Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX
Fred_Chopin_II

After I did the OTA update to Gingerbread, the battery life really sucked.  The phone used to go all day on a single charge.  Now it died in about 2 hours. 

 

When I looked at Settings|About Phone|Battery Use, I was surprised to see that the main contributor was not the "Display" as you would expect but "Android OS".  I downloaded an app called OS monitor and discovered that "event/0" was the process that was keeping the CPU at about 30%, rather than the usual < 1% when idle.  So I figured an event handler was continually running, waiting for something to happen and burning CPU.  After some experimentation, I discovered that it was an app I had called Voice Alerts, which worked great on Froyo.  It reads SMS messages, and I guess needs to check to see if one has arrived so it can read it out for you. 

 

But the upgrade must have screwed it up somehow, and it was stuck in some loop frantically checking for SMS messages I guess.  Removing that fixed the problem.  I have not checked to see if reinstalling it will make it work. 

 

I also found that turning off "Autorotate" helped reduce the ongoing CPU.  Same idea: you have something running incessantly checking the phone state.

 

So ... if you have weird battery problems after the update to Gingerbread, don't do a factory reset, condition the battery, or any of the other "fixes" you might find on the forums.  Try looking for something that is an event handler.

 

BTW you'll find a huge number of similar battery problems associated with event/0 and "suspend" also, but I did not have suspend as a problem.

 

Hope this saves some of you some time.  I wish I'd known it earlier!

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX
Wildman
Legend

I am sorry to tell you this that if you are having issues with a 3rd party application since the update, this isn't surprising because not all apps are compatible with all OS...  You might want to try uninstalling the app and install it again and if the issue stays then I would contact the developer for a solution..

 

Another thing that I need to point out, it is usually wise to do a hard reset before doing and major update of the OS because issues usually come from old settings from the previous software and also from incompatible 3rd party apps that was installed already... 

 

Just something to consider...

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX
NuDroidUsrr
Specialist - Level 3

Wildman wrote:

I am sorry to tell you this that if you are having issues with a 3rd party application since the update, this isn't surprising because not all apps are compatible with all OS...  You might want to try uninstalling the app and install it again and if the issue stays then I would contact the developer for a solution..

 

Another thing that I need to point out, it is usually wise to do a hard reset before doing and major update of the OS because issues usually come from old settings from the previous software and also from incompatible 3rd party apps that was installed already... 

 

Just something to consider...


  The other thing to do would be to do the upgrade, and if you experience problems, back up your data and then do a factory reset AFTER your update, rather than before. I have heard from a bunch of people that have not had a problem or have had minor problems after the upgrade, that a factory reset would not be warranted. However, if you are having some serious or constant problems, I would do it in a heart beat to try and clear things up.

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
Fred_Chopin_II

You're right in general - factory reset is a prudent thing to do, but there is no need to do it usually.  I posted my experience with this because I did not want to go through the major hassle of a factory reset, and I'll bet there are many others who would also like to avoid the reset. The battery problem is something that occurs frequently on upgrading Android, but it is easy to fix if you know how. 

 

By the way, the battery life and speed is now OUTSTANDING.  Quadrant score went from ~ 800 to ~ 1295.

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
calebgl
Newbie

I have the same issue...how exactly did you fix this though?

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
meld1986
Newbie

Yes please, how did you fix it? I have the same issue Smiley Sad

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
JohnB_VZW
Verizon Employee

I understand your concern with the battery life on your Fascinate.

 

Many applications and widgets use a connection to the Internet. It is recommended to review the applications and widgets being used to ensure the proper balance between battery life and device usage. Additionally, it is recommended to turn off any unnecessary running services such as additional wireless radios (WiFi, Bluetooth, and Satellite GPS). Keep in mind the tone notification uses less power than the vibrate notification. Adjusting display settings such as: screen brightness, timeout, etc. can also effect battery life.

 

Below I have provided some helpful tips to help with the battery life for your device.

 

Stop running applications:

 

1. From the home screen, select Applications.

2. Select Settings.

3. Select Applications.

4. Select Running services.

5. Select a service.

6. Select Stop.

 

Turning off/on Bluetooth settings:

 

1. From the home screen, select and hold the status bar (located at the top).

2. Drag the window shade down.

3. Select Bluetooth. Enabled when a green indicator is present.

 

I hope you finds these tips helpful.

 

 

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX
TMcWms
Newbie

I had this same problem after the Gingerbread update.  I've never had an issue maintaining battery charge before, but it did happen to me yesterday.

 

That was the first time since the update that I used the AC adapter to charge it.  Before the update, I left it on the charger even after getting to 100%.  Yesterday, I did the same and then unplugged it before I went out for lunch.  Immediately after unplugging, however, the battery level dropped to 37%!

 

So I recharged with the AC adapter.  Once it hit full charge, I immediately unplugged it.  It did drop to 98% but otherwise, the battery usage proceeded as usual.

 

At home, I charged it with the USB cable connected to my laptop (my usual practice).  Once it hit 100%, I kept it plugged.  I took it off a few hours later, and it stayed at 100%.  I repeated this at work just now--took off the AC part of the cable and charged it using the USB connection.  I left it plugged for an hour after the full charge, then took it off.  It stayed at 100%.

 

I think the update has caused the phone to immediately switch off AC when it's at 100% and start using the battery.  And I mean, use the battery HARD, harder than it normally would when it's not plugged to AC.  Charging by USB works as usual.  And frankly, since the update, charging by USB is MUCH quicker than it was before.  It's even quicker (to me) than using the AC adapter.

 

Just my quick observation on the matter.  Independent corroboration is requested and desired.

 

~ Tracy

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
Fred_Chopin_II

I fixed it by identifying which app had some weird conflict with Gingerbread, and was using up all the CPU and thus the battery power.  I used the app called OS Monitor, and when you run it you can see the Processes that are active on the phone and their load.  I saw that one app had a very high load, because it was stuck in some loop constantly monitoring the phone.  In my case it was an app called Voice Alerts, but I am sure others could exhibit the problem.  Once I could see what was the culprit, I removed it and the problem went away.  Now the battery life is fantastic.

 

There are other general things one can do to improve battery life (use a black background, don't sync email every 5 minutes, turn off GPS, autorotate when you don't need them), but runaway apps are going to be the major factor that give ridiculously low battery life.

 

Hope this helps you.

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Re: Battery life after update to Gingerbread on Samsung Fascinate - Problem and FIX/Quadrant
longplaypg
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for introducing me to OS monitor... I have not totally found a misbehaving app on my phone that is not stock :smileysad: So far my phone runs the battery down fast after using the stock email program to 3 exchange servers using push mode. Today I am testing a manual mode to see how the battery does. All other settings are stock factory except ringtone, notifications, and all vibration turned off.

I did see a lot of bad items in the logging and might research some of these.

 

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