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Help S4 Overheating & Battery Drain

rushmore

Extreme Android User
Nov 13, 2008
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1,355
Kentucky
This Robert Palmer- Powerstation 80s song comes to mind after about ten minutes with gpu intensive apps and Att demo. To the touch, it seems to get hotter than previous phones used.

A review mentioned when they tested games and concurrent benchmarks their stock Att device throttled down due to heat. They ended up putting the S4 in the freezer during the test.

It will probably be a while before a 32gb surfaces, so my testing is store units. For Verizon, even that will be a while.

Any others encounter this?
 
I've dealt with that with the Galaxy Nexus and it worries me when it happens. But if you're saying that it only happens with graphic intensive games or apps on the S4, I don't mind so much. With my GNex, it would randomly happen from being on a phone call for thirty minutes or just for no reason at all. That's an immediate battery pull.
 
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Of course it gets hot when stress-tested. Did your S3 not do the same?


3D games that use the GPU and CPU heavy are in effect "stress" tests. As far as gaming, the S3 does not get as hot to the touch. Still, it could be a fluke, hence my question rather than assertion.

For perspective, the 600 uses the same micron process as the the Snap dual in the S3. Considering the 600 is basically twice as fast, pushing twice the pixels and in the same footprint, it makes sense that the S4 gets hotter. Kind of a "duh" point, now that I think about it.
 
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3D games that use the GPU and CPU heavy are in effect "stress" tests. As far as gaming, the S3 does not get as hot to the touch. Still, it could be a fluke, hence my question rather than assertion.

For perspective, the 600 uses the same micron process as the the Snap dual in the S3. Considering the 600 is basically twice as fast, pushing twice the pixels and in the same footprint, it makes sense that the S4 gets hotter. Kind of a "duh" point, now that I think about it.

Exactly.

P.S. 1080p is 4x the amount of pixels of 720p AFAIR
 
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Exactly.

P.S. 1080p is 4x the amount of pixels of 720p AFAIR

It's 2.25 from my calculations (1920x1080) / (1280x720) = 2.25.

I know it probably seems like a mute point, but the kind of thing is important to me in my line of work, video production. I know that if I have 1080p footage and I'm editing on a 720p timeline, that I can zoom the 720p footage 1.5 times without any video degradation. 1920 / 1280 = 1.5 and 1080 / 720 = 1.5. :)
 
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It's 2.25 from my calculations (1920x1080) / (1280x720) = 2.25.

I know it probably seems like a mute point, but the kind of thing is important to me in my line of work, video production. I know that if I have 1080p footage and I'm editing on a 720p timeline, that I can zoom the 720p footage 1.5 times without any video degradation. 1920 / 1280 = 1.5 and 1080 / 720 = 1.5. :)

Correct, but I did not want to impede his point of consensus :)

I took the rounded value of "twice".
 
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My S3 would run super hot at random times. I never could figure out what rouge process was causing it. My S4 has been rock-solid, cool all the time, works great. I would expect it to get hot using computationally intensive apps.

My friends S3 does that. He hasn't been able to figure it out.

My S4 gets warm when gaming. So did my galaxy nexus. As does my nexus 10. All pretty much equal in terms of heat.
 
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My GS4 only gets hot during games, benchmarking and when using the Camera heavily, it's to be expected, all those things demand a hell of a lot of resources from both CPU and GPU.

Every Android I've owned (Xperia X10i, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 Octa) gets hot under heavy load, these devices are tightly built so as to be thin as possible, while running seriously powerful hardware at high frequencies, so I expect them to get hot now and then, but long as they don't get so hot you cant touch them.

I once tried to launch the Camera of my GS3 after it had sat in my cars center console on a very hot day, the sun had even shone on it through the sunroof, the GS3 threw a message at me saying the Camera cannot launch as the phone is running at a high temp. it also does this with the flash and turns it off if the phone runs ends up running at too high a temp. so atleast I know the phone won't let things go out of hand.
 
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My S4 is getting quite hot without gaming. I'm guessing it's the downloading/installing apps that's doing it. Waiting for my case so I can ignore the issue :D

Probably, you're fine, but you reminded me that I wanted to give this little...

public-service-announcement.jpg



Hi!:)

This post is especially for everyone new to Android, or new to a phone with multiple cores, like this SGS4.

