Hi there,
My battery used to last for about 5 days. Since I updated with 1.8 version it only lasts for a bit more than a day. I changed my background from the fairphone background to a picture, is it possible that this is consuming that much battery? I tried to set it back to standard, but could not do it as it already says that my background is set on standard.
Any ideas what the problem could be? and how I can set back my background to standard?
hi.
To your first (implied) question: I don’t know if the battery problem could be related to the update. but since there have been many complaints about the updated and it has been rivesed for them it’s surely a possibillity.
Darker backgrounds use up less battery than light ones and still pictures use less than live wallpapers. but a 5:1 loss in battery runtime is probably more than that.
I don’t know of a “set to standard” option, is that a new thing with the 1.8 update or are you using a different launcher?
Usually you have to go to settings > Display > Wallpaper > Wallpapers > and “Set Wallpaper” to get the default wallpaper back.
Did you install any apps lately that might drain your battery? Or changed settings, like brightness or bluetooth/gps/wifi switched on?
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Hi,
after Updating from 1.5 to 1.8 the battery lifetime increased a little. But I made several times (even before the update and on my old phone) the experience that an App becomes creepy and drains the battery without any obvious reason.
So I became a fan of the App BetterBatteryStats, maybe it can help you to find the reason of your battery drain.
regards,
Shiny
When I go to settings>display>wallpaper>wallpapers there is no option for the standard fairphone wallpaper, in fact there are the same options than in settings>display>wallpapers>live wallpapers.
the only app I installed was the battery save app, but this should really do the opposite than drain my battery. I also installed an antivirus app, but the battery loss started only after the update not after the installation of the app.
Here are your two possibilities:
- Downgrade to 1.6 (through the Fairphone Updater in the advanced area) or
- Wait for the revised version of 1.8. There is a reason why it has been postponed, maybe your issues are resolved with the revised version.
My battery never lasted more than appr. 36 hours.
How did you make it to last 5 (five) days? I can only imagine it must have been on airplane mode for most of the time, and very rarely used.
To see the battery consumption, go here:
- tap menu button
- tap “Settings”
- tap “Battery”
There you see what consumes how much energy. On my phone, the display is first.
The energy control widget might also be useful, it allows to toggle Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and brightness directly on panel.
I like all the answers here! But, wow 5 days with your phone ?! That’s rather extraordinary I think 
Absolutely, I get two days by normal usage and just one at more hectic days. But I think it depends absolutely on how and where you are using your phone.
Many people use there Smartphone just as “phone” they disable nearly anything as long as phone calls work. I would’n do that because my Fairphone is a multi communication device and pocket computer for me, make phone calls is just one (minor) function for me. So I think if @julitta is a “phoner” 5 days could be realistic.
@julitta: Is it posible that you had disabled many serviced (GPS/WIFI/Mobile Traffic) before the Update? This services would be reactivated after the update and that could drain your Battery dramatically compared to a phone with disabled services.
regards,
Shiny
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Thank you all for your answers,
indeed I am mainly a phoner, but not only. The 5 days result from my field work times, when I do not have the option to charge the battery and I make 1 to 2 phone calls a day, write about 5 sms and only connect to the internet for 2 to 3 times a day. Currently I have been on a trip where I had no reception at all, therefore I didn’t use the phone at all, except for the alarm clock and it only lasted for 2 and a half days.
all functions like GPS are disabled.
Currently my display consumes 54% of the battery, but as I said before, I am not able to set it back to the fairphone standard wallpaper as I would like to.
regards, Julitta
Hello @julitta,
the wallpaper should not have any effect for the battery, the screen brightness has. So you can try to reduce it (or set it to automatic if it isn’t) at Settings -> Display.
If you are on a trip at the moment this will reduce your battery, too, even if you are just using the Phone. That is because your Phone needs to stay connected with a telephone pole. If you are moving around you will increase the distance to the next pole (needs more energy to stay connected) and at some point your phone needs to find an other pole to connect to. These reconnection also needs much energy. If you are traveling across the country it is hard work for your mobile phone.
So maybe there are also travel effects making your Battery looking weaker than it is.
regards,
Shiny
If you had no or little reception, that’s likely to have caused high battery usage as the phone will be searching for a mobile signal unless you have disabled 3G and the 2 sims too. If you have a signal you’ll get a longer battery life, even if you are not using it.
I don’t know what happened but recently my battery life started to decrease more and more. Today, my battery went from 100% to 0 % in 45 minutes :’( I have to say my mobile data (i.e. 3G) was enabled the entire time, but from full to empty battery in 45 minutes is really, really quick.
Hi @Robin,
I never disable my mobile data (or my WLAN) and I need to charge after one or two days depending on how long the screen was turned on. So 45 Minutes is much to quick.
Have you tryed to use BetterBatteryStats to find a “hungry” App?
regards,
Shiny
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Hi,
For battery issues, one possible reason is bugs in app: sometimes they are still using the CPU even in sleep mode. This happens to me with apps like firefox, skype, …
When it occurs (to me) I could feel the the phone became hotter due to the CPU activity.
