Note 3/Nexus 5

[amcfc]

Bit of a dilemma, I currently have the Note 3 and have had it for a few months now and I am beginning to get annoyed at the larger screen and wanting to go down to 5" screen again, I am really tempted in getting the nexus 5 and had the following problems I hope you guys can help me with:

Battery Life - Having the note 3 I am really spoilt when it comes to battery life averaging 18 hours a day with screen on varying from 3-4 hours. Is the nexus 5 battery life good? I know it won't be nearly as good as the note 3's

Charging time - With the note 3 there is micro usb 3.0 and it charges up from 10% to full in 2 hours, What's the nexus 5's charge time?

Ram - Note 3 has 3gb ram and nexus 5 2gb, is there major difference here?

Thanks for the help, really appreciated! =)

 

[NYCHitman1]

Bit of a dilemma, I currently have the Note 3 and have had it for a few months now and I am beginning to get annoyed at the larger screen and wanting to go down to 5" screen again, I am really tempted in getting the nexus 5 and had the following problems I hope you guys can help me with:

Battery Life - Having the note 3 I am really spoilt when it comes to battery life averaging 18 hours a day with screen on varying from 3-4 hours. Is the nexus 5 battery life good? I know it won't be nearly as good as the note 3's

Charging time - With the note 3 there is micro usb 3.0 and it charges up from 10% to full in 2 hours, What's the nexus 5's charge time?

Ram - Note 3 has 3gb ram and nexus 5 2gb, is there major difference here?

Thanks for the help, really appreciated! =)

I'd take the Nexus 5 every time because A) it is a Nexus and B) I'm not a fan of phablets.

Not sure how fast the Nexus 5 charges, but it is fairly quick. Charging doesn't really differ based on the USB interface. It's usually something set by the OEM in the charger. I think the Nexus 5 charger pumps out 1.2A. However, the new charger they released pushes at a higher voltage. I could be wrong though.

 

[kate]

From what I've heard the Nexus 5 has good battery life. Having 2GB of RAM should be fine, Android has been known for having good memory management.

 

[Shocky]

Battery life on the Nexus 5 is not that good, it's easily the devices biggest flaw, you will notice a difference if you change over to a Nexus 5.

Not sure about charge times, you will have to ask the Nexus 5 users about that, but with the right charger, charge times should be comparable.

2-3 GB of Ram won't make any difference.

I'm surprised your only getting 3-4 hours screen on time with the Note 3, you must be a heavy user.

Also an example from an older 5" device.

 

[Brian706]

I have had no issues with battery life or performance on my n5. I use my phone a lot and I have no problem with the phone lasting all day.

As far as charging times, I've never timed it, but what you describe for your note sounds pretty similar to what it takes me to get a full charge. Though if your phone lasts all day, just charge it while you sleep and it doesn't really matter too much.

Battery life on the Nexus 5 is not that good, it's easily the devices biggest flaw, you will notice a difference if you change over to a Nexus 5.

Based on something you read on the internet? I'm not sure how you can justify a claim like that without actually having used the device. The note 3 has a bigger battery, sure, but I can go all day on a charge, especially with only 3 or 4 hours of screen on time.

Sure, the note's battery lasts longer, no doubt in my mind, but there is no issue with battery life for me on the Nexus.

If it's all day battery life is it's biggest flaw, then I guess that's a pretty good endorsement, eh?

 

[Brian706]

Op,

Here are a couple battery threads for the n5:

N5 Battery Life - Android Forums

GSM Galaxy Nexus vs Nexus 5 battery life? - Android Forums

 

[Hadron]

You'll notice that in those GSMArena tests the N5 did pretty well against the Note 3 and S4 in talk times, falling behind in the browsing and video playback tests.

Now as I recall, GSMArena always run screens at 50% brightness for their tests. The maximum brightness of the N5 is about 30% higher than that of the Note 3 and about 70% higher than that of the S4, so at 50% brightness considerably brighter. In other words it's not a properly controlled test.

For battery life the real tests is always real world experience: what other people with similar usage patterns to you (as far as you can judge that!) get is more relevant than any test suite. But when reading reviews, do always check the fine print of what the numbers mean.

