[10 III] Enormous power consumption on 4G network

Bug Reports
#1

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
OS VERSION: 4.5.0.24
HARDWARE: 10 III
UI LANGUAGE: English, Polish
REGRESSION:

DESCRIPTION:

When the phone uses 4G network, it never* goes to sleep. Power consumption never* drops below some 160-400 mA (and more). This happens as soon as 4G network is in use, regardless of whether “4G calling” aka VoLTE or mobile data transmission is enabled or not.

Compared to this, when the phone is switched to “2G only” mode and uses 2G or 2.5G (aka EDGE) network, its normal power consumption is at 110-120 mA, and as soon as the device is not used it enters idle/sleep mode in which it instantly reduces power consumption to 30-50 mA.

Whereas in “4G preferred” mode and with 4G network being used, something prevents the device from EVER* entering any kind of sleep and reducing power consumption, causing that 160-400 mA (and more) is being drawn PERMANENTLY.

Even without this issue, 10 III’s power consumption was really high (2-3 times higher than that of the XA2 Ultra) but this additional power drain issue on 4G network reduces battery life to less than one day.

There are no processes taking any increased CPU time, which might be responsible for such enormous permanent power draw, so it must be drawn directly by radio hardware.

I’ve reflashed the device, tested it with a freshly installed OS without any modifications, even tested earlier (4.4.x.x) OS versions - same problem. Exclusively on 4G.

PRECONDITIONS:

4G network in use.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Switch from 2G or 3G network to 4G network
  2. Instantly see how the device NEVER reduces power consumption below 160-200 mA, unlike when using 2G or 3G network when it quickly drops power draw to 30-50 mA when not in use

EXPECTED RESULT:

When not actively used, the device should reduce power consumption to 30-50 mA, like it does on 2G and 3G network.

ACTUAL RESULT:

It PERMANENTLY draws 160-400 mA (and more) when on 4G network. It never goes any lower than that, even when the device is not in use and without any applications / processes running which might cause any increased power consumption.

MODIFICATIONS:

None.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

I’ve been observing it for months. T-Mobile PL network. Strict city center, 100% coverage, perfect network signal strength. Tested with several different SIM cards. It is enough to switch to 2G network for the power consumption to instantly drop and the device start going to sleep when not in use. Enabling 4G network instantly causes that power consumption stays PERMANENTLY at 160-400 mA level, never getting any lower.

This issue is something different than the well known 10 III’s general high power consumption problem (both in use and when idle). This one is strictly related to 4G network, bringing that 10 III’s already pretty awful power consumption even higher and preventing the device from ever entering any kind of sleep. It manages to empty the battery within less than one day, without any real usage of the device other than being connected to 4G network.

While on 2G / 3G typical power consumption is 1-2% per hour, on 4G network it reaches 4-5% per hour, which is simply unacceptable.

It doesn’t matter if “4G calling” / VoLTE is enabled or not, or if mobile data is enabled or not. All it takes is that the phone is connected to 4G network.

Screenshots (of Battery Buddy logs):

  1. Power consumption on 4G network (device idle, screen off, no CPU-hungry processes or applications running)

Zrzut_ekranu_20240222_001
Zrzut_ekranu_20240222_0011080×2520 279 KB

  1. Power consumption on 2.5G network (device idle, screen off, no CPU-hungry processes or applications running)

Zrzut_ekranu_20240222_002
Zrzut_ekranu_20240222_0021080×2520 274 KB

Note not only the 3+ times higher permanent power consumption on 4G, but also much higher temperature (often even permanently exceeding 30 degrees C) compared to 20-21 degrees on 2G.

  • P.S. Just to be precise, it does sometimes happen that also on 4G network the device goes to sleep and reduces power consumption to the same 30-50 mA as on 2G/3G, but it happens extremely rarely and only for very short periods of time (like e.g half an hour), and then power consumption jumps back to 160-400 mA and stays so even on standby.
5 Likes
Android 13 and SailfishOS on Xperia 10 III
#2

The huge power hunger on the Xperia 10 iii is known since quite a while. The causes are still a bit unclear. I can also confirm your power consumption values when changing from 4G to 2G. I use SystemDataScope for this. Interesting to note is that there is a big change in CPU load and different CPU frequencies are a lot more as well as system + user + interrupts in 2G then in 4G. However, power consumption is significantly higher in 4G network. The same observations I had on Xperia 10 plus.

1080×2520 983 KB

In the screenshot I used 4G until about 20:00 and switched back from 2G to 4G at around 22:00.

1 Like
#3

That’s right, as discussed many times in other threads, it is much higher than that of e.g. the XA2 Ultra. But when using the 2G or 3G network, at least it drops to 30-50 mA when the device is not in use, whereas while using 4G network it never drops, permanently consuming anything from 160 mA to even 300-400 mA. So while power consumption on 2G/2G network could be considered an inconvenience (but still allowing for 2+ days of use), on 4G it is literally eating the battery alive, consuming 4-5% per hour while doing absolutely nothing, reducing battery life to less than 1 day.

