Smartphones with long battery life
There are lots of things to consider when buying a new phone, and battery life is one of the most important.
Of course, it's great to have a good camera, a gorgeous touchscreen, a fast processor and more – but without any charge in your battery they're no use at all. So to help you choose the best smartphone, we've put together a list of the best performers when it comes to battery life.
Samsung Galaxy S10+
If you like to game a lot on your phone, or need a smartphone that can go beyond a day, you’ll love the Samsung Galaxy S10+. It sports a 4100 mAh battery that gives you smooth system performance and charges fast, too. The cutting-edge PowerShare feature even lets you wirelessly power up another phone – by simply touching them together.
How long?
Huawei claim that the whopping 4200mAh battery on the Mate 20 Pro will last up to two full days on a single charge, thanks to cunning AI technology which optimises usage to conserve power. What’s more, not only does the Mate 20 Pro charge wirelessly, but you can use it as a wireless charging pad to charge other Qi-compatible devices.
Power up your Pixel 3 wirelessly
The Google Pixel 3 sports a 2915 mAh battery that charges fast and can last up to a whole day. The new Android Pie ensures more efficient power consumption and smooth performance, smartly shutting down the apps that you don’t use to give you more hours of power. The Pixel 3 is also equipped with wireless charging technology, making juicing your phone a clutter-free experience.
A phone that’s got the juice
Make the most of your iPhone XR for up to a whole day. Thanks to its super-efficient A12 Bionic chip and a battery that charges up wirelessly, so you can enjoy up to two days of music or 15 hours browsing on Wi-Fi. Running on empty? Power up your phone back to the max within an hour with fast-charging.
A classic phone brought up-to-date
One of the most popular mobile phones for its long battery life, the original Nokia 3310, has had a modern-day refresh and is just as reliable as the vintage model. The new Nokia 3310 (2017) comes with a colour screen, 2-megapixel camera, and internet connectivity.
With up to 22 hours talk time and up to a month on standby, its perfect for festivals, weekends away or just as an affordable, reliable phone for mainly texts and calls.
Hints and tips to help you choose
Screen resolution depends on two things – the number of pixels in the display, and the size of the display.
The categories HD, Full HD, 2K and QUAD HD tell you the number of pixels, as follows.
- HD: 1280 x 720
- Full HD: 1920 x 1080
- 2K: 1920 x 1080
- 4K (also known as Quad HD): 4096 x 2160
If you see Full HD+ this means the panel displays the same 1080 pixels horizontally, but has more pixels vertically than Full HD because of the wider aspect ratio.
But this only gives you half the picture. The larger the screen, the more the pixels are spread out. If you know both the number of pixels and the size of the screen, you can work out the pixel density in PPI (pixels per inch).
For example, Samsung Galaxy S9+ has a 6.2-inch Quad HD display - which works out at 529 PPI. By contrast, iPhone X has a 5.8-inch display with 458 PPI. But since the human eye struggles to tell the difference in resolution beyond around 300 PPI, other factors such as the ability to display a wide range of colours are at least as important – if not more so.
For more on touchscreens, see our Best for touchscreens page
Because Android and iOS devices don’t all come with the same capabilities, it’s difficult to say which phone type has the best battery life or which lasts longest. But it’s safe to say bigger battery doesn’t always mean a longer time between charges.
Some phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or iPhone 7 can do more with less. If you want to know which phone is best for long battery life, check out the specs for talk time and audio playback, for example, and don’t just consider the battery size.
