Nexus 4 battery - my observations

danakin · Jan 23, 2013

I've now been using my Nexus 4 for two and a half weeks and am very impressed with the device's battery life. My regular usage consists of an array of calls, texts, facebook, instagram, twitter, flipboard, and some browsing. I'm not a gamer and what media I do consume on the device consists of songs and podcasts.

Today, when I woke up, I had 11% remaining after getting two days of life out of the battery. My previous phone was a Galaxy S2 and, while I was not disappointed in its battery life, I never experienced such battery stamina. On average, I've been getting 1 day and 14 hours out of each Nexus 4 charge.

I had read both positive and negative accounts regarding the Nexus 4's battery ahead of making my purchase. So far, count me in the positive camp.

mattopotamus · Jan 23, 2013

That is really impressive.

Tinmania · Jan 23, 2013

That is impressive. I couldn't come anywhere near that with my N4. I couldn't even make it through a day. I mainly played a few games sporadically through the day (mainly just words with friends), email, text, and a lot of Whatsapp usage. I think Whatsapp was a real battery killer.

I also played around with a custom kernel, apps that let me control power, etc., and I think it only made things worse. Battery life seemed to improve when I restored to factory new, but still not up to my iPhone 4S's level (which I thought was poor).

I also kept the screen on auto till I decided that was just too dim for my tastes. Wish there was a way to set auto brightness preference (low, medium, high for instance).

Michael

danakin · Jan 23, 2013

I also use Whatsapp for some of my texting.

You know, I was expecting a bump in battery life, from my Galaxy S2, based on Josh Topolsky's comments in The Verge's review of the Nexus 4, but not to this extent (happily).

So far I'm really enjoying the phone and my first experience with un-skinned Android.

Lava Lamp Freak · Jan 23, 2013

danakin said:
I've now been using my Nexus 4 for two and a half weeks and am very impressed with the device's battery life. My regular usage consists of an array of calls, texts, facebook, instagram, twitter, flipboard, and some browsing. I'm not a gamer and what media I do consume on the device consists of songs and podcasts.

Today, when I woke up, I had 11% remaining after getting two days of life out of the battery. My previous phone was a Galaxy S2 and, while I was not disappointed in its battery life, I never experienced such battery stamina. On average, I've been getting 1 day and 14 hours out of each Nexus 4 charge.

I had read both positive and negative accounts regarding the Nexus 4's battery ahead of making my purchase. So far, count me in the positive camp.

What was your screen time and how high is your brightness?

danakin · Jan 23, 2013

Lava Lamp Freak said:
What was your screen time and how high is your brightness?

The screen shot shows screen at 20% of battery usage but I don't know how long the screen was on - I didn't think to look at that.

My brightness is kept around 40%; based on my eye-test re: slider position.

My background is a plain black; think of the monolith from 2001, and I'm sure it helps with battery life.

The bottom line for me is that, even if I continue getting 50-75% of current performance, I'm going to be very happy.

surjavarman · Jan 23, 2013

This is a troll topic. I could leave the nexus 4 in airplane mode, do nothing and get 14 days of standby time. Without screen time this picture is really useless.

Furthermore the OP is lying that hes using facebook, instagram, twitter, webbrowser, flipboard. Any of those apps would already show up at the battery stats screen. They would take the top5 spots of processes that consumes the mst battery. Also we don't know how many minutes he was calling. It could be 30sec, it could be 10minutes. I highly highly doubt its more than that though based on the screenshot. Anything more and it would be the #1-2 battery consumer. The screen consumed 20% of the power. Based on this he barely used the phone at all. Probably 30 minutes max. Anything more and it would consume 50-70% of the total power.

I call BS on this one. The OP is phony and a liar.

Tinmania · Jan 23, 2013

danakin said:
The screen shot shows screen at 20% of battery usage but I don't know how long the screen was on - I didn't think to look at that.

