Hello!
I've got my Xperia Mini Pro more than a month ago and have been experiencing some issues with the battery life and with the reception.
Besides the Xperia I also have a Nokia N82, both phones have a sim card from the same operator and both are set up to use only 3G and manual operator selection; putting both phones on the desk, the N82 gives me almost full strenght signal while the SK17i shows me no bars, if I pick up the SK17i it looses connection and I have to walk around the room like a dowser looking for signal. Moreover, once I found the perfect spot which gives me 2 bars, I have to hold the phone with two fingers because holding it with my hand makes it loose connection.
On top of this there is the battery drain problem: if I leave the SK17i in the perfect spot on the desk with the data connection on, the battery lasts max 3 hours (some times less than 2 hrs) with a full charge.
Also when I put it in my pocket leaving data on and I walk around the office, after a while the phone gets quite hot and to make it cool down I have to turn off data.
All this happens when I'm at work, when I go back home in the weekend the phone lasts a whole day having data connection and/or wifi turned on all time, also it doesn't get so hot.
My guess here is that in low signal areas there is a software component that litterally sucks the battery. Has anyone experienced this? And has anyone noted how the reception of this phone sucks?
Any idea of an app that can let me locate the battery-sucking piece of software?
PS: the phone is not rooted and has original FW and the latest apps updates that came out since it was bought. I've also immediately deleted McAfee crap and other bundled bloatware
I have the phone since Friday and also got bad reception problems.
It varies badly also without moving the phone. I can confirm that I lose all signal bars when holding the phone in my hand.
Can't say much about the data reception because it's the first time I have a data plan.
Sent from my SK17i using XDA App
Hi!
Since it'a a while that you've got the phone, have you been able to notice how long does the battery last? Does it last longer if you're in an area with good signal?
Thank you
Honestly I can't really tell unfortunately.
At home I have bad reception and at work mostly none
But I think that changing the Network Type to GSM auto (PRL) helped a bit with battery drainage and also reception.
You get to the settings with *#*#4636#*#*
Thanks for the hint, I'll try it and I'll let you know although I don't think it will work in my case since I have the 3 operator which works only in 3G/WCDMA and not in GSM.
BTW, what is that *#*#4636#*#* code? Do you know other codes like this?
Thanks
You can input the code through the dialer and a hidden menu appears.
I just googled for other similar codes and found this site:
http://www.askvg.com/google-android-hidden-secret-codes/
You could also try the app Elixir 2. That's how got to the hidden menu in first place.
I did try the GSM (PCL) setting as you suggested but nothing has changed even after the 2.3.4 update, in low signal areas the battery just lasts a couple of hours if data is on, 5 hrs if data is off; at home I kept it with wifi on for a whole day and in the evening I still had about 20% battery left so it's the search for signal that drains the battery.
The last test I'm going to make is to change operator and see if in gsm mode works better.
Thanks for the answers
You can also try set Search mode to manual instead of Automatic in Mobile Network settings.
Smiley76 said:
You can also try set Search mode to manual instead of Automatic in Mobile Network settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the first thing I did: disable roaming and set search mode to manual, although I noticed that the phone connects to other networks anyway but allowing only emergency calls.
Searching for a network is definitely a huuuge drain on battery, combine that with people's mysterious loss-of-signal issues and bam, battery drain.
It is confirmed here too that my signal is weak. My phone is SK17i
I live in a marginal signal area - and lose the signal fairly regularly.
Check the battery stats in the "About Phone" sub menu in settings. Unless those figures are cooked-up - there's very little drain from anything other than the display on my phone - and I have had wifi and data+GPS turned on most of the day.
In fact, I lose the signal even when charging or on a fully charged battery.
As an observation - the loss of signal seems to occur during or immediately after using certain apps like the maps - ones which make use of GPS or background data.
Just a tip.
Have any you confirmed if the same problem remains using another (perhaps newer) SIM card?
Because I know that sometimes problems like these can be caused by using older SIM cards.
Johan-SEAnswers said:
Just a tip.
