Why Can't They Fix This?

[Emily Young]

We take some of the most common apps of 2018 and load them on to a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and a Google Pixel 2 XL to see why my Samsung phone always seems to overheat and run out of battery.

 

 

Buy a Samsung Galaxy S9+:

On Amazon: http://geni.us/KjgSwE

On Newegg: http://geni.us/L0J4

 

Buy a Pixel 2 XL:

On Amazon: http://geni.us/dheebA

On Newegg: http://geni.us/6ZEB

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, GabenJr said:

Buy a Samsung Galaxy S9+:

Buy a Pixel 2 XL:

O N E P L U S  6

[Radium_Angel]

10 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

O N E P L U S  6

I'm certain you meant to say KeyOne

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

I'm certain you meant to say KeyOne

HERESY

[mynameisjuan]

My S8+ is unplugged at 7am and at 12am when I plug it in I am usually at 40-50% with medium use. Battery is not an issue.

[volca]

Could be wakelocks - https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/help/guide-hunting-wakelocks-battery-drain-t3697324

[effeKtSVK]

Isn't there a way to get better battery stats when you root the phone? I'm an iPhone user but quick Google search later I found this: https://www.howtogeek.com/260848/how-to-get-more-meaningful-battery-stats-on-your-android-phone/

[humi]

Have you tried Carat from University of Helsinki to diagnoses battery consumption problems?
http://carat.cs.helsinki.fi/

[UnicornsOnLSD]

I know you said it's unnecessary in the video but have you tried running LineageOS or another custom ROM on the S9+? Maybe you should compare stock firmware to a custom ROM. If your results show that the stock firmware is the issue, you could extend it to other phones

[yourbiggestfanStan]

Your phone is probably surveilling you. Try removing the cameras and microphones and see if your battery life increases. Also, flash one of the S9 with lineage and remove all the samsung apps and see if its from the network or the samsung apps.

[Tlhbobby]

I'd recommend using BetterBatteryStats on XDA since you can now use it without root

[Sun Djinn Kari]

So, this behavior from Samsung phones is really not new, and it has been around since the S2!  Some anecdotal evidence (oxymoron huh?): My wife used to own the Galaxy S2 when I met her, she usually complained about a draining battery which I completely understood seeing as how she was using it for videos and netflix, back before battery management was matured, but funny thing, my LG Lucky was getting more life than hers!  Later down the line I purchased a Used S3, and its battery life was good, but not great.  It lasts anywhere between 9 - 12 hours depending on my usage, which puts it directly at odds of what I have seen with other S3 owners!  Recently, a friend of mine upgraded from his S2 to an S4, and his battery frequently dies less than half way through the day, this happens so much we purchased a rechargeable battery pack for him to carry to recharge his phone during the day.  I purchased an S6, surprisingly it hasn't failed me.  I am keeping my fingers crossed, because by the end of the day, I still have about 25 - 30% battery life on it, and this is after 16 hours.

 

So Linus, you are not alone.

[Punderino]

It's probably just a wakelock that's keeping the phone from going into its "deep-sleep" mode.

https://www.xda-developers.com/stop-wakelocks-android-without-root/

[bombaglad]

You should check out the "Running Services" menu in developer options to see what actually runs on the problematic phone, and for how long, compared to the other s9.

[brandishwar]

Out of curiosity, are you using any kind of VPN, such as Private Internet Access, and did you have that installed and running on the test phones as well? VPN software is notorious for draining batteries. I don't know of one that doesn't have that issue, with some worse than others. And it's always going to be a problem simply due to how VPN software works.

 

I use OpenVPN since I self-host to have access to my home network on the go. And I have to be careful about how long I leave it connected. I typically only have to charge my battery at night on my S7. But if I have OpenVPN running in the background, I have to charge sometime in the afternoon as well. More often if my Internet usage is higher than normal.

 

At the same time, that could also explain why your phone is HOT when pulling it out of your pocket. The heat is, obviously, coming from the phone's processor. And if you have it connected to a VPN with a lot of Internet activity in the background, it'll become noticeably warm.

[mynameisjuan]

Also @LinusTech on your S9 go to dev options and show CPU usage to get an overlay.

 

This is non-root but more importantly the fact that you mention its draining no more when using than idle means the app or service that is running is most likely running non-stop and you might be able to catch it. I have used this in the past to find out what is eating away your battery life. 

 

Yes, you wont be able to see it when the phone is locked (maybe with AOD??) but it will lead you towards the right direction. 

[Guest]

Goodness me that watch is HUGE. Looks like the Ben 10 watch.

[LEXXIUS]

If it gets hot in your pocket and drains when idling, it's possible that a cryptominer somehow got on the phone. Unfortunately, as far as I've read, it's not easy to find it. Or maybe the battery went bad prematurely... One thing to make completely sure if this is a software or a hardware issue: Factory Reset, set it up again and test it.

 

I also love my 256Gb S9+ but the battery doesn't idle well, on my old Axon 7 (1 year 9 months) with a very used up battery, it only drained at about 1-2% in deep sleep, the S9+ loses much more, my battery graph decline is much steeper (but it's a consistent decline, resembling a straight line) compared to the old Axon 7 (much flatter in deep sleep but drops when used pretty fast).

 

Also at the end of my workday (not what I expected from a bigger brand new battery):

old Axon 7: 50 - 55% left

S9+: 50 - 65% left

[TetraSky]

Did you try doing a hard reset on Linus' phone and see if it still behaved the same way?
Maybe he just has a hidden cryptominer on his phone or something...

[HanZie82]

Also the worse the reception is the more power it uses.
Also check for wakelocks like advised. 

And yeha dont expect for Samsung to do anyhting about it. They dont know or care...

[crosstiger]

I had the exact same issue with my Galaxy Alpha. The battery was dead after 3 - 4 hours of idle. It happens extremely random and a restart of the phone fixed it 'til next time. I installed Aida 64 (yes there is a mobile app of it) and took a look at what's going on. I noticed that the cpu was under 100% load constantly and looking at the running services it was the android system itself that consumed all cpu power.

 

Unfortunately until this date I could not fix the problem since a factory reset and even installing a different os (official Norway os version from Samsung) through odin did not solve the issue. My guess is that some task crashes and causes a very high cpu usage which drains the battery. Which task it is is unknown to me.

 

 

[vbob100]

I too had a similar battery problem but on the Nexus 6P, the solution for me was to go to developer options and under networking turn off Mobile data always active. Then use up your battery completely, after the phone turns off try to turn it on till it boots up, it took me 3 times till it turned on, and keep using it until it turns off by itself, my phone just stayed at 2% for 2 hours of use. After the phone turns off by itself a second time charge it up and see if battery life has improved.

[LEXXIUS]

2 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Goodness me that watch is HUGE. Looks like the Ben 10 watch.

That's why I don't like smartwatches. Also their battery life and limited usefulness...

[Justeego]

I had a similar problem with my Motorola G 2015, the problem was that on geolocalization settings menù if you open the Research option (I don't know if it's this name because I don't use English) there is an option that says that it enhances the localization by searching Wi-fi ANY MOMENT, and bluetooth too, the problem is that google maps still asks me to enable it every time I open it (you can just say no and it works), I use High precision mode

[jfarre20]

adb logcat works without root. Might give you an idea of what's going on.