[Nexus 4 General] jonmorris:
I'm having all sorts of problems and think the battery needs calibrating, or perhaps there's a bigger problem to deal with?

Yesterday I went out with the family to a zoo where there was very poor cellular coverage. Now, searching for a network is always a drain on any phone battery but - to cut a long story short - I went from the 100% leaving home (the zoo is just 15 minutes drive) to 20% in 2 hours!

I took photos only, all without flash, so the screen was on during those times, but nothing else. I'd have gone into flight mode if I wasn't expecting a call about a meeting later in the evening.

I always carry a portable battery charger (with a 1500mAh battery) and it managed to get the phone to around 60% in under an hour - it also got quite warm. I was somewhat unsure if it could charge that much in a short time, given the lower amperage of the portable charger, and I think I was right to think that; within 20 minutes I was down to 15%.. followed soon after by the warning to recharge. So, clearly the phone didn't register the charge - and the battery charger itself was reporting it was down to under 50% capacity.. so the power seemed to go somewhere!

But, by the time I got home, expecting it to be dead... I noticed that it was 'stuck' on 11% for about an hour.. then it began to drop to 10%, 9% and eventually died. So perhaps it had taken on more power, or maybe the battery had never been quite so critically low in the first place.

Clearly the battery meter is giving me duff info, and I've also noticed many times that it is charged to 100% and very quickly drops to 95% and then 90%. Seems like I'm not the only one with the battery misreading at the 'high end' but I wonder how many people have waited to see just how long it takes to die when the battery gets low.

The only improvement I can see in 4.2.2 is that, in standby, the phone can now go into deep sleep for longer - so standby times are likely to be better. With the screen on, or using mobile data, or where signal is weak, this phone still sucks (sorry, but other phones can cope with poor signal or the use of mobile data far, far better).

I don't know if it's the OS, the chipset (perhaps the S4 Pro consumes too much power simply operating like a phone) or the antenna is weak and causes the phone to operate on a higher power level than other phones might in the same location - but I don't feel safe taking this phone out as my sole phone, without a load of portable chargers or a second phone that I can swap over to if I have to.

As I think I've said before, some people are posting that they're impressed with the performance of their batteries but I don't think the figures are anything special - and I can see from loads of screen captures that many people only get good times if they're on Wi-Fi, have good signal throughout and don't have the screen on much.

Screen on seems to cause a massive and extremely noticeable nosedive on the graphs, as does not using Wi-Fi which is obviously not good for a mobile phone!

Now I need to do some charge cycles and see what happens, and maybe look to see if there's a problem with the use of some chargers. I have many chargers, of varying amperage but all official (no dodgy Chinese rip offs that output suspect voltages), but all should still be able to charge the phone to 100% properly.