I'm thinking of buying a GS2 and was curious when I read the review below on Amazon. In particular, the comments in points 1 and 3 regarding CPU/battery usage are a little worrying. Does anyone here agree/disagree with this?
**** 8 WEEK UPDATE ****
Having had this phone for two months now I thought I'd update this. There are several things now about Android and the GS2 in general that are now apparent to me and may be deal-breakers for some of you, though it should be noted that most of these are applicable to all Android phones, and not just the GS2:
1. If you use your phone as your primary music player (e.g. like an iPod) then this is NOT the phone for you - it (as far as I can determine) has no dedicated hardware to decode audio and so it uses a lot of CPU power to play music. The phone will get very hot in your pocket from the CPU heat and within 4 hours the battery will be completely dead. This turned out to be a deal breaker for me as I use my phone extensively for music playback, and the iPhone is still the only phone I know of that gives 40 hours playback.
2. Gapless audio playback is not supported by Android, though some players buffer the next track to simulate the feature (e.g. PowerAmp) if you're willing to pay for them. Gapless playback may be supported in future Android versions, though I don't know how or when one could find out exactly what version of Android will support it.
3. There is a very common bug in the GS2 whereby an application called 'Wifi Sharing' will randomly start itself in the background and consume a huge amount of CPU power (doing nothing) and drain your battery SEVERELY. Your battery will be dead in 6 hours if you don't 'force close' the application. The only solution at the moment if you have this problem is to install something like WatchDog Lite and set up an 'alert' to warn you when Wifi Sharing starts to overtake your CPU so that you can 'force close' it.
4. For all of Android's beauty and the Touchwiz inteface Samsung has put on top of it, I've become aware of some quirks of Android, especially relating to the (VERY) inconsistent use of the menu button. Many applications use this button differently (or not at all), showing different menu items on this button depending on what screen/section you are in on the application. It's definitely not intuitive in this regard compared to iOS, though some applications do use it appropriately and in a logical manner. On the other hand, the 'back' button is fantastic and I think Apple should employ one in their phones, too.
5. Screen burn-in. I've not seen many posts about this around the intertubes, but there is what can only be described as burn-in visible on the notification/status bar of the phone when you are using an application that hides the bar (e.g. having a white section where the status bar would otherwise be displayed). It looks exactly the same as burn-in looks on a plasma television; a slightly dark/grey area where the reception indicator, clock, and other indicators normally display. I suspect this is related to the super AMOLED plus screen technology though most people will probably never notice it - if they did it would be discussed in forums all over the internet.
6. Complications with applications are frequent. Unfortunately it would seem the Android market is severely fragmented due to the shear variety of different Android hardware (i.e. handsets) available. Almost every app you download will have comments attached saying things like 'won't work on HTC Desire... ' or 'If you get the so-and-so issue then uninstall, reset and reinstall' etc., etc., Coming from iOS, this is rather jarring and definitely does not fly on a 500GBP product. Furthermore, with the exception of the very common/popular applications, you are very likely to encounter flakey apps that consume too much battery power or randomly crash/force close (or 'FC' as it's commonly called in the Android community)
7. Speaking of battery power... In my initial review (below) I mentioned how awesome it is to have widgets on the home screen. This remains true, but generally at the expense of battery life. This, combined with the battery drain experienced when using the phone for audio playback will very quickly drain your battery. You will be lucky to last the working day if you also use the phone on the road to receive and respond to emails in addition to your music, surfing, widgets, etc. This may be considered an acceptable trade-off, but no one warns you of it beforehand (at least I wasn't aware of it, and just assumed I'd still get at least a full day out of the battery). I've since learned Android phones have a horrible reputation for poor battery life. Expect to last around 12 hours with medium-light use.
With all the above said, this remains an outstanding phone and by all accounts one of the very best phones available on the market. It is super-fast - faster than my laptop - and the physical design is beautiful. For any existing Android user this phone is a dream. For people coming from iOS, I hope the above update has warned you of some of the limitations on this otherwise outstanding product.
i read it on amazon and laughed my sgs2 is the best phone ive owned if you read the futher reviews people argue his points mate
buxz777 said:
i read it on amazon and laughed my sgs2 is the best phone ive owned if you read the futher reviews people argue his points mate
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Is the comment regarding audio playback accurate? (i.e. the lack of dedicated hardware results in excessive CPU usage and battery drain)?
