Really bad Nexus 4 battery life

[jaredsutter]

I got my N4 last Thursday night. Yesterday was probably my first real typical usage day - about 9 hours on HSPA+, 2-3 hours streaming Play Music, some browsing, a few pictures and editing, Flipboard, etc. After over 16 hours off charger, and 3 hours screen time, my battery still had 23% left. My VZW GNex would have been crying for the charger before noon (if not already dead) with similar use, as would have the Sprint Nexus S, Samsung Epic 4G, and Palm Pre I had before. This is the first phone I've had in 5 years where the battery life doesn't seem to be a glaring weakness, so I'm thrilled.
The Chrome browser (in addition to the screen) seems to be the biggest battery suck, so I'm trying to use Flipboard to read articles instead. I'm also using Franco Kernel with the stock ROM, which I applied as soon as I got the phone, so I'm not sure how much difference that makes.

 

[ajcg1]

My nexus 4 battery was horibble....it would of lasted only half hour.Didn't take it on until 2weeks after when I went out and tried making a call 20mins after I left home and the battery was dead.....I went home Google and googled until a friend told me to try factory resetting it.I download all sorts of battery saving apps and that never worked.When I did the back up and factory reset I could now say my battery life in my opinion is excellent.Under heavy use it lasts the entire day without charging until the next day it will be at just under 40% I will give it a charge....
All this just to say try a factory reset....lol and my phone is not rooted

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[startup8100]

My nexus 4 battery was horibble....it would of lasted only half hour.Didn't take it on until 2weeks after when I went out and tried making a call 20mins after I left home and the battery was dead.....I went home Google and googled until a friend told me to try factory resetting it.I download all sorts of battery saving apps and that never worked.When I did the back up and factory reset I could now say my battery life in my opinion is excellent.Under heavy use it lasts the entire day without charging until the next day it will be at just under 40% I will give it a charge....
All this just to say try a factory reset....lol and my phone is not rooted

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

My nexus 4 battery life is bad. Wouldn't last a whole day in heavy usage. More likely a little more than 1/2 day.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[djw39]

Have you checked out the new battery guru app from Qualcomm? Seems to be working well on my Optimus G.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[RAFAEL Castillo]

I left my N4 all night idle with 95% of charge , and then by the morning I found it at 2% :S ... what could be wrong ? ...

 

[pontiac005]

Bad battery or charger?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[RAFAEL Castillo]

:-\ after that I charge it normally , and everything went well... although my Nexus 4 is just one month old... what do you think the problem could be ? or it is just something casual ?

 

[boss.king]

My biggest concern when buying this phone was the talk of poor battery life. I just went 2 days and 6 hours with my normal use (web browsing, music, light games, email, texting all day, and a few calls. Plugged it in when I got home and I still had 6% battery left.

I've got Battery Guru installed and it seems to be doing its job quite well with most things set to refresh when I need it.

 

[Captainbob767]

I found that auto brightness made a big difference in battery life, when I started using it.

 

[Amit Singh3]

Hi Rohit, I am also facing exactly same problem. My Nexus sucks more than 30% battery in a night. How did u solve this problem in urs?

 

[JohnBB101]

If you use your Nexus 4 as a phone, that is, you leave it in your pocket, receive calls and don't do much else then the battery is good for 2 days (I'm not kidding). The moment you actually start using it the N4 sucks up battery like nothing else. But the numbers some people are posting are shocking, my N4 is pretty new and I can get 5-6 hours on Real Racing 3. I always let it drain down to 14% (until the warning comes to "Plug in your Charger") and always let it complete it's trickle charge before taking it off (you can use this app to tell the charging stage of your battery)

 

[shahali]

I used to get near 3hrs of screen time when i first got the phone. Now i get near 2hrs. i thought i'd be getting more as i dont use the phone much. i do max 5 mins of calling if that, and maily just use it to read articals on the web, and google news. I sync active exchange email only when needing it. brightness is on very low setting. ...

any ideas on what else i can do. i have most sync options all off. infact only thing i have is email and that is on fecth only when i need it. all other toggles off, no GPS etc.

 

[startup8100]

I gave up on nexus 4 due to its battery life and got myself s4. It can last 2 days easily with brightness set to max. Now I am worry free on the power.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[RussianPilgrim]

How about this: 3x Battery Life for Nexus 4 From Mugen Power

 

[wbinnpton]

Hi
First posting.
I have a N4 6 months old. I hardly use it for surfing or calls, but the odd text message. Recently it's starting draining the battery from full to about 30% overnight. This is regardless of if I charge using the charger or USB from my PC which is on 24/7.
Any ideas?

 

[DeadpoolJunior]

Hi
First posting.
I have a N4 6 months old. I hardly use it for surfing or calls, but the odd text message. Recently it's starting draining the battery from full to about 30% overnight. This is regardless of if I charge using the charger or USB from my PC which is on 24/7.
Any ideas?

Are you saying that, even if the phone is plugged and charged to 100%, it STILL drains? That's not normal. Somethings faulty. Consider replacing the charger even the phone itself.

But it could be software related so maybe download an app like wake lock detector or GSAM battery monitor. That could tell you whats draining your battery. Then uninstall whatever app looks bad.

Last option is to try a factory reset.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Lureahawk]

I did a test.
I charged my Nexus 4 to 100% and set it next to my bed when i want to sleep (i only unplugged it right before i went to sleep).
In the morning (about 8h later) the battery was down to 62%?!

Everything was turned off, no WiFi connection when in sleep mode. And no GPS.
I don't really download apps for my phone except for avast (just to be safe).
But that doesn't do scans unless i go online or so. I made sure of that.

I did the same to my "HTC Desire S" And it was at 91%
No calls, no text, nothing at all but standby with everything off.

 

[startup8100]

I did a test.
I charged my Nexus 4 to 100% and set it next to my bed when i want to sleep (i only unplugged it right before i went to sleep).
In the morning (about 8h later) the battery was down to 62%?!

Everything was turned off, no WiFi connection when in sleep mode. And no GPS.
I don't really download apps for my phone except for avast (just to be safe).
But that doesn't do scans unless i go online or so. I made sure of that.

I did the same to my "HTC Desire S" And it was at 91%
No calls, no text, nothing at all but standby with everything off.

Did you turn off your mobile data as well? WiFi is supposedly to be more power efficient than mobile data generally due to the router location in your home unless your WiFi signal is terribly weak at home.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[wbinnpton]

I am not sure if this is the reason but.
I have the data connection disabled. I also have WiFi turned off.
However I get notifications that I have Gmail messages waiting. How does that happen then? Does my phone turn on data periodically to check Gmail.
I have turned off these notifications to see if there is a difference. If anyone can help as to why I get these messages along with updates needed with all other than the GSM switched off, I would appreciate an explantation.
TIA

 

[Vova Viner]

Hello everyone.I am new to android central, I got my nexus 4 late April, and my battery life is apalling.I am using BatteryGuru, stock everything, jellybean 4.2.2, sync and GPS turned off, auto brightness, yet i've dropped 30% in the past 2 hours having the phone in my pocket and browsing this forums for 10 mins looking for answers. If anyone has any good ideas, I would love to hear them