If you own a Nexus 5 you know that it already has a pretty good battery compared to many other devices in its class. This said once you get all your apps installed you may notice that your battery isn’t lasting as long as it once did. There are easy things you can do to increase battery life to continue getting a full day out of your smartphone.
While your Nexus 5 will never be able to compete with devices like the Droid Maxx or Note 3 due to its smaller battery getting a full day out of any device is the goal. See the easiest ways to save battery below.
Change Display Settings to Save Battery Life
- Display Brightness – navigate to settings -> display -> brightness and drop the brightness down to about 20%. Auto brightness tends to use an enormous amount of battery power to control. This will give the greatest battery savings as display brightness is usually the largest drain on battery.
- Sleep Time – navigate to settings -> display -> sleep and change the sleep time to 30 seconds. This will save battery power after using the device and setting it down. This way your not losing 2-5 minutes of battery every time you set the device down before going to sleep.
- Animation Effects – navigate to settings -> developer options and disable animation effects. This may not be ideal for those of you that like all the fancy effects although if your looking to save battery it is a great way to accomplish this.
Change WiFi, 4G and Bluetooth Settings to Save Battery
- WiFi – This is quite simple, if you have a connection nearby use WiFi, if your not around a WiFi connection turn it off. Wifi when connected saves battery by not hitting data towers as well as the opposite of not scanning for networks when not available.
- Bluetooth – While Bluetooth is less of an issue when not in use it does still drain a bit of battery when on and not in use. This said if you have no use for it just turn it off although if you use it don’t worry about it too much.
- 4G LTE – navigate to settings -> more -> mobile networks -> network mode and change from 4G to 3G (in some cases it will be labeled something else like H for AT&T). If you are in an area that has 4G then of course leave it active. This said if you are in and out of 4G coverage you can save a god bit of battery life by changing your preferred network connection to 3G.
Location and GPS Settings to Save Battery Life
- GPS – navigate to settings -> location -> mode and select battery saving. This is another one of the major battery saving settings like display. This will decrease the accuracy of your GPS although can save a ton of battery life if you don;t need detailed navigation. Play with it and see if it still works good enough for your needs.
- Location Services -> navigate to settings -> location and turn location off completely. If you rarely use your GPS or don’t need apps like Facebook to know where you are turing this off completely will save a tremendous amount of battery. Keep in mind that Google Now and other location based services will no longer work as well as you will want although for simply saving battery this is awesome.
App Syncing and Data Settings to Save Battery
- Google Sync – navigate to settings -> accounts -> google -> and select your account. Next change the sync interval to the greatest amount of time you can live with. You can repeat this step with other applications that have data syncing via the accounts screen.
- Notifications – within the accounts section from the Google Sync settings you will see notification settings. Here you can do several things to save battery like disabling notifications, unchecking vibrate, and turning off the notification light. All of these cause battery drain and can save battery life.
While these are some of the easier settings to change for increasing battery life on your Nexus 5 you can also root your device and install a custom ROM which in many cases increases battery life even more than anything you can do in settings. This said I hope this helps with you rNexus 5 battery. Please let us know if you notice anything else that helps and good luck.