Sounds like an apple employee got bored...
The SGS2 is great for music playback. I use mine every day in work, for 8 hours and only ever get down to about 50%, and that's with some web browsing thrown in and texting.
Also, i thought it decoded most if not all audio formats fine? I have mp3, wav and flac files in my playlists and no problems there at all.
On my one hour daily commute..i listen to music plus screen on time at like 60% full brightness when i switch between songs whilst browsing between my news and football apps..and i probably use about 10-15%.
Wifi sharing annoys me..but i didnt notice extra large battery drops.. when i first got my phone i had wifi on all the time and it was fine. Since then i rooted my phone and 'froze' wifi sharing...so when my wifi is on...i don;t have to worry about it.
The super amoled screen gives this phone an edge on battery life above other android phones even though it still isn't as good as i hoped. And the standby time is really good.
Remember iphone battery is not removable so once you ruin it with the inevitable half charges and overnight charges your in the sh*t. You can atleast buy a spare battery for androids and keep it in your back pocket. lol jus read what i wrote...this phone has turned me into a bit of a fan boy
itm said:
Is the comment regarding audio playback accurate? (i.e. the lack of dedicated hardware results in excessive CPU usage and battery drain)?
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i dont understand this the sgs2 has a dedicated yamaha audio chip it isnt running as good as the wolfson from the sgs1 but it is still pretty decent in terms of audio quality
as for cpu useage and excessive drain on the battery i use music all day at work and its fine , it doesnt get hot , it doesnt drain battery badly , it doesnt run cpu at maximum
i use my sgs2 as my main audio device as i have bluetooth stereos in the car and home and some ok headhones from work and i dont have his troubles at all
itm said:
Is the comment regarding audio playback accurate? (i.e. the lack of dedicated hardware results in excessive CPU usage and battery drain)?
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The sound card is different from the SGS1, which was considered more efficient. This is why a few sound amplifier apps refuse to work with the SGS2 (Voodoo Sound) etc.
Obviously Samsung decided to cheap out on that aspect.
I have not seen any color burn ins, or anything like that.
You have to remember that people who dont like a product are more likely to write a review .Saying that i use Amazon reviews to get an idea about a product or alternatives a lot before buying .
jje
Related
I have a Holux GPSlim 236 bluetooth GPS receiver that I want to use with my GS2 when I go mountain biking instead of the internal GPS as that would drain the battery too quickly.
I've successfully paired the receiver with the GS2 but none of the apps (Tracker, GPS Test, Maps, etc) actually "see" the external gps receiver and just display no lock and don't show any satellites. Switching on the internal gps receiver makes everything work as expected.
Is there anything special I need to do with the external receiver and pairing it to the GS2? Is there a setting buried in Android somewhere that directs all GPS apps to use an external receiver? On the old WM6 platform you could choose different com ports for the receiver but I see no options in android for that.
Never mind. It appears you need an app (yet again!) to do this. I installed blue4droid and it works now. Why isn't this functionality part of the core Android OS?
sunseaker said:
Never mind. It appears you need an app (yet again!) to do this. I installed blue4droid and it works now. Why isn't this functionality part of the core Android OS?
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Very few people ask for this feature (first time I've seen a request). Your need is very specific, are you sure you will save much battery with a BT-link constantly running?
Older platforms like Symbian S60 and WMP6 supports this quite obviously since this was the only way to get GPS on many older smartphones, but on Android almost all phones have GPS from the beginning.
This seems like good example to me where a dedicated app is better than making the standard Android OS more complicated.
Please remember that more or less every app in the market fulfills purpose for a certain number of people, that doesn't mean that all these apps should be included in the OS...
I hear what you're saying but I'd be surprised if BT used as much battery as the GPS. I took the GS2 out for a test yesterday on a short 1.5 hour mountain bike ride with the internal GPS on and it drained 50% of my battery. A lot of my rides are usually a lot longer in the 4-5 hour range so the battery will never last.