My brightness is kept around 40%; based on my eye-test re: slider position.

My background is a plain black; think of the monolith from 2001, and I'm sure it helps with battery life.

The bottom line for me is that, even if I continue getting 50-75% of current performance, I'm going to be very happy.

40%? My battery drops fast at 40%-50%. I am having trouble believing all of this unless they happened to throw a 3,000mAh battery in your N4.

Michael

danakin · Jan 23, 2013

Wow, troll, phony, liar; my mom is going to be very disappointed.

I can't control whether you believe me or not. That being said, I use my phone daily and yes, it does sit inactive for periods at a time when I'm at work. My usage pattern now is the same as it was with my Galaxy S2. I'm not constantly on the phone and it's not used for gaming or intense video activities.

This is my, and I stress the word "my" real world experience. Of course the total time includes two overnights where the phone had no activity; approximately 8.5 hours each.

You may continue to believe that I'm full of poop, that's your prerogative. For what it's worth, I'm pleasantly shocked that I'm getting this kind of battery life.

hyteckit · Jan 23, 2013

Post your screen time.

On time/standby time is pretty much useless to gauge actual usage.

My iPhone last over 10 days. My iPad last 2 weeks.

Although my Android tablet just dies on standby after 3 days.

Rodimus Prime · Jan 23, 2013

danakin said:
Wow, troll, phony, liar; my mom is going to be very disappointed.

I can't control whether you believe me or not. That being said, I use my phone daily and yes, it does sit inactive for periods at a time when I'm at work. My usage pattern now is the same as it was with my Galaxy S2. I'm not constantly on the phone and it's not used for gaming or intense video activities.

This is my, and I stress the word "my" real world experience. Of course the total time includes two overnights where the phone had no activity; approximately 8.5 hours each.

You may continue to believe that I'm full of poop, that's your prerogative. For what it's worth, I'm pleasantly shocked that I'm getting this kind of battery life.

I would not call him phony liar ect.
The brightness I can believe helping but based on the raw percetages I saw your screen is not on very much and have you relatively low screen time.

I also can assume you are turning on and off wifi based on the blue bar.

I say the screen part because I have been on Android for about 2 years now and I see screen time being the BIGGEST effect on my battery use. I have killed my phone in 5 hours but my screen was on for a good chunk of those. Same phone I have been at over 24 hours and at 30-40% battery left but my screen was not on very much and it still was the largest pull on my battery.

----------

danakin said:
The screen shot shows screen at 20% of battery usage but I don't know how long the screen was on - I didn't think to look at that.

My brightness is kept around 40%; based on my eye-test re: slider position.

My background is a plain black; think of the monolith from 2001, and I'm sure it helps with battery life.

The bottom line for me is that, even if I continue getting 50-75% of current performance, I'm going to be very happy.

You can get it by clicking on the 22%. Each one of those items will show more detailed data if you click on them.

TheHateMachine · Jan 23, 2013

danakin said:
Wow, troll, phony, liar; my mom is going to be very disappointed.

I can't control whether you believe me or not. That being said, I use my phone daily and yes, it does sit inactive for periods at a time when I'm at work. My usage pattern now is the same as it was with my Galaxy S2. I'm not constantly on the phone and it's not used for gaming or intense video activities.

This is my, and I stress the word "my" real world experience. Of course the total time includes two overnights where the phone had no activity; approximately 8.5 hours each.

You may continue to believe that I'm full of poop, that's your prerogative. For what it's worth, I'm pleasantly shocked that I'm getting this kind of battery life.

Could you do us a favor. Run your phone down like you normally would and before your recharge open up the battery app and tap the graph where is displays "D H M S on battery". This will display stuff like signal, wifi, awake, screen on and other metrics at the bottom in an off/on bar line. Take a screenshot and post that. I am interested as I have heard very mixed things about this phone.

danakin · Jan 23, 2013

TheHateMachine said:
Could you do us a favor. Run your phone down like you normally would and before your recharge open up the bettery app and tap the graph where is displays "D H M S on battery". This will display stuff like signal, wifi, awake, screen on and other metrics at the bottom in an off/on bar line. Take a screenshot and post that. I am interested as I have heard very mixed things about this phone.

