Pixel 3 XL battery health

[Jeremy8000]

So I've had my Pixel 3 XL since December '18 and up until this month have only ever noticed a very slow decline in the functional battery capacity. But over the past couple of weeks, it has dropped precipitously.

I don't know if AccuBattery is reliably accurate or not, but I installed it and, after 7 sessions, it is reporting battery health at 35%, with an estimated effective capacity of 1,197mAH (vs the original 3,430), and based on how fast it depletes now, that seems to me to be perfectly plausible.



My question is, has anyone else noticed a rapid and sudden-onset degradation in their battery capacity on the 3 XL either after a certain amount of time, or specifically in the past few weeks (since the last security update)? I do use mine pretty hard, with an (un)healthy amount of gaming, so I'm not surprised that it has degraded more than most might experience, but it seems like it's not lasting 1/2 the time on a charge that it did just last month.

Wondering if it might be patch related, or if this is this just the way Li-Ion batterys forewarn their death knell?

 

[korab84]

Try getting in touch with someone at Google by going to Settings > Tips & Support > Contact Us and see if it'll be helpful

 

[Mikey D_PhD]

Heavy usage during almost 2 years of use with lots of recharge cycles can definitely cause this. I'm a light-ish user and accubattery has my battery capacity at 92%. But I've had it installed since day 1. Give it a week and see if it goes up. You may see closer to 50%. My nexus 6P did this after about 2 years. Had about 60%.

 

[Pixeluser2020]

I have a Pixel 2 xl. I use AccuBattery also. Try calibrating the app ie., deplete the battery to 0 and charge to 100 and then run a few cycles. I get between 5-6 hours of on screen time.

 

[mustang7757]

I have a Pixel 2 xl. I use AccuBattery also. Try calibrating the app ie., deplete the battery to 0 and charge to 100 and then run a few cycles. I get between 5-6 hours of on screen time.

Is it still the orginal battery?

 

[Pixeluser2020]

Yes original battery, as far as I know. If you charge your battery between 20-80% you can extend battery life by 200%, according to people who study battery life. Light usage such as messaging, light browsing and calls don't stress the battery much. I had similar battery performance with my BBs.

 

[Mike Dee]

Yes original battery, as far as I know. If you charge your battery between 20-80% you can extend battery life by 200%, according to people who study battery life. Light usage such as messaging, light browsing and calls don't stress the battery much. I had similar battery performance with my BBs.

200 % is quite a stretch

 

[mustang7757]

Yes original battery, as far as I know. If you charge your battery between 20-80% you can extend battery life by 200%, according to people who study battery life. Light usage such as messaging, light browsing and calls don't stress the battery much. I had similar battery performance with my BBs.

If it is that's great SOT , yeah agree with Mike 200% is bit of a stretch .

 

[Pixeluser2020]

If it is that's great SOT , yeah agree with Mike 200% is bit of a stretch .

See screenshot

 

[mustang7757]

See screenshot

Problem is if you never go to 100 percent your battery stats never reset or minimum 90%
Then once in awhile needs calibration 5% to 100% ..im sure it can extend the life but 200 just don't think it accurate. @Mooncatt should know more as he studies or follows this .

 

[Pixeluser2020]

Problem is if you never go to 100 percent your battery stats never reset or minimum 90%
Then once in awhile needs calibration 5% to 100% ..im sure it can extend the life but 200 just don't think it accurate. @Mooncatt should know more as he studies or follows this .

There's two papers quoted in the screenshot, albeit 2002/2003, and I'm assuming the research was well done ie., peer reviewed, I think we can trust what was reported. Btw the screen capture comes from AccuBattery tutorial but I've seen also the same numbers quoted in other battery saving apps. But I hear you, one other thing is that your usage won't be the same as mine, and I also think fast charging and gaming will kill a battery sooner.

 

[mustang7757]

There's two papers quoted in the screenshot, albeit 2002/2003, and I'm assuming the research was well done ie., peer reviewed, I think we can trust what was reported. Btw the screen capture comes from AccuBattery tutorial but I've seen also the same numbers quoted in other battery saving apps. But I hear you, one other thing is that your usage won't be the same as mine, and I also think fast charging and gaming will kill a battery sooner.

