S4 battery problems since upgrading to kitkat 4.4.2...

iPink

I'm at my wits end with my S4 battery... I was always super happy with the battery life of it since i got it but after the previous upgrade (4?) I noticed a huge difference in battery life to the point where i have to recharge every night & plug in a couple of times a day...

I had heard the latest upgrade addressed battery issues so I upgraded a coupe of days ago to 4.4.2 despite the external sd card problems..

Initially it seemed good but I went to bed last night with a full battery (I turn everything off at night- wifi, sound, data etc) & woke up to 23% this morning & the battery seemed very hot despite inactivity. ..

I then turned the data on but the fone was in my pocket so wasn't being used & has actually just turned itself off due to no battery... within an hour it went from 26% to 0% with no use!!

does anyone have any ideas or found similiar problems since upgrading. .. it's so annoying i have to always bring a charger with me & constantly thinking about where i can plug in...!!

It's around 1.5 years old & up to the previous upgrade to 4 (i think it was) the battery life was great.... (

Thanks in advance!

RossieMan

Flash a custom rom onto it, look out for cyanmogenmod, always the best and has no bloatware.

iPink

thanks...I've thought about rooting before but the process put me off a bit... I've jail - broken a few iphones with no trouble. .. how would you compare rooting to that?

are there any walk-throughs you would recommend in particular?

I've just been using it for the last 15 mins to check in, read & reply to a couple of posts here on boards & it's gone from 100% to 86%... That's just rediculous imo!!

iPink

i have just downloaded DS saver to see if that makes any difference....

RossieMan

https://towelroot.com/tr.apk

visit here from the web broswer on your phone.

follow the instructions and you'll be rooted.

This is the way i root my phones, easiest and pain free way of doing it.

Edit:
Download a root checker after its done to see if its worked.
Make sure to download supersu or something if it has so that root apps will have to ask for root.

The Governor

To be fair from what you've said I'd nearly say it sounds like the actual battery may be fecked especially the fact its red hot to the touch.

Try the software based advice first by all means but I'd be 99% its a hardware issue.

iPink

RossieMan wrote:

visit here from the web broswer on your phone.

RossieMan wrote:

This is the way i root my phones, easiest and pain free way of doing it.

RossieMan wrote:

follow the instructions and you'll be rooted.

i tried to follow the link you gave me but all it did was try to open hundreds of webpages in my phone. ..??!
is it a virus by any chance. ..?

RossieMan

Sorry, didn't realise you weren't allow to link directly to that page.

https://towelroot.com/
You'll have to vist here first, then click on the weird looking thing in the middle.

Its not a virus, its a root unlocker.

Geohot was the guy who unlocked the Iphone, the ps3 and now android. Its safe.

iPink

thanks for that Rossi... makes sense now!
ye I know Geohot... always used him for jail breaking!
he rocks!!

ongarite

if your phone is hot it sounds like an app is keeping your phone awake and at 100% cpu and hence draining the very quickly.

What is your battery stats for app usage and awake versus sleep time when screen is off?

projectgtr

did you do a fresh install after upgrading or simply uprgade? If you just upgraded i recommend doing a factory reset and trying again. wouldnt think the battery would be fecked in 1.5 years tbh

fred funk }{

ongarite wrote: »

if your phone is hot it sounds like an app is keeping your phone awake and at 100% cpu and hence draining the very quickly.

What is your battery stats for app usage and awake versus sleep time when screen is off?

I was having the very same problem as the OP and I downloaded an app called The Battery Doctor. It flagged up The Journal app as causing problems and since I deleted it my phone is running perfect. It was hammering the battery and my phone was nearly always hot to touch but not anymore.

iPink

projectgtr wrote:

did you do a fresh install after upgrading or simply uprgade? If you just upgraded i recommend doing a factory reset and trying again. wouldnt think the battery would be fecked in 1.5 years tbh

I upgraded as normal...!
What do you mean by a 'fresh install' vs 'upgrade'...?
thanks

iPink

ongarite wrote:

if your phone is hot it sounds like an app is keeping your phone awake and at 100% cpu and hence draining the very quickly.

ongarite wrote:

What is your battery stats for app usage and awake versus sleep time when screen is off?

it's not always hot but i notice it now every now and again, whereas i didn't before!
not sure how to find battery stats gor app usage..?
thanks for commenting

iPink

RossieMan wrote:

You'll have to vist here first, then click on the weird looking thing in the middle.

still doesn't work for me... Don't know why... it just opens endless new browser pages... unless that is actually the process...??!

