Related
Maybe it's because I upgraded from an ancient AT&T Tilt (not Tilt II!) and this phone is just so much better that I don't notice the flaws.
But every post on here where people mention some bug or another and Mine does not have said bug.
My GPS works, even in the house (which I thought was not possible, because the GPS signal isn't supposed to go through walls)
My Battery lasts from 9:30 am until midnight with downloads, music, calls, video, browsing, and facebook. I have all of the default battery saving options.
My accelerometer/gyro work perfectly.
Please tell me I'm not the only one, because I am so happy with this phone, and it would be a shame if so many people where having problems that it became a flop.
Just my take on it. It is a new phone so there is still a lot of "unknown" about the phone. Also, if you go to any kind of forum like this you usually see a lot of issue/help threads rather than praise threads. Its just the way it is.
I got mine yesterday.. and love the hell out of it.. No problems at all so far, and have not been able to put it down. hahaha
Mine is great
I love my phone and have had no problems at all. and I love swpe, I almost forgot how to type
Jon
@TWiG420 I'm with you on that one.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I upgraded from a touch diamond and this phone is beastly or I just waited too long to upgrade
I did have a GPS problem though, it wouldnt lock on in like 15 minutes, but I changed the settings and I get a lock pretty fast now.
Lag? None. Touchwiz? Decent, and less choppy than launcherpro!
Phone is real good.
They sold almost a million Galaxy S devices before even launching in the states, and the only 'common' problem I have seen that is not obviously software is the GPS issues. But it seems like most can change around a few settings and be fine.
Most if not all of my issues are because I do not know android. Once one or two software updates come out (or cooks make some nice custom roms with bug fixes) most if not all problems I think will vanish.
Nope
No problems, except for the GPS issue. But I live in NYC, and the buildings have always been an issue when trying to connect to the satellites with any device. Anyway, with that said, no issues with the phone/settings/performance etc. at all.
asrrin29 said:
Maybe it's because I upgraded from an ancient AT&T Tilt (not Tilt II!) and this phone is just so much better that I don't notice the flaws.
But every post on here where people mention some bug or another and Mine does not have said bug.
My GPS works, even in the house (which I thought was not possible, because the GPS signal isn't supposed to go through walls)
My Battery lasts from 9:30 am until midnight with downloads, music, calls, video, browsing, and facebook. I have all of the default battery saving options.
My accelerometer/gyro work perfectly.
Please tell me I'm not the only one, because I am so happy with this phone, and it would be a shame if so many people where having problems that it became a flop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll one-up you, I unplug my phone at 6:30 AM when I am about to leave for work and didn't plug it in until it started complaining at me 28 hours later. Thats pretty darn good given the screen size and the fact that I was using wifi and 3G throughout the day.
Coming from a Iphone 3g.
Got my Captivate on Tuesday. Rooted it, took off the junk. Mine is running great even with no new launcher and live backround. GPS works great too.
No bugs here and phone is way faster then any other phone I have ever used.
Mine is running great too. Maybe it's because I'm not a perfectionist, but I love my phone after removing touchwiz it's even faster too.
So far, so good. Any "issues" can be traced back to my ignorance of an Android-based phone, but being a persistent sort I've either figured out the answers myself or by trolling forums. I would venture a guess that most listed problems relate to:
1. Unrealistic expectations that this new phone should behave the same way, or very similar to an older phone, e.g., number of bars should equal previous phone's number of bars and stuff like that.
2. The results of newbies futzing within the depths of the phone without recognizing the potential consequences of their actions should they screw up.
3. Glitches or wishes that will be addressed in updates.
4. Real problems that can be rectified by a swap within the 30 days.
5. Imagined problems that can be rectified by a reality check.
...and so on.
In any event, I have high expectations and this phone has certainly come close to meeting them.
Now if I can just not drop it before I get a case. If it's not in my pocket I find myself holding it like it's an egg.
Jack45 said:
Now if I can just not drop it before I get a case. If it's not in my pocket I find myself holding it like it's an egg.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahah, I find myself doing the same exact thing! Curse my cheapness in choosing super shipper savings! I still have at least a week before I see my case.
Jack45 said:
If it's not in my pocket I find myself holding it like it's an egg.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant keep it in my pocket. I'm too busy playing with it.