I did complain many times about 10 III power hunger, but at least on 2G/3G (thanks to huge 4500 mAh battery) the device was still pretty usable (and cool, at 20-21 degrees when idling) But with 4G power consumption being further that much higher, eating 4-5% per hour and permanently heating up the battery to >30 degrees, it really becomes unacceptable…

I’ve even switched a few times between the underlying Sony’s stock Android 11 and 13 to check if there’s any difference while using different hardware drivers and baseband versions, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. So I suspect that it must be SFOS to blame for this.

What’s interesting is that sometimes (extremely rarely) the phone does reduce power consumption to 30-50 mA also on 4G, similarly to how it does on 2G/3G. But it is really rare and lasts very shortly - after merely and hour (or even just half an hour) power consumption suddenly rises by itself again and stays at 170-400 mA for hours.

I will do some further tests with SystemDataScope and SysMon.

2 Likes
#4

Battery life on my X10III still is 3 days on 4G, because I’ve disabled WLAN when I don’t explicitly need it. I also turn of mobile data at night.
Active WLAN gives me about the same figures which you report here.

2 Likes
#5

On the 10 III I haven’t experienced any noticeable impact of WiFi on battery life. But I too have a habit of disabling WLAN when not using it (when going to bed, when leaving home, etc) so I guess it is disabled more often than not. Sadly, on the 10 III it doesn’t give any improvement.

When I go to bed, I actually disable everything but calls. No WLAN, no Bluetooth, no mobile data, no apps left running, nothing. And I even manually enable Battery Saving Mode for that time. If I leave it on 2G, power consumption is around 1% per hour. If the battery is say 90% when I fall asleep, it is usually 83-84% when I wake up. But if I leave it on 4G (while everything else remains the same) power consumption is 4% per hour or more and battery level during the same time drops from 90% to 65% or less… doing absolutely nothing in the meantime. In logs I can see, that during that time on 2G power consumption quickly drops to 30-50 mA and stays so, whereas on 4G it permanently remains at 160-400 mA.

This is really bad…

I switch to 2G network whenever I can, but it becomes more and more difficult because after switching off 3G network T-Mobile Poland keeps reducing 2G network availability (both coverage and capacity). Sometimes it takes many minutes for the phone to even just be able to register on 2G network despite strong signal but due to the whole capacity already being in use (i.e. as many subscribers using the 2G network as those few 2G base stations left working can handle). Soon I will be forced to permanently use 4G network, which will mean that my SFOS-powered 10 III won’t last even one day, and its battery will probably get wrecked within a year or so.

#6

I admit it sounds bad, but I can’t confirm. My user habits is pretty much exactly the same as yours, except that 4G is always on.
This bug is a moving target… :wink:

#7

But you wrote you’re using the 10 II, not the 10 III, right?

#8

Sorry, should be 10 III of course.

#9

So it must be mobile network dependent then. I mean some specific configuration of it - bands in use, maybe something else. Before I created this bug report, I earlier disussed this problem in some other threads and several other people confirmed also having such heavily increased power consumption on 4G network… But it’s really hard to further investigate.

P.S. Strange thing is that it is usually (and almost exclusively) late nights when the phone manages to reduce power consumption on 4G similarly to how it does on 2G/3G. It’s 1:00 am now and after switching to 4G it lowered power drain to 40-60 mA after the screen went off. It almost never happens during the day - 4G power consumption stays at 160-400 mA all the time. I have no idea what’s causing such a difference.

#10

To compare, the following screenshot shows 4G power consumption of my XA2 Ultra, using the same network, the same SIM card and in the same location.

20+ times less! Yes, TWENTY TIMES LESS! 10-20 mA vs. 200-400 mA!

Zrzut_ekranu_20240301_001
Zrzut_ekranu_20240301_0011080×1920 206 KB

#11

I also think about the network/provider or maybe the frequencies?!
I never had much probs you describe. At least not so drastic.
But something changed during January. Out of the blue, the phone started to consume 10 to 15% more battery during a work day. Since that it’s quite constant each day

1 Like
#12

In my case it started all of a sudden sometime in December. I’ve been using the 10 III since July 2022 and until December 2023 I hadn’t seen it a single time. Then one day it started and since then it’s been permanent.

As I wrote, it’s not just increased power consumption on 4G per se but also that while using 4G network the device never lowers it, even when idle, display off and no apps running power drain still stays at 150-400 mA all the time.

Last night, switched to “2G only” and doing nothing while I was sleeping, the phone was consuming 1% of battery every 85 minutes. In the same conditions but using 4G network, it draws 4% per hour, i.e. ** 1% every 15 minutes**, which is actually more than 5 TIMES WORSE!

