Phones with the best battery life (part 1)

Phones with the best battery life

As proved by numerous surveys, battery life turns out to be one of the most important, and sometimes the most important feature that needs improvement in modern smartphones. Camera quality, processing speeds and screen resolution seem to have reached a pretty satisfactory level on modern phones, even on most midrangers, but daily juicing is still required for the vast majority of them, unlike in days past, where you only needed to top off once or twice a week.

That is why we take a peak in our battery tests database to see which phones offer much more endurance than others,
and, as expected, the results might surprise you. It's not always the most popular flagship phones, and not even the ones with the highest battery capacity that are at the top of their endurance game, but rather phones that are a good mix of sufficient battery capacity, well-managed processor throttling, and - most of all - power-sipping screens, which means you won't see only phones with high-res displays in the top of the pops. 

We round up some of the best brand-name handsets that scored at least six hours of screen-on time in our demanding battery test to help you choose, in case battery life is your most important requirement towards a smartphone. On a sidenote, we include the Lenovo P780 and S860 with their gigantic 4000 mAh batteries, despite that they are not present in our database yet, as there is enough hard evidence already that these are the smartphone endurance kings at the moment. The new entrants since the last time we updated this list are our endurance king Ascend Mate 2, as well as the excellent results of the Nokia Lumia 635, and the elusive OnePlus One, which also did very well on our test.

Phones with the best battery life

1. Lenovo S860

 

The humble marathon runner from Lenovo features a drool-worthy 4000 mAh juicer, and a sub-$250 price, while the rear is made entirely of etched aluminum. We also get stereo speakers and recording, as well as a big 5.3" HD display. Granted the S860 is on the hefty side, thanks to the enormous battery pack, but consider that you can expect 15-16 hours of screen-on time, and 3-4 days of average use on a charge, which is a remarkable achievement for a fully featured smartphone these days.

2. Lenovo P780

 

One of the largest batteries in a branded phone this side of the Ascend Mate phablet, an HD display "only", and a frugal Cortex-A7 processor sound like a winning combination for just $220 off-contract, and it is indeed so. The 4000 mAh juicer inside the metallic Lenovo P780 is good for the record 25 hours of talk time in 3G mode, and will last you almost 15 hours - twice the average screen-on time - while browsing or watching videos, meaning that with moderate usage you will squeeze four to five days out of a charge, which is very impressive. No wonder Kobe Bryant was booked to advertise it - it scores

3. Ascend Mate 2

 

Out of the ones we've tested, the Ascend Mate 2 phablet climbed to the top of the list with its breathtaking 11 hours and 26 minutes of screen-on time, thanks to a 3900 mAh battery. The 6.1" HD display puts it in the niche device category, but if you are looking for a frugal big-screen device with excellent specs on a budget, the Ascend Mate 2 won't disappoint.

4. Sony Xperia T2 Ultra

 

The T2 Ultra is one of the longest-lasting mobile device we've ever tested, with its 10+ hours of screen-on time – need we say more? Sony is renowned for the well-balanced battery consumption of its midrangers, which consistently score towards the top percentile in our battery test, but it outdid itseld with the $400 phablet. The company promises the whopping 24 hours of talk time in 3G mode for the T2 Ultra, and almost a month and a half on standby, as well as 10 hours of HD video playback on a charge. Those numbers are way above the average, and should come as a hint that the T2 Ultra phablet performed very well on our own grueling battery test, too. In fact, we logged even more screen-on time than Sony cites, at 10 hours and 16 minutes, making the T2 Ultra the device with the longest battery life we've ever tested, tablets included. That's a great feature to have on a dual SIM Active handset, which sucks more juice out of the battery to maintain two networks at once, so if you are looking for a phablet that will last you two or three days with average usage, the T2 Ultra it is.

5. Nokia Lumia 635

 

With 9 hours and 35 minutes of screen-on endurance in our battery test out of the only 1830 mAh juicer, the midrange Lumia 635 is perhaps the longest-lasting phone relative to its battery capacity. Nokia outfitted the 4.5" Lumia 635, a subtle variant of the 630, with good ‘ol 4G LTE connectivity, and at the same time the Windows Phone 8.1 powered device sees improvements to its call quality to really deepen its worth for the budget-conscious consumer.

6. Sony Xperia M2

 

Outfitted with a 4.8" qHD display, quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip from Qualcomm and 1GB of RAM, along with an 8-megapixel Exmor RS sensor, the M2 will strike you as a very decent, middle-of-the-road handset. When you look at its battery life, however, it suddenly outpaces all of its midrange rivals, as it managed the crazy 9 hours and 19 minutes on our rigorous battery test.

7. Sony Xperia C

 

Notice a trend here? There a quite a few midrange Xperias present in the top list of our battery endurance testing, and this fact comes to show that Sony has balanced very well the screen and processing power requirements, with the battery capacity in those phones. In second place of our phone list sits the Xperia C - a dual-SIM handset with modest 5" qHD display and a humble MediaTek chipset, coupled with a decent 2390 mAh battery - that screen managed to stay on close to 9 hours in our gruesome test, so you can't ask for much more at the $230 price tag, and it has very good call quality to boot.

8. LG G2 mini

 

LG sneaks into the top 5 with the mini version of its popular G2 handset. The phone keeps the general shape of the flagship, as well as the signature keys on the back, but sports a 4.7” 540x960 pixels display, a basic Snapdragon 400 processor, and an 8 MP camera. That's a rather dramatic departure from the characteristics of the G2, but the G2 mini more than makes up for it with the excellent 8 hours and 32 minutes on our battery test.

9. Alcatel OneTouch Hero

 

We've got a new entrant in the third place since we last did the recount, and it is Alcatel's first serious phablet - the 6" OneTouch Hero. With big screen usually comes a big battery, and the Hero doesn't disappoint - 3400 mAh is its norm. It justified its name by providing 8 hours and 11 minutes, topping the previous third Oppo N1 by a few minutes. Not only that, but it is also one of the thinnest and most compact phablets, with one of the best displays out there, so you can't go wrong with the hero, if you are looking for a good phablet at an affordable price.

10. Sony Xperia Z2

 

 

 

Exuding flagship perfection, the 8 hours and 10 minutes of screen-on time we got from the Xperia Z2 are even more impressive, considering that this is a top-shelf handset by anyone's standards, and with waterproof IP58 certification at that. Add a 5.2" Triluminos display, 3 GB of RAM, fast Snapdragon 801 processor, plus stereo speakers, and the Z2 is an all-around excellent package

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   (part 1)