Daily Hacker

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Battery Drain Issues After Updating To Android 4.4 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

There have been many reports of people saying that after the Android 4.4 update, that their battery life has been severely impacted negatively.

Speaking from the experience we had with our Samsung Galaxy Note 3, we did notice a huge dip in battery life the first 2 days after the Android 4.4 update, but after that, the battery life returned to where it has been.  So is there really an issue, or is it a temporary problem after the update? Let's investigate this issue.
Probable Cause for Battery Drain? Cataloging of Media Files

We believe that after you update to Android 4.4, the Galaxy Note 3 will be hard at work cataloging your media files to add magic to your apps. This includes reading the ID3 tags of MP3 files, reading EXIF data from your JPGs. And other things that would be important for your Gallery app, S Finder, and other services of the similar nature. There are probably other numerous migration tasks going on the background. During this time, your battery will drain, giving you the impression that you’re being impacted the same way that others have been reporting. But the good news is that all these tasks should be finished in a day or two. After that it battery life should return to normal.
Still Having Battery Drain After 2 Days?

It isn't that there won't be any users with chronic battery drain issues that some people are experiencing ever since the update. But we believe that may be due to an app that hasn’t been updated for Android 4.4 compatibility. As with every update, Google likes to change mappings of directories for external SD cards, and the permissions to them. With some sloppy programming, things like this could wreak havoc on battery life.
Saving Battery Life with Active Apps Widget

We recommend a few tools to help you discover apps that may be potentially draining your battery. One is a widget that comes with your Galaxy Note 3 called Active Apps. Just put it on your main home screen, and if it ever turns red, kill that app.
Use New Process Stats in Developer Options to Diagnose Battery Drain

If you enable Developer Options, you can gain access to Process Stats that monitors the battery use of background processes. Some processes unnecessarily run too often, and new feature, exclusive to Android 4.4 would indicate exactly what app may be draining the battery, which even the Active Apps widget would be unaware of.

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