I assume BT will use a lot less power but I have yet to test it which I'll be doing in the next few days.
As for it not being a common feature request, I guess that you are right when taking into account all the Android devices around but it's actually quite commonly asked for in the cycling and running world where you want to track your path and other parameters during your training. the phone batteries just cannot cope with powering the internal GPS for more than a few hours.
I don't mind using some apps to enhance the OS but I just feel with Android it seems expected that you need to bolt apps on to achieve what normally is basic functionality. Also a lot of the apps require permissions to parts of the phone that have nothing to do with the functions the app is providing. I'll concede that perhaps in this case an app would is suitable than having the functionality in the core OS.
sunseaker said:
I hear what you're saying but I'd be surprised if BT used as much battery as the GPS. I took the GS2 out for a test yesterday on a short 1.5 hour mountain bike ride with the internal GPS on and it drained 50% of my battery. A lot of my rides are usually a lot longer in the 4-5 hour range so the battery will never last.
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50% in 1.5h sounds a lot.
I don't think this is because of the GPS, what app do you use to log the position? Does it keep the display on all the time?
I haven't checked battery when I've been logging that careful because it hasn't been a problem, but I can see that I have a 3.5 hours log in my track-list and I remember that I checked the map a lot as well during that hike. I'm pretty sure I wasn't close to draining the battery.
Modern GPS-chip doesn't use that much battery, people are overexaggerating the drain from GPS-chip, probaly because of problems with older chip designs. But a lot of software that uses GPS, e g car navigation system are often huge battery hogs though.
I've read that this is the chip inside SGS2:
http://www.csr.com/products/25/sirfstariv-gsd4t
It seems to use 8mW with 1hz update. So the battery in SGS2 can run only the GPS chip for (4V*1650mAh)/8 = 825hours...
So I believe the battery problem you have is caused by something else, so adding an external GPS might not solve anything at all.
Hmm, that throws a different light on it. I'm using Run.GPS for my tracks. I'll have to monitor this more closely and try a different app for comparison. What did you use for tracking your hike?
The app isn't keeping the screen on and I physically turn it off with the power button anyway. The app is also set not to illuminate the screen back light although I don't think it makes any difference with the AMOLED screen.
I'll try a comparison with the external GPS and see how much difference there is to try establish if the app is at fault. I expect tracking using the external GPS to use significantly less battery so if battery drain is still high then it points most likely to being the app at fault - we'll see.
Is there any app that can list the various apps / processes that are running and show how much cpu is being used? I want to see how much cpu power the tracking software is consuming.
sunseaker said:
Hmm, that throws a different light on it. I'm using Run.GPS for my tracks. I'll have to monitor this more closely and try a different app for comparison. What did you use for tracking your hike?
The app isn't keeping the screen on and I physically turn it off with the power button anyway. The app is also set not to illuminate the screen back light although I don't think it makes any difference with the AMOLED screen.
I'll try a comparison with the external GPS and see how much difference there is to try establish if the app is at fault. I expect tracking using the external GPS to use significantly less battery so if battery drain is still high then it points most likely to being the app at fault - we'll see.
Is there any app that can list the various apps / processes that are running and show how much cpu is being used? I want to see how much cpu power the tracking software is consuming.
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I'm using my "tracks", it is an pretty good (but simple) app, but it does not do any GPS filtering, så especially data like max speed tend to be incorrect.
There are definately app's to check processes, but I don't know which is the best, I believe System Tuner Pro is good:
https://market.android.com/details?id=ccc71.pmw.pro&feature=search_result
I tried Tracker but preferred a more cycling specific app.
Thanks I'll look at that System Tuner app.
I used to have WM phones before (x220, SE X1), so let's say I know the basics. After a year of struggle with Android (Desire, SE X10), I'm back to where I feel at home; WM. But this time with a brand new HD2 (German T-mobile had them on stock at a very nice price). I already flashed a custom rom (Basic Energy 29.... C2.0) without any problems. I like the speed and the looks, but I am disappointed with battery life. So now I'm at trying tweaks. And here I feel a bit stuck. Apparently I forgot things.
