[d a elliott]

I trade out Android phones pretty regularly, especially because I'm with TMO and use JumpV1. Along the way, and across multiple models, I've become familiar with different apps, tricks, features, etc., especially those of a diagnostic nature. I've experienced batery drain on 3 different models over the past 2 years (LG G2, G3, and Samsung Note Edge), and in every case, I learned how to solve the issue without factory resetting. In each case, the cause was actually different. For example, the G2 had Play Music constantly trying to access the servers, which was a bug, and so the solution involved going deep into Google Acount settings that were far from intuitive. Problem solved. The Note Edge, on the other hand, suffered from an inability to hit Deep Sleep when it was supposed to. Why? Google had by default "Always Scan for WiFi" active, and so a bug had it ALWAYS scanning. If one was unaware of this, they would watch their battery freefall 20% in a mere 30 minutes. Turn it off and problem solved.

So this brings me to the Priv. I sometimes go long stretches where a reasonable amount of battery is consumed, but I sometimes watch myself lose 10% or more within 30 minutes. Why? I don't have an exact answer, but I can venture a guess. Using CPU Spy Plus (great utility), I've observed that the Priv uses wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much CPU power for minor tasks, like web browsing or messaging. You know when this is happening because this is also when your phone starts getting pretty warm (like right now). There's no reason for a hexacore processor to run full bore when I'm typing into a field on a message board and no other processes are taking place. By contrast, my Note Edge and Galaxy Tab S actually RARELY go full power, whereas I'm catching the Priv doing it about 30 to 50% of the time when not in Deep Sleep. The majority of their CPU cycles are spent at lower speeds, going faster for an occasional boost or when it's needed (like intense gaming).

So the good news is that this isn't related to any apps or settings, but the bad news is that we'll have to be patient and wait for BlackBerry to fix this. IIRC, I believe HTC had a similar problem with their Qualcomm-powered One (either M7 or M8; can't remember), but they were able to fix it with an update. For now, just hope BlackBerry is aware and be patient. That issue aside, I really love this phone.

[ce71]

Good points.

Another thing, which pertains to only AT&T, you will find owners of Samsung, Moto, etc...complaining about battery drain associated with "Enhanced 4G LTE" on the AT&T network. Fortunately for the Priv, you can disable this in your settings. Some handsets don't have the option.

Settings... More... Cellular networks... Enhanced 4G LTE services

[mithrazor]

I've experienced the same thing, when Im using the phone th battery percent can drop rather quickly. It's alarming actually. I hope they optimize it and fix it

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[gizmo21]

Using CPU Spy Plus (great utility), I've observed that the Priv uses wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much CPU power for minor tasks, like web browsing or messaging. You know when this is happening because this is also when your phone starts getting pretty warm (like right now). There's no reason for a hexacore processor to run full bore when I'm typing into a field on a message board and no other processes are taking place. By contrast, my Note Edge and Galaxy Tab S actually RARELY go full power, whereas I'm catching the Priv doing it about 30 to 50% of the time when not in Deep Sleep. The majority of their CPU cycles are spent at lower speeds, going faster for an occasional boost or when it's needed (like intense gaming).

So the good news is that this isn't related to any apps or settings, but the bad news is that we'll have to be patient and wait for BlackBerry to fix this. IIRC, I believe HTC had a similar problem with their Qualcomm-powered One (either M7 or M8; can't remember), but they were able to fix it with an update. For now, just hope BlackBerry is aware and be patient. That issue aside, I really love this phone.

In another thread the PKB was supposed to use a lot of battery. Could one perhaps compare VKB vs. PKB drain.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums

[d a elliott]

I've thought about that, but after collecting a lot of data over the past two days between myself and another Priv user as well as between multiple Android devices, I'm firmly convinced that the Priv's processor is not optimized for efficiency. There's a strong correlation between maximum CPU cycle and screen time, independent of other variables like Location Services, Enhanced LTE, Screen Brightness, tasks (watching video vs simple messaging), Sync, Wi-Fi Scanning, Wi-Fi use, VKB vs PKB, etc. The other user has a very different setup from my own, with almost everything turned off and a very dim screen, and our battery drain is roughly equivalent - 20% / hour when screen is active. CPU Spy in both instances reveals that the Snapdragon is working much harder than it should. By contrast, the other devices spend most of their time at lower speeds, hitting the highest at startup before balancing out and rarely returning.

One thing that I don't like is that BlackBerry's Battery Saver is very vanilla in a bad way. On the Samsung Galaxy devices, for example, activating Power Saving gives you several options you can turn on or off, including "Restrict Processor Performance." If BlackBerry could implement an option like that, I think we would all see a dramatic increase in battery life. I'm confident that BlackBerry will fix this one way or another. This issue aside, I like this phone much better than the LG G3 and Galaxy Note Edge.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[-Puck-]

Its bugs with the Hub account info causing BlackBerry Services to eat battery like crazy. Usually with people who used the BlackBerry Content Transfer App.

