My biggest gripe with this phone: Battery Life

[Arcadia310]

I LOVE the Galaxy Nexus, but the rate at which the battery discharges is just ridiculous. I'll use the phone for 15 minutes doing things like Twitter or Web Browsing, and it'll discharge 5% in that time. To me, that is horrible. I'm being really conservative too. Throughout a day I try not to play videos, games, or anything else intensive because I know it'll ruin my battery life. Even on standby it discharges 5% in an hour. Typically I lose about 10% an hour and my max has been 12 hours so far.

I have auto sync turned on and keep the screen low when possible. I NEED auto sync on because of the nature of my work. Compared to my iPhone 4S battery is downright pathetic.

Today my usage consisted of one phone call, a few text messages, lots of Twitter, and light web browsing. Nothing too crazy. Again I'm being really conservative with my usage whereas on my iPhone I can do whatever I want and not worry. I'm just not seeing how people are getting 15+ hours and claim heavy usage. I'd love to believe that! The battery drains so fast during normal usage it may be a deal breaker for me.

Edit: My battery discharged 2% just while writing this post.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

 

[Niksko]

It sounds like your definition of light usage is wrong.

I wouldn't consider heaps of twitter and some web browsing light usage. I would consider it moderate usage, in which case you seem to be in line with everyone else.

I agree with you in that the battery life isn't quite what I would have liked. Ideally I wouldn't have to worry about battery at all, and I'd be able to play games and browse the web as much as I like, but for normal usage it's fine.

The next Nexus though, man, that will only have to be charged once a month. I can't wait.

 

[Arcadia310]

It sounds like your definition of light usage is wrong.

I wouldn't consider heaps of twitter and some web browsing light usage. I would consider it moderate usage, in which case you seem to be in line with everyone else.

I agree with you in that the battery life isn't quite what I would have liked. Ideally I wouldn't have to worry about battery at all, and I'd be able to play games and browse the web as much as I like, but for normal usage it's fine.

The next Nexus though, man, that will only have to be charged once a month. I can't wait.

Twitter hardly taxes the processors at all. Refreshing it every so often should hardly take any battery life at all. Web Browsing I can understand, but my total time browsing today probably amounts to 10 minutes total.

 

[AdamUpNorth]

I wonder how much of the drain is attributed to the 4.65" screen. It's a monster.

-Sent from my Arc (LT15a)

 

[rashad1]

I expect the battery life go improve within the first few cycles. I had a similar experience with the Nexus S last year.

 

[Arcadia310]

I wonder how much of the drain is attributed to the 4.65" screen. It's a monster.

-Sent from my Arc (LT15a)

Most of it. 720p Super AMOLED HD is killing the battery. The only way to last a long time is to not turn the screen on.

 

[Arcadia310]

I expect the battery life go improve within the first few cycles. I had a similar experience with the Nexus S last year.

I've had the phone for a week so far.

 

[Hunteres]

almost 3hours of screen from 10h standby!! mate give us a break and get back 4s. !!

heavy usage not low!

i can see low signal (coverage) what can also produce higher battery drain.
twiter running 24/7 in backround sync on + wifi + games...
i dont know what you want... you will never get anything similar from for example HTC sensation or even your favourite 4s.

dont take it on bad way..but if you dont know what to do - try to save your battery..

-lower your screen britness
-remove/disable apps that are producing the heavy drain (use betterbatterystats app)
-stop playing games - if you wanna long life for your battery.
-etc...

Best regards

 

[player911]

People using a G2x claim to get a day and a half... I'm lucky to get out of work. Push email for work is to blame I think. I get tons of emails (100 a day) and I think its taxing. From your pics, the screen used over 50% of it. That's a lot.

Sucks.

Also make sure your aren't turning on the screen every 5 minutes to check the status. Since your coming from an iOS, are you closing apps properly (back = close, home = minimize).

I'm not saying your crazy but just saying.

LG G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Asus Transformer - 3.7 Revolver OC/UV

 

[qnet]

I expect the battery life go improve within the first few cycles. I had a similar experience with the Nexus S last year.

I had the same thing happen with the Nexus One. The battery wasn't that great but, got better after a few charge cycles.

I've never had a Android phone that could match the battery life of the Iphone. I can sit the iphone down at night without putting it on the charger and, if it's at 100% it will be at about 90-95% when I wake up. I did the same thing with my Mytouch 4G and, it was at 15%

To the OP, I would recommend keeping a charging cable with you when you out and about especially in your car. I've had car docks with a few of my android phones and, always keep the phone docked when I'm driving somewhere. It really helps.

 

[mklass]

What you also need to remember is this is the first release of ICS and is still in development so battery life my be improved in the next update. Like you mention iPhone4S there was massive battery leakage in the first release of IOS 5 which Apple apparently fixed in the newest update.. So maybe in the next update we can expect some bugs ironed out.

 

[Emama]

Used to only have ONLY 2-3 hours screen ON on my Vibrant so I know how SAmoled looks like.

I know iphone battery is good, but you need to consider the screen size too..

Get a spare battery with your "light usage", but I am thinking how much would it cost becoz of the NPC antenna.

 

[tylose]

Too good thing is, unlike iPhone, you can buy a spare battery and carry it with you.

 

[Storm T]

3 hours of screen use is what the problem is. That is a long time. I wouldn't complain about that at all.

 

[Hunteres]

3 hours of screen use is what the problem is. That is a long time. I wouldn't complain about that at all.

exactly what i am trying to say
+1

 

[Arcadia310]

almost 3hours of screen from 10h standby!! mate give us a break and get back 4s. !!

heavy usage not low!

i can see low signal (coverage) what can also produce higher battery drain.
twiter running 24/7 in backround sync on + wifi + games...
i dont know what you want... you will never get anything similar from for example HTC sensation or even your favourite 4s.

dont take it on bad way..but if you dont know what to do - try to save your battery..

-lower your screen britness
-remove/disable apps that are producing the heavy drain (use betterbatterystats app)
-stop playing games - if you wanna long life for your battery.
-etc...

Best regards

I already said I didn't play any games today and my screen brightness is low. For some reason Shadowgun stays in the battery info screen. I played the game two days ago and manually closed it out. Even after rebooting the phone its still there.

I'm being 100% real, stop trying to make excuses or act like I'm an iPhone fanboy. The Galaxy Nexus combined with ICS is the best phone I've ever used! I'm just terribly disappointed with the battery life.

 

[pukemon]

Twittering all day is sucking up battery because of all the data use. Dude, youre not a light user with 3 hours screen time moderate, possibly heavy depending on background stuff sycing automatically. You have some tweaking to do, not whining.

Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong country.

 

[Arcadia310]

3 hours of screen use is what the problem is. That is a long time. I wouldn't complain about that at all.

3 hours is not that much. Seriously. It shouldn't be damn near dead after 10 hours. Imagine if I decided to play a game for 15 minutes or watch 2 YouTube videos.

I bet if people were getting an hour and half with this phone, all the fanboys here would say the same thing. "Man, an hour and a half is a long time! You should be happy with that!".

 

[Arcadia310]

Twittering all day is sucking up battery because of all the data use. Dude, youre not a light user with 3 hours screen time moderate, possibly heavy depending on background stuff sycing automatically. You have some tweaking to do, not whining.

Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong country.

I've tested out the battery difference by turning off auto sync. Doesn't make a difference at all. Fact of the matter is that the battery drains like crazy when the screen is on.

I'll just turn my phone on because actually using it is frowned upon here.

 

[rashad1]

Too good thing is, unlike iPhone, you can buy a spare battery and carry it with you.

Except they aren't out yet