Solution: what I suggest is to install a task manager app in order to monitor the phone activity and kill the app.
regards,
j
@Robin and all other,
in the next days I will start a new post about some battery-related topics (with FPOS 1.6), but here some remarks about some of your questions:
1.) I don’t think DARKER (more black) themes / background pictures enhance battery lifetime
–> FP doesn’t use an OLEDs for display, where that would have an effect! Just the display brightness is a point to save battery lifetime.
2.) 5 days of usage is also normal for me and for my behaviour. How is it possible you ask?
- Display brightness to AUTO
- Data connections disabled, only if I use it enabled (3-4 times a day for 10 minutes)
- For Standby and Calls using 2G / only for data connection 3G (“GravityBox” offers an automatic function for this)(Can nearly double the battery lifetime!!)
- Switch-off phone during night (23h-8h)
- Restrict CPU to 754MHz (“SetCPU” is able of making this easily), only if needed/wanted allow up to 1209MHz!) I don’t see a noteable difference in phone behaviour!)
- usage: ~ 0.5-1h calls/day, 0.5h Internet/day, ~5 SMS/day, sometimes 0.5-1h GPS+Routing/day
- I normally charge on Sunday and last until Friday
3.) @Robin You are sure not to run in to a bloated battery?
4.) Because I saw some regularities with the “14%” stucking und “jumping” in battery percentages I got a 2nd battery from FP and are doing some testing (but results are the same for both batteries!). I will report in a separate post about this!
That’s all from my side for now.
Cheers, Robert
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Hi,
I can just tell you a story that could help. I use aCalendar for my calendar app. Before 1.8 update, I noticed sync issues with my calendar entries. I googled a bit and found out that I had to install the latest version of Google calendar (strange indeed).
I did that and it solved my sync issue. However, the Google calendar app started to use up all the battery in less 1h and the phone started to be very warm. I also noticed that something was using a lot of data, but in background (note : I activate the data sync only when I want to). Therefore, even if my sync data was off, something was syncing a lot…
Then, I disabled the background sync of data and removed Google Calendar app. The battery and data consumption issues were solved.
After that, I installed the new FP update (1.8). In the same configuration, the battery lifetime has improved a lot. I am now around 3-4 days (with little use of consuming features). My calendar sync issue was still not solved. I re-installed google calendar (but with background sync data disabled) and it solved it without draining my battery power.
In conclusion :
- Google calendar with aCalendar.
- Background sync of data disabled.
- Update 1.8.
- Normal use of my FP (including use of data apps in GSM).
- Better battery lifetime.
Hope it will help.
Best regards,
Samuel
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Thanks for the discussion, particularly these specific use cases you’re telling us.
@Marco and @anon12454812 from customer support will be collecting these and working with the software team on troubleshooting some of these issues. We don’t have an outlook yet on when this will be.
If it’s software related, and as some people suggest stemming from the last 1.8 software update, then some beta testing of the new software update v1.8.1 will be beneficial. We’ll keep you informed when beta testing is planned.
Hi,
not relay strange. aCalendar has noting to do with the Sync process so it won’t be really interesting for this problem. The Topic “Calendar on Android” can be separated in three parts:
- Sync Calendar Data.
- Store Calendar Data.
- Display and Edit Calendar Data.
Every part has its own App(s). aCalendar does Part 3. it is just showing the appointments that are still sored on your phone and allows you to edit and create new appointments. The Apps for Part 1 & 2 are (almost) invisible.
It sounds like your problem has to do with part 1, the syncing of data. If you are using a google callendar it will be synced by an invisible google service. I assume that google Updates this service with the calendar App so if you update (or install) the Calendar App you might also update the sync service unconsciously.
Sure, this is just a theory but it will explain why installing the google Callendar will fix the Bug ;).
I had absolutely no battery problems after updating to 1.8 contrariwise it seems my battery is draining sower since the update. But I never used the google calendar I’m syncing several calendars with an other sync service from my own server so a google sync bug wouldn’t affect me.
regards,
Shiny
Hi Shiny,
Thanks for your feedback. You are right. Installing Google calendar should have updated the background sync service for any “display calendar” apps.
My point regarding the topic of this thread is that Google sync stuff should be buggy somewhere. The other option is that Google deliberately decided to sync every 2 seconds even if the data sync is disabled, using the background data sync. It’s my feeling when I see the calendar sync process when the background data sync is activated.
My solution is not perfect, but it’s a convenient workaround to be synced and to have a decent battery lifetime. Your solution is actually much better.
Best regards,
Samuel
Hello @samuel_chenal,
of cause your solution is a proper workaround and my post should not suggest another one. The only thing I wanted to do is to propose a theory, why your solution helps and rehabilitate aCalendar(+) (which I use,too ;)).
By writing my last post I noticed, that CalDavSync also offers a option to sync with goolge. I never used it and don’t know how good it works but maybe alternative sync providers can be a second workaround for your specific problem. I don’t know how many of them will support google Calendar and it will be a lose of comfort because I think they must poll the data and can not use a push service but its an idea.
regards,
Shiny