Fast charging unless you got something from OPPO which I dont trust , heavy gaming I've seen battery capacity go down quickly not my phone my sisters .

 

[Mooncatt]

Problem is if you never go to 100 percent your battery stats never reset or minimum 90%
Then once in awhile needs calibration 5% to 100% ..im sure it can extend the life but 200 just don't think it accurate. @Mooncatt should know more as he studies or follows this .

Without doing a deep dive into the research AccuBattery referenced, I'm assuming their phrasing sufferers due to marketing. I think a more accurate way to look at it is keeping the battery in that middle range is the optimal baseline, but straying too far outside of that range (especially discharging to zero) can cut the available life in half. It's the same thing either way. The only difference is where the baseline is that you reference from. There's also a distinction between battery longevity, and cycle count. Longevity would be total amp hours consumed before it's considered bad, and cycle count is just how many times it's been plugged and unplugged. Battery University does make a similar reference to doubling cycle counts in their article on prolonging Li-ion batteries.

https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Table 4: Discharge cycles and capacity as a function of charge voltage limit. Every 0.10V drop below 4.20V/cell doubles the cycle but holds less capacity. Raising the voltage above 4.20V/cell would shorten the life. The readings reflect regular Li-ion charging to 4.20V/cell.

In general, AccuBattery is best for watching trends. I've seen some people claim to have verified the app as being pretty close by comparing it to a USB capacity meter plugged in line with the charger. Let's assume for the sake of argument that it isn't very accurate. As your battery ages, the estimated capacity in the app will drop. It doesn't matter if the estimated capacity is off, because a decline is a decline.

When it comes to recalibrating the battery, I never see much reason to do so. I understand that it resets the min/max flags in the charging algorithms, but I don't think they ever get far off to begin with. In a case like this, it's pretty safe to assume the battery is just shot. It also stands to reason that battery aging accelerates as it does so. As it ages, it has to work harder to power the phone. Working harder wears it out quicker. And thus it becomes a downward spiral.

 

[Jeremy8000]

Thanks for all the feedback. To test it out, I put my phone in safe mode (but turned the default airplane mode off and reconnected to WiFi) and, with no other apps running, ran the stopwatch (mostly dark screen) for 30 minutes, during which time the displayed battery went from 80% to 61%.

While I don't know if the battery % drop is linear (outside of when battery-saver mode is engaged), it would appear that the battery would drain from 100% to 0% in about 2½ hours of display on-time with virtually no CPU usage and the brightness set to 80%.

I did reach out to Google who advised me to take it to UBreakIFix since there's one very close to me, and reach back out to them after the shop evaluates it to see if they might be able to help as an exception if the degradation is particularly out-of-line, despite it being out of warranty. I'll be trying that in the next couple of days.

Putting me at the point where if it's an out-of-pocket expense, probably about $90, I'll need to decide whether to do that or try to hold out for the 4a5g or the 5...

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks for all the feedback. To test it out, I put my phone in safe mode (but turned the default airplane mode off and reconnected to WiFi) and, with no other apps running, ran the stopwatch (mostly dark screen) for 30 minutes, during which time the displayed battery went from 80% to 61%.

While I don't know if the battery % drop is linear (outside of when battery-saver mode is engaged), it would appear that the battery would drain from 100% to 0% in about 2½ hours of display on-time with virtually no CPU usage and the brightness set to 80%.

I did reach out to Google who advised me to take it to UBreakIFix since there's one very close to me, and reach back out to them after the shop evaluates it to see if they might be able to help as an exception if the degradation is particularly out-of-line, despite it being out of warranty. I'll be trying that in the next couple of days.

Putting me at the point where if it's an out-of-pocket expense, probably about $90, I'll need to decide whether to do that or try to hold out for the 4a5g or the 5...

