smartphone battery life

[wpeng]

I've never had a smartphone before and never really bothered. I have decided to take the plunge now that I actually have enough money for a data plan. As I was researching what to get, I noticed that the battery life on smartphones in general is wretched, but most battery tests are with "moderate to heavy use." Then I went over reader comments on some reviews and noted that some people need to charge their smartphones before the workday is over! Are you serious?

I plan to use data just when I need it (got lost and need GPS) and only heavily if I have my charger nearby (like at the airport) or plan to be back home soon (at the end of a work day). I make less than 5 calls a day and less than 10 text messages.

1) What kind of battery life can I expect for light use? Will the phone last at least 2 days with minimal calling and texting?
2) Anyone have a good idea what phones Sprint carries that have good battery life? I seen that maybe the Motorola Photon 4g and HTC Arrive have good batteries.

 

[Dulanic]

With any smart phone you need to be charging it every night. There is 0 reason not to plug it in daily. On that note, my phone (SGSII) always lasts me a full day with moderate usage and usually have 50%+ left for the charge.

No smartphone consistently lasts 2 days but with minimal calling the iPhone and SGSII can last ~2 days. With Sprint honestly... SGSII (Epic Touch) or iPhone are your only choices with good battery life. Maybe a WP7 phone, but I don't know the sprint WP7. Also, the Nexus is supposed to launch mid April for Sprint also and it should have battery life similar or slightly better than the SGSII.

IMO if I was going Android I would wait for the Nexus mainly because Wimax is dead and the nexus should launch with LTE for Sprint and it is higher res.

 

[zerocool84]

iPhone 4 or 4s on Sprint get great battery life. The Epic Touch and Motorola Photon get pretty good battery life as well.

 

[TuxDave]

Razr Maxx is excellent for battery life. For me I forget to charge my iPhone 4s every night but I usually manage about 2 days worth before it dies. This includes probably little usage during the work day and a good amount of calling/facetime after work.

 

[soccerballtux]

depends on the phone. I get 2 days on my Atrix 4G but that is a rarity among phones these days. It has a 1900mAh battery, that's why...

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Personally, I think it's better to give up on two days and just get the best phone that'll last you through one day.

 

[mammador]

Dumbphones have better battery life in general. i have a Samsung dumbphone which can go almost 2 days continuously without charging. My Samsung smartphone, with light use (no Youtube or streaming) can go a day before charging. And with the components that smartphones use, with GPS, Bluetooth NICs, wifi NICs, etc. who can say otherwise?

 

[Chocu1a]

I would wait for Sprint to get the G.Nexus. I just got one on Verizon, & omfgwtfbbq it is awesome. I previously had an iPhone 4. The screen & ics are amazing. Apple products are nice, but this phone is a beast.
With the larger 2100 mAh battery and I get about 14 hours moderate use (streaming music for about 2 hours, 2 rounds sniper game, fb, email, browsing, couple of calls/text)

if you need now, I would get the Epic Touch. Once you go large, you never go back.

 

[wpeng]

Thanks for the input, guys. That's a little disappointing though. If you forgot to charge your phone one night, you might have to go an entire day without a phone. Kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile phone if you have to carry around your charger. Of course, smartphones seem to be so big they hardly fit in your pants pocket anyway; that's my novice impression though.

 

[Chocu1a]

Thanks for the input, guys. That's a little disappointing though. If you forgot to charge your phone one night, you might have to go an entire day without a phone. Kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile phone if you have to carry around your charger. Of course, smartphones seem to be so big they hardly fit in your pants pocket anyway; that's my novice impression though.

Get a spare battery. Yeah, it sucks if you are not used to it. But remember: You are carrying a portable computer in your pocket with instant access to almost everything. Think about your laptop battery(if you have one).

 

[gorcorps]

Razr Maxx is excellent for battery life.

Razr Maxx has good battery life because they designed it around the massive 3300 mAh battery. That's double what many other phones have, and adds some weight and bulk to the phone. The case is designed well though so you don't notice the size as much as other phones with an aftermarket battery that large.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Thanks for the input, guys. That's a little disappointing though. If you forgot to charge your phone one night, you might have to go an entire day without a phone. Kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile phone if you have to carry around your charger. Of course, smartphones seem to be so big they hardly fit in your pants pocket anyway; that's my novice impression though.

