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Cellphones Power Handhelds Hardware

Ask Slashdot: Best Big Battery Phone? 208

Posted by timothy from the all-day-is-a-nice-minimum dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung's announcement today of the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6+ was a disappointment to a lot of power users. The phones both use a 3,000 mAh, non-removable battery. This is presumably part of Samsung's quest for thinner and thinner phones, but it's bad news for those who prize function over form — particularly from a phone line that is ostensibly made for power users. So, those of you who have the pulse of the mobile industry: what's my best bet for a high end phone that doesn't compromise on battery life? Are there any devices on the horizon that are likely to have big batteries? I'm also wondering if I should just get a cheap phone to tide me over to the next generation of flagships. My current device is old and doesn't have the fast/quick-charge tech that modern ones do — does that work as advertised?
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Ask Slashdot: Best Big Battery Phone? More

Ask Slashdot: Best Big Battery Phone?

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  • LG G4 (Score:3, Informative)

    by aka_bigred ( 1366025 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:07PM (#50311615)
    Just bought one this week, so far really liking it. I upgraded from my bootloader-unlocked Samsung GS3 w/extended battery that I've been holding onto forever.

    • Second this, my old Galaxy S3 died back in June, coincidentally about three days after the G4 was released.

      I spent a day or so looking around at replacement phones, and most are a nonstarter. A portable device that runs on a battery should have the battery itself user-serviceable, period. Anything else is defective by design.

      The G4 is the only flagship that still has a removable battery and a SD card slot (up to 2TB!) The quick charge on mine does work, it charges way faster than my old S3. I've also notice

      • Can you root it like the G3?

        • Yes, there is a root image available, but I haven't tried it. From what I can tell it overwrites the system partitions so the download is huge.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by plasm4 ( 533422 )
        Out of curiosity, what is it that you do on a phone that requires more than a single charge? If it's that important why not just take a charging cable with you? Phones charge really fast now.

        • Re:LG G4 (Score:5, Informative)

          by aitikin ( 909209 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @05:58PM (#50312423)

          Replaceable battery has 0 to do with requiring more than a single charge. My 18 month old phone's battery is starting to show its age and won't hold a charge for much more than 2/3 what it did when I bought it. Over the course of a few hundred cycles, lithium ion batteries do not maintain a charge.

          I'm kind of surprised I have to explain that here, but I can't figure out why else you would be assuming danomac was meaning that he needed multiple charges...

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

            Replaceable battery has 0 to do with requiring more than a single charge. My 18 month old phone's battery is starting to show its age and won't hold a charge for much more than 2/3 what it did when I bought it. Over the course of a few hundred cycles, lithium ion batteries do not maintain a charge.

            So what are you going to do then? Buy a replacement?

            A used battery is in the same boat. A NOS (new old stock) battery is in the same boat. Both have substantially diminished capacity. Yes, lithium batteries lose c

            • Dunno about Android phones, but when I bought a brand-new spare battery for my Blackberry Q10 - which was about $30-ish - it came with a little charging adapter. In fact the charger encloses the battery completely and has a tiny short MicroUSB on it, so if I don't want to pull the battery from the Q10 and replace it, I can plug the charger into the phone and boost the battery.

              They also sell the battery without the charger, but it was only a few dollars less.

            • So what are you going to do then? Buy a replacement?

              Yes, I did that a little over a year ago when my OEM battery on my S3 couldn't hold a charge for more than 8 hours (with very little use).

              I bought a new Anker battery, and this battery surpassed the OEM battery.

              What finally drove me to replace the phone was the weird resets while using it, and I noticed other things like bluetooth not wanting to connect. Oh, it also refused to wake up without yanking the battery. It was done. My Galaxy S1 had similar issue

            • Re:LG G4 (Score:5, Insightful)

              by fnj ( 64210 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @08:11PM (#50313083)

              Apple ... realized that the vast majority of people did not buy spare batteries for laptops ...

              Bullshit. Gross gooey bullshit. Apple found it easier and more profitable for THEM to make the batteries non-replaceable. They relied on idiot fanbois to keep buying their shit anyway, and on regulators not to give a fuck about doing their job and keeping waste minimized by REQUIRING all batteries in all consumer goods to be replaceable.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by aitikin ( 909209 )

              What you need to do is find someone willing to sell you a new compatible battery that's freshly manufactured.

