Battery life, simply amazing...

[br0adband]

Ok, so I've had this GS7A a few days now, did one or two full resets to get used to what I could disable with Package Disabler Pro (worth every penny, seriously, since we may more than likely never see a working root) and I have to say that I am pretty damned impressed with the battery life. Yes we all know this magnificent beast has a 4000 mAh battery in it so that has something to do with the lifespan obviously, but I wanted to post about my experience and perhaps try and stir up some discussion since this subforum is basically dead for the most part.

I know most discussion is over in the GS7 thread since it is the same hardware in a different case but even so - it's actually not the same device since it has a smaller 3000 mAh capacity battery so, if anyone is interested in sharing their battery life info and experience by all means do it.

A caveat:

Right now I don't actually have cellular service with this GS7A because it's currently still carrier locked to AT&T and I haven't gotten around to purchasing an unlock code. I'm not an AT&T customer, never have been, and since I got this device from a trade done through craigslist the person I made the deal with wasn't the original owner - he did state he found the phone in a casino bathroom here in Las Vegas (that sort of thing happens hundreds of times a day here, seriously) and yes the IMEI is blacklisted so I don't know if the original owner reported it as lost or stolen and since the blacklist system doesn't differentiate then it doesn't matter anyway.

Having said that I will state that I use Google Voice for all my "phone calls" and SMS/text duties these days so I don't actually need cellular service as long as I have Wi-Fi. Google Hangouts handles all that just fine so, I'm stating this here so you'll understand that I don't use the cellular radio at all, the GS7A stays in Airplane Mode constantly and with Wi-Fi enabled (and yes Wi-Fi is always on).

Yesterday I did quite a bit in terms of actually using the GS7A: I listened to a lot of "police scanner" streams using Scanner Radio Pro, I watched the entire Presidential debate on the GS7A using CNNGo, I watched maybe 30 minutes of video on Periscope (Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert), listened to my own music (Opus 128Kbps encodes) using GoneMAD for maybe 3 hours total since the last charge, listened to a radio station from back home in Virginia using TuneIn Radio for maybe 2 hours, read a lot of articles using Flipboard, and various other things including hitting the Play Store to check for updates as well as checking Gmail maybe a few dozen times during the day. I also did two runs of Geekbench 4 and two runs of Antutu during this period before these screenshots were taken so those were a hit on the battery for max CPU/GPU usage for several minutes each as well.

Also, I keep the screen brightness at about 40-45% on the slider, but I did go out for a walk yesterday lasting maybe 30 minutes and set it on Auto to compensate, probably had the screen on about 5-8 minutes in that time at ~full brightness.

So understanding all that here's what I've got currently from screenshots I just took like a minute ago:



Looking at that kind of battery life, just shy of 2 full days and barely cracking the 50% point, I can guess that if I did have actual cellular service I could easily get 1.5-2 days use of this device regularly which is truly astonishing. The last phone I had that could give me battery life even close to this was a ZTE Zmax which literally gave me 10+ hours of SOT on a regular basis (the 1280x720 display on that really saved a lot of battery life, and the Super AMOLED on this GS7A probably helps considerably as well).

I am truly impressed by this, and I have to wonder what kind of actual battery life I could get with a) cellular service working normally and also b) root so I can do even more tweaking as well as c) an unlocked bootloader to allow for a custom kernel.

And I haven't even enabled the Power Saver or Ultra Power Saver modes at all.

So, what's your battery life like using the Galaxy S7 Active? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

EDIT:
Finally died and shut itself off but I watched a few TV shows off my Play Store Movies and TV account to keep the screen on and the Wi-Fi active and here's the final result - I never kicked in the Power or Ultra Power saving modes, I simply let it go till it shut itself off:



Mind you if I had just continued to use the GS7A in a typical fashion with audio streaming, Flipboard reading, etc, and not continuous screen on video viewing as well as the Wi-Fi I'm sure it would last 3 solid days without any problems so again I should (or anyone really) should be able to get an actual solid full day of use from this device reaching possibly into the 1.5 to 2 day range with cellular working normally.

Damned impressive stuff, it really is.