I went from 2.5hrs screen on time before having to charge all the way to 5.5+hrs of screen on...which is STELLAR for an Android phone and on par with my Passport. I will copy/paste from another post I made how I did I without having to factory reset it...

I fixed almost all hub and battery issues by wiping Services and adding my accounts manually.

Go to the Battery settings and check "BlackBerry Services" . If it's bugged it will be the leading cause of battery drain behind the screen. Mine was only 2% behind the screen in battery drain! Click it, and in the page that pops up click "Clear Data". This will wipe all the accounts for the phone without doing a factory reset.

When you first open Hub after that, it will be completely empty. Give it a few seconds and your BBM, Texts, and Twitter(after prompting for password) will auto load and sync on their own. Now, add your email accounts manually to Hub, making sure to set sync to Never and use Push. Disable Gmail app sync for any emails that are added to Hub to prevent double notifications and further improve battery life.

After doing this my Hub opens instantly, syncs way faster, phone doesn't turn into a hot potato while using, and battery life is back to normal.

"BlackBerry Services" battery usage went from almost as high as Screen usage to barely anything. Currently still at 54% battery after 3hr 20mins screen on time, with BlackBerry Services only at 3% battery use.

Posted from my BlackBerry Priv

[John Doe99]

The other user has a very different setup from my own, with almost everything turned off and a very dim screen, and our battery drain is roughly equivalent - 20% / hour when screen is active.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Dang, seriously? Mine is great with low screen brightness and everything mentioned off. With full screen brightness it might be that bad.

No complaints here








Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[Bonsaibo]

Gotta keep this one for when I get my Priv.

[Polotis]

Good stuff guys.

Bring back random taglines!

[d a elliott]

John, would you mind downloading CPU Spy Plus, letting it go a day without charge, and posting a screenshot of it? I'd be curious to see how active your CPU is at the 1440 range. It would help confirm my theory, and if yours is not cycling much at that speed, consider yourself lucky.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[d a elliott]

Good stuff Puck. (Un)fortunately, I'm not having any problems with BlackBerry Services, but other users might.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[tickerguy]

Watch those apps too... Many pull location as often as every 10 minutes even when not open... Does interesting things to your battery.... DTEK for the win!

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[d a elliott]

These two attachments give an idea of what I'm talking about. Total screen time has been 4hr and 11min. Every sharp decrease in battery occurred while the screen was on. Brightness was set to about 35%, and only web browsing and messaging occurred (no video streaming; no gaming). I had to reboot the phone around 6 hours ago becausd Google Play Services was crashing. Anyway, when we look at the time the phone has been awake (i.e. subtracting time in Deep Sleep), it's hitting max cycles about 25-30% of the time. Other flagship phones run max cycling about 5-10% of the time under similar conditions. It's also during that time that the battery meter drops.

[d a elliott]

Watch those apps too... Many pull location as often as every 10 minutes even when not open... Does interesting things to your battery.... DTEK for the win!

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Have checked on that. That's not the problem in my case, but it is something people should watch.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[-Puck-]

I'm on track for 6hrs screen on time today, and it's been nice and cool even during use. Before, I was hitting Battery Saving mode(15%) after 3hrs screen on!

I definitely would like to see the Battery settings page for those with heavy drain...for me it was BlackBerry Services always right under my Screen, but it seems others have different issues.

Either way, we know it is software and not hardware and the Priv has potential to be the best battery life of ANY android out! My buddy has a Note 5 and gets 4-4.5hrs screen on time with a custom ROM.

Posted from my BlackBerry Priv

[d a elliott]

Two attachments here give an idea of what I'm talking about. Total screen time has been 4hr and 11mins. Every sharp decrease in battery occurred while the screen was on. Brightness was set to about 35%, and only web browsing and messaging occurred (i.e. no video streaming; no gaming). I had to reboot the phone around 6 hours ago becausd Google Play Services was crashing. Anyway, when we look at the time the phone has been awake (i.e. subtracting time in Deep Sleep), it's hitting max cycles about 25-30% of the time. Other flagship phones run max cycling about 5-10% of the time under similar conditions. It's also during that time that the battery meter drops the most.

[d a elliott]

I'm on track for 6hrs screen on time today, and it's been nice and cool even during use. Before, I was hitting Battery Saving mode(15%) after 3hrs screen on!

I definitely would like to see the Battery settings page for those with heavy drain...for me it was BlackBerry Services always right under my Screen, but it seems others have different issues.

Either way, we know it is software and not hardware and the Priv has potential to be the best battery life of ANY android out! My buddy has a Note 5 and gets 4-4.5hrs screen on time with a custom ROM.

