Random Turn-off when battery is less than 50%

[Kisuke-CZE]

Hi guys,

I am using mi Gemini as my daily driver. I use Android, because it seems to be only full featured OS so far.
Recently I noticed strange behavior.

My Gemini is sometimes randomly turning off. It happens when battery is about 38%. But it happened about 30% too. But never when batter was full.
If device is in idle mode, it is OK. But when I am doing something - browsing in Firefox for example, or in the middle of call with someone - Gemini screen just turns black. Then I must turn it on by long pressing "On" button. It boots up Android. And if I do same thing (run Firefox) right after boot, it mostly crashes to black screen again. If I wait for few minutes after boot it is in most cases OK (for some time), sometimes I must charge battery and then it is OK.

Anyone with same issues? Or any thougts? From mine point of view it seems to be some problem with battery or with Gemini itself. Because it happens only on energy-intensive activities (which I suppose having phone call or running big app like Firefox is).

[Murple2]

Hi guys,

I am using mi Gemini as my daily driver. I use Android, because it seems to be only full featured OS so far.
Recently I noticed strange behavior.

My Gemini is sometimes randomly turning off. It happens when battery is about 38%. But it happened about 30% too. But never when batter was full.
If device is in idle mode, it is OK. But when I am doing something - browsing in Firefox for example, or in the middle of call with someone - Gemini screen just turns black. Then I must turn it on by long pressing "On" button. It boots up Android. And if I do same thing (run Firefox) right after boot, it mostly crashes to black screen again. If I wait for few minutes after boot it is in most cases OK (for some time), sometimes I must charge battery and then it is OK.

Anyone with same issues? Or any thougts? From mine point of view it seems to be some problem with battery or with Gemini itself. Because it happens only on energy-intensive activities (which I suppose having phone call or running big app like Firefox is).

I too have encountered the same thing, although I have never noted the battery level other than knowing it has not been empty. It hasn't happened enough to be annoying, but certainly more than once.

[Murple2]

I continue to have this issue and have a few more observations

>it can happen at any battery level (happened a couple of times while I was in the high 90s)
>it seems to happen after doing an action e.g. clicking a link or opening an app. could this be related to a touchscreen event as it has always happened after touching the screen? I suspect not but i don't want to rule it out. my money is on a power management issue and not switching states gracefully

this will be a tough one to debug. any suggestions anyone?

[Kisuke-CZE]

Hi,

since I started this thread, I would like to post a update about mine case.

After discussion with Planet Computers support and another issue I ran into (right hinge below screen cracked on one side when opening device), I had to sent my Gemini back to UK.
They promised they will look at both issues.
Now, Gemini is on way back to me, so I will see if they fixed both things. They say, they replaced bottom body.

From mine side of view that random turnoff issue looked like battery was unable to supply enough power to electronics. This is just mine guessing, since this turnoff occurred only on high power/energy demanding activities (phone calls, running multiple power consuming applications). Planet Computers probably know best, because they designed that device.

[Dixit]

Hi,

since I started this thread, I would like to post a update about mine case.

After discussion with Planet Computers support and another issue I ran into (right hinge below screen cracked on one side when opening device), I had to sent my Gemini back to UK.
They promised they will look at both issues.
Now, Gemini is on way back to me, so I will see if they fixed both things. They say, they replaced bottom body.

From mine side of view that random turnoff issue looked like battery was unable to supply enough power to electronics. This is just mine guessing, since this turnoff occurred only on high power/energy demanding activities (phone calls, running multiple power consuming applications). Planet Computers probably know best, because they designed that device.

Thanks for the update.

Wow, that's some scary issues you had with the Gemini.

[gymbo]

Hi,

since I started this thread, I would like to post a update about mine case.

After discussion with Planet Computers support and another issue I ran into (right hinge below screen cracked on one side when opening device), I had to sent my Gemini back to UK.
They promised they will look at both issues.
Now, Gemini is on way back to me, so I will see if they fixed both things. They say, they replaced bottom body.

From mine side of view that random turnoff issue looked like battery was unable to supply enough power to electronics. This is just mine guessing, since this turnoff occurred only on high power/energy demanding activities (phone calls, running multiple power consuming applications). Planet Computers probably know best, because they designed that device.

I too had a unexpected shutdown recently. It was when I connected another phone through the hub (which is reported to draw around 10% battery power an hour by itself when IDLE...), which also led to the phone being charged by the Gemini! So I would agree, it seems to be an issue of not being able to provide enough "juice". It was complaining that there was not enough power left in the battery before shutting down (it was around 40%). I restarted the Gemini, and it reported about 30 % of battery left when it turned on. When connecting a battery-pack to the hub I had no problems...

So it is a problem with the battery, or are we just expecting, and using our Geminis more, than "normal" phone users??    

[Kisuke-CZE]

Well, I am not sure what the problem is. Not a pro in this industry. Just a curious user.

But do you remember Apple was doing some precautions to prevent those unexpected turn-offs by reducing performance of the device?
Can be same issue here. I can imagine some firmware could limit that issue. Since Gemini is not a gaming device (but it can handle GZDoom  ), I do not see problem here. I believe power management firmware should not allow more energy consumption than battery is able to supply.

I am not mad at Planet Computers. I signed up for this (being a beta tester for this product) when i backed it on Indiegogo. Since this device is still far more superior for me than any other phone I had in last years (I was probably so much satisfied only with my Treo 680, nothing since then was that good), I hope issues will be resolved. Or I hope this will be lesson to learn what was wrong and it will be improved in 2nd gen device.

[gidds]

I am not mad at Planet Computers. I signed up for this […] when i backed it on Indiegogo. Since this device is still far more superior for me than any other phone I had in last years

That seems a very reasonable attitude!

The Gemini is far from perfect — but it's here, and in many ways it's better than we hoped.  A few of the problems have already been sorted (e.g. the headset buttons when the lid is closed), and others will probably get solved in software or (hopefully) in a future version.  We shouldn't be blind to its faults, of course; but neither should we concentrate unduly on them.  It's still a wonderful device!

[Kisuke-CZE]

Hi,

just posting new update. Since it belongs in this thread, I post it here.

On this monday I returned to my Gemini as a daily driver. It was again my replacement of computer and phone in one device. From monday, it was OK, until today. Expect one thing - periodically disappearing SD card from the system (reboot always solved that) - which keeps happening since update to Android 8.1.

Today (Wednesday) I was on a way to another city. I accept that I am probably putting more load than avarage user on Gemini. But I believe good device should handle it (other phones does).
My gemini was with microSD card inserted. Bluetooth connected to my car. 4G LTE connected to carriers network.
I arrived in area where was poor reception of wireless network, so Gemini falled to 2G network (EDGE data connection). I fired up firefox browser, and suddenly before page loaded, gemini just turned off like before.
After I tried to turn it on (3 times), it did not even loaded - power-off happened on android loading screen with rotating planets.
I let gemini turned off about 10 minutes to rest. Then it powered on like nothing ever happened with 59% battery.

So issue is definitely not resolved.

[Penorek]

Hi,

"periodically disappearing SD card from the system (reboot always solved that)

I have the same problem but no solution.

Penorek

[novaldex]

I'm experiencing the same problem, but only when i'm active with the device (app launching seems the most likely time).

However it can happen at any battery charge level, i'm sure the first time was when the battery was ~80%

[gidds]

Has anyone suffered this on Android 7, or is it definitely a problem with Android 8?

(It's worries like this that have prevented me from upgrading yet…)

[gymbo]

Has anyone suffered this on Android 7, or is it definitely a problem with Android 8?

(It's worries like this that have prevented me from upgrading yet…)

It has happened on 7 for me as well, but seems more "prominent" on 8... (And what the battery percentage is, really doesn't seem to matter...)

It seems there is a miss-match with how much power the battery can "produce", and how much power the Gemini can "draw"...?

I've had it happen randomly in fairly "normal" use on 7, but a way to insure it will happen is by using the hub connected to a fairly large HDD... (Powering the hub will prevent this, and you can then use almost any size HDD connected to the Gemini  )

I've had trouble opening the Gemini when on a call without it shutting down, both on 7 and 8, but, like I stated earlier, it seems more "prominent" on 8.

The battery drain (which seems worse on 8 than on 7) has become better after updating some "service" that had to do with battery (optimization) on the Play Store. And it seems even better after the latest "crash" (I might have actually drained the battery completely, and not just had it "overuse it")! So now I get a few days out of it again, so it seems the battery drain has gotten better... (NO, it doesn't drain the battery better, it's the other kind of "better", where it now behaves better  )

So haven't really tried opening the Gemini while on a call now after the last "crash", but hopeful that it might now be possible to access the phone and things like messages, mail and files, while on a call, so I can use it more "normally" (for me!) again.

[Penorek]

In my way is it only a problem since Oreo

[SNi]

Mine has recently started to "turn off" as well. However, it does not appear to have anything to do with the battery level. It has only happened when I have been using the phone... After a couple of minutes the Gemini suddenly is dead, requiring a Esc longpress to come back to life.  Still on 7...

SNi

Hi guys,

I am using mi Gemini as my daily driver. I use Android, because it seems to be only full featured OS so far.
Recently I noticed strange behavior.

My Gemini is sometimes randomly turning off. It happens when battery is about 38%. But it happened about 30% too. But never when batter was full.
If device is in idle mode, it is OK. But when I am doing something - browsing in Firefox for example, or in the middle of call with someone - Gemini screen just turns black. Then I must turn it on by long pressing "On" button. It boots up Android. And if I do same thing (run Firefox) right after boot, it mostly crashes to black screen again. If I wait for few minutes after boot it is in most cases OK (for some time), sometimes I must charge battery and then it is OK.

Anyone with same issues? Or any thougts? From mine point of view it seems to be some problem with battery or with Gemini itself. Because it happens only on energy-intensive activities (which I suppose having phone call or running big app like Firefox is).