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Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
That's actually pretty solid. I leave my brightness on auto. I just mostly wanted to point out it is super easy to get through a day. If I have heavy usage I still get around 18 hours and 4-5 hours SOT. That Screen Shot would have been about 2h 40m SOT and 30+ hours on the battery. I still had 58% battery in that pic.

On your N5? I would not come close to that with 4-5 hours of SOT. Best ive done is 16.5 hours with 2.5 SOT. My brightness is about halfway. It is getting a bit better since i went to ART a few days ago. It was pretty bad at first when i switched.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
On your N5? I would not come close to that with 4-5 hours of SOT. Best ive done is 16.5 hours with 2.5 SOT. My brightness is about halfway. It is getting a bit better since i went to ART a few days ago. It was pretty bad at first when i switched.

Right now I have 14 hours on battery with 2h 39min SOT and 43% left
 

appledes7

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
756
0
So far I am liking my Moto X more than my Nexus 5. Feels better in the hands, has some extra cool features, and better battery life.

The first two pictures are from my Nexus 5. The second two are from my Moto X. Usage from the screen shots might appear different, but that is only because on the Moto X, I left it unplugged overnight right after charging it completely. So in relation to SOT, usage patterns are still similar.

With the Moto X, I can get longer standby and longer SOT. Plus I like the feel of the phone in my hands much better. And active display and always listening are some neat features to have. Ultimately, my biggest reasoning for buying a Moto X was for battery life. With that, I am so far pretty happy.

I know other people say "oh you are doing something wrong blah blah blah." And the reason that argument comes up is because people try and compare the battery life of their phone with the battery life of someone else with the same phone. And those two people won't have the same usage patterns or all the same features turned off/on. More importantly, they won't have all the same apps installed. And some apps will keep your phone from going into deep sleep more than others (this is an issue I have run in to). I think these screen shots show a lot more because they are both from similar usage patterns.

If you use your phone more, your battery will die sooner. If you use it less, it will last longer. That much won't change. But this gives a more objective look as to which one, as a whole, will last longer. And I think the Moto X is a clear winner. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone considering all the optimized hardware it comes with. The AMOLED screen certainly helps, GPU handles less pixels, half the amount of cores, other optimized cores for certain tasks, lower clock speed, etc.

Overall I am happy with my purchase. Very happy that I got it for the same price as my Nexus 5! It feels just as speedy as the Nexus 5. I am sure if they were held side by side there would be a slight difference. But obviously that won't simulate real world use. Real world use is using it in the real world and having it feel snappy. Plus I like the speaker better. Camera, eh, not so much. I enjoy my Moto X and am considering selling my Nexus 5 now. Might keep my Nexus 4 as a backup.

For those who care more about numbers than real world use, go with the Nexus 5. For those who care about speedier updates, I am not convinced the Nexus 5 has a huge advantage. It took weeks for my Nexus 4 to get the 4.4 update. Before I got it, I saw reports of 4.4 for AT&T Moto X. So who knows what this will be like in the future. If battery life isn't an issue and you are looking for a great camera, don't look at either. If these are your only two options and you want the better camera of the two, it is, IMO, clearly the Nexus 5.

I didn't plan on this turning into a mini comparison/review. I know a lot of things are subjective. The thing that I was really looking for was battery life. And I think it is pretty objective, the Moto X will last longer.
 

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Fernandez21

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2010
4,840
3,183
So far I am liking my Moto X more than my Nexus 5. Feels better in the hands, has some extra cool features, and better battery life.

The first two pictures are from my Nexus 5. The second two are from my Moto X. Usage from the screen shots might appear different, but that is only because on the Moto X, I left it unplugged overnight right after charging it completely. So in relation to SOT, usage patterns are still similar.

With the Moto X, I can get longer standby and longer SOT. Plus I like the feel of the phone in my hands much better. And active display and always listening are some neat features to have. Ultimately, my biggest reasoning for buying a Moto X was for battery life. With that, I am so far pretty happy.

I know other people say "oh you are doing something wrong blah blah blah." And the reason that argument comes up is because people try and compare the battery life of their phone with the battery life of someone else with the same phone. And those two people won't have the same usage patterns or all the same features turned off/on. More importantly, they won't have all the same apps installed. And some apps will keep your phone from going into deep sleep more than others (this is an issue I have run in to). I think these screen shots show a lot more because they are both from similar usage patterns.

