Battery went from 50% to 3% in half an hour

[Edible Walrus]

It gets worse. Roughly half an hour ago I had about 50% battery. Now I have 3% (lucky I have my charger with me).
What did I do in between?
- listen to music
- try and watch a 10 minute YouTube vide
^ Then the phone killed itself, rebooted and I had 7% battery. Then it got stuck in a reboot loop like it's done before, losing 1% each time. One time it didn't even finish shutting down before starting again.

This is actually typical Samsung behaviour for me across every product of theirs I've owned so now when I see their name on a product I avoid it like the plague. Actually everyone I know has had issues with Samsung devices failing to function properly (by that logic it's only a matter of time before my SSD gives out)
What do you recommend? I can buy out of my contract for 200 something pounds and get an iPhone or get it fixed under warranty, but I don't trust Samsung to actually fix it, plus I might get a refurb unit. That and the poor build quality this phone has demonstrated in the past 12 months make me inclined to get another phone (perhaps the M8)...

So far Apple products have just worked (software-wise), but their hardware QC is slipping given the recent mess I've had with their 2014 Macbooks (that said the one I'm using now is near perfect, the replacement though has a hinge that looks like it's out of alignment that it actually sticks out past the body of the computer), but that's a different issue. What do you recommend?

 

[dancing-bass]

Re: Something is very wrong

First of all - if you're using a microSD card, remove it. (go to settings - storage - SD Card - unmount SD Card). If you have apps stored on there, move them back to the phone first. Then, go through your phone and remove apps that you like to have but aren't that critical to stuff you "need" day-to-day (games especially!). Also move most (if not all) your photos, pictures, movies, etc that are stored on the phone to your computer (if they're on the SD card, leave them there for now, but unmount it properly and take it out of your phone).

Now, power down your phone, plug it into the charger (wall charger is faster, but if you can take your time a computer USB port is fine - it just takes longer) and let it charge to full.

Once it's full, before booting it up, you'll want to clear the phone's cache. Here's how:

1. Turn the phone off completely. (it should still be turned off, but just in case)
2. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
3. Release the Power button when the phone vibrates but continue holding on to the Volume Up and Home buttons.
4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release both the Home and Volume Up buttons.
5. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Press the Power button to select the option.
The phone will automatically restart once cache data are wiped out.

If you're still having issues, you can also boot into "Safe mode" where it only runs the core OS and apps - no 3rd party apps will launch. I'd attempt those 2 options before going hardcore and performing a full factory reset. (And if you go this route - go to your Play Store settings and un-check the option to store all apps and data for now. You may have a bad app causing your grief, so the best way to check is after a factory reset to add only a few apps back at a time and carefully watch for any strange behavior.)

One last thing. Be absolutely sure you have the SD card removed if you do the factory reset. Chances are good you'll either wipe it, or corrupt the data on it in the process.

Hopefully this will help you.

The biggest issue with Samsung seems to be (usually) related to the SD card. They can be really good devices (I had an S4, now I have an LG G3 and I miss the bright AMOLED screen, but overall performance and camera seems better on my G3).

I'd recommend sticking with the S4 for now and trying to find a way to make it work for you rather then spending the money if you don't need to.

 

[Edible Walrus]

Re: Something is very wrong

Will that fix my Google Now issue? It always crashes these days and doesn't load up. I'll try rebooting first

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dancing-bass]

Re: Something is very wrong

Will that fix my Google Now issue? It always crashes these days and doesn't load up. I'll try rebooting first

Posted via Android Central App

If you're having problems with Google stuff (Google Now, Google Play, etc) go to settings, accounts, and select your Google account. Then in the menu, select remove account. Your phone will pop a warning about needing a backup account but ignore it for now. Next, back up in settings and go to general, storage, and tap on "cache". It will ask if you want to clear the cache, just tap yes. Reboot, and when it comes back on, you'll probably be asked if you have a Google account, and just add your account back. You won't loose any data or information, and it should smooth out your issues.