#13

I’ve had huge power draw with 4G ever since I started using Sailfish February 2023. Isn’t using 2G less secure? Inconvenience of power draw is one thing, but this degrades battery a lot faster and this device is not known for easy battery swap.

#14

Yes, battery degradation is a serious problem. Having to recharge daily means reaching 400 recharge cycles in just one year. Which is unacceptable, considering that the 10 III easily withstands 3+ days with stock Android.

Sadly, Jolla don’t give a flying **** about 10 III power consumption on SFOS (not just this enormous drain on 4G but exceptional power hunger in general, as even on 2G it still eats 2-3x more power than eg. the XA2 Ultra) . I can’t recall a single comment from them regarding this issue, not even that they’re looking into it.

1 Like
#15

Most of the damage from charging comes at both ends – at 90-100% and 0-10%.
Jolla’s optional protection allows you to charge to 80% or 90%, rather than 100%.

So if you charge a couple of times per day, eg from 40% to 90%, the damage to the battery is minimal and it will last for 3-5 years.

Most smartphone users leaving phone charging overnight. This is like constantly going from 99% to 100%, causing serious & unnecessary damage to the battery. Xperia’s have built in overcharging protection which heavily reduces this damage.

I know this doesn’t fix the problem but a lot of people don’t know how to avoid stressing their batteries.

#16

I know very well those basic lithium battery maintenance rules. But with the above described power drain issue on 4G, if I additionally restrict charging by further 20-30%, the 10 III wouldn’t last even by evening… Which is really unacceptable for a phone with 4500 mAh battery that with stock Android lasts 3+ days.

P.S. It is not battery charge percentage per se that hurts it. It is VOLTAGE that causes such a harm. Chemistry of lithium batteries hates both too high and too low voltages. In final charging phase, above some 90-95%, voltage reaches even 4.5 volts which isn’t good for Li-Ion. And it is even worse if the phone is left on a charger keeping that high voltage for hours and not permitting it to drop. That’s why it is good for the battery to interrupt charging earlier, while voltage is still lower. Similarly, it isn’t good to discharge the battery too deeply (e.g. below 10%) because in such a state voltage drops to too low levels, which also isn’t good for lithium batteries.

1 Like
#17

In my case, Wifi draws a lot more power. Doesn’t matter if it’s connected or not.

2 Likes
#18

@wetab73 Thank you for describing this. I hope more and more people are actually caring about the wear out effects of Lithium batteries. It’s important to be a bit sustainable with this and thankfully we have the overcharge protection in SFOS. In the recent Google-Android but also AOSP there finally is overcharge protection too but not in Apple (iOS). The latter is a device maker and interested in selling devices. I don’t want to go deep into the ‘Battergate’ but you can check yourself. I’m really disappointed about the power consumption of the Xperia 10 III with the current version of SFOS. I recall, it wasn’t as bad in earlier versions. As mentioned above, the only other SFOS device I have which suffers from high battery drain in 4G network is the Xperia 10 plus. Once I set it to 2G, all power consumption is reasonable but I cannot afford to do this on the 10 III. In contrary, my Xperia XA2 plus is not at all effected by this 4G power drain even with the same network provider.
Did someone investigated if ticking ‘4G-telephony (beta)’ in the mobile settings makes a difference?

Also what happens if you select one or two SIM cards in the settings would be nice to diagnose?

#19

In my case it doesn’t make any difference whether VoLTE (aka “4G calling”) is enabled or not, or whether mobile data is enabled or not. The only thing that matters is whether 4G network is in use or not. Switching to 2G network (or enabling Flight mode) instantly lowers power drain, from permanent 160-400 mA to ~100-120 mA (screen on) and further to 30-50 mA (idle, display off).

My XA2 Ultra doesn’t show any signs of this problem, either. Using the same SIM card and in the same location, both on 2G and 4G it has nearly identical power consumption (very low).

Doesn’t seem to make any difference.

On my 10 III Wifi power drain is completely neglegible. I tend to disable it when not in use, anyway, but it doesn’t seem to make any noticeable difference. Whereas the above described issue with 4G power drain not only eats the battery several times faster but also heats up the device by +10 degrees or more.

#20

Offtopic but I imagine many of us do have laptops, or tablets.

It is normal to work on a laptop with it plugged in at 100% battery. Based on what you’re saying, even playing an intensive FPS will damage the battery doing this, and laptops/tablets need to limit charging in the same way.

Yes, we need to get into the habit of charging to 100% on days we’ll need it.

I have the same extra drainage on my 10iii, but it will still last a couple of days on a full charge. Somebody set up a Situations profile to switch to 2G but it’s stuff like video that needs 4G. We could maybe link it to our browser being open, and get into the habit of closing it when not in use.

1 Like