Battery drain problem

[LMM]

Guys, WTF... I think I could isolate my Battery problem on Samsung Jet....

It's so ridiculous..... I can't find any reason for the problem to be related with this, but I'll tell you anyway...

Well I'm in my 4th Jet, and the battery was draining fast, really fast. All my testes were made with no sim card in it.. the cell was only turned on and left on until the battery darins out.

I don't like to use Cell phone in the pockets, so I have a pouch with no magnets on it, just for you guys to know, its a simple pouch just to put the phone in it, and I was using this pouch with my N95 before....

Well, I discovered that when the cell phone was in the pouch, the battery drains out quite fast, maximum 15h with no activity on the phone, just turned on and put the phone in the pouch...

Than last week I've charged the phone and let it on in the same case, with no sim card, but now it was'nt in the pouch.... Guess what???? Bettery last a LOT, a LOT LONGER I'm on my 2nd day and I've used wi-fi for about 30mins, and the battery today lose ony one bar......... Now why is that??? Why in the World does a simple pouch have to be the cause of this problem?? Maybe it work like a blanket, warming the phone and making the battery drains out?? Its a pouch just like the one that come with the phone but with a clip on it....

Can anyone help me try to understand the cause of this??? Never had this problem with my previous phones.... :crap: :angree2:

It may sound bullsh#* from my part, but anyone of you that have this type of problem, put the phone in a pouch?

[Darkforest]

The biggest problem with the cases is it can press the unlock button. It will not unlock the phone but cause the back light to come on. and that will drain the battery fast.

[kissjoe]

I've found this :
I we noticed that the jet has a weaker antenna which means that for example in my job where the GSM signal is weak the battery drains within 2 days(the phone continousely searches for signal). At home (at the weekends) i lost only 1 bar within a day which is significantly better.
My old SE 750 has a stronger antenne. Compared to the signal strength at work.

[schalter]

The biggest problem with the cases is it can press the unlock button. It will not unlock the phone but cause the back light to come on. and that will drain the battery fast.

im currently using a flip top casing. and i love the lock setting that can be set on FW: XEIK1

you can have it not light up or respond when screen is touched while it is locked. and only by pressing a the unlock button will it respond.

[thecementer]

1. Disabled WiFi  (Turn it ON only when needed.. This definitely affects the battery life)
2. Disabled Navigation (Turn it ON only when needed.. I have not use GPS yet so donot know how much it helps)
   Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> Navigation (In the Activation Page select OFF)
   Also set the the below setting too
   Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> GPS Settings -> GPS+ Settings -> Auto download (Set this to OFF)
3. Settings -> Phone Settings -> Touch Panel Auto-Lock (Set to On)  (This is just to save some battery life)
4. Unselected the option --- HSDPA|3G|EDGE|GPRS Power On Attach: *#4777*8665#

I've done the following steps except for:
Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> Navigation (In the Activation Page select OFF)
I don't seem to have the Navigation option. why don't I have that option? is it because I haven't installed any GPS app on my phone?

I just bought 2 Jet's. one for me and my gf.
FW: S8003DXIG2
FW: S8003DXII2

both of us we're having a problem with the battery life which only lasted for about 8-9 hours tops.
that is without using the phone much. just a few texts here and there. not even phone calls.
haven't used wifi much probably not even 10 mins worth of browsing.
we don't have GPS app installed yet.
we haven't even played games on it.

we're morethan a week using our phones and same problem still persists.

if all these doesn't work out. i'll try getting new batteries first($30.00) and last resort would be FW update.
(scared to do FW updates  :'()

I'll keep you guys posted for updates on my quest to solve this short battery life problem  :drinks:


UPDATES:

after the change of settings. well my phone lasted a little bit longer.
I only used it for texting. i believe i sent out like 4-5 text messages.

it has only 2 bars left now after 14 hours. but I almost haven't used the phone at all.

on the other hand. my Gf's phone which she uses a lot for texting and played a few games on it lasted 18 hours with one more bar left but she had to charge it already since she needs to go to work.

hmm.. I'll try a new battery.  :'(  :'(  :'(


>>> I Finally decided to give flashing a go signal.
flashed my phone to the latest FW XEIK1

will be testing battery life again *keeping my fingers crossed*

did you change battery? if so how long is your battery life now?

[opdrago]

Unselected the option --- HSDPA|3G|EDGE|GPRS Power On Attach: *#4777*8665#
it only remove the "E" or its doing something more?

