My battery drain on Samsung Galaxy Note 4 PLEASE HELP, ANY WILL BE APPRECIATED

[AC Question]

So I got my Note 4 a couple weeks ago (It was used but in very good condition) and i noticed that right off the bat, the battery would last 8-9 hours from 100%.
The Doze app don't work, clearing the cache partition don't work, Greenify is just useless IMO and when I tried, it didn't work.. in 1 hour, it would go from 100% to like 80% or a little lower just on standby!!!
In all seriousness, i don't understand the GSAM app but it has given me a list of apps and stuff that use battery if you need that screenshot.
I only have GSAM, Spotify, Unidays, Twitter and Snapchat on this phone so far and removed the SD card a few days ago.
I thought 8-9 hours was normal but reading other posts on here, it's meant to last a whole day with moderate to heavy usage! (I use between moderate and heavy on some days)
Battery is at 30 degrees celsius but goes up to 40 so the temperature is okay.
The only solutions i haven't tried that i can think of is a hard reset, calibration or change of battery.

Any advice is really appreciated.

 

[nahoku]

All safe mode does is disable apps you installed and only allows system apps to run. It's just a troubleshooting thing to help find out if it's an app you installed causing the issue. Snapchat is a prime suspect... it's been posted, in the last two months, about it causing issues. Not saying it's that, but it's possible.

Edit... you may have to wait awhile before posting until you notice the same battery drain. Posting the battery stats directly after full charge may not show anything as the stats get reset.

 

[Kroal]

I did remove snapchat, Spotify, emoji keyboard and pokemon go to see if the battery drain would happen and it would (That was all my downloaded apps).

It's been like this since I got it and it was a used phone when I got it, is it safe to say that if a hard reset don't work then I need to get a return?
I've got two weeks from today left to make a return if I wish

Also, the phone did come with the startup screen and stuff so it was reset previously

 

[nahoku]

Well, since you uninstalled all your apps, that kind of nixes safe mode. You might give it a try anyways to see what'll happen.

Lately, in the last month or so, Google apps... almost all of them... have been having problems. I'm not sure what the status is with their apps currently, but it could be one of the updates Google pushed to your phone. There are tons of threads about Google apps messing up peoples phones... including battery issues. What you could do is uninstall all Google updates... all of them at once... and then force stopping and turning off all Google apps. This is not to say you always need to run your phone this way, but for troubleshooting purposes only.

is it safe to say that if a hard reset don't work then I need to get a return?

Absolutely! A factory reset will take your phone back to original OS state. Even Google updates won't be there. If the phone still messes up, you definitely should return it.

By the way, there is one particular thing that Google Play Services was doing lately (and not to all phones), but it was continually increasing stored data for no reason at all. Gigs of data! You might check the Google Play Services app in Application Manager to see how much data the app has stored on your phone.

 

[Kroal]

I was reading about the Google apps but when I checked the settings, nothing seemed unusual to me

A while ago, I disabled SOME Google apps but not all in case I mess up the phone (Gmail, G+, Chrome etc)... I kept the play services and a few others that I was unsure of stopping.

A factory reset isn't a sure fix in my situation since it was factory reset before arrival but well worth the try as it would be factory reset if I have to return it anyway.

EDIT: Google Play Services has used 3.67mb of data since 18 July, is that more than its supposed to?

 

[nahoku]

You can actually turn off all google related apps if you wanted to. Naturally, apps that are dependent on google apps won't work as intended. However for troubleshooting (or semi-permanently), it's not a problem.

I also own a Note 4, by the way, and I normally have all google apps turned off. No kidding! No google apps run on my phone and tablet until I turn them on when I need to do something. I hate that google always needs to start, run, call home, update, etc. It's a small hassle having to turn stuff on and off, but google is actually a pain in the arse to me! But that's me!

EDIT: Google Play Services has used 3.67mb of data since 18 July, is that more than its supposed to?

3.7mb of data is fine. People with problems were seeing 12+ gbs!

A factory reset isn't a sure fix in my situation since it was factory reset before arrival but well worth the try as it would be factory reset if I have to return it anyway.

Very true!

 

[chanchan05]

If it's the original battery I'd just suspect it to be normal battery deterioration. Batteries under normal usage/stress are expected to start deteriorating in capacity in about 12-18mos. Abuse hastens this as well. The Note 4 is nearly 2 years old.

 

[Kroal]

I'm just going to factory reset it sometime, got nothing to lose except Spotify and Snapchat after all!

The battery deterioration isn't the problem I don't think as I've tried a new battery, I also don't want to spend more cash on an Anker battery as this would mean I'm spending even more money on something I'm not sure will be the fix.

How common is this kind of battery issue for Note 4 users? And does a factory reset work normally?

