Anyone else had major battery drain issues following the 28 July Google Play Services. Seem to be killing my Experia and causing it to over heat.

I can’t find anything on the latest version for reliable fixes. Anyone out there with.any knowledge. All I have been able to do is roll back to a version that has caused most of my Google based apps to stop working and this seems to have stopped / slowed the drain. There is other feedback online but cannot find any decent solutions.

I have experienced no change myself but I stop hangouts and maps from updating as I don’t use it, I keep google music updated but I’m mainly using airplane mode so my battery doesn’t go flat within a day. Also tunein radio has been acting up lately, I’m unsure if this is related.

Not ideal, but if it’s causing it to get hot then something is wrong. Phone batteries don’t like heat and will have reduced lifespan if kept at over 40 deg c.

I know it’s not ideal, but would it be worth doing a complete format and start from scratch? I’ve found this can help iOs devices that start to run a little slow, so it may help with Android?

Have you checked the battery stats?
Is it play services that is causing the biggest drain on your battery? I have read that play services in some cases can cause excessive wakelocks as it is constantly reporting location etc for google now services.
There are ways (if rooted or on a custom ROM) to limit the wakelocks. If not you can use tasker to switch off auto sync, but then sync it every couple of hours.

Sounds like a specific problem with that model; have a look on androidforums perhaps?

Generic advice, a factory reset might fix it (back up your data). Don’t use a task killer. Check the battery stats to isolate what’s draining it.

I’ve seen the same thing on my s4 a friend who has a nexus 5 also had it. I’ve been looking for a fix but have not found anything yet.

My problem started after the KitKat update, tried a factory reset but that’s made no difference

on an s4 it could be a battery issue

I have the same problem on Xperia Z.. it seems to improve for a while if I clear the storage for the Google Play Services:

= Settings->Apps->Google Play services->Manage Space->Clear All Data
= (Back)->Force Stop (or reboot)

I have also opted out of Google ads:

= Settings->Accounts->Google-Ads->Opt out of interest-based Ads

Weird, not had the battery problem you have had but my Moto 4g decided not to recognise my my MicroSD card last night. As the majority of my apps were on it i was not best pleased.

Been running fine for the last month and its a class 10 card thats had no problems prior to the update.

I’ve had both a google services and a native messaging app battery drain problem on my nexus 4. Both solved by a factory reset.

Make sure you’ve stopped it using location services (unless you actually want it to, of course!) – in my case Google Go was really hammering the battery with location based updates.

The performance of my Xperia T really took a nosedive after the Kitkat ‘upgrade’.
It has slowed down quite a lot, runs hotter and the battery dies sooner.
When I run the Google Maps navigation, the charging lead can’t provide enough power to actually charge (it just slows down discharge) whereas it used to charge the phone.
Google Services (whatever that means) seemed to be spanking most of the battery, so I turned off everything I could, like Google Now. I never used it anyway.

See if you have the ‘Stamina mode’ in the battery options, under Power Management. This helped with battery life quite a bit.

I’ve got an Xperia Z and I’m waiting for replacement number 2 to arrive today.

Battery is lasting about half a day with limited use and getting roasting hot when in use – basically I can’t hold it to my ear.

All the google stuff that can be disabled has been and it’s still not very good at all. I read yesterday that an upgrade to kitkat would solve the problem.

Some apps like BBC radio player prevent stamina mode from working correctly which is an issue.

crankslave – Member

Some apps like BBC radio player prevent stamina mode from working correctly which is an issue.

Isn’t that only in so far as if you have the radio on (bbc radio player) and the phone sleeps, the radio will still play, effectively overriding Stamina Mode.
So, BBC Radio Player overrides the Stamina Mode’s attempt to turn it off? Or is it a more fundamental ‘fault’.
I know with TuneIn Radio, the first time I used it after turning Stamina mode on there was a warning that said something like “TuneIn Radio is overriding Stamina Mode”.

You can add apps to the stamina mode menu that you are happy to override it.
I think it will still turn off all other things requiring network access.
I’ve currently got TuneIn Radio, AmazonMP3, Strava, Google Play Store and WhatsApp added to my exceptions list.

Try installing “Wakelock Detector”, it could tell you what apps are preventing the phone from properly going to sleep when not in actual use.

Any Experia user have really low volume when plugging in headphones or into a car stereo?

scruff – Member
Any Experia user have really low volume when plugging in headphones or into a car stereo?

When plugging into a stereo amp headphone socket it needs turning up a bit more than normal for the CD input.

Sony does that thing where they insist on telling you that your hearing will suffer if you listen for prolonged periods at increased volumes. I don’t think you can turn it off, but you can override it.

When I was decorating my bedroom recently and had the phone plugged into some portable speakers, the volume plumetted after an hour or so. It was the Walkman App telling me I was doing my hearing no good, but it lets you ‘OK’ that warning and put the volume back up again.

When I run the Google Maps navigation, the charging lead can’t provide enough power to actually charge (it just slows down discharge) whereas it used to charge the phone.

That sounds more like an issue with the charger to me.

USB charging is “intelligent” (for some value of); the charging rate is negotiated between the device and the charger. If it’s not charging fast enough then either that negotiation isn’t working correctly or the charger can’t supply sufficient power. 12V in-car chargers, as a random example, are often notoriously crap. I’d hazard that a higher quality charger or a different cable may solve that issue. Sometimes, using a ‘dumb’ cable (which supplies power only and cuts the data lines) might force it to charge at full speed, but it’s highly device-dependent.

Update…

First thanks all.

Having scouted around on the Internet somewhere after posting last night I thought I would try a combination of repeated cache clearing, reinstalling play services, cache clearing and rebooting multiple times and touch wood it seems to.have cured it for now at least.

Google Now burns the battery on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but its fine on my works HTC One M8

Cougar – it’s a genuine HTC car charging cable. I bought it specifically as I had heard that cheaper cables often can’t supply enough current.
It is dumb – it only does charging; no data.

It used to charge the phone with sat nav running, admittedly at a fairly slow rate which I put down to the amount of juice the phone uses. I’m not sure if it was after the Kitkat update or just Google Maps, but it now will either only hold charge or slowly discharge. It seems to be using more juice.

I’ve got two Samsung Note 2’s (one work, one my own)

I upgraded the works one to Kitkat, and boy I’m so glad I did that one first as its had all sorts of issues.

Phone getting stupidly hot, battery run down huge, unable to see any images in my galleryand can’t access my micro SD card, are just a few of the issues I’ve had off the top of my head!

Funnily enough I’ve delayed updating my own phone!!!!!!

Thanks for the heads up, I think I”m gonna carry on with that Ice Cream Sandwich, everything seems to be working so I’m not gonna upgrade for the sake of upgrading.