TWiG420 said:
I cant keep it in my pocket. I'm too busy playing with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not to be that guy, but that's what she said lol
I'm looking to purchase a Galaxy S in Canada, and I'm just worried with the problems that I'm hearing here for the Bell Vibrant owners. For the Vibrant owners, I'm hearing problems such as the internal SD died and so a motherboard replacement is required to fix it, the phone refuses to boot, etc. Owners of the Rogers Captivate, please report back so you can help me, as well as helping other Rogers Captivate owners.
I hope this isn't a repost btw. I did a search and didn't find anything here..
Hey,
I purchased one the day it was released in Victoria, BC. Since then, I've rooted, nandroid backup, and installed the OCLF and a bunch of other cool ****.
I'm constantly turning it on and off. On and off. I have the screen brightness to the max (that's the way I like it), and at stock firmware, it's freaking awesome! Runs really smoothly. I don't really find much lag, but I can see room for plenty of improvement, which are going to be coming up shortly. My biggest complaint is the battery life (65% of mine goes to the brightness), but lasts just as long as any phone on standby. I went on eBay and got 3 batteries and a charger for $10. All hail, removable batteries.
I don't doubt more phones will come out within the next month or two, but if you want one today. I'd recommend it.
Let me know if I can influence your decision in anyway.
100% agree with TheShamsMan above ^
Got this phone from Vancouver @ Day 1 when Rogers launched it. Have done a ton of flashing on it, adding things, removing things, turning on and off the phone..haven't had a single problem with it so far. GPS has worked wonderfully for my needs so far(haven't tried car navigation yet though but i'm sure it would aswell work well). 100% recommend the phone. Even though some info for the Nexus S is out, I think the Captivate's looks beat it hands out. Let me know if you have any question~
Only had it a few days, but delighted with it so far.
I wasn't thrilled with the battery life, until I figured out the default wi-fi sleep policy was killing it.
The phone is pretty good, i've had it about 2 1/2 weeks right now.
I did encounter the shutdown issue though, but after using CaptivateKeepAlive for a little while (and then uninstalling it), it has seemed to gone away, though it did happen one more time recently, so I'm playing around with the battery and seeing what the trouble is (I have contacted futureshop though, and have a replacement phone waiting for me whenever they get more in stock).
Besides that issue, I'd say the battery is the only other thing. It seems to me, that even after applying all the good settings, I use quite a bit of battery. Its hard to tell because I play games on the phone often, but using batteryplotter and spareparts, it seems that most of this is caused by my wifi, and the phone always in a 'running' state. I don't mind very much right now, as I'm always near a plug, and I could make it last a day if I needed to without charging (though no games, and very little use).
So Battery problems, and shutdown problems aside, the phone is lovely. I have no GPS problems like ATT phones report, and no problem with lag either (though perhaps I just don't notice it yet).
All in all, the phone is quick and responsive, and the 16GB internal SD is quite nice. I wonder though, if its possible to use the roms for the ATT captivate on the Rogers captivate? (given the phone is a different model #)
FiniteSM said:
I have no GPS problems like ATT phones report, and no problem with lag either (though perhaps I just don't notice it yet).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope the your GPS non-issue is the rule and not the exception on the Rogers Captivate. I do remembering reading an article where a Rogers rep stated that their phone with throughly tested to make sure the GPS was fixed.
Assuming it's the rule ... I wonder what change they made to get the GPS working as it should?
crabjoe said:
I hope the your GPS non-issue is the rule and not the exception on the Rogers Captivate. I do remembering reading an article where a Rogers rep stated that their phone with throughly tested to make sure the GPS was fixed.
Assuming it's the rule ... I wonder what change they made to get the GPS working as it should?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know what they tweaked...but it also works great for me.
All in all the phone is great. I am coming from a Blackberry Bold 9000 that I used for 2 years and decided that I wanted to try something differents.
The Wifi Sleep policy is something you should change when you get your phone.
Settings -->Wireless and network --> Wi-Fi settings --> (menu button) Advanced Settings -->Wifi Sleep policy --> Never
The constant switching between wifi and 3G drains the battery like you won't believe!
Thanks guys. Looks like I'll have an excellent time with my Captivate.
It's nice to hear that no one's Captivates died on them yet. It has me worried, but at the same time I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
Hey,
I bought my Captivate from Rogers on Sept 25 (I believe it was the launch date) in Ottawa, ON. I tried out the stock firmware and everything worked swimmingly. I had great GPS locks, the phone was quick enough for anything I did, and did everything it was supposed to. As long as I was mindful of how bright my screen was and whether GPS/WIFI/Syncing was toggled, I was able to push my phone reasonably into the second day without charging it.
