yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] andreasarxon:
ok, i flashed previous firmware ( december update ) and my battery became exellent again. i disable ota updates for now ...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
You got a link to that? I'm going to have to flash it myself, I'm seriously ***** off with the battery life of my phone right now.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] andreasarxon:
I downloaded from samfw. But remember you will lose all data. But I guarantee you that the battery will be perfect again. Yesterday I go to bed with 50% left with 4+ hours SOT with bt/5g/gps all enabled
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] trevzv:
Você fez debloat após instalar o firmware de dezembro?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Yup, installed about 4 hours ago and already notice a difference. Hopefully Feb fixes the issue or I'll be on this for a while.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
But can you jump to Feb OTA without installing Jan? Aren't updates linear?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
You might have to increment it (this will be automated within Samsung's OTA), but if the battery issue is resolved in February's update, moving to BWL3 first won't stop that fix from working once Feb is installed.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Only annoying thing now is the constant nag to update the software. I've stopped the automatic download and update on restart, but it doesn't stop the notifications or the 'A software update is available' banner at the top of settings.

I'm going to see if I can disable the update service using ADB without needing root.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] t-shock:
Use https://adbappcontrol.com/en/ or any other program to find 2 apps related to OTAs (of course ADB is needed). After disabling these 2, the notification will be gone
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] _GRIZZLY_:
Or third road to stop update info. Download modem from different software, for example previous version and flash by odin, then update info too are gone.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] t-shock:
Has anyone tested S918BXXS3BWKC? Obviously should be better (in regards to battery life) compared to S918BXXS3BWL3, but is it better (or as good) compared to Android 13?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
That's what I flashed yesterday. It's Android 14 so in everyday use it's pretty much the same as BWL3 in that it has the advantages over Android 13 you'd expect.

The difference though is battery life. I'm currently sitting on 92% with a SOT of 1 hour 23 minutes. I'd have been on around 80% with that SOT prior to yesterday's downgrade.

BWL3 is a truly terrible firmware that is to be avoided at all costs.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
89% with a SOT of 1 hour 51 minutes now. That is immense.

Ah, it's good to be back.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
what have you enabled/disabled - screen res, refresh rates, location, syncs etc etc
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
which firmware is this?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Screen res FHD+. Refresh rates default. Location on. No syncing disabled. My usual 10-15 apps installed.

S918BXXS3BWKC.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
ahaa..there you have it...FHD+..Yes, that will save a ton of battery vs QHD+ Anyone here on Dec update with all at highest settings? Let's get the views from both the worlds
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Not really. It's the default for a reason, and you would have to consciously go in and change it. And the vast majority of people wouldn't do that because having QHD+ set as the default at all times doesn't achieve much. In a nutshell, unless you're pixel peeking two inches from the screen, the real world differences on a screen this size between FHD and QHD are barely noticeable.

I can understand wanting to know the difference in battery life between the two, but if you're analysing everyday battery life, FHD+ is the resolution it's done on.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
You're right about the default setting but when Samsung launched the S23 series one of the main features highlighted was the battery life. So, right out of the box, almost everything was set to the lowest spec...even the refresh rates I think (but I might be wrong)...The same goes for the network mode. If you switch between FHD and QHD, you will notice that the overall text looks sharper in QHD than in FHD....try it out! Basically, the screen looks a bit hazy in FHD compared with QHD

This debate has been beaten around for ages with no consensus. I guess it's one of those topics that will never get resolved. Anyways, let's get some more opinions on the Dec update vs Jan update in different scenarios...I hope they won't screw up the Feb update!
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
It's not set to the lowest spec, that would be HD (1544x720) which is absolutely noticeably worse and should be avoided. By default the phone is set to the middle of the three options which is FHD (2316x1080). And that is barely noticeable from QHD. I've checked this myself in numerous scenarios, before deciding it wasn't worth losing the additional 1-2% battery life an hour.

As indicated in the previous post, if someone is determined to notice the difference between the two resolutions on a screen under 7 inches, and they squint hard enough, it will be there. But for everyday phone usage where the device is over ten inches from your face the majority of the time, there is little to no difference.

As for refresh rate, it's set to a max of 120hz when there is movement on the screen, which is standard to my knowledge.

And agreed, hopefully the February update fixes the issue, I don't really want to be on an older security patch any longer than necessary.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
I've disabled numerous update services now, and the option to update the phone is no longer there, nor are there any standard notifications for it. But annoyingly, the banner still sits at the top of the settings page, and I can't find a way to get rid of it other than to dismiss it but it comes straight back.

