Samsung Galaxy Note 4 & Note Edge User Tips for Better Battery Life

[dgstorm]

It turns out there are a ton of fans for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy Edge. These phablet sized smartphones have grown into one of the most viable and popular archetypes for the Android smartphone world, and Samsung arguably jump-started that trend with the Galaxy Note series. Their current flagships in that sector are the Note 4 and the Note Edge.

New owners of these now iconic devices are being added to the Android fold every day. From witnessing the trend toward larger smartphones, it also can be noted that folks who own these phablet-style phones will typically use them more than the average smartphone user. Because of that, the battery life can be a constant source of concern. To that end, here at HQ we thought it would be worthwhile to have a compilation of tips & tricks which give new owners of these devices a little help in figuring out how to conserve battery life and improve their experience with their Galaxy Note product.

Rather than scour a list of the typical stuff you see, we thought it would be far more useful to find out from the veteran users of these devices how to maximize the efficiency of your Galaxy Note 4 or Galaxy Note Edge. Who better can share these details with us, then folks who have owned and constantly use them?

Please take a brief moment and share your favorite tip and/or trick that you use to get better battery life out of your Galaxy Note product (or any phablet-sized phone for that matter).

Thanks for participating and paying it forward to other members who are new to the Galaxy Note world, and be sure to visit our dedicated sections for both of these devices found at the links below:

• Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Discussions Android Forum at DroidForums.net
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Android Forum at DroidForums.net

 

[smalltowngirl13]

What a great idea for a thread! I know when I had the Note 3, battery saving tips / tricks were great to find and experiment with!

Hopefully we will see some input from our resident staffer's who have these devices @Ollie & @Jonny Kansas !

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Oh man. You know, I don't have much beyond the typical advice that can be given for ANY android phone.

The device makes it through my entire day every day. With fast charging, even HEAVY use days aren't much competition.

I bought the extended battery kit, but find that I often have to TRY to spend enough power that it feels worth it to swap the other one in before bedtime. Haha!

I'll have to ponder on this if I'm to be of any use.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[mountainbikermark]

When I keep mine in power saver mode it increases my battery life by from 60% left at the end of the day to over 70%, and drops Android System from #2 user, behind Screen, down below Android os and Cell Standby. With it off screen and AS compete for number 1 depending on how heavily I use my screen. It increases screen time to about 8 hours vs 6+ on times I don't charge it every day before reaching below 10%.
There's no discernible lag either.

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Beast Mode 4

 

[jhom]

I do the following, and I have more than ample battery life for a typical day: power saving mode on, turn off auto brightness, set screen off after 30 seconds screen inactivity, use wifi instead of LTE whenever possible, and greenify. I have a charged spare battery on hand, if necessary.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Now that I've seen what some others do, here's my plan:

I gave up on using Power Saving mode. I used it a lot while at work when I first got the phone. I don't notice a significant enough difference to make me want to toggle it back on.

I use wifi all the time while at home, but shut it off as I leave and turn it back on when I return so it's not scanning.

My screen timeout is set to 10 minutes. I'm religious about turning the screen off manually when I'm done doing whatever I'm doing and this way, if I need something displayed on my phone for more than just a little while while I'm doing something else, I don't have to worry about the screen shutting off on me.

I've turned off all "bloat" apps that I don't use that allowed me to do so.

I leave location/GPS on and haven't noticed it taking too much juice.

Things like NFC, Beam, etc, I have off. I finally got Google Wallet setup, so I may turn NFC back on when I'm in a store that I know I'll use my phone to pay.

Screen brightness is always set to Auto. It does a good enough job of cranking the brightness down when I'm in low light situations, but I like not having to do anything manually when I step into the sun.

S pen detection when it's docked is turned off. I find that to be redundant. The phone still knows when I remove the s pen and I've tested the feature where it alerts me if I set the pen down and walk away. That works just fine, so I'm not worried about losing the s pen.

EDIT: I also stick with wallpapers that are mostly black & my swiftkey is mostly black as well. Basically, any app that offers dark colors, I use, knowing that the screen uses less juice that way.

With these settings, I leave work with about 70-80% of battery at least and rarely find myself charging or swapping out batteries before bedtime, unless I find extra youtube videos to watch and/or play some games.

 

[Ollie]

Now that I've seen what some others do, here's my plan:

I gave up on using Power Saving mode. I used it a lot while at work when I first got the phone. I don't notice a significant enough difference to make me want to toggle it back on.

I use wifi all the time while at home, but shut it off as I leave and turn it back on when I return so it's not scanning.

My screen timeout is set to 10 minutes. I'm religious about turning the screen off manually when I'm done doing whatever I'm doing and this way, if I need something displayed on my phone for more than just a little while while I'm doing something else, I don't have to worry about the screen shutting off on me.

I've turned off all "bloat" apps that I don't use that allowed me to do so.

I leave location/GPS on and haven't noticed it taking too much juice.

Things like NFC, Beam, etc, I have off. I finally got Google Wallet setup, so I may turn NFC back on when I'm in a store that I know I'll use my phone to pay.

Screen brightness is always set to Auto. It does a good enough job of cranking the brightness down when I'm in low light situations, but I like not having to do anything manually when I step into the sun.

S pen detection when it's docked is turned off. I find that to be redundant. The phone still knows when I remove the s pen and I've tested the feature where it alerts me if I set the pen down and walk away. That works just fine, so I'm not worried about losing the s pen.

With these settings, I leave work with about 70-80% of battery at least and rarely find myself charging or swapping out batteries before bedtime, unless I find extra youtube videos to watch and/or play some games.

What is your average screen on time?

 

[Ollie]

What a great idea for a thread! I know when I had the Note 3, battery saving tips / tricks were great to find and experiment with!

Hopefully we will see some input from our resident staffer's who have these devices @Ollie & @Jonny Kansas !

Here you go: Note Edge Battery Life Android Forum at DroidForums.net

 

[Jonny Kansas]

What is your average screen on time?

Y'know, I've never really averaged it. Gotta be around at least 4-5 hours if I had to guess though. Will keep a closer eye on it in the next few days.

I'm not shy about letting it sit with the screen on if I'm in the middle of something & get distracted, though, like I said, I turn it off right away if I'm done using the phone.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[Ollie]

I'm averaging 6+ hours on Dalvik. I haven't tried ART yet though.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Updated my post based on Ollie's thread. I'm also a fan of black. Thought I touched on major points from his thread, but I forgot that one.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I'm averaging 6+ hours on Dalvik. I haven't tried ART yet though.

Like I said, I've never kept good track. I know it's been at 3-4 when I've checked it in the evening, long before bed, so I'm somewhere around there.

As for ART, I enabled it once & every time I rebooted, it said it was optimizing like 400 some apps and got super hot. I switched back. I'll wait for lollipop.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[jackiescivic]

I'm typically at about 3hrs of screen time. The only reason I was able to get to 5% battery yesterday was because I was playing Candy Crush a few times during the day. I'm typically at about 60% at the end of my day. Right now I'm at 86% and it's been off the charger for almost 11hrs. I'm not a power user by any means. I don't see any reason why someone may need to use power saving mode, but that's just me. Love having the option though, just in case.
I used to have a darker background, but since August I've had a bright one of a flower I took with the S5. I may turn off the S pen detection though and see what happens.
This phone just rocks, plain and simple!

Sent from my Note 4

 

[Jonny Kansas]

@Ollie

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk