Samsung Galaxy S3

[Andy_S]

Hoping you could help - I've downloaded the latest firmware (via Kies), so I'm now on LF1, however the Cell Standby is still draining the battery very quickly - with no accounts set to Sync, no GPS, no Bluetooth, the battery lasts around 12-14 hours max (10 minutes of calls and 30 minutes of internet over wifi) - this seems unacceptable (way worse than my Galaxy S2), and ties to a number of comments elsewhere on the internet.

Is there a plan to release the firmware LF6 (that is available in other countries)? Will this fix the Cell Standby problem? Are Vodafone aware of a problem here and are they looking into it? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks.

[ado28]

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Andy_S wrote:

Hoping you could help - I've downloaded the latest firmware (via Kies), so I'm now on LF1, however the Cell Standby is still draining the battery very quickly - with no accounts set to Sync, no GPS, no Bluetooth, the battery lasts around 12-14 hours max (10 minutes of calls and 30 minutes of internet over wifi) - this seems unacceptable (way worse than my Galaxy S2), and ties to a number of comments elsewhere on the internet.

Is there a plan to release the firmware LF6 (that is available in other countries)? Will this fix the Cell Standby problem? Are Vodafone aware of a problem here and are they looking into it? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks.

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Hi Andy, the latest firmware is FL2. I have noticed that the standby battery life is terrible on standby too. I was out last night with the guys from work and because I was the designated driver I wasnt drinking so instead I found myself sitting playing with the phone, mostly on the internet on 3G. The battery performance all night was way better than I expected and returned home with 46% at 3am in the morning. I went straight to bed, when I got in and got up at 9am my battery was totally drained and the phone was dead. Strange?

[Andy_S]

Strange indeed - I  suspect it's doing something like continually polling for network connections rather than doing so every now and again as I believe phones should do, but with little feedback from Vodafone or Samsung, it's getting very frustrating. A shame, because other than this, delighted with the phone.

As it stands, can't really recommend the to anyone until this is resolved (or at least acknowledged as a problem!)

[63johnw]

Hi, through the week I had battery drain of 20-30% overnight, when I checked in the morning (via taskmanager) I found 2 programs still running, one being google chrome browser (cant remember the other) and apparantly if left that way the chrome browser continues to try and sync. I dont know if there are other programs/apps that do the same.

I now check every night with task manager to ensure everything shut down.

I also switch to aeroplane mode (thanks for the tip Soupdragon), and loose only about 2% overnight.

This still allows alarms to work etc.

i know this is no good if you need to take calls etc but it may help some people.

[thesoupdragon]

You beat me to it John...

[63johnw]

Ha Ha     Cheers Soup.

[Andy_S]

Thanks - I do kill my tasks relatively frequently (using Advanced Task Killer, but on manual mode so that it doesn't use the battery itself) and certainly before I go to bed. Unfortunately, switching the phone onto Airplane mode overnight defeats the purpose of leaving the phone on from my perspective (I may need to take calls overnight for my job!)

Frustrating that it's seemingly so much worse than the S2 at managing the 'cell standby' process....

[thesoupdragon]

Are you in a strong signal area...?

If the signal is weak the CELL will continually be switching mode from H to g.

This constant scanning will be a huge drain on the battery.

This is where the Sure Signal Box from Vodafone can really benefit as it reduces this constant polling for a stronger signal. This in turn will slow down battery drain.

Ado28 you have mentioned a poorer signal in your area recently, perhaps this is your issue too?

[Andy_S]

By coincidence, yes, I am in a strong signal area (green in the Battery Meter screen), although there's no 3G where I have been for the last two days (GPRS only due to location). However, even in the centre of London (strong H+ signal), I have the same problem.

Appreciate the continued responses - any other suggestions? (or thoughts from the Vodafone Rep about whether this is a more widespread issue that is being looked into?)

Thanks

[ado28]

Hi soup, yeah the signal in my area is utter rank and I detest paying for a sure box out of principle. My friends on other networks all get 3G in my house except O2 as its a hit and a miss like VF.

Turning flight mode on my phone isn't an option as I'm a keyholder at work and if theres any problems I need to be contacted to open up the depot 24/7 I will check my task manager! it was never a problem on my S1 after I flashed it with custom firmware lol

[thesoupdragon]

Perhaps try changing the phone to GSM only or WCDMA only?

That way it might stop the constant polling...?

[Andy_S]

Thanks for the advice - will do that, although would appreciate any further thoughts from anyone else - manually forcing a 'state of the art' device down to 2G to get more than 14 hours of battery out of it seems a bit extreme!

[Northern-dj]

May i point out LF2 is only effecting XEU customers and not Vodafone there on LF1 

And battery life is fine on that 

So it would seam as ADO28 said its using the alot on the areial i would turn your data off at night 

But LF2 was the fix update for the XEU phones very strange 

[poulsen]

Could it be a dud battery?

My S3 (16) has been mainly on standby for the past 4 days and I'm currently at 66% with 3d 22h 53mm 27s on battery,
which is fantastic compared to my previous phone (Nokia N900). I have it on Power saving, manual sync and have only had
mobile data and wi-fi on a few times over the past 4 days, so obviously not normal use, but still.

[63johnw]

That is impressive !

[Andy_S]

Blimey - that is impressive - it could be a battery issue - will take it into a Vodafone store and ask (still getting around 14-16 hours usage, although I do use a bit more wifi and data than you suggest with an email account polling every 15 minutes for new messages - I find this better than push which drains the battery exceedingly fast!)

[thesoupdragon]

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Andy_S wrote:

 I do use a bit more wifi and data than you suggest with an email account polling every 15 minutes for new messages 

From previous post:

 I do kill my tasks relatively frequently (using Advanced Task Killer, but on manual mode so that it doesn't use the battery itself)

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Hi Andy,

Just picking up on a few things here!

Advanced Task Killer is a BIG No, No! (IMHO)

Android is designed to keep processes in a state of suspension ready for quick acces. It's what gives us true multi-tasking!

Killing resources will use additional battery power because the OS will just re-start them!

Also Polling for email every 15 minutes will also use more battery.

Not to say you shouldn't do this... but in light of the fact you get 14+ hours I would say you're doing well... 

Perhaps:

Stop using Advanced Task Killer

Set email polling to every hour, but manually check if needed? (will save a lot of battery)

Hope you don't mind the suggestions... 

[Andy_S]

Suggestions appreciated. Have uninstalled Advanced Task Killer and will see what happens today. If that doesn't improve battery enough, I'll set the auto-polling to hourly as you suggest, but would rather not do that just yet.

Will re-post with an update once the battery has gone through another cycle or two.

Thanks,

Andy

[thesoupdragon]

Cell Standby Bug identified on XDA-Developers!

Read about it HERE

Apparently its simply reporting the wrong values.

So its showing battery drain, but it's not actually drained - if that makes sense?

[cjm1979]

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ado28 wrote:

Hi soup, yeah the signal in my area is utter rank and I detest paying for a sure box out of principle. My friends on other networks all get 3G in my house except O2 as its a hit and a miss like VF.

Turning flight mode on my phone isn't an option as I'm a keyholder at work and if theres any problems I need to be contacted to open up the depot 24/7 I will check my task manager! it was never a problem on my S1 after I flashed it with custom firmware lol

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If your a contract customer just pop into a Voda store and they will give you a Sure Signal box for free. Ive done this twice now and they really do make a difference.