Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Monday July 01 2019, @02:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-a-charge-out-of-life dept.

An article from c|net has their list of 5 Phones with the Best Battery Life:

From 5G and folding displays to pop-up cameras and in-screen fingerprint readers, this year has been a dynamic time for phones. But whether or not these technological trends are here to stay, one phone feature always ranks at the top of the list for users: a long battery life.

Now that we've reached the middle of 2019, it's time to take a look at some of the best phones so far. After all, the last thing you want is for your phone to run out of juice when you need it most. Usually, a phone lasts a full workday with moderate use. But if you use it heavily, you'll need to recharge it more often. Batteries also lose steam over time, running down faster the longer you've owned the phone. The possibility of losing battery -- and therefore losing your communication hub -- is frightening and real.

If you feel your phone's battery seems to be stuck in the '90s and doesn't last as long as you'd like, you're not alone. So if a long-life battery tops your list of needs, check out these top-scorers -- they lasted impressively long during our lab tests for continuous video playback on Airplane mode.

Wait. In Airplane mode? So that means that there are no radio circuits active. No phone calls. No internet (LTE or Wi-Fi). That makes these results questionable for real-world use, but it may be somewhat indicative of comparative longevity. With that caveat, what were their results?

Apple iPhone XR:
19 hours and 53 minutes
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus:
21 hours
[*] Samsung Galaxy S10:
18 hours
Huawei P30 Pro:
22 hours and 57 minutes
[*] Huawei P30:
21 hours and 31 minutes
Samsung Galaxy Note 9:
19 hours and 20 minutes
LG V50 ThinQ:
17 hours and 49 minutes

[*] Related model that was also tested.

I do not use FaceBook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or any other social media site (except SoylentNews, of course). I also use my phone as a local hotspot to get on the internet when at home -- but it is usually in my charger when doing that. Further, I activated all the battery-saving measures I could find. That said, I generally have about 50% charge left on my Galaxy S7 at day's end.

How does your phone usage and logevity stack up?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by canopic jug on Monday July 01 2019, @03:42PM (8 children)

    by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 01 2019, @03:42PM (#861986) Journal

    Those units are all hours and minutes? Not a single one on the list exceeds even a single day, let along can run on standby for several weeks. WTF is wrong with both the phones and the "apps" they are afflicted with?

    --
    Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   0  
       Insightful=1, Overrated=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 01 2019, @03:52PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 01 2019, @03:52PM (#861993)

    Too many features, too much processor for the job of making and receiving calls. They're not phones, they're pocket computers.

    My 2006 Moto815e "feature phone" would take pictures, play music, send and receive e-mail, use a bluetooth headset, and last for a week on a charge. The industry as a whole turned away from that kind of functionality - probably some problem with monetizing it in a more competitive, connected future.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Monday July 01 2019, @04:03PM (2 children)

      by Rupert Pupnick (7277) on Monday July 01 2019, @04:03PM (#861999) Journal

      Also displays are significant power hogs. Wonder how they normalized display intensity in the CNET test-- just auto-brightness? If you're not careful with this you could easily change the way those phones are ranked. There's probably more to do than just turn on Airplane Mode?

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 01 2019, @04:52PM (1 child)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 01 2019, @04:52PM (#862048)

        Anymore, your battery life is as dependent on how you use your phone as it is the phone itself - frugal use of a smartphone with a small battery might yield 3x the runtime of hoggish use of a similar phone with a much bigger battery.

        Unfortunately, the LiPo cell market has also trained me to completely distrust battery mAH figures quoted by Chinese manufacturers, otherwise that would make a useful comparison point.

        And, as you say, even screen brightness is a huge factor - my phone quotes 9 hours of video playing time, but what screen brightness is that at? And, it shouldn't be measured as 50% or 100%, but rather as a standard candella level on a white screen...

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @10:41PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @10:41PM (#862188)

          Four tricks I've learned for buying batteries online:

          1. Check the high-resolution image, as the labels will sometimes give different numbers from the listings or be a completely different product.
          2. Compare the mAh rating to the Wh rating. Despite being relatively easy to convert between, a surprising number of listings screw them up.
          3. Check for a cutoff voltage. Most sketchy ones won't list it at all, put boosted values, absurdly low ones, or ones that cross the over-discharge level.
          4. Look for charge specifications, as they can reveal a bunch of information about the actual battery chemistry and capacity.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday July 01 2019, @04:04PM (1 child)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday July 01 2019, @04:04PM (#862002) Journal

    Those units are all hours and minutes? Not a single one on the list exceeds even a single day, let along can run on standby for several weeks. WTF is wrong with both the phones and the "apps" they are afflicted with?

    Read the summary: "they lasted impressively long during our lab tests for continuous video playback on Airplane mode."

    They weren't reviewing "phone" battery usage. They were reviewing portable video player battery usage.

    • (Score: 2) by canopic jug on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:38AM

      by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:38AM (#862319) Journal

      They weren't reviewing "phone" battery usage. They were reviewing portable video player battery usage.

      Acknowledged. However, these devices are still marketed as phones which, to me at least, implies the primary task of making and receiving voice calls. On the other hand, the incompatible sound compression going on both ends these days might be evidence to the contrary. Certainly for the youngest generations "phone" appears not to mean voice calls but Candy Crush, Angry Birds, or some other addictive game or some social control media addiction.

      --
      Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @11:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @11:48PM (#862212)

    Uh...it's ANDROID which was conceived by GOOGLE. If all you an understand is the two big bold words, that should hopefully be enough to figure out why your battery sucks sweaty ass.

    What a stupid question...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @06:31AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 02 2019, @06:31AM (#862301)
    Nothing wrong with the phones. Just something wrong with your reading comprehension.