So here are the questions;
What is the expected average battery life on HD2 on idle with all wireless connections, except GSM, turned off, and with all auto update things turned off also? (it is understandable that there is no fix value here. I'd like to hear few thoughts and experiences on this)
Is there a custom ROM that is generally known as a battery saver?
Is there some kind of a (virtual) map to show which radio is best for which region? (Croatia for instance)
Is there a specific radio which is gentle on the battery?
Is there an application to show what is (Cell, Display, Wi-Fi, CPU...) draining the battery in % like "Battery Use" on Android?
Is there an application like CPU Spy on Android?
In the tweaks, somebody mentioned the term "find battery saving wallpaper". What is this? I couldn't find it anywhere on the forum.
Is there a CPU managment application to manage (downclock) the CPU manualyl or automatically?
Is there an application similar to the Gesture search in Android (the only besides the implemented Battery Use and CPU Spy, that I miss form the Android)?
Is there a custom camera with less artificial noise reduction (I find it to be way too excessive)?
Is there a way to fit excellent X1 in ear earphones properly on the HD2. THe stoch HD2 heaphones are awful like on Desire too, and I still have those X1 earphones. The porblem is, the sound is skewed if I don't hold the answer button constantly pressed on the earphone's handsfree, so I used some tape and fixed it. However this way, I cannot use the handsfree. Can this somehow be adjusted?
Why do some part of the UI and some parts of apps look like they are scaled up to WVGA? This wasn't so on SE X1.
These are only the questions from the 36hours of use, so there could be more.
I did try to search and read about it before asking, but I couldn't find answers so fast, as the HD2 threads are really massive.
Thank you!
1... a day, day N a half.
2 ...not to my knowledge
3 ... no, what works for one wont necessarily work for the next.
4... not really, the latest supposedly has better power management, but I've not seen any evidence of that, PLUS the reception / stability is shocking on that radio, at least for me. Ask ten people you will get 8 different answers.
So i love the evo 3d its great, but.. i dont even use it much and the battery is dead half way through the day. I bought a extra 2 battery and a external charger and just charge the other battery while use one and then switch when it gets to 5%. The replacement battery actually runs cooler than original. (according to battery monitor app) replacement runs at around 80F and original 90-100F
Im really a android newb and dont even know how to calibrate the touch screen (maybe there isnt evne a place to do it) im used to windows phones. Is there some tweaks to get more use out of the battery? also the battery says 93% when it finishes charging on the external. I guess it gets to 100 then starts to drain?
Sorry for my english and ranting. Thanks in advance
Have you rooted your phone? If not, you could try juice defender. It manages different things about your phone like data and what not. If you root it, then I suggest getting netarchys kernel. I'm using empiires beta ROM with netatchys kernel and my battery has lasted 20hrs (I haven't used it too much though. Just for XDA and text messaging)
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
have not had the need to root yet damn im lazy ill prob do tomarro. but was thinking about mighty mike rom. is empiires beta roma bad ass? i do alot of txting light calls and few games and it seems to die fast. maybe if i root and underclock it? i really dont need 2.4ghz of cpu power on a cellphone 99% the time. i can see if i was skyping and watching hd video but ive yet to do either those things.
Yep that's exactly how I use my phone for the most part. Its pretty good for a beta. Its suppose to be as AOSP as possible and sense is almost completely removed. Only problems I've had is that you can't change the ringtone or print from the default printer. And you can't view 3d pics because he has the AOSP gallery instead of the HTC one. And you can't get to the gallery from the camera app. I'm not a big picture taker though
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Also check and see how many different things you have running in Sprint Zone, more than likely you will have everything turned on in settings. You need one up though, so I normally leave help on.
Head over to the thread linked in my signature and toss me a thanks/comment in the thread if this helps, please.
This thread is recycled from my Evo 4G days, hoping to share some of the love with newer users. Over the time I've been on android, I've learned a few simple things that can greatly assist in the battery life of our wonderful smartphones.
If you read the thread and like the tips, have a new one to suggest, or have a revision, please post it. This will ensure that the thread remains visible for those who need it, as I'm sure the moderators will not sticky it.
On a similar note, moderators, please sticky this!
