How's your Pixel 4 battery life?

By Joe Maring
published

Google Pixel 4 XL
Google Pixel 4 XL (Image credit: Joe Maring / Android Central)

Ever since Pixel 4 reviews started coming out last week, there's been a lot of commotion regarding the phone's battery life. While the Pixel 4 has an excellent camera package, display, and software experience, a lot of this is held back by the fact that the phone can barely make it through a full day of normal use.

This poor battery performance isn't all that surprising considering the small 2,800 mAh unit Google supplied the phone with, but even so, it is pretty disappointing.

Taking a look through the AC forums, here's how some other users are getting along with the Pixel 4's endurance.

I got my phone setup last night. I went through my normal morning ritual before work and still had 100%. On my OG XL, I would have been down to 80%

DestinedtoGame

My battery life has been fine. I took it off the charger at 900AM this morning, 7 hours ago. I have 2 hours of screen on time, and I have 67% left. I see no problem getting through my days easily with this phone. BTW, I have the Pixel 4 XL.

nelamvr6

I got my standard 4 on Tuesday. It's a fantastic phone. The battery life, however, ain't the best. I purchased and returned an iPhone 11 pro and really the only thing I miss is the battery life. Not sure why Google wouldn't forgo the camera hump and just make the phone a little thicker and put in a bigger battery. So, I definitely plug it in before the day is over. But like was said earlier...

Subliminal

Received my 4xl Thursday and decided to give the battery a little test yesterday. A couple of things. I forced 90hz in developer options, have everything turned on and have brightness on 90. Normally throughout the day I'm plugging my phone into my car for android auto and when I'm at my desk I can plug in too. I never really have a problem with battery on any phone because I can charge...

bkrickles

What about you? How's your Pixel 4 battery life?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Joe Maring
Joe Maring

Joe Maring was a Senior Editor for Android Central between 2017 and 2021. You can reach him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.