If you use your phone more, your battery will die sooner. If you use it less, it will last longer. That much won't change. But this gives a more objective look as to which one, as a whole, will last longer. And I think the Moto X is a clear winner. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone considering all the optimized hardware it comes with. The AMOLED screen certainly helps, GPU handles less pixels, half the amount of cores, other optimized cores for certain tasks, lower clock speed, etc.

Overall I am happy with my purchase. Very happy that I got it for the same price as my Nexus 5! It feels just as speedy as the Nexus 5. I am sure if they were held side by side there would be a slight difference. But obviously that won't simulate real world use. Real world use is using it in the real world and having it feel snappy. Plus I like the speaker better. Camera, eh, not so much. I enjoy my Moto X and am considering selling my Nexus 5 now. Might keep my Nexus 4 as a backup.

For those who care more about numbers than real world use, go with the Nexus 5. For those who care about speedier updates, I am not convinced the Nexus 5 has a huge advantage. It took weeks for my Nexus 4 to get the 4.4 update. Before I got it, I saw reports of 4.4 for AT&T Moto X. So who knows what this will be like in the future. If battery life isn't an issue and you are looking for a great camera, don't look at either. If these are your only two options and you want the better camera of the two, it is, IMO, clearly the Nexus 5.

I didn't plan on this turning into a mini comparison/review. I know a lot of things are subjective. The thing that I was really looking for was battery life. And I think it is pretty objective, the Moto X will last longer.

Also, what apps you use will can kil the battery faster. 1 hour of gaming will kill the baterry faster than 1 hour of web browsing, so screen time may be the same but battery will be different.

Same with how you browse. If you load up a page with a long article and spend 15 min reading the same article and comments will be easier on the battery than say loading up a bunch of small articles and commenting in the same time frame.
 

SlCKB0Y

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2012
3,431
557
Sydney, Australia
On your N5? I would not come close to that with 4-5 hours of SOT. Best ive done is 16.5 hours with 2.5 SOT. My brightness is about halfway. It is getting a bit better since i went to ART a few days ago. It was pretty bad at first when i switched.

I'm seeing a very similar battery life as mattopotamus. In this one i've got nearly 2 full days standby time with 4 hours of screen on time. Everything on except NFC and Google Now. Screen at auto brightness.

Screenshot-3.png


Screenshot-4.png


----------

Pretty light day today as far as SOT. Here are todays results so far on my Nexus 5

Zooper is doing a pretty good job of killing your battery - I personally would accept 11% of my battery going to a widget updating in the background.
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
I'm seeing a very similar battery life as mattopotamus. In this one i've got nearly 2 full days standby time with 4 hours of screen on time. Everything on except NFC and Google Now. Screen at auto brightness.

Screenshot-3.png


Screenshot-4.png


----------



Zooper is doing a pretty good job of killing your battery - I personally would accept 11% of my battery going to a widget updating in the background.

Zooper usually isnt on there like that. I was messing with the widget customizing it. Here is my results from yesterday and today which still isnt as good as yours:





 
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Sensamic

macrumors 68040
Mar 26, 2010
3,072
689
Wow. So only 2:30 SOT with the Nexus 5 average? That's like my SGS3.

I would expect at least 2 hours SOT for every 50%.

The Note 3 scores almost 3 hours SOT for every 50% right?
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
Wow. So only 2:30 SOT with the Nexus 5 average? That's like my SGS3.

I would expect at least 2 hours SOT for every 50%.

The Note 3 scores almost 3 hours SOT for every 50% right?

look at lots of others, myself included, who get 4.5 hours of more
 

appledes7

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
756
0
Wow. So only 2:30 SOT with the Nexus 5 average? That's like my SGS3.

I would expect at least 2 hours SOT for every 50%.

The Note 3 scores almost 3 hours SOT for every 50% right?

The problem with going by screenshots coming from other peoples phone is you don't know exactly what their usage is, all their settings, or all the apps they use and have installed.
 

tbayrgs

macrumors 604
Jul 5, 2009
7,467
5,097
What's your brightness level?

I like to have mine always at 100% in every device.

