I'm a new Galaxy S II (and new Android) user, and am a bit disappointed in the battery life of my new phone. It was running down extremely quickly yesterday, only lasting about 12 hours with relatively normal use (sending half a dozen texts, downloading 2 apps, checking Facebook and Twitter once an hour or so for a couple of minutes throughout the day). I allowed the phone to discharge completely and charged it fully last night, but this morning nothing seems to have improved. I burned up 10% of the battery in half an hour sending 2 texts, checking my emails, Facebook and Twitter and downloading and trying out a couple of apps.

I'm anxious to know if there's a bit of a burn-in time with the battery on this thing - does it get better after a few charges? I see a lot of people saying they can have the phone on for a few days in some cases, but that's definitely not my experience thus far.

I've installed JuiceDefender (balanced profile), AutoKiller Memory and Advanced Task Killer to try to sort things out but none of them seem to having too much effect and to be quite honest I'd rather not have to compromise my experience by running a number of apps like this to try to extend my battery life at all (nor do I want to have to turn the brightness right down to an unusable level, or set black wallpapers for example).

Does anyone have any real advice on this? I'm starting to think that switching ROMs might be worthwhile? I see that the leaked 2.3.4 ROM seems to have better battery life - is this correct? I'm a bit reluctant to switch to any other unofficial ROMs as there are so many I wouldn't know where to start. It seems they all make a lot of changes but I'd want to keep as close to the stock feel as possible, just with better battery life.

If you don't want to run apps that help, or turn down your brightness level or use black wallpapers I recommend buying a different phone

StevenX, there's some guides on THIS THREAD (http://samsunggalaxysforums.com/showthread.php/4124-Guides-amp-Resources-Battery-life-19-Reasons-for-Launcher-Pro-Customizing-LP.....) which might help you.

You should be able to considerably improve that. Juicedefender may require a little digging in the settings to set up right, you basically want it to turn off data when the screen is off and check and sync every 15mins. Did you install a lot of apps, some may not be written well and use up a lot of battery connecting to the net. The battery can take a few cycles to get better and in all likelihood if you just got the phone you are probably using it a lot more than moderately. But still it should last 5-6 hours of constant use. (screen is what uses the most battery).

I had similar usage to what you described today and it came off charge at around half eight and is on 72% now.


Edit: Oh and plug it in the usb on your computer and see what update kies gives, it may well offer a 2.3.4 update.

And ditch Advanced Task Killer, it uses more battery than it saves in most cases.

Also, unlike windows (win7 is the exception), the less free memory you have on your phone, the better. Just let the system manage your running Apps.

There is a lot of controversy and discussion about this, but those who know how the Android system really works, generally give the same advice - task killers do more harm than good.

If you don't want to be disappointed with the battery life, then don't buy a GS2.

It is a fantastic phone, with which you can do anything but use it! Forget multi tasking, it just burns the battery. I really believe it's a design error, should have been a bit thicker with a 3000mah battery.

Anyway amazon sell a genuine samsung battery for £12, I use an emergency charger, with 2700 mah nimh batteries. I can then use it at anytime I want.

If you don't want to be disappointed with the battery life, then don't buy a GS2.

It is a fantastic phone, with which you can do anything but use it! Forget multi tasking, it just burns the battery. I really believe it's a design error, should have been a bit thicker with a 3000mah battery.

Anyway amazon sell a genuine samsung battery for £12, I use an emergency charger, with 2700 mah nimh batteries. I can then use it at anytime I want.

You're doing it wrong, I get amazing battery life now, just been to spain for a week and my friends Iphone 4 was dying before my phone.

My battery usage reports 68% was Android OS
What does usage report for some others?


Is this just more bad programming? thanks G

My battery usage reports 68% was Android OS
What does usage report for some others?


Is this just more bad programming? thanks G

My understanding of the Android OS usage bug is that it's firmware related. Have you:

ever updated your phone?
If so when did you last?
What firmware are you on? Dial *#1234# and post back.

The bug can be fixed but in most cases comes back after a short period of time.
the only way to get rid of it is by flashing new firmware.

Not sure if this is true but check the forum for other threads.

