You may still be having problems with the Galaxy S4 since updating to Android 4.4.2, and you’re desperate about what to do. What’s more, Android 4.4.3 still hasn't started to roll out to Galaxy S4’s around the globe (though rumors said it would start in July), this last update being one that should rectify some for the bugs that the 4.4.2 brought to the devices. In the meantime, there are a few things that you can do to improve battery, it just takes a little bit of discipline and fiddling around your device’s settings.
Number one cause of battery drain? The display. But this is an easy fix. Simply ensure that you have not check the auto box for the screen brightness, and dim the screen until it is comfortable to look at. You might need to turn it up again in direct sunlight, since AMOLED are reputed to be hard to read in outdoor situations if the brightness is not turned up. You can also reduce the duration of timeouts. This means that the screen will deactivate after a certain amount of time of inactivity, and you can choose between various times (to something that works for you).
The Galaxy S4 is full of features, which really is a double edged sword, since these often do a lot of the battery draining. The advantage is that it comes with a Power Saving mode which will let you squeeze the most time out of the last remnants of your device’s battery life. Make sure you switch this on, either in the quick settings in your notification shade, or in the phone’s settings. What this does is reduce processor, screen brightness, and disable vibration, some normal features which are actually the hungriest power consumers of them all.
Discover Android battery settings and Task Manager
Instead of installing an app, the Android system also has a lot of ways for you to keep an eye out for apps and services which are draining your battery. You can head into the battery section of your settings, and simply tap on apps to see which ones are using the most battery. You can also close down apps that you know are still running, and don’t necessarily need to be. For example, some users have reported that PowerAmp still stays open if you close out of it.
If you leave some settings on, this may be causing your battery life to slowly but surely decline. For example, if you have NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and Mobile Hotspot turned on at all times, this will rapidly drain your battery. Good thing is that these are easy to toggle on and off right in the quick settings of your device. Just swipe down to get into the notification shade, and ensure that these settings aren’t glowing green. You might want to go one step further and stop auto-sync of your pictures for DropBox and other cloud storage apps, like DropBox.
The Google Play Store is full of free and paid apps that will help you manage your battery life. Some of them will show you which apps are consuming the most battery life. Below you’ll find a nice list of battery apps to choose from.
Better Battery Stats
You can also use a few more external apps in addition to the tips provided on previously in order to better identify what it is that drains your battery so much and solve the problem. Better battery stats will help you identify which processes in your phone drain your battery the most so that you can isolate the problem to your phone as much as possible. You should leave this app on for about 24 hours and then analyze the results after this in order to get more information about how you use your battery.
You can also use System Tuner in order to kill apps that are using battery on command after you have isolated the problematic apps. This app requires you to root your phone so make sure you have done this to your phone beforehand. A warning needs to come with this though because you should make sure that you are not killing apps or processes which are vital to keeping the phone functioning properly. You should always pay attention to the icon and the name of the process in order to know which ones not to kill. One rule of thumb would be to let everything that has to do with the Android OS running.
Greenify is another app which requires root and does the same things but this one is easier to use. Once you have rooted your device and you have installed the app it should be plain sailing from there. Simply identify the apps that misbehave and then go ahead and greenify them. The app should do the rest and not break any major functionality in the process. This app may not be as in-depth as the previous one but it really does take the work away from you.
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