5 ms·

I wish smartphone manufacturers would shift the focus from making better cameras to improving battery life. The performance of every phone becomes zero once the

by dguo 9y ago

I wish smartphone manufacturers would shift the focus from making better cameras to improving battery life. The performance of every phone becomes zero once the battery runs out. This review claims excellent battery life, but for me to really find the phone compelling, the battery life needs to be more than excellent so that I can believe it will still be able to last a full day two years after I get it. Are magnetic accessories really that great if I'll have to get a new core phone anyway once the battery gives out (from what I understand, the Essential Phone's battery is not replaceable)? Before 360 degree pictures, VR, or a better AI assistant, I just want a phone that I'm actually willing to use as much as I'd like to instead of dimming down the screen to the point that I can barely see it when I know I'm going to be away from a charger for most of the day.

Artistry121 9y ago
I got a phone last week that has "more than excellent" battery life: Asus Zenphone 3 Zoom. With two days of heavy use I still had 15% left. It also is good or great in just about every other category.
- dguo 9y ago
  Nice. I'll definitely be looking for a phone like that when my current contract is up.
  - izacus 9y ago
    I also mentioned the Moto Z Play (not the Z2 Play) which easily does 2-3 days of standby (I'm looking at my GFs phone right now and it's sitting on 73% after a full day). You can add a moto mod with additional battery capacity further boosting that to probably something like 5-6 days.
- overcast 9y ago
  Why does one need more than a single day of heavy use? Is charging while you sleep an issue?
  - JD557 9y ago
    What if you want to go camping, or go to a concert in a far away city (you can sleep on the train, but not charge your phone there), or crash in a friends house and you forgot to bring a charger (maybe they don't have a USB-C phone)? 2 days seems enough for most use cases, although I miss having phones with batteries that lasted for a week or more.
    - semi-extrinsic 9y ago
      We take our el cheapo Moto Gs camping. With everything except calls/texts turned off, and using them only a couple of minutes each day, they last about 4 days before we have to break out the solar power bank.
    - mrep 9y ago
      Why don't you buy a battery pack as those are rare occasions (don't need all that battery weight for day to day use) and batteries are cheap nowadays.
  - dguo 9y ago
    I'd generally be happy with a full day of heavy use, but a phone that can last that long when it's brand new won't be able to do it 1-2 years later because of battery degradation after many charge cycles.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    "Need" is a strong word. It would be a luxury, in my case. I'd really like a phone that could take two days of heavy use, for the times that I forget to charge it the night before, and spend the next day constantly on the move. Or even my usual "Damn it, I have to get out of bed to plug the phone in..." Then again, everything that it does beyond talk+text is already a luxury. Why not wish for one more?
phonon 9y ago
So get something like https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-mods/moto-turbopower-pack-battery https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-mods/moto-turbopow...
- oiloi 9y ago
  I have that. It's a beast.
enobrev 9y ago
I absolutely agree. I was fortunate to see what this looks like a couple weeks ago when I went camping for three nights. My Galaxy S6 had a "Max" Power-Saving Mode that only allows 8 apps to be used during that time, four of which are pre-chosen (internet, phone, and a couple others) and the other four can be chosen from a curated list of apps that I assume are capable of the mode (including maps). Since I was out of range, I also kept my phone in airplane mode so it wouldn't waste battery trying to connect to anything. I pretty much only used the phone for the camera, and maps. After two days I was at about 75% battery, which was excellent. Then I dropped into "Min" Power-Saving Mode for about an hour so I could take panorama shots. That dropped my battery to around 55%. All in all, I was impressed. It reminded me of our pre-touch-screen phones of a decade ago. It would be incredible if I could get that much battery life with normal daily use. I recently replaced my phone with a Galaxy S8. The battery use is far better, but I'm still not getting more than a day and a half out of normal daily use.
valuearb 9y ago
The market has spoken and by far people prefer thinner lighter phones than greater battery life. It's silly to build a fat heavy long battery life phone because it can only ever address the preferences/needs of a small niche. A thin light phone can always add greater battery life with a battery case, so it can address both markets. My wife is a heavy user, I got her Apple's battery case for her iPhone 6, and she loves it (it's actually works really well). And she can always take it off if she tires of it's heft.
- dman 9y ago
  The market had spoken in 2003 - people wanted phones with small screens that were indestructible and lasted a couple of days in terms of battery life. Then the iphone happened.