(i have it selected)

[BlueStorm]

As many people have said to you, that switching to 2G will save a lot of battery. That isn't always the case. Usually it is that way, however in some places, like here, the 3G signal is much stronger than the 2G. Therefore, it will use much less battery when finding the 3G than the 2G (Not sure if the Samsung Jet can amplify the signal.. but if that is the case, it'll use even more battery). That's why I've the network setting on Automatic. Check your signals at home where you'll probably spend most of your time (sleeping etc.).
(And it is true that 3G uses more battery compared to 2G, when both signals are equally strong or weak)

[schalter]

1. Disabled WiFi  (Turn it ON only when needed.. This definitely affects the battery life)
2. Disabled Navigation (Turn it ON only when needed.. I have not use GPS yet so donot know how much it helps)
   Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> Navigation (In the Activation Page select OFF)
   Also set the the below setting too
   Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> GPS Settings -> GPS+ Settings -> Auto download (Set this to OFF)
3. Settings -> Phone Settings -> Touch Panel Auto-Lock (Set to On)  (This is just to save some battery life)
4. Unselected the option --- HSDPA|3G|EDGE|GPRS Power On Attach: *#4777*8665#

I've done the following steps except for:
Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> Navigation (In the Activation Page select OFF)
I don't seem to have the Navigation option. why don't I have that option? is it because I haven't installed any GPS app on my phone?

I just bought 2 Jet's. one for me and my gf.
FW: S8003DXIG2
FW: S8003DXII2

both of us we're having a problem with the battery life which only lasted for about 8-9 hours tops.
that is without using the phone much. just a few texts here and there. not even phone calls.
haven't used wifi much probably not even 10 mins worth of browsing.
we don't have GPS app installed yet.
we haven't even played games on it.

we're morethan a week using our phones and same problem still persists.

if all these doesn't work out. i'll try getting new batteries first($30.00) and last resort would be FW update.
(scared to do FW updates  :'()

I'll keep you guys posted for updates on my quest to solve this short battery life problem  :drinks:


UPDATES:

after the change of settings. well my phone lasted a little bit longer.
I only used it for texting. i believe i sent out like 4-5 text messages.

it has only 2 bars left now after 14 hours. but I almost haven't used the phone at all.

on the other hand. my Gf's phone which she uses a lot for texting and played a few games on it lasted 18 hours with one more bar left but she had to charge it already since she needs to go to work.

hmm.. I'll try a new battery.  :'(  :'(  :'(


>>> I Finally decided to give flashing a go signal.
flashed my phone to the latest FW XEIK1

will be testing battery life again *keeping my fingers crossed*

did you change battery? if so how long is your battery life now?

i was not able to have my battery exchanged.
for some reason battery went ok already.
probably after a couple of complete discharges then charging the phone full.

my gf's phone though, she took her phone to the service center and had her battery replaced. it went on 3-4 days losing like one bar at a time. but her new battery is still unstable since probably needs acouple of charges and discharges.

[Mergram]

Hi everybody,

First of all I have to say it is a very useful forum which has helped me a lot with my Jet problems.

Recently I bought a S8000 Jet (I am from Spain and my FW version is S8000 + BA +II2) and begun to have battery problems. I thought the problem could be the short duration of the first 3-4 charges, but a week past and the same problem was there, my battery only last about 24-30 hrs (sometimes even less :'(). So, I started surfing the web searching for an answer about this battery problem. It could be a problem with my device, but maybe some other people have had the same problem.
After reading a lot in loads of forums I reached DFG and begun reading all the entries about battery drain. At that time some ideas were pounding on my mind. The problem could be solved with some of these approaches:
- Re-Flashing the FW to a newest version.
- Disabling the GPS completely (it seemed to be on in some cases).
- Watching carefully if any of the buttons was partially pressed down due to a bad case (or any other reason). Someone reported battery drain problems due to this fact.
- Returning the Jet to the shop in order to get it repaired.
- Throwing it away and buying a new one.