I know the update services are now disabled because pressing the open button in the banner does nothing.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] t-shock:
Hmmmmm maybe cleaning the cache of the Settings app will fix the issue.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Already tried with no joy unfortunately.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] bodomfan:
Android 13?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Nope, December update so Android 14.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] bodomfan:
So not January patch lol 😆 that was poor
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
Nope, I've downgraded from January to December.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] bodomfan:
Lol 😆 don't blame you
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
I would really like to go this route but this nagging update notification is what's holding me back. I know you can disable the service via adb but can it be enabled later on.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
Can you pls tell me which services do you disable to get rid of the automatic update? Steps would be appreciated...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] pratik_193:
Just hold on for downgrading to December patch.. Samsung usually pushes new update around 12th of every month for few regions..
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] t-shock:
That's correct but if February's update is also bad, then staying at the December's is the only alternative for now
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] pratik_193:
waiting for a few days more and see if battery is improved is still better than losing all data and going back on older firmware
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] matty100147:
I agree the battery life is awful on Jan update but I can hold out to February update! I'm thankful I work with a company that offers free WiFi so I connect to WiFi and put my phone in airplane mode and turn on WiFi calling so it saves my battery considerably, can still push out 2 days doing this
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] shivammangla:
which firmware version
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
December. So BWKC.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
Jan patch. 1080p, 120hz, location and sync on.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
It's normal ? January patch .
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
Yes it is. Great results.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Beefheart:
9 hours 50 minutes SOT on January isn't normal unless you're severely restricting what the phone is doing.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
60hz , bt -on , mobile data - on , wifi- on , location -off. That's all
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
What exactly is a measure of good battery life? Is SOT the yardstick to measure battery life? Or is it the answer to the question ‐ does the phone get you through a full day's regular usage on a good charge?

I don't understand how and why SOT is a yardstick to measure battery performance. To me, as long as I have access to electricity and that my device doesn't experience inexplicable battery drain, I would consider as good battery life. Surely, some updates tend to be better than others in terms of battery life but if that happens I tend to believe that Samsung has disabled or restricted something and the phone may not be performing as intended. Just my 2 cents.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] AC130PL:
No improvments in February update. I guess it's even worse than January... Had 67% with 1h30 using only LTE
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Dinosaure42:
Have to agree with that... This phone just doesn't last a full day on 4G/5G anymore... Very disappointing I literally feel forced to switch... It's so annoying. I'm so disappointed in Samsung I thought they weren't doing the same as Apple...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] enigmaamit:
February update seems better to me. I'm back to 2 days of "my" average usage.

24 hours mixed usage with 3hrs18min screen time cost me 49% battery. Will make it through today without charging as well. Seems way better than Jan update.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
same with me. Feb seems to be better than Jan...I'm sure I will have to eat my words after a few days of the update...but so far it's better than Jan...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] djoxie:
I also feel that standby drain is less prominent on Feb update, I also have 2 day use, on Jan it was usually with 6-7h SOT, now 7-8h ✌️
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] jayk_007:
Guys are you still on QHD ? How much is the battery drain ( usage: social media, YT, calls, little bit of camera, WiFi and some 5G, no gaming) different between FHD+ vs QHD in 23Ultra
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
QHD since 2023 february 2nd. Paid to much to use FHD. Easily lasts whole day. 5G/Wifi, auto brightness, BT on 24/7.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] jayk_007:
Yeah my problem is that I only see the difference in certain moments, rest, even if I look for it I don't see a difference. Dark theme and dark mode makes the difference less prominent.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] enigmaamit:
Tried going back and forth between FHD and QHD. Couldn't notice a very large difference in terms of sharpness. Don't get me wrong, the difference 'is' there but it's mostly noticeable immediately on switching, and fades into the back of the mind after a few minutes. Some people may prize that, and it's alright - you buy a WQHD phone and it's alright to want to use it to the max. But don't drive everyday at 200kmph just coz my car 'can' hit 200kmph, so it may be a very personal thing. The only advantage of WQHD I've seen personally is that the screenshots are higher resolution. 😀 Everytime I move to FHD, the battery drain is lower, device runs a little cooler, especially outdoors under the sun. With WQHD i can easily get a day, but FHD pushes it to a day and a half. So I've mostly been on FHD.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] jayk_007:
Yeah I try to spot the differences, It's more prominent in lighter theme or white interfaces.. and in certain moments something looks a bit sharper.. It's very very difficult to spot.. but back in the day Samsung QHD was significantly more sharp or maybe the FHD has gotten more closer to QHD
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] olafsand:
For me the feb uptate looks even worse than January. Fhd+ resolution.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
I have a gallery widget running on the home screen and photos in the widget have a marked difference between FHD and QHD. The photos are sharper on QHD than on FHD. Otherwise, simply staring at the screen, looking at the settings page, browsing the web, watching YouTube etc FHD is good enough..but the moment you go into the gallery, your photos look crisper in QHD than in FHD...I was on FHD for about a week and my battery gain was about 2 hours of SOT (Apparently, we tend to use SOT as the battery yardstick...more on this below) I'm back on QHD for now which is the native resolution of the panel. I feel the chips need to work less at native resolution than at FHD

On a side note, I feel the Android world needs to use SOT when talking about battery life in their presentations...Apparently, it has more appeal than "x more hours of watching YouTube, y more hours of browsing..."

