Moto X: Poor Battery Life

[Dswann3]

Since the KitKat update I'm getting a maximum of 5-6 hours off of a charge. It's becoming quite frustrating because this is the kind of battery life that got me wanting to ditch iPhone in the first place. I reboot usually every other day, and close apps several times a day just to ensure that nothing is sucking battery for no reason. I'm pretty frustrated with it, but also stuck with it

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

Did you try wiping the phone and starting over to see where the problem lies? 5-6 hours is horrible!

 

[natehoy]

I did end up finding an app that was having some issues. I had added the stock JB messaging 8 app (wanted a dark option) and it was hanging sometimes so I deleted it and dropped only 6% over 7 hours last night on 3G (no wifi) so much better than yesterday. I'm going to watch it today and see how it drains over a normal day now. What would be considered 'good' for this phone? I know Motorola advertises 24 hours but is that a good target? Are there other Verizon phones (Moto G?) that are similar in size that have better battery life to consider? My 14 days is up on Saturday so want to be sure by then. Thanks for any input!

The guy in the next cube over has a Razr MAXX and loves it, but complains that he has to charge it daily now that it has received "some kinda software update" as he put it. I don't know what the Verizon MAXX is sporting now for an OS, but apparently the latest version didn't do the battery life on that beast any favors, either.

 

[natehoy]

Since the KitKat update I'm getting a maximum of 5-6 hours off of a charge.

Did you try wiping the phone and starting over to see where the problem lies? 5-6 hours is horrible!

Agreed. 5-6 hours of battery life would only be acceptable if the screen was on most of that time. 5-6 hours of screen-on time is not that bad for any smartphone.

Time for a factory reset and running it with fewer apps for a little while, to see if a bad app might be at least partly to blame.

 

[ETPhoneHomeT]

That's actually pretty good considering you left on some of the features that are known to draw the battery down quicker.

I wasn't complaining, I was just relaying my experience. More battery life would always be better, but as long as I can make it through one whole day without having to put it on a charger, that's all that matters to me. I'm getting slightly more than the rated capacity of 24 hours mixed use. If I was only getting 5-6 hours, I'd definitely be PO'd. The phone was designed and optimized to be used with the location and other potentially battery draining features turned on, so using the phone with those features disabled in order to get better battery life shouldn't be an acceptable remedy.

 

[mpin67]

im averaging about 18 hrs plus on a single charge I charge every night around 11pm example today i unplugged at 5am and I'm at 13.5 hrs with 40% battery life left. I have all location services on and syncs are automatic wifi always on. Throughout the day I text, use the phone send pictures read email search the web etc... it is way better than the G2 I had

 

[Dswann3]

Ok, I'm at 25% battery after exactly 20 hours with all my settings in place. 3 hours of screen time (including taking 25 pics & 5 minutes of video), 40 minutes of calls. On 4G 2/3 of the day (mixed signal strength) with some wifi mixed in. I'm thinking that's acceptable and will make it to the 24 hour mark but still don't have all of the bells & whistles turned on. Looks like I'll be keeping it but still wish it had the staying power of the G2, although that was on JB not Kit Kat.

 

[Dswann3]

The guy in the next cube over has a Razr MAXX and loves it, but complains that he has to charge it daily now that it has received "some kinda software update" as he put it. I don't know what the Verizon MAXX is sporting now for an OS, but apparently the latest version didn't do the battery life on that beast any favors, either.

That quote is too funny! I sometimes forget very few people even know what KitKat is or care about any of that stuff.

 

[nathansnyder]

I've noticed a drop since I've had my phone. I started on Kit Kat, and it was great, 18-19 hours with 3-3.5 screen on. Now, It's only pushing 10-12 with 1.5-2 screen on. I hear some people have been having issues since 4.4 and a future update to 4.4.2 should improve it.

 

[Laineyc]

im averaging about 18 hrs plus on a single charge I charge every night around 11pm example today i unplugged at 5am and I'm at 13.5 hrs with 40% battery life left. I have all location services on and syncs are automatic wifi always on. Throughout the day I text, use the phone send pictures read email search the web etc... it is way better than the G2 I had

That sounds great. Mine is better than it was, but only about 12 - 13 hours at most. Location and a lot of other stuff off. At end of the day down to 5% or less. But a huge improvement over the GNex. So I'm happy.

