Battery - Suspect a software issue

[cohenner]

I just purchased a Galaxy S3 I9300. Within one hour of turning it on, two phone calls, and some emails, the battery was deader than a doorknob. So I came home and charged it. The charging took forever - four hours later, the battery was showing 10% or so.

I learned that the USB cable just doesn't cut it. So I started charging it with a one piece charger. Did the trick. Let it go up to 70%, Took it off the charger, and ran around with it. Seemed to be working okay, but seemed to quickly drop to 50%. After 50%, I literally watched the battery drop - it believe the battery checker told me it dropped 80% in one hour.

So, I did a test. I reset my phone to factory. Left everything off (including WiFi and data) and left it at factory default. Battery was 90% when I went to bed, was 30% on wakeup. On a hunch, I took out the battery and put it back in. The battery life jumped to ~60%ish, and seemed to last a little longer.

I have a feeling that this version of Android (4.1.2) is not reading either battery correctly. I do not believe it is the battery, nor the phone itself. It appears to be how the Android software is reading the battery.

In addition, when I do HOME+DOWN+POWER on, it takes me the factory mode. There is an option to Wipe EMCC Cache, but when I try to access it with the power button, it doesn't do anything.

I would like to installed ClockWorldMod on the device.... Which may resolve that problem. Are there any ideas, short of updating the software, which I can try?

Many thanks in advance!

David

 

[GSDer]

David,
4.1.2 has been a very stable build for quite some time.

It's possible that you got a bum charger/cable (the cables are known to exhibit problems after a year or so) but that would be odd. You could certainly get the local carrier store to check it out and give you a replacement.

Also possible but unlikely is that the battery is suspect. Again, the carrier store may be able to swap it out.

Unless you're familiar with rooting (and even if you are), I'd counsel against rooting and loading an alternate Recovery method - you'll void your warranty, which you may need if you have to exchange the phone before the 14 day exchange window, and more importantly it just adds more crap to the equation that we're trying to solve.

Note that Volume Down + Home + Power takes you to Download mode (aka Odin mode); Volume Up + Home + Power takes you to Recovery mode, which is where you can wipe the system cache. That process runs almost instantaneously, without much feedback, so it may seem like it didn't do anything.

You should look at the three battery stats screens, and you can try something like Wakelock Detector: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector to see what's keeping the phone awake.

Finally, there's a thread somewhere about a runaway system process (Android System?) and how to solve it. I'll see if I can find the link. http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=249962

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[cohenner]

Actually, I began to suspect something fishy. So I checked it out. This phone, which I purchased from Amazon, is a Chinese rip off. Amazon has already been contacted. This phone will not be going back, but I will be getting a refund.

 

[GSDer]

Get a Nexus 5 directly from the Google Play Store - problem solved. Best phone for the money right now (unless you're on Verizon, in which case you're screwed).

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Ichi_Bear]

What cohenner said! ;-)

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