RossieMan

what browser are you using?

iPink

RossieMan wrote:

what browser are you using?

chrome

iPink

projectgtr wrote:

did you do a fresh install after upgrading or simply uprgade? If you just upgraded i recommend doing a factory reset and trying again. wouldnt think the battery would be fecked in 1.5 years tbh

just about to do a factory reset but not sure what you mean by fresh install after upgrading...??
thanks

RossieMan

Fresh install is a wipe and then installing your new rom.

upgrading is flashing over your existing rom, this is where most problems happen.

iPink

thanks for that. .. so if i do a factory wipe & then reload kitkat that might help...?

opinionated3

Apologies for hijacking the thread but does anyone have any further news on this issue? I'm having the exact same issues with mine and it's draining at an unreal rate despite me doing the normal things like adjusting screen brightness etc. phone occasionally gets hot too also. Please bear in mind I'm not the best with all the lingo like rooting the phone etc. any help gratefully accepted

DesperateDan

My battery is noticeably worse these days as well but I bought a GS4 the week it came out. In my book the battery itself has simply worn out and will never retain it's charge as long as it used to. I'd recommend just buying a new battery for 40 quid. That's what I would do but I'm upgrading soon anyways.

RossieMan

the battery is not gone, its the ROM on your phone. Look up Xda for advice. They'll be plenty of topics.

DesperateDan

RossieMan wrote: »

the battery is not gone, its the ROM on your phone. Look up Xda for advice. They'll be plenty of topics.

On a 1 and a half year old phone using KitKat? What makes you say that? It's much more likely the battery has lost it's charging capacity. KitKat is very good with battery life. Yes a custom rom will most likely increase the battery life of the current phone, but I believe only very marginally.

I would be really interested if the OP does install CyanogenMod etc, to report back in a month or so to note if they've noticed a substantial improvement or not

corwill

DesperateDan wrote: »

On a 1 and a half year old phone using KitKat? What makes you say that? It's much more likely the battery has lost it's charging capacity. KitKat is very good with battery life. Yes a custom rom will most likely increase the battery life of the current phone, but I believe only very marginally.

I would be really interested if the OP does install CyanogenMod etc, to report back in a month or so to note if they've noticed a substantial improvement or not

KitKat is very good with battery life, but Touchwiz isn't.

RossieMan

The ROM might not be going to sleep at all, leaving the CPU running all the time.

It happens quite regularly when updating from 4.2/4.3 to 4.4. A clean install in required to sort it out.

opinionated3

RossieMan wrote: »

The ROM might not be going to sleep at all, leaving the CPU running all the time.

It happens quite regularly when updating from 4.2/4.3 to 4.4. A clean install in required to sort it out.

How do i do that? ?

RossieMan

wipe and reinstall. you'll have to root and install a recovery. Do a back up first before you wipe in case something goes wrong.

If you don't understand, google will help you.

Otherwise id get someone who does understand these things to do it for you.

iPink

RossieMan wrote:

wipe and reinstall. you'll have to root and install a recovery. Do a back up first before you wipe in case something goes wrong.

so should i root first & then factory reset & reinstall kitkat then flash a new rom..
or factory reset, install kitkat then root & new rom...?

where in this process should i install a recovery & what for?

sorry for questions but never done this before though i have done jailbreaks etc

also that link with the towelroot you sent still acts weird... maybe because I'm using chrome? i don't know but I'll have to find a different way of doing it I guess...

will defo be doing this. .. fone has started having more problems lately too like restarting itself randomly & last night it just stalled weirdly. .. it wasn't shut down as led was still on but was dead... i had to remove battery to bring back to life!!
i overslept by an hour as my alarm is on my fone!!

RossieMan

Root first. then flash a new rom. XDA will have walkthrough guides on how to do each.

It really is a brilliant community. I'd recommend joining, they'll be much better help than anyone on here.
Its a dedicated community for mobile phones.

Its strange that towelroot doesn't work, have you access to a PC that you can plug the phone into? loads of other ways to get root access.

iPink

thanks again for the help!

RossieMan

Any bother just give us a shout via PM or here and i'll try and help ya out.