4 ms·

I'm no hardware expert, but they must have some more intelligent CPU throttling, or something— the Pixel is also using a much newer chip (Snapdragon 821). My 5X

by btym 10y ago

I'm no hardware expert, but they must have some more intelligent CPU throttling, or something— the Pixel is also using a much newer chip (Snapdragon 821). My 5X was on AOSP, no major modifications. Pixel is on stock. The 5X would only last until about the end of the work day, the Pixel lasts me several hours longer, even with the higher display resolution.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
The great scandal here, the 97' fluoro pink elephant, is that we have come to accept these devices lasting longer than a work day is good. And that's out of the box. Batteries degrade. This time next year expect to be recharging these flagship devices twice a day.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  It's terrible and I don't get it. I'm guessing most people have never had a phone that lasts a full 24-36h so they don't know how nice it feels. I had a Huawei Mate 2 and it would easily last two days. Enough that I never worried if I forgot to plug it in. Anytime I went out, I knew it'd last. Apple's obsession with thin has probably hurt us all here. Or is there another explanation why phones don't come with large batteries?
  - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
    I work in a metal fabrication workshop, my pockets and desk get covered in tiny metal particles. Had the speaker in my iPhone 4S replaced a couple times before I broke the screen and the mic and speaker and battery all gave up. So I bought a secondhand Galaxy J1 for AU$75. It's annoyingly slow for doing anything other than sms / email / HN, so I tend not to use it for much else. But the battery like is awesome. I can get through a whole 24hr period without charging it, get to work the next before I noticed it's down to 15%. That's just the thing though, even I've come to accept that 30hr battery life is awesome. The iPhone 7 is 7.1mm thick, the Pixel is 8.5mm. Who cares? I wish some manufacturer would give us a 12mm thick phone with a battery that lasted 48hrs +
  - baddox 10y ago
    On the other hand, I don't see why so many people think that battery life is so important. I charge my phone all night and almost all day at the office. If you have a desk job, I can't imagine running into battery life issues very often.
    - colordrops 10y ago
      What about weekends, especially when you are taking pictures or filming your kids, and the phone dies before the sun goes down?
    - burkaman 10y ago
      Not everyone sits at a desk all day every day.
    - darpa_escapee 10y ago
      I like to leave my house and do things where I don't have immediate access to an outlet that I need to stand near for 1+hr til my phone is recharged.
    - alasdair_ 10y ago
      Ever play a game like pokemon go? Battery life very quickly be ones relevant if you are outside and away from a charger.
    - Fnoord 10y ago
      > On the other hand, I don't see why so many people think that battery life is so important. Pretty simple: 1) Not everyone wants to constantly [think about] having to recharge their mobile device, or having it constantly connected. If you go hiking for a few days, you still want to be able to call 911. 2) Applications become heavier and heavier (yay all the ads, embedded browser, 3D stuff, cloud, crypto, etc). If you're on a plane and say play a game because you're bored you may end up easily using for example 40% of your total battery power. 3) The more you need to charge the phone, the quicker the battery degrades (LiOn generally keep working for 1000 recharges). Over their lifetime (that's roughly 3 years of daily recharging) the battery will degrade to less juice within a full cycle [1]. 4) Batteries are not user replaceable anymore, so require a third party to perform the swap, at premium price and without full control of the user. 5) There's enough waste as it is, and having to swap phone every 2 years or so creates even more. 6) It also is quite a task deciding which phone to buy, and if you made a mistake or don't have that much money to burn you may end up with a phone not so well supported. 7) Finally, one has to swap their settings and data to their new phone. Sure, you can use clouds. They're free at the cost of your privacy... A powerbank mitigates some of the above problems, but only so much, and they also suffer from degrading performance by age. [1] Anecdotal example: my MBP 2010's battery had 740 cycles and is at ~88% capacity when fully charged.
  - darpa_escapee 10y ago
    Never forget the Nokia brick phones that lasted a week on a charge.
- eof 10y ago
  I have a huwai honor5x which lasts a full day easily. I've had it for a few months now. It is annoyingly aggressive about shutting down apps (which makes my lastpass autofill not work, among other things). But I paid ~$180 with no contract and though it definitely stutters at times, for my use it's been great.
- eanzenberg 10y ago
  My 2 year old iphone 6 is at 50% at the end of day.

by btym 10y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

The great scandal here, the 97' fluoro pink elephant, is that we have come to accept these devices lasting longer than a work day is good. And that's out of the box. Batteries degrade. This time next year expect to be recharging these flagship devices twice a day.

