OnePlus accused of software sided battery capacity reduction on the OnePlus 3

[GER_T4IGA]

The German site China Mobile mag which provides teardowns and reviews of phones with an Eastern decent, posted an article about significantly reduced battery capacity on 3 different OnePlus 3 devices. 

Tl;Dr the OnePlus 3 only has 2500mAh of battery so if you felt your devices battery has been depleting much more quickly since you bought it, you were correct.

It is also weird how they are the first to find out NOW very late after launch even though the issue was present for months. 

To address questions: OnePlus 3T wasn't tested. 

 

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Vor einigen Monaten haben wir von Akku Problemen beim OnePlus 3 berichtet und daraufhin über 165 Nutzerkommentare erhalten. Grundlage der Nachforschungen war, dass der Akku, welcher das Smartphone ursprünglich problemlos durch einen ganzen Tag brachte, plötzlich nicht mehr die gewohnte Leistung brachte.

Anders als andere Blogs, haben wir uns nicht nur auf den vermeintlich höheren Akkuverbrauch nach den Updates gestürzt, sondern auch Verlaufskontrollen am Akku selbst vorgenommen. Im November 2016 stellten wir fest, dass die Batterie vom OnePlus 3 einen signifikanten Kapazitätsverlust zu verzeichnen hatte. Der Schock war groß. Die Kapazität sank binnen zweier Kontrollen (August 2016 - November 2016) um ungefähr 15%, folglich von ca. ~3000mAh auf etwa ~2500mAh. Nachgeprüft wurde dies mit einem Amperemeter im identischen Messaufbau, den wir auch für unser Review genutzt hatten. Damals wurden noch problemlos die 3.000mAh erreicht.

All unsere Testgeräte werden mit USB-Amperemetern geprüft und die Fehlertoleranz derer liegt bei +-5%. Des Weiteren verlassen wir uns dabei auch nicht auf ein einzelnes Amperemeter, sondern haben pro Tester jeder ein eigenes Gerät, so dass fehlerhafte Amperemeter schnell ausfindig gemacht werden können. Durch die erfahrungsgemäß bekannte Toleranz und die zu Beginn am OnePlus 3 reproduzierbar gemessenen 3.000 - 3.050mAh, kann also ein Messfehler ausgeschlossen werden.

Um einen Einzelfall ausschließen zu können, haben wir die Messungen auch an zwei weiteren OnePlus 3 durchgeführt (in unserem Besitz befinden sich insgesamt 3 Geräte). Nachdem wir nun auch unser Zweit- und Drittgerät des OnePlus 3 an die Amperemeter angeschlossen hatten, waren wir verblüfft. Sämtliche Tests ergaben eine näherungsweise Kapazität von lediglich 2.500mAh. Ein Messfehler ist damit komplett ausgeschlossen und ein Einzelfall ebenso.

Ein alternder Akku kann schon mal vorkommen. Aber es ist physikalisch unmöglich, dass mehrere Smartphones unterschiedlicher Batches alle die gleiche Abnahme der Kapazität des Akkus zu verzeichnen hatten. Zellen altern nicht gleich schnell bei verschiedenen Geräten. Unsere OnePlus 3 stammen wie gesagt alle aus unterschiedlichen Batches.[/quote]

In November they retested a OnePlus 3 which resulted in a 15% capacity loss down to about 2500mAh. 

The measured with an Amperemeter between the charger and the OnePlus phone cable. They are aware these may have up to 5% innacurracy and therefore they tested 3 devices. 

One from launch, one softgold produced in August and a third from Juli all sporting batteries from different patches. 

Guess what happened? -All of them showed the same enourmes capacity loss down to 2500mAh +/-50mAh. They also seem to have mutliple comments on previous articles of propel confirming the same thing with their measurements. Now they knew for sure and couldn't blame innacurracy anymore. 

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Viele unserer Leser stellten eigene Messungen in unseren Ursprungsbeitrag zur Verfügung und immer wieder erhielten wir nahezu identische Kapazitätswerte von um die 2.500mAh. Um nun aber das Problem zu ergründen mussten wir uns folgende Fragen stellen: 

1.) Was war hier los? 