              Though chances are, the cost of a new battery would probably be expensive and make you question why you're bothering with your old phone.

              Really? Cause I was buying a new Palm Pre battery for 2 years after (as in new, not NoS, which one could argue would still be a massive improvement over a 300 cycle used) the Pre was released for roughly $40. In the age of unsubsidized smartphones, your argument holds very little water.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by plasm4 ( 533422 )
            It just didn't occur to me that lack of a user serviceable battery would stop someone here from changing the battery if it had worn out, hence I assumed the only utility in it was the ability to swap batteries throughout the day. It's not that hard swapping a battery out, even on an iPhone. I'd rather have a thinner phone every day even if it means have to spend an hour every two years swapping the battery out.

      • Or you could just get a Galaxy S4 or S5. They're pretty cheap these days, they're an upgrade from the S3, and they're well supported by CM.

      • I'm very sad to hear about your S3. I am trying to make mine last as long as I can. It's doing ok. I have two batteries. So glad they are replaceable because the factory one is messed up and dies at half charge. Thinking about buying another one.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by TopherC ( 412335 )

      I also agree although mine is an older G3. If your Android device doesn't have an easily-accessible battery and SD card slot and cannot be modded, it might as well be an iPhone. My previous phone was an SGS3 too, but it had serious overheating issues. For me the main things I look for are: replaceable battery, SD card slot, thermal management, battery life, and good antenna sensitivity (wifi and cellular). I also found the SGS3 annoying in that I had to hold it in specific ways to not press buttons like vol

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The OnePlus One might be a suitable alternative, depending on your needs. No SD card slot, but the 64GB version isn't very expensive. In fact it is much cheaper than most other phones anyway. The battery is easy to replace, and mine lasts three days with moderate use (a couple of hours browsing and app use per day).

        It's got a good screen, good camera, 3GB RAM, 8 core CPU, runs Cyanogen natively and supports hardware accelerated crypto if you want to encrypt your device with minimal performance loss. Bootloa

  • Buy a battery case (Score:5, Insightful)

    by StormCrow ( 10254 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:10PM (#50311633) Homepage

    I think the ship has mostly sailed on phones with larger batteries. Buy a battery case or just an external battery pack.

    • I think the ship has mostly sailed on phones with larger batteries. Buy a battery case or just an external battery pack.

      The ship has sailed, but you can still catch it. A used Note 3 is cheap. I stayed away from smartphones until just last year when I got the Note 3, and I love it to death. The battery lasts two full days with charging, that includes considerable talking but I turn the GPS and internet off when I'm not using them. In the year that I've been hauling around a spare battery, I've never needed to swap it in. But its nice to know that I could.

      And the S-pen is amazing. I just bought LectureNotes about an hour a

  • Add-ons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by American AC in Paris ( 230456 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:11PM (#50311641) Homepage

    Getcherself a battery-backup case/portable battery. Alternatively, invest in a few extra charge cables and scatter 'em about your domain.

    But then again, you're a power user. You know this already.

    • It's interesting how, the same way we are going back to the old concept of mainframe with the cloud thing, we're also making our "mobile" phones wired again.

      • Re:Add-ons (Score:5, Interesting)

        by American AC in Paris ( 230456 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:52PM (#50311969) Homepage

        It's interesting how, the same way we are going back to the old concept of mainframe with the cloud thing, we're also making our "mobile" phones wired again.

        I mean, if you think of a smartphone as a souped-up cell phone, then yeah, you're gonna be charging a whole lot more. Alternatively, if you think of a smartphone as a stripped-down Internet-connected laptop you can carry in your pocket, then not so much.

        A smartphone is only a phone these days in the sense that one (or honestly several) of umpteen different apps it has allows you to make telephone calls.

        Cell phones were never meant to be computing devices. They were mobile telephones with some truly horrid additional functionality bolted on top (the most successful of which was texting, which was simply horrid experience on a numeric keypad, T9 or no.)

