Is something wrong with my Smartphone Battery?

[Nowhereman60]

I recently got AIS 3G 2100 and since then my phone battery only last one day. Is this because of the 3G 2100 or should I be checking for other problems. Also, no I don't use my phone any different then I did before I got the new 3g 2100.

[lomatopo]

Can you share any details? Phone make/model? If Android what version and base band? How recently? For brief experimental purposes: If you turn off mobile data does the battery last longer? If you switch to 2G only does the battery last longer?

If nothing has changed, and you are 100% sure of that then maybe your phone does not handle 2100 MHz as well as it could or should: firmware, baseband issue.

I used AIS/2100 MHz for a few days and did not notice any battery issues; I provided an AIS/2100 MHz SIM to a colleague and he did not report any battery issues during his six day visit.

Without a lot more details I might suspect other problems, but only you know the complete story so maybe best for you to search for others with similar problems? Google your phone's make and model, then add 3G or 2100 MHz, etc. XDA Forums is a decent place to look for simialr issues, and potential solutions.

[barryw52]

The only comment I add to what lomatopo has said is I have noticed that if your in a area where the 2100Mhz coverage (850/900Mhz also for that matter) is poor then the phone works harder by boosting its Power output to transmit data back to the nearest basestation. I seen this effect mainly in shopping centres and food courts also where there are lot people trying to use the same basestation. Around the Victory Monument area I have also seen very poor coverage on 3G but I think this is fixed now. So your problem may be related to poor 2100Mhz coverage by AIS where your spend most of your time. I am also on AIS 3G 21000 and don't have this generally but still see it in a couple spots we go to around Bangkok.

[Nowhereman60]

The only comment I add to what lomatopo has said is I have noticed that if your in a area where the 2100Mhz coverage (850/900Mhz also for that matter) is poor then the phone works harder by boosting its Power output to transmit data back to the nearest basestation. I seen this effect mainly in shopping centres and food courts also where there are lot people trying to use the same basestation. Around the Victory Monument area I have also seen very poor coverage on 3G but I think this is fixed now. So your problem may be related to poor 2100Mhz coverage by AIS where your spend most of your time. I am also on AIS 3G 21000 and don't have this generally but still see it in a couple spots we go to around Bangkok.

You may be right here. I live in a rural area and the reception is very poor, but I do have wifi in my home, maybe turn off the 3G when I am home. I will give that a try.

[lomatopo]

Any chance you could tell us what type of phone you have?

[Chicog]

The only comment I add to what lomatopo has said is I have noticed that if your in a area where the 2100Mhz coverage (850/900Mhz also for that matter) is poor then the phone works harder by boosting its Power output to transmit data back to the nearest basestation. I seen this effect mainly in shopping centres and food courts also where there are lot people trying to use the same basestation. Around the Victory Monument area I have also seen very poor coverage on 3G but I think this is fixed now. So your problem may be related to poor 2100Mhz coverage by AIS where your spend most of your time. I am also on AIS 3G 21000 and don't have this generally but still see it in a couple spots we go to around Bangkok.

You may be right here. I live in a rural area and the reception is very poor, but I do have wifi in my home, maybe turn off the 3G when I am home. I will give that a try.

No maybe about it, Android will connect to Wifi automatically even if there is a 3G connection.

[seajae]

Hi, I had the same thing happen with a new phone I bought recently(samsung), turns out after all the checks were done it was dirty sim card contacts on my Australian sim card(dual sims, thai one was fine). It might pay to clean the contact area on your sim card then try it, samsung did mine for me at their local agency after I sent the phone off to be checked, no problems at all now.

[brianinbangkok]

Well I have 2 new Samsung S3 phones and both have drained batteries after max 30 hours. I found switching off wifi connection when not at home saves a lot of juice. So if you use your phone like we do your phone battery is working normaly.

[brianinbangkok]

Besides if you have an android phone under settings and then battery you can see what has been using the battery.

Also under settings you can switch on power save mode.

