Borrowed my buddy's Pixel 8a for a day trip to Yosemite and came back impressed by the camera but annoyed at the battery drain

I snapped like 40 photos over 6 hours and the phone went from 80% to 15% by 3pm, so I learned a good midrange camera is useless if you're tethered to a power bank, anyone else have a Pixel that guzzles battery faster than expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

blairstone14d ago

Guzzles battery faster than expected" is putting it mildly. My Pixel 7a will go from full to dead in like 5 hours if I'm taking photos and using maps. I've had to buy two power banks just to get through a normal day. That 80% to 15% drop in 6 hours with 40 photos sounds about right for that chipset. The Tensor chips just aren't efficient, especially compared to Snapdragon phones. You basically traded battery life for a good camera. If you're not already, turn off 5G and location history. It might buy you another 30 minutes but it won't fix the core problem.

joseph52914d ago

I was nodding along reading your post and then I got to the part about 80% to 15% and had to laugh because my Pixel 7 does that just sitting in my pocket doing nothing... seriously, I'll pull it out after lunch wondering why it's already at 40% and I haven't even opened the camera. The camera is amazing but the battery is like a toddler throwing a tantrum if you ask it to do more than one thing at a time. I actually bought a case with a built in power bank so I don't have to carry a separate brick everywhere. It's ridiculous that a "flagship" phone can't handle a day trip without backup power.