Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
anotherhaus
Enthusiast - Level 3

A number of people were reporting random reboots (what Verizon calls "power cycling", LOL...I call it "losing everything you were doing and having to wait a few minutes to use your phone again").

Somewhat ironically, I did a hard reset before taking the NG6 update and I never had a single random reboot.

Only time will tell if this update helps with battery life. I was willing to be a guinea pig because at this point when the battery starts to drain and you don't catch it, the phone is essentially useless anyway. Unfortunately the battery drain had become fairly intermittent in my case, from "constant" to maybe once a week, so it's not going to be obvious that it's fixed. I can say that after running for awhile after the update, my screen % is at 24%, android OS 18%, and android system 17%, and it has been a long time since anything but Android System was at the top of my battery life list. I'll take it as a good sign for now.

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Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
anotherhaus
Enthusiast - Level 3

So, no help from this update. Yesterday my battery spiked downward twice, even faster than before it seems.

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Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
timothyc74
Enthusiast - Level 2

Saw an OTA update today, was excited and then I read NK1 only fixes random reboot and a VPN issue. Glad the battery does not matter Verizon. Thanks for nothing.

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Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
D2R2
Enthusiast - Level 2

Shortly before the NG6 update came out, I had just finished a process of tuning my phone so that I had achieved good battery life. I had gone 5 days without anything more than 20 minute charging while commuting to/from work. Then NG6 came out. Random reboots (not really - usually when I was on a call) and extreme battery drain. The reboots go so bad I decided to backup my device and do a factory reset. Only problem was I couldn't complete a backup before the phone would reboot.

I finally backed up enough that I did the FR. No more reboots (uptime right now is 474 hours). Battery drain is 1%/hour unless I have the screen on. Now I do keep sync off ( I decide when I want to look for Emails or FB updates) and I kill off tasks routinely when I am done using the phone. I also use Juice Defender. I also watch in GSAM Battery Monitor for apps that seem to use power they shouldn't (like key ring that I use 30 sec/day) and do a Force Close on them.

YMMV, but this has worked for me.

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Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
ferno1188
Enthusiast - Level 3

After using the phone with Verizon's newest update, I can confirm that the battery drain remains unfixed. My phone was never power cycling, but the battery drain, often 2-3 times per day, made the phone extremely hot and had to be restarted to temporarily correct the drain problem. This morning driving to work (45 minute drive) my phone drained 8% with absolutely 0 use, no wifi, no data, and no location services enabled. Before the battery drain issue, it would drain 1% or less on my drive to work.

There is clearly still an issue that Verizon has so far failed to correct. Hopefully (wishful thinking) they are working on a fix for the battery drain and deemed the power cycling a more pressing issue.....

Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
kwips
Enthusiast - Level 2

As the previous poster stated, the NG6 update has been a calamity for S4 users.  Even the subsequent updates have done nothing as far as improve battery life.

Before this update was rolled out in October, I had outstanding battery life on the S4.  Often having 50-60% battery after 12 hours of use.  This was with full syncing of apps and being away from WI-FI most of the time.  Since the updates to my device, the battery life has been abysmal. I did not suffer from power cycling issues that some users have experienced.  The battery life has been the main issue for me since the initial NG6 update.

What was once a solid and steady performer in terms of battery life and reliability, the device is now frustrating to use day to day.

Verizon and/or Samsung, it is ridiculous that you have allowed a fantastic device to flounder with half-baked updates and solutions.

Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
cljatc03
Enthusiast - Level 1

I too am having similar issues as those stated above.  The last two updates which have been forced upon us have significantly decreased the performance of my phone and battery life, with the most recent one making my battery life even worse. I've had my fully charged phone off the charger for 2.5 hours and I'm already down to 60% battery life!  The GPS no longer works despite trying all the suggestions on this message board, so I just gave up and turned the location off completely.  The screen freezes randomly, and it it takes forever to send a text message as it seems my phone is constantly having to "catch up" to my typing (there is a lag after every word).   My phone continues to get too hot to hold at times, and the battery life is beyond terrible.  Turning off sync and running in safe mode is not an option for me as my job requires me to be available 24/7, and frankly, I shouldn't have to do it anyways.  Verizon charges enough for their services.  There is no reason to be forcing these crap updates on us that make our devices basically useless.  Losing 40% battery life with minimal use in 2.5 hours is UNACCEPTABLE!  Verizon, please actually fix this issue immediately!

Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
beckbjj
Enthusiast - Level 1

After reading this entire thread (all 15 pages) I did what a good number of people here did.  I simply disabled/uninstalled three Verizon preinstalled apps that I will never use anyway:  Support & Protection, Sync Service (NOT the main sync feature that you access from swiping down the top of the home screen, but rather an app called Sync Service), and Cloud.  In addition, I changed my Mode setting under Location (Settings--->More--->Location--->Mode) to "GPS only".  I did not do a factory reset or try any of the other suggestions. 

And I can confirm that it worked!  Yesterday by this time, my phone had turned itself off because the battery was completely dead (I hadn't been using it at all and hadn't paid any attention to the battery drain).  A week ago my phone was dead at the end of an eight hour workday during which time I had not used it at all, not once.  Today, with some light usage, I'm still at 77% battery life, which is about how it was before the NG6 update.

This was certainly the easiest possible solution offered here, and it worked for me, big time.  If you're looking for something to try, this is totally painless (unless you use those apps), and effective.

Just for curiosity's sake, I may turn the Mode setting under Location back to "High Accuracy" tomorrow and see if that does actually factor into the equation or if it's really just the three apps.  In the meantime, I'm just happy to have the phone I know and love back!

Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
nathanm
Enthusiast - Level 2

I just factory rest my phone because of the battery drain.  Its a little better but still is not good.  I have lost 30% in just 4 hours.  I might be lucky to get 12 hours out of my battery.  How can I make this better.  I was not even using my phone a lot.  The biggest drain was Android OS.  It seems to always be the worst.  Sometimes the OS will drain the battery totally in about 6 hours and my phone just sits in my pocket all day.

Re: Galaxy S4 battery draining after NG6 update
beckbjj
Enthusiast - Level 1

Nathan, see my post above for the steps I took to resolve this problem.  What I did was based on reading the rest of the 15 pages of this thread and seeing what other people did.  It's simple, just three useless Verizon preinstalled apps to disable/uninstall.