Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
beckymbloom
Newbie

Ugh, as if it was annoying enough that my phone was return to its default settings (at least I didn't lose my apps), but now I have to charge my phone every twelve hours, and before I could often go two days!

 

It seems to me the problem is that my apps are running CONSTANTLY, no matter how many times I clear the cache using the Task Manager, the RAM Manager, and Advanced Task Killer.

 

I can use one, see that all the primary and background apps are closed, wait 30 seconds, and they're all open again!

 

PLEASE ADVISE!!!!!!

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1

beckymbloom wrote:

Ugh, as if it was annoying enough that my phone was return to its default settings (at least I didn't lose my apps), but now I have to charge my phone every twelve hours, and before I could often go two days!

 

It seems to me the problem is that my apps are running CONSTANTLY, no matter how many times I clear the cache using the Task Manager, the RAM Manager, and Advanced Task Killer.

 

I can use one, see that all the primary and background apps are closed, wait 30 seconds, and they're all open again!

 

PLEASE ADVISE!!!!!!


what apps are running?

 

uninstall ATK, it drains the battery real fast

 

i would also suggest a factory rest, clean cache

 

run stock for a day or 2 to see how it acts

then install 1 app every once in a while to see whats affecting the battery

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
enaidmm
Newbie

What do you mean by "factory rest, clean cache, run stock for a day or 2"?

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
DonM
Contributor - Level 2

I think he meant "factory reset" not "factory rest". This resets the phone to the same condition that it was in when you received it from Verizon, plus whatever firmware upgrades you have installed.

 

It sounds like you are already clearing the cache. The reset, cache cleaning and running stock for a day or two is sort of a test run to make sure everything is OK with the phone after a major upgrade before you start any customizations. This is SOP to determine if the upgrade itself and not anything you have done has buggered your phone.

 

As far as killing tasks...that is really a BIG no-no with Android, despite what anyone has told you. When I bought my phone the first thing the Verizon sales rep told me to do was install Advance Task Killer. After a few days research I uninstalled it and instantly gained several hours battery life.

 

I am a network admin with a consulting engineer firm. Following is the text of an email I sent to one of the engineers who's daughter was having battery issues with her Android phone. The last link in the text is to a blog by one of the Google engineers who built Android...I should think she has a much better idea how Android works than we ever will.

 

Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.


A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.


Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.


Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.


Link to articles:
Where the above text is from and a general explanation:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
 
A reprint of a Google engineer’s blog:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html

 

 

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
Zakth
Newbie

Battery life is hit and miss but one thing I have found that is helpful is to turn off mobile data when you do not plan to use it. With mobile data off you should still get calls and text messages but will need to turn it on to download multimedia messages or access the internet. Also, if you are not using location services turn off GPS and if you are not around a WiFi hotspot disable WiFi. Doing these few things should greatly increase your battery life.

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
nickjr
Contributor - Level 3

Zakth wrote:

Battery life is hit and miss but one thing I have found that is helpful is to turn off mobile data when you do not plan to use it. With mobile data off you should still get calls and text messages but will need to turn it on to download multimedia messages or access the internet. Also, if you are not using location services turn off GPS and if you are not around a WiFi hotspot disable WiFi. Doing these few things should greatly increase your battery life.


Turning of gmail sync will really increase your battery life, however when you turn that feature off, you wiil not receive an email from your gmail accounts.
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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
DonM
Contributor - Level 2

One thing I forgot to mention is if you use the Facebook app you need to log out when you close the app. It's a pain in the butt but the Facebook app seem to drain the battery even when not in use. This is a known problem with many different phones. 

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
enaidmm
Newbie

How do you turn off  gmail sync, what is gmail sync?  Does receiving alot of emails, retaining emails and  having several icons/apps on your Home Screen drain the battery?   Gee if we turn everything off, just as well go back to a regular phone.

 

Thanks for all your advise 

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Re: Battery Drain after Fascinate Upgrade!
nickjr
Contributor - Level 3

enaidmm wrote:

How do you turn off  gmail sync, what is gmail sync?  Does receiving alot of emails, retaining emails and  having several icons/apps on your Home Screen drain the battery?   Gee if we turn everything off, just as well go back to a regular phone.

 

Thanks for all your advise 


Settings, accounts and sync, click the check mark where is says sync is on, turn it to off and when you want to check your email, go back and place the check mark back and it will pull down all your gmail. I have a widget that I use that has a toggle switcfh - Zdbox
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