Proved by numerous surveys, battery life turns out to be one of the most important, and sometimes the most important feature that needs improvement in modern smartphones. Camera quality, processing speeds and screen resolution seem to have reached a pretty satisfactory level on modern phones, even on most midrangers, but daily juicing is still required for the vast majority of them, unlike in days past, where you only needed to top off once or twice a week.
That is why we took a peak in our battery test database to see which phones offer much more endurance than others, and, as expected, the results might surprise you. It's not always the most popular flagship phones, and not even the ones with the highest battery capacity that are at the top of their endurance game, but rather phones that are a good mix of battery, frugal or with well-managed throttling processors, and most of all - power-sipping screens, which means you won't see many handsets with 1080p displays in the top ten or even top twenty.
We round up some of the best brand-name handsets that scored at least six hours of screen-on timein our demanding battery test to help you choose if battery life is your most important requirement towards a smartphone. On a sidenote, we include the Lenovo P780 with its gigantic 4000 mAh battery, too, despite that it is not present in our database yet, as there is enough anecdotal and hard evidence already that it is the smartphone endurance king at the moment.
Phones with the best battery life
1. Lenovo P780
The largest battery in a phone this side of the Ascend Mate phablet, an HD display "only", and a frugal Cortex-A7 processor sound like a winning combination for just $280 off-contract, and it is indeed so. The 4000 mAh juicer inside the metallic Lenovo P780 is good for the record 25 hours of talk time in 3G mode, and will last you almost twice the average screen-on time while browsing or watching videos, meaning that with light usage you might anecdotally squeeze three days out of a charge, which is unheard of for a smartphone these days. No wonder Kobe Bryant was booked to advertise it - it scores.
2. Sony Xperia C
We noticed a few midrange Xperias present in the top lists of our battery endurance testing, and this fact comes to show that Sony has balanced very well the screen and processing power requirements with the battery capacity in those phones. On top of the list sits the Xperia C - a dual-SIM handset with modest 5" qHD display and a humble MediaTek chipset, coupled with a decent 2390 mAh battery - that screen managed to stay on close to 9 hours in our gruesome test, so you can't ask for much more at the $230 price tag, and it has very good call quality to boot.
3. Oppo N1
The mighty 3610 mAh battery in the Oppo N1 phablet with rotating camera seems to do the trick, despite the 6" 1080p display and the fairly powerful chipset, as the handset clocked in more than 8 hours of battery life with us. Its size and flagship $550 price is not for everybody, though, so it's bound to stay a niche handset.
4. Sony Xperia E
Here's another little Sony that can. The Xperia E isn't going to wow you with specs, as it has a tiny 3.5" display and an old school Snapdragon processor, but the 1500 mAh juicer seems enough to power that combo for close to eight hours of screen-on time. It also offers excellent call quality, which is pretty important for a phone available in a dual SIM variation.
5. HTC One Max
HTC's first phablet, the 6" One Max, was born to run, it seems, as it clocked nearly seven and a half hours in our battery test, despite the 1080p display. The large 3300 mAh battery, as well as HTC's manufacturing prowess have been demonstrated with the phablet's endurance, but, same as with Oppo N1, the One Max's high-end pricing and gigantic size won't sell it many units, despite the cool fingerprint sensor on the back, and the BoomSound stereo speakers at the front.
6. LG G Flex
Notice a trend? Save for some good low- and midrange combos, most phones at the top of our battery tests are those with the largest battery capacity, and those are usually phablets, so the presence of the LG G Flex here can be expected. LG's first curved phone with flexible OLED HD display is also its endurance king, as it has been equipped with a huge 3500 mAh battery in its turn. To top it all off, the handset offers a very durable, flexing and self-healing design, coupled with a great call quality.
7. Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo
Don't laugh, as this 3" munchkin goes places. Equipped with a very low-res display and a 1200 mAh battery, the cheap Galaxy Pocket Neo budged just above the 7-hour mark in our testing, so you can toss this one as a burner in your glove compartment for exceptional situations, and be sure it will last quite a long time when needed.
8. Motorola DROID MAXX
Motorola's MAXX line basically introduced us to phones with gigantic battery capacities and endurance, as it managed to stuff 3000+ mAh units in fairly compact and thin bodies. Long story short, the 3500 mAh unit of the current MAXX clock in at almost seven hours of screen-on time, which still puts it towards the top of decently-specc'd phones with great battery life.
9. LG G2
Here it is, folks - the only flagship handset that is friendly for one-handed operation, and still scored ten minutes shy of seven hours cruel screen-on time from its 3000 mAh battery in our testing. This means it will be able to withstand your weekend away from the charger with regular usage, and that's more than we can say for most other flagships these days. You still get the 1080p display and fast Snapdragon 800, as well as a 13 MP camera with optical image stabilization, so overall a great package for the price if you don't mind the somewhat chubby design.
10. LG Optimus L7 II
The compact 4.3" Optimus L7 II is equipped with a generous 2460 mAh battery pack that is as large as on last year's flagships, so it scores almost as much as the LG G2 in out battery tests. Thus if you are looking for a cheapo compact Android with good picture quality that will get you through the weekend on a charge, the L7 II is one of your best bets.
11. Samsung Galaxy Note II
The 3100 mAh battery pack of the Note II is good for six and a quarter hours of screen-on time in our battery test, which ranks it among the best in the category.
12. HTC DESIRE 300
HTC Desire 300 is another great alternative if you are in the market for a compact, 4.3" Android with cute design and great battery life, despite the fairly mundane 1650 mAh unit. It scored in the top twenty of our best battery performers with more than six hours of screen-on time.
13. Oppo R819
This is the second Oppo phone scoring more than six hours of screen-on time in our tests with a "merely" 2000 mAh battery, which is a tribute to Oppo's engineering, as the phone is also one of the thinnest (7.3mm), and lightest (110g) out there. It still sports a very bright 4.7" HD display, dual SIM Active functionality, and an 8 MP camera on the back, all for $300 off-contract.
14. Samsung Galaxy Note 3
With a slightly larger than its predecessor, 3200 mAh battery, the Note 3 scored slightly shorter than the Note II in our battery test, as the juicer now has to power that sweet Super AMOLED Full HD display still. Samsung's phablet also shines as one of the best phone cameras out there, and it offers a pretty compact for the 5.7" screen size design, as well as the S Pen stylus that received a grand functionality upgrade with the Note 3.
15. Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
A simple 4" display, coupled with a dual-core Broadcom processor and a generous for the category 1800 mAh battery propel this year's Ace edition in the top 20 of our smartphone battery life database. The smallish handset also brings joy with very good picture and call quality, though the price tag seems comparatively high, since we have a Samsung branding on the back.
16. Sony Xperia L
That's the third midrange Xperia in our top 20 battery champions, which reconfirms Sony's stellar balance of display and chipset power consumption with the respective battery pack. The 4.3" Xperia L marked exactly 6 hours of on-screen time in our testing with its 1750 mAh juicer, which, coupled with the elegant curved design, 8 MP camera, and affordable price, makes it another great Android choice in the battery marathoners lineup.