[Estrada]

Turn off WIFI, Blue Tooth and GPS. If I leave them on they eat up the battery life. My new Samsung Galaxy IV has twice the battery storage compared to the old one which is a Galaxy II. I use both phones and play games on the old phone because playing games eats up the battery life too. Why not keep your old phone using a prepaid INTERSIM for International phone calls at 1Baht/min and playing games.

[BKKBrit]

I use a Samsung S3 and switch off wi-fi when out and about. Significant reduction in battery usage doing that; Also, GPS switching off when you don't need it is a massive saver.

An unrelated, but maybe useful tip, for Samsung Androids is the battery will suddenly take forever to charge. I fixed it myself by removing the battery and using the tip of a craft knife gently scraping the 3 contact points to reveal a silver colour underneath. This fixed the problem immediately and the red charge light on the phone was bright whereas before it had been progressively getting dimmer.

[YeaBiGgiEs]

There are numerous things that impact the life of the battery. Certainly a newer phone is more powerful, capable of doing many things and drains faster. ALWAYS be aware of WIFI running.. it is always seeking a signal and updating as you are walking, running, in a car/taxi, train..Switch it off until you actually want to use wifi in a stationary location. Until then when you aren't in a wifi location then you can switch on your APN to use your smartphone for internet. You can get APN and WIFI switches easily.

Also there are many apps that will show you where your battery power is being gobbled up most.

and then the battery itself. How you charge it from the very first time to your daily habits. I ALWAYS keep mine plugged in to a USB source or outlet..its "smart" and won't overcharge and blow up. I do same with my laptop etc.. And as you all may know the very first time you ever get anything that recharges you must charge it fully the first time as they say this is "training" the battery to remember.

Also for profit reasons you will see a lot of batteries for sale very very cheap.. Why? Look at the mAh's of your battery.

Definition:

The mAh acronym stands for Ampere-hour.

This is a unit of electric charge, and is frequently used in measurements of electrochemical systems such as batteries.

Typical battery capacities include 1500mAh and 1300mAh.

The HIGHER the number the better and store more power/thus longer charge life. Same applies to rechargeable aa, aaa, 9v etc

The LOWER the number are crap..

Retail places will awe you with low cost batteries because the uneducated buyer knows nothing of mAh.

I for one went on eBay and found a double life battery for my android phone 3600mAh it was double the size and came with a bigger back-cover for my phone.

I am YeaBiGgiEs and I have spoken on this day!

[masuk]

I thought the days of fully charging a battery and 'training' it were long gone.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood the newer type of battery no longer develops a memory.

[lucifer666]

I have a Samsung also and my wifi is on 24/7 and my battery lasts around 3-4 days. the only thing i noticed that flattened the battery faster was when i used the GPS feature.

[Chicog]

There's a nice app called JuiceDefender which keeps the radios off and just pings them on occasionally to check email, etc.

Useful if you aren't *desperate* for all of your emails to be pushed.

[thrilled]

I have an iphone,if i use lots amount of data it'll go down in A few hours.If not,then it will stay up.When i'm in the car I put the car charger on it.

[Pib]

The only comment I add to what lomatopo has said is I have noticed that if your in a area where the 2100Mhz coverage (850/900Mhz also for that matter) is poor then the phone works harder by boosting its Power output to transmit data back to the nearest basestation. I seen this effect mainly in shopping centres and food courts also where there are lot people trying to use the same basestation. Around the Victory Monument area I have also seen very poor coverage on 3G but I think this is fixed now. So your problem may be related to poor 2100Mhz coverage by AIS where your spend most of your time. I am also on AIS 3G 21000 and don't have this generally but still see it in a couple spots we go to around Bangkok.

As mentioned above a weak signal can indeed cause additional battery usage as it can cause your phone radios to work harder to maintain and/or search for a connection. Technically, it's called Radio Resource Control (RRC) and there are different "states" of RRC...see this Wikipedia article for a short layman's description.

[bendejo]

Another testimony here that GPS really eats up the battery.

If you're going to use an Android gadget it is essential that you look into Android settings and installable apps that allow control of the various connections and running processes. This will take a little work and patience, but until you get a handle on these things you'll find there are a lot of processes running, slowing the thing down and eating up the battery, that you are probably not even using.