How I REALLY fixed my 950 battery drain problem

[offroad73]

Inspired by the comments from Chintan in this thread : http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/427692-windows-10-mobile-hard-resets.html

I did the following changes to my Lumia 950 configuration.

1 - The maximum network speed has been set to 3G
2 - Email sync setting has been set to "Depending on my phone usage" (emails are still entering almost instantly on all 3 accounts)

This morning @ 5h30 I unplugged my phone off the USB cable. It is now 12h30 and my battery is at 84%. My usage have been :

- download and install Shazam from cellular network;
- about 10 SMS;
- 3 phone calls for a total of about 10-12 minutes;
- about 50 emails received;
- surf lightly on the Web... perhaps a dozen web pages;
- about 30 minutes of music.

This is awesome as normally, under these circumstances, I shall be looking for a power outlet... flirting with the low 30%.

Also, i notice the Lumia is not warm at all. Even when I browse the Web with Edge which used to generate a lot of heat in the past.

It seems to me the culpript for my battery drain was the 4G/LTE. Frankly, I can't event tell the difference in terms of network speed... Shazam download and Web browsing is a snap.

On a sidenote : I haven't missed a single call yet and the network indicator remains strongly in the 3 bars and +. :excited:

 

[Maurizio Troso]

Inspired by the comments from Chintan in this thread : http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/427692-windows-10-mobile-hard-resets.html

I did the following changes to my Lumia 950 configuration.

1 - The maximum network speed has been set to 3G
2 - Email sync setting has been set to "Depending on my phone usage" (emails are still entering almost instantly on all 3 accounts)

This morning @ 5h30 I unplugged my phone off the USB cable. It is now 12h30 and my battery is at 84%. My usage have been :

- download and install Shazam from cellular network;
- about 10 SMS;
- 3 phone calls for a total of about 10-12 minutes;
- about 50 emails received;
- surf lightly on the Web... perhaps a dozen web pages;
- about 30 minutes of music.

This is awesome as normally, under these circumstances, I shall be looking for a power outlet... flirting with the low 30%.

Also, i notice the Lumia is not warm at all. Even when I browse the Web with Edge which used to generate a lot of heat in the past.

It seems to me the culpript for my battery drain was the 4G/LTE. Frankly, I can't event tell the difference in terms of network speed... Shazam download and Web browsing is a snap.

On a sidenote : I haven't missed a single call yet and the network indicator remains strongly in the 3 bars and +. :excited:

Blame your carrier for 4G coverage. That's the real iussue

 

[TechFreak1]

Blame your carrier for 4G coverage. That's the real iussue

Pretty much, when a phone's radio is hopping constantly for better signal it will drain pretty quickly.

 

[Randolph McAfee]

Weird, when I look at the settings, I have LTE, 4G and 2G. 3G is not an option. I'm on T-Mobile.

 

[obakir]

I agree about LTE. After many tests (just let your phone on wi-fi or lte over night) I can safely say lte is killing my battery on t-mobile. Also, I sometimes see 2-3 bars but there is no internet. Nothing connects including t-mobile website. And the phone gets warm and warmer.

LTE is the reason I switched to 950 from 930. Feels bad to limit data speed.

 

[Randolph McAfee]

Did you try dropping to 4G and see if that improved battery life with T-Mobile? I've had the same experience, LTE connected with good signal strength and no data flow. Turning the phone off and on again sometimes fixes it, suggesting that it is the phone rather than the network, though. I'm going to try limiting to 4G and see battery improves.

 

[RumoredNow]

Weird, when I look at the settings, I have LTE, 4G and 2G. 3G is not an option. I'm on T-Mobile.

LTE is really 4G, but T-Mo labels H+ (3.5G) as 4G and that is why it gets the nickname fauxG. Give the 4G a shot.

 

[hprvez]

LTE and commercially called 4G are 3.5G or pre true 4G technology

 

[Krystianpants]

Pretty much, when a phone's radio is hopping constantly for better signal it will drain pretty quickly.

It would be neat if they implemented an algorithm that uses location based statistical information on coverage to stop itself from trying to get onto 4g and dropping constantly. Say in an area where coverage for 4G is typically at the lowest signal for long periods of time and drops to 3g. It could stop trying 4g as often when within that location and keep the signal at 3G and maybe try again in 10 miinutes. If it continues to be bad, drop to 3g again and try every 20 minutes. And then of course maybe have a max threshold of 30 minutes. And once the signal appears to be back to normal levels reset the timer. So if you enter an area where timer was never reset, the first drop will keep the 30 minute retry period. It would probably have to keep the info in the cloud as it could generate a lot of data for those who move around a lot. The problem is these phones will just keep trying over and over.