Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Decided to make a separate thread.

I got Nokia N9 imported from Singapore. Updated it to PR_1.1 Nothern Europe version using NavFirm and flasher (used DFL61_HARMATTAN_20.2011.40-4_PR_LEGACY_001-OEM1-958_ARM.bin image).

I have set up the Nokia, Google and Skype accounts.

If I am using the WiFi internet connection the battery holds pretty decent (I got decline of 10% in 15 hours).

If I am using the 3G internet connection the battery drains like crazy (I got decline of about 6% an hour). It is visible that the internet connection becomes active every 5-10 seconds (the 3.5G icon gets blue for few seconds than gets white again).

I decided to play with the accounts and noticed that as soon as I delete the Skype account the battery life gets back to normal (about 1% an hour).

I really need the Skype running.

Are there any thoughts of how to fix this?

Thank you.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

i don't think there's anything particularly wrong here

3G uses more battery than wifi of course
and connect-disconnect requires a little more battery since it needs to initiate data whereas with a known wifi the device only has to check if it exists (when it needs to switch to wifi) and will connect to it, not to mention wifi has power saving mode.

in any case, initiating 3G every 5-10 seconds is seriously unnecessary. i'm surprised the drain isn't a lot bigger

I would suggest you keep your 3G always on (hopefully you have enough data allotted to you). it should lower the usage

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

does it gets hot?

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

I tried to keep 3g on at all times for like 6 hours. The drain did not get any lower. But as I said it happens only with the Skype account set up. Without Skype everything looks normal ( though of course the 3G usage is higer than wifi). Plus I noticed that the amount of data transferred when connecting via 3g is 10 times higher than when connected via WiFi (over the same period of idle time).

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

@mikhailmv
My suggestion to you should be - turn off "dual mode", stick to plain simple GSM(EDGE).
It is more than sufficient for IM chat, and even you can get pretty OK voice over GTalk or Skype.
PS. I am speaking from my experience with E61&N900 here. Things might be different with N9 though...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

As for now I am not in dual but in constant 3g mode.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

@mikhailmv
So then switch to GSM - it will be immediate relieve in battery consumption. No matter Skype or not.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Thnks mikhailmv, I'll start setting skype offline unless I'm making a call.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

hi everyone,

i have the same issue with battery life. i drop 9% of battery in 1 hour. my settings:

Dual network (3G and GSM)
background connections
Automatically connect to my 3G

I have skype but it is disabled..i just removed the account right now (since I do not use it) and I will see if that makes a difference.

I also had my developer mode turned on to fix the wifi tethering bug..but it is now turned off.


What might be the issue with my battery life?

I already cleared my device yesterday..and battery life does not seem to be improving. i am debating should i clear it again but this time, after clearing, do not install the files in developer mode..

any suggestions? i have a 16 gig, singapore model off of Negri, running PR1.1

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

1. I need 3g mode so that I would be able to talk and use internet at the same time

2. I need Skype both to send/receive messages and to make/receive calls

3. I need background connections enabled, so that my email would be updated (not that important) and I would be receiving incoming connections on the Skype network (very important).

4. Just left the phone sitting idle for 8 hours on 3g without the Skype account. Got the drain about 10% for 8 hours.

5. When I was saying in my first post the the 3g connection is constantly activating every 5-10 seconds because of Skype I was wrong. Even without Skype I noticed that the 3G icon goes blue pretty often (maybe not that often). But it is clear to me never the less that it is Skype that drains battery. Once again there is a huge difference in battery consumption with and without the Skype account set up. 6% per hour with Skype and ~1% per hour without.

6. This huge difference in battery consumption with and without Skype does not occur when the phone is constantly using WiFi, where I got the drain of about 10% for 15hours idle.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Damn I have the same issue, i have to at least charge it twice a day! i don't even browse(pc at work), games nor play media on it!, just chat and text, some phone calls.
I also do use Skype, wifi or 3g(if wifi is not available ill connect/If neccesary).
I found that join when on my 3.g doesn't consume that much battery compared to remaining under the wifi though. by remaining under 3G all day, i was able to have a fair amount of usage without having the battery draining, (shouldn't anyway? like all other phones?)

but as soon as my availability is on which my Skype/Gmail, i found ill go down to 50% battery in just few couple hours.
I always close all my apps,i did 0% brightness , and i still had to charge the phone twice within the day. my power save mode is as 10%. i don't even have Facebook or twitter for feeds either.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Have you check if tracker-store is the process draining your battery?

