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Help Battery Life Problem

K

Kevinator

Newbie
Sup people.

I am beginning to think I made a mistake using an Android based phone. I used to own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and ended up prematurely buying an S5 because of battery issues. I've had the S5 for about 6 months or so, and it's been great. The battery life has been awesome, and after a typical day of use, I would still have in the 80 percentile range of battery life left over.

Changing NOTHING on my end, all of the sudden, my battery life started decreasing far, far more. So, I started doing what I could to fix it. Didn't seem to help because today, and the day isn't even over, it got down to 32% - it's on a charger right now. Again, this started happening without any changes made by me, nor did my habits change. It just started happening.

I don't know if something got jacked on an update or what, but something is obviously wrong. I have downloaded Battery Doctor, but that really doesn't help much except to identify what using the juice.

I have:
  • Used Battery Doctor to optimize - this is a very, very temporary benefit
  • Removed and turned off many apps (this shouldn't be an issue though as I changed nothing app wise - the same apps that were installed gave me 80% range at the end of the day and now with those same apps my battery life got down to 32%)
  • Restarted my phone
  • Updated to the latest OS version: 4.4.4
None of this has helped, and although the issues aren't quite the same as my S3, I'm having flashbacks. Again, I had to prematurely get rid of my S3 due to battery issues, and I only had that for just over a year, which meant I had to pay the full $600+ for this S5 only to have THIS happen after what... 6 months or so?!

Seriously considering abandoning Android. Doesn't matter how superior a platform is if your battery life is garbage. :mad:

So Gents, what are my options and what would you advise?

Thank you in advance,

Kevin
 
Has your signal got worse of late?

Poor signal can have a massive impact on battery life.

Maybe a rogue app update caused the issue, has anything updated recently?

If you've just done a system update, was it fine before that or did your issues start after the update?

Take a look at GSAM Battery monitor, that will give you a better idea of what's causing the issue.
 
El Presidente,

Thank you for the reply. My signal strength is great 4 bars at home and 4 or 5 at work. I don't look at it every day though.

Yeah, I suspect a rouge app update because that fits the all of the sudden hit. My apps automatically update.

I will try the GSAM app, thanks for the tip.
 
El Presidente,

Sorry... forgot to answer this... I was having problems before I updated the OS. I updated the OS in hopes that it would help. :/
 
El Presidente said:
Ah, ok. Sometimes OS updates can cause more problems than they solve, so was just checking. :)
Click to expand...

:)

So, according to GSAM, here is what is eating up my battery:
Android System - 40%
Email: 24%
Exchange services: 17.9

Beyond that, there are 14 apps, starting at 3.9% going down to .01%. Of these, most are less than 1%.

How do these numbers look to you? Is the OS draw what you would expect... and same for the email app and exchange service? Should I look for another email app or something?

Thank you,

Kevin
 
Do you have the device linked to a work email account? I take it it uses exchange?

Yeah, seems kinda normal.

How do you charge the device? Do you let it die, then recharge fully, or just top it up when you can?
 
El Presidente said:
Do you have the device linked to a work email account? I take it it uses exchange?
Click to expand...

Yes, I work in IT and have my work email account (exchange) configured on my phone. It's the standard "Email" app. It's been configured that way for months. This only started recently... a week or so ago.

How do you charge the device? Do you let it die, then recharge fully, or just top it up when you can?
Click to expand...

I would charge it when I went to bed and unplug it when I get up for work the next morning. I know it's not good to overcharge, but surely it wouldn't cause this, would it? It just keeps getting worse... today I had to turn off my phone because it was down to 6% and I wasn't home. A full charge didn't last a day!

What would you do in my shoes? Is there any way that I can take it a place and have them run some kind of diagnostic on my phone to see if there are hardware issues? I don't want to send it off for repair because it's my only phone - no land line.

Thanks man,

Kevin
 
Fwiw, exchange hammers my battery, but if it's never been an issue for you in the past, it technically shouldn't become a problem all of a sudden. You could try another email app though, there's no harm in that. I used K9 for ages, but I hear people say good things about aquamail so you may want to give that a shot.

Overcharging isn't an issue as the battery will stop accepting charge when it reaches a certain percentage, lose a little, than start charging again. It's actually worse for the battery to let it go completely flat so if you're not doing that on a regular basis, all should be well there.

The only thing I can think of it being is a rogue app update (although that would have shown in GSAM) or a loss in signal strength. If you open GSAM battery monitor again and hit the chart button at the bottom of the page, swipe over to the phone signal tab, is the orange line erratic?

You've a couple of options, you could try another battery (but I'd probably go for a legit Samsung battery as opposed to a cheapo from Amazon), or back everything up with Helium backup, then go for a factory reset.

Kinda stumped otherwise, sorry :\
 
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El Presidente,

The signal strength does show fluctuation, but the low points don't even get to the halfway point between High and Medium. I'm a creature of habit and haven't changed where I go on a normal basis. Typically, I'm at one of my two jobs, at home, or at church - I've had this pattern since Dec. of last year.

I might try a different battery, but my hopes are somewhat small. While my S3 didn't have quite the same issue, I got rid of it because of battery issues. With my S3, I went as far as to wipe my phone and replace the battery and that didn't fix the issue, so I'm having doubts that even those extreme measures will work. I'll try them though - not much to lose at this point.

If it does come down to it, I will not get another Galaxy... android based, maybe, but not another Galaxy. I WISH I knew what the issue was so I could avoid it with certainty in the future. Very frustrating. $600 for about 1/2 a year...

But hey man, thank you for chiming in and trying to help, I appreciate your efforts. You have a great day bud. :)

Kevin
 
Check the battery carefully for any sign of swelling or distortion e.g. lay it on a flat surface and see if there's any "rocking". I've seen several S4/S5 batteries that have failed prematurely.
 
Slug said:
Check the battery carefully for any sign of swelling or distortion e.g. lay it on a flat surface and see if there's any "rocking". I've seen several S4/S5 batteries that have failed prematurely.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the tip... if it is a battery issue, it should hopefully get resolved by me replacing the battery. At this point, I'm hoping it is that simple. :)
 
Kevinator said:
if it is a battery issue, it should hopefully get resolved by me replacing the battery
Click to expand...

If the battery is obviously defective (as above), return it to the retailer and request it be examined under warranty. Samsung have a pretty good track record - they've replaced many faulty batteries due to a manufacturing fault affecting a batch here in Europe.
 
Slug said:
If the battery is obviously defective (as above), return it to the retailer and request it be examined under warranty. Samsung have a pretty good track record - they've replaced many faulty batteries due to a manufacturing fault affecting a batch here in Europe.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice, but I can't be without a battery for that long... waiting for them to replace it. I will just buy one. It's my only phone and I don't want to be without phone capability for that long.
 
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