  - praneshp 9y ago
    That's not a reasonable reply though. Thicker phones were made and they flopped in the market. I'd be happier if software updates did not screw up battery life every now and then, like they do on Nexus.
    - izacus 9y ago
      Did they flop because they were thicker, or because they had any other failing?
      - praneshp 9y ago
        That's a fair question. My reading is that their only differentiating factor was battery, but that wasn't accepted. OTOH, you can never prove that a thicker phone with higher battery life succeeded was because of extended life :)
      - valuearb 9y ago
        People who build the vast majority of phones believe thicker hurt sales. And they do lots of market research. I'm pretty sure their market researchers aren't telling them customers want thicker with longer battery life and the phone makers are just responding "oh no they don't!" Even if all the phone makers in the world ignored customer's wishes, it would only take one company to listen to market research and suddenly dominate the market to change everything.
admiralpumpkin 9y ago
Agree with the sentiment that better battery life is needed. Disagree with the premise that battery life is suffering due to camera engineering/effort. Battery life could be instantly improved by just making a slightly (in absolute terms) thicker phone. They don't need better battery through chemistry; just the will to be thicker.
pasbesoin 9y ago
The solution to this seems to be to purchase one of the very popular phones -- a Samsung Galaxy or an iPhone being the two sure bets I'm aware of -- and adding one of the cases that includes an integrated supplemental battery. Pricey and somewhat bulky, but it works. Plus, if the battery in the case goes, you can replace it. My friend had a case for her S6 from Mo-something-or-other, that had a "lifetime" warranty, and when the case battery became borked, she did indeed get a warranty replacement relatively painlessly -- though she did have to do it via mail with Mo-whatever, even though she purchased the case from one of her carrier's bricks and mortar stores. This was a disappointment for me with my Nexux 5X; when the battery seemed to be coming up a bit "short", I found no source for a case having an integrated supplemental battery.
jasonlaramburu 9y ago
I'm pretty sure everyone wants this, but it will likely require the development of a new battery chemistry that doesn't yet exist (or ubiquitous wireless charging). Lithium battery capacity is determined by the battery's volume. Most flagship phones have the largest possible battery that can be fit into a phablet form factor and do a good job optimizing draw when the phone is idle. There are ways to reduce battery degradation, but it's usually easier to just replace the battery after 2 years.
- semi-extrinsic 9y ago
  No, it'll just require that you will accept a thicker phone. Since many people wrap their phones in faux leather covers that contain two handfuls of credit cards, I'd say that's very plausible. But also, you can already buy extended battery pack covers for most popular phones (just google "battery case <phone model>). Which almost nobody seems to do. So maybe battery life isn't such a biggie?
  - romwell 9y ago
    I personally don't consider buying a battery case because an external portable powerbank seems easier to use. So, the market has indeed spoken: you can buy these powerbanks on every corner, which indicates a demand for increased battery capacity. Perhaps not in the form of a battery case, which only works with one device, though.
  - jasonlaramburu 9y ago
    A thicker phone will increase capacity but it won't satisfy the parent's request: "I can believe it will still be able to last a full day two years after I get it." All commercially available battery chemistries degrade over time. Lithium ion cells typically degrade over 2 years. Only a new battery chemistry can change this.
  - Markoff 9y ago
    i dunno when 8.3mm became thick phone considering Lenovo P2 is able to pack there 5000mAh
qq66 9y ago
The foolproof way of extending battery life, which is to make the phone thicker, has been roundly rejected by the marketplace (and there are many benefits to limiting the number of models, so most manufacturers won't make an "extended battery" model). Battery life is also important to me so I take an external battery everywhere I go.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
JBiserkov 9y ago
Take your pick: http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2017&nBatCapacityMin=5000 http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2017&nBatCapac... P.S. Don't you just love it when URLs are super readable? results? YearMin=2017 & BatCapacityMin=5000
- MBCook 9y ago
  That tells you the capacity of the battery, but not the battery life of the phone. Due to all sorts of factors (screen size, screen type, software, processor…) a phone can have a much larger battery and still worse battery life that the phone you have in your hand.
- Markoff 9y ago
  gsmarena sucks compared to www.kimovil.com i will be happy if someone will find me better mobile comparison website which provides also links to various shops
Markoff 9y ago
Lenovo P2 Redmi 4 Pro Redmi note 4 are all great phones except camera department, you can run Lineage of all of them

