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sofistek

95 posts

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#286004 30-May-2021 14:50
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I know there have been all sorts of battery issues over the years but this seems new, or at least odd.

 

I bought a new Samsung S7 for myself and my wife, a couple of months ago. I know, not the most recent models but we don't use mobiles much and wanted to get something as small as possible.

 

Anyway, although my wife's phone has had a new battery installed after a heating issue, and although both phones have been behaving themselves for a few weeks, on the same day (yesterday) both of the phones started to drain the battery fairly quickly without the phone being used (in my wife's case) or only being used sparingly (in my case). Overnight, my phone battery decreased from about 53% to about 20% though it usually only loses a few percentage points in that time.

 

I've looked at the battery monitor for apps that used the battery but there is nothing unusual except, possibly, the Screen percentage being higher than I would have thought. The percentages of all apps (including Device Idle) only adds to about 25% of the total, so I've no idea what else is eating the battery. I've turned on maximum battery saving mode to see if that has an impact.

 

One thing that my wife has noticed is that the screen sometimes switches itself on, though I haven't noticed that.

 

To have both phones exhibit the same problem on the same day, even though one has had a battery replacement, suggests a software update but neither phone appears to have recent system software updates (in fact none since I bought them).

 

Any ideas, or has anyone else seen this in the last day or so?


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RunningMan
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  #2715531 30-May-2021 15:07
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Poor wifi or cell signal causing the radios to work harder?




Batman
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  #2715532 30-May-2021 15:09
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maybe you didn't buy a "new" samsung s7. maybe the battery has had it.


robjg63
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  #2715545 30-May-2021 16:13
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Won't help much, but I find my 4yo samsung phone can have wildly eratic battery life from time to time.
Have come to the conclusion its usually a crap app update. Have occasionally pinned it down to one app or another.
I suggest you:
Remove any apps you don't actively use
Update any apps you have left
Reboot your phone
Check if you are connected to wifi while at home (found wifi seems to drop power usage)
Check what you have paired with Bluetooth (my phone drained like crazy last weekend when it couldn't see my mi band watch - guess the app overused bluetooth when it couldn't connect)




Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler




sofistek

95 posts

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  #2715553 30-May-2021 16:35
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Batman:

 

maybe you didn't buy a "new" samsung s7. maybe the battery has had it.

 

 

Maybe, but they certainly looked and behaved as brand new. Also, one of the phones had been returned for a battery replacement.

 

On max battery saving mode, the battery level has hardly moved, if at all, in the last couple of hours.


sofistek

95 posts

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  #2715556 30-May-2021 16:42
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robjg63: Won't help much, but I find my 4yo samsung phone can have wildly eratic battery life from time to time.
Have come to the conclusion its usually a crap app update. Have occasionally pinned it down to one app or another.
I suggest you:
Remove any apps you don't actively use
Update any apps you have left
Reboot your phone
Check if you are connected to wifi while at home (found wifi seems to drop power usage)
Check what you have paired with Bluetooth (my phone drained like crazy last weekend when it couldn't see my mi band watch - guess the app overused bluetooth when it couldn't connect)

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd like to remove a lot more apps than I have but the phone won't let me. I will go through again but it's a shame I can't just delete all apps except the few I use.

 

Even so, it is extremely odd that neither phone had a problem (apart from one needing that battery replacement earlier) until the exact same day, and one had not even been used for anything. I'm not a great app downloader, so only have what I use, apart from the apps that the phone came with and won't let me delete or disable. But will try again to remove or disable what I can.

 

I went through a disabling effort a few weeks back but ended up with an email app problem (I use TypeApp) on one phone which I couldn't correct except by resetting back to factory level and then starting from scratch again. This is just unrelated info, since I didn't reset one of the phones and both have this battery problem.


Batman
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  #2715559 30-May-2021 16:52
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sofistek:

Batman:


maybe you didn't buy a "new" samsung s7. maybe the battery has had it.



Maybe, but they certainly looked and behaved as brand new. Also, one of the phones had been returned for a battery replacement.


On max battery saving mode, the battery level has hardly moved, if at all, in the last couple of hours.



If it's actually new then there is something in the background draining it and there's nothing you can do. It's a Samsung Android thing. I used to spend hours everyday trying everything and nothing works. In fact I just break the phone it doesn't work properly with my tweaks and it still drains battery.

sofistek

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  #2715902 30-May-2021 22:54
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If it's actually new then there is something in the background draining it and there's nothing you can do. It's a Samsung Android thing. I used to spend hours everyday trying everything and nothing works. In fact I just break the phone it doesn't work properly with my tweaks and it still drains battery.

 

Yeah, but the fact that it's happening on two phones starting on the same day, after weeks of no problems just seems plain weird.

 

The MAX power saving mode I tried has now been running for about 8 hours and the battery has only dropped 1%. So that mode has suspended the culprit app or subsystem. I guess I'll have to try removing the non-standard apps one by one to see if any of them are causing this.


Batman
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  #2715914 31-May-2021 00:39
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good luck. i won't bother. if that's the case it will sort itself out if you leave it alone. like a teenager it doesn't like interference.


sofistek

95 posts

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  #2716256 31-May-2021 16:58
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Batman:

 

good luck. i won't bother. if that's the case it will sort itself out if you leave it alone. like a teenager it doesn't like interference.

 

 

I'm not sure it will sort itself out and I can't really leave it on MAX power savings mode, since many apps won't run in the mode; I have to exit that mode to run the apps I need. It resumed its downward battery plunge after I put it back to a mode that allows all apps, even without actually using any apps. I'll start out with disabling or uninstalling non-standard apps and see what happens each time.


Batman
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  #2716274 31-May-2021 17:52
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I mean don't use max power saving and leave it for a few days it will settle down

sofistek

95 posts

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  #2717564 3-Jun-2021 10:49
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Batman: I mean don't use max power saving and leave it for a few days it will settle down

 

Hey, you mad scientist! How did you know?

 

I was just psyching myself up to try a factory reset; even took a backup but ran out of time to do the rest, so slept on it. In the morning, the phone had hardly discharged. The following day, it was back to normal.

 

However, the other phone is still draining the battery too fast - it's lost 16% in about 3 hours without its being used. Perhaps I ought to threaten it with a factory reset!


Batman
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  #2717575 3-Jun-2021 11:04
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just leave it alone, it will sort itself out. the Samsung-Android offspring is a teenager it does not like to be controlled by you, it will do what it wants to do.

 

if it continues to misbehave there's nothing you can do.


sofistek

95 posts

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  #2720054 6-Jun-2021 22:54
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Just to round this off. The other phone is now also behaving itself, without my even attempting any corrective action. Obviously, there will have been a reason for the battery drain but I have no idea what it was. Hope it doesn't happen again but at least I know what will fix it: time.


robjg63
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  #2720068 7-Jun-2021 07:50
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As mentioned above - my best guess is a bad app release that has since been fixed. The helter skelter constant update process that app development seems to be these days, means frequent buggy releases and frequent attempts to fix problems - some of which cause more bugs.  Hopefully you have some stability now.





Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler


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