Mobile Phone Battery Review - Talk Times Compared

When shopping for a mobile phone, there are so many features to consider. As marketing and advertisements inundate us with a phone's cool style and entertainment features, sometimes the important overall technical specs are overlooked. When it comes down to it, the two most essential aspects of a mobile phone are reception quality, and battery life. If either of those are compromised, and - or are so bad beyond belief, to what degree do the other features matter? If there were a way for us to personally test and compare before making a purchase, we'd be all set. Fortunately, for all of us, those such as CNET have facility to run such a test, and here is what was found.

Mobile phone batteries can suffer quite a drain when all of the marketed flashy features are used. Technologies such as Wi-Fi-, Bluetooth, and GPS are the number one battery drainers, and with these features being used, you can almost certainly expect to need your charger on hand at all times. When it comes down to it, however, talking is a phone's core purpose. Rating a phone's battery by talk time is still a standard practice, even with all of the other features a phone is capable of.

CNET routinely puts various technologies to the test, and their mobile phone battery chart was updated this past September, 2010. Rated in hours by talk-time, the charts separate phones by manufacturer. Results show a few surprises, yet as expected, some of the most popular phones are rated with comparable results when compared to each other.

Starting with HTC, the Legend took top honors with an incredible 12.75 hours, while other popular phones such as the Touch Pro 2 rated with 5 - 7 hours depending on carrier. What gives the Legend such extensive battery life? While the phone is extremely well built, most of the specifications are quite standard. Setting it apart for other phones, however, the Legend features an AMOLED power saving display rather than the standard LCD. With an average battery life, the 4G frontrunner, the HTC EVO 4G from Sprint had a reported 5.5 hours.

LG's Fathom, a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 powered device clocked in over 7 respectful talk-time hours. The LG Accolade VX5600 flip style phone also lasted just over 7 hours, yet unfortunately overall reviews for this particular phone phone aren't so great. The LG Rumor Touch, the 3^rd incarnation in the popular line of Rumor phones, reportedly delivers 6.5 hours.

Other notable phones include Motorola's Android powered Droid X with 7.5 hours of talk time, and the Nokia E55, which claims to be the world's thinnest smartphone, with a whopping 16 hours of talk time.

The bottom line? Of the dozens of modern phones tested, it is apparent that most modern phones are being delivered with technologies combined with batteries that provide an average of 6 hours of talk-time. Of interest: many phones that date back only 4 - 5 years had nearly double the talk time.

Sources/Resources:

CNET: Cell phone battery life charts