Folks, the truth is that sometimes these phones will exceed your expectations and sometimes they will fall short. What I do want to make perfectly clear here to everyone is that when a manufacturer makes a claim (in marketing material), that a device will achieve "up to 48 hours of mixed use", it is based on best case scenario environment and configuration. What this means is a STOCK phone with NO third party apps installed, ONE email account activated (whether it's Gmail or otherwise), NO widgets running for news or other things such as social networking, and just the basic functionality. This would be things such as....wait for it...PHONE CALLS, web access for surfing, listinging to music whether streaming or on the device, watching video - again either on the device or streaming, taking photos, some - and I do mean SOME syncing of things such as photos and video, and overall "mixed use" but NORMAL mixed use. This also means a strong and stable signal level that doesn't overtax the OS and radios.
The phone will use less or more power depending on what is installed, whether it's running in the background or not, whether there is an app which is constantly pinging the web for updates, whether there are widgets pulling down data such as weather, news, Facebook, Twitter, et. al., whether the screen is set to dim and go black with no use in a very short timeframe or is set to stay awake longer, whether the phone has good cellular coverage or marginal, whether you have just the cellular radio on or are also running WIFI, Bluetooth NFC, etc., whether you are on WIFI or not (cellular is still awake and being attentive to the network so it's still using power), and a whole lot more things I can't even begin to explain here.
There are plenty of apps that will work fine and use little to no power on one manufacturer's phone, but will run rogue and suck the life out of the battery on another phone. This seems to be an issue not with Android but with the Kernel and how it's adapted to run on the hardware itself. In other words, the hardware is capable, the OS is capable, but if the job of the programmer(s) is performed poorly the instruction set that the OS gives to the CPU/GPU and other componentry is not communicating with the greatest efficiency it can cause a minor bobble in programming for an application to result either little to no issues or in a major interruption of the phone's operation. It can also then cause the CPU/GPU to remain "AWAKE" even with the phone screen off and no user intervention. This is like a car's gas pedal stuck down to the floor on a running engine while the car is parked in your driveway and you're sleeping. You're going to wake to an empty tank.
Cellular coverage, or signal strength and quality can greatly affect power consumption, even when the phone is at rest. The phone's job is to always have a cellular connection and be at the ready to make a call. This is actually a Federal requirement per the 911 Emergency Response System. If the phone isn't ready to make a call, someone can die unnecessarily. I am in an area where 4G is spotty and overall signal level is between 2 and 3 bars at most times. As a result, I am using FAR more battery power than I would if I were living next to a cellular tower. When I had a Samsung Galaxy S4, I had 3, count-em, 3 spare batteries and there were days I needed all three to get through a day.
If your phone seems to be sucking down power and you can't be sure it's not an app gone rogue, restart it in Safe mode and run it that way for a day or so. See how that affects the power consumption before you go and make an assumption that the phone is flawed in some way.
From Verizon's website:
Restart the Device in Safe Mode - DROID TURBO by Motorola
[Device-Specific Instructions]
Safe Mode puts your phone in a diagnostic state (returned to default settings) so you can determine if a third-party app is causing your device to freeze/reset / run slow. Our
Troubleshooting Assistant can help you with other device issues if you aren't currently using the tool.
- Press and hold the Power button (at the right edge of the device; above the Volume buttons) until the options menu appears then release.
- Touch and hold Power off until the 'Reboot to safe mode' prompt appears (approximately 1 second).
- From the 'Reboot to safe mode' prompt, tap OK to confirm.
The process may take up to 30 seconds to complete.
Upon reboot, 'Safe mode' appears in the lower left of the unlock/home screen.
Notes:
- With Safe Mode enabled, test device and app functionality. If the previous issue fails to occur, the cause has been isolated to a third-party app and all recently installed or updated apps should be uninstalled.
- Power cycle the device to disable Safe Mode, reinstall then test each app, one at a time, to identify which is causing the problem.
There's lots more to what I've said above but I wanted to keep this in an abbreviated edition version rather than the full 32 Volume set with the 2 Volume Reference Index Guides. Those of you who know me know that I can write novels, so I struggle to try to keep them shorter for everyone's benefit.