Since the first few days, I've been loading Cognition software (currently 2.4) onto my phone. Not because the stock firmware was horrible or anything, I'm just an obsessive tinkerer who needs the absolute best performance and reliability out of his phone. Unlike many of the AT&Ts out there, I didn't break my GPS after loading cognition. My phone is lightning quick, whether it is picking up a GPS satellite lock or playing my music through the auxiliary input in my car. The battery lasts just as long as it ever did, maybe even longer. Again, Cognition isn't a miracle battery cure, and you still have to be mindful of any running apps in the background or if any of the GPS/WiFi/Syncing is toggled to really max out your battery life. Alternatively, you could get an app like locale which automates things like that for you.
If you're looking to buy a version of the Samsung Galaxy S, I really can't think of a better version to buy than the Rogers one. I haven't had ANY troubles with it and it seems to have the least amount of problems between the ones released in Canada and the US. I may be wrong on that, since my researched focused mostly on the Captivate, but perhaps someone could verify what I just said.
I'd go for it,
Tom
The phones pretty damn fantastic, I just wish Samsung would drop Touchwiz and release vanilla Android. Seriously, no one likes it, and everyone likes new versions of Android.
FiniteSM said:
All in all, the phone is quick and responsive, and the 16GB internal SD is quite nice. I wonder though, if its possible to use the roms for the ATT captivate on the Rogers captivate? (given the phone is a different model #)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DOUBLE POST! (Sorry guys, not sure if it's an issue here, I know on some forums it is)
To answer your question, yes you can. Personally, i've had issues with data not working and OCLF + stock is more than fast enough for me, after I got rid of TwLauncher. One thing to note though, is that you will have a permanent ATT screen before the "I896" screen, so if that bugs you, stay away.
I picked up the Captivate last night and loving it a lot. However I am having a few problems with it that I dunno how to solve yet. One of em is the poor battery life, and another is texting. I'm not gonna repost it here. If I have to, I'll make another thread.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
This is all very good news. I had the Samsung Vibrant (Bell) version before and never really ran into big problems other than some freezes, but let go of it because my buddy's internal SD died, so that phobia caused me to get the Captivate, since they are all the same internals..
Mine is coming in the mail from retentions.. Lets hope i'm not disappointed. Already got a case from SGP lined up and on its way, also the 2 battery + battery charger combo. Already know what to expect.. Surprised that the GPS is fixed!.. I will be sure to check when I receive my unit tomorrow.
Has everyone checked it with the actual GPS receiver turned on? Because, I know that the "wireless networks" gps box always works. But what if it is unchecked, and only the GPS box is on, does it still work then?
FiniteSM said:
I wonder though, if its possible to use the roms for the ATT captivate on the Rogers captivate? (given the phone is a different model #)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also like to know if someone can please confirm whether the roms for the ATT captivate (i-897) are still compatible with the Rogers Captivate (i-896), just incase I want to flash a rom in the future.
Also, if the OCLF is safe to install? Or do we have to wait for one specially made for the Rogers Captivate?
I've searched around, but all the threads I've found for wifi-disabling solutions floating around seem to not be doing the trick(to be fair, I haven't tried eleting system/etc as I'm still unsure if that solution was specific to that phone). Basically, I bought my G2x secondhand and the previous owner made it very clear that he dropped it a few times and, after one of the drops, wifi and bluetooth would endlessly try to connect if switched on, but never actually connect and, after testing various roms and fixes, I confirmed he was telling the truth. It seemed that the portion of the SOC responsible for these functions had fried or become dislodged. Of course, for $50, coming from a Sidekick 4g(RIP) and only needing a good device until income tax returns when I can get a decent future-proof upgrade, I couldn't have cared less. I'm running Benee's cm10 hackfest, so you see this is a problem for me. Is there any way to completely remove these two functions from the system? All they're able to do is idly waste battery life. The phone and ROM run great otherwise and I've gone into the secret menu and set it to WCDMA/GSM Auto, so I am 99 percent certain the wifi is the issue. Also, please don't suggest downgrading to an ICS or GB ROM as I've become quite spoiled by JB's extra little frills to the point that, if nobody can help me, I'll just be content to go for a 3500mah fat battery. Thanks!