by dguo 9y ago

Artistry121 9y ago

I got a phone last week that has "more than excellent" battery life: Asus Zenphone 3 Zoom. With two days of heavy use I still had 15% left. It also is good or great in just about every other category.

dguo 9y ago
Nice. I'll definitely be looking for a phone like that when my current contract is up.
- izacus 9y ago
  I also mentioned the Moto Z Play (not the Z2 Play) which easily does 2-3 days of standby (I'm looking at my GFs phone right now and it's sitting on 73% after a full day). You can add a moto mod with additional battery capacity further boosting that to probably something like 5-6 days.
overcast 9y ago
Why does one need more than a single day of heavy use? Is charging while you sleep an issue?
- JD557 9y ago
  What if you want to go camping, or go to a concert in a far away city (you can sleep on the train, but not charge your phone there), or crash in a friends house and you forgot to bring a charger (maybe they don't have a USB-C phone)? 2 days seems enough for most use cases, although I miss having phones with batteries that lasted for a week or more.
  - semi-extrinsic 9y ago
    We take our el cheapo Moto Gs camping. With everything except calls/texts turned off, and using them only a couple of minutes each day, they last about 4 days before we have to break out the solar power bank.
  - mrep 9y ago
    Why don't you buy a battery pack as those are rare occasions (don't need all that battery weight for day to day use) and batteries are cheap nowadays.
- dguo 9y ago
  I'd generally be happy with a full day of heavy use, but a phone that can last that long when it's brand new won't be able to do it 1-2 years later because of battery degradation after many charge cycles.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  "Need" is a strong word. It would be a luxury, in my case. I'd really like a phone that could take two days of heavy use, for the times that I forget to charge it the night before, and spend the next day constantly on the move. Or even my usual "Damn it, I have to get out of bed to plug the phone in..." Then again, everything that it does beyond talk+text is already a luxury. Why not wish for one more?

phonon 9y ago

So get something like https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-mods/moto-turbopower-pack-battery https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-mods/moto-turbopow...

oiloi 9y ago
I have that. It's a beast.

enobrev 9y ago

I absolutely agree. I was fortunate to see what this looks like a couple weeks ago when I went camping for three nights. My Galaxy S6 had a "Max" Power-Saving Mode that only allows 8 apps to be used during that time, four of which are pre-chosen (internet, phone, and a couple others) and the other four can be chosen from a curated list of apps that I assume are capable of the mode (including maps). Since I was out of range, I also kept my phone in airplane mode so it wouldn't waste battery trying to connect to anything. I pretty much only used the phone for the camera, and maps. After two days I was at about 75% battery, which was excellent. Then I dropped into "Min" Power-Saving Mode for about an hour so I could take panorama shots. That dropped my battery to around 55%. All in all, I was impressed. It reminded me of our pre-touch-screen phones of a decade ago. It would be incredible if I could get that much battery life with normal daily use. I recently replaced my phone with a Galaxy S8. The battery use is far better, but I'm still not getting more than a day and a half out of normal daily use.

valuearb 9y ago

The market has spoken and by far people prefer thinner lighter phones than greater battery life. It's silly to build a fat heavy long battery life phone because it can only ever address the preferences/needs of a small niche. A thin light phone can always add greater battery life with a battery case, so it can address both markets. My wife is a heavy user, I got her Apple's battery case for her iPhone 6, and she loves it (it's actually works really well). And she can always take it off if she tires of it's heft.

