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Pixel 2 battery life?

moxiemoney

moxiemoney

Newbie
Curious if my battery life is normal compared to other users. I find my battery life to be poor, and unsure why.

Today, by example:

Current battery remaining: 91%
Last full charge: 1h, 48m ago
Screen usage since full charge: 14 minutes
Battery saver: off
Adaptive brightness: on (I have tried it on and off with similar results)

App usage:
Camera, used 3m, 3%
Mood (text app). used 4m, 1%

I've barely used my phone at all today, and it's already down 9%. I'm definitely not a power user, I mostly just send some texts, use the camera periodically, and read news articles. No facebook on my phone, and I know that has been known to be a battery killer, at least it was on my iphone 6. My screen is turned down about 2/3, but I do have adaptive brightness set on it. I did turn it off and try it that way, with no noticeable difference in battery life.

Am I expecting too much? I got much better life from my old iphone 6!
 
moxiemoney said:
I got much better life from my old iphone 6!
Click to expand...
Are you familiar with the expression "Apples to oranges"? ;)

There's a lot more going on in the background of an Android phone than an iPhone. You can't really compare the two because the OSes operate so very differently.

Also the battery statistics aren't really useful at >90%. Wait until the phone has drained to ~40% and report back with how things look. We'll be able to offer much better advice at that point.
 
Ok codesplice! I'll report back at the end of the day the battery statistics. I know ios and android operate differently, so I understand. But I guess from a purely user's perspective, battery life is battery life and I'm just comparing the two which will help me determine future phone selection! :)
 
I just checked my stats and they're 54% after 10 hours, with 2hrs 45 screen on. That's a bit below average for me, but I've been on 4G rather than WiFi most of the day and doing a bit of downloading when not. I usually reckon I can get a full day with > 6 hours screen on without taking it below 20%. And I do have the Facebook app installed (doesn't ever figure significantly in my power usage).

But that's for my usage. It does depend a lot on what you use it for, signal strength has a big impact on any phone, and if you are outdoors on adaptive brightness it may have gone up to full brightness anyway (I'm outdoors at the moment and changing the slider from min to max makes no perceptible difference - it's mainly significant in lower light conditions).
 
I'm almost always on wifi since I work from home, but those are good stats to compare to for me. I'll post back at end of day and see, but I rarely use more than 30 minutes of screen on time and have lower battery than that... thx for the info!
 
moxiemoney said:
Ok codesplice! I'll report back at the end of the day the battery statistics. I know ios and android operate differently, so I understand. But I guess from a purely user's perspective, battery life is battery life and I'm just comparing the two which will help me determine future phone selection! :)
Click to expand...
The bigger point about waiting and not being accurate with only ten percent consumed is that the percentages particular tasks used are overstated. I think it is best explained as an example.

If I unplug my phone and start playing a game for 10 minutes and use 5% of the total battery, the stats may show my game using 60% of the battery and the screen using 35% and system using 5%. That sounds pretty drastic, but it is only reporting what happened in the few minutes from when I unplugged the phone.
 
I have excellent signal from ATT. I totally understand the low usage not being reliable, thanks for the explanation. we'll see how it looks at the end of the day!
 
Okay, so here are the end of day stats for my phone:

Current battery remaining: 46%
Last full charge: 17h, 1m ago
Screen usage since full charge: 1h 7m minutes
Battery saver: off
Adaptive brightness: on

App usage:
Phone: used 41m, 4%
Camera, used 4m, 3%
Mood (text app). used 2h 16m, 2% (I don't know how that's even possible to use my text app for 2 hours? I sent/received maybe 30 texts today???)
Trusted Face: 2%
Voice calls: 40m, 2%
Snapchat: 2m, 1%
Chrome: 8m, 1%
Pixel Launcher, 11m 1%

I barely used my phone at all today really. Actually, I mostly turned my screen on to check battery %!

But if you all think this is normal, then I'll go with it. Thanks!
 
