LG Nexus 5 battery life test

The LG Nexus 5 comes with a battery that many were afraid wasn’t up to scratch with the 5″ 1080p screen and quad-core Snapdragon 800 and that Google and LG did some corner cutting by placing a mere 2300 mAh unit inside.

Quoted at 17 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of stand-by the Nexus 5 should do alright, but we decided to give the device a full test just to make sure.

Talk time lives up to expectations – the Nexus 5 clocked in 16 hours and 40 minutes before eventually going out. That’s a pretty respectable score and, for many, the most important one.

Talk time

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• Sony Xperia Z126:53
• Samsung Galaxy Note 318:12
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)18:03
• Sony Xperia ZR17:48
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos17:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N710016:57
• LG Nexus 516:40
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active16:40
• Sony Xperia Z16:03
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom15:32
• LG Optimus G15:30
• Sony Xperia ZL15:22
• Pantech Burst4:46

But things start to go downhill from there. The web browsing test put the Nexus 5 well behind the curve with 4:46 hours of constant browsing. That’s not really impressive, putting many contemporary smartphones in front of the Google pureblood by a mile.

Web browsing

• Acer Liquid E212:39
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R5:07
• HTC One X (AT&T)5:03
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro4:50
• LG Optimus Vu4:49
• HTC Vivid4:46
• LG Nexus 54:46
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos4:45
• Meizu MX4:35
• Google Nexus 44:34
• Nokia N94:33
• Acer CloudMobile S5004:32
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus3:01

Video playback time wasn’t really impressive on the Nexus 5 either. The device was on for little over 6 hours, which will get you through a Dark Knight movie or two but not the entire trilogy.

Video playback

• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)16:35
• LG Optimus Vu6:23
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R6:21
• Nokia Lumia 9206:19
• Sony Xperia Z16:12
• HTC Sensation XL6:12
• LG Nexus 56:06
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide6:04
• Sony Xperia ion LTE6:03
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus6:02
• Sony Xperia T6:01
• Nokia Lumia 7103:27

Stand-by proved to be nothing overly exceptional but ultimately okay. So rounding up the numbers reveals an endurance rating of 40 hours – that’s if you do an hour of calling, browsing and watching video a day and leave the phone to rest during the other time.

The Nexus 5 didn’t win the longest-lasting smartphone title and we didn’t expect it to. In the end of the day, it’s not a disappointment either so that’s a point won, rather than one lost.

The Nexus 5 will do for the occasional movie or browsing binge and will hold on really well in the call making department and it should last you for at least a full day even if you are a heavy user
.