Thank you for your continued patronage of our Samsung Galaxy S5 troubleshooter series. This article discusses some of the issues plaguing the S5 device of our readers. We hope that this post will be a big help for them and you, our dear readers, as we continue to share our expertise in resolving S5 problems.
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Tips in saving Samsung Galaxy S5 battery power
Problem: Hi, I have a Samsung S5 for a little over a month now. Since day one, the battery has been a disaster. It can drain from 100% to 30% in less than 4 hours. I have to admit: GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile data are one. And I really don’t want to turn them off: GPS for Google Now, mobile data to keep updated (and Wi-Fi to limit my data usage, we have a lot of hotspots in town) and Bluetooth for my Samsung Gear. So yes: I understand that I won’t be able to get my S5 last two days. But 4 hours? That’s not enough. Is there a problem with my battery or software? Or both?
I’ve already read a few forums and completely drained the battery and recharged. I’ve restricted a few apps’ background data. GPS is now based on Wi-Fi location and operator instead of GPS to save power… nothing works. Only when I disable Wi-Fi and mobile data, does it last for 8 hours (I work shifts of 10-12 hours, btw). But then I’m not updated anymore and that’s not what I want.
Do I have to return the phone (don’t have a spare one and don’t want to lose it for 4 weeks) ? Is there another solution? An update that helps? A new battery or an extra battery or a battery case?
Thank you in advance for your advice! — Dimitri Baert
Problem: Hello team. I am having problem with the battery in my S5. My S5 is 2 months old. Earlier battery used to last almost 24 hours after a full 100% charge, but since last 3 days it’s not even lasting 10 hours. If you require any more details please let me know. Hope to hear from you soon. Regards. — Nizar lakhani
Troubleshooting: Hi there Dimitri and Nizar. We are afraid your concern is not a unique issue. As much as Samsung would like to brand their most recent flagship as a great phone (which is the case!), one thing keeps it from keeping that name today–its battery. Just like any smartphone these days, the battery remains the weakest link of them all and the industry is yet to develop a more powerful replacement of current technology when it comes to a battery’s longevity.
We understand that you expect your phone to give you more juice than what it currently offers but, unfortunately, such expectation comes at a cost. Basing on your email, you must be a well-researched smartphone user but you can still take a look at the tips below and see if you can follow them to extend your phone’s battery life.
Tip 1. Disable automatic Google Play Store updates via Wi-Fi. This may go against your notion that automatic updates should always be on, especially if you are security conscious, but doing this can greatly save you power in a day-to-day basis. This is more relevant if you grab a lot of apps from Play Store. We don’t recommend that you don’t download apps but it would be helpful if you can manage your apps better. Uninstalling unnecessary apps would also work great in your favor as most apps these days perform background tasks and demands processing power anytime.
Tip 2. Disable Smart stay. Smart stay is one of the best features of Galaxy S5 we find the most interesting but turning it off can save you minutes of your battery life. As Smart stay tells the front-facing camera to detect if you’re looking at the screen, it constantly tell the screen to be on almost all the time. We know this can become disappointing if you it when reading, but again, doing so can give your battery an extra kick for a few minutes.
Tip 3. Do not use Air wake up. This feature wakes up your phone by simply waving your hand over the screen. If you think saving some precious minutes of your battery is more important than convenience in turning on the phone, we recommend that turn Air wake up as soon as possible.
Tip 4. Limit your phone’s performance. If you’re running low on power, restricting the phone’s overall performance like decreasing the CPU speed, turning off the capacitive navigation, lowering screen frame rate, and disabling GPS can save you dramatic power off your battery. You can do this by going to Settings (General tab) > Power Saving > Power Saving mode menu > Restrict performance.
Tip 5. Use a monochrome screen. If you are not aware that you can force your phone to go on monochrome, simply go to Settings (General tab) > Power Saving > Power Saving mode. This tip is pretty useful especially if you are fond of reading and listening to music most of the time.
Tip 6. Enable Ultra Power Saving mode. If you are in a desperate situation where battery power is more important than anything else, turning on Ultra Power Saving Mode might be your savior. This, however, comes at a cost as it will turn your smartphone to basically a dumbphone by changing the screen to monochrome, disabling the screen as well as a lot of other amazing features that makes the S5 a great phone. In this mode though, your phone can still send and receive SMS, receive calls, and browse the web.
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To do’s in enhancing Samsung Galaxy S5’s security
Problem: I use my S5 in a variety of ways. I play on it, use it as an alarm clock, capture precious moments of my life, but most of all, as an important tool in my business. It’s not just simply a phone but an important book of my business so I worry that if it falls to wrong hands, it might greatly impact my life.