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...20#post1153020

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Not Sure what that is, how to I execute and how do i verify
i do not know what tracker store is

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

When your battery is draining you can go to Terminal and type 'top'. You will see there the most CPU intensive processes. In my case it was tracker-store. Disabling my Skype account and re-enabling it, tracker-store stopped using too much CPU.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

have the same problem - have to charge twice a day... 3g is always on, so there's no reconnecting periodically to drain the battery... same thing with or without skype account available or not... started 'top' in terminal, but there's no excessive cpu usage... installed "Battery usage" app, and I get interesting results - conversations (skype on 3g) just 14%, but Meego System - 55%... after selecting Meego system to see the details I get 24% of CPU usage, and 76% "Other Hardware and Services"?!?... any idea?

EDIT: I forgot:

Avg idle consumption: 120mA
Avg Active consumpt: 287mA
Avg Current consumpt: 237mA

active: Battery usage app (just few % of cpu/battery), Mail for Exchange (gmail push), Skype (no messaging)

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Everything and nothing drains a lot of battery in the N9. Fail.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

@zelig
Avg idle consumption: 120mA

This most certainly means you have a runaway prog. Open a konsole, look what is eating your N9 and do: kill <PID#>

Installing a prog sometimes helps and/or removing one. In most cases a restart does not work.

Idle consumption shoud be between 8 and 12, maybe 14 mA.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

N900 rocks ! its skype plugin is the only one that does not drain the battery ?
thats why ill stick to maemo

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Well... as I've told no apps running when measured this except Battery usage app (just few %), exchange (gmail push), skype, with 3g always on...
set developer mode to off, but still the same...
then I've disconnected completely, no data connection - idle fell to 8mA...
turned 3g on, with exchange gmail push on and skype off - idle is now 23mA... strange, because without skype I had to charge n9 twice a day during the last few days...
really there's no point to have n9 and have skype offline... Don't know what to do... turning skype on and checking consumption periodically...
hope PR1.2 will solve this...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

My question is why your phone and maby some others and maybe hundreds of others have this problem and the other 599,723 don't ?

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

push, how often? in my case that was the battery eater.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Don't get me wrong - I realise it is a rather new device, and I am aware that majority of n9 devices don't have this problem - but as long as this problem occurs, without any obvious reason (not any excessive cpu usage process seen in terminal 'top'), I'm entitled to moan about it... at least that...
what's interesting - it seems that last ( of maybe 10) reboot really helped, and now with skype on I get 24mA consumption... let's hope it remains like that...

EDIT: @Vaterix 'real' push, using ms exchange, not checking periodically checking through mail.app

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Then I'd try the standard workarounds:

1. Add an app/bookmark then delete it.
2. Reduce brightness, mine's next to minimum and I'm comfortable with it.
3. Might be wrong, but some say deleting and then creating again an account helps.
4. Reflash? (it's drastic, but tbh my N9 started acting like a smartphone only after 2 NSU and 2 Phoenix reflashes :D )

Your mA values are way too high, I get 220 mA when playing pocketRPG for a few hours, but that's heavy on cpu/gpu.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

thanks, Vaterix… as for now it seems that idle consumption is more or less stable… been at 23mA few hours ago, slowly increasing - now at 40mA… I'll keep an eye on it… it seems that few reboots were what helped…

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

after keeping 40mA for some time, I've plugged the charger... after the battery has been fully charged, I've started Battery usage app - idle consumption is 150mA… checked in terminal - there's no any process that uses CPU excessively… after few mins it fell to 130mA… then to 117mA… 103mA… then 115mA… rebooted… 117mA… data connection off, briefly plugged the charger just to reset Battery usage app data - 39mA, but after a few mins it went up to 80mA... terminal -> top still doesn't show any high cpu % process... I give up...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Do you charge by your computer USB port ? - well, I have always high numbers just after removing from USB port (both, idle and current) ... if you want stop it, just keep some apps open and no standby screen either, for 2 minutes :) ... I think that it is normal that you can see higher power consumption just after charge, specially after USB port charge or restart (OS is doing its job there) ...

By the way, it does not make any sense that you have high power consumption, but no CPU use ... I suggest you to use "ResourceMonitor" apps (to see top processes easily with CPU use %) ... with "Battery Usage" apps for easy control, because you can not do it in a day ...

By the way, idle power consumption is not the a current number at all, it is an average number since your last charge (it should drop slowly, step by step, when all is OK) ... a current power consumption will tell you a power consumption just on that moment ...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Did you try Vaterix' advice? I mean add and delete bookmark to homescreen (though there is no need to add and delete, just re-arrange any 2 icons). It sounds weird but it really helps with idle consumption issue.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

This is a well known and reported issue, that does not have any workarounds or even an official explanation (there are several possible explanations though).

Any time it pops up on these forums it gets dozens of "me too" posts, but then after some time the thread disappears.

Click here to see the google cache of the last deleted thread about this.

