Help w/ the ICS update. My battery life is horrible, Notifications don't always work

[hollyk83]

I have been having a lot of issues since I did the ICS update Tuesday. My battery life went to crap. I was on the phone w/ HTC yesterday for an hour. She suggested others call to complain so they will release a fix for the poor update. 866-449-8358She said I was doing everything properly for the battery life. I changed nothing but the update and it literally cut the life in half and takes FOREVER to charge.

Is anyone's notifications much smaller at the top of the status bar? I am unable to see them well now that I did the update...and when I type on the keyboard there is a keyboard logo that i hate. Anyone know how to take that down?

I just downloaded friendcaster and it still didn't link my photos to my handcent or regular sms.

Also I cannot find the appbrain in the playstore

Can anyone help?

 

[HowardZ]

I know these are just basics:

make sure GPS is turned off except when you really need it.

This ics version keeps WiFi on all the time, which can waste battery. in settings WiFi advanced, unckeck the "notify me" and check the "never auto turn on WiFi". HTC ics seems very agressuve at using wifi, and it wastes power if you are using both WiFi and 4g.

also use the Y5 app to keep WiFi turned off when not in a WiFi area that you have used before.

also, if you have long periods when you don't need 4g, then put the phone into 3g-only mode. 4g uses more power.

also think about buying the Verizon extended battery.

I can always get at least a few hours use from the standard battery.

I hope this didn't bore you with things you already know.

 

[acejavelin]

Did you do a factory default after the update? This seems to fix 95% of the problems that occur after the update.

Also, most people (but definitely not every one, all circumstances are different) have noticed INCREASED battery life or about the same as on GB, not decreased life in most cases, especially after a factory reset. Note that if you are in area with poor/weak signal battery life seems to reduced even more than with GB.

AppBrain popped right up for me in the market.

You can't get rid of the keyboard icon in the status bar when the keyboard is active, that is how it works now, long-press does not bring up a Change Input Method option anymore, it's just a ICS thing. You could use StatusBar+ or SuperStatus Bar, that might be able to get rid of it but I can't say for sure.

Several people have noted pics don't come across in Go SMS or other messaging apps, I don't have any of these so I can't speak to that issue but Google might be your friend here.

 

[hollyk83]

Thanks Howard, I appreciate the tips but unfortunately I have never used wi fi an all the rest of those things are off. I'm really puzzled. Nothing has changed in my day to day phone usage.if anything less for fear it will die before 3 pm. My regular battery used to last me 10-14 hours a day up until Monday and never took a long time to.charge

 

[acejavelin]

Thanks Howard, I appreciate the tips but unfortunately I have never used wi fi an all the rest of those things are off. I'm really puzzled. Nothing has changed in my day to day phone usage.if anything less for fear it will die before 3 pm. My regular battery used to last me 10-14 hours a day up until Monday and never took a long time to.charge

I will repeat my question:

Did you do a factory default after the update? This seems to fix 95% of the problems that occur after the update.

 

[hollyk83]

Acejavelin- I dread doing a factory reset because I just did one a few months ago. As I researched I saw it only fixed about half the rezound owners an I hate to risk doing a restore with no improvements. In all the research I've done all I've read is about how the battery life deteriorated immediately after the ics update so I figured maybe there are more?

Do you know if that appbrain would save all my current apps. It's description didn't fit what I read somewhere else so I was a little hesitant. Also is yours lagging? Mine seems much slower to pull up the web or an app. An my font is the size of a spec of salt lol

 

[sweaner]

I have also had a worsened battery life since the update. I have not done a Factory Reset. If I need to do that it would be ashame as I could have flashed a ROM long ago. I waited because I did not want to re-load things and chance losing things.

I do think things have improved a little after several charges, so I will wait a bit.

 

[hollyk83]

Acejavelin- I dread doing a factory reset because I just did one a few months ago. As I researched I saw it only fixed about half the rezound owners an I hate to risk doing a restore with no improvements. In all the research I've done all I've read is about how the battery life deteriorated immediately after the ics update so I figured maybe there are more?

Do you know if that appbrain would save all my current apps. It's description didn't fit what I read somewhere else so I was a little hesitant. Also is yours lagging? Mine seems much slower to pull up the web or an app. An my font is the size of a spec of salt lol

 

[acejavelin]

Acejavelin- I dread doing a factory reset because I just did one a few months ago. As I researched I saw it only fixed about half the rezound owners an I hate to risk doing a restore with no improvements. In all the research I've done all I've read is about how the battery life deteriorated immediately after the ics update so I figured maybe there are more?

Do you know if that appbrain would save all my current apps. It's description didn't fit what I read somewhere else so I was a little hesitant. Also is yours lagging? Mine seems much slower to pull up the web or an app. An my font is the size of a spec of salt lol

I would recommend doing the factory reset, it is a pain and frustrating but honestly it has fixed most peoples issues, some it has not and I will gladly admit that. Almost everyone I have spoke to and seen postings about across AndroidCentral, RootzWiki, AndroidForums, and XDA all agree that if a person has problems with ICS they should do a factory default. I cannot guarantee it will fix your problems, but in most cases it helps significantly. Also ICS seems to take time to "learn" (an incorrect term, but the best I can come up with) how to work with your usage, most people see their battery performance increase and general problems decrease over time, I can't explain it but most people would agree with that.