I can't imagine you'd see great battery life on any device with brightness set to maximum level. I inadvertantly left both my iPhone and LG Pad 8.3 GPE at max brightness the other day after comparing to some other devices at a retail store and my battery level plummeted much more quickly.
 

sixrom

macrumors 6502a
Nov 13, 2013
709
1
I average around 4.5 to 5 hours with my N5.

My Nexus 5 also averages 4.5 + hours.

My Note 3 (obviously larger battery & larger screen / different phone ) averages approx 7 + hours SOT.

Yet without fail, I never use battery performance as a deal maker or breaker. There are too many other considerations of far greater importance to me.

For extra heavy usage of any smartphone I own, I simply carry one of these, they are a great, compact and light solution.

http://www.ianker.com/product/79AN7903-BA
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
Yesterday i got a little over 4 hours of SOT but at 10% left i only had 19 hours of phone on time. Again that is with Wi-Fi and Google Now turned on all day, brightness on Auto.
That easily gets me thru the day so i cant complain but it isnt well over 1 day as ive seen here. I dont know how those guys have their settings. One guy said he turns Google Now off.
 

appledes7

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
756
0
My phone preference has been all over the place the past two weeks. At first, my Nexus 5 with Franco Kernel did not have very good battery life so I sprung for the Moto X. Everywhere I saw people say the battery life on it is really good. And I believed them.

I got my Moto X and saw improvements right away. After uninstalling some apps that kept my phone from going to deep sleep I noticed even better battery life. Screen on time, if used continually, could have reached 5-6 hours. Of course over an entire day that wouldn't happen. Idle drain was better after uninstalling some apps, but still not like an iPhone. Anyways, I loved the feel of the phone more than the Nexus 5.

Then I remembered that all those changes I made to my Moto X to improve battery life I didn't do to my Nexus 5. So yesterday I spent the day with my Nexus 5 and made all those changes. I had great battery life yesterday. In fact, it looked to be slightly better than the Moto X.

So after using both and them having similar battery life, I don't want to keep both of them. I am leaning towards the Nexus 5 for camera and developer support. So I will be sending my Moto X back today.

I still like the feel of the Moto X better. And if they had put a bigger battery in, it would definitely be a keeper. But for now, the Nexus 5 wins.
 

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JH-

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2009
392
2
Yesterday i got a little over 4 hours of SOT but at 10% left i only had 19 hours of phone on time. Again that is with Wi-Fi and Google Now turned on all day, brightness on Auto.
That easily gets me thru the day so i cant complain but it isnt well over 1 day as ive seen here. I dont know how those guys have their settings. One guy said he turns Google Now off.

Are you connected to Wi-Fi the whole time or just have it turned on?
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
Are you connected to Wi-Fi the whole time or just have it turned on?

Its connected and i leave it on when im not. Yesterday it was connnected most of the time. And instead of leaving it on all night so it is in sleep mode, i turned it off at night(without charging) and turned it back on when i woke up and it continues from the times it had when i turned it off(my GS3 would start over when turned off and back on). So that is all usage time as i would use it normally instead of using sleep mode to rack up more standby time...if that makes sense.

Today , a little better doing the same thing. SOT of 4 hrs, 15 minutes, with 23 hrs , 5 minutes of runtime at 7% left, Just plugged it in a few minutes ago.
 
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JH-

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2009
392
2
Its connected and i leave it on when im not. Yesterday it was connnected most of the time. And instead of leaving it on all night so it is in sleep mode, i turned it off at night(without charging) and turned it back on when i woke up and it continues from the times it had when i turned it off(my GS3 would start over when turned off and back on). So that is all usage time as i would use it normally instead of using sleep mode to rack up more standby time...if that makes sense.

Today , a little better doing the same thing. SOT of 4 hrs, 15 minutes, with 23 hrs , 5 minutes of runtime at 7% left, Just plugged it in a few minutes ago.

Being connected to Wi-Fi really seems to help android phones' battery life.

Edit: I just completed a simple comparison test based on my type of usage and I finally understand why I get the battery life I get compared to other people. I weighted the battery life reported by Anandtech in each category based on my usage and was able to come up with an ideal battery life for myself for each phone. For me the only two phones that make any sense are the 5S or G2. This is because I do most of my usage via LTE. No WiFi for me. If anyone is interested I can upload the chart I created. Its just a simple excel file.
 
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