Battery life

[stuarta]

So what's the general consensus of battery life so far? I'm tempted to upgrade my Pixel 2 and have a 25% of plans until the 30th.

Obviously appreciate that every phone that comes out, people whinge about battery life but obviously don't want to go for something worse than I already have, albeit 2 years old

 

[lvt]

Generally speaking, the newer phone the better.

Battery life isn't a big concern nowadays because all phones and external battery packs have Quick Charge feature. So some great phones may not come with larger battery to stay thinnest possibly.

 

[2oldseniors]

so far mine goes for the day with 20% left and this is texting and phone call with a lot of troubleshooting time using the phone itself with various tech support see my post on att apn settings for that issue

 

[NightAngel79]

I'd be worried about the smaller Pixel 4 with its 2800mah (or whatever) but you should be fine with the XL and its 3700mah (or whatever, numbers are approx)

 

[stuarta]

Yep was thinking about the XL but it's a lot more expensive

 

[lunatic59]

I've got a new XL and it's been off the charger for 8 hours and i am at 87% charge. Granted I don't stream media all day or shoot 4k selfie videos (like anybody want to watch that ) but it's pretty consistent text, email, browsing and a good helping of Google assistant. I take a few photos, make a call or two and check a sports score or two. It's by no means sitting idle in my pocket.

I think the YouTube channels are a tad over critical. When there's not that much to say, they focus on the minutiae.

 

[NightAngel79]

I've got a new XL and it's been off the charger for 8 hours and i am at 87% charge. Granted I don't stream media all day or shoot 4k selfie videos (like anybody want to watch that ) but it's pretty consistent text, email, browsing and a good helping of Google assistant. I take a few photos, make a call or two and check a sports score or two. It's by no means sitting idle in my pocket.

I think the YouTube channels are a tad over critical. When there's not that much to say, they focus on the minutiae.

MKBHD talked a lot about how even though it is a 90hz screen, it optimizes and goes down to 60, like a lot, which helps battery. Then Linus (or someone) mentioned it actually defaults to 60hz *any* time brightness is below 75%.
So the screen was one of the biggest reasons we all figured battery life was going to be atrocious. You can lock the phone in 90hz mode, but then battery life really will be awful.

 

[2oldseniors]

charged phone 100% with lite text use and 27 minutes of screen use so 3-1/2 hrs later its resting at 85% battery left and I have been working it some trying apn's surfing web seeking any help and about 1/2 hr with att support turning settings on/off changing settings powering phone on/off for them I think with basic texting talking and some web surfing it should last the day for me.

I however miss the setting in battery that said last time charged be it hrs a day or days or is it hidden someplace?

 

[lvt]

Most of users care more about battery capacity rather than the phone's consumption. A new phone with the latest CPU, Oled screen and a finely tuned operating system could last longer than the previous phone with bigger battery.

 

[lunatic59]

I however miss the setting in battery that said last time charged be it hrs a day or days or is it hidden someplace?

settings>battery? That sort of is what you are looking for.

MKBHD talked a lot about how even though it is a 90hz screen, it optimizes and goes down to 60, like a lot, which helps battery. Then Linus (or someone) mentioned it actually defaults to 60hz *any* time brightness is below 75%.

I've got brightness cranked all the way up, but it's too damn bright. All these Youtubers need to get their eyes checked or take off the sunglasses. So far inside and out it's plenty bright. I guess in direct sun you need a screen that's bright enough to burn your retinas ... hence retina display?

 

[stuarta]

Most of users care more about battery capacity rather than the phone's consumption. A new phone with the latest CPU, Oled screen and a finely tuned operating system could last longer than the previous phone with bigger battery.

That's what I'm thinking. My phone 2 years old so even with same battery, it should be better and mine is only gonna get worse with the newer updates demanding more. Plus with by 25% off offer it meant I got 4Gb data for £5/month less than I'm paying for 1Gb

 

[2oldseniors]

settings>battery? That sort of is what you are looking for.

not exactly the nexus 6p would say how long since last time charged as well as a percentage of battery left or I am not looking in correct place or actually reading all I see under battery usage accessed by the 3 dots in right corner

 

[Hadron]

I however miss the setting in battery that said last time charged be it hrs a day or days or is it hidden someplace?