Good point. I'll do my best to remember this when the phone runs down. I'm open to understanding how it is that I'm getting this battery life; not that I'm complaining mind you.

Cheers

onthecouchagain · Jan 23, 2013

The nexus 4 battery life is good but it should be better considering there is no lte. Should be a lot better.

danakin · Jan 24, 2013

OK, so here's a screenshot of the page that was requested earlier. The battery was at 55% when I snapped this.

Just to be clear; in light of being labeled a troll and baby-killer (OK, I may have upped the ante on the latter), I'm using my Nexus 4 the same way I used my Galaxy S2 - same SIM card and everything. I never got this kind of battery life out of the S2; not even close. That's why I'm shocked and impressed. Of course, your mileage may vary and other such caveats apply. I have no agenda to pursue, just a tech geek who is enjoying his first pure android phone.

Cheers!

TheHateMachine · Jan 24, 2013

danakin said:
OK, so here's a screenshot of the page that was requested earlier. The battery was at 55% when I snapped this.

Just to be clear; in light of being labeled a troll and baby-killer (OK, I may have upped the ante on the latter), I'm using my Nexus 4 the same way I used my Galaxy S2 - same SIM card and everything. I never got this kind of battery life out of the S2; not even close. That's why I'm shocked and impressed. Of course, your mileage may vary and other such caveats apply. I have no agenda to pursue, just a tech geek who is enjoying his first pure android phone.

Cheers!

I was about to post that you are probably in an area where your signal is phenomenal and you went and proved me right. In reference to mine I have nearly solid yellow on my mobile network signal. The screen on is the most telling. Your screen is not on as much as mine but it is not very different. However your phone does not seem to be very awake that often.

TacticalDesire · Jan 24, 2013

Battery life more me has been pretty meh. Even with light usage. Certainly not better than average. My experience with the battery has been mediocre but the overall device is fantastic.

danakin · Jan 24, 2013

TheHateMachine said:
I was about to post that you are probably in an area where your signal is phenomenal and you went and proved me right. I'm reference to mine I have nearly solid yellow on my mobile network signal. The screen on is the most telling. Your screen is not on as much as mine but it is not very different. However your phone does not seem to be very awake that often.

You're right, I'm in an area with a wonderful signal and the screen is not on a lot of the time. As I said earlier, I'm pleasantly impressed with this device compared to my S2.

I wonder how long a true power-user or gamer can get out of a Nexus 4.

TheHateMachine · Jan 24, 2013

danakin said:
You're right, I'm in an area with a wonderful signal and the screen is not on a lot of the time. As I said earlier, I'm pleasantly impressed with this device compared to my S2.

I wonder how long a true power-user or gamer can get out of a Nexus 4.

It is really influenced a lot by signal strength. I work at two hospitals and depending on which one I am at for the day determines if my S3 is at 50% or 25% by the time I get home.

tbayrgs · Jan 24, 2013

surjavarman said:
This is a troll topic. I could leave the nexus 4 in airplane mode, do nothing and get 14 days of standby time. Without screen time this picture is really useless.

Furthermore the OP is lying that hes using facebook, instagram, twitter, webbrowser, flipboard. Any of those apps would already show up at the battery stats screen. They would take the top5 spots of processes that consumes the mst battery. Also we don't know how many minutes he was calling. It could be 30sec, it could be 10minutes. I highly highly doubt its more than that though based on the screenshot. Anything more and it would be the #1-2 battery consumer. The screen consumed 20% of the power. Based on this he barely used the phone at all. Probably 30 minutes max. Anything more and it would consume 50-70% of the total power.

I call BS on this one. The OP is phony and a liar.

