Battery life?

MattWheelerGA

New Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Location
Statesboro, GA
I've been thinking about getting rid of my Bionic for the GNex, but battery life is a concern of mine. How is the battery life on the GNex? Stock? Custom ROMs/kernels?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums
 

Tim K

New Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Messages
28
Reaction score
0
You will probably get a lot of stories about how awful it is. But don't worry about it. There are 2 critical things to remember.

1. This thing has a HUGE screen. Big screens use a lot of juice....especially when you can't keep from looking at it. Keep the brightness dialed down for best results. I wouldn't go any higher than 30% and I keep it at 10% which is fine except in direct sunlight.

2. 4G chews up battery. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Its a fact. Until phones start coming with hybrid 3G/4G chips, the bottom line is 4G uses more power even though its supposed to be more efficient. Keep in mind these are still essentially 1st generation. If you don't need the speed and value battery life, consider using 3G. Also, ALWAYS use WIFI whenever possible. Wifi uses far less juice.

Finally, there are some bugs that are causing drain for a lot of users. Personally, I have found that turning off unnecessary sync services has addressed most of those problems. Google+, photos, and separately google backup were problems for me. I only sync gmail, contacts, calendar and browser. Things like twitter and facebook I have no need to constantly see updates (well, I quit facebook actually) so they are not set to sync.


Personally, with those tweaks I typically unplug the phone around 8am at 100% (well 99% technically most days).
I use about 2hrs of screen on time (which is a major factor in battery life)
Maybe 20 minutes of voice calls (don't forget phone calls use lots of juice)
80-90% of the day on wifi

at 11pm when I plug back in I am usually still over 30% on the battery. More if I don't stream anything on Sirius or Google music.

I am rooted, but stock kernel, stock rom.
 

turdbogls

Active Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
1,071
Reaction score
5
Location
O-Town FL
battery life isn't great. i would suspect about 2 hrs screen on time with the stock ROM and 50/50 4g and wifi.

with that said, i have tweaked my settings to give pretty good results. i have not had a chance yet for a full NORMAL day use with my nexus.

the other day, i went 10.5 hours of full 4g, with 2.75 hours screen on time, a little game playing, maybe 15 pictures, 10 minute phone call, constant syncing of google services, maybe 20 text messages and probably 20-30 minutes of tapatalk forum browsing. i also downloaded a 700mb file over wifi. so that can give you an idea of what to expect. that was on code name android, with some voltage/frequency tweaks. i have found that cpu spy is a great tool. it tells me if my phone goes into deep sleep or not. last night, i was at 34% battery after 5 hours off the charger (light use) and i used cpu spy to see that i was sitting at 700 mhz (have 700 min 1200 max with conservative gov) for the majority of the time and i was not going into deep sleep. a kernal change took care of that and i am back to seeing some pretty good battery life.
 

dezymond

Tech Support Mod
Staff member
Premium Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
12,049
Reaction score
1,479
Location
Bay Area, California
Current Phone Model
Google Pixel
Stock battery life wasn't too great. I've since used a ROM and get great battery life.
 

xeene

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
3,479
Reaction score
1,004
Location
detroit, usa
I've been thinking about getting rid of my Bionic for the GNex, but battery life is a concern of mine. How is the battery life on the GNex? Stock? Custom ROMs/kernels?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using DroidForums
if you keep screen off, it'll last you 24-36 hours. with screen constantly on, don't expect more then 4-5 hours.
 

wbernardez

New Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
I have a stock gnex and extended battery. It lasts me about 5 hrs, i have a ton of widgets and net use. So for my usage it works for me

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums
 

sloppy

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
Gnex and a seidio battery will get you 18hrs of heavy usage. With the 3800 battery it makes the gnex the same thickness as a tbolt or a bionic. Everyone has plenty to say about how ugly it is but most if not all of those people don't have one. It is no where near as bad as the picks and I charge my phone every other day. Right now I'm at 14hrs off charger with 68% left. I've seen alot of people getting 11 or 12 hours out of there phone without much use. Do yourself a favor. Get a gnex, a 3800 battery, root it and actually use your phone and enjoy.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

syndicate0017

Silver Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
2,007
Reaction score
48
i have tons of screensohts on my stock GN that proves im getting better battery than my tbolt.. non issue for me :)

here is one for example:

Lol. Did you even use your phone?...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

dezymond

Tech Support Mod
Staff member
Premium Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
12,049
Reaction score
1,479
Location
Bay Area, California
Current Phone Model
Google Pixel
i have tons of screensohts on my stock GN that proves im getting better battery than my tbolt.. non issue for me :)

here is one for example:

View attachment 47176
That's alot of phone idle time. I'm surprised your Android OS % is that low as well. Guess you're not affected too much by the bug.
 

sloppy

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
This is my seidio 3800 battery with moderate usage. Heavy usage she'll go for 18hrs. I'm a little fatter than stock but I get to USE my phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

Shad0w0fDeth

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Im not sure if my phone is defective but no matter what rom I load, undervolt, disable data, underclock, screen at lowest brightness, I get horrible battery life. My seidio battery lasts as long as the samsung extended.

Guess people are right, it's just the big screen. I use the phone about an hour of screen time, Google music for an hour or two, by the time I get home, my phone is dying. Ooh well. I've also looked for wake locks and my cpu speeds.

Also people that post big uptimes usually have lots of idling or on wifi.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

sloppy

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
30
Reaction score
0
If your getting that kinda life out of the 3800. There is a problem somewhere. One thing about the extended batteries both Samsung and seidio. You have to completely deplete them through normal use and then charge over night and wipe battery stats and reboot. I was getting 12 to 15 hours out of Samsung ext battery with light usage and can get up to 40hrs on 3800. 18 hours with heavy usage.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

Shad0w0fDeth

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
I did a wipe two days ago when I changed roms. I'm starting to think I just have a faulty unit. Battery drains way too quickly.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

zach9009

New Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
I have used smart phones since the OG G1 and have never seen where Wi-Fi is better on battery. Of course 4g drains it faster but I keep mine connected to 3g moat of the time and it saves battery. Idk how ppl see better battery life with Wi-Fi. But the galaxy nexus is not near as good as the bionic with battery, however its worth it to get the extended 2100ma/h battery and u will be fine. That battery makes it comparable to the bionic in way of battery life. Get the nexus. Its such a bad ass phone. Ice cram sandwich rocks!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums
 
Top