shadow2by4 said:
I've searched around, but all the threads I've found for wifi-disabling solutions floating around seem to not be doing the trick(to be fair, I haven't tried eleting system/etc as I'm still unsure if that solution was specific to that phone). Basically, I bought my G2x secondhand and the previous owner made it very clear that he dropped it a few times and, after one of the drops, wifi and bluetooth would endlessly try to connect if switched on, but never actually connect and, after testing various roms and fixes, I confirmed he was telling the truth. It seemed that the portion of the SOC responsible for these functions had fried or become dislodged. Of course, for $50, coming from a Sidekick 4g(RIP) and only needing a good device until income tax returns when I can get a decent future-proof upgrade, I couldn't have cared less. I'm running Benee's cm10 hackfest, so you see this is a problem for me. Is there any way to completely remove these two functions from the system? All they're able to do is idly waste battery life. The phone and ROM run great otherwise and I've gone into the secret menu and set it to WCDMA/GSM Auto, so I am 99 percent certain the wifi is the issue. Also, please don't suggest downgrading to an ICS or GB ROM as I've become quite spoiled by JB's extra little frills to the point that, if nobody can help me, I'll just be content to go for a 3500mah fat battery. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2242278
^^^This thread said this, "Certificate installer com.android.certinstaller CertInstaller.apk /No/ (Web?) Certificate Installer. When removed, the WIFI will not be turned on (Automatically turned off)."
I would try removing CertInstaller.apk from the System/App directory. Everything in android is controlled by an app (apk). I am fairly confident you will be able to figure out how to completely shut down, remove or disable wifi capabilities with the removal or editing of a certain apk. Before fiddling around and removing things in the System folder PLEASE make a back up of your current setup in case you delete something IMPORTANT and your phone goes into boot loop or something worse.
I was very excited to see this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/ver...w-to-update-to-g900voc4-5-0-keeproot-t3068546
So, I pushed ahead thinking that Lollipop has already been in the wild long enough, surely the initial kinks like WiFi drops and battery hogging have been resolved. No such luck, and after doing it, it looks like I'm going to have to do this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2784880
Lollipop is horrible. My phone no longer does one of the most basic things that's been around since the G1: Go (the F) to sleep! Seriously?!?!
Here are my other problems:
-Phone doesn't sleep on its own if timeout set for longer than 30 seconds (and even then, it's not reliable)
-WiFi doesn't reconnect after sleep (when sleep even happens, which is only when I push the button to force it). I have to toggle WiFi off/on to reconnect.
-Battery drain is pretty bad. My first month with the S5 had me barely even thinking about charging. Now, with Lollipop, I feel like I'm back on my old HTC MyTouch!
-The silly way they implemented the lockscreen. Here's my problem: I can ONLY use Settings > Sound and Notification > While locked with the option "Do not show notifications". Why? Any other setting blocks the Owner Information (Settings > Lock screen > Owner Information). If I don't, and if I'm unfortunate enough to have lost my phone, yet fortunate enough to have it found by a good samaritan, I better hope I haven't miss any calls or received any messages in the meantime. This one REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS because it's a horribly-implemented Feature ... at least the others are unintended bugs, but somebody had to give this one the green light.
-I can't adjust the icon sizes anymore. There used to be a choice of large or small icons.
-Oh, and for some bonehead reason, Samsung decided their stock ROM wouldn't have the Lollipop built-in flashlight icon.
-Another intentional feature that I can't disable: the phone keeps a history of recent activity that persists through reboots. YUCK! Why can I not disable this?!?! Again, another bonehead call that somebody had to green-light, without even considering the possibility that I might want to turn it off!
-All the UI "polishing" and improvements don't mean a thing to me, I want it to work.
I found all of the above in less than 24 hours on Lollipop! I might lose my s**t entirely if I keep it for much longer.
Here is my take on why:
Google and Apple are in a heated race to the top. They wrongly assume that what will set each apart from one another is almost entirely dependent on what a few bloggers say about some hot new feature. The paradigm appears to be something like: "Who cares if millions of loyal subscribers lose functionality when we want 100 people to have this one obscure and half-baked feature?"
Latest != Greatest
-----
EDIT:
I've had a change of heart on this. It's not too bad, I just needed to adjust a few settings and live with the other issues.
I too do not like the lolli. Bad battery life, and for some reason the Heart rate monitor led turns on whenever anything is within a half inch of it. I just can't figure that out, but it sucks the battery like a red led vampire!
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Premium HD app
Tldnr
Don't start a thread just to complain
Lmfao when I saw that link and clicked it, I actually had that same thread opened moments before opening this thread because I, too, am having to go back to KitKat. I laughed for a good 20 seconds. Lollipop is freaking terrible at the moment. Zero customization and Google + Samsung are forcing too much garbage on us without giving any bit of customization.
mygraine said:
I too do not like the lolli. Bad battery life, and for some reason the Heart rate monitor led turns on whenever anything is within a half inch of it. I just can't figure that out, but it sucks the battery like a red led vampire!