I don't know about the messge app being active that long - it must have remained active when you weren't using it. But 2% doesn't seem a major problem.

So that accounts for 16% of usage. If you tap the little 3-dot button in the corner there's an option "show full device usage" which will show how much the screen, operating system etc used.
 
I'll defer to Pixel owners and @Hadron and @codesplice who are both owners and great folks about whether that is normal for the phone. For me, judging on what you posted below, 17 hours and just under 50% is pretty good. You would be well into your second day before you had to start sweating finding a charger.

moxiemoney said:
Current battery remaining: 46%
Last full charge: 17h, 1m ago
Click to expand...
 
@Hadron Thanks for the input. Expanded usage:
Screen: 7%
Android system: 5%
Phone idle: 5%

@Unforgiven yes, in some respects I understand what you're saying about getting 2 days on a charge. However, that's with almost no usage. On days where I may read a lot of news articles, watch some youtube videos, etc... my phone is down past 40% before noon, with less than 2 hours of screen on time.

Anyways, sounds like it's par for the course, so I appreciate all the help as usual here!
 
Yeah that usage looks decent to me. Phone calls will definitely drain the battery a bit since it's constantly using the cellular radio.

I don't know anything about the Mood app and how it works, but you might try going into Settings > Apps & notifications > See all apps > Mood > Battery and revoking the Background activity option. The app should still automatically get activated when you receive a new message but that might prevent it from running in the background when you aren't actively using it.

Also maybe check back on a day when you do have a bit heavier usage so we can investigate that as well.
 
I was skeptical about the Pixel 2 battery life and for a premium priced device, I think Google should have put at least a 3,000 mAh battery in it.

I got a P2 whilst my OnePlus 3T was sent away getting the camera replaced and the P2's 2,700 mAh battery has surprised me when compared to the 3,400 mAh one in my 3T. It's essentially performing the same based on my use of both devices and I'm getting to bedtime with plenty of power left.

I guess Google's stock Android with the P2's hardware is working more efficiently than OnePlus' OxygenOS on the 3T. I've sat them next to each other with the Ampere app open and the 3T consistently discharges at a slightly higher rate and runs at a slightly higher voltage than the P2.

As a side note, I've always been a big fan of Google's stock Android and the Nexus devices, but OnePlus' OxygenOS has impressed me. It's not far from stock and the things OnePlus has added are quite useful and there's no bloat like a Samsung, etc, device. For ease of use, I prefer the 3T's front fingerprint sensor and a dedicated 3.5mm headphone socket beats messing around with an adapter every time.
 
I've had my Pixel 2 for about 6 months and I charge the phone when I go to bed. During the day, I send texts, make & receive calls, use the internet (mostly on WiFi) and use the Bluetooth when I'm in the car. I average between 40 to 50% battery left by the end of the day. One thing I do is turn off Bluetooth when I'm not using it as the Bluetooth radio is a battery hog. It's always searching for a connection similar to the cell radio when you are in a 'no service' area. I'd say that your battery usage is normal. Codec is absolutely correct in that Android has a lot more going in the background as opposed to iOS. Also, iOS users are more prone to look at the battery indicators a lot more than Android users. Personally, I just glance at the icon in the top tray occasionally to see if I'm doing okay. O e last thing, it's good every now and then to run the battery as low as 20% the give it a full charge overnight. This keeps the battery properly 'exercised'. Lastly, do a reboot every few days. This basically resets the battery and give you better life. That tip comes from both Google and HTC who made the guts of the Pixel 2!
 
Two of my friends own pixel 2 and for some reason for one the battery drains as similar to your device while for the other it is better. Both of them have good connectivity with their carriers. They do complain about the battery being 2700mAh, they could have improved the battery to 3000+
 
Yeah defo think a 3k battery would have been good .......my Sony premium would kick the px2s ass ....but still like the px2 as is nice and light to hold etc
 
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