Z3C Battery Drain & Heating

[puihungma]

Hi,

I've had my handset since about November and not had any problems. Can usually get to the end of a day of fairly heavy use and still have around 30-40% left.

Yesterday however, something has gone amiss and my battery was draining by about 10% an hour when in idle/standby. Basically came off charge at around 9am and down to 0% by 6pm and that is with Stamina mode activated and Ultra-Stamina once it got to 10%. Charged it up from about 6pm-11pm last night and taking it off charge was same, losing approx 10% an hour.

Can also feel heat building up on both sides of the handset around the area just below the SONY branding on the rear.

I've not installed any apps around the time of this happening, but am aware that several apps auto-updated over the course of yesterday. Didn't take any particular notice of which ones it was so I can't pinpoint it down to anything to trial.

Am planning on doing a factory restore, but just wondered if this is a common occurance? This is my first real go at a diversion from iPhone so it's still a learning curve 🙂

It's a Z3C running stock Android 4.4.4

[Thommo]

This sounds more like an app or apps running in the background or you have things like GPS etc turned on which will use battery quicker however I would advise you not to do a factory reset but to do a system repair see below for details

Performing a system repair using PC Companion will factory reset your phone and erase all data so backup your files first

Switch off your phone and unplug from Pc (Hold volume up and power for around 10 seconds)
Start PC Companion and select Support zone then Update my phone/tablet then in Blue Repair my phone/tablet and follow the on screen instructions - When prompted connect your phone still switched off holding volume down or back button - This should start the repair or reformat process

If you are using Windows 8/8.1 or a 64bit operating system then adjust the settings for PC Companion and run in compatibility mode and chose Windows 7 or XP

[Mehim]

I'm having the same issue with almost exactly the same background.

Phone used to work great, held battery for about 50h but now I am charging it for the second time in the same day.

Also whenever I turn it on it gives me a massage that movie creator just stopped working or smth

[puihungma]

Thanks.

Well did a factory reset, which didn't make a difference.

So tried the suggestion of the repair and elected not to restore my old data (so as not to install anything other than the stock android installation files) but have immediately switched of NFC and switched on Stamina. Appears this hasn't done anything either. I've lost about 3% of battery in approx 10-15mins and again the handset fells warm to the touch.

Looks like a trip to o2 Store or Sony Centre 😞

 EDIT: Has dropped down 18% in 90mins and have only sent one SMS message. Has been on standby the rest of the time

[SergioPL1]

Could you post a screenshot from Settings / Power / Battery usage?

Maybe we can see at least what is stealing your power...

[dandy63]

You could also try running it for a while in Safe Mode......this will let you know, as you suspect, if a 3rd Party App is causing the problem....

http://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/FAQ/How-to-boot-your-phone-into-safe-mode/m-p/348008

[clairechappers]

Hi all

I've had problems from about midday when I might have installed the 4.4.4 release. Now it wont above 16% even if only charge for 2 hours and it's dropping down to 0% in 15 minutes just using the Internet. I've installed no apps and don't use it any differently than I have done in the past 4 months.

Also not sure if it's worth noting but my keyboard when typing is alittle weird, jumping all over the place, not deleting. Just done a virus scan and it's fine.

[puihungma]

Dropped it in this morning to be sent off so hopefully will be sorted quickly (fingers crossed)

Took it off charge this morning at 9.15am and got to store at 9.45am and had already dropped 7% just sitting untouched in my pocket.

Guy in the store was alright at first, even commented on lack of running apps and my screen brightness being pretty low, then, as conversation went on, tried to tell me it's normal for a current smart phone to lose approx 10% an hour in standby mode and that 100%-0% in 9 hours, with fairly minimal useage, isn't uncommon as they generally only last for the working day! Also it's normal to get extra from the battery when it's new and it will drop off over time. So after 2 months ownership, expect your batter to lose around 70% of it's charging capacity very very suddenly, like maybe tomorrow...

Can't see how it can be a third party app when I had carried out factory restore and also a Sony Bridge Repair and have ran it with essentially nothing installed other than what comes as standard and running it in Stamina mode. I even went as far as disabling/uninstalling things like Facebook, G+ and some of the Sony bloat apps.

Sorry I didn't get back on here to post a screenshot, but there was genuinely nothing running.

Screen and Phone idle are the main two I can remember and they took something like 30-40% and 20% respectively

[puihungma]

Was 4.4.4 an auto OTA installation?

I can't remember manually updating my OS recently but my handset was running 4.4.4.

[dquilon]

Hello puihungma,

You need to post a screenshot of the Battery Usage screen, both the general one that shows the apps running and draining, AND the detail of the graph that shows Wi-Fi, GPS, Awake time, Screen On, etc...

Without this, our help is very limited since we have no clue of what your device is doing... Even if there are no apps running, the battery usage screen shows you what system component is draining the battery... (Cell Standby, Android System, Google, Android OS, etc)

I had a similar problem the first few days after I got my Z3 Compact and the problem was my Yahoo account configured to the Gmail app, it was endlessly syncing and the phone got warm a lot and the battery didn't last...

Also even if you turn Wi-Fi Off, there is a "feature" that allows Google and other apps to turn it On without your knowing. This so called "feature" is located inside Wi-Fi Settings and then --> Advanced Wi-Fi (in the 3 dots menu). "SCANNING ALWAYS AVAILABLE"

This led my phone to show Wi-Fi always on under Battery Usage even when I had it off.

Finally Location is another tricky setting that even if its Off, Google can access it if you have "Location Reporting" turned on...

My battery gives me about 6 hours of Screen On time with games, browsing, camera etc... I am a heavy user and I find this to be phenomenal. I used to charge my Xperia Acro S twice, sometimes three times a day.