So my question is, can I make my phone more secure? At the moment, I believe the PIN I use will keep my “secrets” from unsophisticated attackers but I’m hoping that there are more ways to boost the security of my phone further.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. — Gregory
Troubleshooting: Hi Gregory. Security of one’s information has never been important as it is today and we want to help and our readers how to make Samsung’s Galaxy S5 as robust as possible when it comes to ensuring your data safe.
The first step is to make sure that you create your own Samsung account. We understand that Samsung can sometimes be annoying because of lots of malware that comes with its services but if you really are serious about information security on your phone, you will disregard the annoyance. Having a Samsung account on your phone will give you power to remotely delete your data in case your phone gets stolen. On top of that, you can make your phone ring or find it in a map to locate it.
Our second suggestion is encryption. Encrypting your phone may take over an hour but it is definitely worth doing these days. If you fear for your personal data whenever you’re on the move, encryption is a godsend. Basically, the phone will scramble your data and only you can access them once encryption is done.
Our last suggestion is to use your fingerprint to gain access to your phone all the time. The fingerprint scanner can also be used to transact using your PayPal account on your phone so setting this up should be a must. Don’t forget to add another layer of security though like a pattern or passcode in the event that your fingerprint scanner stops working.
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Samsung Galaxy S5 camera failure
Problem: Hi Droidguys. My Samsung galaxy s5 has been encountering a camera problem recently. When i turn the camera on it says ,,failed to initalize,, or ,,server error,, and i can’t take pictures. When i do a reboot it works fine but after some time the problem shows up again. I have read that a lot people complain about this issue. Any help? — Fesal
Troubleshooting: Hi Fesal. The error that your phone is showing is not exclusive to Samsung Galaxy S5. In fact, many other users using different phones running Android have been reporting the same or similar problem. What we can do to help is to give some general troubleshooting steps as the problem is usually traced to a software failure.
Kindly try any or all of the steps below to isolate what the root cause of the problem is.
Manually turn off the camera by going to App Manager then selecting Force Stop, Clear Cache and Clear Data.
If you have third party camera app like Camera 360, try uninstalling them and observe if the problem will persist.
Try saving your photos and the rest of the future camera captures to the phone’s internal storage media. Avoid using the microSD card and observe how the phone behaves afterwards.
Do a phone reset by turning your device then going to Recovery mode (by pressing and holding the Volume Up, Home and Power keys at the same time). Afterwards, select Wipe Cache Partition using the volume keys and pressing the power button, then select Reboot System Now.
Do a factory reset if the problem continues. You can always Google how to factory reset your S5. And remember to create a copy of all your important data before performing a factory reset.
As a last resort, bring your phone to the nearest shop that can fix your phone. Better still, consult Samsung about it and try to get a replacement unit if possible.
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Reducing noise during calls on Samsung Galaxy S5
Problem: Thank you for your wonderful articles on how to fix S5 issues. Here is a issue that I deal with.
I work outside in the construction industry. When I am talking on the phone the person on the other end has difficulty hearing me. Often this issue is due to the mic picking up the wind. Sometimes it is the result of being close to a piece of equipment that is running. Is there a app or settings change that I can use make to help make my calls clearer? The S5 is much worse with this issue than my old LG flip phone.
Thank you for your time. — Garrett
Troubleshooting: Hello Garrett. Thank you for showing interest in our articles. We hope that we can continue to give you relevant topics and solutions in the future as well.
Going back to your issue, we are afraid that we cannot give you any recommendation on what app to use to reduce ambient noise during your calls when you’re at work. Your Samsung Galaxy S5 already packs a state-of-the-art technology in minimizing background noise during calls, thanks to Qualcomm’s Fluence. This technology is being used in a number of popular high-end phones like HTC One, Galaxy S4, LG G2, and your own Galaxy S5. Basically, Fluence technology utilizes two microphones strategically located on your device to cancel out unwanted background noise. While the specifics of the technology is proprietary, the principle behind is that while the main microphone picks up your voice, the secondary microphone counteracts the background noise, making your voice as crisp and clear as possible to the receiving party.
This technology is built-in so it normally is turned on by default already. To improve voice quality during calls though, we recommend that you follow the steps below:
Go to Settings
Tap My Device tab
3.Select Call
Enable Noise Reduction under Ringtone and sound settings
These steps should ensure that your voice is loud and clear for the other party. And, it will obviously help if you take calls as far away as possible from any background or machinery noise.
