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Help Multiple problems with my Nexus 5. Battery life.

Hey guys,

I bought my Nexus 5 at launch and it's served me very well for the most part. However recently (including before getting lollipop), I've been getting a lot of issues and I have a feeling they may be linked. I'm no developer though!

Software-wise, the phone doesn't run smoothly. It seems marginally better since lollipop but I still get issues where, when closing apps, my whole home screen takes 4/5 seconds to appear before I can do anything. Apps often also run slowly and crash (act similarly to if the battery saver is on).

The battery life has become truly terrible. It used to get me through the day without too much of an issue. I'd have to charge it in the evening sometimes but generally it was okay as modern smartphones go. Recently however it has become close to ridiculous. Yesterday I left the house at 1300 with it 100% charged and when I got home at about 17.45 it was dead. I did admittedly use it fairly heavily in that time (lots of maps and stuff), but it wasn't as if I had a movie streaming to it the whole time.

It has ended up with me carrying around portable chargers and buying powerful mains chargers so I can get the battery as charged as possible in spaces when I have access to a mains socket. I also sometimes go on nights out and spend my time anxious I won't have enough battery to call a cab which seems dangerous.

The obvious answer is to find out what's using the battery so here are some screenshots from GSAM.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...H4mdaYt31I/Screenshot_2015-01-01-13-59-52.png

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...fqJMITY1ev/Screenshot_2015-01-01-13-59-44.png

On top of this, I am also having problems with what I assume is the charging port itself. I use the mA value in the first screenshot to see the charging speed and it often isn't charging at all (normally it gets just enough power to not discharge.) Wiggling and unplugging the charger sometimes corrects it and charging starts. When it does it tends to be quite fast with my 1.8A charger.

Also, if you don't have any ideas, what would be a good replacement? I have my eye on a Moto X but I'm worried I'll have the same battery issues and it's an expensive option if it's no better!

I should also mention I get good mobile signal so it's not that.
 
Nothing seems out of the ordinary in your screenshots. But if the phone is slow then something must be hogging CPU cycles or RAM memory. Likely some app you installed is misbehaving. Try installing System Panel or a similar app to help try and find the culprit. Uninstalling or disabling the guilty party should do the trick.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.systempanel&hl=en

If you can't find the problem a factory reset, which is really a last resort, would probably help but if you install a faulty app again the problem would return.

The Moto X is a terrific phone but the battery is about the same size as the Nexus 5 so I wouldn't expect a major difference from your N5 when it was new. If you can deal with the size and price, the Nexus 6 has a larger battery (about 1/3 larger), Turbo Charge fast charging and is just a fabulous phone. Best phone I've ever had in my hands.
 
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Nothing seems out of the ordinary in your screenshots. But if the phone is slow then something must be hogging CPU cycles or RAM memory. Likely some app you installed is misbehaving. Try installing System Panel or a similar app to help try and find the culprit. Uninstalling or disabling the guilty party should do the trick.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.systempanel&hl=en

If you can't find the problem a factory reset, which is really a last resort, would probably help but if you install a faulty app again the problem would return.

The Moto X is a terrific phone but the battery is about the same size as the Nexus 5 so I wouldn't expect a major difference from your N5 when it was new. If you can deal with the size and price, the Nexus 6 has a larger battery (about 1/3 larger), Turbo Charge fast charging and is just a fabulous phone. Best phone I've ever had in my hands.

Thanks! I'll install that app now. The Nexus 6 was certainly something I considered but I'm not sure I'll ever get over the size. I have pretty small hands and the Nexus 5 already feels a bit too big for me (but manageable)!
 
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Nothing seems out of the ordinary in your screenshots. But if the phone is slow then something must be hogging CPU cycles or RAM memory. Likely some app you installed is misbehaving. Try installing System Panel or a similar app to help try and find the culprit. Uninstalling or disabling the guilty party should do the trick.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.systempanel&hl=en

If you can't find the problem a factory reset, which is really a last resort, would probably help but if you install a faulty app again the problem would return.

