How to improve Nexus 6 battery life by decreasing screen resolution, without root

If the Quad HD screen (2560 x 1440 pixels) of your Nexus 6 takes a toll on your battery, and makes the device hot at times while throwing up lag issues, there is a solution.

A Redditor, bartekxx12 has shared an easy method on the forum using which you can lower the resolution on your Nexus 6. All you need to do is plug in your phone and run a couple of commands. The redittor claims to have tested this on the Nexus 6 running Android M developer preview build.

The results seem to be quite positive, with the average screen hours doubled and no heat issues. It even feels smoother than the Nexus 5.

The only caveats are that the navigation elements in some apps display a bigger than usual size and picture thumbnails in some apps like Contacts sometimes display quarter of their original size.

Check out the following guide.

How to reduce Nexus 6 battery screen resolution

Step-1: Download and install ADB and USB drivers from XDA (Click Yes for everything and hit enter)

Step-2: Go to Settings then Developer options on your Nexus 6 and enable USB debugging. If the Developer options do not appear in the Settings, go to About phone and tap on build number five to six times.

Step-3: Connect the phone to the PC using USB cable

Step-4: On the computer, hit the Windows key and type in CMD and press Enter

Step-5: Type the following commands, and press Enter after each command

• adb shell wm size 720x1280
• adb shell wm density 280 && adb reboot

That's it. Note that the viewing experience will not be as crisp as before, but it is worth doing to improve battery life.

How to return to original screen resolution: Run the following commands.

• adb shell wm size 1440x2560

• adb shell wm density 560 && adb reboot

Source: Reddit