Lumia 950XL - battery bulges - overheating problem

Anonymous
2016-08-28T08:26:05+00:00

I'm posting this to share my 950XL experience with users. I've become too aware that MS don't care.  Unlike other brands, we are clearly users and not "fans" or "supporters".

Purchased on 3rd Dec 2015, on the first day.  Immediate overheating and battery drain problems, plus lots of "teething" issues with the OS.  Phone would get very hot and run the battery flat in 4 hours from full charge, even with no apps.  So notable you feel the phone heat up in your pocket, without any interaction.

From Dec - March 2016 (approx.) I am applying updates and reinstalling OS on a nearly daily basis.  Every OS update is being followed with interest, as it seems most of the 950XL community is waiting for this problem to be resolved.  Spending hours on the internet using MS support chat and phone calls.  Using the Device Recovery Tool allows the phone to work for a short while, but it would soon slip in to the old patterns.  Spend many days using my old Lumia 920.

19th March - Phone gets sent to Hungary for a repair.  this involves Software update only.  It comes back with no noticeable changes.  Soon afterwards an OS update seems to stabilise the phone.

Early July - Big update is applied automatically and the old problems return.  Now there are new problems:

  • Phone is shutting down in my pocket.  Sometimes it restarts (apparent as sign-in screen says it has restarted and PIN is required), sometimes it stays off!!!! 
  • Screen often flickers to a dull yellow, as if the green element has been removed from the display (I realise this isn't the case, but that what it looks like).
  • The phone sometimes locks in different ways: 

1:  The whole screen goes green / yellow.  All buttons are inoperable.  The phone gets hotter and hotter.  Battery drains by 40+% in less than a minute.

2:  The screen goes black and the phone buzzes so loudly, i'm not sure if it is the speaker or the vibration element that is actuating.  Same battery drain impact.

  • When the phone is at 40%, sometimes it will show the battery empty icon and shut down...  Cannot restart and the same icon is showing.  Put phone on to charge and it will be at 80-100% within 5 mins and last for a few hours at normal battery usage.

Since this last problem, all battery monitoring tools are showing the battery as behaving well (5-9% drain per hour), but the power remaining in the battery is shown as depleting faster than that.

I had noticed that the battery was not perfectly flat within a few weeks of getting the phone, but it seemed to match the case.  The battery now has a noticeable bulge on both sides.  Approximately 1mm+ deflection on both sides. 

MS have now arranged for another collection by UPS to repair it.  Well....   my wife received an unhelpful message barked down the phone, giving a collection reference for the day we go on holiday.  Couldn't change the date.  Couldn't postpone it.  Couldn't do anything other than take the reference and call UPS. 

THIS PHONE HAS NEVER BEEN FIT FOR PURPOSE.  For personal reasons I need to be contactable by my family 24/7 - Everyone knows how important a working smartphone is in today's society/business communities.  Having a phone turn itself off in your pocket makes it worse than useless.

MS have strung out their repairs and reassurances for months. 

MS spends millions in advertising, so why p*** off the very users who promote their products without cost?  People buying an EXPENSIVE flagship phone expect teething issues and updates (all part of being an early adopter), but being treated like this will be costing MS many loyal customers.

I'm desperate for MS to resolve this and sort out their customer care (not "support"...  CARE!)  I want to have a Windows ecosystem throughout my house and keep iTunes out, but that is becoming less likely.

Windows for home | Other | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-10-27T06:33:15+00:00

    I have also have the same issue (battery bulge and overheating). I can't find any retailer (both online and stores) selling battery either in India.

    I bought 950XL in amazon on Feb. as like other overheating problems are prominent in this phone. Kept updating the OS after every updates released by Microsoft to resolve this. By the time they have posted in release notes of august that they resolved battery problems, i noticed mine didn't get resolved and instead my battery got bulged.

    Contacted service center in person. they checked and told, OS is ok but battery bulge problem is there because of that only i have heating and battery drain problems in the phone. I asked for a replacement but to my bad luck, my warranty period got over by 2 weeks for the battery. They told me to buy battery from retailer outside as they don't have them.

    To my vain, i tried online and local microsoft sellers and no one has been selling battery for this model.

    Even microsoft online support team also not responding to the problem. rather the online support simply says that i need to contact the repair shops only for hardware issues and they address software troubleshooting.

    i am ready to pay for the battery but it is not being sold in india. Buying one not seems to be an option here. i switched to android phone now and the lumia 950 xl is being kept idle for the past 2 months at home

    Microsoft India should take such matters seriously and should address this.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-10-24T04:45:59+00:00

    I have since purchased a Huawei P9 Lite out of contract as this issue was getting to me.

    After using Android for a week now I must say that Windows is a very good operating system whch I favour. Also have an iPad and still prefer Windows.

    However it is nice to have access to this huge variety of apps, all the important ones are there and they function much better. Extra feature s too with most of them.

    Pity Microsoft has not come to life as promised with their conversion of Apple apps to Windows.

    Unless Microsoft gets their act together with both, reliable high end phones and apps I will continue with Android.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-10-21T05:31:45+00:00

    @John Sparta

    This issue is not limited to few customers with 950XL, most of the phone worldwide is having the same issue but the problem is in India, Microsoft Lumia Customer Care, don't accept this manufacturing faults. By default, the Battery comes under accessories and guarantee is just for 6 months from the date of purchase. But this Battery bulge issue doesn't surface within this 6 months of time. I personally have contacted the Microsoft Lumia Care India but they swap the phone, not the faulty battery. The original battery is being damaged due to phone over heating issue, but they don't accept this. This battery bulge issue is been reported by several clients, a Big numbers. 

    Some of customers, are receiving complete new phone replacement in North America when client visit with faulty phone, this includes replacement of battery also. Why Microsoft India doesn't do the same in India ?

    Could any one from Microsoft Lumia look into this matter ?

    Regards,

    Asif

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-10-19T06:21:42+00:00

    Here comes my story.

    I used to have a Lumia 1020 which was so good n impressive that I bought a new phone expecting new windows 10 to be much better. But that was not the case. Since day one I had problems with this phone. Number of issues .

    I have been facing the same issues. Battery bulge. Switch offs for no reason. Sometimes the display blacks out with a noise. I have to take the battery out and put it back in and turn on the phone. Sometimes it just restarts . Sometimes it shows 0 battery level but as soon as I charge it , it gets to 100 in no time. Sometimes i just turns off and does not get back on. I have missed many classes, events, works, because of this s**t phone reason being I put an alarm just to wake up late and realize that the phone has turned off. This is really really frustrating. I contacted support few times , have been to the store 5 times and they replaced my phone with a new one 4 times. Believe me they replaced it 4 times and this is my fifth phone that i got in the last one month. Am done with this f**king piece of s**t. I am  moving to iOS. Its much more reliable. Sometimes I get a thought to donate my phone to the MS research so that can start fixing these issues. Sometimes when I missed anything because of this phone I really get so angry that I want to sue MS but I just do not want to do that. Moving on to iOS. Nothing is going to happen. MS does not care a regular customer like us they only care for biggies a.k.a enterprise customers.

    Never buy MS product and I will share this word with anyone who asks me and I can see this company going down in no time.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-10-18T14:46:00+00:00

    Same issue, phone sent to repair with Battery bulged out, comes back with udpate and a hopefully new battery...Heating issues persist.

    Got a secondary phone now but whenever I use this Lumia 950xl. Heats up. Use for 10mins to play even subway surfer....heats up. Charge for 10mins, heats up. 

    Is it a software issue? or Is it ia bad piece.

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