General Lithium Ion Battery Information
^^This link includes stuff about charging, including trickle charging aka SBC (Why NOT to use it, or at your own peril)
My tips for good battery life:
Tips for Non-Rooted users (everyone, for now):
1. Turn off all radios when not in use.
(gps, Bluetooth, wifi, data, 4g) Use a widget like the default HTC power widget or Switchpro from the market. The 3D's updated Sense 3.0 allows users to access these radios and other settings from the notification pulldown menu, , under the "Quick Settings" tab. The radios of the phone draw power if on even if the user isn't actually utilizing the radio's functions.
To manually turn off radios without a toggle, go to menu>settings>wireless & networks.
Wifi uses less battery than 3G, so use wifi when you can.
2. Juice Defender is one of my favorite apps. Basically it controls your data for you to maximize life.
More explanations are on their page, search it on the market for free, or upgrade for more features.
Here are my settings for it: Click me
Note that for me at least, juice defender likes to deny apps data privileges whether you allow them or not, so screen on = data on works best for me.
3. I love live wallpapers, and I’ve always been a fan of pixel zombies, but they are really only good for showing off due to their battery drain.
4. Go to menu<settings<wireless & networks<mobile networks<disable always on mobile data.
Product F(RED) said:
To clarify, "Always On Mobile Data", when turned off, lets the 3G modem go to sleep after the screen has been off for 5 minutes. It doesn't interfere with anything like email or any other application that requires an internet connection at that moment because it turns on on-demand rather than being on all the time and wasting battery.
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Click to collapse
5. Set your screen timeout to something that fits you
This will prevent your phone from staying on when you don’t manually turn off the screen. Also with this, manually turn off your screen when you’re done with your phone.
Menu>Settings>Display>Screen Timeout
I use 30 seconds.
6. Task killers used to be the shiz, but no longer.
Here is the ultimate, in depth, graphically assisted, explanation by the famous Fresh ROM's chef, Flipz. Shortly, in light of recent testing, really don’t do anything but force apps that the android OS needed to be open, and thus didn’t close, to re-open. So try not using them, unless for stuff like trying to figure out why your phone isn’t sleeping with system panel. You really won’t notice a performance difference, and the adverse effects you aren’t seeing will stop
+=+ A good alternative is the application SystemPanel Pro. It has a free version, but I highly reccomend purchasing the paid app. It basically monitors everything going on with your phone's usage both in real time an in terms of usage history. If your battery is draiging fast, it tells you what app was doing it, how much it was doing it, and allows you to stop it.
7. I'm sure you have all heard around that your phone isn't "sleeping".
This is referring to the phone's "awake" time, hence the name. When you go to Menu>Settings>About Phone>Battery, you can compare the two numbers, "up time" vs. "awake time." Generally, up time refers to the amount of time since the last reboot. The "awake time" is how long the screen has been active. The problem is, a lot of the time, due to the endless possibilities of inconsistencies between apps/ROMs/kernels/phones, the phone will not go to "sleep", drawing power proportionate to the screen being in use when it reality the phone is sitting idle.
If you compare these numbers, and they are the same, or if you note the difference, turn off the screen for a minute, then re-check and they are the same, then your phone is not sleeping.
One solution is to reboot.
Usually, SystemPanel will show an app that has gone "rouge" and is keeping your phone awake.
-This is done by hitting menu>settings>monitoring enabled. Then after some time has passed, ht menu>monitoring>history>change tab to top apps, and see if anything is above, say, 2-4%.
Uninstall applications/reinstalling them slowly, checking after every install to see what is causing it is one tedious but surefire solution.
Lastly,
Follow these steps that I have discovered almost always work.
1. Reboot phone.
2. Instantly upon reboot, as soon as you gain control, open up some type of monitor/taskkiller
3. "kill all" tasks on startup; about 5 times in quick succession should do the trick.
4. Turn off the screen and leave it for about five minutes.
5. Check the up time v. awake time and see if they are the same.
6. If they are, repeat steps 1-5. If they are different, you are good.
Root Tips LIVE
Tips for Rooted users:
1. Try out custom kernels.
By going to the EVO 3D Android Development section of the forums, you can see all of the different kernels being developed. These allow for all kinds of modifications like underclocking the CPU and undervolting, both of which save battery. To see how to use them, read the FAQ's in each thread's OPs.