 

[br0adband]

Just a followup. I wanted to see how far I could take this battery life thing so, I decided to do a full video run meaning:

- charge the battery to 100%
- set brightness at ~50% (since the way Touchwiz works it's hit or miss but close enough to the middle of the brightness slider)
- start playing a video in MX Player Pro with hardware acceleration enabled and the video on a loop
- give it a few seconds to get moving
- disconnect from the AC adapter

and then wait till I get to the 5% point for the battery.

So where did I end up? Well, here's the 50% point I just crossed a few moments ago:



Pretty damned awesome indeed. Yes I realize that hardly anyone is going to sit around watching videos for 8+ hours, let alone the potential 16 hours I might actually achieve (and again I don't use the power/ultra power saving modes, at least not once since I got this Active). Here are some details on the actual video I'm playing:

- it's TimeScapes which is pretty damned awesome itself
- it's the 1440p version of TimeScapes, at 2560x1440 resolution so the entire Super AMOLED display gets a full workout, every last pixel without fail
- it's about 48 minutes 21 seconds long (again, I have MX Player Pro set to loop it over and over)
- it's an MP4 container with the h.264 video stream with stereo AAC audio

Here's the MediaInfo for those that might be interested:

General
Complete name                  : Z:\TimeScapes\TimeScapes 2560x1440.mp4
Format                         : MPEG-4
Format profile                 : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                       : mp42 (mp42/mp41)
File size                      : 6.19 GiB
Duration                       : 48mn 21s
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 18.3 Mbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10
Tagged date                    : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10
©TIM                           : 00:00:00:00
©TSC                           : 24000
©TSZ                           : 1001

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames      : 3 frames
Codec ID                       : avc1
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                       : 48mn 21s
Bit rate                       : 18.0 Mbps
Width                          : 2 560 pixels
Height                         : 1 440 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (23976/1000) fps
Original frame rate            : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Standard                       : NTSC
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.204
Stream size                    : 6.08 GiB (98%)
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10
Tagged date                    : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10
Color range                    : Limited

Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                 : LC
Codec ID                       : 40
Duration                       : 48mn 21s
Source duration                : 48mn 21s
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 317 Kbps
Maximum bit rate               : 416 Kbps
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel positions              : Front: L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate                     : 46.875 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 110 MiB (2%)
Source stream size             : 110 MiB (2%)
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10
Tagged date                    : UTC 2012-05-25 11:04:10

I intend to let this one keep going till I get to the ~5% point and then take another set of screenshots and see just how far this thing will last and I'll update this post when I'm done. Wi-Fi is always on, Location is always on (high accuracy), my Google services are active (pun intended) and I get notifications from apps just for the record as well - I do check some things every 30 minutes or so (Flipboard updates, Hangouts messages, and some other stuff) that usually just takes a couple of seconds then I go right back to the video as well.

The Energizer bunny apparently has nothing on this Galaxy S7 Active.

 

[br0adband]

Ok, here's the final results. When I got to 5% the screen dimmed automagically so I stopped the video then restarted it which kicked it back to the normal brightness (roughly 50% as stated above) and then I figured I'd push it about as far as I could meaning 1%.

Amazing... just shy of 15.5 hours SOT



I figure if I did this again and lowered the brightness to 30-35% I'd easily get the 16 hours and more, probably 17-ish sounds about right. Regardless for me, I've never seen any device get this kind of direct battery life but then again today's testing was very limited - strictly video playback of that 1440p video and not much else in terms of actual use. I probably used the Active less than 5 minutes of the nearly fifteen and a half hours for checking email, Hangouts, and of course looking at the battery stats to take a screenshot when needed.

The Galaxy S7 Active should get more love, it really should, it's sad that so many people dismiss it outright just because of looks. I'd take something like this device over pretty much anything else on the market today, and with battery life like this I'd still be using it long after other people's pretty shiny glossy slippery devices are long dead with no charge.

I might do this test again using a 10-bit h.265 HEVC 1080p movie here (Deadpool which is an awesome flick) and see how it handles that in terms of battery life and decoding, who knows.

 

[dantonuci]

Excellent performance, finding myself loving this phone !