On occasion, your phone can run hot, caused by -


  • Something expected:
    • an app that really pushes it all to the limit, like an intense game
    • some short term combination of apps that can get things very busy
  • Or - a mysterious abnormal case that seems to come and go - please click the Show button for a quick explanation of that -
From a similar thread in another forum, where the phone (HTC One) was observed to get hot, battery drain quickly, and then not happen again - a mystery.

That can happen to you with an SGS4 (or SGS3 or whatever), here's why -

Probably a runaway app, most likely what we call a race condition. Apps naturally parallelize using constructs that we call threads. Think of it this way - for listening to music, the app may have a thread for the display updates, a thread to sense inputs and one for actually playing music. (That's an insanely simplified fictional example, but good enough for the idea - threads can run in parallel.)

And quite often, threads will rendezvous with one another for control purposes.

Every so often, you get a bug where they won't, they just hang waiting for each other.

Or, you can get the condition where they spin out of control missing the rendezvous at top speed - and Android will automagically distribute threads across CPU cores. And spinning threads racing each other can and will do that across multiple cores at top speed. Drawing max power and dissipating it as heat.

If it comes back, you have a flakey app somewhere.

If it doesn't, you could have just had a single bit in ram stuck for a while, and coincidentally at the point that would induce the race condition.

If your phone persists in running hot and there seems to be no reason for it - you're not pushing it hard or running a hard app - please consider immediate service or replacement if new.


Heat is usually caused by the main processor or the radio transceivers.

The place where you need to worry about heat is your battery.


Batteries can heat from -

  • rapid power dissipation (fancy word for - battery losing power quickly)
    • common Android example - using GPS navigation with the typical other goodies at the same time, especially on a summer day
  • forcing your phone back on when it wants go off from low power and running it anyway (related to the first bullet)
  • heat transfer from the motherboard goodies (processor, etc etc)

Reliable reports say your battery should be ok up to around 50 degC, aka 122 degF.


This handy app will tell your battery temperature, if there isn't a way on-board this particular phone to tell - Elixer 2, it's free - just tap the information button in the upper left when it launches.


Prolonged high heat to your battery, especially near its upper limit, will cause the internal metal structures to deform. The more a battery is pushed that way, the sooner it dies and needs replacing.


Pro Tips On That:

  • If you're enjoying the replaceable battery feature on your SGS4 and find you have to swap it a few times per day (and that's more than normal for those of us who travel in and out of - or work in - areas with lousy coverage) then don't wait until your first battery is drained to do the swap. Head it off at the pass. Swap when it's at 20% or so if that's convenient.


Safety Tip On That:

  • A seriously overworked or abused battery will actually swell up - it will bloat, you can see it.
    • A lot of people don't believe this.
    • A lot of people believe it's some weird myth.
    • It's true.
    • Remember above I mentioned the metal structures deforming? Left to the extreme, they'll get so out of whack that the battery will physically swell up to accommodate the weird reshaping of the metal bits, along with whatever strange chemistry is going on inside to accompany that.
  • Never use a swollen battery.
    • When using a swollen battery - don't!
    • They're dangerous.
    • No kidding, actually dangerous.
    • Don't charge it.
    • Don't use it.
    • Replace it immediately.


Cool down Do's and Don't's -


Ok, I didn't see the article mentioned where a reviewer put the phone in the freezer for testing.


Do NOT put your phone in the freezer.

  • The rapid transition to a sealed cold environment can very easily cause rapid condensation of normal air moisture, trapped in your phone, to go to water and even ice crystals.
  • What happens when you put a bit of water on a powered-up little motherboard?
    • If you're lucky, nothing.
    • If you're like the rest of us - an electrical short.
      • If you're lucky, nothing is damaged.
      • If you're like the rest of us, your phone is damaged.


Do consider safe ways to rapidly cool down an overheated phone -

  • At home:
    • Bag of frozen peas or similar
    • Kitchen towel on top of that, doesn't need to be thick
    • Phone on top of that
  • In the car:
    • Hold in front of AC vent

And on that note, you'll find that many car holders come either with articulating arms so you can get some air flow on your phone, or actually mount your phone to an air vent. Handy for those driving in and out of cell service (working the battery) and using GPS (working the battery some more) on those hot summer days.



