Regarding Nexus 4 Battery Drain

[Mahfuzul Haque]

Hello,

Sorry if there have been many threads about this issue already, but I've went through all of them with no definitive solution to my problem.

It all started with a solid red light on my nexus 4.. I couldn't start up the phone. After many many tries with different button combinations, I managed to start up the phone and update it to the latest android version. The underlying problem persisted though, which was the battery drainage. This lead me to believe that it wasn't an os issue, rather a hardware issue. Therefore, I went about replacing the battery and YET I still have the problem.

I've tried turning wifi off, turning location services off, closing the gmail app, other google apps, but to no avail. I checked the battery info and nothing peculiar seemed to be sucking up power other than the 1% being used up by phone idle.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is rooting/flashing the phone with a custom rom but before I do anything else, I'd like to seek advice from you guys. What should my next step be..?

 

[anon(5600632)]

Did you reboot in recovery mode and clear the cache partition?

How about a factory reset? Often helps after an OS update.

 

[Mahfuzul Haque]

Did as you've instructed yesterday and left the phone off the charge for a little under 12 hours, still have the battery drain

Anything else?

 

[anon(5600632)]

you look carefully at all of your apps? Maybe something running too much in the background?

 

[Rory Baxter]

I have the exact same problem. I've tried different battery analysis apps to get to the bottom of it, but there's nothing significant to show. All superfluous services and apps have been uninstalled or turned off.

I've replaced the battery, reflashed Lollipop, gone back to KitKat, and then come back to Lollipop.

Outline of problem:
Battery usage (on standby) estimates about 4-5 hours of use. At about 20-30%, the remaining charge drops in a matter of a couple minutes. Then, when plugged in to charge, solid red light comes on.

I then have to charge my phone UNINTERRUPTED for at least 48 hours. At this point there's enough trickle charge to overcome the complete battery drain and it turns back on. I've replaced the battery also to no avail.

Yet, the main drain issue persists. :| Please, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

 

[Bugstomper2000]

Since you have replaced your battery, your problem is either a physical short or an app on your phone. Let your phone discharge, then screenshot your battery usage and post the pictures. Check to make sure you don't have an app always using GPS. It won't turn off on standby, and it uses battery extremely quickly. Also check things like hotspot, Bluetooth discoverability, and maybe even your camera.

Posted via the Android Central App on my Nexus 4

 

[gtt1]

I believe this has to be related to the upgrade to lollipop. Prior to updating I could leave my phone for several days on standby and notice only a small drop in battery level. Now even with all apps closed it goes from 80% to 20% overnight. Not sure if there is an answer. Maybe try using battery saver overnight and see what it does.

 

[Bugstomper2000]

I do also notice it. Really fast to drain even im not playing games just surfing.

Define really fast.

Posted via the Android Central App on my Nexus 4

 

[CoMoNexus]

Maybe try using battery saver overnight and see what it does.

Based on my experience, you're better off putting it in airplane mode at night. Battery saver hasn't provided a noticeable boost at night or during the day.

 

[jgenco78]

Hello,

Sorry if there have been many threads about this issue already, but I've went through all of them with no definitive solution to my problem.

It all started with a solid red light on my nexus 4.. I couldn't start up the phone. After many many tries with different button combinations, I managed to start up the phone and update it to the latest android version. The underlying problem persisted though, which was the battery drainage. This lead me to believe that it wasn't an os issue, rather a hardware issue. Therefore, I went about replacing the battery and YET I still have the problem.

I've tried turning wifi off, turning location services off, closing the gmail app, other google apps, but to no avail. I checked the battery info and nothing peculiar seemed to be sucking up power other than the 1% being used up by phone idle.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is rooting/flashing the phone with a custom rom but before I do anything else, I'd like to seek advice from you guys. What should my next step be..?

Was this resolved? Did you root your phone? Did it help? I too suffer from a draining battery after the lollipop install and was wondering if I should root my phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[5L Mustang]

Yup same problem here since lollipop!!! Come on Google get us an update to fix this!!!