 

[bandario]

How many charges/ days from new did you guys find that it took for the battery to settle in? I took my S7A off charge when I woke up at 2.30am this morning and 5 hours later when I got out of bed it had gone through 20% of its battery whilst sitting there screen off doing absolutely nothing.

I was horrified and I don't know if I'm worrying over nothing, I'm just a bit jumpy because although it is brand new, I bought it from ebay so my return window is extremely small. If it has a cooked/ defective battery I need to return it ASAP.

Of course I am aware that new phones take quite a few days, even weeks or months until they reach their optimum battery functionality but 20% in 5 hours idle seems absolutely crazy.

 

[miniminus]

i would see what the main drain is in the battery info, as at night mine would barely drop a few percent ! ..
also, which country are you in ? have you ran package disabler and took down a few sill apps yet ?
maybe that you had autoupdate and was on WiFi so it was doing loadsa updates during night (as that is actually a setting!)

whats it been like since ... s this question poses more questions than ansers

 

[bandario]

Seems like I've got it sorted now. Only dropped 2% last night which is pretty good considering I have quite a lot of stuff left turned on.

I had already used package disabler pro to clean up all of the AT&T mess; it turns out the culprit was my MiBand and the software it came with. I've had no problems on any of my other phones, but on this device it seems that the apps that the MiBand needs to keep working properly were preventing the device from dozing or entering deep sleep properly.

Once I disabled them, the overnight battery drain went away. This is a real bummer because I do like the miband 1s, so I'm now on the lookout for an always-on fitness band with good battery life that is properly compatible with the S7 Active.

The miband 1s could not pair with this phone 100% correctly as a standard BLE device so possibly this was part of the problem.

 

[jimd1050]

BTW, Great Stuff br0adband - excellent job on the testing, really in depth study. I knew I was enjoying the way the phone had been working but hadn't tried any testing. I came from the Note series... had two Note 4s, one with Verizon, one with AT&T, a Note 5, which I still own (thank God) and two Note 7s, an original and a replacement, both turned in, damned it Samsung. I went back to the Note 5 on both occasions of the Note 7 fiasco and on both occasions, immediately noticed the battery life as the Note 7 also had fantastic battery life, until of course they'd explode! The last time I ran the Note 5 for about six weeks and couldn't handle it any more... it seemed like I was charging it more than I was using it. I went to get an S7 Edge, only the edge functions were driving me crazy. My AT&T rep said "Hey, have you seen this - you love rugged phones and long battery life right?" That was it! End of story... S7Active Owner!

 

[bandario]

Just completed a battery test with actual, normal usage. Keeping in mind I have a work phone which I use to make the majority of my calls, the S7A was just there for my personal web browsing and personal calls which amounted to about 10 calls and 25 SMS or so.

Force gmail sync set to once every 30 minutes, greenify installed and working properly, airplane mode NOT used at night so 4G radio was active the entire time, bluetooth on the entire time but only connected whilst driving.

I was hoping to crack 4 days, and I'm sure I could if I were to stop using the device but that's not what I was doing here. 3 days + 1 night is still pretty good for an unrooted phone with factory kernel.

 

[DEVLIN7]

Battery life is good on this device because of the battery size. Your testing is not accurate for real use because of the radios being turned off. But those are good results to see. The problem is the cell radio takes up much of the battery life just at idle, which is frustrating cause can't really disable this as a phone. Plus if your using bluetooth for smart watch or vehicle connectivity even as LE it uses a lot of battery. For the guys using package disabler which items do you think or recommend disablng that have helped the most?

 

[pside15]

Battery life is good on this device because of the battery size. Your testing is not accurate for real use because of the radios being turned off. But those are good results to see. The problem is the cell radio takes up much of the battery life just at idle, which is frustrating cause can't really disable this as a phone. Plus if your using bluetooth for smart watch or vehicle connectivity even as LE it uses a lot of battery. For the guys using package disabler which items do you think or recommend disablng that have helped the most?

I don't know what you are doing but something is wrong if bluetooth is causing extra battery drain. I have a Gear S2 connected constantly and headphones for multiple hours a day and my battery life is outstanding.

 

[DEVLIN7]

I don't know what you are doing but something is wrong if bluetooth is causing extra battery drain. I have a Gear S2 connected constantly and headphones for multiple hours a day and my battery life is outstanding.

