Battery life getting worse, common problem?

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mateopase

Senior Member
Jan 1, 2011
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11
Yesterday a post was made to /r/nexus5 on reddit about how battery life was getting worse as time went on. Over 100 people replied saying that their phone was getting worse battery life as well. Here's the link: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus5/comments/1yxj2g/battery_life_went_from_insane_to_terrible/ The most people were able to find out was that there was a problem with the Android OS process. Are you guys having similar issues? And do you have any fixes?
 

Hooya

Senior Member
Apr 3, 2008
102
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Batteries do lose their max charge over time. We're now 6 months aged for the first purchased devices, so it could simply be those batteries are starting to age. They still have years to go, but a brand new battery will always be impressive.

It's one reason why I silently laugh at people bragging about great battery life for a brand new device. of course it will get good life, it's a new battery running optimized software that isn't pushing the hardware as hard as the software 2 years into a device life cycle.
 

simms22

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posted by people that know nothing..
as time goes on, you install more and more apps. many apps arent coded very well, and have other issues. anyways, people get more and more of these crappy apps that will drain more and more battery without you even using them. anywho, not a problem here. i get pretty much the exact same battery life now as i did months ago.

---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 PM ----------

Batteries do lose their max charge over time. We're now 6 months aged for the first purchased devices, so it could simply be those batteries are starting to age. They still have years to go, but a brand new battery will always be impressive.

It's one reason why I silently laugh at people bragging about great battery life for a brand new device. of course it will get good life, it's a new battery running optimized software that isn't pushing the hardware as hard as the software 2 years into a device life cycle.

great battery life for an "old" device, 5-6 hours screen on time every single day. the batteries life doesnt reduce that quick, and generally youll change phones(within 2 years) before you see the life of your battery shorten.
 

bblzd

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2013
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Toronto
Batteries do lose their max charge over time. We're now 6 months aged for the first purchased devices, so it could simply be those batteries are starting to age. They still have years to go, but a brand new battery will always be impressive.

It's one reason why I silently laugh at people bragging about great battery life for a brand new device. of course it will get good life, it's a new battery running optimized software that isn't pushing the hardware as hard as the software 2 years into a device life cycle.

6 months isn't going to be noticeably less max charge unless the battery was severely abused. Also the phone has been out for 4 months and most are younger.

Here's something to think about: Usage patterns change. People install new apps.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

Alex240188

Senior Member
May 4, 2010
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Indeed usage patterns play a massive part. And some of which can be completely out of your control.
At home on WiFi I'll get 6-7 hours of screen time.
At home on hspa I'll get 5-6
At work on hspa I'll get 3-4
So at worst case scenario I can lose half of my normal battery usage just based on the carrier performance.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
 
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Liskrig

Senior Member
Mar 17, 2011
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I get about 3-4 hours SoT daily... If anything, that has gone up since I got my device (one of the first batches shipped in US).

I wish I could get 5-7 SoT, with numbers like that, I'm beginning to think I'm doing something very very wrong :eek:

Point is... I have one of the first phones shipped out, and my battery life has stayed exactly the same.
 

Tenhi

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2010
325
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High battery usage by Android OS is probably good indication that there are some wakelocks. It has nothing to do with battery being "older".

My battery is great from day one.

Captain obvious mode now:

Posting SoT is pointless and proves nothing. It really depends on what you are doing when screen is on. It is really obvious that it is not the same if you read some book with 5% brightness or play a game.

My SoTs go from 2h up to 7h, depending on usage...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
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tien113

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2007
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wake lock is main reason makes battery drains so much. try to use greenify to hibernate apps.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
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theesotericone

Senior Member
Sep 22, 2013
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Captain obvious mode now:

Posting SoT is pointless and proves nothing. It really depends on what you are doing when screen is on. It is really obvious that it is not the same if you read some book with 5% brightness or play a game.

My SoTs go from 2h up to 7h, depending on usage...

LOL. Yep. Give me a day and I'll show you screenies of ten hours of SOT. It'll be BS because to get those results I have to set my phones brightness to less than stock. I also have to set screen timeout to 30 minutes. As well I need to remember to turn the damn screen back on after 30 minutes. I also have to make sure my phone is in my sock drawer doing nothing when the screen is on. It'll still show 10 hours SOT though.:cool:
 

bblzd

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2013
2,291
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Toronto
LOL. Yep. Give me a day and I'll show you screenies of ten hours of SOT. It'll be BS because to get those results I have to set my phones brightness to less than stock. I also have to set screen timeout to 30 minutes. As well I need to remember to turn the damn screen back on after 30 minutes. I also have to make sure my phone is in my sock drawer doing nothing when the screen is on. It'll still show 10 hours SOT though.:cool:

Only 10? Think you could do much higher in those conditions.:D

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

Hermosa

Senior Member
Jan 14, 2014
130
7
Yesterday a post was made to /r/nexus5 on reddit about how battery life was getting worse as time went on. Over 100 people replied saying that their phone was getting worse battery life as well. Here's the link: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus5/comments/1yxj2g/battery_life_went_from_insane_to_terrible/ The most people were able to find out was that there was a problem with the Android OS process. Are you guys having similar issues? And do you have any fixes?

