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I have a Nexus 5 (1.5yo; I know, it's old but still worthy!) and the boy was heavily suffering from short battery discharges. I'm a phone heavy user so I figured out I had depleted the battery's life, and decided to buy a new one.

I used that great iFixIt guide to replace the battery and everything is fine, except that my phone keeps lasting 2 hours and something after a full charge, just like it did with the old battery.

Are there any special procedures I can take to ensure I can have a lasting battery life, or could this be related to the power port or other internals? I feel the back of the phone overheated just like it happened with the old battery as well.

UPDATE: it seems that battery I bought was faulty. After some weeks the phone dropped on the floor and the battery stopped working completely. The new one I got from the warranty gave the phone new life, as expected :)

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  • There might be an app draining your battery. You can check in settings > battery.
    – Thomas Vos
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:03
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    And for that answer. Battery calibration can help, but you should already notice a difference with a new battery.
    – Thomas Vos
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:04
  • You shouldn't need to do anything, the time remaining may be incorrect for a short time, but it should correct itself. If your phone is getting hot, it is an indication something is not right... and since you replaced the battery that probably is not, and likely was not, the real issue. Either you have a hardware problem, or a software problem, the heating is likely due to the an application not sleeping properly and keeping the device awake, which will also reduce you battery life. I would install GSAM or BetterBatteryStats and try to figure out exactly what is using your battery up.
    – acejavelin
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:04
  • @acejavelin, I will try those. I'm used to watching the default Android Battery Stats screen, but this seems promising. Would you turn that comment into a full answer? So I can vote it and, maybe, mark it as correct :)
    – igorsantos07
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:08

2 Answers 2

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You shouldn't need to do anything, the time remaining displayed in the phone may be incorrect for a short time (a few days at most), but it should correct itself with a few charge cycles. Wiping batterystats.bin has no effect on the actual life of the battery, but it can have an effect on the display of the remaining life of the battery. Source: XDA/Google

If your phone is getting hot, it is an indication something is not right... and since you replaced the battery that probably is not, and likely was not, the real issue. Either you have a hardware problem, or a software problem, the heating is likely due to the an application not sleeping properly and keeping the device awake, which will also reduce you battery life. I would install GSAM or BetterBatteryStats (paid), and possibly WakeLock Detector (root needed), and try to figure out exactly what is using your battery up. Although more rare, this could be caused by defective hardware as well.

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  • a few days: I'm in that range, but I still feel the battery going away quite quickly. Gonna try what you suggested.
    – igorsantos07
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:16
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    Again, the batterystats.bin file is used to calculate the remaining life of the battery, not the actual battery life. Do a couple FULL discharge (until it turns itself off) and charge cycles, the batterystats.bin file will correct itself. This has NO EFFECT on the actual battery life, just the time remaining calculations.
    – acejavelin
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:18
  • @acejavelin it doesn't need "a couple" usually (see: How frequently is it okay to let the battery discharge fully or as low as possible?), and draining the battery until it's dry never is a good idea (LiIo & LiPo batteries don't like that, it shortens their life time). Given OP states it's empty after 2h, following that by a full charge (in one run) already implicates calibration (down to 10% should be enough for that).
    – Izzy
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 17:01
  • @Izzy you are correct, it usually doesn't need a couple cycles, and the phone should shutdown on its own prior to a complete discharge of the battery which is why I stated until it turns itself off.
    – acejavelin
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 17:05
  • That's correct – but an "emergency shutdown" is for emergencies. AFAIK batteries work best with a charge between 30% and 80% (yeah, would be crazy to stop charging at 80% just for that), so I'd better not go too low if I can avoid it (and definitely not too often). But OK, we both know what's meant :)
    – Izzy
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 17:09
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You need to recalibrate the battery. An app to do this (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nema.batterycalibration&hl=en)

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  • Battery calibration is a myth. Especially you won't need an app for that. If, as OP indicates, the battery goes down to "ground zero" and one applies a full charge, that already implicates a calibration (one full charge-discharge cycle).
    – Izzy
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 16:57
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    – Matthew Read
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 18:59

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