[Q] Inbox loading and battery life help!!!

rmontero01 said:

First... Im new to this site and somewhat new to andriod

I recently purchased note 3 and i love what it can do...additionally, I purchased the gear 2 to match the phone. The problem is, I haven't switch phones yet due to some issues that im not liking.. Coming from an iphone 5s, I like the idea of having that freedom and not being tied down to apples controlling ways however, there may be some rhyme and reason to it?? Anyway, I bought the note 3 in hopes that I can break out of the iphone once and for all... but heres what im facing...

I have 3 email accounts configured on the device
Every time i click on message or I get an email notification, I click on it, it starts loading... the problem is, just to display the inbox takes about 30 seconds to load...once It loads the inbox, I can open the mail with no problem but I noticed a lag.. every time i i switch mail boxes

Battery life sucks!! brand new phone and the battery sucks and I can't figure out why!

The iphone 5s that I have, is really good on battery and i use it check emails on regular...especially my work emails (Exchange)...sometimes go on line check a few things and the phone can last me just about the whole work day without charging!!

I was hoping can do the same on the note 3 but unfortunately, thats not the case.. I've done a test and carried my both phones all day did just about the same tasks and i noticed a significant drop in battery, while the iphone does it effortlessly!

Now, im not hear to bad mouth the note 3... I really want to switch but these things are preventing me from activating the phone...

Everyone that I speak to that has the phone, are all experiencing long battery life and no issues like mine... so im turning to you guys to help me...

My last android phone was the EVO and i had to sell it because the battery life was soo bad, I was carrying two batteries and an extra charger just to prevent it from completely draining.. I had others suggest to me to turn off this and that...eventually my phones was as useless a flip phone. All that power that needs to be constantly charging... I cant have that.



I've even rooted the phone


SM-N900P
Andriod Version 4.4.2


HELP!!!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Android. My name is Topher and for the next 5 minutes or so, I'll be your guide to getting the most out of the Note 3. Sometimes, in order to help you, I'll need more information, so I'll ask questions. Since I end up writing very long responses, I'll try to bold all of my questions so they stand out more easily... I'm not internet-yelling at you in those instances.

Ok, introductions are now out of the way, let's try to get your phone working as you want it. I've grouped your questions/concerns into various groups so that we can address each one individually.

E-mail lag

You mentioned that you have a few different accounts, what e-mail services are you using? I ask because if all of the accounts are gmail, you can use the gmail app, which I find deals with the transitions a bit better than the original e-mail app that Samsung has.

If you have various services (yahoo, gmail, outlook, etc), a good option is CloudMagic. There are good reviews on the app and have gotten good reviews from blogs.

Another option (although probably less appealing) is using a distinct e-mail app for each service. Yahoo has an app, so does Outlook.

Battery Life

This is a big black box, since it's tough to say exactly what's causing it. I can typically get between 15-18 hours of battery life before I have to charge it up (I typically will charge when it drops below 30%). I've listed the various ways that I've seen that can help (or hurt) battery life below.

1. Signal Strength
   For me, this is the number-one cause of battery drain. If I'm in an area with solid 4G signal, my battery life is great. It's a lot worse when I'm in areas where my phone is constantly switching between 4G and 3G (thanks a lot, Sprint!). The main cause is that, when searching, the phone boosts power to the radios and they just end up using more juice.
   
   Also, having Bluetooth, GPS, and Wifi on (but not connected to anything) all the time will increase battery usage. These radios are regularly searching, so turning them off can help out.
   
   One thing about Wifi, though... Being consistently connected to Wifi will significantly increase battery life, since you have a solid data connection and the phone doesn't need to search 4G and 3G bands as regularly in order to have service.
2. Screen Brightness
   TThis is one item that is typically overlooked in terms of battery life. With high phone usage (games, internet, answering XDA questions), I've seen my battery drain 15% in under an hour when using high brightness. If I lower the brightness to half or lower, the battery drain is as low as 5% per hour.
   
   Leaving the brightness on Auto is ok, but I've found that adjusting it myself is easier (I have a slide bar in the notification panel) and more effective in terms of battery life (you're not using an additional sensor to read the ambient light levels).
   
