considering jumping ship to iphone

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rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
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because the battery life is supposedly SO much better. I am tired of charging this Galaxy Nexus everyday despite hardly using 3G/4G. No bluetooth and very little wifi. Why can't Android be as battery-efficient? The ipad lasts days despite Netflix and games. I assume the iphone is similar, correct? Especially during this hurricane/power outage, which devices are going strong for hours/days with intermittent use? I browse 4G with my Nexus with a decent signal and it's down like 10% in a matter of minutes (I do have an extended battery) and I fear I have to run back out to the car to charge it again. Ridiculous.

Practicality of basic features (battery life through quick browsing, watching videos) goes a long way once you're past the cool factor of the few things Android can do better.

IPhone 5 video playback: 10hrs
Nexus video playback: I'm guessing like 2-3hrs.
 
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Spineshank

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
Ive owned numerous Android phones and not one of them came even close to the battery life of the iPhone. Most recently being the Galaxy S3.
 
cheezy321

cheezy321

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2003
6,218
2
0
Yes the iPhone has a much better battery life than its android counterparts.

Yes, you could get android up to iPhone like battery life. It requires doing mundane things like toggling wifi, 4G, and bluetooth on and off. You could also download specific roms built towards it or spend hours of your day figuring out what is causing the battery drain. Doesn't that sound like fun?!
 
ponyo

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
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What I've seen of my wife's iPhone 4S and my sister's iPhone 5, it doesn't have as great battery life as I was led to believe from reviews. When used heavily it drains battery just like my GSM Galaxy Nexus. My Galaxy Nexus with 2000mah extended battery compares very favorably based on what I've seen.

If you want the iPhone for the OS, I would say go ahead. But if the reason is solely for the battery life, I would suggest RAZR Maxx HD since you're on Verizon. That thing has probably the best battery life of any phone. Or Note 2 if you want something bigger.
 
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Ravynmagi

Ravynmagi

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2007
3,102
24
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I've sometimes thought about getting an iPhone. But I'm so used to large screens, I could never go from a 4.7 inch to a 4.0 inch screen now.
 
ControlD

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
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I wouldn't jump ship simply for battery life. If you think you would prefer iOS to Android then that is a good reason to switch. If there are apps that you need that are only available on iOS that is a good reason to upgrade. The battery though? I don't think so. My 4S battery life sucks, that is the only way to put it. My wife has a SG3 and she gets much longer time between charges than I do. There are too many variables in there for me to say that the SG3 is better than the iPhone, but the iPhone is not the miracle cure to your battery issues.
 
P

Puddle Jumper

Platinum Member
Nov 4, 2009
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cheezy321 said:
Yes the iPhone has a much better battery life than its android counterparts.

Yes, you could get android up to iPhone like battery life. It requires doing mundane things like toggling wifi, 4G, and bluetooth on and off. You could also download specific roms built towards it or spend hours of your day figuring out what is causing the battery drain. Doesn't that sound like fun?!
Click to expand...

Or you could just get a Maxx.
 
poofyhairguy

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
My wife's battery life on her iPhone 5 is way worse than her old 3GS and only slightly better than my SGS2. She is using it a lot though, it being her new toy.
 
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C

ChronoReverse

Platinum Member
Mar 4, 2004
2,562
31
91
The Galaxy Note 2 has good battery life from what I hear but that's because it has a huge battery =)
 
Red Storm

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
In my experience the S3 has better battery life than the iPhone 5, but not by much. The Razr Maxx HD would put them all to shame. It's the only phone that's going to last you multiple days with good amount of use. Any other Android phone or iPhone is only going to last the one day.
 
S

SniperWulf

Golden Member
Dec 11, 1999
1,563
6
81
Pretty much any phone that has a seperate physical radio for LTE is gonna suck battery life (the HTC Thunderbolt on VZW was pretty attrocious in terms of battery life). That's probably the only reason apple waited so long to implement it.

As a side note, I have a GSM Galazy Nexus on T-mobile pre-paid and I can go about 20 hours before I need a charge on the standard battery. It also only has 1 physical radio and everywhere I go, I have great signal.
 
