Manuel Cat wrote:Had this handset less than a week and apart from being very slick I am finding this phone a little disappointing. The battery life is terrible and even when it shows as 3g or HSDPA I cannot get use any data services, eg internet, facebook, email etc. I found the problem is even worse when I go out of reception and then back in it takes an age to decide to start allowing me to use data again. Also even when it doesnt allow me to use data, I can take my wife's iphone and use it without any problems.
Regarding the battery life, I have read that the new firmware 2.3.4 improves it but as this is a vodafone branded one I cannot upgrade from 2.3.3. I am not prepared to debrand it myself. I have installed Kies and it says the phone is up to date but this I expect is only to Vodafones branded firmware and not the official Samsung one.
Who can I speak to at Vodafone to get this sorted? I have tried phoning the help service on 191 but they have no technical experience of these phones to say what to do. They don't understand regarding the branded firmware either. I just tried to call and their systems are down and won't be back on for another 24 hours, useless really.
So before I send the phone back and cancel my vodafone contract is there anyone at vodafone I can talk to? This doesn't just affect my phone as it would appear by searching the net that others suffer the same problem too. I have tried the various fixes for the battery life and while it has improved it still doesnt last a working day and thats without making calls, therefore the phone to me is useless.
Hi Cat,
Welcome to the eforum. First off these phones as well as other smart phones sadly like to use battery power, its in their nature lol. The Vodafone rom thats on it isn't causing the battery drain! What I would do first is check and see what apps you have running in the background and what apps are also using the data sync i.e Facebook etc.
The latest firmware doesn't improve the battery life. These batterys actually get better with age. I'm sure that after a good few charges/ discharges your battery will get better performance wise. For ultimate battery performance then you would have to go down the "custom rom route"
The best bet is to search and read through this forum as we have covered the battery and how to train your battery several times 
I agree with ado28
But as you have found 2.3.3 has been a bad rom on all phones or its previous phone it was and 2.3.4 fixed this we hoped Vodafone would have learnt by now on updates 2.3.4 is a fix rom
Me personally i would debrand and stick with Vodafon as a network then samsung look after firmware updates and fixes not Vodafone
3G on 2.3.3 is a big drain but stuff running as ado28 said does not help Bluetooth and gps are a killer as well
You can run through some test
All so we can guide you through the de branding which will give you the phone samsung want you to have
Check to see if you are using the power save features.
Also setting WiFi sleep policy to Never, can also speed up the the 3g wake as it is the same aerial and some of the WiFi policies also affect other policies as well. (You don't need to have WiFi on all the time)
Do you have both Packet Data and Data Roaming Ticked? If not then tick both.
TSD
Oh well lol if were all disagreeing
Ado28 is right and wrong lol
He is right that its not just the Vodafone firmware
But 2,3,3 on most phone it's a bad rom, on HTC there complaining of battery drain on 2.3.3 on different phones
This was a Android problem The Nexus S was the first and Google worked fast on sorting the fix as well as other problems
2.3.3 was Rushed and they were glad to get shut
Now we had this!!!!!
chaps if you remember but your all custom now on the Galaxy S, I even rolled mine back as I could not get it to sort out, Now every one did what they did on other roms to sort the battery out and Nothing worked
The biggest drain was Android system files and Android Stand by and some phones got rather hot
I had 45 phones all went Gingerbread as it was so egarly awated and I had to roll all back to 2.2.1 JPY (Dam good Rom) and me and my son do not want to go through that again and i told them not to update until 2.3.4 came out.
And all had the same problem massive battery drain, Thankfully all is now well with one forgetting to charge and he started the day on 45% and it just lasted .... Just
Yes the battery does take some settling down on first use or after a Flash the stats can be cleared on the Galaxy S still has a charge bug after unpluging it drops 4%
As Ado28 said it does pay to have another charged battery
And sat nav plut the phone in as Google maps drains to much white
The batterys are a night mare but My wifes HTC was very bad but they do a Higher capacity battery and that sorted that out the battery is way two low but this is a problem for thin phones and is a major draw back and one down side of a large screen and super amoled
You will find on all smart phones other then apple with a large screen Battery drain is a pain so when you get things all fine on a rom then a update comes out that wrecks things they need sorting
At the end of the day 2.3.4 is a fix rom and the Battery drain was on the list as well as Blutooth fixes
the .4 at the end is the Four fix on 2.3 there is now a .5 only leaked what it has fixed no one inclooding samsung uk have no idea what it fixes
Vodafone need to wake up and get with the fix program but no dout there will be a cost on doing this
I can see were your coming from But were here to help but we do struggle with Vodafone stuff were good but not that good
This is one of the pit falls of having a thin phone !!!
if you look at the MAH on the phone its about the same as two AA batterys other devices do last longer but they don't have a super Amoled screen.
the chinese make high capacity batterys for the HTC but not for samsung just copys of the originals
we have had this on the Galaxy s and when 2.3.4 came out the battery drain improved big time after about three days
2.3.3 is a Rubbish rom and drain was a major problem and still is for Vodafone customers this is why they debrand cos there fed up of waiting and they want to use there phone
No just changing the CSC will not do that (if it was that simple)
If you change the CSC From VOD to XEU Kies will then say that it doe not recognize that firmware
Each area of Europe have there Own Codes and Firmware But the UK have also Codes for the Networks
Now this also does help samsung Because if they Let every one at once have a update there servers will Jam
At the moment The Neterlands.Sweeden,Norway have just got the 2.3.4 update and there on XEE
Now once there all sorted Then the UK and the rest of europe on XEU will get the Update
Now at the same time or before Networks Get the Rom for testing and any items they want to stick on
Now this Normally takes two weeks
Normally !!!!!!