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heart rate monitor thing was fixed in OC4 I think, but if it still goes off a factory reset will fix it.
Agree
OP, I agree with you. It probably is the first version without the definitely improvement overall for users. It is risky to upgrade and troublesome if it didn't work out well on your devices. Wish Android 5.1 could be better than Kitkat overall.
I have absolutely no problems with the lollipop. I always had it stock from the start and just let the OTAs take over on their own. Have you tried even rebooting into recovery and wipe cache? Even though it's not a custom recovery you can still do that, also even when you dirty flash nightlies that's something that's good practice. My wife's phone had similar issues that I wasn't experiencing, until I did that to her phone and now she's having no problems. Now the general annoyances of how Samsung implemented ****, I understand, it's stupid with not having native flashlight, tethering is annoying having to use foxfi, and the lockscreen.. bleh. But other than that, everything is actually working like it is supposed to
Chiming in, Yes it's bad.
I have two lines with Verizon, both with S5 phones on them. Great device, its actually the first Android phone I've had that I did not do anything with beyond the out of the box experience. That changed when Lollipop was pushed via OTA, the most prominent issue I experienced on both of my S5s is general responsiveness issues, simple things like switching apps or launching apps sometimes would leave me with a white screen for between 5-10 seconds, an eternity especially when the device was lighting fast on 4.4.4 Kitkat. I followed every suggestion from wiping the device in Android, Wiping in recovery, wiping cache, all of these with only marginal improvements. It really is a shame that Google / Samsung did not do a bit better quality assurance on this build before it was pushed out to carriers and ultimately peoples devices. It says something that other carriers skipped 5.0 and that very rapidly 5.1 surfaced on Newer devices / Nexus devices.
As of last night both of my phones are Odin'd back to 4.4.4 and its like having a brand new phone. Sure, there might not be as much polish, but there are no features I will die without having. The only one that I can say I do miss is the feature where the device will disable the lock screen when your smart watch or home WiFi is connected.
Here's to hoping that Google eventually gets Android 5 right in the optimization department and that Samsung picks it up for the S5, and that Verizon gets it ready for OTA before I am ready to move on to a new device. Not interested in the S6 at all for its sealed nature for storage and battery, but that's for another thread on a different day.
-Nate
I Have to agree. I've given it several chances to perform to expectations but it just fails.... ( insert sad puppy face here ) no matter what I have tried it just under-performs and the biggest thing is the horrible battery life. Sooooo yeah like most of the other commentators in this thread, I'm moving back to 4.4.4......
Unfortunately/fortunately, I have found most of my battery issues were solved with a factory reset. I'm more frustrated that Samsung seems to having issues with Android Auto.
ldeveraux said:
Tldnr
Don't start a thread just to complain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Observations, not complaints. Getting these points out in the open is an essential stepping stone to getting them fixed. Maybe, just maybe, a Producteer or architect at Google has read this by now so they know what to improve next time. Problems cannot be solved until they are defined.
---
UPDATE:
The issue with the screen not sleeping was actually related to the "Show CPU Usage" setting in the app "OS Monitor". I've used that for years on previous Android version with no problems. In Lollipop, it must be disabled.
CaptainRewind said:
Observations, not complaints. Getting these points out in the open is an essential stepping stone to getting them fixed. Maybe, just maybe, a Producteer or architect at Google has read this by now so they know what to improve next time. Problems cannot be solved until they are defined.
---
UPDATE:
The issue with the screen not sleeping was actually related to the "Show CPU Usage" setting in the app "OS Monitor". I've used that for years on previous Android version with no problems. In Lollipop, it must be disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, go start a petition, just like the bootloader guys, see how far it got them? No one from google reads your complaint threads and regrets their work...
ldeveraux said:
Yeah, go start a petition, just like the bootloader guys, see how far it got them? No one from google reads your complaint threads and regrets their work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I guess that was wishful thinking.
In any case, it seems this thread was a complete waste of time. It made me feel better at the time, but looking back on it and the purpose of this site, it doesn't add any value or help anyone modify their phone. Not only that, one of my primary reasons for the OP was the screen lock issues which turned out to be an app, not the Android version.
So, I stand corrected. Live and learn. Enough said.
My wife would never let me root her phone ever. After this update either I find a way to go back a few with root or it goes against the wall. Looks like I have to start reading and figure out how to do this.