 

[Shocky]

Based on something you read on the internet? I'm not sure how you can justify a claim like that without actually having used the device. The note 3 has a bigger battery, sure, but I can go all day on a charge, especially with only 3 or 4 hours of screen on time.

They aren't the only reviewer to talk about the battery life of the Nexus 5, quite a few mentioned poor or inconsistent battery life compared to other devices, you know the saying, "no smoke without fire".

I've seen posts from users who have gone from the Note 3 to the Nexus 5 and complained about battery life so it's not just about reviews either.

3 - 4 hours is pretty good but we all use our phones differently so it's difficult to compare usage directly without a controlled test.

You'll notice that in those GSMArena tests the N5 did pretty well against the Note 3 and S4 in talk times, falling behind in the browsing and video playback tests.

Now as I recall, GSMArena always run screens at 50% brightness for their tests. The maximum brightness of the N5 is about 30% higher than that of the Note 3 and about 70% higher than that of the S4, so at 50% brightness considerably brighter. In other words it's not a properly controlled test.

Well it's definitely worth taking into consideration, why don't other devices with bright LCD displays have the same problem?

 

[Hadron]

Dunno. Lots of variables in this stuff.

If I look at Anandtech's N5 review they find the N5 a bit below the Note 3 in the graphs where they show that device, but above the One or S4. Which, given the more efficient chipset, doesn't seem crazy to me. To be honest I dislike rolling up everything into a single "endurance rating": if your usage pattern differs from the weightings that go into that it could be wildly inaccurate for you. Trouble is no reviewer has the phones long enough to measure enough different usage patterns (clowns like The Verge, who have been known to rate the battery life of a review phone they had in their hands for less than 24 hours, just annoy me).

Actually I'd think that 3-4 hours screen on is pretty bad for a device like the Note 3 - a lot less than I get from my phone, which has a smaller battery and an older chipset. But it does depend on what you do with your screen-on time: if that's 3-4 hours gaming then it's good, if it's general browsing or ebook reading then I'd expect a lot more.

 

[Shocky]

Dunno. Lots of variables in this stuff.

If I look at Anandtech's N5 review they find the N5 a bit below the Note 3 in the graphs where they show that device, but above the One or S4. Which, given the more efficient chipset, doesn't seem crazy to me. To be honest I dislike rolling up everything into a single "endurance rating": if your usage pattern differs from the weightings that go into that it could be wildly inaccurate for you. Trouble is no reviewer has the phones long enough to measure enough different usage patterns (clowns like The Verge, who have been known to rate the battery life of a review phone they had in their hands for less than 24 hours, just annoy me).

Actually I'd think that 3-4 hours screen on is pretty bad for a device like the Note 3 - a lot less than I get from my phone, which has a smaller battery and an older chipset. But it does depend on what you do with your screen-on time: if that's 3-4 hours gaming then it's good, if it's general browsing or ebook reading then I'd expect a lot more.

Interesting, I don't think matching brightness is the solution, especially when comparing different display technology, like you said other factors come into play.

I still think there is some truth to it still as 2300mah is a bit on the small side for high end devices now, but it's probably the case that some reviewers are making it look allot worse than it really is.

3-4 hours for most devices is pretty good but I expect more from the Note 3, I usually get 4-5 hours over a day and 3-4 hours over two days.

 

[Rxpert83]

Not my normal usage, but...

I've gotten 7 hours of screen on time while connected to WiFi over a period of 19 hours and still had somewhere in the neighborhood of 12% left.

That was mostly Tapatalk or chrome use, but I had podcasts streaming with the screen off as well for an hour or so.

I normally stream music/podcasts 5-7 hours a day, so screen on time isn't something I monitor closely.

 

[amcfc]

My normal daily usage with the note 3 consists of:
20 mins of Web browsing/social media when I wake up
Listen to music on the way to uni/work
Web browsing/social media/youtube videos through out uni, perhaps a little bit of casual gaming aswell
Music on the way back home and thats my battery normally at 60%
Few more hours of Web browsing now and then
Play gta san andreas for an hour or so (current game I'm into) which takes me down to 15% roughly for charge time.
I'm usually in between wifi and 3g.