Couldn't tell you why but when using Moto 360 for a day Bluetooth is almost always listed under battery stats. Maybe it's Android wear..? Bluetooth isn't top drainer but it does contribute..

 

[mjbeuke]

Hey guys - I need some advice.

I recently rooted my phone - then upon the release of Nougat for the GS7A I decided to kick the glitchy root to the curb and go with Nougat. I absolutely love it, and am getting fantastic battery life without any modifications.... For starters I have a few basic questions:

1) Greenify - I have the paid version but have never really used it without Root before... reading around I seem to be getting conflicting information on the benefit of using Greenify knowing that Nougat has Doze, and Doze on the Go built in..... That said - since installing Nougat I have been using Greenify. I also enabled all of the added features through ADB to unlock agressive doze etc.... Someone please enlighten me - should I even be using this? Anything to avoid or use in particular in doing so?

2) Package Disabler Pro - I do not have this app, but it seems to be similar to like a non-root version of Titanium Backup for removing/freezing apps.... Should I purchase this? is there any reason not to? Also - I've seen about 15 different versions all with similar names and all exclusively for Samsung phones... which one to buy?

3) Assuming the above is a worthy purchase - which apps should I disable? Which are the biggest drains?

4) I've seen several battery stat tracking apps - which is best for tracking usage/battery hog apps?

Here's the kicker. I want to be able to use my phone to its full functionality. I have the Gear S2 watch (use it constantly), I like using Samsung Pay as much as I can, I Bluetooth to my car when driving for music/calls, I use Amazon Music/Play Music/Spotify often in the gym/running - what I am saying is: I am not shooting for 16 days of battery life with 14 hours of SOT - and otherwise zero functionality of why we purchase these smart devices to begin with. I am simply trying to maximize battery life while using my phone to the fullest - by whatever means necessary. All of this in mind - anyone else like me with similar goals that can enlighten me as to you suggestions to meet the above requirements?

I appreciate any help!!

 

[bandario]

1)Can't really answer this one; I'm using it but haven't noticed as much difference as I did under previous version (where I had root + xposed).

2)The one called Package Disabler Pro (Samsung) by policedeveloper.

3)Here is a list of apps I have disabled: Please note, I am not on AT&T. You might need to retain some of these if you need that functionality; to me it is all trash:
AT&T App Select, AT&T Hot Spots, AT&T Locker, AT&T protect plus, AT&T Remote support, Briefing, Device help, directv, drivemode, email, facebook, facebook app installer, facebook app manager, google play movies & tv, Hangouts, myAT&T, Remote, Samsung Pay (my banking app has its own NFC wallet functionality which overrides android pay), Smart limits, Usage Manager, YP, Lookout.

There's probably a few more that I need to get around to but I've had no dramas or FC issues after disabling all of the above.

4)I have got GSam battery which is good once it has been through a few charge cycles but I still find it gives some pretty wacky figures sometimes eg. Screen on time. I'm not really sure if any of the apps like this are necessary as the new battery stats gives you a decent amount of info once you drill down; it is just organised better in these apps is all.

Wakelock Detector Lite needs a bit of config through ADB but will give you a picture of what is waking up your phone and eating battery. Unfortunately, without root there isn't all that much you can do about it. Bluetooth_timer and Bluetooth_alarm issues are still present in Nougat and still waking the phone far more often than is necessary.

5)Keep your screen brightness down and turn off wifi when you don't need it, check your phone via your watch where possible and consider forcing the device to use WCDMA if that is an option for you. Fully waking up the device + having screen on is when your battery gets eaten alive. I find the S7A to be a pretty good workhorse as is. The built in medium battery saving setting might interest you as well, the extreme one is a step too far but you can still use as normal on the moderate battery saving mode.

 

[mjbeuke]

1)Can't really answer this one; I'm using it but haven't noticed as much difference as I did under previous version (where I had root + xposed).

2)The one called Package Disabler Pro (Samsung) by policedeveloper.

