Bad battery life on nexus 4

[Channan]

I think Phil is a decent source to say the battery is good.

It's not enough to just say it's good. I've seen several people say the Galaxy Nexus' battery life was good, but those are no doubt people who don't actually use their phones very much. At least not what I consider much.

If he said the Nexus 4's battery life was much better than the Galaxy Nexus, that would be enough for me for now. But saying battery life is good means nothing to me.

 

[Fairclough]

Just read somewhere another reviewer got 42hrs

 

[Syrential]

Like said many times before, it's pretty much just a software problem and/or the way you use it. I remember everyone complaining about the battery life on the iPhone 4, and yet I usually manage to squeeze 8-10h out of it.

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Just read somewhere another reviewer got 42hrs

Not by actually using it, they didn't.

 

[Kookas]

Not by actually using it, they didn't.

I want to see screen-on from 100% to 0 for a device that has gone through the first few charge cycles. That would be really useful.

via Tapatalk

 

[djmobil2]

My experience with a 16Gb Nexus 4 is the following:
It went from 100% to 10% in 3 hours on Not talk time. Just standby in my place of work. I only web browsed a little bit with the GPS OFF and WiFi ON. The same setting I had with my previous device from the same location. All the conditions were the same as my previous android device which was a SG II. The Nexus 4 drained the battery charge real quick. When compared with my SG II it holds battery charge for about 6 hours under normal conditions. So the Nexus 4 battery under normal conditions really sucks. I think that the real testing is when you compare normal use of the device with another device on the same use conditions.
I also noted that when in a call, it turns notably hot and its signal constantly jumps from H to 3G, even in a spot were I always had FULL H signal on the SG II. y the way it's being used with T-Mobile. The location is giving 11Mbps but very unsteady. Don't know if the unsteady signal has something to do with the lack of battery life. I'll check how it performs at home where I have better signal than at work. I just received it yesterday but, as for know I'm kind of dissapointed.

 

[Jnorton2724]

My experience with battery life hasn't been bad. With GPS on and Wifi off I got through the whole day up until I went to sleep and still had 22% battery. Thats under normal use; I use pandora, surf the web and watch videos on youtube. These are the same settings as my previous device. Its only been a day though so I'll see how it does over acouple more days and update this thread if people are still interested in battery.

 

[jtshaw]

Mine has drained 15% after three hours with a thirty minute phone call included. That isn't bad compared to my galaxy nexus. It is easily better than my galaxy nexus if I turn on LTE.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[James Cortez]

As a long time iPhone user the N4 is comparable in battery usage. I leave my house at 7:15am and return home around 7:30pm (just over 12 hours). Throughout the day I use my phone to browse the web, text, tethering and stream music. When using my iPhone 5, by the time I got home the battery would be down to about 35% (sometimes higher sometimes lower). With the N4 my battery has been at around 20% after 12 hours of use each day. As you can tell the N4 does have less battery life than the iPhone 5, but it is still a very functional battery. I ran the N4 completely dead after 15 hours of use. I've had my N4 unplugged and been using it for 4 hours and currently have 82% battery left. This is just my experience but I would not nock this phone for battery life, it is better than the iPhone 3GS (and below), comparable to the iPhone 4, and just barely below the iPhone 5 in my experience.

 

[Eric Kane]

Not sure why people are complaining about the battery life so much. Should it be better than what it is? I think so. Does it suck regardless? Not at all. I consistently get 17-20 hours out of it with between 3-4 hours on screen time if I'm using wifi primarily, and around 13-15 hours on HSPA+ with the same usage. On screen usage is primarily Facebook/Twitter/Google+, a lot of texting, and web browsing. I don't play games or watch Youtube that often. Probably between 10-20 minutes of Youtube. That usage also includes 30-45 minutes of talk time. Now these numbers are consistent with the Galaxy S3, but I feel as if it should be better given how much more efficient the processor and screen are. So my guess would be that Android 4.2 is the culprit and we'll see some kind of update that may help in that regard.

For those of you getting different results, look over the differences. Do you watch a lot of video or play games? Do you spend any significant time in a bad signal area? Is your screen brightness past 20%? Are you taking a lot of pictures? If I did any of those things, my results would be much different, too. For me, this battery gets me through the whole day and then some.

