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Smartphone platform with best battery life? *UPDATE* WinPhone FTW!

S

slackerinabox

Lifer
Absolutely hate my blackberry but couldn't live with the 7-8 hour battery life of my old android phone. I'm away from my desk most of my work day so need 16 hours battery life with push email and maybe music listening (I could always use my iPod). Any suggestions?

I'm fairly open, I heard windows phones have pretty good battery life as do iPhones, though I'd like to spend less than $400 unlocked (as 'less' as possible!)

*Update*
Pricing for a used iPhone was way up there so I gambled on a Windows Phone (Samsung Focus - $100 shipped, used)- I love the phone so much that I want to make out with it. Battery life seems fine (4 hours into my day and still at 90% under 'I just got a new toy!' heavy usage) and the phone is smoother than any Android phone I've used. I'm also absolutely in love with Zune unlimited music - quit spotify and find Zune easier to use (vs builidng offline playlists). I still prefer iTunes to Zune since I had weird driver issues that required some hotsyncing before my phone was recognized (and my main desktop is a mac, which is not supported) but I'd rank the experience up there with my first foray into iOs. Fast (near instant app launching), great notification system, works perfectly with my work's exchange server (had some minor issues with my old droid), and visually interesting to boot! I may go back to iOs in the future but I'm absolutely done with Android and Blackberry (unless BBOS 10 is game changing, of course).

The app situation is kinda goofy - lots of clones of popular apps with similar sounding names and not a lot of tier 1 developers, but pinning sites to my homescreen works very well for the few things I need and can't find an app for. I also miss free turn by turn navigation and Android's got them all beat on that front, but I can live with that since I don't have to worry about force closes anymore!
 
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IPhone and Samsung GSII both have fantastic battery life. Play with both and see which you like. If off contact the sgsii can be found cheaper I am sure.

As for windows phone I haven't had personal experience with it's battery life.

If you want to play music for an extended period of time with any phone you may want a separate mp3 player.
 
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It depends on what you want to do with the phone. If you're going to be making a lot of calls, then a test that shows which phone has the best web browsing time may not help you (you'll want to look at talk time in that case).
 
I agree with the others - used iPhone 4, or a Samsung Galaxy S2 should do what you want. The problem with the iPhone 4 is your "unlocked" requirement. So then, I'd go back to an SGS2. You can get an SGS2 for under $500, so I'd presume that they are available used for under $400.

As far as Windows phones, to be honest, I know very little about them except that people who have them generally seem pleased with them. But I don't know which ones are unlocked, or even which models are better than whichever other models and I haven't heard anything about battery life beyond a vague "it's not bad".
 
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I have an SGS2 and it doesn't get battery life anywhere near my old iPhone. I won't go back, but if battery life is the priority iPhone all the way.
 
Ok... hmmm. I have no first-hand experience with the SGS2 - I just know several enthusiastic owners.

Yeah, I have an iPhone 4 and I'm generally pleased with the battery life. I take it off the charger at 7am. I listen to music on it for hours, check email/calendar/contacts on it frequently and make calls and then occassionally surf a bit, download a podcast or two and when I put it back on the charger around 11pm, it's usually still above 50%.

Right now, I've been using it for 3 hours now sporadically and it's still pegged at 100%.

About the only other phone that seems to do as well - and yeah, it's way over $400 - is the Nexus Galaxy GSM. Two of my co-workers have it and they show me all these graphs and charts and seem very pleased with the battery life too. The LTE version doesn't seem to do quite as well though.
 
Which BB do you have? The newer Torch models (9810/9850/9860) are a pretty good middle-ground that allow you to keep the BB battery life, security requirements, email experience, etc. but also give you a much better "consumer" experience with media, apps, etc. than previous generations. I was in the same boat as you with regard to needing the long battery life but wanting a better media experience. I had to stick with a blackberry due to work requirements, but I picked up a 9810 in the 1 cent sale and couldn't be happier. Pop a 32gb MicroSDHC in there, and it makes a great music/movie player too. However, I'd recommend sticking to a separate music player if you're playing locally stored music and if battery life is your main concern. I doubt any phone would give you the battery life you need while playing music constantly in the background all day (assuming you'll actually be using the phone moderately to heavily for other normal phone tasks).
 
