ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
so8sk11
Newbie

I received the ICS update yesterday, and ever since, I have had horrible battery life.  I have not been playing with my phone more than normal -- I am using it the same way that I was using it before the update.

My phone was fully charged at 6 am when I left for work today, and by 10 am, it was down to 40% battery life.  During this time, I barely used my phone!  I made one 5 minute phone call, and sent/received about 10 emails and 5 text messages.  I didn't use any games/apps, and I didn't do any internet browsing.  This should not be happening and this sort of usage never drained my battery like this before ICS. 

Can someone please help?!!  I use Advanced Task Killer to kill apps I'm not using.

Thanks in advance!

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Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
Duewester
Contributor - Level 2

I personally have not seen a change in my battery discharge rate since ICS update. I did start to see some increased drainage when we started getting intermittent 4G in our area but that was a about two weeks prior to ICS. The 4G has gotten better and the battery has stabilized.

Look at System Settings - Battery, and examine each app to see where the battery is being used.

Just a thought - Cell Standby, can be an indicator that the phone is searching for a tower. That uses more battery than just maintaining the signal.

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Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
PJNC284
Master - Level 2

so8sk11 wrote:

I use Advanced Task Killer to kill apps I'm not using.

Get rid of ATK.  It could be causing more problems than it's helping.  As stated above, look at the battery stats and see if it shows anything.  When all else fails, Factory Reset.

Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

@so8sk11

I can happily assist with addressing your battery concerns!  As PJNC284 mentioned I would just removing the applications is well.  If you have already removed the application are still having battery issues, I suggest completing a Master Reset. Here are the steps: http://bit.ly/KBmvR7. I hope this information is helpful! Please let me know if you need any additional assistance.


Thank you for your contribution to our community forums,

AyaniB_VZWSupport

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
kssimms
Enthusiast - Level 2

Well, the only app on my razr that is using alot of battery life is the screen. It is using 60%. I've got the setting to automatically adjust settings and power saver. What else could it be?

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Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
jd12
Enthusiast - Level 3

Do a factory reset .

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Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
Cody21
Master - Level 2

Posted on another forum -- some steps you can take to improve things - Good Luck:

I do not experience this problem at all, as a matter of fact, my battery life is amazing since the update. Im getting a solid 20 hours of use out of the battery on normal days, and heavy use for up to 16-18 hours. Im going to walk through my steps to acheive better battery life. If it truely helps.

Step One, Disable bloatware and unused applcations.

For this, i suggest going one by one from the app launcher.

Hold the app icon you wish to edit, bring it to the more info section at the top of the screen.

You will be given the option to force stp and uninstall, first, force stop the application, then unintall. Now where the uninstall button was you will see Disable. Clciking disable turns the app of entiresly, only leaving a small trace in case you must have it back.

I disabled %90 of verizon apps, Such as VZ nav, Vcast, Verizon App store etc

I disabled Google play books, music, plus, and movies.

Thats about it i beleive, ill look through it again to check.

This will stop background services from running from those apps, saving power and phone resources.

Step two, Manage those apps.

At the home screen press menu, manage apps.

From this screen, you can see what apps have started, as well as cached background services.

Select the apps that you are not using or you doo not need running, and force stop them. Also, clicking cached bacground services, force kill the tasks that are not needed for future use, or ones that are not needed until you open them. For example, browser, or camera, these being cached can be stopped with no ill effect. where as killing the gmail cached process may offset your push notifications.

Step Three, Mobile Network

Adjust your mobile network for where you are. For me, using 4glte is best on my battery, ive seen 3g once since ICS, so unless i turn off my 4glte i couldnt tell you if that helps. But in my experience lte uses a normal amount of battery. Not the battery sucking vampire that people claim.

I have my mobile network set to CDMA,LTE(and evdo-a, not show on the menu for some reason.

Using the global setting draned my battery more.

Step Four, Developer options

In this menu i have Force GPU rendering checked(probably doesnt help battery) And the background processes set to At most 2 processes. I am a little skeptical of the having any effect on my battery. I do not use the Don't Keep activities option though as i use apps that need to stay running. i.e. Heywire.

Window animation scale and transition animation scale are both turned off.

Step Five, Display settings and overall UI simplification

On the display settings menu, Reduce your brghness to the lowest that it looks right for you, i have it around %20. I can see it %90 of the time, and it doesnt suck my battery down. Do not use Atuomatic brightness if you want to save battery, in my experience it kills it faster.

Dim the display setting checked on.

Sleep after 30 seconds of no use.

Font size Small

HDMI connection is disabled.

SImplifying your UI can greatly improve your battery life. Utilizing a solid black background will make the screen use almost no power when at the home screen or when you turn on the screen to check the time. Waether widgets, as well as widgets like facebook, have a very heavy effect on battery use. Facebook specially.

Keeping your home screen free of all the clutter is where the key is, i have my mainly used apps on my launch bar, with a folder labled tools, this is my section of apps i would normally keep on my home page. Everything i need is right there in one click and I have a very simple UI. Remember, widgets are battery hogs(sometimes).

Step Six, Wipe the cache.

You will want to wipe the app cache following instructions below:
Step 1: Power off your RAZR
Step 2: Hold the Power, Vol. Up and Vol. down key all at the same time for 10 seconds
Step 3: Once the Recovery menu comes up Vol. down to Recovery
Step 4: Push Volume Up to select and wait for an Android with a Red open front to appear
Step 5: Scroll to Clear Cache Partition and select with the Power Button
Step 6: Once it completes choose reboot phone

This is something i hadnt done up until last night, wanted to see how the phone reacted to the update and all was well. I decided to do it however as an act of, why not. So far, i not more consistant battery usage, phone apears to sleep better.

Another side note, my wifi had some strange symptoms, after wiping the cache and forgetting and reconnecting to the wifi signal i have had a much better wifi experience. This is improving battery on wifi, i will update its comparison to 4glte.

Step Seven, (Optional)When on wifi, have smart actions disable mobile data.

Pretty self explaining. Go to smart actions, create a new rule.

Trigger, wifi on

rule, cellular data, disable.

This is a new one for me so ill let you know how that works out. however i feel like i am going to miss some kind of notifications by doing so. Or phone calls. So ill see how well it works.

Step eight, When unplugging your phone from a charge, turn the screen on and unlock it first.

There is a bug apparently and it is solved by this. Alot like the airplane fix i used on my bionic.

Re: ICS Update is Killing my Battery! Please help!
B33
Legend

+ 1 what PJ said.!  And I'm getting about the same as Cody on Heavy to Medium Use.  i just checked it and after Just light Use and it being on for 20 Hrs i have allot a Battery Left..

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