Settings > Battery > 3-dot menu > Battery usage
Under the graph it says both when it was last taken off charge and how long it will last at the rate it's been used since then.

Of course if you really want to know this at all times you could always use something like KWGT to create a desktop widget which will show this constantly.

 

[2oldseniors]

Hadron thanks for that I sometimes do not read all I see!

 

[2oldseniors]

okay I used my phone until it ran out of battery it lasted 1day 4hrs and 15 minutes. chrome used 41% pixel launcher 8% ambient display 7% photos,gmail,google,my att,phone,pixel wallpapers all at 1% messages 5%
messages used for 22mins google play store used 4 min gmail used 2 min myatt used 3 min google used 1 day 2hr 18 min phone used 2 min pixel wallpapers used 4hr 39 minutes photos used 3 min

this hopefully answers questions for some on the smaller 2800 battery

 

[stuarta]

Have noticed my Pixel 2 battery getting worse lately and seems to be tied in with charging it in the car when using AA. Not sure if it's anything to do with overcharging or if that's ever a thing nowadays. Any funky procedure recommended for new phones and battery's that I should be aware of?

 

[lunatic59]

I really don't think there are any tricks, per se. That's just indicative of a battery that's degrading. When you're using the phone and charging at the same time it puts more stress on the battery. As the battery ages its loses it's ability to deal with the stress ... sort of like me.

 

[lvt]

I really don't think there are any tricks, per se. That's just indicative of a battery that's degrading. When you're using the phone and charging at the same time it puts more stress on the battery. As the battery ages its loses it's ability to deal with the stress ... sort of like me.

Agreed, a 2 years old battery can hold only two thirds of its capacity when new. It's chemical thing, nothing that you can do.

 

[stuarta]

Wow this is my battery today. Android Auto on a 15min journey. Was 100% when I left

 

[Hadron]

Agreed, a 2 years old battery can hold only two thirds of its capacity when new. It's chemical thing, nothing that you can do.

How much capacity is left after 2 years depends on how it was used and how it was charged (I reckon mine's more like 80%, charged daily with no thought about maximum charges but never run flat and almost never used and charged at the same time). But yeah, there's no magic trick to undo degradation.

 

[lvt]

Yes it could be 60%, 70% or 80% depending on how it's used daily. But as generally observed, batteries older than 2 or 3 years usually take less time to charge and the phones becomes warmer while being charged.

 

[lunatic59]

Wow this is my battery today. Android Auto on a 15min journey. Was 100% when I left

Android Auto will be a constant drain on the battery while in use which is why most head units want the phone plugged in with a cable rather than use AA over bluetooth. When you have a phone that, while plugged in, still draws more power than the battery requires to charge, then it's a battery issue, unless you've got a rogue app running the CPU up to 100%.

 

[stuarta]

Well just finished setting up my standard Pixel 4 and so far like it. Keep going for the fingerprint scanner and can't get used to using the bar to swipe through apps but sure I'll get there.

As far as battery goes, I've already used 10% more than my wife's even though we setup them up at the same time but will see how it goes tomorrow

 

[stuarta]

Well so far so good. Bit of FIFA mobile this morning, hooked up to bluetooth ni car (no AA), 5 min call and was still on 100% after 15mins. Just dropped to 99 when I got in the office, off charge 37mins and 10mins SOT. Did see that on my P2 in the first week, until an update came out and battery dropped.

Think I do need to check wake settings because I've enabled smart lock again on Bluetooth so it doesn't lock, but going over a bump, I can only assume it thought I was lifting the device as the screen woke.

 

[stuarta]

ok so off charge for 5 hours and 91%, although SOT only risen to 21mins as it's been sat on my desk. Not sure if that kind of background loss is normal? I do have my work emails in Nine syncing and Slack

UPDATE - After lunch now 7 hours since charge bit of FIFA mobile for 36 mins and general playing got 74% with 1hr 30 SOT