Make up your own conclusions.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

@jaripi: I'm charging from the AC plug… I am aware, but waited for a few mins after the charging, and rebootin for OS to finish startup processes, but still getting high idle consumption. I know - it doesn't seem logical, but I really don't have any process that uses CPU a lot, and still have to charge twice a day... command line "top" is a kind of a ResourceMonitor app - it sorts processes according to cpu usage %, but really very low % of CPU is in use... I am aware, of course, how "average" data is behaving...

@IguanaKjuZ did several times... trying to find that one magic combination that led me to that low consumption prior to this last recharging...

and - thanks guys, for Your good will...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Well, this is different case ... as all others can be easily identified, even not always fixed easily ... like "Meegotouchhome", "Syncs", "Smartsearch", "Positioning" - all others can be easily found as a process with high CPU use ...

I have been fighting for a long time with "Meegotouchhome" problem myself ... I was also moving icons after every restart for a long time ... until I found "ResourceMonitor" apps and I found out that enabling "Developer mode" (needs restart) make it disappear in my case (not everybody has the same experience), but it should be checked too ... about "Meegotouchhome", you can see it easily making peaks in a list of processes (with a clear CPU usage) ... and yes, I recommend "ResourceMonitor" apps over top, for a clear reason ... :)

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

hmm... installed "Resource Monitor" app from OVI Store... processes still not showing any excessive hogging... but memory usage looks suspicious:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/33491767/Scr...2_23-22-17.png

what do You think, is this normal to have that many system memory used?

EDIT: /usr/bin/dbus-daemon process maybe gets unusually frequent on top of cpu usage... aha, there it goes that "smartsearch" up to 33%... ?

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Forget RAM, OS will take care it ...

About Smartsearch, it should stop soon after restart (or after recharge by USB port) - it should disappear pretty soon ... if it does not disappear, then your problem is "Smartsearch" ...

It is not easy one to fix ... but there is probably a bug fix for it in PR 1.2

EDIT: CPU use of all processes should be almost all the time 0,00 % on idle state (= no open apps) ... well, you might see a process of Battery Usage with higher CPU usage ... and just on the beginning "Smartsearch" too (in a normal situation) ...

EDIT 2: if you can not see "Meegotouchhome" process there (making peaks regularly, every 2 seconds or so), then there is no point to move icons after every restart (laugh) ...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

yes, smartsearch disappeared after just a few seconds... I really don't know what to do but wait for PR1.2, hoping it will be solved... thanks, mate...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

power saver mode activated (+ home screen icon added/removed) - Avg Idle Consumption: stable 101mA ... I'm delighted!

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Are you kidding ? - you have a serious problem there ... a power save mode disable your internet connection (all background connections too), so I do not believe that you can be online in Skype any longer ... it is just a phone with a power save mode ... :)

You should be under 40 mA on idle state with 3G and Skype online ... without Skype, below 20 mA-level ... without 3G and Skype, below 10 mA

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

no kidding - waited after the reboot for the OS startup to calm own, briefly plugged the charger to reset Battery Usage app... 101mA...

but then I've browsed thoroughly that #486 Harmattan bug thread regarding meegotouchhome process, although my "top" haven't been showing meegotouchhome to have frequent peeks during some 5-6 minutes I've been watching, let alone being constantly on the top... I haven't got right what Vaterix recommended me - I've been adding and removing apps onto homescreen - there I saw that bookmark icon had to be saved onto homescreen from within the browser, and then removed... et voila - idle fell down to 14mA, now 33mA, what is expected regarding 3g and Skype turned ON...

I've tried that small python script (auto add/remove homescreen bookmark each hour) that user "bnw" posted on the bug page ( https://harmattan-bugs.nokia.com/sho...cgi?id=486#c28 ) - it didn't work for me, at least not immediately, so I've uninstalled it - but I'm going to contact him about that, and maybe give it a second chance - could be worth of it...

I'll keep You posted... thanks, mate...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

update:

2h from the last charging - Average idle consumption falling slowly from starting 60mA now at 47mA… bit higher than desired 35mA, but much better than 80-100+mA lately... 3G on, Skype logged in + one manual add/remove homescreen bookmark icon few minutes after unplugging the charger...

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Figured I would chime in also about my idle usage. With 3G Only Mode + Skype logged in + Google Talk logged in + Gmail/Contact/Calendar set to push with Exchange, I see ~37mA idle drain. This is a lot better than what I used to get on my HTC Sensation which would be at best ~75-80mAh.

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

I'm another N9 person with IDLE usage ~101mAh.

What I understand from reading this thread is to charge the phone normally, then after a few minutes after disconnecting from charging, add & then remove a bookmark (to the app screen).

I have nothing logged on, 3G on (& usually camera in stand-by).

Re: Nokia N9 with Skype drains the battery
 

Sigh... How on earth did this turn into a thread about almost all the idle drain/consumption issues?
Keep that in the epic idle consumption thread, this one should be focused on the original discussion point.