Posted via Nexus 4

 

[Mahfuzul Haque]

Apologies for the late reply, however, I'm not capable of rooting my phone. My computer can't seem to detect my nexus 4 as a media storage device, or as anything for that matter. I've manually downloaded and installed its drivers, but nothing would work. I guess this is a dead end for me... the phone is useless in every way possible.

I've tried everything everyone has to offer, literally. Unless someone has a very specific method for fixing either of my problems (battery drain, USB connectivity,) then I guess all hope is lost.

Since you have replaced your battery, your problem is either a physical short or an app on your phone. Let your phone discharge, then screenshot your battery usage and post the pictures. Check to make sure you don't have an app always using GPS. It won't turn off on standby, and it uses battery extremely quickly. Also check things like hotspot, Bluetooth discoverability, and maybe even your camera.

Posted via the Android Central App on my Nexus 4

Hmm... this wouldn't explain the drainage with the stock battery. However, could a foreign USB cable/power source lead to electricity surges that would otherwise mess up any other sort of vital internal phone parts? Maybe that could be it? After all, I do often charge my phone on my computer or with a car.

 

[5L Mustang]

Damn I hate having to charge my phone so many times in this one day!! Still no update to fix the damn battery from draining so fast!!!

Posted via Nexus 4

 

[CoMoNexus]

I'm still having the freezing problem I mentioned above, but I've found that shutting off location makes a significant difference in battery life.

 

[GreenghostUvln]

Change your memory from dalvik to ART. U should see an increase.

Sent from my T-Mobile Nexus 4 LTE using Tapatalk

 

[Double Tap]

Change your memory from dalvik to ART. U should see an increase.

Sent from my T-Mobile Nexus 4 LTE using Tapatalk

I would greatly appreciate it if you would explain your answer. I too have battery drain greatly increase since Lollipop, I did get some relief by using Gservicefix.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Amit Garach]

Any luck here? Just ran into the exact issue described by OP and have replaced battery in attempts to save phone but no luck. I am starting to think my phone is shorted.

 

[AnirudhRaghu]

Hey man,

I can surly help you if I had the screen on and Awake information, you can get this by clicking the battery graph and taking a screenshot, if problem persists, please download the factory image from google repository and manually flash using ADB.

If you aren't used to flashing ROMs using ADB then download Nexus Root Toolkit by Wugufresh and flash the factory image from there, once you flash the stock image and if the problem still occurs, Unlock your bootloader, install a custom recovery and Flash a custom ROM, I recommend AOSiP I personally use it with Hellscore kernel and get 3 and a half hours screen on.

If the problem is hardware your phone wouldn't function cause I had a shot battery and it would drain out in 5 mins off the charger, but since you swapped your battery, it most probably Google Play Services. Once you are rooted you can stop this using Xposed Framework and Amplify.

Please do feel free to contact me for anymore assistance.

 

[leroy_sunset]

Same issue here, guys. My beloved Nexus 4 is toast with the red LED of death. I was rooted and couldn't OTA update (using 5.0.1). Then the battery drain began, fully discharged from 100% in about 4 hours and super warm to the touch. The computer would no longer recognize it was connected via USB. So I wiped the phone. Still discharging the battery. I then replaced the battery with a new OEM, same issues. Yesterday it was in my gym bag and discharged so fully that it gave the red LED. I charged it overnight, still red. So I think it's time to move on. Very sad indeed.

 

[Amit Garach]

Hey man,

I can surly help you if I had the screen on and Awake information, you can get this by clicking the battery graph and taking a screenshot, if problem persists, please download the factory image from google repository and manually flash using ADB.

If you aren't used to flashing ROMs using ADB then download Nexus Root Toolkit by Wugufresh and flash the factory image from there, once you flash the stock image and if the problem still occurs, Unlock your bootloader, install a custom recovery and Flash a custom ROM, I recommend AOSiP I personally use it with Hellscore kernel and get 3 and a half hours screen on.

If the problem is hardware your phone wouldn't function cause I had a shot battery and it would drain out in 5 mins off the charger, but since you swapped your battery, it most probably Google Play Services. Once you are rooted you can stop this using Xposed Framework and Amplify.

Please do feel free to contact me for anymore assistance.

I upgraded to s6. Thanks for the reply though!