Google has acknowledged a flaw in the camera software on its Nexus 5 smartphone and possibly other devices running stock version of Android 4.4 KitKat that causes handset to overheat and battery drain. Google, however, has promised to roll out a fix very soon.
According to reports, a lot of Nexus 5 users were complaining about overheating of the smartphone and poor battery life after the upgrading to Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Google says the flaw is related to driver for the smartphone’s cameras that are using more CPU cycles than scheduled, and continues to run in the background. Google also said the bug was related to the Qualcomm and that a fix is already in the works.
“There’s been a significant increase in the frequency of reported problems. These may be related to a recent update to Skype, which seems to access the camera regularly from its background service in some way that triggers this bug,” says Google in a statement to users. “Investigating this, we’ve identified a few additional fixes that we hope resolve this issue for good. However, since the high CPU usage is an intermittent problem, we’re continuing to test our fixes to verify the problems are gone.”
For Nexus 5 users, Google says the battery draining bug is triggered by only some apps and does not always occur. Google suggests users to uninstall apps such as Skype or Snapchat as it prepares the fix.
“Uninstalling Skype may substantially reduce the likelihood of this bug appearing, but I realize Skype is a very important application for many people. Other camera-using applications may trigger this bug as well, but that’s been relatively rare. Most applications also do not access the camera when not in the foreground, so they will only trigger issues when actively used,” says Google.
Have you also experienced similar problems on your Nexus 5? Let us know in the comments section below:
Source: TOI