2.) Hat OnePlus nur 2.500mAh Zellen verbaut? 

3.) Wurde das Lademanagement verändert, so dass maximal 2.500mAh geladen werden können? 

4.) Was hat OnePlus davon?

5.) Warum fiel das keinem anderen Blog auf?

Die erste Frage lässt sich leicht beantworten. Alle OnePlus 3 Smartphones können aktuell nur mit maximal +-2500mAh geladen werden. Das wurde mittlerweile hinreichend durch uns und die Leser bewiesen und ist somit nicht zu leugnen.

Die zweite Frage konnten wir erst in der letzten Woche klären, da wir ein OnePlus 3 auseinandergebaut haben und folglich die Angaben auf der Batterie verifizieren konnten. Warum wir es geöffnet haben? Ganz einfach deshalb: Bei Aliexpress gibt es Ersatzakkus zu kaufen, deren Aufdruck eine Kapazität von 2.500mAh bescheinigt. Also genau die Kapazität, welche wir gemessen haben.

Laut dem Aufdruck handelt es sich bei dem Akkumulator unseres OnePlus 3 aber um eine 3000mAh Zelle. Diese Angabe deckt sich mit unseren ersten Messungen vom Juni und August 2016. Weiterhin hat sich damit die Vermutung, dass die verbaute Kapazität tatsächlich geringer ist als angegeben und unsere ersten Messergebnisse (3.000 - 3050mAh) durch Tricksereien im Lademanagement verfälscht wurden, als falsch herausgestellt
 

 

In the following they pose 5 questions about the what, when, where and why. 

 

 

They open the up the device to confirm there actually is a 3000mAh labelled battery inside. The how can therefore only be answered by software. OnePlus seems to have altered software to prevent the phone from fully charging and reduced the charging speed to keeo the charging times in line with what they originally were. 

 

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Die vierte Frage schließt sich nahtlos der dritten Frage an. Denn man muss sich natürlich fragen, was die Firma OnePlus von solch einer Kapazitätsregulierung hätte. Auf den ersten Blick ergibt eine freiwillig forcierte Kapazitätseinbuße von ca. 500mAh keinen Sinn. Oder doch? Betrachten wir das Unternehmen OnePlus wohlwollend und schauen wir uns den Zeitpunkt des Aufdeckens des Akkuproblems einmal an, so fällt dieser auf den damaligen Launch vom Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Zu dieser Zeit wurden fehlerhafte Akkumulatoren zur Gefahr. Niemand wusste woran das liegen könnte. Zu schnelle Ladung? Zu hohe Kapazität bei gleichzeitig minderwertigen Zellen? Baufehler? Fehler im Lademanagement?

Nun, vielleicht war sich OnePlus unsicher und hat sicherheitshalber mit einem Patch (Update) auf Nummer sicher gehen wollen und die Kapazität regulieren lassen, so dass die Zeit des Ladevorgangs bei verringertem Ladeoutput immer noch die Selbe war. Verringerter Ladeoutput (max. 4A beim OP3) bedeutet höhere Ladezeit. Verringert man nun die Kapazität um jenen Faktor des verringerten Ladeoutputs, so könnte man wenigstens die Ladezeit mit der damaligen Ladezeit gleichhalten. 
 

 

They suspect the why might have to do with Samsung #batteriegate and the release of the 3T - Specifically they speculate that the batteries life was artificially reduced to make the 3T even more attractive. IMHO: This wouldn't make any sense since someone who already has a 3 is highly unlikely to buy a new 3T. 

 

They also give proof that they informed the OnePlus costumer support and post a screenshot for the recejcting answer they received. 

