WP8.1 Battery Life [Possible Solution / Reduce 'Phone' Over Usage]

[nittyboi]

It is always exciting to have the latest, isn't it!
So was I when I got WP8.1 Dev Preview, was all in rush and got it running on my Nokia Lumia 920.

All update went smooth and everything was working fine as expected, except Battery Drain!!
I use to be on call for around 2+ hours, regular play with Cortana (my new BFF), 3G and Location On all the time and switch to WiFi in between.

I thought the drain was due to my calls, but at such drastic rate? Nope it can't be.
Then I noted few observations.

• Phone - The process consumed whooping amount of battery
• Calendar - I could find duplicate entries of most of my social network contacts (Events and Birthdays)
• Contacts - Sync use to take more time than usual

Only thing I did!

1. Went to Outlook - Windows ID (web log in) - Removed the association with Facebook Account
2. Gave it a little time on my phone to sync changes - Complete calendar entries and contacts were re-synced

and say what - Whoot!!
Just few hours, and I could notice the difference in Battery usage.

All / most of us had Facebook account linked to People hub on WP8.0, which use to sync not only updates but Calendar and contacts too.
Since all these tasks are handled by all New Facebook app on WP8.1, retaining the association of Facebook with Outlook does no good but DOUBLING the task!

Now I have the 'Phone' - battery consumption back to normal, no more duplicate entries in calendar and also a Clean List of Contacts in People hub.
All update sync to People hub is done via Facebook app and all contacts in there too.

All I say is - I'm in love with WP8.1 and Cortana <3

P.S.: I have added a poll If this solution helped / worked for you. Please let me know.

 

[nikhilr51]

Thats a very good point actually, FB integration is pretty meaningless now.

Took me a while to find the option to unlink it:

1. https://account.live.com/summarypage.aspx
2. Permissions from the left bar
3. Manage other Accounts
4. Edit under facebook
5. Remove this connection completely.

 

[nittyboi]

Thanks Nikhil.
That will be very helpful, It tool me a while to get there as well!!

 

[SSK the Gr8]

removed fb. Let's see how it affects battery life.

 

[Lobbie1978]

Removed the connection too. I will report back to share my thoughts. Thanks!

 

[Nimdock]

I didn't have it associated. Although now I am wondering if I should nuke the link to the Twitter account since that is not integrated into the OS anymore either.

 

[Chris_Germany]

But then i dont have my facebook contacts in my people hub anymore, right? I like to have the pics of them+facebook+phonenumber.

Or does the 8.1 facebook app the same? I linked everything, i dont really want to do that again! (if i unlink my facebook account from outlook now).

 

[Nimdock]

But then i dont have my facebook contacts in my people hub anymore, right? I like to have the pics of them+facebook+phonenumber.

Or does the 8.1 facebook app the same? I linked everything, i dont really want to do that again! (if i unlink my facebook account from outlook now).

You should still have it since the integration is now handled directly by the Facebook app, not the OS.

For example, I already didn't have them linked but I still see Facebook information in the people hub (integrated with contacts as usual).

 

[nittyboi]

Contacts list will stay updated.
Both contacts and calendar events sync will be handled via FB app on Windows Phone 8.1.

Also to make it clear, I also did ditch the Twitter association with my outlook though I could see an option to add Twitter account under Settings on WP8.1!

 

[omgitsnick]

Or you know, you could just delete the birthday calendar. You don't have to entirely disconnect Facebook from your Microsoft account, remember that the connection is also used on the people hub and calendar in Windows, not just windows phone. The Facebook app on Windows does not integrate with the OS so it uses the Facebook link with your Microsoft account to get the pretty pictures and feeds for your people hub and events to your calendar.

 

[Nimdock]

Yeah, in my case I don't really use the People hub in Windows so I might as well keep them disconnected.

 

[SSK the Gr8]

Or you know, you could just delete the birthday calendar. You don't have to entirely disconnect Facebook from your Microsoft account, remember that the connection is also used on the people hub and calendar in Windows, not just windows phone. The Facebook app on Windows does not integrate with the OS so it uses the Facebook link with your Microsoft account to get the pretty pictures and feeds for your people hub and events to your calendar.

