How has your Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL battery life been?

By Andrew Martonik
published

Pixel 2 battery estimate
Pixel 2 battery estimate (Image credit: Android Central)

Battery life makes or breaks the smartphone experience. No, not just battery size but the combination of factors that lead to how long a phone will last on an average day before you start looking for a battery or a wall outlet. Battery life differs pretty widely among phones, but the biggest differences you see in reported battery life come down to the vast differences in how we use our phones. Ask two people with the same exact phone how their battery life is on a normal day, and you can get two very different numbers — one reassuring, and another unsettling.

Whether you have the Pixel 2, with its relatively small 2700mAh battery, or the bigger Pixel 2 XL with far better longevity prospects, we want to know how your battery life has been.

Despite its small battery capacity, some people are seeing great battery life on the Pixel 2.

Yep, 3 straight days with 6+ hours of SOT with Pixel 2. This includes GPS, YouTube and camera. Not babying the battery at all. Going out of my way to use the phone. Im amazed how efficient this phone is. If I go easy, I can probably get 8+ hours SOT.

openwheelracing

Seeing a whole bunch of reports like this. Impressive.

Over 4 hours of SOT with 50% still to go. Regular Pixel 2. Mixed 4G and WiFi usage. Adaptive brightness on. GPS on. Bluetooth off. AOD off.

Cakefish

It's tough to find someone with a Pixel 2 XL who isn't very happy with their battery life.

Yesterday I had over 5 hours SOT and still had 40% in the tank when I went to bed. So far the battery life on the 2XL has been fantastic.

JHBThree

And the 2 XL is outperforming its predecessor as well, which is always a good sign.

2 XL here... The battery life is incredible. I pulled it off the charger 6 hours ago. Since then I used my phone to navigate to work (25 minute commute), streamed music the whole way here, I've watched YouTube, used Instagram, I screenshared with support while I was troubleshooting an issue, plus other random stuff. I've currently had the screen on for 2 hrs and 20min and have my brightness maxed...

svenEDGE

So where does your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL battery life land on the spectrum? Is it more than enough, coming up short, or landing right in the middle? Jump into the forums and get in on the discussion!

Andrew Martonik
Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.

