Is this typical battery life for the Galaxy Nexus?

[Atranox]

I purchased a Galaxy Nexus a few days ago and have been running into some issues with the battery. I anticipated the battery to have a pretty short life, but I didn't expect it to be this bad.

The first day I had the phone, I had to do two full charges just to make it through the day. With moderate usage (screen brightness around 40%), it loses about 40-50% of its battery per hour. Overnight while the phone is not being used at all, the battery drops about 30-50% on average.

Here are a few screenshots from the battery life overnight:

Battery screen:


Battery chart:


Active processes:




Wakelocks:




Now, I know the Gnex isn't going to get great battery life to begin with. I fully expect to have to charge it every day, and probably even more often with anything more than light usage. However, dropping nearly 50% in battery overnight while the phone isn't being used seems like a bit much. I did notice that the awake times seems fairly high and that the screen was even showing at 33% usage when it was off for all but 10 minutes. I also used Task Killer and Better Battery Stats to try to figure out what could be causing the phone to awake constantly...but I've found nothing. Being new, the phone only has about 4-5 apps installed.

Any ideas, or is this perfectly normal?

 

[moosc]

First why the task killer? It is a battery killer remove it. What is the screen set at? Depending on how heavy u use you should get 5-7hours of use.

 

[Atranox]

First why the task killer? It is a battery killer remove it. What is the screen set at? Depending on how heavy u use you should get 5-7hours of use.

Does the task killer really use much battery?

As for the screen, I generally keep it around 40%. However, these screenshots were from overnight when there was no screen usage at all other than maybe 5-10 minutes beforehand.

 

[BSG75]

Task Killers can drain battery by causing important processes to constantly have to be restarted. They have not been needed in Android since 2.1. If you happen to have one app that is a problem, then kill the app. Seeing a process doesn't mean it's using cycles. It just mean the app state is being saved in RAM for future use.

When I sleep, I always put my phone in airplane mode. I don't want phone calls or texts or email, etc overnight. I would consider that. Then you'll see maybe 5% drop overnight. At the very least use wifi overnight, and never use 4G while you are sleeping.

That's where I would start.

 

[tntdroid]

That's definitely not right. Its hard to see the photos from my phone. If I beat on my phone I can kill it in about 6 hours. Light use could go all day. The task killer is not needed. It will just kill apps that need to run and when they force run again will be killed. Its a cycle that will drain battery. The OS will do all this itself so its not needed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Nakrohtap]

In your second picture showing battery stats, the awake time is what really jumps out. Just because you are sleeping, doesn't mean your phone is as well. I would estimate that your phone was awake 60% of the time showing in your history. You need to find out what app is keeping it awake and adjust the settings. Ideally, your awake time should equal your screen on time.

 

[menelfloss]

I have noticed far less battery drain if I am connected to wifi. Depending on your wifi speed it can either be a real bummer or as in my case not really noticeable.

 

[Atranox]

In your second picture showing battery stats, the awake time is what really jumps out. Just because you are sleeping, doesn't mean your phone is as well. I would estimate that your phone was awake 60% of the time showing in your history. You need to find out what app is keeping it awake and adjust the settings. Ideally, your awake time should equal your screen on time.

I noticed this as well. The problem is, I really have only downloaded 4-5 apps since I just received the phone - and none of them appear to be the culprit. BetterBatteryStats shows battery usage by applications, as well as partial wakelocks, and nothing really stands out (I have the image attached in the original post).

I have noticed far less battery drain if I am connected to wifi. Depending on your wifi speed it can either be a real bummer or as in my case not really noticeable.

Yeah, I was connected to wi-fi during the entire time overnight. It didn't seem to make much of a positive difference, sadly.

 

[jeres88]

50% overnight is not normal (I would lose around 1% - 2% when I was stock). Try turning off syncing one night and see what that does for your battery life. Advanced Task Killer can really drainthe battery depending on what it's killing.

Other than that, maybe a list of those 4 - 5 apps that you have installed could help. I know some apps don't play as well with ICS and could be causing the problem. You could also try just uninstalling them all and see if the problems disappear.