3. Rogue Apps
   One cause of battery drain is wakelocks. Basically, when you're not using your phone, it's supposed to go to into "sleep mode," where the CPU and radios aren't drawing much power. A phone call, e-mail sync, or other things cause a wakelock and basically wake the phone up.
   
   Rouge Apps are ones that cause a lot of wakelocks that eat up a lot of battery life. Once way to counter-act them is to find out which ones they are. Nowadays on Android, the battery info screen (Settings -> General -> Battery) gives good, detailed information on battery usage.
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
   From this screen, obviously the fact that I had my screen on all the time is what caused the battery drain. I had it on full brightness, which didn't help. Also, during that time, I was checking out the various cat memes on Reddit, so that was also active and using up CPU strength and battery (but not nearly as much as the screen).
   
   If you click on the graph, you get this screen:
   
   

   

   
   
   This one shows the various system resources that were using up battery life (not associating them with apps). As you can see, there were times where I was driving through an area with little-to-no cell service (again, thanks Sprint). In those times, it's likely that my phone was using up more battery. But the biggest drain (when the graph really dips down) is when I have the screen on and when the phone is awake (obviously, those cat photos aren't going to view themselves!). If you see in your graph that there's a lot of battery drain when the screen is off, you might have a Rouge App causing a lot of wakelocks.
   
   
   
   If you have a lot of wakelocks, you can find out which apps are causing them using an app like Better Battery Stats. This was developed mostly when the Android Battery screen gave little-to-no information, so you might not get as much additional info as you'd like, but it's a good app to keep in your back pocket when investigating wakelocks.
   
   One way to quarantine rogue apps is to use Greenify (XDA link). It'll basically put those apps in a hibernation mode, which prevents them from waking the phone. It may break some functionality of the rogue app which rely on waking up the phone, but when the app is actively running (i.e. open on the screen), greenify doesn't touch it.

Hopefully these suggestions will get you started on your way to great battery life. There's one more thing I'd like to address, and that is ROMs.


Custom ROMs

You didn't explicitly state that you wanted to try out custom ROMs to solve your issues, but I'd be remiss if I didn't address them. In case you don't know what a custom ROM is, it's basically just a custom version of the phone OS which has been developed.

There are many great developers out here that create custom ROMs. Some focus on creating custom themed ROMs with tons of additional features, other focus on ROMs that strip out all of the extra TouchWiz bloatware that Samsung (and Sprint) add onto the phone. Some developers focus on maximizing battery life, while others focus on making a "stock android" (AOSP) experience. Finding the right ROM for you

I'd recommend browsing through the various ROMs in the Development Section of the forum. If you read the posts, various users will give their battery life using that particular ROM (as it's important to most of us here).

In Closing

If you've read this far, congratulations! I can't believe you actually read the entirety of this giant post I made. Kudos!

Anyways, if you have any more questions, just reply to this post and I'll try to answer them as much as I can.

I hope this helps!

Outstanding....

Outstanding input, @topherk. I think this is useful advice from which many could benefit.

Much appreciated.

rmontero01 said:

now I managed to speed up the e-mails by simply removing them all and adding them back again.

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Click to collapse

I'm glad that re-adding the accounts worked. I hadn't even thought of that, and it seems to be a common solutions when issues arise within the default e-mail app. I wouldn't be able to tell you why that happens, though.

One thing that I forgot to mention that could affect battery life is the frequency of checking the accounts. In the Email App, under each Account's settings, you can adjust the frequency of the syncs. Unless I'm mistaken, I think that "push" notifications is the most economical in terms of battery life, but it might not be offered for each type of account (I tested it with my gmail and it was able to do the push notifications... I don't have a Yahoo, AOL, or hotmail account. Below is what mine shows.

rmontero01 said:

You mentioned roms... Unfortunately, I am completely new to this and have no clue how it works except on emulators for games... So i need help on this... I have the basic understanding of rooting and I was able to do it on the note 3, so i can safely say, my phone is rooted.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

In my opinion, running a custom ROM is the best way to increase battery life. Most Devs on here use tweaks and mods in their ROMs that extend battery life substantially. I won't link you to a specific one, but if you choose to install one, I can definitely help with that.