44 Comments
  • Hands down the best I've gotten since my old flip phone
  • Whoa, that's a high level. Impressive!
  • Pixel 2 XL, easily gets over a day on the battery (medium usage). Really nice to not even have to think about it.
  • Really great battery life. Zero screen issues as well. Easily the best Android phone ever IMO. So glad I waited and got it over the S8+ (or any other for that matter)
  • On an Average basis.....I go to bed with 50% or better each night. I'm particularly impressed with how my Pixel 2 XL goes almost completely Dormant when I'm Not using it.....with Very little drain Overnight or when it's Idle. And then there's the Fast Charging. I'm used to Moto's Turbo Charging.....and this is also Satisfyingly Fast.
  • encouraging, hope will ship sooner than the 15th of november in canada
  • Man the 🔋 is great on my pixel 2XL I'm worried about the smaller pixel 2 life
  • Consistently good. I'm on the 2 XL and have never gotten less than 6 hours screen time which is really good for my usage.
  • 2 hours of SOT time on Pixel 2 with 50% battery left. Roughly the same as I get on Pixel 1 XL with a year old battery
  • On the Pixel 2 XL I am getting through the day with a little under 50% left. Yesterday I was pushing 4 hours of screen on time.
  • I'm getting outstanding battery life on the Pixel 2, if battery life had been this good on the 1st gen Pixel, I would have kept it instead of being forced to go with the 1st gen XL to achieve acceptable battery life. Very pleased.
  • I'm on the 2 XL, and the battery life has been really good. I'm literally impressed.
  • I've had amazing battery life with the pixel 2 xl so far it's shocked me every time I check the battery percentage! I get thru the day with pretty moderate usage. No issues with the phone so far. Loving this phone so far!
  • Battery life is decent...pixel XL was better for me....I seem to lose at least 5 percent overnight....used to be 1-2 tops....also the phone charges so slowly that I'm beginning to think it's defective
  • if it charges very slowly with even the in-box charger, then yes it's likely defective and I'd talk to Google about a replacement.
  • On my Pixel 2, I'm getting 4 - 4.5 hours screen on time with moderate to heavy use, and generally go to bed with about 20-25% left. I haven't felt the need to charge it in the middle of the day yet, except when I've played lots of super battery-intensive games during the day. Coming from the original Pixel with its, shall we say troublesome battery life, I'm really thrilled so far. This is the best battery performance I've ever gotten out of a Google-branded device by a mile.
  • Absolutely awesome, especially compared to the OG Pixel I had. Can easily get a full day on the Pixel 2 without carrying around a power bank.
  • Reading 4-5 hours SOT as "great" is really funny to see coming from my Moto Z Play which regularly gets 8-11 hours SOT, even after using it for a year.
  • I forgot to plug it into the car charger for my 1 hour commute. Running Waze and an audiobook app (over BT to the car radio), My 2 XL dropped 4%.
    My Nexus 6, which had pretty damned good battery life on an alt ROM, has dropped 15% or more when I forgot to plug it into the car charger on the same commute.
  • Anyone else think it charges incredibly slow for a rapid charge phone?
  • I've only had it for a couple of days, and cycling through the battery as well, but so far, pretty impressive! I had a heckuva time trying to drain the battery quicker so it can cycle for the first time...it was a good problem to have.
  • Very, very impressed with my Pixel 2. An hour of Riptide GP: Renegade takes me from 100% to 90% -- on my old G4, that would have easily drained 40% or more.
  • On my 3rd day of a new Pixel 2. All I have to say is that I've been off the charger now for 2.5 hours with 20min on screen time and as I was typing this it just went down to 99%.
    Streaming spotify over Bluetooth, GPS on, Facebook and messenger installed. Color me surprised and thrilled. Really loving this phone. Side note, I squeeze the sides more than I thought I would.
  • Ok I definitely have to return mine. My battery charges very slow and battery life isn't anywhere near what people are reporting
  • Updating on end of day stats.
    Getting ready for bed now
    Uptime 16 hours
    Screen on time nearly 4 hours
    Just 16% battery Streaming YouTube, podcasts, playing games, editing photos, sending texts, browsing AC. This phone is beast! Can't even imagine what the XL is like. Wish it weren't so big. Can someone just make and iPhone 5 sized phone have no bezels?! I've never been an iPhone guy, though I have one through work and the 5 is such a perfect size. If it were made all screen like an S8 or iPhone X, I'd buy it in a heart beat. Device wise, it is the same size as the Pixel screen.
  • Pixel 2. It's been a long time since I've charged less frequently than every 24 hours. Last I made note to myself, SOT 5.5hours left me at > 30%. very pleased with battery performance.
  • Pixel 2: I work in a Jail, so I don't have my phone on me for 9 hours a day. With that being said, I can take the phone off the charger at 5:15 in the morning and put it back on the charger the following day at 9 pm with about 20% remaining with 2.5 hours of SOT. I had to charge my Nexus 5X every night with less than 2 hours SOT. Both phones have the same size battery, so that says something about the Snapdragon 835 and the Pixels software optimization. Couldn't be happier with the phone!
  • After reading all these good comments about the battery life on pixel 2XL I'm starting to think mine is defective. My phone only will give me 4 hours of SOT with location and Bluetooth off. When using rapid charging to charge it, it will slow down after 84% and take around 40 minutes to get to 100%, if anybody is having the same problems please reply.
  • It sounds like your Pixel 2 is charging correctly. It charges the First 50% Very Fast....but then slows as it gets close to 80%. This is pretty standard on all Fast Charge Phones. This is why you see things like "Charge 50% in just 30 minutes". Charging the second 50% takes longer. I have read that The Pixel 2 can actually charge even faster......but for now Google has it "reined in" in favor of Battery Life. There is a Trade-off for Fast Charging. Also....check your Apps.....you can see exactly what is Draining your Battery in Settings>Battery....and make sure Battery Saver is turned On.
  • Thanks!
  • I'm on the Pixel 2 and can honestly say the battery life is the best in any phone I've had since the LG G2. It just goes and goes. Also, this is the ONLY phone I've ever owned that drains no battery while I'm sleeping. If I set it down at 100%, when I get up 8 hours later it's still sitting on 100%. Outstanding.
  • Battery life on my Pixel 2 is fine, easily getting me through a full day. Unfortunately my phone freezes and reboots once or twice a day.....anyone else having this issue?
  • No. That sucks. Send it back.
  • I've had one Pixel 2 reboot on day one. None in a year of Pixel XL use previously. Definitely send it back.
  • Do a factory reset. If the issue persists, get a replacement.
  • Pretty stellar. A relative even asked me if I have my GPS, bluetooth, etc. set to On at all times and I said "yes." Actually didn't even realize it until he asked lol.
  • Battery life has been excellent. I have not really put it to the tough test of travel. Although I did have one overnight trip that took me into a rural area. There, the cell service was weak and it definitely took a toll on the phone. But even then, I had just under 50% battery by evening. I have a feeling past phones would have had me plugging into the battery back up. Doze seems to function more effectively too.
  • I thought there was something wrong with the battery meter because I always feel that I have too much battery left considering my usage and experiences with the phones in the past. I guess there's nothing wrong with it.
  • Pixel 2 here, I'm impressed with the battery life as well, better than any galaxy phones I used. Switched from the GS7, which had great battery at first, but after a year, it seems to crap out. Hope the battery in pixel 2 doesn't do that, I lost confidence in samsung phones.
  • I love my P2XL's battery life! I'm usually at or near 60% by late evening. I can leave it on the desk with 100% when I go to bed and the battery is between 97-100% by the morning when wake up.
  • I first had stellar battery life on my Pixel 2. Then it started tanking fast after the first hour of powering back on after a reboot. Google Play Services really started to get aggressive, eating up about 20-25% of my battery under light usage or just standing by and idling. Google Fi support suggested to boot into safe mode. If Google Play Services played nicely, it was most likely an app using it's services and doing a ton of wakelocks.
    I saw several articles, including one here where the Dev preview for 8.1 had a battery minder letting you know about the offending app. In the screenshots showed Fenix eating away at the battery.
    Hmmm, just maybe....Fenix is horrible. Uninstalled Fenix, so far so good. I installed the Twitter Lite app, and it gets me by easily since I just use it for news consumption.
    One of the commenters was saying that that feature has him concerned since he is a developer. Apparently he is a bad developer if he is concerned that Android will show an app as a total battery hog.
    I cant wait for this feature on 8.1. It will take the guess work out of battery hog wack a mole. I got lucky, since the article by chance showed Fenix as an example.
  • Not great tbh, my 2 XL hasn't had great battery life these past few days. Today is the worst of the lot, 2hrs 30 mins SOT and already at 20%. Nothing different about usage today, Facebook, camera, snapseed, Instagram and a bit of chrome. Been at work since 3 so barely used the phone (it's now 8pm). Not impressed, may need a factory reset
  • Was great until a few days ago. I've uninstalled all the newly added apps to no avail. Nothing running today and down to 35% from 96% in less than 3 hours
  • what level of brightness are yall leaving your pixel 2's at? full brightness, 50 percent? thanks.