Paladin

Paladin

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
660
33
91
I agree with others saying, get the RAZR MAXX HD. Our GNexus doesn't have the most efficient chipset, the OMAP 4460. My wife's Galaxy S3 kills my GNex in battery life. The MAXX HD is way ahead of that too. Also, the new RAZR line has a very stock-ish feel to it, much like our GNex.
 
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Fingolfin269

Fingolfin269

Lifer
Feb 28, 2003
17,948
34
91
One of the knocks on the iPhone (until the 5) was the fact that they didn't have LTE/4G. I'm convinced they did this because they knew their battery life would suffer for it. The Nexus on VZW is awful and probably shouldn't have had 4G. Hell I just leave LTE turned off 90% of the time on mine. I've heard the GSM version is a lot more forgiving.

With that said, the newer tech Android phones (GS3 for example) supposedly get great battery life. You may want to check one of those before going back. After having this Nexus for only a few weeks I don't think I could go back to a 3.7" screen or even the style of 4" screen Apple decided to go with on the 5.
 
S

Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
The thing about battery life is that iPhone is 100% push notifications.

Android uses some push, some pull. There's a lot of services that can start running if you're not careful. For example Google Talk will drain a good amount of battery even if it's a push messaging system. Throw in apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc. that use a PULL system on top of the push notification system, you can easily drain a LOT more battery.

Pulling wastes battery especially when you have bad reception and the phone will try continuously to pull data. You get an active data connection that remains open until all the requests are filled. You can treat this like the Anand "web surf" battery test, and perhaps LTE will win out in this case because you can quickly get the data and then go back to idle.
 
M

mrpiggy

Member
Apr 19, 2012
196
12
81
I just came from an iphone 4 to a Galaxy Nexus on the Verizon $229 deal. The only reason I did was because for the $229, it knocked 6 months off my contract to a month-to-month so essentially, my end-contract-early fee got me a brand new Android phone with the latest and greatest mostly-bug-free version of the OS. While it's fun to play with a new toy, I am GREATLY disappointed with it as a primary means of communication.

1st off, I work a 10 hour day in a building with LOUSY reception. The iphone4, always gets enough reception to make and receive calls. the internet speeds might suck, but it still works. taking a 15 min break every couple of hours, playing bejeweled, checking emails/messages throughout the day, and light, albeit slow browsing, left me with a good 25-30 per cent battery at the end of the day.

This exact same usage pattern at work with the GNex won't even last the day. Even worse, in the exact same building, there are now many times and location I completely lose signal to the point I can't even make a simple voice call. Turning off every damn thing on the Nexus (like turning off LTE) and making sure there is absolutely nothing running or syncing in background, does nothing to alleviate the crappy battery life, nor improve signal. I have just put in a 2200mAh (stock is 1850) with no NFC (which I think is stupid anyway) and this will hopefully get me through the day.

If the bigger battery doesn't help, I'm gonna go back to the iphone4. Not because I like Apple better, but it has to be a friggin' phone that actually makes and gets calls when I need it too before any of the other junk makes a difference. The best thing I can say about it is that now when any good stuff comes out for Christmas, I don't have to worry about what's left on my contract if I want to jump phone carrier ship or get another phone.
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
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Your only option for iPhone-like battery with Android is the Droid Razr HD MAXX.
 
D

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
I think describing the Razr Maxx HD as iPhone like in battery life is doing it a great injustice. It's in a league of it's own that the iPhone doesn't come even remotely close to approaching.
 
M

mikegg

Golden Member
Jan 30, 2010
1,942
545
136
ponyo said:
What I've seen of my wife's iPhone 4S and my sister's iPhone 5, it doesn't have as great battery life as I was led to believe from reviews. When used heavily it drains battery just like my GSM Galaxy Nexus. My Galaxy Nexus with 2000mah extended battery compares very favorably based on what I've seen.

If you want the iPhone for the OS, I would say go ahead. But if the reason is solely for the battery life, I would suggest RAZR Maxx HD since you're on Verizon. That thing has probably the best battery life of any phone. Or Note 2 if you want something bigger.
Click to expand...

I don't have an iPhone 5 but my 4 year old iPhone 3G had better battery life than my brand new Galaxy Nexus.

I too, am really sick of the Galaxy Nexus battery life and considering jumping to the iPhone 5.

My damn Nexus spends half of the day charging everyday. I don't even use it that much. Only to text, Twitter, and browse.
 
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