• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Galaxy S4 gets hot in area of limited connectivity?

D

dpcole72

Newbie
Howdy. I just bought a new Galaxy S4, which I adore.

Yesterday I went out to a landmark, in a remote section of the state. I had the main radio on and bluetooth. It was a 2 hour drive. When I got to the destination, I took out my phone to realize that there was no connection, battery life was down to 77 (from 100), and it was VERY warm to the touch.

Is this normal, with it trying to find a tower incessantly?

Or did I get a defective unit?

I had turned on airplane mode and kept it so until I returned home in the afternoon, and it remained temperate.

Thanks!
 
Thanks!

My wi-fi was off at the time, and I've done some further reading - it is not abnormal for any smartphone to get very warm if it's looking to make or keep a connection.

I wish I knew how warm the phone actually got; it wasn't so hot I couldn't hold it, but it was very warm. Maybe 120F or so... it couldn't have gotten to 150...?
 
This is typical of the S4 and of smartphones in general. Unless the phone gets too hot to hold, it's nothing to concern yourself about.
 
Weak signal areas heated the device up and drained the battery on my Razr, S3 and now the S4. Until they invent a lower nM radio chip, it is what it is.

Simply turn the data radios off and use them when you need them. Battery lasts a lot longer and you can still make calls and text.
 
Yeah when the cell signal gets lower the radio in the phone increases power to keep the connection, causing the phone to get warmer. I either turn my phone off or put it in airplane mode until I get back to town.
 
Sprint is redoing all of their towers in the area where my office is. When the coverage is really bad mine gets very hot. I normally keep it in an inside pocket on a suit jacket, and it will get warm enough it's uncomfortable against my chest. It only seems to do that when the signal is weak.
 
Every phone I've owned had this problem. And, IMO, the heat issues have gotten worse as phones have gotten more powerful. You could freakin' cook on my Droid 2G when it lost signal and my Droid 3 was nearly as bad.
 
How hot?
Your sensor shows the temperature of the phone's battery. Because it's the phone's most sensitive component.

The Li-Ion battery's temperature operating range is:
for discharging -20C (-4F) to +60C (+140F).
for charging 0C (+32F) to +45C (+113F).

Harry
 
No sireagle its not just you. I actually just posted a thread on this topic(phone heating up) maybe i should take it down...
But im having a problem with it heating up with anything i do lately. Im gonna try turning off wifi to see if that helps.
What they NEED to do is figure out a cooling method for these phones. I mean hell, how can you have 4, 8 core processors in a half inch of plastic and expect it not to overheat ya know.
Normal or not, i know it cant be a good thing...
 
Can't figure out if WiFi has anything to do with it or not. I've noticed it when I get a poor signal, wither it's 4G, WiFi, 3G, it seems like when it's trying to get a better signal it gets warm.
 
SirEagle said:
Can't figure out if WiFi has anything to do with it or not. I've noticed it when I get a poor signal, wither it's 4G, WiFi, 3G, it seems like when it's trying to get a better signal it gets warm.
Click to expand...

I have heard soooo many reasons for the phone getting hot. Like i said in my thread tho, how hot is too hot? That's my worry.
But I have heard suggestions about turning the wifi off when not needed to help this.
Was ur wifi on during ur trip or did u strictly have ur data running?
 
Dpocole, my apologies. I already see thst u answered that. Perhaps it was the wifi...
I just think it's horse shit that we have to deal with any of these various and rampant problems in the first place. Especially considering it's a device that costs $700...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom