Earlier this year I started experiencing abnormal shutdowns on my Xperia U - when the battery reached around 70% it would give me a "Low-Battery 0%" warning and then shutdown. When I restarted the phone it would usually show the battery around 25-30% and this percentage would rise the longer the phone was on before returning to somewhere around the level it was before shutting down.
Over the last couple of months this problem has got worse and worse, it has now reached a stage where I can have 100% battery but as soon as I start using an app, sending one message in Whatsapp or opening a website for example, the phone will register 0% battery and shutdown. However, unlike before, when I restart the phone the battery remains in a critically low state and often continually shuts down again due to low battery. The only function that seems uneffected is the music player and fortunately I seem to be able to make calls without unexpected shutdowns (so far).
Another recent problem is that the phone has now started shutting down with 0% battery when using apps even when it is plugged into the charger. I've also noticed that when the phone automatically restarts in charging mode (i.e. just battey level is shown) the battery is always at 50%. If I turn my phone on the the battery shows around 59% and often "recharges" to 100% in a few minutes. The combination of these two problems have made my phone almost completely useless.
There is also a general problem I've noticed of the phone heating up extremely quickly when in use, especially when plugged in. However, given that both the Sony Vaio laptop I bought and the replacement I received from Sony both burnt out their graphic cards due to overheating problems I'm not overly surprised by that. Unfortunately my warranty had just expired when the replacement laptop gave up the ghost so I had to write that off as a costly mistake.
I did call Sony to ask for help and they advised me to do a software update, unfortunately I'm stuck on Android 2.something due to a problem with not being able to access the updates through Sony PC Companion or through the phone itself. They also advised me to do a full phone reset back to the original state, which I did, however I never received the promised callback to check on the results, and if anything the problem has actually got worse since I did that.
Any kind of assistance would be much appreciated as I didn't want to pay for the Orange "Peace of Mind" service and therefore if I need to take my phone to a Sony service centre I won't have any replacement while it is being looked at.
