So I recently bought this lg g4 from this website called woot and it said it was refurbished but I was like it can't be that bad. I got the phone and everything was fine until I noticed hoe fast the phone was dieing. I'd use it for like 5 mins and literally like 5% would drop it's pretty crazy. Now I don't know if it's the battery that is the problem or if it's because the phones refurbished. Any tips would help.....
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Battery life on the G4 is pretty terrible, but what were you doing in those 5 minutes? Playing a game/browsing/media etc?
I'm sorry bro, but what's safe mode?
Nevis
Well-Known Member
When you go to power of, long press on the power off option, and you will be prompted whether you want to activate safe mode. It's like a restricted state far your device. Only certain apps will run. The rest are unavailable. Run it for a while and compare to when you're not in safe mode. That way you'll know if it's an app that's draining your battery.
FijiSun
Newbie
Check your apps. Some apps are not optimized very well. Web browsers seem to eat power at a much faster rate. Also, if you don't need your location/bluetooth or sync I would turn those off. Location will really destroy the power. I turned off those three services. Only turn them on when needed. Made a pretty big difference on my G4's. Also I'm sure you already know how screen brightness can hit the battery as well. I usually run mine at about 45% while indoors. I will only turn it up to 100 percent while outdoors. Last thing I would pick up another battery on Amazon. They are dirt cheap. Make sure you buy the oem one made by LG and it generally comes with the white LG charger. I've seen two kinds of LG batteries for the G4. Some are rated at 2900 mAh and others are 3000 mAh. Obviously you want to secure the larger capacity. Avoid buying non LG batteries. I did and that one definitively has shorter life even those it rated at 3000 mAh. Being that you have a referb I would get another battery. I did the above steps and have pretty decent battery life on my G4's. My standby time is also really good. Sometimes it will still show 100 percent in the morning. Also worth mentioning is my G4's are unlocked and get their updates directly from LG. No carrier bloatware or code that can mess up the base OS.
Now for the bad news. You got a referb. In case you did not know G4's shipped with a major defect for the first 5 months of production (defect affects all regions globally
. Apparently a loose contact on the main board. Eventually the defect will show its ugly head and bam, your device will be bricked into an endless boot loop. What you need to do is look at your box for the serial number or better yet on the device itself. Your box may not be the original. Under the battery you will see the first three numbers of the serial number. If you see something starting around 505 to 509 then your device is one of the affected devices. There would be no way to confirm if LG swapped out your main board. If you have one of the earlier build dates I would seriously try to return the phone.
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Check your apps. Some apps are not optimized very well. Web browsers seem to eat power at a much faster rate. Also, if you don't need your location/bluetooth or sync I would turn those off. Location will really destroy the power. I turned off those three services. Only turn them on when needed. Made a pretty big difference on my G4's. Also I'm sure you already know how screen brightness can hit the battery as well. I usually run mine at about 45% while indoors. I will only turn it up to 100 percent while outdoors. Last thing I would pick up another battery on Amazon. They are dirt cheap. Make sure you buy the oem one made by LG and it generally comes with the white LG charger. I've seen two kinds of LG batteries for the G4. Some are rated at 2900 mAh and others are 3000 mAh. Obviously you want to secure the larger capacity. Avoid buying non LG batteries. I did and that one definitively has shorter life even those it rated at 3000 mAh. Being that you have a referb I would get another battery. I did the above steps and have pretty decent battery life on my G4's. My standby time is also really good. Sometimes it will still show 100 percent in the morning. Also worth mentioning is my G4's are unlocked and get their updates directly from LG. No carrier bloatware or code that can mess up the base OS.
Now for the bad news. You got a referb. In case you did not know G4's shipped with a major defect for the first 5 months of production (defect affects all regions globally
Well turns out I have a serial number that's starts at 505 and I'm pretty much screwed, I'll just keep using it until it boot loops, then I'll see what to do next. I think I'm going to buy a new battery then, I'm hoping it's the battery thats making it die fast, thank you though
FijiSun
Newbie
Where did you buy it? Do you know the model number? If it is a H810 (ATT) or H811 (T-mobile) those are US phones and should be ok for the free repair. I'm not sure what the model number is for Verizon but any US phone is eligible for repairs. If you have a unlocked H815 or H818 and live in the states then LG won't offer any goodwill. Just letting you know. If this device was referbed by LG then there is a strong possibility that it has the newer (fixed) main board. I'm sure there are some fixed devices that are starting to be resold. The reason I say this is the carriers were swapping out devices for customers and sending them back to LG. This was especially the case when LG did not know or understand the failure. In short, for 5 months they had no clue on how to fix the problem other then swapping out the device.. Pretty sad. That went on from May though Sep 2015 at which time they finally located the loose connections on the main board. Pretty embarrassing really.
That sealed the fate of the G4. It was a great phone but sales wise was a flop. And the bootloop calamity did not help. Then came the build quality issues of the G5 with the uneven paint, warping etc.. It was slammed by the press. And it too, is a flop. Both phones are good in performance but the executives at LG had enough. Heads are rolling and many staff have been let go.. There is a huge restructuring of their mobile and that division is now taking orders from the head office in Korea. Yeah, they are a bit steamed you might say. My greatest fear is the G6 will follow Samsung's lead and we have yet another metal/glass unibody phone with a sealed battery.
SavageRobot
Android Expert
If it's refurbished I wouldn't worry. Probably been refurbished because of the bootloop and been fixed and reissued.
I agree, battery is by far the worst I have ever owned though. But as mentioned above there may be ways to help limiting app access and locations etc. When I was running stock on mine I carried a spare battery around. Legit LG batteries and charger and carry case are pretty cheap on Amazon.
lvt
Android Expert
I have a G4 with a 3000mAh battery, from my observation the battery is very good, it only loses 1% overnight in standby mode, I played games and watched YouTube with the phone but I never see something like battery dropping 5% after 5 minutes of use.
As your phone has been refurbished, the battery might have lost most of its capacity, I suggest that you buy a new battery for your phone, it's cheap and widely available. Disabling unnecessary background apps also help saving battery.
As your phone has been refurbished, the battery might have lost most of its capacity, I suggest that you buy a new battery for your phone, it's cheap and widely available. Disabling unnecessary background apps also help saving battery.