Samsung GS3 Battery Drain after 4.3 update

[aka-neo]

Greetings,

If you aren't already aware, there is a serious flaw in the most recent update to the Samsung Galaxy S3. The 4.3 update causes a serious issue with battery drain, screen responsiveness and some apps not functioning properly. If you search for this issue you’ll find it’s not carrier specific. This update was originally delayed due to battery drain and other issues yet here we are with a December roll out and the same issues. I called Verizon today and they are aware of this issue but have not received a plethora of calls (yet) according to the rep I spoke to.

Bottom line, if you have not installed the update, DO NOT. Wait until a fix has been implemented. I’m lucky if I get 10 hours of light use when I could go 24 hours prior to the update. If I make a few phone calls and use any apps I am forced to charge my phone within a few hours. This is by far the worst issue I’ve ever had with this phone. Up until now everything has been quite solid. If you are having this issue please call Verizon so this can be escalated. I’m hoping a fix will be pushed out in the next couple of months or sooner. My Galaxy S3 is not rooted as I really never found a huge need to do so. Hopefully this issue will not push me in that direction. All I want is a phone that works as expected. You can try using the Deep Sleep Battery Saver app which has a free version for the time being.

May the force be with you, always…..

[susedom]

I upgraded to the latest Android and almost all was good, lost a few apps and browser hangs a little. The big problem came this weekend when Samsung pushed an upgrade to the phone. Now the phone needs to be charged every 4 hours. Absolutely ridiculous.

[MySIII]

Ref battery drain, there are many bloatware Apps that have been added, if you go to Setting>Manage Applications and scroll thru "ALL" applications and either uninstall if allowed or "Stop" the App from running.  This will help slightly. Also, if you hold the "hard" button at the bottom of your phone, it will bring up all the recent apps, click on "task manager' at the bottom left, then at the top, highlight "RAM", that back to the bottom, click on "clear memory"... that might help stop some background processes that don't need to be running.  Also, try an App like Juice Defender Plus, where you can control how often the radio refreshes for emails and the like. 

[vzw_customer_support]

susedom,

I know how important it is to have the battery last as long as your day, let's get it back to normal battery life. Please make sure you don't have these applications as they diminish battery life http://vz.to/1amSs0F . Then, follow these steps to ensure you get the most our of your battery http://vz.to/1d7oKxy .

AdaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter at @VZWSupport

[pizzapablo]

More silly advice from our Support Team!

1% BATTERY DRAIN EVERY 4 MINUTES IN STANDBY!!!

THAT IS THE ISSUE!

NO, AdaS_VZW, I don't have any of those stupid apps, unless bloatware included!

How was this "update" not vetted properly, before roll-out???

[vzw_customer_support]

Let's get to the bottom of your battery life concerns pizzapablo. I understandyour battery drains 1% every four minutes even on standby. Have you tried running your phone on safe mode? To do this click http://vz.to/1bzjYDR then test device. If you are still experiencing issues with the battery life, you may also try a hard reset. Before processing a hard reset on your phone, please ensure the content on your phone is backed up. To do this click http://vz.to/1bk6pIG

Thank You,
MichelleL_VZW
VZW Support
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSUPPORT

[pizzapablo]

Yes, factory reset had no affect on huge battery drain.

[Puttygutt]

All -

The 4.3 update was pushed to my phone last Wednesday (1/8).  I immediately noticed the battery drain.  I went ahead and performed a factory reset, but the battery drain issue still occurred after I restored the device.  I then noticed a new option on the status screen ribbon bar called Smart Stay.  I believe this feature has been around for a while; however, they must of added the icon to the ribbon bar in 4.3.  I believe you enabled the feature on the settings screen prior to 4.3.  On my phone, post upgrade, it was turned off.  I enabled the feature from the ribbon bar.  Ever since I enabled the feature, my power management was a lot better.  I had a 20% power drop (or more) per hour prior to enabling it on the ribbon bar.  Now, the power appears to be performing well - around 6% drop per hour.  Also, the phone appeared to charge a lot faster than normal.  I will continue to monitor.

At 1:10 PM Today 1/10 my power was 100%

As of 3:45 PM, my power is at 84%

Peter

[MySIII]

Puttygutt wrote:

All -

The 4.3 update was pushed to my phone last Wednesday (1/8).  I immediately noticed the battery drain.  I went ahead and performed a factory reset, but the battery drain issue still occurred after I restored the device.  I then noticed a new option on the status screen ribbon bar called Smart Stay.  I believe this feature has been around for a while; however, they must of added the icon to the ribbon bar in 4.3.  I believe you enabled the feature on the settings screen prior to 4.3.  On my phone, post upgrade, it was turned off.  I enabled the feature from the ribbon bar.  Ever since I enabled the feature, my power management was a lot better.  I had a 20% power drop (or more) per hour prior to enabling it on the ribbon bar.  Now, the power appears to be performing well - around 6% drop per hour.  Also, the phone appeared to charge a lot faster than normal.  I will continue to monitor.