Screenshot:

 

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Wir haben zwischenzeitlich sogar Kontakt mit Phoenix Testlab aufgenommen. Dieses Unternehmen führt u.a. die erforderlichen Tests für die CE Zertifizierung durch und ist auch für die Zertifizierung des OnePlus 3 verantwortlich gewesen. Unsere Anfrage bezog sich auf eine Gegenprüfung unserer Testergebnisse unter standardisierten Laborbedingungen und damit mit professionellem Equipment. Diese Anfrage blieb seitens Phoenix Testlab leider gänzlich unbeantwortet
 

 

 

They also tried reaching out to Phoenix Testlab, the company responsible for providing the CE certificate for the OnePlus 3 but we're not provided with a statement let alone any answer at all. 

 

 

Source:https://www.chinamobilemag.de/news/oneplus-3-akku-kapazitaet-gefallen.html

 

Please feel free to furiously comment down below if I left out anything important covered in the German version of this report. 

 

This is a pity bit only for people like me who own a OnePlus 3 (that I am typing this on) but also generally for reviewers as questions multiple times throughout the article. Chinamobilemag are highly surprised by the fact that no other news outlet has found about let alone reported about this even thought the launch was so long ago an their testing already identified this in November. 

 

I would love to hear some more input as there was already some interesting input in their comment section suggesting a mistake in their methodology with some scientifically based approach. 

[Castdeath97]

TL;DR summary, please. 

[GER_T4IGA]

1 minute ago, Castdeath97 said:

TL;DR summary, please. 

It is not all quoted I made a mistake. Would you mind helping me fix it? After the first part in German I set a another [ /quote ] after already posting but it hasn't fixed itself. I am on mobile if that helps. 

[NinJake]

We are just curious what all that means w/o having to sort through the big block of information. Is this affecting only the OnePlus 3 or the OnePlus 3T as well?

 

How does this affect the phones?

[GER_T4IGA]

8 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

TL;DR summary, please. 

 

4 minutes ago, NinJake said:

We are just curious what all that means w/o having to sort through the big block of information. Is this affecting only the OnePlus 3 or the OnePlus 3T as well?

 

How does this affect the phones?

Tl;Dr added for the lazy folks. 

[GER_T4IGA]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Just the OP3

The site claims the OnePlus software artificially limiting the charge to the battery, so that users would be inclined to get the newer phone.

Except the people affected might associate OnePlus with crap battery endurance and switch phone manufacturer entirely.

Way to go.

Thanks. My brain was not able to make me type out a good conclusion but your last paragraph pretty much sums up what I will definitely do. 

[NinJake]

Does this mean my 3T only has 3000mAh instead of the advertised now for "future" phones?

 

Who knows, I'm surprised this hasn't been discovered earlier by anyone else so I'm taking the article with a grain of salt.

[TroubleKlef]

This is why I recommend staying away from budget phones. Shady practices and dubious build quality.

[randomhkkid]

AFAIK there hasn't been an outcry about the Oneplus 3/3T having poor battery life. The batteries being limited by software is likely more to increase their lifespan, as you should only really be charging your batteries to 80% anyway. 3000*0.8 is 2400mah

 

Yeah this should probably be an option in software so people can toggle it but it's far from a travesty. It's not like they are labelling 2500mah cells as 3000mah.

 

Plus if it is truly software then there's always hope of an unlock from the community for the full capacity.

[tlink]

wouldn't flashed kernels and rom's circumvent this? i don't know enough about android to make a good statement on this but if that is the case i am surprised they didn't test that.

[patrick3027]

1 hour ago, randomhkkid said:

AFAIK there hasn't been an outcry about the Oneplus 3/3T having poor battery life. The batteries being limited by software is likely more to increase their lifespan, as you should only really be charging your batteries to 80% anyway. 3000*0.8 is 2400mah

 

Yeah this should probably be an option in software so people can toggle it but it's far from a travesty. It's not like they are labelling 2500mah cells as 3000mah.

 

Plus if it is truly software then there's always hope of an unlock from the community for the full capacity.

My battery life is exactly the same as on day one and I bought it at launch.

 

My German is far from good so I don't understand their testing methodology fully, but could it be they simply made an error? I would find it kinda amazing if something this huge only came up 9 months after launch.