Have any you confirmed if the same problem remains using another (perhaps newer) SIM card?
Because I know that sometimes problems like these can be caused by using older SIM cards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today I switched operator, went to one who has also 2G coverage and not only 3G like the previous one, I've had data, baground data and sync on, have been using the phone quite intensively and the battery is now at 59% after 4hrs.
With the previous operator it used to last only 2-4hrs.
Let's see what happens in the next days.
PS: In the past week I've tried disabling background data and the battery lasted almost 2 days, but to go online I used only wifi and not 3G. It seems background data is one of the highest battery drainers.
My Sk17i worst
My rooted sk17i even can't connected to the internet, the 3G signal is low, and the bigest problem that makes me annoyed is the battery can't charge into the maximum capacity. -_-
Each operator has there own share of bandwidth at different frequencies and drains battery differently
2g requires less battery
3 requires more battery
Auto- drains the most if your data is on also,your constantly searching for basetowers
Basebands can be changed to get optimum signal from your provider
3g will drain battery quicker than WiFi too
Newer 4g/lte is more efficient
66 baseband is good for me 3UK
Sent from my SK17i using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------
Spare battery around is the easier option too
Sent from my SK17i using xda app-developers app
---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------
And a BlackBerry charger is handy too as it has higher voltage to charge aka quicker
Sent from my SK17i using xda app-developers app
Related
Hi guys,
When checking the battery usage stats for Cell Standby i noticed it's showing 'Time Without a Signal 100%'. I've had the phone 3 days now and i noticed it on the first day and it hasn't changed. It does have a signal, i can make and receive calls with no problems. I've tried it with both a Talk Mobile and Vodafone sim card and they both show the same. The phone is a UK model, unbranded & unlocked. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what i'm talking about.
Anyone else getting the same? Any idea if this will be affecting my battery life?
snap4130 said:
Hi guys,
When checking the battery usage stats for Cell Standby i noticed it's showing 'Time Without a Signal 100%'. I've had the phone 3 days now and i noticed it on the first day and it hasn't changed. It does have a signal, i can make and receive calls with no problems. I've tried it with both a Talk Mobile and Vodafone sim card and they both show the same. The phone is a UK model, unbranded & unlocked. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what i'm talking about.
Anyone else getting the same? Any idea if this will be affecting my battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% time not using 2g, hsdpa or 3g instead. Don't worry.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I'v just noticed this on my new GSII, never had it happen before, what's bugging me is that I'm getting massive battery drain overnight and the phone is off (dead) b y morning and it seems to be because my phone is in a terrible signal area at home where it will keep tight hold of H or 3G but on the lowest signal level, upping the output power I presume and killing my battery.
I can't have my phone going from 60% to dead while I sleep for 7 hours.
It's an old gingerbread bug, nothing to worry about.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Definitely a bug, mine also,
Sent from my GT-I9100
It'll start displaying correctly from then on (I think until reboot) if you go into Settings -> About Phone -> Status.
Correct!!!
Thanks!
I have the same problem I had no idea untill i read your post lol. I didn't notice any strange behaviour because of it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Hey everyone. I want to know if my battery performance is normal....
How long should my battery last?
Mine can easily drop down from 100% to 95% with 30 minutes of browsing via wi-fi... Is this normal?
Other question.... If I'm NOT using a sim card, will the 3g drain my battery?
Thx in advance
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I, too, was curious about battery expectations.
Based on your numbers:
5% = 30 minutes of use
That would estimate around 600 minutes of doing just browsing over wifi
If I could get 10 hours from doing that, I think I`d be pretty satisified.
For the first question,the battery life is normal.
As to the second,your battery life cannot be drained because there's no sim card in the device receiving UMTS signals.
For the first question,the battery life is normal.
