It seems that some owners of the Nexus 5 have been complaining about the battery life of their handset. It has been said that one day it is good and the next the battery life is poor. Some people have described it as mediocre at its best. The Nexus 5 product forum has been packed with owners complaining about poor battery life. Some owners have said that they manage between 12 and 14 hours on a good day, while on a bad day they get just 8 hours out of the handset.
People have tried many different things to get the most out of their battery. The DU Battery Life Saver case from Zerlemon for instance offers another 2250Mah but it adds on extra weight. We have also heard that Mugen are going to be offering a battery case too for the Nexus 5.
There is a solution from PowerSkin for owners who don’t want to add on bulk. This case is an external battery that offers 2,000mAh but owners will have to purchase an accessory flex cable if they wish to use it with the Google Nexus 5. Using this should offer twice the amount of battery life.
There have been reports from people that several things can be tried by owners who are not getting enough from their battery.
It has been suggested that making sure the latest OS is installed and following the update the device should be restarted.
To do this owners are able to go to settings on their handset, then system and look in the phone and system update part.
Some of the settings can also be adjusted on the device. Owners may want to try the following:
a) Restart your device.
– Hold the power button until a menu appears prompting you to power down the device.
b) Update to the latest OS.
– Available update will be in your notification bar.
c) Close all apps running in the background.
– Press the Recent apps key and slide the open app to the right to close.
d) Disable application notifications.
– Settings > Apps > Uncheck “Show notifications”
e) Minimize use of features not used (location services, GPS, bluetooth).
– Settings > Location access > Turn off access to your location
f) Use airplane mode in low/no coverage areas or if you don’t plan to use data.
– Hold the power button for 1 second, then click Airplane mode.
g) Enable auto brightness.
– Settings > Display > Brightness > Enable Auto
h) Enable WiFi rather than cellular data.
– Settings > Enable Wi-Fi
i) Minimize use of graphic or memory intensive apps when you need to conserve battery.
j) Enable sound notifications instead of vibrate, when possible.
k) Plug in your charge cable while using GPS navigation, if possible.
l) Enable rapid auto-lock.
– Settings > Display > Sleep > Set small time frame
m) Use a dark background if your device has an AMOLED screen.
If after making these adjustments the battery still drains abnormally quickly, try Steps 3-5.
It has also been suggested that the recent button can be used and this will allow owners to close off apps.
Owners may not be aware that the recent button allows all open apps to be shown. This is described as being the third button on the bottom of the handset and it takes on the appearance of two rectangles which are on top of each other. On pressing the recent button owners can then swipe to the left or right and close off apps.
Another way of getting better battery life is said to be to run the handset in safe mode to find out why the battery is draining down fast. Owners may wish to factory reset their handset, however it has been said that this should be the last resort as everything is wiped from the device. If doing this it is recommended to make a backup first. To do this owners can follow the steps below:
Go to Settings > Backup & reset.
– Select Factory data reset.
– Select Reset tablet.
– If your device is password protected, you’ll be prompted to enter your Pattern, PIN, or Password.
– Device Erase everything to confirm.