Here is a great guide to custom kernel's by mroneeyedboh.
2. Use SetCPU in compliance with whatever your custom kernel allows.
This site will explain the basics of SetCPU: http://www.pokedev.com/setcpu/
-Profiles from SetCPU should usually involve these for battery life optimization:
-Screen off at the minimum clock speed for both, with the max raised on level if sluggishness is apparent
-A temperature greater than “X”
-General power related profiles that lower cpu speed at lower battery levels
-Here are my SetCPU profiles: 1 , 2 , 3
-My profiles change a lot as time goes by, because different kernel creators recommend different settings. I suggest reading up on whatever kernel you are using to gather settings.
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NOTES:
*Some apps or processes begin to run at startup and keep the phone awake. These apps are not detected by things like spare parts or system panel, unless sometimes represented in the "system" process, in which case its usage will be unusually high.
This shouldn't take more than three repeats, and if it does, you need to factory reset, and slowly add apps back to see what's causing the problem.
___--- When it comes to actually "calibrating" one's battery, there are a couple of methods floating around. The method I first learned is to charge the phone all the way, boot into recovery immediately, and "wipe battery stats". Then reboot quickly, and run your phone all the way to death without charging it, then charge it all the way without interrupting it, and you should be good to go. Do this when changing ROMs/kernels for best results.
----When it comes to people claiming 20 plus hours of moderate/heavy use out of their current setup or other ridiculous absurdities, consider my position: No matter what you do, the Evo battery is the Evo battery. You can tweak it and customize it with kernels, ROMs, and settings, but none of that will turn it into a car battery. The main problem (besides a false sense of pride) that leads to these reports is the misunderstanding of what the usage levels are, so here’s my best summary:
* *Light usage – Phone screen actually on for maybe 0-2 hours. Things like a few texts, some emails, 20 minutes web browsing, etc.
* *Moderate usage – You watched a few youtube videos or similar apps, sustained web browsing, hundreds of texts, some games. Hours range from about 2-5 of screen on
* *Heavy usage – LOTS of video watching and games, 3D pics or video, or some high def gaming/movie watching for at least an hour to an hour and a half in total, with lots of emails and texts, browsing, and other app shenanigans. 5+ hours
*I’m sure everyone doesn’t agree with all these numbers, but this is most likely a good average of what powerusers think. All specific hourage may vary due to differences in phones, batteries, ROMs, and kernels… Which also means that most battery comparisons are pointless; it’s only what you can improve on that counts!
I’ll update this whenever I see good stuff, people remind me, or I remember/come across things I do.
Hope it helps everybody!
Hit the "THANKS" button if I help you!
*All this is available in the link in my signature
guys go under themes and mods.. plenty of mods and apks for battery and batter%
Hello I bought a few days ago, this tablet and I have a few problems with it.
1 virtually anywhere as it lightly squeeze he creaks
Second right speaker crackles slightly as the game
3 after taking ROOT I have a feeling that the harder the heats of methyl at the front of the camera and I saw what I eats the battery is 79% it was the screen and I have almost a minimum brightness and battery saving mode enabled
please help
ps. my English is not so good
JimUSA said:
Hello I bought a few days ago, this tablet and I have a few problems with it.
1 virtually anywhere as it lightly squeeze he creaks
Second right speaker crackles slightly as the game
3 after taking ROOT I have a feeling that the harder the heats of methyl at the front of the camera and I saw what I eats the battery is 79% it was the screen and I have almost a minimum brightness and battery saving mode enabled
please help
ps. my English is not so good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry about the language issue....
1. As with the "creaks" or "noise" when you squeeze, it seems that some Z2 tablets have this issue. I use a cover on my Z2, and do not notice anything unusual. I would suggest you look at the display, around the edge of the tablet, and see if there is anything unusual.
The Z2, to keep weight down, and keep it thin, is not as strong as some other tablets. So if you are a hard "Gamer", you may be squeezing/twisting the tablet very hard, and not realize it.
