S6 Battery Suddenly Terrible, 1 day before 1 yr Anniversary

[Turns31]

Started about 10 days ago but all of the sudden my battery life has just gone to hell. I've owned tons of smart phones in my day and know all the battery saving tricks. Until now I've had zero problems with the phone. Have loved my first Samsung. This morning from 7:30 to now (10:42) it's already down to 69%. I checked my emails for about 2 minutes and have sent 4 texts to my wife. That is it. No games, no videos, nothing. Brightness on auto-low and have been on wifi the whole time. I use the Smart Manager to clean up daily. Any one else have similar problems? It'll be 1 year tomorrow that I've owned the phone so I'm going into Sprint tonight to see what they can do. My wife bought the same phone the same day and hers is doing fine. She's on her phone so much more than me too. I know it has fast charge but I shouldn't need to use it before lunch.

 

[Aquila]

What does it say is using up the battery?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

You use Smart Manager daily? I don't know if Sprint has Clean Sweep on there but I assume it does.

You really don't need to use that clean up, it is really counterproductive.

 

[Turns31]

Media server is using 87% of my battery whatever that is. I restarted my phone this morning and have not used any songs, videos, pics since. I just use the "clean all" button on the smart manager. Supposedly cuts apps running the background, clears up ram, etc...

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Media server.. Yeah you have an issue. It is hard to clear up. I'm dealing with it now.

Have you used Smart Switch by any chance?

This is my thoughts of it, just dealing with media server on a phone that doesn't have an SD card.. I would do a warranty exchange today. It is hard, very difficult to track down and stop.

Do you keep a lot of media on your phone?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Oh and clearing RAM etc.. Nah, Android doesn't need that now. Don't think if the phone like a computer and RAM. Android loves full RAM, actually runs better. Phones will handle the RAM these days quite well. Samsung is actually a little over aggressive in handling RAM.

 

[Turns31]

I used it initially I think but that was almost a year ago now. Any advice on how to warranty exchange? I called Sprint and they told me I have to go through Samsung directly.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Samsung doesn't do warranty exchanges, that is carrier.

Have you called Sprint or talked to your local store?

 

[Turns31]

I have 2.82 GB free of 32 GB version. 13 GB is audio stored on the phone that I listen to for a couple hours a week. Only 444mb worth of other media.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Well your media could have a corrupted file and that could have come over from Smart Switch.

You might have to dump all your media with a new phone and download it again..

 

[Turns31]

Yep she just told me it's a $75 diagnostic fee to see what's wrong but all warranties go through Samsung. Samsung told me I can mail it in for inspection which would take 11-14 days.

 

[Turns31]

Wishing I could just drive to my local Apple Store...

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Yep she just told me it's a $75 diagnostic fee to see what's wrong but all warranties go through Samsung. Samsung told me I can mail it in for inspection which would take 11-14 days.

That is crazy for a warranty exchange. If you go through Samsung they will fix it. Tell them you want the OS removed and put back on.

That is free no matter how long you own the phone.

Use Samsung warranty then and send the phone in. Leave Sprint out of it, no charge for warranty repairs with Samsung.

Also Samsung will check everything else about your phone while there. Likely they will also give you a new battery.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

What city are you located in?

 

[Turns31]

KC. Only Samsung stores are in LA, NY, and NJ. I use this phone for work too so 14 days without a phone isn't really an option.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

There are actually more than that, because the main one is in Dallas/Ft Worth area. I noticed the other day their site was changed like that.

If Sprint would t exchange it, that is the only way. Maybe you need to tell Sprint to exchange it or you will switch carriers. I know Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile do warranty exchanges.

 

[Turns31]

Alright I'll give that a go.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

If Sprint won't exchange it, Samsung is your option. Go ahead and set up your return today. They will email you a label. You have 10 days to use that label but you get it counted as today.

You can go by a cheap prepaid phone to use to have a phone while it is gone or upgrade to a new phone and still send the S6 in and keep it as a back up.

 

[Turns31]

Also, not sure if this is related but sometimes it doesn't alert me when I get a text. No sound, blue light, vibration, nothing. This also just started happening the last couple weeks.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Probably not related to the media server issue, but include that on the Samsung ticket.

If you have already done the ticket, you can call back and add to the ticket.