 

[Atranox]

50% overnight is not normal (I would lose around 1% - 2% when I was stock). Try turning off syncing one night and see what that does for your battery life. Advanced Task Killer can really drainthe battery depending on what it's killing.

Other than that, maybe a list of those 4 - 5 apps that you have installed could help. I know some apps don't play as well with ICS and could be causing the problem. You could also try just uninstalling them all and see if the problems disappear.

Well, I turned off the "automatic killing" that Advanced Task Killer offered and only used it manually to disable certain things Either way, I uninstalled it for now just to be safe.

The other apps that I have are:
- Games - Words With Friends / Hanging With Friends / Where's My Water
- Barcode Scanner
- Amazon Appstore
- Fancy Widgets
- Google Sky Map
- Lite Flow (installed today)

 

[willlayb]

i know words with friends is a battery eater...

 

[Nakrohtap]

Bingo! Start with that.

 

[nextmill]

Word With Friends, disable the 5 minute server check interval that it defaults to. Upgrade to 4.04 and turn on WIFI and have it login to your home and work networks, your battery will thank you.

 

[Atranox]

Thanks, I disabled the 5-minute check with Words w/ Friends. I don't expect that it was the sole problem, but hopefully it makes a difference.

 

[austinmueller99]

i'm having the same problem with battery life. it's terrible, i can't get 10 hours out of the battery!

I also had a task manager and when i uninstatalled it and that helped quite a bit.

but it's still terrible. i average 7h 30minutes of use (according to badass batttery)

 

[Castor_troyy]

i'm having the same problem with battery life. it's terrible, i can't get 10 hours out of the battery!

I also had a task manager and when i uninstatalled it and that helped quite a bit.

but it's still terrible. i average 7h 30minutes of use (according to badass batttery)

heavy use?

 

[Danv1369]

Well, I turned off the "automatic killing" that Advanced Task Killer offered and only used it manually to disable certain things Either way, I uninstalled it for now just to be safe.

The other apps that I have are:
- Games - Words With Friends / Hanging With Friends / Where's My Water
- Barcode Scanner
- Amazon Appstore
- Fancy Widgets
- Google Sky Map
- Lite Flow (installed today)

In Fancy Widgets check the refresh setting. You may need to set it to a higher level. I know this was an issue on my Droid Incredible for me.

Also when I was on stock 4.0.2 using the back button to get out of the camera instead of pressing the home button seemed to help a lot.

Since it is a new phone have you conditioned the battery? If not let it run until it dies completely. Plug it in and let it charge completely before turning it on (should only take about 2 hours to charge). When I did this it helped me out as well.

As someone suggested if your up to it you can unlock and flash the leaked 4.0.4 OTA. This has given me additional 2-5 hours of battery depending on how heavy I use the phone. Good luck

 

[eric3316]

I am at 13 hours off charger w/ 3h 15m of on screen time and at 2% battery. I do have the stock 2100mah battery. Can't imagine this thing on the stock battery. This numbers are what we should be getting with a stock battery and not an extended one that I needed to pay extra money for!

 

[ryangeno]

I have the same issue.. Android os is killing the battery.. Can't figure out what is hitting the os like that.. And it happens when it's in my pocket.. Google searching indicates it may be a bug that will be fixed in 404.. Up until like 3 or 4 weeks ago I could go all day with reg use and I'd have 20%left at the end of the day.. Now I can't make it to 4 in the afternoon till its dead

 

[Atranox]

So far, not a lot of luck for me figuring this out. I've tried:

- Staying on Wi-fi whenever possible
- Disabling LTE except when necessary
- Uninstalling the Task Killer
- Removed update intervals or push notifications for all games

The battery is still draining at a ridiculous pace, with a fair amount of activity even when the phone should be sleeping. Problem is - neither BetterBatteryStats or Badass Battery are showing a ton of usage for anything. The only things that I've noticed is a high amount of wake times from the Email app, despite the fact that the update interval is set to 1 hour. I also noticed one app high in the "sensor time used" category, even though the app is not being used. Unsure what exactly that means?