As with all tablets, I would advise getting a cover for it. This adds more protection. Paid a lot of money for it, so it needs protection.
The fact is, it really shouldn't be making noises. This is a build issue, and you should replace the tablet.
2. Speaker noise. This can happen to any tablet, and the Z2 does not have the best speakers, especially at high volume. Use headphones/buds. I also might suggest (as you rooted the tablet) to install Viper4Android Audio and see if the problem exists.
3. Overheat (hot area). This is normal on high performance tablets when playing graphic intensive games. I would think the hot area is where the CPU/GPU is located. If the tablet doesn't reboot, then don't worry about it. Root has nothing to do with this.
Finally, battery. Here is how you correctly read the battery usage chart. Let's say you have 100% charge. After a couple of hours use, you are at 70%. So you used 30%. You look at the chart, and see Display is responsible for 70%. Of course it is. The display is what uses the most battery.
So in effect, of that 30% battery loss, the Display was responsible for 70% of it ( the 30%).
Although there are many threads on XDA informing how to reduce battery usage, don't forget to set the "updating interval" on all your social apps (facebook, mail, etc). Maybe you don't need it updating every 5 minutes! You can also install a couple of apps, to check and see what exactly is using your battery. Better Battery Stats is a decent app for checking things. Although after using it, I would uninstall it. Titanium Backup can "freeze" certain apps running in the background, and Greenify can make them hibernate. Just 2 more useful apps.
If the above issues are too much for you, I might suggest returning the tablet for a replacement. You just bought it, so the return might be ok.
I forgot to add that sometimes stops responding to touch or hold.
Overall I like the phone, but I have a few gripes. Maybe some of you agree, and maybe some of you know some solutions.
Much better than the Xperia z3v I had at first. The Xperia had a few odd things about it that bugged me, and the lack of root was getting to me. That is what made me switch.
But it did have much better battery life... I would have 50 to 60 percent battery when I returned home, the G3 will be below 20 percent most days.
The keyboard has a one handed mode, but its prediction and correction are not good. I somehow miss the space key and get run on words all the time, it's been a little frustrating. I know of no third party apps that have a one hand mode though.
The auto brightness is better than the Xperia but still not as good as it can be, it requires too much attention. It limits it's range and trays to be adjustable but it doesn't work well.
Its size has put it over my comfortable one handed use size. The one handed mode helps a bit though. Can't really do much about that. It seems to be the trend.
Its close to being a great phone but held back a bit. Maybe there are solutions to most of my woes.
Marine6680 said:
Overall I like the phone, but I have a few gripes. Maybe some of you agree, and maybe some of you know some solutions.
Much better than the Xperia z3v I had at first. The Xperia had a few odd things about it that bugged me, and the lack of root was getting to me. That is what made me switch.
But it did have much better battery life... I would have 50 to 60 percent battery when I returned home, the G3 will be below 20 percent most days.
The keyboard has a one handed mode, but its prediction and correction are not good. I somehow miss the space key and get run on words all the time, it's been a little frustrating. I know of no third party apps that have a one hand mode though.
The auto brightness is better than the Xperia but still not as good as it can be, it requires too much attention. It limits it's range and trays to be adjustable but it doesn't work well.
Its size has put it over my comfortable one handed use size. The one handed mode helps a bit though. Can't really do much about that. It seems to be the trend.
Its close to being a great phone but held back a bit. Maybe there are solutions to most of my woes.
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Battery life for me is great. You might want to get Wakelock detector and see what is causing this. I can get 36 hours and still have 40% left. Also, it just depends on what you are doing with it. I send/receive text messages, make phone calls, surf the web, read news, etc. Usually, I have it charged before I go to bed and when I wake up 7 hours later, it's still at 100%. I leave it on all night as I use the phone as my alarm clock.
Now, I am rooted and I use Greenify to help hibernate a lot of apps. However, you don't have to be rooted to Greenify now. I don't hibernate any system apps and I don't sync a lot of unnecessary stuff either. I also have the Snapdragon Battery Guru app installed which works well. However, I will say, for a few days, I didn't root this phone, didn't use Greenify and used only the Snapdragon Battery Guru and I was still getting well over 24 hours of battery life.
