The Epic 4G update seems to have caused a lot of issues with battery life, and it looks like flynlow from the Android Central forums may have found the answer why. After various attempts to fix the problems, both by Sprint and flynlow himself, he stumbled across a very interesting and pretty relevant issue -- The Media Hub update brought a DRM content service along with it, and that service is keeping his Epic 4G from sleeping properly. To be clear -- I'm not knocking Samsung for the DRM service, they do need to protect their assets. And the fact that it took some digging to see the issue means the DRM is pretty seamless to the end user. It does appear that some bug fixes need added to the list though.
Having been a HTC Hero early adopter, I know exactly what a process that wake-locks the phone can do. If you're having issues with your battery after the update, do yourself a favor and check out the thread and try it for yourself. [Android Central forums] Nice work flynlow!
Reader comments
Epic 4G -- Hidden DRM service may cause battery issues [From the Forums]
I have an Evo running CM6 and I just checked and have this service running too.
I love how DRM is supposed to be something good and yet the problems it causes for the majority far outweighs the good it does for the few.
Autorun Killer is your friend
Checking out the running services is Android 101. AC should maybe do a post on using this feature if they haven't already.
"Having been a HTC Hero early adopter, I know exactly what a process that wake-locks the phone can do"
Damn tell me about it lol. That damn Hero, I was jumping all over xda and every where else to find a fix for the horrendous battery life, then came the "Not Sleeping" issue.
Have this on captivate too.
This has been running on my Captivate since the day I got it, and I've never noticed any serious battery issues. In fact, the battery lasts forever when I'm not turning the screen on to do stuff.
Did this update also possibly restrict side-loading applications? I tested my application on my buddy's Epic a week or 2 ago, and when I tried to download and install it from the web yesterday I keep getting an error about unable to parse the package. I also tried sticking it on his SD card to install with no luck. Anyone else notice this problem?
Have you enabled sideloading apps? There's a checkbox you can check or uncheck in one of the settings menus. Sorry, phone is off and charging right now, letting it finish before I fire it back up or I'd tell you exactly where.
OK, got it. It's the first item in
Settings --> Applications
FYI, Not all epics suffer. I have yet to see this in running services on my phone. I also don't have crappy battery life for how I use my phone.
I did have this running on mine after the update but once I closed it, it never came back. I also do not have battery issues.
I've had this service running on my Vibrant since day one and I have never had battery issues. In fact as someone else stated here, if I am not utilizing my phone that much and turning the screen on every other minute, my battery will last well over 12 hours with normal use.
I think you should knock Samsung for their DRM... It doesn't prevent the dedicated hackers from stealing content. All it does is inconvenience regular users, and, in this case, actually degrades the phones operation.
I don't even plan on using the Media Hub on my phone, yet I still get decreased battery life due to their DRM software?!? That really sucks.
This is a core Android service, not some newfangled service that comes with Media Hub. That being said Media Hub may be causing the service to hang or poll excessively.
Might want to clarify this in your news blurb guys...
I don't think anyone insinuated that DRM is new. You are correct. What they found on my Epic is that it was polling every 11.5 seconds due to the media hub update/activation. So for now, the best fix seems to be killing both Media hub and DRM. Also a radio reset via airplane moce toggle on/off, or a PRL update. It has been working great for me. Battery life is now as good, or better than pre-update. I have been off charger for 7 hours as of this post and have used only 15% battery. That with moderate phone use.
Anyone who hasn't yet should just roll over to the thread (and the subsequent follow up thread) and read it all. Lots of good counsel, especially all of flynlow's efforts, learnings, and results. Peeps are seeing some huge improvements. I'm about to fire up my 1-day-old Epic and see what it does for my issues!!!
Its not that it may be the cause. It IS the cause. I Read the post and immediately terminated the program. I don't have to charge my phone three times a day anymore. It lasts me all day now. 14 hours.
Fully charged my phone last night and unplugged it before bed with WIFI and GPS on. Woke up this morning to check my battery life, and it drained 20% with the fix. Before it was draining about 30%. It definitely works, but that's still horrible imo.