[Castdeath97]

5 hours ago, huilun02 said:

I recommend getting a V20 so you can swap battery for days and just shit on all the shills who make internal batteries.

The problem with replaceable battery phones is that their back panels have a tendency to squeak, hurts my OCD so badly.

[Fetzie]

11 hours ago, TroubleKlef said:

This is why I recommend staying away from budget phones. Shady practices and dubious build quality.

Yeah, much better to spend money on a Samsung that bursts into flames at the slightest provocation

[GER_T4IGA]

9 hours ago, tlink said:

wouldn't flashed kernels and rom's circumvent this? i don't know enough about android to make a good statement on this but if that is the case i am surprised they didn't test that.

They are suspecting it might but no one seemed to know for sure yet. 

[Castdeath97]

It's been a while and none of the usual mobile websites (Pocketnow, Android Central, Android Authority) covered it, I'm beginning to have my doubts.

[bigneo]

1 hour ago, Castdeath97 said:

It's been a while and none of the usual mobile websites (Pocketnow, Android Central, Android Authority) covered it, I'm beginning to have my doubts.

 

Maybe they did cover and didn't find anything suspicious at the beginning (before the software kicked in this trick). I have 2 friends who noticed battery life drain much faster once 3T launched. They both had software update the same night. Another guy that I know also owns OP3 and he just told me that his phone battery works as day 1.

 

I don't own the phone so I can only relate on what friends told me.

[Castdeath97]

1 hour ago, bigneo said:

Maybe they did cover and didn't find anything suspicious at the beginning (before the software kicked in this trick). I have 2 friends who noticed battery life drain much faster once 3T launched. They both had software update the same night. Another guy that I know also owns OP3 and he just told me that his phone battery works as day 1.

 

I don't own the phone so I can only relate on what friends told me.

Regardless its quite difficult to take this story for granted unless someone else tests it.

[Falconevo]

I have a one plus 3 and the recent update is killing my battery off fast.  It went from being able to cope with a whole day to being unable to cope with 8-10 hours.

Wondered what had caused it, the phone is near brand new.

[Vash.]

On 07/03/2017 at 4:38 AM, NinJake said:

Does this mean my 3T only has 3000mAh instead of the advertised now for "future" phones?

 

Who knows, I'm surprised this hasn't been discovered earlier by anyone else so I'm taking the article with a grain of salt.

Thats what I'm wondering too as im rolling with a 3T myself

 

On 07/03/2017 at 7:49 AM, randomhkkid said:

AFAIK there hasn't been an outcry about the Oneplus 3/3T having poor battery life. The batteries being limited by software is likely more to increase their lifespan, as you should only really be charging your batteries to 80% anyway. 3000*0.8 is 2400mah

 

Yeah this should probably be an option in software so people can toggle it but it's far from a travesty. It's not like they are labelling 2500mah cells as 3000mah.

 

Plus if it is truly software then there's always hope of an unlock from the community for the full capacity.

Actually if you check the 1+ forums there is plenty of people up in arms about it. Nooo clowning 

 

@GER_T4IGA Thanks for the news mate. Will be keeping an eye out for this

[GER_T4IGA]

On 9.3.2017 at 6:03 AM, Vash. said:

Thats what I'm wondering too as im rolling with a 3T myself

 

Actually if you check the 1+ forums there is plenty of people up in arms about it. Nooo clowning 

 

@GER_T4IGA Thanks for the news mate. Will be keeping an eye out for this

I didn't find the time yet but I might try to flash on some old oxygen OS if I find a way to savely store all my data before. I will update you here if it helps.

[Vash.]

On 11/03/2017 at 1:06 PM, GER_T4IGA said:

I didn't find the time yet but I might try to flash on some old oxygen OS if I find a way to savely store all my data before. I will update you here if it helps.

That would be awesome!! I'm still new to android myself after coming from Crapple for many many years.

 

The flash would also help with the recent bluetooth issues as well.. really not a happy camper about that one. QC35's connection issues (>.<)