As to the second,your battery life cannot be drained because there's no sim card in the device receiving UMTS signals.
i was actually thinking about the second question too..
i have the 4g version version but i only use the wifi with no sim card
in my battery use it shows "cell standby" as 17% percent
even wifi is less at 8%
EDIT: i just found out, you can do "flight mode" and then still turn on wifi. i think that will get rid of cell standby use for good. will check back after some testing.
dendrobium123 said:
i was actually thinking about the second question too..
i have the 4g version version but i only use the wifi with no sim card
in my battery use it shows "cell standby" as 17% percent
even wifi is less at 8%
EDIT: i just found out, you can do "flight mode" and then still turn on wifi. i think that will get rid of cell standby use for good. will check back after some testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be waiting for your results.
Cheers
Sent from my GT-P7500 using XDA App
Flying mode is supposed to turn off all wireless broadcast, 3g or wifi in order not to interfere with flying instruments while in a plane.
So i dont think it would be possible to enter flight mode and then turn on wifi without disabling flying mode.
There would be no point to that would it?
i know what you are saying and that's what i thought too, until i tried it..
so i selected flight mode and it turned everything off but then allow me to turn wifi back on but with flight mode still selected.
now when i go into battery use, the "cell standby" does not show up anymore..
oh sammy weird..
You can use flight mode and then turn on something.
For exemple, sometime I want to turn off Internet (wifi/4g), but after this I can just turn on bluetooth with flight mode still activated.
---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------
dendrobium123 said:
i was actually thinking about the second question too..
i have the 4g version version but i only use the wifi with no sim card
in my battery use it shows "cell standby" as 17% percent
even wifi is less at 8%
EDIT: i just found out, you can do "flight mode" and then still turn on wifi. i think that will get rid of cell standby use for good. will check back after some testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or couldn't you just deactivate your "mobile data connection" !?
Matrix_19 said:
You can use flight mode and then turn on something.
For exemple, sometime I want to turn off Internet (wifi/4g), but after this I can just turn on bluetooth with flight mode still activated.
---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------
Or couldn't you just deactivate your "mobile data connection" !?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the thing is, i got my 10.1 for discount from rogers for 250 and they gave me a 4g version but i just wanted a wifi...
so i don't have a sim card inside and it won't even let me go into the mobile data settings. i would think that if it didn't have sim card in, it wouldn't be on. however, when i checked the battery usage, there is was... "cell standby"
anyways, yea, i figured yesterday that i can turn on flight mode and then turn on wifi, and the cell standby was gone.
Weird, but as you say true.
I will check it as soon as i go home
The same does not apply for my IPhone.
I was unable to turn wifi on (or BT), after i went into flight mode.
yea, i mean.. that's how it is originally with every other device i've had.. but :S i dunno
98% battery at 5 hours off charge with light use to far. noticeably better than before.
dendrobium123 said:
yea, i mean.. that's how it is originally with every other device i've had.. but :S i dunno
98% battery at 5 hours off charge with light use to far. noticeably better than before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5 hours of charge via AC I asume, right?
oh i meant i unplugged it from the AC 5 hours ago. think there was some mis-communication there.
yea, yesterday the battery would drain faster, certainly a difference.
Not sure if this has been posted before, so I apologize if this is a repeated post.
I had been losing 4G service randomly over the past few days. 1X and 3G would be the the only service I would receive in places where I previously been receiving strong 4G.
The service would also return intermittently.
I have an extended battery and a standard battery, which I have been cycling through full charge / discharge.
I have Fast Boot turned off in power settings.
What I have found is that my cell network settings reset or change on their own, each time I shut down and/or do a battery pull.
Normally I have Network Mode set to LTE/CDMA and Enable Always-on mobile data is checked.
What I think is happening is that when I bring the battery down to nearly 5%, my power-saver settings shift from Performance to Normal. My LTE is then shut off and when I replace the battery with a charged one, the power saver settings remain in Normal, with LTE shut off.
I'll spend some time verifying and I guess the answer is really to not condition my batteries by discharging past 10%.
I may also be allowing this to happen by responding improperly to the low battery notification.
Hope this helps anyone experiencing loss of 4G...
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
Verizon has had some disruptions this week, nothing wrong with your phone.