 

[nahoku]

My Note 4 is 20 months old. With the original battery, and when I'm taxing it running various apps, games, texting, email, phone calls, watching videos, etc, it can last me a few days, with screen on time around 4.5 hours. If I'm not taxing it at all, just text and phone calls, it can last on standby for 5 - 7 days. The reason my battery can last that long is because I don't sync, my wifi, data, and location are off when not in use, and I don't use any cloud services, or social media. I also have two other batteries I swap out about every two charge cycles. I normally only charge once in my phone (the second charge is done on external charger), and that's at about 40%... rarely lower. I just charged my battery a few minutes ago at 42%... the phone had been on low usage for 5 days 19 hours.

Battery issues have a lot more to do with how you run your phone. Taxing the battery will certainly age it faster due to the number of charge cycles, plus the heat of charging. And, allowing the battery to get too low before charging it can also cause premature failure in lithium batteries. Some people say 30 - 40 percent is a good safe place to start recharging. I actually Vape, so I know how to kill a lithium battery... I also know how not to kill one!

As for a factory reset, I've never had to do one in 20 months of owning my Note 4. On my Note 10.1 2014 tablet, I've done one factory reset due to my own stupidity of disabling keyguard by mistake when I was debloating it. The keyguard app handles your password/pin, and if you have one set, and you disable keyguard, you get stuck on the lock screen and the only way to get back in is a factory reset! I can vouch that a factory reset works as it should. Hey, the best way to learn is by experience! LOL!

 

[Kroal]

That is true, allowing the battery to get too low before charging it up causes failure and that's what I try to avoid doing! (I think it's different for Apple devices but who knows)

Well that's lucky you done a factory reset! So yes I will be doing one real soon, if I need to, I will get a return and refund which is a shame because this really is a good phone.. It come from South Korea to UK so getting it back will be a mission but I was sort of anxious as to if it would be a fake. Lucky it wasn't as I checked the IMEI on it but the battery is a shame

 

[B. Diddy]

Lots of good input from nahoku! The main thing I would add is that if a factory reset does nothing, then you could also try reinstalling the firmware. If the firmware has corrupted somehow, then a factory reset won't fix it, since you're still using the same firmware. To reinstall the firmware, try using Smart Switch: SmartSwitch: Install & update or replace firmware

 

[nahoku]

Lots of good input from nahoku! The main thing I would add is that if a factory reset does nothing, then you could also try reinstalling the firmware. If the firmware has corrupted somehow, then a factory reset won't fix it, since you're still using the same firmware. To reinstall the firmware, try using Smart Switch: SmartSwitch: Install & update or replace firmware

I totally agree with this. It's a good option to try before returning the phone.

 

[Kroal]

How likely is the factory reset to work?

Tomorrow, I'll just take it into another repair place and if that fails, I'll just have my phone sent back and refunded rather than reinstalling firmware.

I'm really convinced it's a dumb setting android put in themselves that's draining the battery.. Could it be something to do with the newest update? (I got the phone shortly after that update was rolled out)

EDIT: Is the firmware reinstall really worth the time and effort over getting a new phone?

 

[B. Diddy]

I think it's worth trying the firmware reinstall. I've never done it myself, but the process shouldn't take that long. You don't have to go through the whole process of reinstalling all of your apps at first, either, because you'll want to see if the same battery drain occurs while the phone is free of 3rd party apps.

 

[Kroal]

Ok thank you I'll keep this in mind if two of you have recommended this, is my issue common in Samsung note users because AC makes it sure as hell look like it, especially after the OS update

In the scenario I do get a refund on this phone.. what's the next best thing? I got this phone for the screen size and the capabilities (camera, data on the go, up-to-date).. I also don't like xperias haha

 

[nahoku]

Keep in mind that what you read on AC is only coming from a fraction of the Note 4 owner population. For certain, most people only post problems to a forum and not when things are working well. My brother's VZW Note 4 on MM has no issues at all. He did experience high System OS battery drain when LP first came out though, and a factory reset and a system cache wipe (in recovery) fixed his issue... whatever they were.

I assume you're on MM and there are many threads, on many models, complaining about battery issues. For sure updates are forthcoming. Have you checked for updates recently?

In the scenario I do get a refund on this phone.. what's the next best thing?

Are you kidding!!?? There is no next best thing! LOL! Joking! For me, I need the S Pen, and the removable battery... there is no next best for my usage.

 

[Kroal]

The S pen I never use anyway.. Actually, if you go to settings and search S-pen then there's an option to flick on an S-pen battery saver which I've done in case you couldn't guess haha!

The removable battery, large screen and SD card is what attracted me to this instead of the S6 and as for the iPhone, Android is more customisable and just overall feels better than ios in my opinion.. But I'm thinking of getting the iPhone 6 plus instead if I need to.

I'm sure they would roll out an update for this issue but it's so annoying and do you mean the updates on my phone? Yes I have for the software and apps

 

[nahoku]

Well, whatever you choose to do is up to you. Might be the best option is to just return the phone so you don't have to deal with these problems. I totally understand the hassles!

 

[Kroal]

There we go, 100% down to 15% overnight, I'm definitely getting it taken somewhere today and telling the repair person that I got a new battery and done every bit of trouble shooting possible

EDIT- That would not have lasted 10 hours like the battery prediction said.