Because I have a 15 days testing time (I can return the device to the shop in this period and ask for a new one if I am dissatisfied with the phone) I didn't wat to re-flash. I tried disabling the GPS but my FW version doesn't have any of the so called menus:

Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> Navigation
and
Menu -> Settings -> Phone Settings -> GPS Settings -> GPS+ Settings -> Auto download

So I tried a different approach, I entered into the Admin settings menu using the following codes:

1) Enter Admin setting menu *#5239870*#
2) Enter Internal menu Master key *#7092463*#

Once I was there I look for the LBS tab and disabled the GPS. It seemed that this didn't affect the battery life at all, so I re-enabled it. I was surprised when a new icon (Navigation) appeared on the menu screen. It wasn't there before. So I disabled GPS again.
At the same time I begun to suspect if the leather cover which came with the phone could be pressing any of the buttons.
I started a test making measures of the battery % from time to time and writing them down on a Excel datasheet. I used the code *#0228# to read the battery values.
I was amazed because the time was passing and... the battery seemed to be working perfectly!  :yahoo:
More than 24hrs have went by and still 5 bars of battery (the last measure throw 71%)
I have made and algorithm to estimate the probable duration and it could be 3.5 days aprox.

I'm not sure if the second time I disabled GPS it got really disabled or if the problem is something pressing any of the buttons, but I will try out using the cover again and looking for battery drain to discover which one fits my case.
I will post my progressions here because they could help someone.

Best regards,
Javi

P.D. Forgive me for the long post 

[denycrossfollow]

hello, i also have a battery problem that causes my battery to last only 24-30 hrs as well. i have been monitoring my Jet and i have observed that even though i enabled the jet to only respond when i press the unlock button, sometimes the backlight will turn on by itself. usually this happens when my jet is moving i.e. in the car. the back light will turn on, but the screen will remain black. i can onli tell when i am in a very dark room or at night, and i notice light coming out of the black screen. when i touch the screen during this 'light-up' the screen will respond by showing locked-screen mode. i think that is why my battery drains so fast. Does anyone have an idea what is going on?

[JetX]

[melg]

[Mergram]

Hi everybody,

Well, I have finished my tests now and in my case I have to say the problem is... the f****ing leather case. It must be pressing any of the keys and making the phone to go out of sleep mode. :angree2:

I'm not using it anymore and the last time I charge my battery it lasts as long as 4 days with normal use.  :agree:

Motion gate: is one hell of a battery drainner. Imagine the little sensor ( if you put it close to your ear and tap the phone, you will hear a sort of a coil sound , funny stuff ) rocking every time you are in movement.
        disable it

@melg
Hi melg, I disagree with you in this little point. IMHO that sensor couldn't be draining the battery. I'm a Hardware/Firmware engineer and I have worked with this kind of stuff. The motion gate have to be implemented with an accelerometer chip. You made measures of at least 2 axis and converted them into the motion gate movement. If you are using the motion gate (I mean when you are in the motion gate screen) the accelerometer is sending data to the main proccesor so more power is draining here (due to the fact the processor is on and the OLED screen is on). Regardless of this the accelerometer can be ON all the time because this kind of devices have a consumption as low as uA. So, I wouldn't point to this little boy.

And for the other points... I agree with you, the GPS IS a battery drainer. Its consumption can be as high as dozens of mA (that much). So, disable it every time you are not using it (the phone OS should be doing this for you, but... who knows?)

And yes, the small 1000mAh battery of the Jet is great.

Well, I hope all my tests can be of help for someone.

Regards,
Javi

[melg]

[Mergram]

...
Hi Mergram, and everybody!

Nothing like hearing from the pro's. If you say, so it is.

But let me raise you a question.

That would, or better saying, is valid to well written software to run the devices.
I wouldn't drop the possibility that samsung's code writters did a "code to go", a scratch code, and put it on the shelf right away, as we have seen so many bugs on so many other functions.

Couldn' the code to run the Motion Sensor be running all the time, due to bad coding? And bad coding may lead to excessive power consumption, can't it?
... 

OK, you are quite right in one thing, if the code is badly programmed then the phone will drain battery if the low power consumption scheme is not guaranteed. That's not a problem with the sensor but with the programmers, as you said. Anyway I have been checking the Motion Gation Enable/Disable function and I think the only thing it really disables is the application you run when pressing the right button (well, the Motion Gate button indeed). So that points to the fact that the Motion Gate Enable/Disable function don't do too much to save battery. Of course if you left any application opened in the background which uses the accelerometer that app could be draining the battery if not well programmed (if this is the case the programming really sucks).

In any case, I will enable my Motion Gate and will check the battery. I will post my reviews.

And finally, melg, thank you for posting your ideas :agree:

Regards