Wow, who pissed in your cereal is morning? The OP was just providing his own personal experience, not making any absurd claims that it's the best performing battery. His screen shot shows he's obviously a fairly light user so I don't find this performance unrealistic. If he can get 2 days use out of the battery based on his typical usage patterns, good for him. I personally couldn't make it through a day but my usage was much heavier.

And I doubt any of the apps mentioned would show up on the initial screen--not exactly energy hogs, especially if he's a light user. All of the processes listed would use much more battery than light use of the mentioned apps over a two day period.

If anyone's trolling here it's you.

danakin · Jan 24, 2013

tbayrgs said:
Wow, who pissed in your cereal is morning? The OP was just providing his own personal experience, not making any absurd claims that it's the best performing battery. His screen shot shows he's obviously a fairly light user so I don't find this performance unrealistic. If he can get 2 days use out of the battery based on his typical usage patterns, good for him. I personally couldn't make it through a day but my usage was much heavier.

Any I doubt any of the apps mentioned would show up on the initial screen--not exactly energy hogs, especially if he's a light user. All of the processes listed would use much more battery than light use of the mentioned apps over a today period.

If anyone's trolling here it's you.

Brings a tear to my eye!

danakin · Feb 19, 2013

So after a couple of more weeks of my regular use, I'm still very happy with the battery performance of my Nexus 4. Typically, I can get 32 - 36 hours of battery life with about 3 - 4 hours of screen time.

My previous phone, a Galaxy SII, was pretty good but nothing like this (same usage pattern) - usually about 18-24 hours before getting to 10%.

I'm really enjoying this phone and if the tales about 4.2.2 improving battery performance are true then hoo-rah! For the record, I'm still waiting to get my OTA update to 4.2.2.

jrswizzle · Feb 19, 2013

danakin said:
So after a couple of more weeks of my regular use, I'm still very happy with the battery performance of my Nexus 4. Typically, I can get 32 - 36 hours of battery life with about 3 - 4 hours of screen time.

My previous phone, a Galaxy SII, was pretty good but nothing like this (same usage pattern) - usually about 18-24 hours before getting to 10%.

I'm really enjoying this phone and if the tales about 4.2.2 improving battery performance are true then hoo-rah! For the record, I'm still waiting to get my OTA update to 4.2.2.

Wow....

I was getting pretty piss poor battery life (especially compared to my iPhone 5) but with 4.2.2 its gotten much better (all I need it to do is get through the day with around 3-5 hours of use). I also use JuiceDefender (the free version) which adds a little boost as well:

danakin · Feb 19, 2013

jrswizzle said:
Wow....

I was getting pretty piss poor battery life (especially compared to my iPhone 5) but with 4.2.2 its gotten much better (all I need it to do is get through the day with around 3-5 hours of use). I also use JuiceDefender (the free version) which adds a little boost as well:

I'd like to ask you a couple of questions:

Was your update to 4.2.2 OTA?
If it was OTA when did Google push it out to you?

I'm not a heavy user by any means but I am looking forward to seeing how 4.2.2 affects my battery life.

jrswizzle · Feb 19, 2013

danakin said:
I'd like to ask you a couple of questions:

Was your update to 4.2.2 OTA?

If it was OTA when did Google push it out to you?

I'm not a heavy user by any means but I am looking forward to seeing how 4.2.2 affects my battery life.

It was OTA and I got it Friday I believe....it was towards the end of last week, about a day or two after the announcement came out that it was being pushed out.

There are some posts on the Nexus 4 Owners thread that talk about some ways to get the OTA update to push by refreshing some stuff - frankly, I'm new to Android and hadn't the slightest idea what they were talking about since mine ended up coming through on its own. I'd check it out if I were you though.

I've noticed a substantial increase in battery life with 4.2.2, and the pictures above are about what I'd expect and need from a smartphone!

Nexus 4 battery - my observations

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