1 week in, one random problem...battery.

[k1ngr4t]

Overall, I am absolutely LOVING this phone. It's just...awesome. I love to just hold it. One thing has appeared out of nowhere though...random battery drain.

When I first got the phone, it lasted 2 days with moderate use. Added all my apps, still got about a day and a half. Then suddenly it just decided to not work as well. For some reason it drains almost twice as fast when in standby than when in use. So I know this is a fixable issue, I just can't figure out who the culprit is. I have looked extensively into the battery drain and I don't think it's the usual "misreading" of the stats or anything. Battery life when in use is fantastic, unrivaled of all the smartphones I've had. But I swear, I can lose 5% if I leave the phone untouched and locked for 10-15 minutes. That can't be right, when I only lose 1% after 5ish minutes of browsing the internet. I have GSam, the biggest battery drainer is of course the "phone radio," and the "kernel" and "Maps" under App usage, which is 45.9% of the battery at this point, when all I've done today is browse settings, set up my homescreens a bit, and texting.

I notice a lot of times, especially at work where I don't have a great signal, it's always trying to connect to GPS, showing the notification and everything, and I'm pretty sure this is the cause. All I really want at work data-wise is an accurate time/weather widget. Do I need all 3 locations checked? Can I have it so EVERYTHING but texting refreshes upon wakeup instead in intervals while unlocked? Is it possible I did a horrible job calibrating it? Does this make any sense??

I don't understand how the battery life just stopped being so great overnight. I didn't add any apps when it started that would do it to this extreme, but I know it's always struggling to find GPS. Thoughts?

 

[mgrande]

No you dont need all the gps's on. You can leave the google one on, but turn off the others. Then when you need to use navigation or maps, turn it on.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[wcjeep]

The weather will be very close to your exact location without GPS. There is also a safe mode for the S3. Safe mode will only load preloaded apps. Someone posted safe mode directions for the S3 last week.

 

[bendystrawboy]

Or just turn off the gps in the notification pulldown menu.

 

[k1ngr4t]

So I can turn gps off completely while at work and still have an accurate and up to date time /weather widget?

I'm always busy so I don't get to check my phone often and the verizon reception is horrible there anyways, so I just use offline stuff and occasionally check the weather. Unfortunately I have off today and tomorrow so I can't put what I've tried so far to the real test yet, though I'm already seeing an improvement

 

[DannyGlover]

Same problem here

I am having the same problem, especially today.

At first, my problem when I got the phone was a horrible battery life. I found that re-formatting my SD Card fixed the issue. For the next 3 weeks, the phone ran flawlessly and I almost couldn't drain the battery if I tried. Now, suddenly, I have had my phone unplugged for 6 hours, and I only have 54% battery and it's rapidly declining. I have hardly used it at all! I am at work so it just sits on my desk all day untouched for the most part.

Something is not right but I would appreciate some insight. Help!!

thanks

 

[k1ngr4t]

Exactly!!

Out of curiosity, how is your reception at work? Does your phone have trouble picking up GPS? Is your issue like mine and your phone's battery drains faster in stand by than in use ( just wondering to be sure yours isn't a battery issue compared to a sync/connect issue )? Do you feel like you did a good job calibrating the battery when you first bought it? I don't...


On that note, I have noticed a HUGE improvement after only leaving on the Google GPS. So at least I know mine is related to that. I don't know how it'll be at work, but it's definitely improved at my house.

 

[DannyGlover]

Exactly!!

Out of curiosity, how is your reception at work? Does your phone have trouble picking up GPS? Is your issue like mine and your phone's battery drains faster in stand by than in use ( just wondering to be sure yours isn't a battery issue compared to a sync/connect issue )? Do you feel like you did a good job calibrating the battery when you first bought it? I don't...


On that note, I have noticed a HUGE improvement after only leaving on the Google GPS. So at least I know mine is related to that. I don't know how it'll be at work, but it's definitely improved at my house.

Being that I don't know how to calibrate a battery, I'm gonna say No. My reception at work is fine and I can usually get 4g speeds anywhere in the office. Like I said though, my phone just sits there all day barely being touched and for it to drain so quickly is really annoying. Also, it gets pretty warm for no real reason. I don't get it at all.

Anyone have any idea what to do?

 

[k1ngr4t]

Calibrating the battery is just how you charge it when you first get it. Generally you wanna charge it up to 100% and then let it die or drop below 15%, and repeat a few times. I'm like you, I had trouble draining it at first as well, had 2 days of moderate use.

So throwing it out there, I'm curious to see what happens if you can turn off GPS for one day or a few hours or something and see if that makes a difference. Also turn off other GPS services through Menu - Settings - Location Services and only leaving Google location services checked. It has helped me.

Doesn't seem like this particular battery drain is very common issue though, everyones just reporting weird percentages, when I know FOR A FACT this is an usually large amount of drain, not just wrong numbers.

 

[DannyGlover]

Actually all 3 of my gps services are always off unless i use maps for navigation so that's not the issue with mine

 

[k1ngr4t]

So just a heads up but it looks like my problem was definitely the GPS. Not sure why this is suddenly an issue, but now that I know it isn't necessary for weather/time widgets I just leave it off unless needed. Thanks for the help!

 

[Deifan8]

My battery life is so so at home but sucks at work. Reception is very poor at work. What does android system mean on battery usage?

View attachment 54443

 

[k1ngr4t]

Damn, to be honest I'm not sure. But even when my battery life was sucking, it was still usually around 10-15%. So there has to be something hidden somewhere that's slowly sucking the life from your phone. But I believe it can be saved!

 

[liteon163]

Nowhere in this discussion I have I read what happens when the phone is rebooted...

I've never experienced the degree of battery drain mentioned here, but when mine seems to be draining more quickly than usual a reboot fixes it.

 

[k1ngr4t]

Yeah I've definitely noticed battery seems to improve after a quick reboot....however, like you said, it's not quite to the same degree. This drain was....ridiculous. But a reboot does seem to help a bit with the general "quick than usual" drain.