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Since I upgraded my Samsung Galaxy SII from Android 4.0.4 (ICS) to 4.1.2 (JB), my battery life has decreased dramtically.

Running ICS I could easily have ~25% battery left when going to bed, after about 20 hours of moderate use. That is with a few phone calls, reading work/private e-mails as they arrive, occasional news reading, internet browsing and Facebook.

My usage pattern is largely unchanged, but since the moment I upgraded to Jelly Bean, I can barely make it through a working day without charging.

Looking at earlier battery stat screenshots (I'm a nerd, guilty as charged), my phone would use about 2-3,3%/hour. Now I see usage of between 5,7% and 10,6% per hour!

The top power consumer is, as always, the screen, which takes up 35-45% of the power used - just like before. Only now, it has drained the same amount of power, 2-4 times faster - or about 1% of the total battery capacity each minute it's been on.

Battery usage overview Screen battery usage details Battery usage details

(click images to enlarge)

72% of the total capacity used, of which screen consumed 38% (relative) or 27% (absolute)

Android OS has moved up the list of power consumers. Now using typically 16-17% (relative) or 12-17% (absolute), as opposed to the previous 9% (relative) or 5% (absolute).

I never switch off WiFi completely, unlike GPS which is switched off (thanks, Facebook) unless I actively need it. Display is set to auto-brightness - just like before.

I have completely drained, then fully re-charged, the battery at least three times, to re-calibrate the battery gauge. It didn't help my battery life.

Any idea of what's going on here and how to fix it (short of doing a factory reset)? How can the screen suddenly drain the power so fast? What's causing Android OS to burn more fuel as well?

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    You can use GSam battery monitor or betterbatterystats, both cost some money however but will help you track down the issue. The latter app is also freely available on the app's XDA thread by the author itself. It might be a nonpermanent Samsung bug, maybe you can fix it by resetting some app or even wiping the phone.
    – ce4
    Commented Feb 23, 2013 at 18:33
  • In the first of your screenshots, please tap the graph on top -- which will lead you to additional details. There check the bars at the bottom, and look out for areas having a blue bar for active while there's none for screen-on. I suspect some wakelocks being the cause of your drain (see How to deal with (orphaned) WakeLocks? for more details).
    – Izzy
    Commented Feb 23, 2013 at 19:22
  • @ce4: I've installed both and will take look at the stats by the end of the day. Thanks.
    – abstrask
    Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 12:21
  • @Izzy: I've added the battery usage details screen as well. The screen is rarely active, but the mobil is quite often awake. I suspect this is due to Google Now, which I've now disabled. However, my poor battery life, started before enabling Google Now. And, the primary offender is still screen, which doesn't seem to be on very often - regardless if you look at time on or the blue indicators.
    – abstrask
    Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 12:22
  • @RasmusRask Yeah, what I expected: Something is keeping your device awake by forcing the network (here: WiFi) out of sleep mode. Please follow above link to the Wakelock question -- that's 100% sure your issue. A look at your mobile network signal graph suggests What is Cell standby and how can I keep it from eating my battery? might be interesting for you to check as well. But your main issue are rather the Wakelocks, cell signal is minor (no red color in that bar). Join chat for details ;)
    – Izzy
    Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 12:35

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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You are suffering the same problem I was after upgrading. Look in the direction of either Google Now or Google Maps. Good chance you have 'Report from this device' set in Maps Location Settings. This is murder on your battery! I disabled it and am now back at about 2% - 3% per hour on 3g with light use throughout the day. I also disabled Google Now for good measure, but I didn't notice any real improvements from that.

I do still notice much higher battery consumption than 4.04 when having wifi on. At home, I have reverted to 3G after seeing it burn through the battery at 5% per hour even without any active use.

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  • No, all location reporting/history in maps is already off. After a brief tango, Google Now was disabled a while ago :-/
    – abstrask
    Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 22:22
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Finally, I did a factory reset on my S2 and now the battery lasts the way it used to with ICS. ):

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  • To be honest, while my battery life doesn't seem quite as good as when running ICS, it does seem better now that I've done a factory reset as well. Still not entirely convinced though...
    – abstrask
    Commented May 9, 2013 at 19:56
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There is a possibility that one of the app installed in your phone keeps the screen on even when it is locked. If possible, connect through adb and see which apps are active.

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  • Edited question to add battery usage details. Yes, it's fairly often awake, perhaps due to enabling Google Now. I've now disabled that. The screen however is rarely on, as shown by the "on time" and blue indicators.
    – abstrask
    Commented Feb 25, 2013 at 12:23
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I had the same problem with battery drain. I can tell from your name that you must be from Denmark. I found my battery drainer in a danish app. Yousee musik was set to automatically download on wifi. Since I turned that setting off my problem was gone!

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  • Seems odd this would only happen after an operating system upgrade the if it's the behaviour of an application since it would be the same before and after the upgrade.
    – Peanut
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 12:45
  • Hej :). Thanks for the suggestion. I actually use YouSee Music, but not on this device. Also, wouldn't the app show up as the battery drainer?
    – abstrask
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 13:25
  • Not necessarily. If it e.g. requests a wake_lock, and forgets to drop it (or drops it too late, or requests it too often), this would show up as "Android System". This is what quite often happens with the LocationProvider when some app requests the current location too frequently: System is shown as "eater". And your "awake" graph in above screenshot suggests something like that.
    – Izzy
    Commented Jun 9, 2013 at 23:06
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I have the same problem and I found that it's the WiFi. If I turn the WiFi off, battery drain is less than 15% in 12 hours for my use. Yesterday I turned the WiFi on in the afternoon and the battery was at 96%. I stayed home connected to my WiFi all day and did not use the phone all afternoon. At 8:30PM the battery was down to 19%.

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  • That might be the culprit in your case, my WiFi is always on, and was before my drain issue too.
    – abstrask
    Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 13:01

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