Verizon Galaxy Nexus Battery Life Falls Short: Test Results

December 16th, 2011 by Michael A. Prospero, LAPTOP Reviews Editor  

 


We just put the wraps on our review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and came away impressed with its sleek new software, large 720p display, fast camera, and blazing 4G LTE speeds over Verizon Wireless’ network. However, as we discovered with the Galaxy Nexus, as well as other phones that use Verizon’s LTE network, there’s a price to be paid for all that speed: Battery life.


As you can see from the above results, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus lasted only 3 hours and 40 minutes on our LAPTOP Battery Test. This test involves continuous web surfing over 4G with the screen brightness at 40 percent. GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Auto Sync are all turned off. When we ran our battery test on the unlocked Galaxy Nexus on T-Mobile’s network, the device saw 5 hours of runtime. That’s a difference of nearly 1.5 hours.

The Galaxy Nexus for Verizon delivered even less endurance than the HTC Thunderbolt, the first 4G LTE phone from the carrier that established a reputation for short battery life. Because 4G LTE radios use more power, the phones that use them tend to last significantly shorter than the smartphone average. But as you can see some Verizon phones at least last longer than the 5-hour mark.

We really like the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, but its below-average battery life kept it from earning an Editors’ Choice Award in our review. If you do pick up this phone, make sure you keep the brightness down and follow our other tips for making your Android phone last longer.



Comments (4 Responses) 

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4 Responses to “Verizon Galaxy Nexus Battery Life Falls Short: Test Results”

  1. Douglas Ford Says:
    December 16th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    I turned off my LTE on my Galaxy Nexus and wahla my battery life almost tripled! I charged it last night, haven’t charged it all day, and it’s still at 80% battery with moderate use. Oh and with the LTE on and moderate use it lasted most of the day yesterday btw, I don’t think 3.4 hours is a fair depiction.

    Moderate for me equals off and on pictures, random web surfing, randomly downloading apps, occasional video, regular texting and brief phone calls, etc.

  2. jared Says:
    December 18th, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    This site is extremely bias to Verizon any chance they get to bash them they do. They posted several things when tge nnetwork went down they compared att 4g lte to Verizon’s 3g in speed test bash on all the phones. I have yet too see even.one good review.from them in regards to Verizon. When Verizon is the top company all around.most 4g lte most coverage highest.consumer satisfaction ect… Att is at the bottom of the list even below T-Mobile they give att high reviews though

  3. Mike S Says:
    December 18th, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    So many people complained about Verizon being “late” with the Galaxy Nexus. I contend the opposite. They were too rushed to get this thing out the door on LTE. Much more time should have been taken to optimize its performance and endurance. It is, I think unnecessarily in at least some cases, behind the unlocked variation of the same phone in almost every benchmark that has been taken.

    So great, Verizon customers had a Galaxy Nexus on 12/15, but in my opinion, at the cost of its stabilization on the Verizon network.

    Regards,
    Mike

  4. Derek Says:
    December 19th, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    The nexus is listed twice, once as unlocked and once as Verizon. Has the unlocked phone just been rooted or have other optimizations been done as well?

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