Sent from my XT1060 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

 

[drvier8]

What did you end up going with? Another Maxx?

Yes, I replaced the X with a Maxx. It too took a battery hit with the Kit Kat update--from ending the day (6am-11pm) at 65% to ending at 40%.
Given my usage, environment, and expectations/experience with the Razr Maxx, i should have bought a new Maxx from the beginning.

 

[davidnc]

Anyone else? It would be nice to get some daily averages on here after Kit Kat, not just for me but for anyone else looking thru the X threads.

Currently my Moto X has been on 12 hrs 30 minutes with a screen on time of 2 hrs and have 64% of battery left.Emails, sms messaging,phone,tweetcaster,tapatalk,web browsing

 

[ETPhoneHomeT]

Currently my Moto X has been on 12 hrs 30 minutes with a screen on time of 2 hrs and have 64% of battery left.Emails, sms messaging,phone,tweetcaster,tapatalk,web browsing

Wow, is that typical for you? If my math is correct, that works out to 100% capacity being approximately 35 hours of battery and approximately 5.5 hours of screen on time which is great. Are you using all of the phone's features and location services or do you turn some of them off? Anything else special that you do in the settings to conserve battery? One thing that I have noticed with KitKat (but I can't remember if it was the same under JB) is that the Android OS shows up either 1st or 2nd in the battery use stats. If I use the phone more, then Screen is usually 1st and Android OS 2nd. If I use the phone less, then Android OS is first and Screen is usually 2nd. There's a lot of threads out there about Android OS eating battery under KitKat and I don't really know what falls under the Android OS umbrella.

 

[natehoy]

Put the phone on the charger last night after 18 hours and some-odd minutes. Probably about 4 hours of screen time on auto, mostly indoors so it'd be running probably at about 40% bright, and about an hour being used as WiFi hotspot on LTE (the rest of the time, it was on WiFi itself). Charge read about 14% when I plugged it in, so it easily had another hour of use left.

 

[davidnc]

Wow, is that typical for you? If my math is correct, that works out to 100% capacity being approximately 35 hours of battery and approximately 5.5 hours of screen on time which is great. Are you using all of the phone's features and location services or do you turn some of them off? Anything else special that you do in the settings to conserve battery? One thing that I have noticed with KitKat (but I can't remember if it was the same under JB) is that the Android OS shows up either 1st or 2nd in the battery use stats. If I use the phone more, then Screen is usually 1st and Android OS 2nd. If I use the phone less, then Android OS is first and Screen is usually 2nd. There's a lot of threads out there about Android OS eating battery under KitKat and I don't really know what falls under the Android OS umbrella.

I always get over 24 hrs . I have got 36 hrs with screen on time of between 3.5-4 hrs with 13% left on Kit Kat. I forgot exactly my screen on time from full charge to almost empty , thats why I am tracking the time I get again.I use active display,touchless controls.I have nothing automatically syncing except for google wallet.I manually sync.I dont have facebook,or many social apps just tweetcaster.I mainly use SMS messaging/email as my social contacts. I dont use Google cards. I do use GPS and apps that use GPS some.I use sync my fitbit device quite a few times thoughout the day.I am an moderator on trapster so I use that app some.The other apps I use though the day are weather,tapatalk some web browsing,G+ a little, hangouts a little.I dont consider myself doing anything really special since this is how I used other android phones but didnt get the battery life I get with the Moto X.I dont have the screen brightness cranked up its is usually around 1/3 the way up unless I need to turn it higher when in sunlight but I never go above halfway even then.I usually not on longer then like 15 minutes at a time while at work but I am on and off though the work day depending on work sch.as to how often.I have use GPS/navigation for directions to deliver parts but usually have the screen off and just listen for the turn by turn directions only once and awhile turning the screen on.I have had GPS/navigation on like that for an hour at a time though.I would consider myself a medium user, up to a heavy user at times.