Good point to be taken into consideration. but I dont use the modern apps so I dont care.

 

[Blacklac]

Can you do this from the device itself? That link posted above just tells me to use a PC and try again.

 

[Chris_Germany]

Contacts list will stay updated.
Both contacts and calendar events sync will be handled via FB app on Windows Phone 8.1.

Also to make it clear, I also did ditch the Twitter association with my outlook though I could see an option to add Twitter account under Settings on WP8.1!

Ok i will test that next time i reset my phone.
The only thing is ( i think ?): You have to "relink" the phone/fb contacts again, if i remove the facebook integration from outlook.

 

[Will6371]

Thats a very good point actually, FB integration is pretty meaningless now.

Took me a while to find the option to unlink it:

1. https://account.live.com/summarypage.aspx
2. Permissions from the left bar
3. Manage other Accounts
4. Edit under facebook
5. Remove this connection completely.

I didn't even realise I had Google contacts connected until I looked, d'oh.

I don't use Facebook or twitter but my battery life is now also better after

I have the following setting on my 1520

Location on but turned off on all apps except for Cortana and maps.

WiFi on all the time but WiFi sense turned off.

3G with data turned on.

Email syncing every hour.

Backing up text, apps, settings, photos.

Battery saver off.

Glance set to peek.

Double tap on.

Bluetooth always on but only connected for an hour or two every day.

Apps

Wpcentral
Clock hub
Amazing weather HD
Simple calendar
Cortana
One drive
My500px
Lock Temp
Blue Skies (Yes I use two weather apps)
ESPN F1
Moon 3D
Wallbase
Wikipedia

Phone was at 100% this morning at 6 and it is now 6pm and it is at 86%

Apart from the above the only other thing I did was look around on the wpcentral app for about an hour.

I tested IE yesterday and over 1 hour on VWVortex (not the mobile version) with brightness on low it used 7%

Problems I have had after 8.1 (downloaded it last Monday) was battery for the first 2 days but it obviously has gotten a lot better.
Touch swipe got worse but I barely had it to start with and that too is better now.

I reset my phone before I got 8.1 and again after btw.

 

[Alienhead95]

I think this issue is not related to facebook integration, cause I don't have a facebook account, but still have the draining issue.

 

[Blacklac]

I think this issue is not related to facebook integration, cause I don't have a facebook account, but still have the draining issue.

Nevermind

 

[russshoe]

Nope not for me was not synced

 

[mcheiron]

The FB integration might be part of the battery drain, but not for me. I am not connected and still have bad battery life, e.g. It is down to 20% now at 3:20pm.

 

[anon5999636]

I said this in another post and I'll say it again:

Each device has its own specifications and there is no way to generalize settings. So much so that manufacturers release updates specific to each device (and that let users angered by the delay, but now we can see how this delay is required);

I'm going to take my example here:

I have an unlocked Lumia 920 (Brazilian model - RM-821 _ Ita_brazil_253) and after updating my battery drains A LOT. I changed settings for applications that run in the background, changed email settings, I removed the image behind the tiles, I left the brightness in low, disabled the Cortana, took out the location, anyway, I did everything! And what happened is that almost nothing has changed. Everything helped,of course! But NOTHING REALLY MAKED THE DIFFERENCE.

Despite the location spend enough battery and leave disabled is a great idea to spare, I saw that what really worn battery is messing with the device! Today for example, where I leave the WiFi on all day since 6:30 am, WhatsApp messages answered, checked my Facebook, checked my emails, I heard music about 1 hour on Deezer and a few other things, my battery is now at 77% (4:30 pm).

My opinion is that what really drains battery is the screen of the device, which is nothing new for us! WHAT'S REALLY MISSING IS THE UPDATE FROM NOKIA FOR THIS TYPE OF CORRECTION. And that is specific to each device. We have to wait and be patient. The version of WP 8.1 we are using is practically raw and without the necessary improvements that the manufacturers of the devices need to perform.