. Turn Off Hot Word "Hotword Detection" Always Listening Mode in
Google Search if you don't use it.
7. Turn Off Auto Camera/Photo Upload or at least set it for Upload on WIFI Only.
8. Turn Off Vibrate on Touch for Display, Keyboard, etc.
9. Turn Off Touch Sounds and Unlock Sounds.
10. Turn Off Ambient Display/Active Display Notifications if you don't need it.
11. Don't use a Live Wallpaper. Use a dark wallpaper if possible.
12. Set Display Sleep Setting to 2 Minutes or Less.
13. WIFI Settings - Advanced -
a. Network Notification - Set as OFF.
b. Keep WIFI on during Sleep - Set as ALWAYS if you regularly use
WIFI. OK to keep WIFI on if you regularly use it.
14. Scanning Always Available - Set as OFF - Wifi scans for networks
(location assist) in the background by default. Go to Settings >
Location > Overflow (three dots at top right) > Scanning and change
the setting for Wifi and Bluetooth.
15. Turn Off Always Vibrate in Gmail/Email.
16. Be careful of using too many Live Widgets and what/how often they sync.
17. Set MS Exchange Sync at 30 Days or Less if you use it.
18. Do NOT use a Task Killer App or Battery Saver App.
19. Uninstall ALL Apps that you never use. If you haven't used an
App in one month, uninstall it.
20. Reboot your phone at least once a month.
21. Wipe Cache Partition at least once a quarter or after every OS Update.
22. Consider a Factory Data Reset with a manual re-sync, manual
reinstall of all data and Apps after every major OS Letter Update.
Make sure that all of your data is first backed up to Google and
Dropbox, etc.
"I SUFFER NO HARDSHIPS DOING THIS" - this means that i personally am
giving up NOTHING with these tips. i'm not giving up any features.
there are no tradeoffs for me. a tradeoff or a hardship would be to
turn off PUSH email or use AIRPLANE mode during the day etc.
you have to find your own balance and the tips list is a start but you
must come to your own conclusion as to what's important. it's personal
preference but these are not a big deal to me at all as they do not
affect the function or operation of my phone. these tips do not
deteriorate my experience.
you don't HAVE TO do anything. the point is you if you want to
MAXIMIZE battery life you can turn things off that you aren't using.
it only makes sense. there is a FINITE amount of juice in ANY
battery. you choose how you want to spend that juice. by default most
of these devices have every feature set as ON whether you use them or
not. i prefer to change the settings in my phone to only use those
features that i personally use and need so i can maximize battery
life. i don't leave all the lights and TVs on in my house 24/7 - i
turn them on when i need them. i'm not giving anything up. my phone
does everything exactly like i want it to. i'm not missing out on
anything. it's no hardship for me. it's life. life is a delicate
balance. it's up to you to find that balance.
11-5-15
I am doing 70% of what you listed out, and google play services is currently at 3% of battery with 81% remaining, it's my highest user under screen with an hour. Don't get me wrong, great battery, but why is it using so much?
I wiped cache and it seemed to help a ton. Almost 3 hrs screen on time, 24 hours off charge, 35% battery remaining and Google Play Services is only at 3%. Much better.
its "Ok Google" "Always Listening"
I lost 12% in 7 hours overnight with it on and 1% with it off (On 4g)
Let me try wiping my cache then. Also, OK Google is not always listening, I never really use it anyway. I only use voice for texts sometimes.
tluley51 said:
I have wiped cache and I will report back.
After reboots it still is eating up battery like nobody's business. Bone stock not rooted too.
Wifi and bluetooth on, location set to device only. Google Now on, "okay google" detection from anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bluetooth is your problem. I turned mine off and immediately my phone starting to sleep again.
I leave my BT on all the time, it only connects in the car though (40 minutes per day). I do not see bat drain for that. I also left it disabled for a day, same google services % usage.
vivithemage said:
I leave my BT on all the time, it only connects in the car though (40 minutes per day). I do not see bat drain for that. I also left it disabled for a day, same google services % usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what about Bluetooth Scanning? off or on? see #14 above on my list.
Gekko2 said:
what about Bluetooth Scanning? off or on? see #14 above on my list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has always been off, why would anyone even want it on. BTW, solid list, like I said, I do about 70% of it already.