Semi-scientific battery life experiment post update

[steeleblue]

Last night I charged my battery to 100%. I'm a night owl so I removed it from the charger but didnt use it. I was curious how leaving the WFi on when the screen went dark would affect battery life. Four hours later I checked the battery. This was with absolutely no use. The battery was down to 60%.

Normally my battery didn't discharge at all during idle time. Maybe 1% at most. I've had exceptional battery life. So I decided to try the same thing with Wifi off when the screen goes dark (basically the same settings I've always used). Charge to 100%, took it off charge and just let it sit. After 4 hours my battery was down to 63%. Not much difference from using the WFi always on but really different from prior experience.

The only thing different was the Portico update, no new apps, nothing. I know it's not really scientific but it's a pretty good test. As far as I'm concerned the update has really hurt my battery life. Keep in mind, this was pure idle time. No use at all except for email which is set to fetch every hour.

I'm going to email MS and Nokia with my findings. Just thought I would pass on the results.

 

[johninsj]

I had my phone on all day (12 hours) with actual use of about 2 hours and didn't have 40% battery drain with "wifi on" enabled.

Before you run your experiments, soft reset. Don't launch any apps. Then track your battery (to eliminate badly coded apps running in background or random stuck processes)

 

[steeleblue]

I had my phone on all day (12 hours) with actual use of about 2 hours and didn't have 40% battery drain with "wifi on" enabled.

Before you run your experiments, soft reset. Don't launch any apps. Then track your battery (to eliminate badly coded apps running in background or random stuck processes)

Thanks for the reply but if you will notice I specifically said this was completely idle time. No apps were launched, no calls made, no texts received, nothing. The settings were exactly like I have them all the time with the exception of the wifi on all the time. And even changing that setting made little difference.

The update certainly has affected my battery life. Previously idle time resulted in almost no change in battery. Also I have now used it today and the battery is draining at a drastic rate. I have no need or interest in performing any more experiments. I have my results and they aren't good. Hopefully the next update will help.

 

[Dave Blake]

If you use Skype read this,

Skype and the constant syncing problem on Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone Central

 

[casab1anca]

Similar issue here. I used to get very good battery life before the update, now it drains a lot on idle.

 

[johninsj]

Thanks for the reply but if you will notice I specifically said this was completely idle time. No apps were launched, no calls made, no texts received, nothing. The settings were exactly like I have them all the time with the exception of the wifi on all the time. And even changing that setting made little difference.

The update certainly has affected my battery life. Previously idle time resulted in almost no change in battery. Also I have now used it today and the battery is draining at a drastic rate. I have no need or interest in performing any more experiments. I have my results and they aren't good. Hopefully the next update will help.

I did read your post and unless you soft boot first and run nothing you have no way of knowing if you have a process spinning away.


Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express

 

[steeleblue]

I did read your post and unless you soft boot first and run nothing you have no way of knowing if you have a process spinning away.


Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express

Doing a soft reboot does not reproduce everyday conditions. I never had to soft re-boot before so should not do so now since I was trying to see the battery life under the same conditions I use everyday.

If I get really interested in tracking it down I might do a hard reset and run with no extra apps and then add one at a time. But to be honest I don't know how motivated I am to do the MS and Nokia testers work for them.

 

[NokFromApp]

I agree with doing a Soft Reset. I've now noticed a few times that soft reset slows down the battery drain. I've also noticed on at least 3 occasions where the battery % went down drastically and when I did a soft reset, it started to show a higher % available. Just yesterday, I drove down for about 3 hours. All this while i was using Nokia Drive, but had the phone on the charger. At one point close to the 3 hour mark, I stopped Nokia Drive, checked the battery %, and it was at 69%, when I had started from around 45%. I had anticipated it to be close to fully charged. Once I reached, I soft reset the phone and the battery % now showed 97%.
So the point is, do a soft reset and although you've not done it before, there are some bugs in the OS / battery meter and a soft reset will help

 

[joeynox]

you shouldnt have to soft or hard reset your phones. This needs to be fixed. my 3rd replacement model had excellent battery life until the recent update. now it gets hot and the battery is draining quicker than normal. My smart phone is ******ed since i have everything off

 

[B H]

I did read your post and unless you soft boot first and run nothing you have no way of knowing if you have a process spinning away.

Not that you need the validation... I get what you're saying and it makes complete, logical sense to me, if not others. :smile: