Battery discharging

[Anonymous]

I've had a Samsung Galaxy S2 for around six months and had no problems whatsoever.

Over the last three or four days however the battery has started to lose it's charge much quicker than normal, and even before I go to bed the warning has started to appear.

It gets relatively light use during the day, particularly while I'm at work, as I only use it to read emails, and occasionally surf the net. I have a 10 minute walk to and from work, and play mp3's during that time.

It's 12:40 now, and the battery is down to 39%. In the past it's sometimes lasted two days between charges. I've switched off GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, all of which I used to leave on, and it still didn't run the battery down before the end of the day.

In settings the battery app shows that by far the biggest drain is Android OS.

What could be happening? Is there an app I could download which will show me what's using the power so much?

I don't know whether it's just my imagination but the back of the phone seems to feel warm even when it is just sat on my desk at work. The sort of warmth you get when something has been running.

Thanks for reading this.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Just a quick update.

I rebooted the phone (something I very rarely do, as it stays on all the time). When I switched it back on, I immediately got a notification that a text message I "sent" three days ago couldn't be delivered, so I just deleted it.

Could that have been what's been draining the battery. Could it have been trying to resend it all the time in the background?

I'm obviously going to monitor the battery to see whether it makes any difference, but any tips for a useful battery app would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Hi, a few questions:

• Have you installed any updates recently?
• have you installed any new apps recently?
• have any of your apps updates recently?

If so, you could try taking all the non-essential apps off your phone and see if it makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to see a list of which updates and apps I have recently installed?

[MI5]

Better Battery Stats is a good app that will tell you what is keeping your phone awake. One tip is to turn on Airplane mode and switch off phone. Then restart phone and turn back on Airplane mode. It helps if the system is refusing to sleep properly.

[Anonymous]

i would have expected a text message not to continue to attempt being sent, after the first fail.
it certainly doesn't for me.
when i get high battery drain i go to the Battery section of the phone and see what the highest usage is. for me, it sometimes is GPSD. a quick reboot of the phone or Ending any Active Applications also helps.

[Anonymous]

Having done the reboot and deleted the offending text message, I'm pretty sure it's cured.

It's 18:08 and the battery is down to 50% having had an average days use of reading a few emails, sending a couple of texts, surfacing the net, and playing a little music.

It certainly doesn't feel warm when not being used, and the battery is roughly at the charge level I would have expected. 

The "unsent" text certainly didn't show up until I did the reboot.

I need to get to know a lot more about how Android OS works, and get more familiar with the useful apps.

I'm getting a bit old now, and losing touch with how stuff works. In a previous life I actually used to build Desktop PC's installing mainly Windows 98 through to Windows XP, and I like to think I knew quite a bit. I'm getting lazy and not learning enough, just using it.

Thanks to all the people who've taken the time to read the post, and especially to those who've taken the time to reply

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I need to get to know a lot more about how Android OS works, and get more familiar with the useful apps.

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Feel free to ask any questions you have or need to know more about. There are a few android users on this forum with a pretty decent level of knowledge between us.... There are also some fantastic ROM's available for Samsung's and they are very easy to flash, so you can try different ones until you find one you like (No need to stick with stock unless you want to)....

[Anonymous]

I have had a similar issue with my old S2. Surprised MI5 has not asked what andriod version you are on?

Have you had any issues with Wifi specifically switching on and off?

[Anonymous]

PDA:I9100PXXLPH
PHONE:I9100PXXLPC
CSC:I9100PO2ULP4
ANDROID:4.0.3
BUILD:IML74K.XXLPH

Haven't had any specific issues with Wifi turning off. Very occasionally (I mean maybe three times in 6 months) the phone has switched itself off.