The Moto X is a terrific phone but the battery is about the same size as the Nexus 5 so I wouldn't expect a major difference from your N5 when it was new. If you can deal with the size and price, the Nexus 6 has a larger battery (about 1/3 larger), Turbo Charge fast charging and is just a fabulous phone. Best phone I've ever had in my hands.

My inexperienced analysis of the app doesn't suggest anything obvious. Here are some screenshots.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...Pxd0G3taYM/Screenshot_2015-01-01-14-52-07.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...cR4hXb0CCP/Screenshot_2015-01-01-14-52-14.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...a14lV8RNvK/Screenshot_2015-01-01-14-52-18.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet...xZf0k0JiTs/Screenshot_2015-01-01-14-52-28.png

I should add though that it's running decently at the moment. When it slows down again I'll check again. Sometimes rebooting my phone makes things run smoother.
 
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I don't see anything particularly amiss in those shots either. CPU use is kinda high, but I don't see what's using an unusual amount. RAM usage is supposed to be high but not full so looks ok. Like you said, check again when it slow. Gotta be something slowing it down, the N5 is a fast phone.

BTW, if you are still tempted by the Moto X, you can now get a 64GB Moto X Pure Edition direct from Motorola for $600. The 64GB of storage is only available in the Pure Edition, which is what I would want anyway. The standard Moto X is 16 or 32GB.
 
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I don't see anything particularly amiss in those shots either. CPU use is kinda high, but I don't see what's using an unusual amount. RAM usage is supposed to be high but not full so looks ok. Like you said, check again when it slow. Gotta be something slowing it down, the N5 is a fast phone.

BTW, if you are still tempted by the Moto X, you can now get a 64GB Moto X Pure Edition direct from Motorola for $600. The 64GB of storage is only available in the Pure Edition, which is what I would want anyway. The standard Moto X is 16 or 32GB.

I'll definitely try. Unfortunately I'm in the UK and that deal doesn't seem to work here! It's $615 just for the base (16gb) model! Honestly I don't think I need more than 32gb though. If I use a lot of space it's normally from music but I use spotify which has a download limit unfortunately. I just stream when I want more.
 
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Before swapping phones, I'd recommend a cache partition wipe, and if that doesn't help, a factory data reset (which will wipe all your data too, so backup whatever you need). After that, if the problem persists, l'd suggest rebooting into safe mode (no user apps) to see if the battery life is better. If it is, then it is some 3rd party app that is causing the issue.
 
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Before swapping phones, I'd recommend a cache partition wipe, and if that doesn't help, a factory data reset (which will wipe all your data too, so backup whatever you need). After that, if the problem persists, l'd suggest rebooting into safe mode (no user apps) to see if the battery life is better. If it is, then it is some 3rd party app that is causing the issue.

Okay I'm wiping the cache partition now. It's taking some time though. I realise swapping phones is a bit extreme right now. I'm probably just looking for an excuse for a new one! It also has a crack on the screen that I only notice sometimes and irritates me no end!
 
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Look through CPU usage again. My Nexus 5 idles at around 5% total or less. It has just had a factory reset and reload though, so it's running at absolute optimum efficiency.

Well it's pretty bizarre but I finished the cache partition wipe and my idle CPU usage, like yours, is now under 5%. It occasionally goes up but I've seen it as low as 3% which I haven't had before. Android System is also no longer my biggest battery user (GSAM is!). This is looking good so far and I will get back to you.

Also the charger seems more reliable. I'm not having to wiggle the port to get a good connection. I assumed that was a hardware problem but maybe not!
 
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Yeah it's great! There's still a chance it's not work though but if I don't return all is probably well :p
Glad the issue was resolved :) One thing that I must add - in case you did the OTA update from kitkat to Lollipop, you may end up needed a factory reset if you haven't done one yet. Several folks had reported issues similar to what you had noticed, and for some, a cache partition wipe was sufficient, while for others, a factory reset was the solution. Try out your phone - hopefully everything continues to work fine. If the problem returns, back up your data and perform a factory data reset. The Kitkat to Lollipop update was a major one, so a clean start may be helpful.