WookieFan said:
Not sure if this has been posted before, so I apologize if this is a repeated post.
I had been losing 4G service randomly over the past few days. 1X and 3G would be the the only service I would receive in places where I previously been receiving strong 4G.
The service would also return intermittently.
I have an extended battery and a standard battery, which I have been cycling through full charge / discharge.
I have Fast Boot turned off in power settings.
What I have found is that my cell network settings reset or change on their own, each time I shut down and/or do a battery pull.
Normally I have Network Mode set to LTE/CDMA and Enable Always-on mobile data is checked.
What I think is happening is that when I bring the battery down to nearly 5%, my power-saver settings shift from Performance to Normal. My LTE is then shut off and when I replace the battery with a charged one, the power saver settings remain in Normal, with LTE shut off.
I'll spend some time verifying and I guess the answer is really to not condition my batteries by discharging past 10%.
I may also be allowing this to happen by responding improperly to the low battery notification.
Hope this helps anyone experiencing loss of 4G...
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery saver mode shuts off auto sync, 4G, and always on mobile data. You need to set battery in settings back to performance instead of normal or economy.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
jbh00jh said:
Verizon has had some disruptions this week, nothing wrong with your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually checked that in the 4G outage thread, but two respondents from my area (NY/NJ) said there were no outages. But I think that's why it was so hard for me to troubleshoot the other reasons for my 4G loss.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
+1
There seem to be some quirks on the phone. I will see 1x to 3G to LTE (in that progression) if I have been in an underground parking garage, or maybe a weak WiFi that comes in and out. For the most part, when I see 1x or 3G, I assume verizon is having some issues. 99% of the time it just comes back. 1% or less (probably less), I toggle mobile networks.
Has anyone managed to find a fix for the cell standby battery drain? As for the people not suffering from it, what rom and kernel are you using?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA
HyperGalaxy with siyah kernel = the perfect combination....so fast with an abundance of free ram and no signal battery drain
Sent from my S3 overclocked to 1.6ghz with HyperGalaxy Rom
Thanks! I don't have the issue anymore with hypergalaxy!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA
has become much better since i flashed XXALF2 baseband and Franco r2 kernel. Standby (mobile data on) drop was around 4-5% per hour before, now its around 2.5% per hour
Stock LF2 no problem .
jje
Cell standby drain cannot be confirmed by all people and is related to the 3G setup, antennas and location of your provider.
Here the network show a very bad case of hopping when switching to/from IDLE (fast dormancy) which drains the battery in no time.
I'm currently running Juicedefender Ultimate beta with AOSP helper which switches to 2G when the screen is off and no data is transferred. Only issue is that you'll loose connectivity twice (3G->2G and 2G->3G) for a very short time but other than that it seems to work fine and has solved my battery drain problem.
I've been used to switch back to 2G as soon as I don't need 3G/HSPA with my S1 as it's drain is even worse, so it's no big change for me
JJEgan said:
Stock LF2 no problem .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i conquer on this.
i do use now 2x battery saver, which does the same thing as the juicedefender, but even before that, my battery is very well managed. I would assume that the fact of cell standby being on the top of the list when you havent been using the phone for anything else is logical to be there. That IS what will be draining the battery. I would only see the problem on those handsets that this drain is not within acceptable limits, ie, whatever people have measured as normal drain for these circomstances.
I use juicedefender and with the latest update the battery drain is less than 2% an hour, im happy with that
Ive always found by the the biggest drain in standby being data always being on
That's not totally correct. Data is not what is actually draining your battery (at least it never was for me).
It's 3G not being in IDLE due to sending/receiving data, fast dormancy not being (properly) supported by the network or the network provider having a badly configured/balanced network.
If you switch to 2G, you'll find that your phone can run 2 days with data enabled if not heavily used.