Lol I love how you described it. Sometimes you have to vent. Lol
CaptainRewind said:
UPDATE:
The issue with the screen not sleeping was actually related to the "Show CPU Usage" setting in the app "OS Monitor". I've used that for years on previous Android version with no problems. In Lollipop, it must be disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share where this app is?
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
dk-v1 said:
Care to share where this app is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eolwral.osmonitor&hl=en
It's a great app, but something about it staying active in the Notification Bar keeps the screen awake. I still use the app, just can't keep the notification active in Lollipop.
And in case it isn't obvious, even though I still have my concerns about Lollipop, I never did go about the procedure of downgrading. It looks like a risky procedure, and I don't want to trip Knox, or worse, have a brick.
CaptainRewind said:
This is the one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eolwral.osmonitor&hl=en
It's a great app, but something about it staying active in the Notification Bar keeps the screen awake. I still use the app, just can't keep the notification active in Lollipop.
And in case it isn't obvious, even though I still have my concerns about Lollipop, I never did go about the procedure of downgrading. It looks like a risky procedure, and I don't want to trip Knox, or worse, have a brick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so it's not a stock app. I am still having poor battery life and overheating issues.
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
All right. Let me start by saying I've had this phone since it first came out and until very recently it's been a great device for me. Yes I have the T-Mobile US version with a locked bootloader, which sucks as far as ROMS etc. go. Yes its GPS can be less than reliable occasionally thanks to issues with Lollipop, which we're stuck with. But everything else it did just great. The battery life was one of my favorite things about it- if I started a day with 60% it would be just fine.
Until about a month ago. About a month ago, the phone developed this <sarcasm>neat trick</sarcasm> where it would get really hot and burn through about ten percent of its battery or more in ten minutes or less.
My initial thought is that I'd have to wipe the phone and start from scratch (followed closely by rooting and loading up an Android Nougat ROM, but we all know how that's worked out for the D6616 ). But I'd really like to avoid wiping if at all possible.
Here are my working theories, let me know what you think I should do to further diagnose:
Some New App is Responsible- The obvious candidate. I installed GSam Battery Monitor to look into this, hoping to find an obvious culprit to delete. Sadly the only apps using more than 2% are whatever app I've been actively using with the screen on, Android System, Kernel (Android OS), and Google Services. I uninstalled a bunch of unneccesary apps anyway, but it didn't improve things very much.
The New York Subway System - Stay with me here, it's not entirely a joke. I live in New York City and recently all of the stations had cell service and wifi activated on underground platforms, but not between stations. So when I ride the train (a significant chunk of my day as I freelance work in clients' homes) I'm going in and out of service constantly. And things do tend to improve when I turn on airplane mode when I get on a train. But not a lot. And the overheating and battery sucking behavior does happen sometimes when I'm aboveground.
The Battery Itself- This is the one I'm most worried about because the fix just sucks. The phone is now over three years old, and I do use it pretty much every day, only turning it off at night or when I'm traveling abroad. That's a long time for a lithium battery. My understanding is that near the end of their lives, they do overheat and lose charge quickly after a while. Since this is a waterproof phone and I'm in the US, I'd have to ship it to Sony for 2-3 weeks a repair if I want to keep it's waterproofing abilites (I do). I'm betting that's not cheap. My real hesistation with this one though, is that my phone is about as old as most other people's on here, so if this were the case, I'd expect a ton of users here or on T-Mobile's forum to be complaining about the same problems. I haven't looked closely but I haven't seen many people with this problem.
So that's where I am. Any ideas? Things I should try out to get more info? I'd really like to solve this, and I'd bet figuring out on here would help others in a similar position. Thanks!
Managed to get some relief by wiping the phone. Didn't restore it to the good old days of 60%-in-the-morning-no-problem-all-day, but was decent. But now it's come up again. I can and will wipe the phone again if I have to but if there's a more elegant solution someone has found over the past 10 months or so, I'd love to hear about it.
Thought I'd solved it when the sd card died and I wiped/replaced that. But then it started having the same problems a few weeks later on a new card. I wiped the phone and the SD next and I'm still having issues. Heck, I've even had it heat up while in TWRP recovery mode, so I'm pretty sure we're looking at a hardware issue.
My first instinct would be the battery but according to the internal temp sensors, the battery isn't that hot (39 or so C). The CPU on the other hand is getting very, very hot (spikes to 72 degrees C). This tallies with what I feel on the phone looking at diagrams of the innards: the hot part is about a third of the way down from the top of the phone, where the CPU is.
Any idea what bit would have to be replaced to fix this?