To sum it up I would say is I am not on for extended periods of time ex :an hour straight unless using navigation and then screen is off most of the time once and awhile I turn the screen on to view upcoming turns .
I keep screen brightness to where I can see but for me about 1/3 the way up works 95% of time.
Syncing just manually
Google Cards not used
I have Battery saver on


As far as Android OS I found the more I use my phone repeatably the further down the list it goes. When the phone sits idle(sleeping) is when it creeps back up .
Status of Android OS:
Currently it is at 13%
CPU 46 min 30 s,
Keep awake 31 sec

Time phone on currently from last post above is : (Post #31)
16 hrs 23 min.
Screen on 2 hr. 30 min

 

[Dswann3]

I ended up going 25 hours yesterday before it died. 5.5 hours of screen time, 40 minutes of calls on a so-so 4G signal at times. Took a bunch of photos & uploaded a video or two to YouTube over wifi. Really hammered on it the last 15% and it took quite a while before it totally drained. My old RAZR would have went from 20% to zero in a blink of an eye. Not as good as some are getting on here but passable for me. I'm hoping 4.4.2 gets put out there soon and there are some updates to battery management within KitKat.

 

[davidnc]

I ended up going 25 hours yesterday before it died. 5.5 hours of screen time, 40 minutes of calls on a so-so 4G signal at times. Took a bunch of photos & uploaded a video or two to YouTube over wifi. Really hammered on it the last 15% and it took quite a while before it totally drained. My old RAZR would have went from 20% to zero in a blink of an eye. Not as good as some are getting on here but passable for me. I'm hoping 4.4.2 gets put out there soon and there are some updates to battery management within KitKat.

I think that is pretty good
Oh I forgot I have this set to

sent from my Moto X

 

[Dswann3]

I think that is pretty good
Oh I forgot I have this set to
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/01/ra5ubeba.jpg

I have a screen off toggle that I use 99% of the time when I'm done with an activity.

sent from my Moto X

 

[natehoy]

Today I am running a "burn-in" test of the battery, which basically means I'm keeping the screen on as much as I can. I'll edit this post to add checkpoints in case anyone is interested (and so I don't spam-bomb the thread with posts)

Settings:

Battery saver off.
Screen auto (for most of the test, see below for full-bright test)
GPS, mobile, WiFi: on (was on WiFi most of the time, 2-bar signal)
Bluetooth, NFC: off
Apps (at least those that I know pull data): MobileIron, TouchDown, usual Google suite including lots of activity on G+ and Hangouts, WeatherBug set to update hourly
ALL sync options on.
ActiveDisplay, assistant, all features are on.



Battery at 61%
6h 39m on battery
Screen: 70% 3h 16m
used mostly on WiFi, except about a half hour of being used as a WiFi hotspot on LTE

Battery at 53%
8h on battery
Screen: 73% 4h 22m
All additional time since last checkpoint on WiFi.

Battery at 45%
9h on battery
Screen 75% 5h 22m
All on WiFi since last checkpoint, as you can see screen was on the full time. Tried to keep it on a white screen mostly to maximize drain, but still on auto-bright.

That's 8% drain with one hour of screen on. Turning screen brightness up.

Battery at 34%
10h on battery
Screen 79% 6h 18m
(NOTE: since last checkpoint I turned screen from AUTO to full-on superbright, so in just under an hour I used 11%)


Final check-in:

Battery at 1%
12h 22m 15s on battery
Screen 76% 7h 13m 37s (about 1h 15m was on super-bright, the rest on auto and probably ran about 40%)


I must say that I've never had a phone that has had 7 hours of screen time before. Sure, the battery lasted "only" 12h 22m, but that screen-on time is IMPRESSIVE.

 

[nathansnyder]

Can you tell us what your brightness is set to?

 

[natehoy]

Can you tell us what your brightness is set to?

I've had it on AUTO, indoors in a well-lit flourescent office. I'd guess it's about 40%. As you can see in my notes, at the last checkpoint I cranked the screen to 100% "stun small critters" mode.