The biggest battery killer is constant synching (twitter, facebook, news feeds, weather, etc). If you change these to manually synch when you view them, you'll find your battery lasts a lot longer. GPS is another killer - only turn GPS on when you actually use it. Other than that, think of your phone as a computer - you wouldn't expect your laptop to last several days without charging, would you?

Update the firmware for a big increase

Use Better Battery Stats to see what processes are waking your phone in Standby. It's a nice and a must have app IMO.
I, for myself, did some Undervolting and that has improved the battery life quite impressively.

I just felt a need to write here but finally 2.3.4 firmware is avaliable for Greece and I installed it the other days on my sgs2 and all i can say is WOW!!!!Battery is way-way-way more better didnt kept a back up so
i installed all my apps from the beginning with WiFi,played few hours also havent turned it off yet and its the third day with 2.3.4 battery is at 73% performance is flawless havent notice any bugs this is just perfect!!!!
Thank you.

You're doing it wrong, I get amazing battery life now, just been to spain for a week and my friends Iphone 4 was dying before my phone.
What am I doing wrong, and what has your friends iPhone got to do with what I said?

. . . nor do I want to have to turn the brightness right down to an unusable level . . .
The screen is a big user of the battery. At the very least have brightness set on auto. Personally, I turn it down to a comfortable level that I find is actually less than auto.

Briggs has some very good tips on battery management if you search them out.

Twice the battery if I read it right. Although it'll make the phone look pregnant.

http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-galaxy-ii-power-problems-resolved-super-strong-035613761.html

I prefer to have the screen brightness on 'automatic' too. Switching off the automatic synching is also a key feature. Screen and autosynch are the main battery eaters.

With these two tricks and a little help from Juice Defender you'll notice a GIGANTIG difference. Without buying anything... :)

Which firmware do you guys suggest I am on XWKE8

First when you are out of wifi range toggle wifi off as the wifi still searches when using 3G. I'm am told 2.3.4 also addresses the issue of the Android OS eating battery ... So it should be better once you have the update : )

I'm a new Galaxy S II (and new Android) user, and am a bit disappointed in the battery life of my new phone. It was running down extremely quickly yesterday, only lasting about 12 hours with relatively normal use (sending half a dozen texts, downloading 2 apps, checking Facebook and Twitter once an hour or so for a couple of minutes throughout the day). I allowed the phone to discharge completely and charged it fully last night, but this morning nothing seems to have improved. I burned up 10% of the battery in half an hour sending 2 texts, checking my emails, Facebook and Twitter and downloading and trying out a couple of apps.

I'm anxious to know if there's a bit of a burn-in time with the battery on this thing - does it get better after a few charges? I see a lot of people saying they can have the phone on for a few days in some cases, but that's definitely not my experience thus far.

I've installed JuiceDefender (balanced profile), AutoKiller Memory and Advanced Task Killer to try to sort things out but none of them seem to having too much effect and to be quite honest I'd rather not have to compromise my experience by running a number of apps like this to try to extend my battery life at all (nor do I want to have to turn the brightness right down to an unusable level, or set black wallpapers for example).

Does anyone have any real advice on this? I'm starting to think that switching ROMs might be worthwhile? I see that the leaked 2.3.4 ROM seems to have better battery life - is this correct? I'm a bit reluctant to switch to any other unofficial ROMs as there are so many I wouldn't know where to start. It seems they all make a lot of changes but I'd want to keep as close to the stock feel as possible, just with better battery life.

Listen, I had the same exact problem. The answer is NOT to add apps and lower brightness etc. I took mine back to Best Buy and bitched and moaned and I was given a replacement phone. Holy crap! Now my phone will go ALL day with moderate use, on full bright with WiFi on and Bluetooth and Car Mode, etc. Trust me. Like the rep at Samsung told me. Sometimes a phone is a lemon. It happens.

Just bought my first S2 yesterday, came from an iphone 3GS, the battery is about the same, i have no issues at all with my new S2, it has gingerbread though of course, ive never used anything older than that.

I think once you get used to Android and its 1 to 1.5 days battery use you soon forget that previously you would have had several days at least on your old non-Android phone. One learns to adapt :)