I tend to be able to manage charging it in my car and being a little conservative with it if I forget. I try pretty hard to always remember though. I think I end up with less issues in the long run because when I had dumb phones I would never really keep track of it and wait too long anyway.

 

[v-600]

In my experience, my blade with its old, slow processor and small screen drops about 10% battery overnight if left alone (most of that power is keeping the mobile radio active). Bluetooth lives on. Wifi and 3G and GPS only when needed. The screen is the power killer.

In a normal work day I don't really get the chance to make many calls, but checking texts and email every now and then means that the phone drops about 25-30% in a day.

It can go 2 days and still have 10% battery life.

My gut instinct would be to avoid the latest and greatest with mahoosive screens and go for a 3.5" one.

 

[Chocu1a]

e.

My gut instinct would be to avoid the latest and greatest with massive screens and go for a 3.5" one.

Nooooooooooo! lol

 

[T_Yamamoto]

if you are a heavy user like me (4g all day and even with lowest brightness) i lose 30% charge in 1 hour.

 

[Darknite39]

This battery issue is the reason I haven't jumped on my Verizon upgrade as of yet. Instead, I got a new (and extended) battery for my Dx. It still fits nicely in my case, and I can use it pretty hard all day without having to worry about it dying on me.

 

[soccerballtux]

I would wait for Sprint to get the G.Nexus. I just got one on Verizon, & omfgwtfbbq it is awesome. I previously had an iPhone 4. The screen & ics are amazing. Apple products are nice, but this phone is a beast.
With the larger 2100 mAh battery and I get about 14 hours moderate use (streaming music for about 2 hours, 2 rounds sniper game, fb, email, browsing, couple of calls/text)

if you need now, I would get the Epic Touch. Once you go large, you never go back.

on the contrary, I was just looking for a smaller smart phone, I miss my OGDroid.
I took the case off my atrix4g (not a large case by any means) and don't mind it as much anymore. I guess I can manage.

 

[soccerballtux]

if you are a heavy user like me (4g all day and even with lowest brightness) i lose 30% charge in 1 hour.

what phone you have?

 

[dagamer34]

Thanks for the input, guys. That's a little disappointing though. If you forgot to charge your phone one night, you might have to go an entire day without a phone. Kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile phone if you have to carry around your charger. Of course, smartphones seem to be so big they hardly fit in your pants pocket anyway; that's my novice impression though.

They don't last two days because you have an increased tendency to use it more. No one uses a dumb phone for anything other than phone calls and texting.

 

[Cobalt]

Just got the Lumia 900 for AT&T a couple days ago, it's my work phone so it's not used quite as often as my iPhone 4S but this thing seemingly has excellent battery life. I was testing out the LTE on it the last few days and made a handful of calls. Still haven't charged it yet since the initial full charge and looking at it now it's about 35% remaining which is damn good. My 4S is jailbroken running Intelliscreen X mainly and my 4S will lose about 15-20% overnight.

 

[Fingolfin269]

One of the main reasons I like my iPhone 4S is because of the battery life. Of course I made the change from an EVO which could be one of the worst battery phones in history. I have no idea if what I experienced with that phone was normal relative to most Android phones.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

what phone you have?

da gnex

samsung radios suck

 

[MrX8503]

If your smartphone lasts 2 days, you're doing it wrong and a dumb phone might be better. I'd say be happy with it lasting one day and charging it nightly or get an extended battery.

 

[soccerballtux]

da gnex

samsung radios suck

yikes

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

One of the main reasons I like my iPhone 4S is because of the battery life. Of course I made the change from an EVO which could be one of the worst battery phones in history. I have no idea if what I experienced with that phone was normal relative to most Android phones.

Thunderbolt is pretty terrible with 4g; couldn't get a full day out of it. Once I got the double size battery though it became acceptable and I'm really satisfied with it.