How to Get Better Nexus 6 Battery Life

Google’s relatively new Nexus 6 smartphone is arguably the best Nexus device released to date, and one of the best Android smartphones available today. It’s packed full of features, has great battery life, and runs the latest version of Android. Sadly battery technology has only come so far, and for those wanting more battery life from the Nexus 6, here’s some beginner tips and tricks.

Released late last year Motorola’s Nexus 6 is unlike any other phone available from carriers in the US. It has a large 5.96-inch Quad-HD display, a powerful quad-core processor and more, and that’s all powered by a huge 3,220 mAh battery with a Turbo Charger in the box for faster charging. Battery life isn’t an issue for most Nexus 6 owners, but we’ll try to get more out of it anyways.

Read: Nexus 6 Review: One Month with Google’s Flagship

These days most phones rarely last more than a day, so with that below we have a few useful tips, settings, and suggestions to help owners get the most out of their Nexus 6. It already has class-leading battery life, but for those seeking even more from their smartphones here’s how to get better battery life with Google and Motorola’s Nexus 6.

Starting with the original Moto X released in 2013 Motorola has done an excellent job with some neat software features for most of their smartphones. These are useful, while also managing to sip on the battery so owners can get the most out of their phones for as long as possible. Things like always-listening modes for hands-free voice controls with Moto Voice, Active display, and little tricks to get at-a-glance notifications on the lockscreen.

Read: 80 Best Nexus 6 Apps

This is called Ambient Display on the Nexus 6, but I don’t use it myself as it was constantly causing me to accidentally pocket dial people, or turn the screen on when I didn’t want to. For starters, heading into settings > display > and turning off Ambient display will lose a feature, but get you a big boost in battery life. Now, on to the other important things.

Before we begin, it’s worth noting the first thing you’ll want to do is use the charger that came with the Nexus 6. It, combined with some technology inside the device, you’ll enjoy Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 that allows for over 60% faster charging from previous years. When the device is under 20% battery they have a new Turbo Charge that gets you 8 hours of usage after just 15 minutes connected to the wall. This same technology is in the HTC One M9, Galaxy Note 4, DROID Turbo and a few other devices released late last year.

Screen Brightness and Sleep Time

Having that huge 5.96-inch 2k HD display turned on displaying Facebook messages, tweets, or while browsing the web will be the biggest drain on the battery. Screen On time under the battery stats page in settings is important, as the display will use more battery than anything else. You’ll want to head into Settings > Display > Brightness and choose something that works for you. Auto isn’t ideal for conserving battery, and I use somewhere around 20-30% brightness myself.

At the same time, you’ll also want to set the display sleep time. This sets how long the display will stay powered on and lit up while not in use. Many just set a device on a table after use, and if this is set to two or five minutes, your battery will drain as the screen is on for minutes at a time for no reason. I use 30 seconds personally, and always manually sleep my display by hitting power after use, instead of just setting the device down. Others might suggest heading into Developer Options and disabling all of the animation effects, which can also increase battery life at the cost of the user interface and experience not being as smooth or pretty.

Location and GPS

Another large drain aside from the actual screen is location data and GPS. These GPS chips inside the phone can constantly be talking to Facebook, Google Maps or Navigation, and other 3rd party apps and will make a huge dent in your battery life. With Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Google changed this, and it’s even better in Android 4.4 and Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Head to Settings > Location > and set the mode to Battery Saving. This uses WiFi and mobile networks to determine your phones location, rather than the power-hungry GPS chips inside your device. Navigation may not be as accurate, but still seems to work just fine and get me to places when battery saving mode is enabled.

WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC

It’s also worth noting that Wi-Fi is more efficient than our mobile connection, so it’s best to always be on Wi-Fi at home. Not to mention this will use your home internet vs your smartphone data plan. Have WiFi turned on when you need it, and off when you don’t so it isn’t constantly searching for a signal.

I also turn off Bluetooth when I’m not driving or listening to music, and NFC is disabled in settings as I rarely use anything it has to offer, aside from Google Wallet on occasion.

Battery Saver (Android 5.0)

The Nexus 6 is currently running Android 5.0.1 Lollipop, and should see Android 5.1 in the near future. With Android 5.0 Google introduced a new battery saver mode that’s rather useful and customizable, and this will be one more feature Nexus 6 owners can use. It turns off non-essential apps and services once your battery gets to a certain point, to save as much as possible for important things like calls and texts.

Battery Saver can be extremely useful in emergency situations, long nights out when you just need to text or make a call, or just general everyday situation where you run out of battery but still need the essentials from a smartphone. Head into settings > battery > and tap the three dots at the top right and select battery saver. Then just turn it on. Many 3rd party manufacturers offer this, and now Google’s baked it right into stock Android.

Final Thoughts

The Nexus 6 already comes with a Turbo Charger in the box, but you can get another one from Motorola that costs $34.99 and will boosts battery life by 8 hours after a 15 minute charge. I have a spare for the living room, and a high output charger for the car. Whenever I’m sitting around, my device is plugged in just to top-off as much juice as I can whenever possible. It’s a habit, and something others should try. It’s bad to let the battery completely drain often, so do top-offs to keep a healthy charge in the long run.

You can always grab a portable battery pack too, when you’re out and about and need to charge your phone. Get one of the many different awesome portable battery chargers available today.