dman 9y ago
The market had spoken in 2003 - people wanted phones with small screens that were indestructible and lasted a couple of days in terms of battery life. Then the iphone happened.
- praneshp 9y ago
  That's not a reasonable reply though. Thicker phones were made and they flopped in the market. I'd be happier if software updates did not screw up battery life every now and then, like they do on Nexus.
  - izacus 9y ago
    Did they flop because they were thicker, or because they had any other failing?
    - praneshp 9y ago
      That's a fair question. My reading is that their only differentiating factor was battery, but that wasn't accepted. OTOH, you can never prove that a thicker phone with higher battery life succeeded was because of extended life :)
    - valuearb 9y ago
      People who build the vast majority of phones believe thicker hurt sales. And they do lots of market research. I'm pretty sure their market researchers aren't telling them customers want thicker with longer battery life and the phone makers are just responding "oh no they don't!" Even if all the phone makers in the world ignored customer's wishes, it would only take one company to listen to market research and suddenly dominate the market to change everything.

admiralpumpkin 9y ago

Agree with the sentiment that better battery life is needed. Disagree with the premise that battery life is suffering due to camera engineering/effort. Battery life could be instantly improved by just making a slightly (in absolute terms) thicker phone. They don't need better battery through chemistry; just the will to be thicker.

pasbesoin 9y ago

The solution to this seems to be to purchase one of the very popular phones -- a Samsung Galaxy or an iPhone being the two sure bets I'm aware of -- and adding one of the cases that includes an integrated supplemental battery. Pricey and somewhat bulky, but it works. Plus, if the battery in the case goes, you can replace it. My friend had a case for her S6 from Mo-something-or-other, that had a "lifetime" warranty, and when the case battery became borked, she did indeed get a warranty replacement relatively painlessly -- though she did have to do it via mail with Mo-whatever, even though she purchased the case from one of her carrier's bricks and mortar stores. This was a disappointment for me with my Nexux 5X; when the battery seemed to be coming up a bit "short", I found no source for a case having an integrated supplemental battery.

jasonlaramburu 9y ago

I'm pretty sure everyone wants this, but it will likely require the development of a new battery chemistry that doesn't yet exist (or ubiquitous wireless charging). Lithium battery capacity is determined by the battery's volume. Most flagship phones have the largest possible battery that can be fit into a phablet form factor and do a good job optimizing draw when the phone is idle. There are ways to reduce battery degradation, but it's usually easier to just replace the battery after 2 years.

semi-extrinsic 9y ago
No, it'll just require that you will accept a thicker phone. Since many people wrap their phones in faux leather covers that contain two handfuls of credit cards, I'd say that's very plausible. But also, you can already buy extended battery pack covers for most popular phones (just google "battery case <phone model>). Which almost nobody seems to do. So maybe battery life isn't such a biggie?
- romwell 9y ago
  I personally don't consider buying a battery case because an external portable powerbank seems easier to use. So, the market has indeed spoken: you can buy these powerbanks on every corner, which indicates a demand for increased battery capacity. Perhaps not in the form of a battery case, which only works with one device, though.
- jasonlaramburu 9y ago
  A thicker phone will increase capacity but it won't satisfy the parent's request: "I can believe it will still be able to last a full day two years after I get it." All commercially available battery chemistries degrade over time. Lithium ion cells typically degrade over 2 years. Only a new battery chemistry can change this.
- Markoff 9y ago
  i dunno when 8.3mm became thick phone considering Lenovo P2 is able to pack there 5000mAh

qq66 9y ago

The foolproof way of extending battery life, which is to make the phone thicker, has been roundly rejected by the marketplace (and there are many benefits to limiting the number of models, so most manufacturers won't make an "extended battery" model). Battery life is also important to me so I take an external battery everywhere I go.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

JBiserkov 9y ago

Take your pick: http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2017&nBatCapacityMin=5000 http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2017&nBatCapac... P.S. Don't you just love it when URLs are super readable? results? YearMin=2017 & BatCapacityMin=5000

MBCook 9y ago
That tells you the capacity of the battery, but not the battery life of the phone. Due to all sorts of factors (screen size, screen type, software, processor…) a phone can have a much larger battery and still worse battery life that the phone you have in your hand.
Markoff 9y ago
gsmarena sucks compared to www.kimovil.com i will be happy if someone will find me better mobile comparison website which provides also links to various shops

Markoff 9y ago

Lenovo P2 Redmi 4 Pro Redmi note 4 are all great phones except camera department, you can run Lineage of all of them