Posted from my BlackBerry Priv

That sounds horrible for a Note. My Note Edge was around 6-6.5 hours. I agree; I think it's definitely fixable via OTA update. I'll upload a screenshot...waiting on mod approval.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[-Puck-]

That sounds horrible for a Note. My Note Edge was around 6-6.5 hours. I agree; I think it's definitely fixable via OTA update. I'll upload a screenshot...waiting on mod approval.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Samsung shrunk the battery on the Note 5 by around 400mah, now it's only a 3000.

Edit: Nevermind, Edge is the same smaller battery and it dropped by 220.

Posted from my BlackBerry Priv

[d a elliott]

Samsung shrunk the battery on the Note 5 by around 400mah, now it's only a 3000.

Edit: Nevermind, Edge is the same smaller battery.

Posted from my BlackBerry Priv

Unless that's fixable, I'm glad I skipped a Note this year. The Edge had a pretty bad battery drain issue (20-25% / hour), but I was able to diagnose and fix it (15% / hour screen time). Seems other people had different causes though and were not able to fix theirs. What I like about BlackBerry as opposed to Samsung is that they seem more committed to looking into, acknowledging, and fixing issues.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[John Doe99]

John, would you mind downloading CPU Spy Plus, letting it go a day without charge, and posting a screenshot of it? I'd be curious to see how active your CPU is at the 1440 range. It would help confirm my theory, and if yours is not cycling much at that speed, consider yourself lucky.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Sure, ive got to charge it tonight though, so I'll post that data in 16-18+hrrs ish


Edit: sorry elliot, for some reason the spy app keeps crashing :/ I can't get it to work

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[9lives353]

Unless that's fixable, I'm glad I skipped a Note this year. The Edge had a pretty bad battery drain issue (20-25% / hour), but I was able to diagnose and fix it (15% / hour screen time). Seems other people had different causes though and were not able to fix theirs. What I like about BlackBerry as opposed to Samsung is that they seem more committed to looking into, acknowledging, and fixing issues.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I had to return my Note 5 due to battery drain. For me, it was a problem with the wifi not going in to deep sleep. With Wifi off I lost about 3% an hour with light to moderate use. With Wifi on (not even necessarily connected to a network), the battery drained about 5.5% and upwards per hour. I dropped it off at T-Mo today and the store assistant couldn't believe it - it dropped 2% in a few minutes right in front of his eyes.

[BlackberryFan777]

I trade out Android phones pretty regularly, especially because I'm with TMO and use JumpV1. Along the way, and across multiple models, I've become familiar with different apps, tricks, features, etc., especially those of a diagnostic nature. I've experienced batery drain on 3 different models over the past 2 years (LG G2, G3, and Samsung Note Edge), and in every case, I learned how to solve the issue without factory resetting. In each case, the cause was actually different. For example, the G2 had Play Music constantly trying to access the servers, which was a bug, and so the solution involved going deep into Google Acount settings that were far from intuitive. Problem solved. The Note Edge, on the other hand, suffered from an inability to hit Deep Sleep when it was supposed to. Why? Google had by default "Always Scan for WiFi" active, and so a bug had it ALWAYS scanning. If one was unaware of this, they would watch their battery freefall 20% in a mere 30 minutes. Turn it off and problem solved.

So this brings me to the Priv. I sometimes go long stretches where a reasonable amount of battery is consumed, but I sometimes watch myself lose 10% or more within 30 minutes. Why? I don't have an exact answer, but I can venture a guess. Using CPU Spy Plus (great utility), I've observed that the Priv uses wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much CPU power for minor tasks, like web browsing or messaging. You know when this is happening because this is also when your phone starts getting pretty warm (like right now). There's no reason for a hexacore processor to run full bore when I'm typing into a field on a message board and no other processes are taking place. By contrast, my Note Edge and Galaxy Tab S actually RARELY go full power, whereas I'm catching the Priv doing it about 30 to 50% of the time when not in Deep Sleep. The majority of their CPU cycles are spent at lower speeds, going faster for an occasional boost or when it's needed (like intense gaming).

So the good news is that this isn't related to any apps or settings, but the bad news is that we'll have to be patient and wait for BlackBerry to fix this. IIRC, I believe HTC had a similar problem with their Qualcomm-powered One (either M7 or M8; can't remember), but they were able to fix it with an update. For now, just hope BlackBerry is aware and be patient. That issue aside, I really love this phone.

It sounds to me like the performance cost of using an alternate kernel. As a "selling point" BlackBerry used a kernel that is security-focused rather than performance focused.

Posted via CB10

[d a elliott]

It sounds to me like the performance cost of using an alternate kernel. As a "selling point" BlackBerry used a kernel that is security-focused rather than performance focused.

Posted via CB10

The good news is that someone else has contacted BlackBerry and they are now looking into this (high-level support; not the basic or low-level CS people). We should get an answer within the month I imagine (though they seem to respond fast, I like to be excessively conservative with estimates and temper expectations). I'll keep everyone posted.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[anon(870071)]

What about enabling battery save mode?

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[Jasper-Ng]

Is there app we can download to cut back on CPU? Those that I can find requires root

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android