MichaelGG 10y ago
It's terrible and I don't get it. I'm guessing most people have never had a phone that lasts a full 24-36h so they don't know how nice it feels. I had a Huawei Mate 2 and it would easily last two days. Enough that I never worried if I forgot to plug it in. Anytime I went out, I knew it'd last. Apple's obsession with thin has probably hurt us all here. Or is there another explanation why phones don't come with large batteries?
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  I work in a metal fabrication workshop, my pockets and desk get covered in tiny metal particles. Had the speaker in my iPhone 4S replaced a couple times before I broke the screen and the mic and speaker and battery all gave up. So I bought a secondhand Galaxy J1 for AU$75. It's annoyingly slow for doing anything other than sms / email / HN, so I tend not to use it for much else. But the battery like is awesome. I can get through a whole 24hr period without charging it, get to work the next before I noticed it's down to 15%. That's just the thing though, even I've come to accept that 30hr battery life is awesome. The iPhone 7 is 7.1mm thick, the Pixel is 8.5mm. Who cares? I wish some manufacturer would give us a 12mm thick phone with a battery that lasted 48hrs +
- baddox 10y ago
  On the other hand, I don't see why so many people think that battery life is so important. I charge my phone all night and almost all day at the office. If you have a desk job, I can't imagine running into battery life issues very often.
  - colordrops 10y ago
    What about weekends, especially when you are taking pictures or filming your kids, and the phone dies before the sun goes down?
  - burkaman 10y ago
    Not everyone sits at a desk all day every day.
  - darpa_escapee 10y ago
    I like to leave my house and do things where I don't have immediate access to an outlet that I need to stand near for 1+hr til my phone is recharged.
  - alasdair_ 10y ago
    Ever play a game like pokemon go? Battery life very quickly be ones relevant if you are outside and away from a charger.
  - Fnoord 10y ago
    > On the other hand, I don't see why so many people think that battery life is so important. Pretty simple: 1) Not everyone wants to constantly [think about] having to recharge their mobile device, or having it constantly connected. If you go hiking for a few days, you still want to be able to call 911. 2) Applications become heavier and heavier (yay all the ads, embedded browser, 3D stuff, cloud, crypto, etc). If you're on a plane and say play a game because you're bored you may end up easily using for example 40% of your total battery power. 3) The more you need to charge the phone, the quicker the battery degrades (LiOn generally keep working for 1000 recharges). Over their lifetime (that's roughly 3 years of daily recharging) the battery will degrade to less juice within a full cycle [1]. 4) Batteries are not user replaceable anymore, so require a third party to perform the swap, at premium price and without full control of the user. 5) There's enough waste as it is, and having to swap phone every 2 years or so creates even more. 6) It also is quite a task deciding which phone to buy, and if you made a mistake or don't have that much money to burn you may end up with a phone not so well supported. 7) Finally, one has to swap their settings and data to their new phone. Sure, you can use clouds. They're free at the cost of your privacy... A powerbank mitigates some of the above problems, but only so much, and they also suffer from degrading performance by age. [1] Anecdotal example: my MBP 2010's battery had 740 cycles and is at ~88% capacity when fully charged.
- darpa_escapee 10y ago
  Never forget the Nokia brick phones that lasted a week on a charge.
eof 10y ago
I have a huwai honor5x which lasts a full day easily. I've had it for a few months now. It is annoyingly aggressive about shutting down apps (which makes my lastpass autofill not work, among other things). But I paid ~$180 with no contract and though it definitely stutters at times, for my use it's been great.
eanzenberg 10y ago
My 2 year old iphone 6 is at 50% at the end of day.