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ESPN Streak For The Cash app keeps crashing on Samsung Galaxy S5
Problem: I use the app ESPN Streak For The Cash, and used to be on it non stop with my Galaxy S3. Since I got my S5, I can’t get it to allow me to log in. The app loads, but when I type in my username and password to log in, it goes to a gray screen and nothing else happens. Others seem to have complained in the Google Play Store, but ESPN is yet to respond. Is there a setting on my phone that is off, that might be keeping it from running properly, or is the app just not updated to run on the S5? Please help! — Adam
Troubleshooting: Hi Adam. We did some digging on this app and apparently you are right in saying that other users have similar problems when they tried to run on their Galaxy S5. As of this writing, the app’s developers have posted in Google Play Store that they have issued an update to fix “various crashes and made some performance improvements” but we have no way of knowing if this has fixed the problem that you have.
As this is an app-specific problem, we recommend that you contact the developers through email (espmmobilefeedback@espncustomercare.com) or wait for more updates from them.
In the meantime, we suggest that you try to uninstall and reinstall the app and see how it plays out.
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Heart rate monitor in Samsung Galaxy S5
Problem: I am 52-years old and do a lot of exercise to stay fit. Recently a friend mentioned to me that I can check my pulse using an app in an iPhone but I don’t have one. What I have is a Samsung S5 so I’m wondering if there’s a way for me to check my pulse too using this instead of swapping it for an iPhone.
I love my S5 and it is new so replacing it is really not an option
I’ll be glad if you can help. — Liza
Troubleshooting: Hi Liza. There’s no need to get a new phone as your Samsung Galaxy S5 is fully equipped to handle your need for a heart rate monitor.
The S Health App should already come installed on your phone so simply open it or search it manually (its icon looks like a person running within a green circle).
Once you’ve opened the app, tap the “Heart Rate” option on the left hand side. The app will then tell you to touch the heart rate sensor, which is located on the back of phone below the main rear-facing camera and beside the LED flash.
It is recommended that you put your index finger over the heart rate sensor lightly. You don’t have to push it down. Just be quiet as the app prompts you on what to do. An erratic reading of your pulse usually happens if there’s background noise or if you are moving while doing it.
The reading result should come with a date and time for reference. If you do the reading correctly, you should have a good history of your heart rate at different times, which should be quite interesting, especially if you’re a health buff.
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WhatsApp application crashes on Galaxy S5
Problem: Hey DroidGuy. Thanks for all your info on Samsung S5 they are really helpful.
I am having an issue though. It is with the third party app WhatsApp. Off lately while using WhatsApp it started to hang while having multiple conversations at a single time. Especially when i am receiving multiple messages on one of my WhatsApp group and during that time if i am chatting to some personal contact in WhatsApp often the app hangs…and typing also starts lagging and also sometimes the screen becomes unresponsive.
Is it a problem with the application or is it something related to the phone? S5 being one of the best phone available in the market having such kind of problem doesn’t seem to be right. Help me out please. Thanks and regards. — Akash Sharma
Troubleshooting: Hi Akash. After some research on the subject, we realized that there seems to be little to no one complaining about their WhatsApp app crashing on a Samsung Galaxy S5 like you do. This leads us to conclude that you may have an isolated case, either because it’s an internal app problem or some other apps are causing WhatsApp to crash. We need to isolate the problem if other apps are behaving the same as that would tell us your operating system or hardware may be the root cause of the issue. Otherwise, we need to treat your problem as a single app issue, thus the usual troubleshooting steps that applies any other app behaving like your WhatsApp app can be used here to resolve the problem.
The first thing that you must do is to close all background apps when using WhatsApp to ensure that your phone’s processing power will be focused solely on making WhatsApp work. We understand that this is not a powerful smartphone like an S5 is supposed to work but for the sake of isolating the problem, this step must be done.
Another way to isolate the issue is be disabling all bloatware apps on your phone. Uninstalling least used apps will also help.
Clearing the cache of your phone may also help while using WhatsApp. You can go to Apps, Settings, Privacy, Delete Personal Data, Cache and Cookies, Delete to do this. This step will ensure that your phone is free from possible memory trash that might clog the system while WhatsApp is running.
You may also want to uninstall WhatsApp and install it again. This step will give your phone a new start to work on the app again from scratch.
The last option, and a highly unpleasant step is doing a factory reset. This should be the last resort only and you must do this with caution. It only will not eat up a lot of your time redownloading and reinstalling everything on your phone, but it also will ask you to make sure you have copies of your data. If you don’t know how to do factory reset, simply Google it. There are tons of tutorials out there on how to do it.
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