Big exception seems to be Exchange's ActiveSync which is, when an account is configured (whether enabled or not) always top-of-the-list in BetterBatteryStats. But well... Exchange sucks anyway =)
I should have typed 3g data, this single act of letting the 3g connection be managed by juicedefender doubled my battery life
Yeh i have no idea for the technical reason but managing the 3g connection makes a big difference to me
hmm i am not aware of the actual network causing problems with the drain issue during 3g/2g signal. I only knew that when the signal is bad in general or you get no signal at all, then the phone is wasting too much energy trying to log on to a network itself.
i have the 3g swap on my 2x battery saver to rotate every 5min when the screen is off. Its the smallest amount of time you can apply. However i dont know if im the average phone user, as i see here lots of people doing a lot more things with their handsets during a day.
Not so sure about the 3G data thing but I'm only using the phone on wifi with data disabled and I still got the battery drain.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA
Wifi is another issue, especially when you have the 5Ghz band enabled and your phone hops between both. Try checking if your Wifi's channel is crowded and configuring the router to another less crowded one.
Then force your phone to use either the 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz band depending on your setup; drain should've gone away.
d4fseeker said:
Wifi is another issue, especially when you have the 5Ghz band enabled and your phone hops between both. Try checking if your Wifi's channel is crowded and configuring the router to another less crowded one.
Then force your phone to use either the 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz band depending on your setup; drain should've gone away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna try that out and will see how it goes
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA
what are others thoughts on some of the pros and cons of this update? i'm thinking it will actually save battery to have wifi 'always on' in standby mode rather than repeatedly switching between a on/off state which uses more energy.
It will definitely eat more battery if it's always on under the lockscreen...
Also there is an option to deactivate notifications when new wifi hotspots are around.. if you are about battery life you should deactivate this..
Ikkari said:
It will definitely eat more battery if it's always on under the lockscreen...
Also there is an option to deactivate notifications when new wifi hotspots are around.. if you are about battery life you should deactivate this..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep my Wifi always on because it consumes the least battery (vs 3G, LTE, etc).
If I don't play games on my Lumia 920 the battery can last 3 days.
This update is freezing my phone Dunno why but I have tested it. I occasionally get a freeze now and then, but when the keep wifi is on, it is like every couple of hrs... Will test it more though.
Ikkari said:
It will definitely eat more battery if it's always on under the lockscreen...
Also there is an option to deactivate notifications when new wifi hotspots are around.. if you are about battery life you should deactivate this..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong unless your phone is using 5-year old wifi chip.
Correct me if I am wrong, but is the wifi on this phone an on demand type system? From what I see on mine, the wifi unless being used for an actual update or downloading other content goes to sleep when the lock screen is on. It then wakes up if there is an update pushed to it or if something else needs it or of course if you unlock the phone. At least that is the way it appears that mine works.
Also your radio service are going to use much more power than the wifi will as they are higher power transmitters and receivers. There is a reason wifi only works within a few hundred feet and radio works for several miles that is due to the power difference. Of course with more power you get more battery consumption.
In the case of conserving the battery you are better off to use wifi when possible, leave it on and let the phone control it.
In my experience keeping Wifi on permanently lead to a remarkable decrease in battery life. That will depend on where you are though. If I have it sitting at home where it has Wifi connectivity it's likely that I would see better battery life because all actual transfers will happen via Wifi. At work though it can't connect to the Wifi network (private phone, work network) and so I have 3G running anyway while the phone keeps looking for Wifi networks to connect to.
The problem boils down to the fact that while you can switch off Wifi completely because everything can still work using 3G you can't switch off the phone part completely because only data is done over Wifi but you still need the mobile connection to receive calls/SMS.
I would suggest to anyone to simply try out what works better for them. For me it worked best to let Wifi deactivate automatically as it had been the default in WP since WP7 came out.
foxbat121 said:
Wrong unless your phone is using 5-year old wifi chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe Wifi is using less power when you are downloading something and need a lot of data... But when your phone is idle... Constant on Wifi is using far more battery power than 3G that checks for email or weather every 1-2 hours...