        We're not re-wiring our mobile phones. We're stratifying our computing across devices, and relegating telephony--a formerly essential function that used to require a dedicated device--to the status of a supplemental application that we tend only to use on our more mobile computing devices, if at all.

      • A modern smartphone would have been classified as a supercomputer not so long ago.

        At one point, a single CPU/core Apple running at 1GHz was still technically munitions grade equipment.

        That we need to provide more juice to these devices should surprise nobody.

        My wife's Nexus cell phone has more compute power than ... well, than all of 1983 I think.

        These mobile phones are, in fact, full fledged computers. And that takes some power.

  • Sony Xperia Z3 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by GWBasic ( 900357 ) <`slashdot' `at' `andrewrondeau.com'> on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:12PM (#50311647) Homepage
    I've had a Sony Xperia Z3 for 6 months, and the battery capacity is shockingly giant. Idle, browsing, and reading on Kindle hardly use the battery. GPS and talking also are rather gentle on the battery. The only thing that eats battery is copying 100 GB of music over WIFI. The phone has a stamina mode to help throttle applications as well; but IMO, I'd rather only use it in emergencies.

    • Yes, the Sonys have great battery life nowadays. In fact I would argue that they offer the best Android phones these days. But for some mysterious reason U.S. operators are effectively blocking them from the market. When was the last time you saw a high-end Sony at a Verizon or AT&T stand?

    • Add my my vote.
      I've had mine for almost a year. With moderate use I can go a couple days on a charge.

  • Battery Case? (Score:3)

    by Lifix ( 791281 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:12PM (#50311655) Homepage
    Get a battery case for your phone!

    iPhone 6 user here, two things piss me off: 1. Running out of battery 2. Stupid Apple LIghtning plug. I bought a battery case from Anker, it adds a bit of heft to my phone, but it addresses both of my issues. The battery case charges via micro USB, so now instead of keeping track of this silly lightning cable, I just charge my phone through the battery case with the same cable I use to charge everything else I own.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by qpqp ( 1969898 )
      As a side-note, you could also order a usb-lightning adapter. That things fits in a hole in your teeth if necessary.

    • Get a battery case for your phone!

      In which case, which phone, other than apple's, has the best battery cases available? Is it possible to mod a phone to have separate external contact points so as to avoid increasing the height of the phone too much?

      How about for a tablet?

    • But that is stupid. If there is a market for battery-cases there is market for thicker phones with more battery, and they would be a lot smaller if it was only integrated.

  • I find it easier to just buy some decent phone, using whatever criteria you want to shop for on the phone side (price, features, etc.), and then if you want extra battery life, buy an external battery that can charge the phone via USB. They're small/light enough these days that I just keep one in my laptop bag, which I usually have with me. If you're more the outdoor/hiking type, you can get a version [amazon.com] that doubles as an LED flashlight. Lets me go about 2x as long without having the kind of big/fat phone you'd need for a big internal battery.

  • The problem is Android (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:14PM (#50311679)

    I think the biggest problem is having Android as a starting point. In my experience, Android is just terrible on battery life. Something about the way it works that just lets apps suck down the battery. I had and Android phone, and replaced it with a Windows Phone

    My old Android phone would easily be out of battery by the end of the day with a similarly sized battery. I usually plugged it in at work because otherwise the battery wouldn't make it to the end of the day. The Windows phone with the same usage patters isn't even below 60% by the end of the day most days. It's also really nice in the fact that if I just leave it sitting on the desk all day, the battery will only go down about 5%, whereas Android would still drain the battery even if you didn't touch it.

    After I got the new Windows phone, I did a factory reset on my old Android phone, it easily had a battery life of 3 days. Until I logged back into my Google account on the thing (just connected my account, not even installing apps). Then it was back to it's old tricks and draining the battery over the course of a single day, just sitting on my desk doing nothing.

    • Re:The problem is Android (Score:5, Informative)

      by ADRA ( 37398 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:42PM (#50311863)

      You could... I don't know look at the batery meter and tell any red flags to battery life. There certainly are applications on any device that drain batteries pretty well. That said, there is a cost for having basically immediate callbacks to online services and that are largely invisible to the user.