I haven't used AppBrain for a while, so I can't tell you if it backs stuff up or not, but I would actually recommend NOT doing that since the most likely cause of your battery problems isn't ICS itself but how an application interacts with it, so I would backup important stuff (contacts for sure, pictures, SMS message, videos, music, etc. just to be safe) and then go into Settings->Privacy and Untick 'Back up my settings' and 'Automatically restore', wait a couple minutes (or just open the Play Store) then factory default the phone, restore your contacts, and then start adding back apps slowly and reconfiguring. You can always push the apps from your PC to your phone, just log into the Play Store, and go to "My Android Apps" and then Install the apps you want from there (don't even have to go unlock your phone!) once you have used the Play Store on your device to accept the terms and conditions.

Mine is not laggy AT ALL, it is much faster than on Gingerbread. As far as a the font goes, the size seems about the same but is much clearer and sharper than before, along with everything "stock" in the phone (wallpapers, icons, menus, etc).

Also, if you are that miserable with your device, do the factory default! I mean, seriously, what are your alternatives? Get a CLNR from Verizon (which they are out of the Rezound right now) and start over, do an Assurion Insurance replacement and start all over, or go back to tech support which will have you do a factory default anyway, or just buy an extended battery and deal with it... seems like a clear cut choice to me.

 

[bcushman]

I know these are just basics:

make sure GPS is turned off except when you really need it.

This ics version keeps WiFi on all the time, which can waste battery. in settings WiFi advanced, unckeck the "notify me" and check the "never auto turn on WiFi". HTC ics seems very agressuve at using wifi, and it wastes power if you are using both WiFi and 4g.

.

I too have noticed a decline in battery. Before ICS I was charging the battery every other day - now have to charge it daily. I can't find the WiFi advanced setting that you mention. Am I missing something? Thanks!

 

[acejavelin]

I too have noticed a decline in battery. Before ICS I was charging the battery every other day - now have to charge it daily. I can't find the WiFi advanced setting that you mention. Am I missing something? Thanks!

It's in kinda the same place, go to WiFi settings and tap it, then when the list of networks come up, press the Menu hard key and select Advanced.

 

[bcushman]

It's in kinda the same place, go to WiFi settings and tap it, then when the list of networks come up, press the Menu hard key and select Advanced.

Boy, you are fast. You replied while I was editing my post!! Made the change so will see if that helps. Thanks

 

[andeejo]

Ace....did you post a link on another thread on how to back up photo, apps, music and such before doing a factory reset? If so, I can't find it. If not, my bad.

 

[HowardZ]

I too have noticed a decline in battery. Before ICS I was charging the battery every other day - now have to charge it daily. I can't find the WiFi advanced setting that you mention. Am I missing something? Thanks!

when in the setting, WiFi, then press the settings button again to go into advanced WiFi settings.

 

[hollyk83]

I would recommend doing the factory reset, it is a pain and frustrating but honestly it has fixed most peoples issues, some it has not and I will gladly admit that. Almost everyone I have spoke to and seen postings about across AndroidCentral, RootzWiki, AndroidForums, and XDA all agree that if a person has problems with ICS they should do a factory default. I cannot guarantee it will fix your problems, but in most cases it helps significantly. Also ICS seems to take time to "learn" (an incorrect term, but the best I can come up with) how to work with your usage, most people see their battery performance increase and general problems decrease over time, I can't explain it but most people would agree with that.

I haven't used AppBrain for a while, so I can't tell you if it backs stuff up or not, but I would actually recommend NOT doing that since the most likely cause of your battery problems isn't ICS itself but how an application interacts with it, so I would backup important stuff (contacts for sure, pictures, SMS message, videos, music, etc. just to be safe) and then go into Settings->Privacy and Untick 'Back up my settings' and 'Automatically restore', wait a couple minutes (or just open the Play Store) then factory default the phone, restore your contacts, and then start adding back apps slowly and reconfiguring. You can always push the apps from your PC to your phone, just log into the Play Store, and go to "My Android Apps" and then Install the apps you want from there (don't even have to go unlock your phone!) once you have used the Play Store on your device to accept the terms and conditions.

Mine is not laggy AT ALL, it is much faster than on Gingerbread. As far as a the font goes, the size seems about the same but is much clearer and sharper than before, along with everything "stock" in the phone (wallpapers, icons, menus, etc).

Also, if you are that miserable with your device, do the factory default! I mean, seriously, what are your alternatives? Get a CLNR from Verizon (which they are out of the Rezound right now) and start over, do an Assurion Insurance replacement and start all over, or go back to tech support which will have you do a factory default anyway, or just buy an extended battery and deal with it... seems like a clear cut choice to me.

Looks like I will spend my night doing the factory reset...hoping it works. Are you able to sync your fb pics to your contacts?