Now I'll explain how to install a custom ROM and some common things to think about/check prior to installing anything:

Installing a Custom ROM

Step 1 - Gather Information

First off, you need to know what version of Android your phone currently is running. This is easily done by looking in the Settings Menu -> General -> About Device.

The Main things we are looking at on this screen are Software Version, Model Number, Android Version, and Baseband Version. I'll explain these (to the best of my knowledge) below:

• Software Version:
  This is the "type" of Android that you're running. Rather than quoting the entire name, we typically only refer to the last 3 characters (MJ4, NAB, NC5, etc.). Stock Note 3 devices will (most-likely) be running one of 3 different versions of TouchWiz (TW):
  
  MJ4 - This is the last Jellybean version of TW for the Sprint Note 3​
  NAB - This is the first KitKat TW version for the Sprint Note 3​
  NC5 - This is the latest KitKat TW version for the Sprint Note 3​
  
  The reason that we are concerned with the Software Version is that between the MJ4 and NAB versions, there were major changes. So if you're running MJ4, you will have to do additional steps before flashing a custom ROM based on a newer version. And if you're on NAB or NC5, you will not be able to go back to MJ4, so beware what you're flashing.
  
  For the most part, if you're on NC5, you can flash either a NAB or NC5 custom ROM, but just read the ROM's FAQ to see if there are any issues with doing so.
• Model Number:
  Most people don't worry about this, but I always do when looking at a new ROM. The Sprint Note 3 is different from the Verizon Note 3, which is also different from the International Note 3. It's always best to double-check that the ROM you're trying to install is truly meant for your device. This simple check will prevent a LOT of potential issues you'll get when installing a ROM.
• Android Version:
  This is just an additional check to the Software Version. Always best to know.
• Baseband Version:
  The Baseband is, unless I'm mistaken, the "kernal" for the phone's cellular and 4G radios. Sometimes upgrading (or downgrading) the Baseband can help with signal strength and reception.Some users have noted that they got better reception on older Baseband versions. I haven't personally looked into it and the reports from other users seem somewhat anecdotal, but it's good to know which Baseband you're on.
  
  The Baseband is independent from the ROM version, so you can run an older Baseband (MJ4 or NAB) on a newer ROM (NC5), and vice-versa.

The last bit of information you need to know is the Bootloader Version. The way to find this information is to reboot your device. When you see the text on the screen, you should look for the Bootloader Version. It'll be a long string of characters, but you're only looking for the last 3 (MJ4, NAB, or NC5).

Once you have all the above information, you should be ready to start the fun process of preparing your phone to flash your first ROM.

Step 2 - Backup your Media

First thing: Backup all of your media to your computer. If there's pictures/music/videos/recordings you don't want to lose, back them up. It's just good practice. Don't lose all your cat pictures because you flashed something and it somehow erased your internal storage. I tend to keep everything of importance on the External Storage, but there are times where even external storage can be wiped, so it's best to back up everything to a PC.

Step 3 - Upgrade your Phone to the latest Stock ROM (NC5)

This only is a MUST applies if you're running MJ4 and want to install a NAB or NC5 ROM. Most continually-developed ROMs are either NAB or NC5 now, so the first things first: Update your phone to NC5.

Go over to RWilco's thread and download the One-Click File. It will remove Root, but don't worry, because when you install a new ROM, it will automatically include root access.

Follow the instructions in his thread and your phone will now be fully upgraded.

At this point, your "About Device" should show the following:

Software Version: N900PVPUCNC5
Android Version: 4.4.2
Baseband Version: N900PVPUCNC5

Reboot your phone and let it sit for a minute so it can get it's bearings.

Step 4 - Install the Engineering Bootloader

I recommend installing the Engineering Bootloader. The major reason to install the engineering bootloader is that it allows you to flash different BaseBands (modems). And you never know when you might need to do that.

Just go to the linked thread above and flash it in ODIN. It should go in the "Bootloader" slot in ODIN, not the PDA slot.

Step 5 - Install a Custom Recovery

So far, we've been flashing everything in ODIN. Now, we're going to use ODIN one last time to flash a custom recovery, so that you can flash custom ROMs without the need of a computer.

The most-commonly used Custom Recovery is TWRP (XDA Link). You'll want to use the latest version, 2.7.0.1.