Yeah, the common problem.... My battery just is used for 5 hours.
But there are some fixs to follow:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1168036
 

Alex240188

Senior Member
May 4, 2010
1,131
739
Hull
I posted my usual screen times on a typical day for me.
Typically I do the same things which are a lot of xda and viewing the verge and YouTube. A few calls and texts.
And from my experience the difference between being at home with WiFi off and being at work with WiFi off is that my battery usually lasts nearly twice as long at home.

I was trying to get across the message that your carriers signal strength plays a massive role on how long your battery lasts.
So say if a mast went down and you get bumped onto one a bit further away (they don't rush when fixing these things unless it's a critical one). You would have done nothing and all of a sudden your battery life has started taking a massive hit.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
 

TheAtheistOtaku

Senior Member
Oct 18, 2011
1,329
335
30
Buffalo
I'm also having this problem with the android os draining my batter And this started happening within the last week or so.I used to be able to easily get about 30 hours out of my phone, now I'm only able to get about half that. As you can see in the 4th pic, android os has been the cause of a 3h45m partial wakelock, which doesnt seem right to me and is probably the cause of most of the battery drain. the last 2 pics are something that also seems weird to me, as google accounts manager shouldnt take 4% in about an hour. I dont even know why its running that long. Though i know how to quick fix the account manager drain (simply disable it) the android os isnt that simple as i dont know how to see exactly what apps or processes are making it cause a partial wakelock.
Im on omnirom using chaos kernel 9.2

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zydy4ahy.jpg


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
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Tenhi

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2010
325
45
I had a similar issue a while back, and in the end it was Google location reporting within Google now service. Try to switch location reporting off but leave location history on and see if it helps. Also choose Location mode to battery saving.

Turning off location reporting does not affect Google Now functionality...

It can be something else in your case, but this problem was common...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

MrObvious

Senior Member
Mar 1, 2008
2,291
330
Wichita KS
One thing I've noticed as a weirdness is the cache of a phone can get stale and so it gets into some weird loop that drains battery or something and clearing the cache improves battery life. Also sometimes apps can develop bugs or new wakelocks when you do an update so sometimes you have to stay on top of it to track it.
 
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mistahseller

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2013
821
226
Saint Louis
One thing I've noticed as a weirdness is the cache of a phone can get stale and so it gets into some weird loop that drains battery or something and clearing the cache improves battery life. Also sometimes apps can develop bugs or new wakelocks when you do an update so sometimes you have to stay on top of it to track it.

Thanks for the cache thing I have never thought about that before :good:

---------- Post added at 12:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 PM ----------

If I did not use some preventative measures to prolong battery life I would maybe get 14-16 hours in a day of usage, I always left wifi on, bluetooth even when not connected, data, force LTE, etc. I did not care because I charge my phone every night. I just find it silly if I get a day usage out of my phone and it is at 50% well assuming you use the phone the exact same as the last day you will use another 50% and it will be dead by the time you get to your charger.
 

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    posted by people that know nothing..
    as time goes on, you install more and more apps. many apps arent coded very well, and have other issues. anyways, people get more and more of these crappy apps that will drain more and more battery without you even using them. anywho, not a problem here. i get pretty much the exact same battery life now as i did months ago.

    ---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 PM ----------

    Batteries do lose their max charge over time. We're now 6 months aged for the first purchased devices, so it could simply be those batteries are starting to age. They still have years to go, but a brand new battery will always be impressive.

    It's one reason why I silently laugh at people bragging about great battery life for a brand new device. of course it will get good life, it's a new battery running optimized software that isn't pushing the hardware as hard as the software 2 years into a device life cycle.

    great battery life for an "old" device, 5-6 hours screen on time every single day. the batteries life doesnt reduce that quick, and generally youll change phones(within 2 years) before you see the life of your battery shorten.
    1
    Indeed usage patterns play a massive part. And some of which can be completely out of your control.
    At home on WiFi I'll get 6-7 hours of screen time.
    At home on hspa I'll get 5-6
    At work on hspa I'll get 3-4
    So at worst case scenario I can lose half of my normal battery usage just based on the carrier performance.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
    1
    High battery usage by Android OS is probably good indication that there are some wakelocks. It has nothing to do with battery being "older".

    My battery is great from day one.

    Captain obvious mode now:

    Posting SoT is pointless and proves nothing. It really depends on what you are doing when screen is on. It is really obvious that it is not the same if you read some book with 5% brightness or play a game.

    My SoTs go from 2h up to 7h, depending on usage...

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
    1
    wake lock is main reason makes battery drains so much. try to use greenify to hibernate apps.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
    1
    One thing I've noticed as a weirdness is the cache of a phone can get stale and so it gets into some weird loop that drains battery or something and clearing the cache improves battery life. Also sometimes apps can develop bugs or new wakelocks when you do an update so sometimes you have to stay on top of it to track it.