So far, the LG Nexus 4’s battery life has been less than impressive
When my LG Nexus 4 finally got here earlier this week, I was quite excited to begin testing Google’s latest smartphone. So far, everything has been going quite well, but I have noticed one thing that is a bit concerning: As far as I can tell in a subjective manner, the battery life of the device isn’t too good.
The past couple of days, I’ve been using the Nexus 4 in much the same way as I used to use my Samsung Galaxy Nexus. With the Galaxy Nexus, I usually had at least 50% battery life left by the time I got home. With the Nexus 4, that figure so far has been about 30%. I don’t even use the Nexus 4 too much during the day, and only made one short call, watched 20 minutes of Netflix, and browsed the internet for perhaps an hour total. The Galaxy Nexus wasn’t known for having great battery life, but from my use I feel like it would have fared better than this.
This could be chalked up to the fact that with a new device, I unconsciously use a bit more battery than usual checking out new features. However, I do have screen brightness set to automatic, screen timeout to 15 seconds, and Bluetooth and WiFi off most of the time, so there shouldn’t be any drastic battery drain.
I do have some hope that the battery life will get better as I use it, as I have heard some users talk of a “break in period” and most people don’t seem to have a problem with the Nexus 4’s battery life, but my current experience still has me at least a little bit concerned.
At least the Nexus 4’s battery life isn’t as bad as the iPhone 4S’ was when that device first launched! I don’t remember ever coming home with a battery above 10%.
**Looks at his “ancient” Galaxy S II**
**Removes back cover**
**Stares at extended battery**
**Reattaches back cover**
**Looks at article headline again**
**Laughs**
Google: Proudly entering the new frontier…backwards
I’ll admit that even though I like the Nexus 4, I’m a bit unhappy at how Google removes features with every generation. First, the microSD slot, now the removable battery, who knows what will be next.
Don’t forget the lack of HDMI (nexus 7), USB host (nexus 4), back camera (nexus 7) :p
My Galaxy SII has been PHENOMINAL. I forgot to charge mine last night and even using it a bunch today, I’m at 47% with 1d 2m 46s on battery. Of course I’m still on stock rooted gingerbread which is a real power mizer.
My wife’s iphone 5 was absolutely horrible when she got it and after taking the advice of her friends to let it run down to 0% power and shut itself off a couple of days in a row, it seemed to really come alive. I was skeptical that would do anything at all, but it seems to have really helped hers out. Maybe there is some sort of calibration it does when running it down? I’d try that with the N4. Or send it to me so I can test it out. My contract ends Dec 31 so I could try it with their $30/mo service :)
Oh, one last thing – could it be that you have low signal and it’s searching a lot for a better connection?
That is possible, I get a “your selected service provider could not be reached, no connection” a few times a day.
For the record, I never turn off anything on my SII running the official (flush) extended battery. WiFi on, HSPA on, run around with max screen brightness outside, and I run a whole bunch of stuff in the background, including Tasker which on any given days runs 500-1000 actions without me touching it. If I go below 50% that’s a weird day, and that’s on a battery that now has a year of use. I honestly don’t see the point of a phone where you have to turn off stuff to make it through the day.
There break in period is a real thing; I’ve experienced it on almost all my gadgets. As far as the non-removable battery and lack of SD card – I think that is going to be the norm as battery technology gets better and internal storage increases. Neither bother me too much. :-)
Isn’t there a battery saving feature on the N4 or is that just on the LGOG?
Have you turned off hot word detection in Google now that seems to save battery
Running a custom kernel REALLY makes a huge difference on the battery life. Franco kernel runs on stock 4.2 android, and increases the battery life immensely. Pic for verification
http://www.imgur.com/JagUD.png