 

[jtshaw]

The only thing I find odd is Google Maps is the #2 battery using application (1st is phone calls) in my list right now even though I haven't used it for anything all day.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[jdk2]

The only thing I find odd is Google Maps is the #2 battery using application (1st is phone calls) in my list right now even though I haven't used it for anything all day.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

Is Google Now activated on your phone? If so, it's watching your every move

 

[rballen85]

I've been using the phone since last Friday and I'm pleased with the battery life. It lasts longer than any of my previous Android phones (Samsung Moment, LG Optimus S, HTC Evo, Motorola Atrix 2). Currently it has been off the charger for 12 hours and I'm sitting on 52% battery. I'd call it light usage but my reception is terrible at work.

 

[jtshaw]

Is Google Now activated on your phone? If so, it's watching your every move

It is. I guess I just never noticed it causing this Maps behavior on my Galaxy Nexus. I did have my first creepy Google Now moment when it showed me flight details for a friends flight they had e-mailed me about last week.

 

[darthus]

I think the core issue is that, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, the iPhone does an excellent job of standarizing battery use. It does so by suspending background apps and being very aggressive with what apps can do in the background. So anecdotal battery life reports are not really useful on Android. I might get 24 hours, then you might have an app that is doing constant GPS checks and calculus equations in the background and locking your phone in a wake state just because it can. The poster above who went from 100% to 10% in three hours on standby likely has that issue.

And this is kind of a problem for Android. For me it's just an irritant. I use programs like GSam Battery Monitor to track down offending apps and fix it, to keep my battery level high. On my GNex, that meant I rarely had a problem getting through the day.

Aside from that, the biggest differentiator is the Screen. On my GNex the screen was always about 50% of the battery use. From what I've heard so far the Nexus 4's screen isn't so much of a battery hog.

So summary is, Android will always have variable battery life until Google bakes in a solution. But for things that we can control, the Nexus 4 seems to have a lower baseline battery pull than the GNex (As well as a bigger battery) and that's good.

 

[jdk2]

It is. I guess I just never noticed it causing this Maps behavior on my Galaxy Nexus. I did have my first creepy Google Now moment when it showed me flight details for a friends flight they had e-mailed me about last week.

You can go into Maps > Settings > location settings and turn off location sharing, history and reporting but it still manages to turn them on far more than it seems necessary. Disabling Google Now appears to be the real cure but you'll loose all of those scary moments you thought no one but you knew about.

 

[leojurgen]

Bad battery always for the new smart phone. I used external battery instead. Pretty great.
I use EZOPower.

 

[raysgrumpy]

I've had my Nexus 4 for a few days and the battery is comparable to my One s. There is no possible way that I could ever get a full day out of this battery. I carry a $30 5600mAh battery charger with me that could easily charge my phone multiple times if need be. I keep bluetooth, wifi and gps on all the time. I also keep my screen at 100%. I saw somebody say that you shouldn't go above 20%. That is absolutely crazy to me. Why would you try so hard to tweak your device to win some kind of battey numbers game? I like to enjoy my devices. If someone came over to watch a movie with you and your tv was dimmed to 20%, they would think you were nuts! The big Nexus 4 screen looks awesome, why would you not want to see it in all it's glory? A small battery charger in your pocket or purse and you can enjoy your phone without having to micromanage every aspect of it. But, that's just my 2 cents haha

 

[DC Wuff]

As a first-time GSM user, I am thrilled with the N4's battery life. Before I got my Straight Talk (AT&T) SIM, my phone sat on my desk at work with zero T-Mobile signal and only lost 15-20% charge during the course of an 8-9 hour workday. A CDMA phone would have been dead in three hours.

Put a different way: If I'm going to be pushing my phone hard, I make sure I have access to a charger or external battery pack. What I can't stand is for my phone to run down to nearly zero over the course of a day when I'm barely using it, because it's always hunting for a signal and/or checking in with the network. In that regard, the Nexus 4 kicks ass. Goodbye Sprint/CDMA and HTC, hello GSM and stock Jellybean!

 

[jdk2]

It's a pleasant surprise to find that when I have no signal (at home), the battery doesn't seem to notice. I've tried ST on ATT and TMO's 4G monthly. I get no bars and a -113db or worse and the battery doesn't drain seeking a better though non-existent signal. On my VZW 4G phones, that would spell real trouble.

Try as I might, I think I'm going to return the Nexus 4. I need a phone at home and don't have a land line. Oddly, I get full 4G on VZW just fine. Come on TMO/ATT. Build another tower :'(