Thank you for reading my rant for this week...that's all folks..stay tuned for more coming next week...Happy weekend comrades!
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Chlopsigma:
Guys I have noticed that my battery is not like before and I found this forum, hope you have some answers.

I have s23u updated by january update and february is waiting to be installed, can I update it without the risk that I will be not able to go back to december version? I know that going back from january to december is possible but what about updating first to february?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
As long as the bootloader is not updated, you can go back to Dec patch however you need to format the device via Odin. Honestly speaking, the Feb patch is much better than Jan's. I can't comment on Dec performance because I can't remember how the battery life was for me that month.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] HhoPRv1:
What's a good battery life for a phone 1,5 yr old? I've a Motorola moto G71 5G @ 5000mAh.

Battery stats say 1 day 2 hours left at 75% charge. I mostly use firefox to surf the web with a couple of addons loaded.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
Wrong forum. Your phone has own XDA forum https://xdaforums.com/f/motorola-moto-g71-5g.12769/

"Battery stats say 1 day 2 hours left at 75% charge" no it doesn't say it will hold for that long. It's assuming it will hold for 1 day and 2 hours according to your previous usage.

No one can answer what's good battery life for a phone 1.5 years old. For some people good battery life if phone lasts half a day. Different apps, settings, screen brightness, ambient temps...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] AC130PL:
February has definitely lower standby drain than January- today I lost 1% in 9%, Wi-Fi on. On January 4% in 8h, Wi-Fi off. Still, I'll be flashing December update- got S23U from my friend after S24U launch, so I had January crap from the start
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
If we flash dec firmware i have to factory reset/ lose data ?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Only had the settings which i needed turned on or off for the ones I don't need. I only turn on settings if I actually need to use them;

WiFi on,

Bluetooth off,

GPS off,

Auto brightness off, (I adjust brightness myself),

Nearby scanning off, (don't use it, many nearby features are on by default, consider turning them all off, they are actually useless for me)

Dolby Atmos off, (only use it for airpods)

Mobile data off, (didn't need to use it)

Find my device off, (both Samsung & Google versions of find my device are off)

Adaptive battery on,

Deep sleep apps on, (for all the apps I don't need notifications for, I only have WhatsApp, Snapchat & outlook for notifications, don't need other notifications)

Sync off, (don't need it, never had any use for it)

I disabled Google chrome as the recent update for Google chrome takes a big toll on battery life, was disappointed as I used chrome for a long time but now I'm using Samsung Internet which isn't too bad & much better for battery life.

Disabled location permissions for various apps that don't actually need it. Also, go to location settings & then off "WiFi always scanning even when WiFi is off" & turn off "Bluetooth scanning" in the same location settings.

Also disabled nearby permissions for various apps that don't actually need it.

Disabled "mobile data always on" in developer options.

Google play services; cleared cache & data, uninstalled updates. Rebooted phone, reinstalled updates, cleared data and cache, 1 more reboot after that.

Install "Good Guardians" from Samsung store, it's a pretty good app. You can then download add-on apps from within this good guardians app. I downloaded 2, battery guardian & thermal guardian. With the battery guardian, you can optimize your battery life even more.

I did all of the above the first day I got the Samsung, right out of the box. Today I had a software update & I just cleared the cache partion in recovery mode for good measure.

Many people say that using a high end phone with the above settings I've put is pointless, but, I've not actually lost the amazing experience. I still use 120hz wqhd & performance mode. Besides, I never see the point in having settings turned on when I'm not using them (eg Bluetooth data GPS sync etc)

On a side note, if you feel your battery is draining to fast, I encourage you to download Gsam battery monitor from the play store, it's free, once downloaded enable the ADB permissions for battery stats (very easy to do, the app shows you how to do it) and then just monitor your battery life with this Gsam app. It'll show you exactly what's draining the most battery, wakelocks etc.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Dinosaure42:
Man tysm, this helped a lot I just did all of that and we'll see tmr if it's better :)
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Yeah post updates on here. Also install Gsam battery monitor too, enable the ADB permissions
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Dinosaure42:
I use AccuBattery, is not good?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] EtherealRemnant:
I don't like any other email client but I'm probably going to change it from push mail to checking every 4 hours.

Whenever I mess with Google Play Services it breaks things so I'll just leave it.

I'm totally happy with that battery. Zero complaints.

And yes, I toggled off an on Bluetooth and the number dropped to 3%.