28 Comments
  • I think the 4xl battery life is great, especially coming from my 2xl. Even with 90hz forced, I get through the day without any problem, but I'm also not playing games, which I know can really put a dent in battery life. A couple times it got somewhat low in the early evening (30-40%), but I would just plug it in while I'm washing dishes or something, and it's back to 70-80% by the time I unplug it. I don't have my phone surgically attached to me, so I can set it down for 15-20 minutes and still manage to survive, so I personally think the whole deal about battery life is way overblown. If for some reason you play a bunch of games on the phone (or similar battery-draining activities) and you somehow don't have a collection of USB-C charges, then sure, I can see the battery being an issue. I think for most moderate users, the 4xl (can't speak for the 4) the battery life if fine. Certainly not amazing, but it gets through the day.
  • I think in a way it having a small battery could help you stay away from the phone more, but at the same time, if you're a moderate user, charging every two days would be nice.
  • That's the best way to sum it up IMO... well said.
    if you're addicted to your phone, the battery life is average to below-average.
    If you still pay attention to life, and use your phone reactively... the battery life is average to good.
  • Ordered the Pixel 4 and was a little worried but after switching from the 2xl to the 3 I got so used to the smaller size I didn't want to go back. So far my battery life has been better than my Pixel 3 and while I wish they would put a larger battery in it. It doesn't seem to be a problem for me.
  • I have a 4 XL, and the battery life is fine. It could certainly be better, but I could also stop playing Pokemon Go and Harry Potter so much. I could also ditch the Pokemon wallpaper that constantly encourages me to play.
  • The battery on my Pixel 4XL has been absolutely fine, I've not had any battery issues even after very heavy usage days. To be fair I never had any issues with my 3XL either. I've always found the battery life more than adequate without needing to charge during the day. I've been really surprised by all the negative commentary about the battery in the Pixel 4XL as I've never found it a problem myself. Absolutely love my Oh so Orange one so far.
  • Ditto, so much trash talking going on. Smear campaign is what it feels like. It's honestly great.
  • It’s not a smear campaign when literally every reviewer has battery issues. 🙄
  • Dano B - Let me know when you get 9h 48m SOT or 70 hours of use on one charge... like I do with a 3500 mAh battery 😉
  • Pixel 4 XL owner:
    -Always on display is OFF
    -Force 90Hz is OFF
    -Disabled Chrome because it was eating away at the battery in the background (using samsung browser as an experiment)
    -I toggle my radios on and off based on when they are needed, same thing with brightness BEST screen on time: 6hr24mins
    WORST screen on time: 5hr12mins BEST total time on a full charge: 36 hours
    WORST: 24 hours
  • I haven't turned anything off, and have forced 90hz at all time. My brightness is usually around the 80% mark. Today at 23:14 my current on screen usage is 6 hours and 48 minutes and I have 1 hour and 45 minutes of battery left. Maybe you have some apps that are causing battery usage?
  • That's actually pretty bad compared to Note 10 that I have. Battery is 3500mah, wifi, lte, bluetooth, GPS, all sync ON, 2 email accounts, chrome, WhatsApp, brightness on Auto, no dark mode. And I get 7 hours of screen ON time with around 15-20% left on battery with 16-17 hours standby. So probably can go for 8+ hours of SOT
    I also have sht ton of other apps that have push notifications turned on. Banks, zillow, food ordering app, Amazon, etc
  • You do realize you can turn restrict Chrome usage in the background in the settings right?
  • Coming from 2XL to 4XL battery seems good to me but my 2 xl had bad battery degradation. I suspect from what people are saying that battery could be better but I also think these reviewers are being hyper critical towards a phone that's actually pretty great. That super-res zoom with the 2x optical lens...I loves it.
  • Its excellent! Wait....that's Note 10, Pixel 4 sucks
  • In what way is it an good idea to ask people that just bought an Pixel and probably need to defend that against a lot of negative review if they think their decision was wise?
    It is one thing for a reviewer that do not pay for the phone and only have it for the review to try to get an honest answer to this question. It is an completely different case to get anyone that just recently payed 700 and up for something that is getting bad reviews to admit even to them self that the thing they just bought and probably wanted to buy for an long time is sub-par.
  • I approve this msg
  • Right? Some users are reporting 7 hours SOT, but not one of them posted battery results. The best the XL version can do is somewhere around 5 hours SOT. I call BS on anyone who claims more.
  • Then you are talking nonsense, I can easily get over 6:30 hours of on screen time. I had 6:48 the other evening when I posted here and that was with 16% battery left. And no I don't have to justify my purchase as my phone was gifted. I find the battery on the XL absolutely fine. 5 days in and I've never been anywhere near running out of battery so far. That's with everything turned on 90hz forced and brightness around 80%. I believe what is happening with the tech reviews is that they are making a point to Google that they should have put a larger battery in the phone as other manufacturers have done it. Personally I'd rather have a lighter phone will all day battery like the Pixel 4XL than a heavier phone with 2 day battery. Don't believe the haters the battery life on the XL is absolutely fine for most people's usage.
  • "Personally I'd rather have a lighter phone will all day battery like the Pixel 4XL than a heavier phone with 2 day battery" I get that, and I dislike walking around with phones that feel like a brick in my pocket. I could never go for the ROG 2 just because of the weight.
  • I've not yet needed to put my XL on a charger before bedtime so I'm not having any "battery problem" at all. I don't live on my phone, using it to keep up with customers, listen to some music (an hour or two at most), watch a couple of videos, read news.... Unless you're one of the relatively few who spend hours on their phone every day (and why?) the"battery problem" is not one in practical use.
  • What I have learned through this whole Pixel 4 review cycle is that I dont use my phone nearly as much as most people that review or are on the forums. I have the Pixel 4 and the battery is the same as my Pixel 3. I have force 90 HZ enabled but disabled AOD. I always turn off background data on all apps because I dont trust what data they are sending on regular basis. With these settings I could get 4-5 screen on time and ~17 hours of life. The fact is I dont use my phone that much in a day. I dont know how you can if you have a job unless your job is on the phone. The only time I worry about battery is the same as my Pixel 3 which is long flights across the states which I have a power pack for. I agree battery is important but it is not an issue for an average user who's life takes place outside of their phone.
  • I'm not very impressed with the battery life. I am coming from a first gen Pixel where my battery was lasting about 2 minutes unplugged. I waited as long as I could to get the new Pixel 4 XL. Don't get me wrong, it's a million miles ahead of my old Pixel 1, and usually I have it charging at my desk or in my car. But I just read this article , and decided to pay attention to the battery life issue for a moment. I took my dog for a walk, about 15 minutes, and played Harry Potter while I was walking. I went from 90% to 67% in 15 minutes. Compared to my wife's iPhone XS which can play this game for 2 days between charges, I'm feeling pretty embarrassed. She played with me and went down 1%. Something is wrong with that. This is a new flagship phone that cost me $1150. I have been a loyal Google phone user since the Nexus and this is now making me consider asking for a refund because nothing else on the phone is worth that price tag when such basic needs are unmet.
  • Something else was effecting your battery life. Pixel 4XL - 73h endurance test // 23:32 talk time // 10:49 Browsing // 11:29 Video
    Iphone XS - 72hr endurance test // 14:10 talk time // 10:20 Browsing // 11:21 Video If everything is the same they should have similar results unless they are talking a lot, then the Pixel destroys it. And this is with the 90Hz enabled
  • These fears about battery life are antiquated. Google is going to the next level with this phone: moving away from screen interaction (a huge battery drain) and towards voice and gesture commands. The biggest upgrades to this phone are not yet fully integrated to how we (main stream) use tech: the soli chip, and the transcription chip. Those two pieces, especially when combined with an earpiece, will allow the user to take their phone further with less battery. Sure, it's a bit uncomfortable, that's why they call it the bleeding edge.
  • Then why aren't they making this clear? Oh, and making gestures and voice commands *useful*? The only think the Soli chip is helping me with is making face-unlock work faster. Otherwise what can you do with it right now? Skip tracks? You can do that with a button press. And 'they'll roll out more utility over time' doesn't help with battery life *now*.
  • Pixel 4. Just got it yesterday. I went to bed last night with a full charge. Woke up late (slept for 10 hours) and was at 40%. The only thing on last night was the clock screensaver. No forced 90hz refresh. Maybe it needs to be settled in - but I'm not going to be happy if they chose to put in a battery so small that you have to charge it three times a day.
  • No idea how that happened. Maybe it was installing a bunch of updates and the screen stayed on for some reason for majority of it. I leave for work around 7am. When I go to charge it at night around 10:30pm It is normally at 50%. The lowest I had was 43% at that was with over 4hour screen time and when I was installing/downloading all my apps which I switched to the phone. I have adaptive battery on and 60/90hz switching on but all other battery draining options on (screen attention, radar, music detect, screen always on, etc.). Right now it has been 5 hours and it has drained 12% with 1:23 screen time. Also the gesture controls. Most people reviewing that claim it rarely works. I have yet to have it miss so I have no idea how they are in a situation they have millions of views for phone reviews yet they cannot do a simple somewhat consistent motion.