Flash this in ODIN. I believe you use the "PDA" Slot.

Reboot your phone to make sure it works correctly.

Step 6 - Make a Nandroid Backup of your device

If you don't know what a Nandroid backup is, don't worry. It's basically just taking your phone as is and making a backup of it. In case you make a mistake or flash a bad download of a ROM, this allows you to restore your system. I always keep my backups on the External Storage (microSD Card), so in case I have to wipe my internal storage, it's not a big deal. You can also copy the files over to your PC, just to be more paranoind about your nandroid backups (rhyming is fun!).

You do this by restarting into Recovery (power down device, hold down home button and volume up while powering on phone).

Once in TWRP, go to "backup." Make sure the storage selected is "external storage." This screen will have various options of what to backup. I typically choose everything except external storage. Typically, backups range from 1-2 Gigs.

For me, backups typically take 5-10 minutes to do. In my opinion, this is totally worth it, since I can always restore a backup with no issues.

Step 7 - Install a Custom ROM

Once you choose your custom ROM from the Development Section, follow the instructions on the original post to install it. I'll give a general outline of what I do whenever installing a new ROM, but sometimes a custom ROM will have specific instructions, so you want to make sure to read the posts carefully.

Generic Instructions for Installing a ROM:

1. Download ROM and check the md5
   Internet being spotty in my area, I always check the md5 to make sure that the file downloaded correctly. You can check the md5 using this windows program or using a file explorer on your phone like ES File Explorer. I always copy the ROM zip file to my external SDcard.
2. Reboot to Recovery
3. Wipe Data, System, Cache, and Dalvik Cache
   This is called a "Clean Wipe," meaning it will wipe out your installed Apps and the data associated with them. Some people will claim that "Dirty Flashing" (i.e. not wiping the above) is OK, but I've seen too many apps Force Closing (FC-ing) when dirty flashing. Also, if you dirty-flash and encounter an issue with a ROM, the first piece of advice is to do a clean install. Might as well do that initially and hopefully not run into any issues.
4. Install the Custom ROM
   Pretty straight-forward on how to do this... just click "Install" and then browse to the place your copied the ROM zip file.
5. Reboot your phone and run through the typical initial start-up information (google account, etc).

Once you get your phone set up the way you like (apps, accounts, wifi passwords, etc), I'd make another Nandroid backup, just so you have one where it's setup with everything you need. This will make any issues less painful, since you'd restore a backup that's already setup.


Step 8 - Further Considerations

If you ever want to try a new ROM, all you have to do is repeat step 7. Beware, though, people easily become flashaholics when they first figure this stuff out.


If you were paying attention to my "Generic Instructions" when installing a ROM, you'd notice that every time you do a Clean Install of a ROM, you lose all your apps... All of your Angry Birds 3-Star levels are gone!

Well, there are ways to get prevent losing that data... One is by "Dirty Flashing" (Not wiping the "system" or "data" partitions before flashing a ROM in TWRP). This is common practice among users here on XDA, but is typically frowned upon by ROM devs. I've noticed that a good number of issues on ROM threads stem from people Dirty Flashing. It typically causes more problems than it solves.

The other way of backup up and restoring app data (prior to wiping) is by using Titanium Backup. I could write up a long post on how to use Titanium Backup (TiBu), but the main things to remember are the following:

• White line items are fine to be restored (both Data and Apps).
• Restoring Yellow line items is typically OK (Data only).
• Restoring system apps or data (red line items in TiBu) is typically a bad idea.

I've been using TiBu for the past 2-3 years and it's typically worked like a charm. Sometimes, when there's a major Android Update (like from JellyBean to KitKat), it can become broken, but the Developer is really responsive and gets it to work within a few weeks. If you upgrade to PRO, you can schedule automatic app backups (I backup all my user apps every night at 3am). You can also restore apps/data from Nandroid Backups (which is great if you do a Nandroid backup but had forgotten to update your TiBu backups).

In Summary

Whew, that was a lot to write... I'm a Structural Engineer, not a Software Engineer, so I don't know the technical side of things like bootloaders or basebands, but hopefully none of the information I provided was false.

Anyways, let me know if you have any problems with the install. I appreciate any feedback!