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Like others have said, the iPhone may be your best bet. Or you could get an Android phone with a bunch of extra batteries. There isn't a smartphone that'll match your BB in battery life, simply because...well BBs were underpowered.
 
The upcoming Razr MAXX has a build in 3300mah battery and is less than 9mm thick. If you can stand Moto anyway.

That said, Galaxy Nexus with LTE turned off gets well over 24hours with the extended battery.
 
Just don't use an LTE phone. Or at least in LTE mode. That drains power like mad.

HTC phones tend to have undersized batteries too recently =(
 
Well I am going to guess that IPhone 4 has the best battery life in a quality handset.

the 3.5 inch screen is probably going to suck less power than many of the Android's flagship phones.
 
I have a SGS2 and an iphone4 (used as an ipod touch) and the ip4 beats the crap out of the sgs2. While I use my sgs2 a lot more I can manage to squeeze a full work day on a single charge. My old sgs1 would last, at most, 4 hours before it bitched to be charged. The ip4 that I use mainly to play games while on the can and for goofing off at work, is always on wifi and I can usually squeeze 2-3 days out of it. I never used it as my main phone cuz the small screen is too damn small but I assume cell would not take up more power than wifi and therefore the battery will probably last even longer.


So, if battery life is what you crave the iphone is for you.
 
Oyeve said:
I have a SGS2 and an iphone4 (used as an ipod touch) and the ip4 beats the crap out of the sgs2. While I use my sgs2 a lot more I can manage to squeeze a full work day on a single charge. My old sgs1 would last, at most, 4 hours before it bitched to be charged. The ip4 that I use mainly to play games while on the can and for goofing off at work, is always on wifi and I can usually squeeze 2-3 days out of it. I never used it as my main phone cuz the small screen is too damn small but I assume cell would not take up more power than wifi and therefore the battery will probably last even longer.


So, if battery life is what you crave the iphone is for you.
Click to expand...

3g/4g is what kills batteries. The iPhones tend to last longer though because as stated they don't have as large a screen and the OS and services are much more optimized for the platform, which helps with bettery life.
 
I'll vote for WP7. I've had nothing but great things to say about the battery life on the 3 that I've had (Arrive on Sprint, Focus(Switched to ATT), now Focus S). Right now my battery life is at 35%, Time since last charge 1 day 5 hours. Now I didn't play any games, but I do text, make short phone calls, have 3 email accounts (Exchange on push, Gmail on 15min updates, my cable provider's Pop3 account on a 2 hour cycle), Bluetooth on in my car, and I also check facebook and twitter. It all depends on what you actually like, smart phones are all personal preference in my opinion.

Samsung Focus S
 
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I like the battery on my Trophy (WP7) on Verizon well enough. Will go through a full day to bedtime.

I used to be able to get insane battery life on my OG Droid. Like 30-40 hours with plenty of phone, browsing, etc. Then el goog broke some sheet. Like the email program that would get stuck in wakelock with hotmail via activesync. Took them months to fix it...eventually gave up before they did. Now the poor OG is my alarm clock and toddler chew toy.
 
iPhones probably have the best record of battery life overall, honestly. I've hard of the 4S having some battery issues, but otherwise I've only heard good things.

Windows Phone comes out on top of Android the majority of the time. My HD7 had a pretty weak battery (1300 mAh), but it would still make it through a day. My Titan can make it through a day with quite of a bit of extra power left.
 
If you want cheap and unlocked, look for a Windows Phone on eBay. They get very good battery life, and can be found for good prices. The iPhone 4 also gets very good battery life.
 
I would also look at WP7 my focus s gets incredible battery life. I easily get a full day of battery life out of it unless I game hard on it. My use is like yours email some surfing and using it as music player at gym.
 
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