It has been a couple of weeks since the Nexus 5 went up for sale on the Play Store. Reviews from nearly all the major websites on the Internet are out and everyone has deemed the battery’s life as mediocre.
Most Nexus 5 owners have also been disappointed with the day-to-day battery life of the device, citing it only lasts a day with mediocre usage. However, as with any Nexus handset in the past, a few simple tips can help you in greatly improving the battery life of your Nexus 5.
Do keep in mind that the below steps will only help in extending the battery life of your Nexus 5 by 10-20% at the very maximum. If you are looking at something much more, you should probably get your Nexus 5 exchanged for something like the Note 3 or the LG G2.
Use Lux – Auto brightness has always been broken or ineffective on previous Nexus devices. However, on the Nexus 5, the auto brightness works too well and is over aggressive in nature. It will turn the display brightness to the highest level even at the drop of a pin. Switching off the auto brightness in itself will self you a lot of juice on your Nexus 5.
Life without auto brightness can be a bit tough though. So, head over to the Play Store and download Lux. The app will manage the brightness of your Nexus 5 automatically, and you can also customize the brightness, according to the light level.
Turn off Wi-Fi scanning – With Android 4.3, Google introduced a small change that allowed apps and Google Play services to determine a user’s location using Wi-Fi, even when it is switched off.
On KitKat and the Nexus 5, this option is also enabled by default. While allowing apps and Google to automatically determine your location via Wi-Fi is a very handy feature, it is also very taxing on the battery. Turn off this feature by going to Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Tap the menu overflow button on the bottom right and then removing the tick from the ‘Scanning always available’ option.
Turn off LTE – By default, the Nexus 5 is configured to work across 2G, 3G and LTE networks. However, if LTE network is non existent in your area, make sure to turn it off on your Nexus 5 to save some precious battery juice.
Head over to Settings -> More -> Mobile Networks -> Network Mode and select 3G or 2G depending on the network reception in your area.
Flash a custom kernel – If the above steps still did not help in improving the battery life of your Nexus 5, this is going to be your last bet. Custom kernels from Franco and Faux have helped in tremendously improving the battery life of the handset for many people.
Consider this as the last ditch effort since flashing a custom kernel requires you to unlock the bootloader of your Nexus 5 and root it.
If the above steps did not help you much, its time to set your expectations right. The Nexus 5 has a 2300mAh battery which has to power a massive 5-inch display. It is not practical to expect the handset to provide 2 full days of battery life under heavy usage. If you want something like that, I strongly recommend you to buy the Note 2/3 or the LG G2.