3)Here is a list of apps I have disabled: Please note, I am not on AT&T. You might need to retain some of these if you need that functionality; to me it is all trash:
AT&T App Select, AT&T Hot Spots, AT&T Locker, AT&T protect plus, AT&T Remote support, Briefing, Device help, directv, drivemode, email, facebook, facebook app installer, facebook app manager, google play movies & tv, Hangouts, myAT&T, Remote, Samsung Pay (my banking app has its own NFC wallet functionality which overrides android pay), Smart limits, Usage Manager, YP, Lookout.

There's probably a few more that I need to get around to but I've had no dramas or FC issues after disabling all of the above.

4)I have got GSam battery which is good once it has been through a few charge cycles but I still find it gives some pretty wacky figures sometimes eg. Screen on time. I'm not really sure if any of the apps like this are necessary as the new battery stats gives you a decent amount of info once you drill down; it is just organised better in these apps is all.

Wakelock Detector Lite needs a bit of config through ADB but will give you a picture of what is waking up your phone and eating battery. Unfortunately, without root there isn't all that much you can do about it. Bluetooth_timer and Bluetooth_alarm issues are still present in Nougat and still waking the phone far more often than is necessary.

5)Keep your screen brightness down and turn off wifi when you don't need it, check your phone via your watch where possible and consider forcing the device to use WCDMA if that is an option for you. Fully waking up the device + having screen on is when your battery gets eaten alive. I find the S7A to be a pretty good workhorse as is. The built in medium battery saving setting might interest you as well, the extreme one is a step too far but you can still use as normal on the moderate battery saving mode.

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice with me! So far I've got about 70 or so packages disabled and I have not used Greenify (yet) - only the built in doze app settings in Nougat.

I am still using Samsung Pay, Gear S2 watch, Bluetooth in my car/headphones, and haven't had a single issue with functionality yet.

The android system is now way down on the battery usage list and I just pulled 6 hours SOT, over 42 hours since the first charge.

Pretty damn good start and looks like I may have succeeded in my goals here! I will be running a few more battery cycles and tracking data with and without Greenify - and once I have more information I plan to start a thread on this for others to hopefully help educate others with similar goals.

 

[Yaw23]

I recently got a Samsung s7 but after some time I realise the battery is draining fast and taking long to charge, it can be 100% and the green light will never pop. After full charge it reduces within minutes of being idle. Sometimes it can stay at a certain percentage for a very long time before reducing again. Guys I need help to solve this problem. Thanks

 

[UnableToResetOldProfile]

Not all that good battery life.
I use:

• Screen, ON, Auto - Full Bright.
• Samsung Fit, ON
• Google Maps, ON (Offline)
• WiFi, ON (Connected to GoPro)
• 4G, ON

3½ Hours......
I have a TOMO M4 battery pack with TESLA 18650 cells from a 90D Module as a battery supply for my trail rides.
The phone is capable, but still is underpowered for its build and what it can accomplish.
This needs a case with a built in battery, this truly would make it a rugged phone for the outdoor enthusiast, same as the S8 now has.
I wonder if the S8 Active will get a battery case?! This would defo be my next purchase....
OR .... do the Oukitel K10000 build to it.

 

[supertac]

Trying to take a picture here from the mobile direct...

Not bad... better then my Samsung galaxy s3...I got 12 hours at best but those lithium ion batteries drain and die over time sadly....

This is with the weird work around root too... its getting the Jon done thus far...lets see how she finishes with regular use

Some more accurate stats...full day of use seems to be 10 hours with this root method...battery only 92% so I know it can do better!

I have a hard time uploading files on this website from my phone...doesn't want to work well

 

[supertac]

This is what I get so far...may have to update seperate posting

 

[JTHarpster55]

Hi everyone, I'm a complete noob to all this so I apologize in advance but I just sold my Nexus 5x and picked up a used S7A off of ebay and so far I'm loving it!! I was just wondering if the package disabler app that's been mentioned would be worth it for all the att bloatware or if I could just disable them myself and get the same results? My phone frequently gets really hot, sometimes uncomfortably hot, and was wondering if there were any ways I could potentially put less stress on the battery as well?? Thanks and sorry for the lack of knowledge!! Also not sure if it matters but my software version is only at security patch Oct 1, 2017. Not sure If updating to more recent patch would help battery life as well(?) but I currently am not on the att network so I'm not sure how to update manually