Why is my battery life so terrible?

[tquan]

Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Unfortunately, the Moto X 2014 has the worst battery life of any phone I've owned. didn't get even 6 hours out of it today, with only moderate use. a similarly configured iPhone 6 gets 3x the battery life with the same/even more apps loaded. Yes, I've tried hard resetting the phone. Yes, I've used the battery life tools (GSam), etc. The generic Android System/Android OS are always the top users, which is not helpful. Yes, I've disabled unnecessary apps. I'm at my wit's end with the phone, and basically ready to ditch it.

 

[On2Vegas]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Sorry to hear. Perhaps a bad battery.

With moderate use, I consistently get 14-16 hrs, between 4-4.5 SOT, with ~15% left before bed.

 

[raqball]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Lollipop is doing that to a lot of phones.. My N5 is getting much less battery since the update..

My X has not been delivered yet and I'm hoping it comes with 4.4.4 installed. If it does, I won't be updating until Google fixes 5.0..

 

[Clocks]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Since its so incredibly bad one thing you could try is a factory reset and then log in but don't install a single app,let your data sync from Google,then unplug it. Should be obvious in 2-3 hours if it's still bad. If it isn't then you have a bad app.

If some people have constant battery drain and some people don't the most obvious cause us an app you installed even if Google services is at the top.

 

[jephanie]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

There's definitely a defective issue with either the hardware or the OS install. That's completely out of whack. My battery life appears to be unchanged from KitKat. I get about 4 hours or more of screen time per day depending on what I'm doing.

 

[delrey1900]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

From what I've read, you are a minority. As you can see here as an example: http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-x-2014/461005-moto-x-2014-battery-life-lollipop.html#post4091362 So, let us help you. Post your GSAM screen shots and the other battery results from Android itself. The few that have had problems did the hard reset like you did but got their results turned around.

After your hard reset, did you go and install ALL of your updates right away or did you install only one or two at a time?

My experience with Lollipop's battery life has been the same as it's been with KK. What was your battery life before the update?

 

[delrey1900]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Also, look here http://forums.androidcentral.com/motorola-droid-turbo/468332-nova-launcher-battery-drain.html about Facebook causing issues for a Droid Turbo issue. Worth a look and consideration.

This is what the OP had to say:

So it seemed it was facebook that was the culprit behind my battery issues. Such a rookie fix that i have overlooked. I definitely see the increase in battery life now that I have disabled most of its unneeded notifications and background process related ware. Thanks to all.

 

[Clocks]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

One thing I changed recently was removing Facebook and amazon from my phone and just using the web versions. Both are crap apps that cause problems on many phones.

 

[tquan]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Have removed every app off the phone other than what it shipped with except for GSam to check on the battery, and even disabled the carrier supplied apps from Verizon. All that's left is the configuration for my work email (which I need to do my job) and personal email. Hard resetting the phone is painful for me because if I do that, I have to go through a reprovisioning process with my company's IT, which I'd rather avoid. It's barely a smartphone at this point. Will update on how it does.

For the person who suggested Facebook as a culprit, I don't use Facebook, it has no value for me so I don't even have a Facebook account.

BTW, I'm far from a fanboy (I use both iPhones and Android phones regularly, and both about equally). I've never had to go to this extent to figure out a battery life issue, both platforms have pretty much "just worked" for me in this regard.

 

[delrey1900]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

For the person who suggested Facebook as a culprit, I don't use Facebook, it has no value for me so I don't even have a Facebook account.

I don't have one either but I hear a lot of users having issues. As for helping you, we just don't have enough data to help. Screen shots of battery life would have helped even though you have limited apps installed on the phone. There's got to be something up with either the install of Lollipop or something could be wrong with the phone itself. Until we get some battery usage screen shots, we are just doing the guessing game.

 

[Snake Griffin]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

It would help if you could post some battery stats screenshots.

If you've tried everything then getting the phone exchanged might be the thing to do.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Loc Huynh]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

I uninstalled facebook...a LONG TIME ago on a different phone and never touched it again. That solved all of my battery issues.
The fb messenger app isn't a battery drain.

 

[NoYankees44]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

If you are only getting 6 hours without using something like GPS the whole time or have an app going crazy, they you have faulty hardware. Get a replacement.

Sent from my XT1096

 

[cgardnervt]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Mine works for me! Of course not every device is for everyone. Depends on how you use it and what you want. Mines better than my old M7 and the M7 to be honest was fine by me as well.

 

[Green_Laser]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

May just well be you have a defective battery, and this can happen with any manufacturer.

So, to see if so, try this:

1) factory rest device
2) charge phone up all the way
3) put in airplane mode for a good number of hours, have screen off, report back with a screenshot or two on usage

If you really want to find out you gotta try another route. Its not going to be fun, but at least if it is bad, you can let Motorola know that its a hardware defect, and if I'm not mistaken, hardware and software is covered for first year.

 

[Ed Briggs]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Are you leaving Location on? I found out leaving that on all the time was severely draining the battery. When location is turned off, I get great battery life, and only turn it on when needed.

 

[tquan]

Re: Moto X 2014/Lollipop: Worst battery life of any phone I've owned

Removing every app off the phone and leaving only email configured returned battery life to normal. Now, the tedious process of installing a few apps at a time and not reinstalling ones I don't regularly use, to see if I can find the culprit.

BTW, for the folks who asked, posting bunches of GSam and battery utility screenshots would not have given a clue. They consistently showed the Android OS/system processes as top battery users when I had this problem, and nothing else with significant battery, network or cpu use. Something was keeping the phone awake for sure (you could see big blocks of awake time when the screen was off) but neither the built in utilities or GSam gave any clue what that was.

Hey Google, how about some real tools for helping people debug battery life issues, instead of guessing, or requiring people to root their phones to make a good tool for this work? BTW, for the folks who say "hey, root it", sorry, my work bars use of rooted phones, they can't be configured to read work email and are kicked off the network when (automatically) detected.

 

[Green_Laser]

Hey Google, how about some real tools for helping people debug battery life issues, instead of guessing, or requiring people to root their phones to make a good tool for this work?

Amen to that!
I'm totally up for more clarity on wakelocks. All we see are blue ticks in the (KitKat) battery usage screen. Why would only root users be the only ones to have this implemented is beyond my knowledge, all we really want to know is which of the 100+ (example) apps is/are the bad apple(s).

And I know there's a way to use wakelock detector unrooted, just seems like a tedious process.