ATT vs VZW Moto X Battery Life

[bthornton84]

Over a year ago, as my company was decommissioning all of their Blackberry devices, they gave me the option to replace my Blackberry with any Android phone (or iPhone) I wanted. I chose the Moto X, which my company services through AT&T. I liked that phone so much that I ended up buying my own Moto X to replace my Razr Maxx, which I of course had on Verizon.

So for over a year now, I've had two basically identical Moto X phones; however, thanks to the Touchdown app, I got all of my company emails on my personal VZW phone and so the ATT phone spent most of its life sitting on my bedstand. I left it off the charger and only charged it every few days when it needed it (yes, the Moto X lasts a long time when you're not using it ). My VZW "daily driver" was recharged at least daily.

It always *seemed* like the ATT phone got better battery life than the VZW phone--even for the few weeks that I was carrying both around and using them roughly equally. I know I've been able to get >3 days from the ATT phone on standby, and I've never come close to that on my VZW phone on light usage days. However, now that I've upgraded to a Droid Turbo (because I got tired of crappy battery life), the VZW phone gets to sit with the ATT phone also being unused. So now that I have a level playing field, I decided to do an informal test and just let them sit until one of them gave me a battery warning. Here's what I got (ATT on left, VZW on right):



After 1d 12h, my VZW phone went from charged to 1% with no usage, and the ATT phone was still at 62% . Granted, the VZW phone was my daily driver and has seen a lot more use--and it has a few more apps installed--but I'm still surprised to see this much of a difference. Is this just what battery wear looks like after a year of ownership? Or does the VZW network just naturally drain more?

(The answer to my question *might* be in the pic--as you can see, Wifi was on for the VZW phone and not the ATT phone. But I've never seen Wifi be THAT much of a drain on battery life.)

 

[PapaGary]

Granted, the VZW phone was my daily driver and has seen a lot more use--and it has a few more apps installed.

Disable/uninstall the "few more apps" and then try it.

But I've never seen Wifi be THAT much of a drain on battery life.)

I have.

*Edit- Rather than removing apps you could reboot both phones in Safe Mode and then re-run your test.

(I have never done this but it should work.)

 

[oldDummy]

Thanks.
Great opportunity for data.
You have Bluetooth enabled on AT&T not VZW.
Safe mode suggestion should work.
How do you like your Droid?
[Curious about Moto Maxx]

 

[natehoy]

The Verizon battery, having been charged and discharged more often, has more wear on it and has somewhat reduced capacity. Still, taking the WiFi drain into account, it looks like the AT&T phone lasts about twice as long as the Verizon one, all other things being (apparently) equal. And after a year of normal use, a battery should not be losing half its capacity.

 

[oscarnyc]

Do you have touchdown on both phones, or does the att version get work email another way? Because MDM can be a battery hog in my experience.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[bthornton84]

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to do a factory reset/cache wipe on the VZW phone and re-test (making sure settings are similar on the ATT phone). I'll report my findings here in a few days.

The ATT phone isn't using Touchdown; it's using the native Exchange integration. Incidentally, that's what I'd be using instead of Touchdown, but policy is forcing a PIN code to unlock my phone which I'm not a fan of.

RE: Droid Turbo... Overall it's great and addresses my biggest issues with the Moto X--but I have other issues with this phone (namely the size). Basically, the Moto X was my favorite phone (and I'm still kind of attached, hence me not selling it). The design and size were perfect in my book. Performance is still top-notch for the X--in fact, it really doesn't seem any slower than the Turbo for most of the things I do, and that thing is a beast. The battery life and camera were the deal-breakers for me on the Moto X. If it could have lasted through the day on a single charge, I probably wouldn't have upgraded. That being said, it's nice to make it through a day of normal use on the Turbo and still have >50% battery left. That may seem excessive if you're in a habit of charging nightly like I do, but it gives me confidence that it will survive under heavy usage when it counts.

 

[jlgraham]

Another factor could simply be signal strength in your area. The signal bars displayed at the top of the screen don't always tell the entire story, but in the photo it does look like the ATT phone has a stronger signal. You can go into the settings -> about phone -> status to see the signal strength in dBm and see which one has a stronger signal. If the VZW phone has a weaker cell signal, that could certainly affect battery life.

I have a VZW Moto X, and the battery is more than capable of lasting through a full day out and about (usually have a strong signal in my town) and at work while connected to WiFi all day. However, cell service is spotty at my house (bouncing between 1x, 3G and LTE), so if I don't connect to WiFi, the battery will be drained by 5PM even with minimal use as the phone tries to maintain a signal.

I would try safe mode as some have suggested. Hold down the power button, and then press and hold the on screen "Power off" button. It will prompt you to restart in Safe Mode.

PS You can also install and app like GSAM Battery Monitor (my personal preference) to see what parts of the hardware/which apps are using battery.