I use Swiftkey and it has a one-handed/compact layout. It seems to be doing fine for me, but I don't use one-handed mode.
I feel you. Whenever I do any type of graphics intensive gaming (i.e. Real Racing 3) during the day, battery drain is crazy. When I don't use it as much, Ive had the phone go for two days. The phone seems to have great conservation when the screen is off, but that massive high-res screen has got to have something to do with battery drain. It's not the most convenient, but personally, I've found the best solution to be a quick mid-day charge. Phonearena did a charge comparison between phones, and the G3 is one of the fastest charging phones on the market right now. 2 hours for a full charge. Like I said, it's not the greatest thing to have to plug in your phone during the day, but I've found that even a solid half an hour charge makes a huge difference.
guitrsol93 said:
I feel you. Whenever I do any type of graphics intensive gaming (i.e. Real Racing 3) during the day, battery drain is crazy. When I don't use it as much, Ive had the phone go for two days. The phone seems to have great conservation when the screen is off, but that massive high-res screen has got to have something to do with battery drain. It's not the most convenient, but personally, I've found the best solution to be a quick mid-day charge. Phonearena did a charge comparison between phones, and the G3 is one of the fastest charging phones on the market right now. 2 hours for a full charge. Like I said, it's not the greatest thing to have to plug in your phone during the day, but I've found that even a solid half an hour charge makes a huge difference.
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Well, yeah. Games are going to drain it no matter what and it depends on how long you play. I've noticed even with Game of War, an hour of gaming will drain it maybe 8% or more. Just depends on what you do with it.
Any phone is going to drain like crazy, but yes, the Quad HD display definitely drains the battery more due to the higher number of pixels. But, for those with every day normal use (not gaming), this phone definitely lasts more than a day.
Whenever I play a game, if I'm at home, I plug it in if I know I'm playing for a long period of time. otherwise, if I'm away from home, I know I can still play over an hour of a game and still have plenty of juice to last me the rest of the day.
I would rather have better battery than the added resolution screen. 1080p is very good for a phone.
I watch youtube and mess around online a bit on breaks. Same behavior as the z3v and dramatic difference in battery life.
I never found one handed mode in SwiftKey.
Nvm... Found it
The screen is the biggest user of battery... 60% according to the battery use chart.
These past few devices I have had... Has lead me to a conclusion.
All this undervolting and CPU throttling is pretty much useless.
The processor in this device and my last few, has had very little load on it for the most part. Some games may push the system, but general use and some youtube barely has the device going more than a couple steps above minimum clock speed.
Background services and sync... Small effects overall on battery.
It's all about that screen and it's power efficiency. Resolution has something to do with it as well. As the GPU must run harder on higher resolutions.
Turn down the brightness... And then I can't see the video I am watching.
An android phone with a current SoC, a 3000mah battery, a 4.7-5 inch screen, and 1080p resolution... Should be able to get well over 10 hours of screen on time, running video...
The radios are power hungry as well, but mostly in prolonged use like video streaming.
This size and resolution war has prevented us from gaining what we want most... Great battery life.
Still the phone ain't too bad.
Marine6680 said:
These past few devices I have had... Has lead me to a conclusion.
All this undervolting and CPU throttling is pretty much useless.
The processor in this device and my last few, has had very little load on it for the most part. Some games may push the system, but general use and some youtube barely has the device going more than a couple steps above minimum clock speed.
Background services and sync... Small effects overall on battery.
It's all about that screen and it's power efficiency. Resolution has something to do with it as well. As the GPU must run harder on higher resolutions.
Turn down the brightness... And then I can't see the video I am watching.
An android phone with a current SoC, a 3000mah battery, a 4.7-5 inch screen, and 1080p resolution... Should be able to get well over 10 hours of screen on time, running video...
The radios are power hungry as well, but mostly in prolonged use like video streaming.
This size and resolution war has prevented us from gaining what we want most... Great battery life.
Still the phone ain't too bad.
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True with that. This isn't an 1080p resolution screen. It's more since it's a QuadHD, so that is definitely what kills it. But, I don't watch videos for 10 hours! LOL. But, I know what you're driving at.