Simple enough...if you are consistently in an area with a WiFi signal, leave WiFi "always on"...it will consume less battery. If you're in an area without WiFi signal then turn it off, as searching for a signal will help run your battery down.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2
Ikkari said:
Maybe Wifi is using less power when you are downloading something and need a lot of data... But when your phone is idle... Constant on Wifi is using far more battery power than 3G that checks for email or weather every 1-2 hours...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, simply not true unless you are using a 5-year old phone. Even if you are in an area that has no wifi connection, the extra drain caused by searching for Wi-Fi networks is minimum in a modern OS and modern chipset. I have left all my android phones (the ones that offer Wi-Fi always on feature for a few years now) wifi on all the time. Never have felt much difference vs if I turn wifi off. It annoys me that WP didn't offer this capability for so long.
foxbat121 said:
Again, simply not true unless you are using a 5-year old phone. Even if you are in an area that has no wifi connection, the extra drain caused by searching for Wi-Fi networks is minimum in a modern OS and modern chipset. I have left all my android phones (the ones that offer Wi-Fi always on feature for a few years now) wifi on all the time. Never have felt much difference vs if I turn wifi off. It annoys me that WP didn't offer this capability for so long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested a lot of phones Android and WP, my experience is that wifi always on is a battery killer... And I'm talking about state of the art hardware... It's just my 2 cent's but i keep it off...
When I don't charge overnight and wifi is always on my battery drops about 40%
with only 3G on about 8-10%
Foxbat: you can leave it any way you want to do it. I'm not saying Microsoft should remove the feature. But in my experience keeping Wifi on kills the battery faster. I tested it for my use case with always on and with Auto and in the end: Auto it was for me.
The best advice you can give to people is: try it out yourself and you will see what works best for you.
A picture or two says it all. See the attached files for my two testing: one with wifi always on for 24-hour and one with Wi-Fi in auto mode for 24-hour:
The right picture shows 0.0%/hour under current discharge rate... pretty impressive
Ikkari said:
The right picture shows 0.0%/hour under current discharge rate... pretty impressive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The keyword is 'Current' -- means at that moment. You can derive the same thing from the left in various sections. The key here is that I don't see any discernible difference. Certainly not a battery killer in any sense as you claimed.
If you look at the first 12-hour period of both chart (when the phone is mostly sleep and not used), the result is almost identical. FYI, there are three push emails connected all the time: Hotmail, GMail and Corporate Exchange Email.
Yes the keyword 'Current' -- means at that moment... so your phone is not discharging although your screen is on... Very accurate app...
Ikkari said:
Yes the keyword 'Current' -- means at that moment... so your phone is not discharging although your screen is on... Very accurate app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, what you saying is that if you have the screen on, you will see your battery percentage drop immediately? You should return your phone if that is the case.
Battery app get its information from the phone OS reporting. If the OS reported the same battery percentage over a short period of time, the discharge rate won't be anything other than zero. That's limitation of the platform, not app.
Instead of criticize the app which is not the point of the post, why don't you post your findings where leave Wi-Fi always on kills your battery?
it' % per hour... and your phone is using currently using 0,0% per hour so if you leave it like that it will run for ever... so where is the mistake?
Ikkari said:
it' % per hour... and your phone is using currently using 0,0% per hour so if you leave it like that it will run for ever... so where is the mistake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
% per hour is a unit of measurement. It doesn't mean you have to take one hour to measure it in order to claim its rate. That will be average rate on that hour, not current rate which is meant to see what your current usage pattern is. It can't be used to predict your battery life. If you notice that when you take your phone off the charger, it will stay on 100% for quite some time before it starts to drop. Does that mean your phone battery can last forever? Think about it before post these ridiculous statements.
Foxbat - you are trying to tell us how our devices should behave while we are telling you how they actually behave in the real world out there. You can repeat your 5 years story as often as you want to but it clearly doesn't live up to the factual reality we experience every day and I guess after trying it out with different ROMs on the 920 and leaving all other settings the same I know the effect it had pretty well.
Nice to know though that you are having a different experience with different devices.