      Now maybe your phone was a lemon, or maybe your Winmo phone has a significantly bigger battery, who knows, not enough info. But by far most common reasons for 'idle' power drains (in no particular order):

      1. Cell service (bad service areas seem to cause significantly higher battery drain for me subjectively)
      2. Wifi (pings, kepalives, receving network broadcasts, etc.)
      3. Bluetooth (if the comm isn't v4)
      4. Background services (most likely account syncs and such, all OS's do it, but some more heavily than others)
      5. CPU usage processing all of the above's callbacks, schedules, non-ideal program's polling

      I've had many Android phones over the years, and battery life varied largely. One could barely survive a 12 hour day while another could maybe last 2 days of light use. I've had phones with apps eating 90% background use (it was doing the right thing, but badly), but most of the time, I did something to eat away my batteries.

    • android has "real multitasking" just like the fan boys wanted. i've noticed out of the 3GB RAM on my Note 3 less than 1GB will be free most of the time. almost every app likes to run a process in the background. i keep bluetooth off as well as location settings on power saving mode which is good enough.

      • i've noticed out of the 3GB RAM on my Note 3 less than 1GB will be free most of the time

        Which means your phone is wasting almost 1GB most of the time. RAM should never be free.

    • The problem is Google Play Services. As much as Google pushes their documentation and API notes about saving battery life, they take none of their own advice. GPServices will create hundreds of alarms (device wakeups) and wakelocks for syncing and tracking your location etc.

      Fortunately this can be fixed if you're at least rooted. With tasker you can have sync automatically turn on and off (or the entire data connection) to limit usage. If your bootloader is unlocked you can install xposed with the Amplify m

    • I second this, get a windows phone. I switched to Lumia 640 recently. I get 3 days usually with it, and even with heavy internet usage I get 2 days. Windows 10 (which can run android apps) runs smoothly on this, cant wait for the final release.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        My OnePlus One is the same, and runs Android. It's down to the phone and the quality of the drivers, more than the particular OS in use I think.

    • That's why you need to upgrade to CyanogenMod. It's all the bloatware and adware that's eating up the battery life.

      Switching to Windows Phone is a terrible solution, because then you have to use the shitty butt-ugly new Metro UI. There's no way in hell I would ever get a Windows Phone, just because of that. I don't care if they paid me to use it, and the battery lasted a month. It's just too fucking ugly. Having to occasionally use Windows 8.1 at work is already bad enough, there's no way in hell I'm g

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *

        That's why you need to upgrade to CyanogenMod. It's all the bloatware and adware that's eating up the battery life.

        I have been getting better battery life out of my Moto X since unlocking it and putting CyanogenMod on it. I think a big part of that, though, isn't a matter of stock settings or installed apps, but more a matter of increased flexibility in power settings. CyanogenMod lets you do things like turn LTE and 3G on and off that I don't think the stock firmware allows. With Tasker, I can have it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mcrbids ( 148650 )

      Describing your excellent battery life, you described my Razr Maxx HD rather well!

      Even after 3 years, it powers through a full day with hard use with > 25% battery life, and I *use* my phone. Stuff like GotoMeeting app usage for hours, Nextiva VOIP app over wifi for at least an hour, Skype app all day long, etc.

      It's also awesome on the road! Spending an hour or three at the airport, watching TED videos or downloaded movies while on the plane, diving directions after landing, etc. it does *just fine*.

      With

  • I mean what's really the benefit of getting the latest phone? Note 4 has a removable battery and a microsd card. It has a great screen, can be used as a vr screen. Honestly why bother getting anything else?

    • Re:note 4 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:40PM (#50311849) Journal

      I mean what's really the benefit of getting the latest phone? Note 4 has a removable battery and a microsd card. It has a great screen, can be used as a vr screen. Honestly why bother getting anything else?

      To manufacturers, this is a problem. When phones are good enough that there's nothing substantially better to upgrade to, people tend not to buy new hardware. A way has to be found to force them to upgrade. Hence, the lack of SD cards (no way to put in a bigger one) and the lack of a replaceable battery.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by frnic ( 98517 )

      That's easy, because it is worth $700 to most people to be able to brag about having 20% more pixels than they can see, and the latest onto core processor, which will let them type emails on that tiny keyboard at least 8 times faster than the old school quad cores.