To many of you, this is all old hat and (jeez Early, why the freaking wall o' text :mad:) - but for our many newcomers to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the world of Android super-powered phones, I hope this helps. :)


Cheers and thanks for reading. :)
 
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So I've noticed like, some weird significant change in my s4 (the snapdragon version). The first full day i used it I got significant battery out of it, as in i went my whole work shift playing with the phone/texting/using facebook (the latter two being the only things i ever really do), and ended my shift with a whopping 65% battery which is great to me as my original Note was usually done before the end of my shifts.

Since then i've noticed it majorly overheating (which is apparently an issue with others' s4's as well?) while just going through it sometimes, but significantly while it's plugged in and charging.

anyway, since that first day, i have now noticed the battery draining like 5-10% every hour even if i'm not using it. i've disabled absolutely every unnecessary app i could (including s voice), always have my brightness on the absolute lowest, and always have power saving on. like i'm looking at my battery usage now and i've been 58 mins on battery since the last charge to 100% and i'm down to 83%. all i've done is scroll through the app manager list a couple times to see if i missed anything else worth disabling.

what gives?
 
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So I've noticed like, some weird significant change in my s4 (the snapdragon version). The first full day i used it I got significant battery out of it, as in i went my whole work shift playing with the phone/texting/using facebook (the latter two being the only things i ever really do), and ended my shift with a whopping 65% battery which is great to me as my original Note was usually done before the end of my shifts.

Since then i've noticed it majorly overheating (which is apparently an issue with others' s4's as well?) while just going through it sometimes, but significantly while it's plugged in and charging.

anyway, since that first day, i have now noticed the battery draining like 5-10% every hour even if i'm not using it. i've disabled absolutely every unnecessary app i could (including s voice), always have my brightness on the absolute lowest, and always have power saving on. like i'm looking at my battery usage now and i've been 58 mins on battery since the last charge to 100% and i'm down to 83%. all i've done is scroll through the app manager list a couple times to see if i missed anything else worth disabling.

what gives?

I'd be interested to find out if others think the S4 gets hot. My Evo 3D gets super hot sometimes, especially when the radios are trying to find a signal and the battery is dropping. I can feel it just getting hot in my pocket, I need to pull the battery and reboot so it cools down.

I also notice when I talk on the phone the screen gets really warm against my face. Hoping the S4 doesn't experience similar symptoms.

One thing I've read is to make sure you are using a good charger. Cheap Chinese knock offs can deliver inconsistent voltage and can cause damage to batteries including shortening lifespan and sometimes even cause them to overheat and explode. This isn't to say all generic ones are bad, but more to illustrate the point that chargers can cause some battery issues and even be dangerous. I always figured a charger was a charger.
 
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Mine does not get hot unless I am playing games, then the back gets warm. If I stop playing a few seconds its normal again.

Battery life is fine too but this can vary greatly depending on what apps you having running.

I would do a battery pull and quit disabling apps and let the OS do what it should. I don't have power saving on, no auto brightness mine is even a little high and I get 1-1.5 days easy unless I sit and play games or keep the screen lit for hours doing things.
 
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What does the phone report is using the power? If that doesn't give you enough detail, install a battery monitor app like Gsam Battery Monitor which should help you identify the source of the drain.

Both the phone and that app report that the screen is causing all the battery drain, the few other things listed are using very minimal battery. But this is what I don't understand. The brightness is always either off or on auto. But again, I'm not using my phone much at all. How can the screen be sacking the battery so much when I don't even have it lit/unlocked the majority of the time? I've noticed if i turn off mobile data the battery percent doesn't move but i can't for the life of me figure out what must be running in the background to cause this.
 
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Both the phone and that app report that the screen is causing all the battery drain, the few other things listed are using very minimal battery. But this is what I don't understand. The brightness is always either off or on auto. But again, I'm not using my phone much at all. How can the screen be sacking the battery so much when I don't even have it lit/unlocked the majority of the time? I've noticed if i turn off mobile data the battery percent doesn't move but i can't for the life of me figure out what must be running in the background to cause this.

If you really want to nail down down the processes, betterbatterystats is a better app than gsam, but its paid
 
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