I personally want a phone that I don't have to do that... and the Note 3 does that for me. when I had the nexus 5 i had to turn on airplane mode during work just so i had around 40-50% of battery after work
Are you constantly doing stuff on it? Or is it stuff in the background?
I get 2-3 days of use on a charge, depending on where I am and what I'm doing. I'm hot a heavy user by any means though. I often see 20-30% drain at work when I tend to use it most. Currently I'm at 53% of my charge with 1 day, 4 hours and 22 minutes off charger. Overnight I get 2-5% drainage with the phone radio on.
Honestly, any phone runs better if you streamline your usage a bit. Your processor isn't doing as much, your battery lasts longer (which is good for the battery), and your phone is more likely to be ready for you to rock when you need it.
Stuff I do:
1) Turn on ART. HUGE Idle battery saver.
2) Turn off "OK Google" responce. Huge battery drain.
3) Leave it on 3G when not using the internet. Even with a good signal, 4G drains the battery more, and what's the point if you're not using it. (Note, this would be easier of someone made a widget that made it easy, so I understand not wanting to do it).
4) Set the GPS to battery saving when not in use. For everything short of driving directions, that's good enough.
5) Space out any automated data synchs. Do you really need a facebook and email update within minutes of it happening? Do you even need your email auto-synched at all? (I have them all set to on demand, which takes a whole 30-60 seconds extra load time to pull down, even on 3G).
6) Turn off Google Now (I don't have it off, and I get amazing battery life out of the N5).
7) Set screen brightness to auto. Screen is the biggest battery suck, only so much you can do here.
8) Enable dark mode for any apps you can, and set your background to a non-live dark background. (Bright/lighter colors suck more battery. It's minor, but it does help).
9) Install Greenify (if you have root), and let it suspend any apps you know you don't need and don't want to take over in the background (Many games can "stick" open and running).
10) Use Wifi, have all your updates/backups that are automated happen on wifi only. Turn off Wifi (and BT) when not in use.
Now, admittedly, your usage and mine might vary, but this is the longest I've ever had a smart phone battery last.
With that setup, I can get 2 days (pull it off the charger 1 day, put it back on the next) of use on the phone with between 1-3 hours of screen time, and often 20-40% when I put it back on the charger.