      I mean really, just being seen with a one generation old phone is a stigma waiting to happen.

    • I mean what's really the benefit of getting the latest phone? Note 4 has a removable battery and a microsd card. It has a great screen, can be used as a vr screen. Honestly why bother getting anything else?

      Totally agree... I have a note 4 and I'm very pleased with this phone. It has a reasonably strong multi core processor, lots of RAM and a lot of flash that can be easily and cheaply extended with the microSD card. Battery life is not great under heavy use but in standby it will easily last the whole day away from the charger. However, the battery is quickly replaced if you carry a spare or two.

      Personally, I carry my Note 4 in a wallet style case that easily stores my two spare batteries. Should I happen

  • The "fair" part of FairPhone [fairphone.com] isn't of too much concern for me. What is of much interest is the fact that it is extremely easily repairable and expandable (down to the level of replacing ports, sockets, the microphone etc.) with nothing more than a screwdriver! [ifixit.org]
    This phone, if it gets funded, will have a number of different, easily replaceable, batteries.

  • No more.. (Score:3)

    by bhcompy ( 1877290 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:25PM (#50311747)
    So, no more SD slot, no Note Edge, and no removable battery.. This seems like a downgrade

    • So, no more SD slot, no Note Edge, and no removable battery.. This seems like a downgrade

      That's why I'm sticking with my Note 3. Terrific device. I cannot imagine what went into the planning of the Note 5.

  • High-end phones will always be battery hogs (Score:3)

    by SIGBUS ( 8236 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:25PM (#50311757) Homepage

    Those fast CPUs/GPUs and large-pixel-count screens are going to suck up the juice. Consider going a notch down instead - a 720p screen and a 4xx series processor can handle things quite nicely. The LG G Stylo has the same battery as the G4, but the battery life is flat-out awesome. With moderately heavy daily use, I rarely see below 60% remaining battery life when I plug it in for the night.

    Like the G4, the battery is removable and there is an SD slot.

    Keep in mind that the T-Mobile/MetroPCS version is better than the others; it has 2GB RAM/16 GB internal storage vs. 1GB/8GB for other carriers.

    The main drawback to the Stylo is that LG purposely crippled the camera; there are very few shooting modes available, and no manual controls, even though it's the same camera hardware as (at least) the G3. Fortunately, XCam LG will run fine on it, even though it was intended for the G3.

  • Note 4 (Score:3)

    by The Raven ( 30575 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:27PM (#50311769) Homepage

    The Samsung Note 4 is still a high end phone (until the Note 5 comes out, only the iPhone 6 hase more performance), and a removable back. You can add a monster aftermarket battery on to it. It's likely to drop in price (it's already started) as the Note 5 comes out.

    There is no faster phone, that I am aware of, with a replaceable battery.

    • Second this. I bought a Note 4 three weeks ago for $77 (Sam's Club) after rebates/etc. I didn't wait for the Note 5 because of the lack of expandable memory and the non-removable battery, also why I didn't go with any of the other 'high end' phones.

    • Third this. I'm using the Note 3, and I'm very happy with two days battery life, even with substantial talking. Just shut down the GPS and internet when you're not using them.

  • Motorola Droid M. When I was issued this, the battery would barely last 8 hours. Now six-eight months later, I take it off the charger at home, and by lunchtime it's blinking red and I have to put it on the charger at work. With the earlier Droids with removable batteries, I could (a) carry a spare, and (b) replace the battery easily when it stops taking a charge. I guess, well I guess you're supposed to just throw the phone out now and buy a new one.

  • iPhone 6+ (Score:3)

    by Theovon ( 109752 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:35PM (#50311815)

    I'm sure I'll get modded down for this. But the iPhone 6+ has enormous battery life. The 6 is kindof anemic, but the 6+ will last 2 or 3 days of normal usage before needing a recharge, including plenty of Angry Birds. As others have said here, the operating system is part of the equation, and iOS does a pretty good job.