At 1:10 PM Today 1/10 my power was 100%

As of 3:45 PM, my power is at 84%

Peter

The feature has been around, under settings>display>smart screen.  However, that allows the phone to recognize that you are still looking at the phone so that it will stay on instead of the screen timing out and going to sleep. Not sure how that would influence battery drain. 

[Puttygutt]

Also, that S-Voice application uses a lot of power as well. If you do not use the S-Voice feature, you may want to disable the service.

System Settings -> Application Manager -> All -> S Voice -> Turn Off

Peter

Also, after my prior post, I turned Smart Stay back Off @ 3:51 PM.

At 3:51 Power was @ 83%

At 4:20 Power was @ 77%

A 6% drop in less than 30 minutes vs 3% with the Smart Stay turned on.

[rudeguyy]

I have had Smart Stay on and off and I have the same drop in battery life. I think it might be pure coincidence because there are times my phone battery seems fine and then other times it goes down in minutes. I have left my phone untouched for an hour and one time I lose 6% another time I lost 20%. I have no idea why. All the battery usage is coming from the Android OS which tells me something is screwed up with the update.

[Puttygutt]

Rudeguyy -

I understand.  This is the only setting I messed with.  I noticed the option was disabled on the ribbon bar today.  After I turned it on, my power performance improved greatly.  Did you compare the battery drain with it off and then on for a period?  Also, the battery charges a lot faster with it ON.  Who knows what the issue is.    I will see how the battery life is this weekend and report back. 

[rudeguyy]

Charging hasn't been a problem for me..just the draining part..it's been pretty much the same no matter what..just sometimes worse then others when it will randomly get hot without me even using the phone like its running the whole time or something

[sculter50]

Has anything been resolved on this issue my battery drains very quickly now and the phone gets hot very quickly. 

[Brew83]

I just upgraded last night to the new update and I am having extreme battery problems.  Battery is losing power while charging.  I just did a factory reset and it didn't help.  This is beyond ridiculous. If the phone doesn't work we shouldn't have to pay for the service. If there is a way to uninstall the update I would be happy.

[ChrisWW123]

I updated a few days ago and definetely notice battery drain.  Sitting in my chair this morning after charging my phone all night, I'm down to 88% battery after about 15-20 minutes.  Nothing on my phone has changed EXCEPT the 4.3 update I received a few days ago.  So Verizon is the slowest company to push new versions of Android to our phones and when they do get around to it, it doesn't work right and drains our battery.  Wow, that is pretty bad. 

[ChrisWW123]

UPDATE:  So remember above I said I was at 88% right?  I put my phone into standby mode for about 5-10 minutes while reading more posts, then brought phone out of standby to see if my level dropped, but it actually went UP 1% to 89%!  I've never seen that happen before.  While doing this after less then a minute, my level dropped back to 88%.  And my wifi did not come on as it did before the update.  Just sitting here for a few minutes power dropped 1% again and I am doing NOTHING on it.

[Dewey3k]

I have noticed occassional up-blips since the update too. I assume the

battery meter app is a bit defective.

[Ann154]

Dewey3k wrote:

I have noticed occassional up-blips since the update too. I assume the

battery meter app is a bit defective.

I have seen this occur on more than one device including the Nexus 7 tablet.

[pizzapablo]

>>Duplicate post removed to comply with the .  See <<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[pizzapablo]

>>Comment removed for discussing moderation; please review the <<

Perhaps more effort should be focused on editing bad software "updates" and FIXING THEM!

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[SC-Claim]

Add me to the growing angry mob about the battery drain with 4.3 update.

There are times I can't be near a charger so how am I supposed to depend on my phone being available when it's needed?  This is simply eff'ing ridiculous.  You can watch the battery life drain simply by holding the phone in your hand.  And it takes twice as long to recharge.

As a comparison, last night my neighbor went out to a restaurant, I have the S3, he has the S4.  While we were out, we used his phone to browse the web and to look at several videos.  I used my phone to text my wife.  After 3 hours, my phone was down to 50% and his was still at 90%.  I'm Verizon, he's on Sprint 4G. 

If you can't make our phones better with updates.....do us all a favor ------------------ DO NOTHING! 

Hurry and fix this defect.