Don't be a stranger though - you are welcome here, even if everything is working fine :D You may have suggestions/solutions for folks that are running into issues too
 
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Glad the issue was resolved :) One thing that I must add - in case you did the OTA update from kitkat to Lollipop, you may end up needed a factory reset if you haven't done one yet. Several folks had reported issues similar to what you had noticed, and for some, a cache partition wipe was sufficient, while for others, a factory reset was the solution. Try out your phone - hopefully everything continues to work fine. If the problem returns, back up your data and perform a factory data reset. The Kitkat to Lollipop update was a major one, so a clean start may be helpful.

Don't be a stranger though - you are welcome here, even if everything is working fine :D You may have suggestions/solutions for folks that are running into issues too

Hi! Unfortunately I am back and the battery seems to be back to normal. I was probably artificially using it less I suppose :(. I think I'll try the factory reset. It's lucky everything I have is stored somewhere online. Makes a reset a pretty painless option.

To be honest it's not that surprising. I installed the developer preview for Lollipop and I'd never done it before. It took me all evening and I'm sure I did it messily. I actually installed it as a way to cure a glitch I was having which is a hilarious reason to install a developer preview I think!
 
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Update: I did a factory reset and it said it was erasing for a while and then I got an error screen (android lying down with a red triangle.) I restarted the phone and it's been on "erasing" ever since. I'll leave it for a bit longer but I found other people online with the same problem with a fairly complicated fix :/

Nevermind! 50 minutes later it finally finished and looks like it's now booting :)
 
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Update: I did a factory reset and it said it was erasing for a while and then I got an error screen (android lying down with a red triangle.) I restarted the phone and it's been on "erasing" ever since. I'll leave it for a bit longer but I found other people online with the same problem with a fairly complicated fix :/

Nevermind! 50 minutes later it finally finished and looks like it's now booting :)

Yeah, factory resets take forever now on lollipop. Also took forever when it was updating from KitKat
 
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Yeah, factory resets take forever now on lollipop. Also took forever when it was updating from KitKat

If you updated from KK using the OTA, then yeah, it's got to recompile all your apps for ART. It will say something like "optimizing app 3 of 86" depending on the number of apps you have installed. A factory reset from that point shouldn't take that long, but i've noticed that if you have any of the old Dalvik cache lingering about, it will. Flashing a factory image does improve things.
 
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Hopefully this fixes the issue :)

If you updated from KK using the OTA, then yeah, it's got to recompile all your apps for ART. It will say something like "optimizing app 3 of 86" depending on the number of apps you have installed. A factory reset from that point shouldn't take that long, but i've noticed that if you have any of the old Dalvik cache lingering about, it will. Flashing a factory image does improve things.

So wow. I just had my first full day at uni without having to use my portable charger. I went for about 10 and a half hours and I came back with 18% battery. Very happy!

And another full day. Thank you guys <3
 
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So wow. I just had my first full day at uni without having to use my portable charger. I went for about 10 and a half hours and I came back with 18% battery. Very happy!

And another full day. Thank you guys <3
I've been pretty impressed with the battery life on lollipop too. Just took these screenshots:

Screenshot_2015-01-10-15-43-39.png Screenshot_2015-01-10-15-43-43.png
 
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Holy smokes I am lucky to get 3 hours of screen time right now on a full charge! Guess I should try a FDR.
Not sure that it makes any difference but I upgraded via the factory images and then performed a FDR afterward. 3 hours of SOT doing what though? If you're gaming, the battery will always drain. My SOT there was mostly web browsing and a game called Dice World which is not very taxing on the device. Also just leaving the screen on for Unified Remote, but not touching it constantly.

I've gotten a little over 6 hours, and battery down to upper teens, and was happy with that, but dayum!!! almost 5 hours and half charge left? Neat!
Are you using a modified kernel?
I'm just running stock currently with root; I'm not sure why it's being so good. Prior to upgrading to L, Google Play Services was destroying my battery life. I don't know if some of the latest updates of Google stuff just didn't play well with KK anymore or what?!?

Play services was literally keeping my device awake ALWAYS. Now I don't really see it show up in the battery monitor at all and my battery life has been really good.
 
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