I would do the 90 now , maybe later add the pix 4a and keep the other as back up

 

[swebb]

Thanks for all the feedback. To test it out, I put my phone in safe mode (but turned the default airplane mode off and reconnected to WiFi) and, with no other apps running, ran the stopwatch (mostly dark screen) for 30 minutes, during which time the displayed battery went from 80% to 61%.

While I don't know if the battery % drop is linear (outside of when battery-saver mode is engaged), it would appear that the battery would drain from 100% to 0% in about 2½ hours of display on-time with virtually no CPU usage and the brightness set to 80%.

I did reach out to Google who advised me to take it to UBreakIFix since there's one very close to me, and reach back out to them after the shop evaluates it to see if they might be able to help as an exception if the degradation is particularly out-of-line, despite it being out of warranty. I'll be trying that in the next couple of days.

Putting me at the point where if it's an out-of-pocket expense, probably about $90, I'll need to decide whether to do that or try to hold out for the 4a5g or the 5...

If you can, hold out for one of the 5g phones. Buy directly from Google and trade in your 3XL. They're currently giving $180 trade in value against a P4a purchase for a 3XL that turns on and does not have any major screen issues, like cracks. Nothing mentioned about battery life in the trade in calculator.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the offer decreases when the next round of Pixels are released.

 

[KPMcClave]

Without doing a deep dive into the research AccuBattery referenced, I'm assuming their phrasing sufferers due to marketing. I think a more accurate way to look at it is keeping the battery in that middle range is the optimal baseline, but straying too far outside of that range (especially discharging to zero) can cut the available life in half. It's the same thing either way. The only difference is where the baseline is that you reference from. There's also a distinction between battery longevity, and cycle count. Longevity would be total amp hours consumed before it's considered bad, and cycle count is just how many times it's been plugged and unplugged. Battery University does make a similar reference to doubling cycle counts in their article on prolonging Li-ion batteries.

Except 200% isn't doubling. a 100% increase is doubling.

 

[KPMcClave]

If you can, hold out for one of the 5g phones. Buy directly from Google and trade in your 3XL. They're currently giving $180 trade in value against a P4a purchase for a 3XL that turns on and does not have any major screen issues, like cracks. Nothing mentioned about battery life in the trade in calculator.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the offer decreases when the next round of Pixels are released.

That's a crappy trade-in amount, isn't it? The Samsung site will give me significantly more for my Pixel 3 XL. I don't recall the exact amount, but $250 or $350 I think.

 

[Jeremy8000]

That's a crappy trade-in amount, isn't it? The Samsung site will give me significantly more for my Pixel 3 XL. I don't recall the exact amount, but $250 or $350 I think.

Samsung is pulling the same trick as car dealers - they present a value to offer on the trade-in based on the model you'll buy. I.e., it's not so much the value of the phone they will receive in trade as it is the degree to which the margin of select models is inflated and allows for excess discount.

For the Pixel 3 XL, they offer:

$250 credit towards an S10e or Z Flip 5G
$350 credit towards an S20+5g
$400 credit towards a Note 20 5G

I agree the trade-in amount from Google is a bit on the low side, but would suggest that the bulk of the additional value assigned by Samsung is being pulled from the retail.

Edit - could be worse... T-Mobile offers a laughable $107!

 

[Mike Dee]

Samsung is pulling the same trick as car dealers - they present a value to offer on the trade-in based on the model you'll buy. I.e., it's not so much the value of the phone they will receive in trade as it is the degree to which the margin of select models is inflated and allows for excess discount.

For the Pixel 3 XL, they offer:

$250 credit towards an S10e or Z Flip 5G
$350 credit towards an S20+5g
$400 credit towards a Note 20 5G

I agree the trade-in amount from Google is a bit on the low side, but would suggest that the bulk of the additional value assigned by Samsung is being pulled from the retail.

I get your point using the car dealer analogy, however with a car if you get your bottom line price up front and then present your trade you get the real value of your trade.
The bottom line with Samsung is you can still get more for your trade depending on what you're looking to buy and they are looking to take customers from other brands.