A Grim Outlook for Battery Life?

terrapin01

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I hope I'm completely wrong, but the Pixel 4 looks poised to have disastrous battery life. The Pixel 3 already has worst in class battery life, despite the fact that it powers the least amount of hardware AND at the same time implements the most aggressive background app killing. Combine those two things with stock Android and the battery life should have been stellar, yet it sits in last place.

Now introduce a whole host of sensors, many of which need to be always on to power Soli, and you have a brand new source of battery drain that no one else has. Given that Google has a history of worst in class battery capacities and battery life, the P4 is poised to bring battery life to a whole new level of dealbreaker that we haven't see in a long time. Hopefully, there was a philosophical decision at Google to avoid this, but the outlook appears grim.

UPDATE: Both Pixel 4's will have 90 Hz refresh rates and the smaller Pixel 4's battery DECREASES to 2800 mah. My fears came true. The smaller Pixel 4 will be unusable for anything but a light user and the Pixel 4 XL will have issues lasting a day as well.

battery_llife_comp.JPG
 
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chevyman29

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Well I did own the s10e along with the regular pixel 3 and the battery life was essentially the same in my use . I used both phones for a few weeks apiece and ended up selling the s10e because it didn't offer anything better than my pixel 3 in any category that mattered to me , including battery life .
I also own the iPhone xs and it's no better ether .
 

Rukbat

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Have you ever considered killing every app as soon as you finish using it, instead of just hitting the Home button (which just runs the launcher and leaves a dozen apps running in the background, each eating battery - yes, I know you've seen Android phones used that way on YouTube - that doesn't mean that it's the correct way - the back button, and the ability to flick apps off the "recents" screen, are there for a reason)?
 

Mike Dee

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Most of the phones on your list are in the same ball park except for 2. Hardly cause for concern. I have both S10plus and the Pixel 3XL. I use my phones all day long and get similar battery life.
 
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terrapin01

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Have you ever considered killing every app as soon as you finish using it...

I wouldn't kill every app after using it because I don't think that's a good user experience. Every once in a while I'll go in and flick away apps I won't need for a long time. But the Pixel 3 is specifically known to kill apps more aggressively than any other flagship phone, so manual killing would do the least amount of good with this phone compared to other phones.
 

B. Diddy

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What times does that table represent -- is that battery life according to some standardized test, like allowing a video to run on loop without doing anything else until the battery runs out? I always take those tests with a gigantic grain of salt, since it doesn't reflect real world usage.

I realize there are situations where a person would need 2 day battery life (or close to it), but for the vast majority of users, I'd say that pushing battery life beyond a regular workday is relatively useless, since most people are going to charge the phone overnight regardless of the level. It might help if you forget to charge the phone at night, but with most phones having fast charging, that's not a huge deal if you wake up and realize the phone is dead or almost dead, and need to get the charge up quickly.

Let's say you have a phone that can power through a day and a half. Would you routinely not charge it at night? If so, would you then start having battery anxiety halfway through the next day? Sure, you could then plug it in or use a portable battery, but if you're going to do that anyway, then how much difference does it really make compared to a phone that lasts for a whole workday?

My feeling is that as long as a phone is getting me through a regular day without having to recharge once, that's fine. I've never had to worry with my Pixel 3 XL -- I think the last phone I had to worry about was way back with my Nexus 5!:p
 

dov1978

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Yep. The 3XL battery is pretty lame tbh. I hoped the 4 and 4XL would see a bigger jump in capacity but nah..just more battery draining features instead.
 

Mike Dee

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I wouldn't kill every app after using it because I don't think that's a good user experience. Every once in a while I'll go in and flick away apps I won't need for a long time. But the Pixel 3 is specifically known to kill apps more aggressively than any other flagship phone, so manual killing would do the least amount of good with this phone compared to other phones.
That issue was corrected on the Pixels.
 

