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For all the users suffering battery life issues on S21u... please read on.

(Topic created on: 12-02-2021 09:58 PM)
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smiley
Troubleshooter
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Of course there are lots of bugs floating around these new released Phones and this is just one of them. 

 
To explain my experiences... I have thankfully not had any significant heat issues... but I have experienced a few 'warming' episodes... and I have obviously been lucky compared to some users. 
 
Other than the odd camera image that needed retaking... and the battery life issue hasn't been that great... but I have been very happy overall with my ultra. 
 
However, until today, the best battery life I experienced ... was about 5 hours of screen on time... with the phone left at the end of the day with perhaps 15 to 20 percent. For the intensive usage days over the weekend, I had to charge again by the evening to give it a boost or it would not have lasted even a day. 
 
I received the new February update AUB3 on Monday... installed it... and it seemed my battery had got worse Tuesday I only have 3.5 hours screen time and had about 25% left. 
 
if this sounds familiar then please read on. This is where it gets interesting... 
 
So I did a bit of research and read an article online about the importance of the brand new phone being prepared correctly. It mentioned the possible incompatibilities between the new Android 11, OneUI3.1 and the new hardware. The advice it gave was to ensure the phone did NOT have a full phone sync to start... between an old and new phone. It mentioned that many apps have issues with Android 11 and contribute to battery problems as they do not work correctly with the new OS. 
 
After chatting with a few people here last night... I performed a factory reset back to the new phone status. Rather than using smartswitch to sync the previous contacts, messages, and applications from my S10+... I started from scratch... with a clean install. 
 
Before I factory reset, I wrote a list of apps that were essential to install... banking... music apps... TV apps... Office apps. I decided things like easyjet, Tui, TripAdvisor, old games and other low priority apps will not be re-installed. They can always be added back later...
 
It took me all evening. After the factory reset, from the first reboot and use... the phone behaved differently without syncing all my apps. It went through its setup in android 11 differently from my first attempt on 28th Jan when I synced everything. 
 
I installed many of the apps again, but this time directly from the store each time... and surprisingly many things like Netflix and other many apps were showing a slightly different version from previous... a newer user interface and looked better optimised for Android 11. 
 
Since my factory reset, the phone has been quicker to respond... no heat warming issues whatsoever... and the apps have installed without any problems. 
 
Today...day 1... the battery is learning again for a couple of days. However bearing in mind for 11 days previous, the maximum SOT I have had from this phone is about 5 hours total, this screenshot below is today's performance. 
 
It has been used today since about 7.30am... not heavily, but more than 5 hours SOT, plenty of things such as a Netflix show watched, NowTV... music playing for a couple hours... lots of Internet browsing etc. 
 
13hr46... more than 5 hours SOT...and my battery is still at 46%. It is going through its learning and I haven't changed any settings to back them off from WQHD+, 120Hz or changed anything. 
 
I am truly amazed. I would highly recommend that everyone with battery issues at least tries a very clean factory reset... literally start from scratch except for essential such as contacts and calendar which can be synced from Google. I know it is a pain. That was my biggest dilemma... and losing a load of stuff. 
 
But it has 110% been worth the effort. 
 
The worst that will happen... is that you spend the evening re-imaging the phone... have a spring clean of your apps ...and it doesn't do much in your case. 
 
However, the best that will happen is you will improve the performance considerably... you may get 8 to 10 hours SOT and that battery life that you expected from the start. 
 
I think it is worth 3 or 4 hours of anyone's time. !! Those that give this a try and see a significant improvement ... you can thank me later 😃
 
 
image
 
 
 
 
Kind regards
Smiley 😀
- Smiley
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SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
23 REPLIES 23
Austineal
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Hey smiley thanks for sharing your experience and what you did, glad your device is working the way it should. I need help with mine, i got my device S21u through pre-order. And when i first got it. I synced all my files and apps from my old note 9, which drained my battery hella fast, 5hrs sot max in a day.  Ive read articles and people saying its better to start fresh and install new apps one by one. So i did. First few days after the reset, battery life got way better with up to 6hrs to almost 7hrs sot. I was glad. I used fhd+, adaptive, dark mode, and 5g turned off. But after the latest feb update, battery started draining so fast again. 5hrs sot is already a challenge to reach. Using the same settings as before. With some gaming and normal social media,  youtube and spotify, same as before too. Should i reset my phone again? I have the exynos unit. Thanks

smiley
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Hi Vetri,

Now we have a new update AUB6 to install and try out, i will certainly be taking a few pictures during the weekend.

 

Kind Regards

Smiley :smiling-face:

- Smiley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
smiley
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Hi SteveO

 

I am not sure I could find it again... I will take a look through some articles.   I saw this information when I was trying to research solutions for the battery issues... the advice was given within someones review article.  

After reading that info... I then started seeing similar traits with other battery issues on here, and some of the more experienced users on here were also recommending similar actions.

 

So I haven't re-invented the wheel... i am just knowledge sharing on what I have read both externally in articles and from the good guys on here.  

 

Anyhow, it now seems Samsung have released a third release AUB6... so that should take my time in retesting again some of these functions. 

 

Kind regards

Smiley. 

- Smiley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
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smiley
Troubleshooter
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That is a hard question, as to whether to go through that process a second time.   I would certainly erase your cache with the android boot menu method, and decide if that makes any improvement. 

 

In fact, now that Samsung have release a further new software version AUB6, then I would first install that and wait for a day or two to see how it impacts the usage.   If the battery is still poor with AUB6 and the cache reset doesn't help, then it is certainly an option to have another factory reset. 

 

Kind Regards

Smiley 

- Smiley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMSUNG S23 ULTRA 512GB SM-S918B/DS

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro SM-R920 in Grey Titanium
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro SM-R510 in Graphite
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Vetri
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Brill thank you, I just updated and I have been testing since last few mins, will clear cache and run the tests one more time to see if there are any noticeable improvements 👍
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sundai
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This is really interesting to read. When I got my ultra I decided not to use the smart switch as I had so many apps I didn't use on my old phone. So I went down the clean install route and to date have not experienced any issues whatsoever. I'm loving the phone!
vmd
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I am too returned my custom colour S21 ultra. Its been 4 days I haven't got any reply or update from the Samsung side. What's your case ? Are you from UK ?

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Gionike
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Woohoo!
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drsnowmon
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0aAU9KoiY 

Try this folks, I use this method and I think it helps with the battery life

My phone:

S21 Ultra 512GB - SD888

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Shamrock_Sean
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I agree on most of this that new phones need running in so to speak. But do not agree on Android 11 apps being incompatible as the 'new' Android 11 has been around a while now

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