I would have agreed about the abysmal battery life if I only have a day’s worth of experience, playing around with it a lot more than I would usually, which is what a lot of anecdotes on the battery life are.

Read reports from N5 users now and you’ll find the battery life is nowhere near abysmal when tested against the conditions one would put with a phone they use normally.

I was one of those that lambasted the battery life when I first got it. But now at the end of the day my battery life barely dips below 50% and I use mine a fair lot.

I unplugged my N5 this morning at around 07.00, it's now 16.30 and I'm on 80%. Did some web browsing on the train into work, have been messaging on and off all day. Lowest I've seen on a weekday for me was about 40% by the time I go to sleep.

Admittedly I tried some games on Sunday (Real Racing 3 and PvZ2) and the battery drained much faster, but the same happens on my ipad mini so it wasn't unexpected.

I just bought a G2, which looks like the Nexus 5's older brother. Battery life is amazingly excellent: it's not uncommon for me to go to sleep with 45-50% remaining.

The number one reason I didn't buy an N5 was the 2300mAh battery, versus the G2's 3000. I think it was the right choice.

I was reading the battery life thread the other day in /r/android on reddit and saw mostly positive statements.

The battery life on mine is excellent, better than any smartphone I've ever owned by a solid margin.

Granted I am upgrading from a 2 year old Galaxy Nexus that would fully drain in a few hours, but I am quite happy with the N5 battery life. The only way I don't make it through a full day is if I play A LOT of Plants vs. Zombies 2.