I just put the S23U on the charger finally. I'll grab the final stats and post them when it's done.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] EtherealRemnant:
It's not as detailed as GSam.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Dinosaure42:
OK I'll get it done then thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
I would use Gsam with adb permissions
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Outlook isn't so bad 😄,

With Google play services it won't break anything, you might get slight stutters with Google apps but they'll literally only last for less than 2 minutes while Google play services readjusts itself.

Perfect, so Bluetooth was a part of the problem 👍
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Just a little update, fully charged the phone 2 hours ago. Played Amazon movies & YouTube. Now on 90% with bang on 2 hours SOT. Wqhd 120 Hz performance mode on. Everything else like GPS Bluetooth sync etc off.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Fl1nt91:
Talking about Bluetooth...I can't make the phone auto connect to my JBL speaker once I turn on the Bluetooth...quite annoying.

What am I doing wrong?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] EtherealRemnant:
Well I forgot GSam clears when you charge. This is my Battery Guru time though. I am very happy with this.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Bluetooth on shouldn't kill the battery too much tbh but I guess my battery performs great because I use certain settings when I actually need to use them.

Yes it clears when you charge the phone. But it's much more specific than any other app I know.

I literally don't know what I'm reading on this battery guru 😂
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] EtherealRemnant:
It was on battery for 42h24m, went from 100% to 6% in that time. There was 4h33m screen on time in there, 37h50m screen off time. Average 7.2%/hr screen on drain, 1.6%/hr screen off drain. 54.6% of the screen off time was in deep sleep, the other 45.4% the phone was awake with the screen off.

The app that drained the most battery over that time was the launcher, followed by reddit, followed by Chrome.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Ahh makes sense now 👍 reading all that definitely some work needs to be done within the software. Continue to use Gsam as it'll show you wakelocks, once you know the wakelocks share them here so we can fix them
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] matty100147:
After using gsam i noticed on Google play services the wakelocks NLP and gcore waking my phone hundreds of time and in the android system some alarm wakelock, no idea what they do
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Thanos88:
Certain wakelocks unfortunately can't be stopped, they're needed to run the system. However, what you need to look out for is excessive wake time. For example, on my s23 ultra, a 14 hours standby gives just under 3 minutes of "time held awake". This is normal. On my rog phone 6 I get at least 7 minutes "time held awake" for 14 hours standby. Have a look how much "time held awake" you're getting on your phone
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Kinsman-UK:
I tried setting the permissions for this using ADB, as described on their website, the same way I did for my previous phone - but after setting the permission GSAM won't open (shows title screen then closes). Do you have a solution?

EDIT: Nevermind, worked this time after a wipe and uninstall of GSAM - perhaps something carried over from a previous backup.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] enigmaamit:
Yes, if downgrading any firmware you will lose data, and will have to set up phone afresh (factory reset)
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
Ok , and thanks for reply.

After the flash can i block ota ? I mean some programs ?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] enigmaamit:
You can use adb App control for that. Search on XDA. It's free and works well.

Pro tip: Use it as soon as possible after downgrading (once you have booted up and disabled automatic updates) we'll before the phone has a chance to ping Samsung for updates. That way you won't have to deal with nagging update notifications.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
Can you please provide my the correct topic for the adb app ? I'm a noob at this
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
2 hours of SoT and I'm on 80% . December patch.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
Feb patch from 85% to 64%...not that bad I'd say
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] djoxie:
So, you stared at your Wallpaper for 1h 39min?!?

That way we all can achieve 12h SOT, but what is the point?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
Dunno...I think I have a long screen timeout option...but even if I were watching YouTube the SOTs would be similar
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
December patch all good
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] djoxie:
App usage?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
Bt -on , wifi -on , mobile data- on , 60hz ,
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] linom:
Are you using hex theme app? How did you get amoled black b/g?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
Yes I'm using hex , the b/g is from a plugin (Dolian) also hex.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Ogy77:
Adaptive battery on or off?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
On
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
I'm back on Feb patch , the battery seems the same as December patch.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] djoxie:
That is my opinion too, the nightmare is over finally. I will think twice before installing One UI 6.1. I prefer stability and good battery over AI mumbo jumbo. I will definately wait till someone tests new build...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ghost495:
Hello. Guys

What about consumption after 1 year use smartphone? I check my battery from accu battery, and lost 300 mAh if 4855. And I lost near ~ 2h screen time, from 12h to 10.30 in Everyday use. Soft and style use not change. Os 5.1
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
The app accubattery it's trusted ? The data that this app provide it's to be trusted? I don't think so.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] amirage:
There's an adb method to calculate your battery cycle...it's discussed in this forum
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Naikkon:
This is on Feb patch.

15% almost 2 h of sot
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ghost495:
I feel that screen time to be less, than earlier