    • Another vote for the iPhone 6+. I've actually run it for five days without a charge just to see how long I could make it last. If you really hammer it with games and stuff then you'll chew through the battery but if you use it to make a few calls, do a bit of e-mail and text then it will last a working week. I do carry one of those little extra battery packs just in case and frankly, whenever I have a chance to charge my devices I take it but knowing that my phone always has days and days of power in reserv

    • I'm sure I'll get modded down for this. But the iPhone 6+ has enormous battery life. The 6 is kindof anemic, but the 6+ will last 2 or 3 days of normal usage before needing a recharge, including plenty of Angry Birds. As others have said here, the operating system is part of the equation, and iOS does a pretty good job.

      There ARE benefits to making the whole widget. And Apple has been doing Power Management very well, for a very long time.

      As I have said elsewhere in this thread, I get at LEAST 3 to 4 days of average use out of my 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus. Its battery life is simply spectacular.

  • QC works exactly as advertised. I bought a car version on Amazon for ten bucks from Aukey. It literally fills my Turbo approx 1-2% for every minute on the charger. I go over to my girlfriend's, my phone is up 30%; random small trips during the day keep it nicely topped up. It's a game changer.

    • QC works exactly as advertised. I bought a car version on Amazon for ten bucks from Aukey. It literally fills my Turbo approx 1-2% for every minute on the charger. I go over to my girlfriend's, my phone is up 30%; random small trips during the day keep it nicely topped up. It's a game changer.

      How hot does it get while charging?

      You realize you're killing your battery with that quick charger. It's ok once in awhile; but I try to avoid using my car charger with my iPhone, because it gets broiling-hot. And that simply isn't good for the battery. In fact, with ALL battery-types, the slower you charge them, the better.

  • One option - Droid Turbo (Score:4, Informative)

    by Indy1 ( 99447 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:47PM (#50311925)

    3900 mah battery, and it will give you 36-48 hours of use. Does support QC 2.0, which works as promised.

    • Seconded. It just keeps on going, supports Qi wireless charging and runs the newest Lollipop release with only a light coating of surprisingly-not-worthless Moto add-on crud.

  • What you need is a REPLACABLE battery. That way, you can have a phone that lasts for as long as you wish by just replacing the battery as often as necessary. If you couple this with the ability to charge your spare batteries outside of the phone, you have the best of all worlds. As long as it lasts a few hours, who cares if you have a spare in your pocket...

    Of course, that rules out an IOS device, sorry Apple.....

  • If you truly want function over form (Score:3)

    by recharged95 ( 782975 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @04:54PM (#50311999) Journal

    who prize function over form

    Then get a phone that has a OS that isn't bloated with eye candy, odd navigation menus, and constant connection for 'guessing your next request'... and crapware that runs in the background 100%.

    There was a time not so long along phones ran for at least a day, and we're "zippy", now they're slow & buggy (I'm looking at you Android & WP) or last 6 hrs (iOS). And it's mainly from the OS being used.

    Most of the functions I use on today's phone were available on a 2003 Palm Tungsten (email, cal, notes, sms, video, audio): and when I ran a Palm, it ran smoothly (though not as zippy as a 2013 phone), but lasted nearly a whole week before a need to charge. The latest "flagship" phones are so heavily bias to graphics and cloud gaming that kills everything else when is comes to usability.

    Imagine a bare bones phone: web browser, video/audio player, sms and workable phone. 3000mah would go a long ways w/just that.

    Want function over form: get a phone w/a efficient OS--yep, there's isn't one today.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by macs4all ( 973270 )

      ...or last 6 hrs (iOS)

      Liar.

      The only way I could get my iPhone 6 Plus to last only 6 hours was to do turn-by-turn navigation; which not only cranks up the high-current-draw GPS hardware, but more significantly, wants to keep the backlight lit so you can see the scrolling map.

      Otherwise, my iPhone gets about 3 to 4 DAYS of average use. I chatted the other day with some friends on a cellphone call for nearly 6 hours, and it STILL had about 30% left, and IIRC, it only went into that call with about 62% capacity.

  • I like my 3 year old phone, you can spend 20$ buy a batter with 4x the capacity and new back cover and you good. Want a smaller phone, put the original battery back on.

  • BlackBerry Passport (Score:4)

    by XB-70 ( 812342 ) on Thursday August 13, 2015 @05:16PM (#50312175)
    Ok, Ok, I know BlackBerry is dead. EVERY one of my friends' phones has died during the day.