B. Diddy

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But from a practical standpoint, did the battery life on your Huawei phones make any difference in your overall phone usage behavior? Do you have to recharge at least once in the middle of the day with the 3 XL, or are you able to use it normally until the end of the day, then put it on a charger? For me, if I had a phone with a big honking battery that was still at 50-60% at the end of the day, I'd still charge it overnight, because I wouldn't want to wake up with the battery already at 50%
 

terrapin01

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What times does that table represent ...


Let's say you have a phone that can power through a day and a half.

The test was a 4G web surfing test.

The real world practical concern I have isn't one and a half days versus two days. Out of the box, every flagship phone's battery life is fine. The issue is after having the phone 12, 18, 24 months, suddenly the one and a half days turns into one day. Add in Project Soli which has so many sensors that are always on and capturing 10,000 images per second you have a major source of drain out of the box that's never been seen before. If Google doesn't drastically up the battery capacity (which they've never done before), we could be looking at a repeat of the Nexus 5 battery life reputation, and no one wants to see that.
 

B. Diddy

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Ok, I see your points. I'd say that the battery's lifespan can also depend a lot on charging habits -- if a user is habitually letting the phone drop to zero or near zero, then certainly the battery will deteriorate much more quickly. But if the battery is taken care of, I wouldn't expect drastic fall-off after only 12 months. 24 maybe, but that's probably still longer than the typical Pixel user's ownership of a given model.

The Soli sensor is certainly the wildcard here, but at this point, it seems too early to say that the sensor will be a major source of drain, unless someone has been able to test it and leaked that information. I would imagine that in Google's development of the phone, they must be paying some mind to battery usage. I predict that the battery life for the 4 series will be about the same as the 3 series -- no better (because I don't think Google's interested in making battery workhorses), but not markedly worse. But in the end, we just have to wait until the phone is in people's hands. You might end up being right, but for the sake of the phone's users, I sure hope I am.;)
 

terrapin01

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I just saw the leak that both Pixel 4 models will have 90Hz refresh and the smaller Pixel 4 only has a 2800mah battery which is LESS than the Pixel 3!?!?

The Pixel 4's battery life is going to be a complete disaster. It won't last a full day with anything other than light usage, and it won't be anywhere close to any comparable flagship phone. I can't believe Google is making it like that. I'm completely dumbfounded.
 

dov1978

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But from a practical standpoint, did the battery life on your Huawei phones make any difference in your overall phone usage behavior? Do you have to recharge at least once in the middle of the day with the 3 XL, or are you able to use it normally until the end of the day, then put it on a charger? For me, if I had a phone with a big honking battery that was still at 50-60% at the end of the day, I'd still charge it overnight, because I wouldn't want to wake up with the battery already at 50%

Yeah with the Pixel 3xl I need to recharge at least once more during the day. I'll usually keep topping it up wherever I get a chance to pop it on charge. Not once has it lasted me a whole day. I'm a fairly heavy user but with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and even my older Mate 10 Pro I can squeeze out a full day without much hassle.
 

KrisYYC

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Well I did own the s10e along with the regular pixel 3 and the battery life was essentially the same in my use . I used both phones for a few weeks apiece and ended up selling the s10e because it didn't offer anything better than my pixel 3 in any category that mattered to me , including battery life .
I also own the iPhone xs and it's no better ether .

Exactly the same for me. I had an S10 and sold it. Also have an iphone XS. My Pixel 3 is about the same as both regarding battery life.

Can't judge battery life based purely by the mAh as the chart posted above shows (Oneplus 7 pro vs Galaxy S10+ for example).
 

terrapin01

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Can't judge battery life based purely by the mAh as the chart posted above shows (Oneplus 7 pro vs Galaxy S10+ for example).

And what hurts the 7 pro is the same thing that will hurt the Pixel 4 which is the 90Hz refresh rate. Add in Soli, which is a drain that no other phone has, and you have a grim outlook.
 

Morty2264

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Pixel phones are known for learning your battery usage over time and adapting to compensate. I'd wait until we have review videos/usage in the wild before worrying about this! :)
 

ChuckG73

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One word - Stadia. Probably led to the 90mhz refresh rate, same should have been a reason for increasing battery size. I would love to be wrong and I agree with others that the smaller battery will see lasting issues