    My BlackBerry Passport has NEVER died. End of story.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      not dead for me either, works well and little less worried about the hacks mostly due to lack of foot print... so yeah don;t buy blackberry

  • I'm quite happy with battery life on my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact with its non-removable 2600 mAh battery. GSM Arena gives it an Endurance Rating of 101h, and I routinely go two days without having to recharge it. For those who want something larger than its 4.6" screen, the Sony Xperia Z3 has a 5.2" screen and a non-removable 3100 mAh battery, but its Endurance Rating is only 85h. The Samsung Galaxy 6 Edge, with its 2600 mAh battery and 5.2" screen, is rated still lower at 73h, perhaps because of all of the

  • I don't really care for the battery cases as they add weight and bulk to the device. I see a lot of traveling industry reps I work with carrying the battery cells with USB ports. Just plug in and charge. The cell gets them through the day and they plug it in at night in the hotel. I do not own one and don't have much of a need for one, but one of the reps let me borrow his when I needed a charge. It is slower than a wall outlet, but works.

  • No seriously, that is your problem.

    I have a little battery that I charge separately and take with me. I normally don't even need it. Its just in a backpack I lug around.

    If I see my phone is going into the DANGER ZONE
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Then I plug it in to the pack and throw it in the backpack. I mean, I have a stereo bluetooth headset that I use all day. So, if I get a call... I just press a button and I'm talking to people. So long as the phone is in bluetooth range... who cares.

    The big issue

    • GPS doesn't matter, since it is only activated when requested and only receives. Data is surely a hog though.

      • Not my experience... possibly because there are a lot of programs that query location passively or something. But if I don't turn my GPS off my battery life is substantially lower. Granted, the battery doesn't drain as fast as when I'm using the GPS for navigation. The battery life is pathetic under those conditions. But typically I can plug into the car's inverter in that case.

  • A battery with at least 2 full phone charges in it fits well in a briefcase or backpack, and allows remote tethering for others in a crisis or when the corporate or public wifi is misconfigured. There are dozens of excellent external batteries, many of them very robust or even with solar recharge capacity. These can save you from having to lend your phone to someone else who ran out of charge, or being tethered while your phone recharges.

  • I think I charge mine once a month or so.

    I'm a field engineer and nothing else has survived. If I absolutely need to get to the internet it does have OperaMini and I have been able to Facebook and other websites working on. Otherwise I have a laptop. It has actual buttons that you can use to T9 text without looking. It has a cradle, swappable batteries, and has a lot of good headsets.

    All of the 'apps' load instantly, no bloatware. It has an alarm, countdown timer, calendar, bluetooth.

    It texts, it makes call

  • head and shoulders above other flagships: http://www.phonearena.com/news... [phonearena.com]

  • I like big batts and I cannot lie...

  • When I got it last year, it was one of those, I play with it a week, send it back to Amazon because the specs are so bad. (I had 2 previous 5+ inch screens Dell Streak 5, Note 1, so the size didn't bother me). I mean, how good can a device be (2014) with only a 720p screen, snapdragon 400, 2gb ram, JB4.3 with a 4,100mAH battery. Well, it came, and WOW was I surprised. It blew me away. Bright clear screen, snappy performance, runs everything I want (I don't play games), video, mp3's, great camera, 2-3 da

  • Adaptive Fast Charge (Score:3)

    by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Friday August 14, 2015 @02:17AM (#50314433) Homepage Journal

    it totally works. cuts charge time to like one fifth or sixth or even less.

    you can get usable charge into the phone while taking a dump.

    (at least on note edge, however note edge if you watch youtube and have it connected to a normal 500mah 5v charger it will barely charge.. ).

    anyhow note edge has removable battery too(as well removable backplate and comes with two.. one with the faux leather 'wallet' case and one without.

    it's pretty handy. the edge is usable mostly just as a quick launch bar or as a night watch

  • first thing is to install a custom rom, my latest android phone, a samsung s4 mini lte didn't last 24h. this was ridiculous and i installed a custom rom after a few weeks and the result - phone lasts for days now on a single charge. going to bed and waking up in the morning only takes 1% off the battery!

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