SMARTPHONE

Best Smartphones That Also Have a Big Battery

sristy
By sristy 14 Min Read

Best Smartphones That Also Have a Big Battery
HIGHLIGHTS
Battery-centric smartphones generally aren’t great phones overall
There are some all-rounder smartphones with good battery life
At the premium end, you have to make fewer compromises for a good battery
For some people, battery life is the top priority when it comes to buying a smartphone. Manufacturers today make phones that specifically address this issue, with a humongous battery capacity. Phones from the Gionee Marathon series, the Asus ZenFone Max handsets are examples of these. But more often than not, what we’ve seen is that these big-battery phones aren’t great phones overall – with middling specifications and average overall performance.

That is why this list focuses on phones that may not have the absolute longest battery life, but still delivery a lot of usage, even for power users. But more importantly, these are phones that perform well in all departments such as the display, camera, software, design etc. We have only considered phones that were launched this year and handpicked options at every price segment. Of course, the lower end phones come with more compromises when looking for an excellent battery life, while higher end phones are able to balance battery life and other areas of performance better. So without further ado, here are our choices for the best phones with a long battery life.

1) Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime – Best big battery phone under Rs. 10,000
The Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime was launched many months after the popular Redmi Note 3 hit the market. The Redmi 3s Prime has a smaller 5-inch 720p display (instead of a 5.5-inch 1080p one), which also results in better one-handed usage. Instead of a Snapdragon 650 chip, the Redmi 3s Prime uses a Snapdragon 430, but still retains the 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. It also has a lower resolution rear camera. Still, the 3s Prime is fairly competent considering the Rs. 8,999 price tag.
One thing that both phones have in common is the humongous 4100mAh battery, which Xiaomi incredibly managed to pack into a phone with a much smaller footprint. Because of this, and the comparatively less taxing components, the Redmi 3s Prime ran for almost 15 hours in our video loop test, which was a good two-and-a-half hours longer than the Redmi Note 3. This makes the 3s Prime one of the best phones with a long battery life in the under Rs. 10,000 segment.
2) Lenovo Zuk Z1- Best big battery phone under Rs. 15,000
If your budget can go a little higher, here’s a pick in the Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 price bracket that has a better camera – the Lenovo Zuk Z1. In our review, the 13-megapixel rear camera featuring Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) was found to be very capable. The phone also comes with 64GB of onboard storage, which is a huge plus if you’re constantly running out of space on your phone. It also is well-built and has a tweak-able Cyanogen OS. The only bone to pick would be the ageing Snapdragon 801 chip powering the phone. To be fair, this is Qualcomm’s flagship-grade chip, but from almost three years ago. Thankfully, it’s paired with 3GB of RAM.

But arriving to the important point of discussion – battery life – the 4100mAh pack in this one helped a looped video play for 13 hours and 40 minutes in our review. This, along with a reasonable price tag of Rs. 13,499, makes the Zuk Z1 worthy of your consideration.

Lenovo Zuk Z1 Lenovo Zuk Z1Rs. 13,499
REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Looks good, well built
Good screen customisation features
Great software
Decent camera
Good battery life
Bad
Unlocking the phone isn’t as easy as it could be
Dated SoC
No expandable storage
Only available through flash sales
Read detailed Lenovo Zuk Z1 review
BUY AT
Amazon
Lenovo Zuk Z1 (Space Grey, 64GB) –
Rs. 13,499
Amazon
Lenovo Zuk Z1 (Space Grey, 64GB) –
Rs. 13,499
3) Lenovo Z2 Plus- Best big battery phone under Rs. 20,000
If you’re willing to up the budget a bit more, then the Lenovo Z2 Plus is your best pick for the criteria of ‘best all round phone with a long battery life’, under Rs. 20,000. With a 5-inch display, it’s easier to hold than most phones available today. Performance is excellent thanks to the Snapdragon 820 chip, paired with 3GB of RAM. There’s 32GB internal storage, and the fingerprint scanner is customisable – it can perform tasks such as quickly bringing down the notification bar with a double-tap or long-press.

Just like the Redmi 3s Prime above, Lenovo has managed to cram a sizeable 3500mAh battery into the frame – that delivered 16 hours and 40 minutes of video playback in our review. This is a pretty long runtime; in real-world use, the Zuk Z2 Plus lasted us well over a day.

Lenovo Z2 Plus Lenovo Z2 PlusRs. 17,999
REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Convenient size and good build quality
Excellent performance
Superb price
Decent battery life
Interesting home button tweaks
Bad
Sub-par camera
960fps shooting is just a gimmick
No expandable storage
Fast Charge capable charger not bundled
Read detailed Lenovo Z2 Plus review
BUY AT
Amazon
Lenovo Z2 Plus (Black, 32GB) –
Rs. 17,999
Amazon
Lenovo Z2 Plus (White, 32GB) –
Rs. 17,999
Amazon
Lenovo Z2 Plus (Black, 64GB) –
Rs. 19,999
4) OnePlus 3/ OnePlus 3T – Best big battery phone under Rs. 30,000
The OnePlus 3 has been a darling of all phone critics this year, as the Chinese company delivered on every aspect – right from the premium, aluminium-clad design, to the Snapdragon 820 chip, more-than-ample 6GB of RAM, large 64GB internal storage, a fast fingerprint scanner, and a nifty quick-charging system.

In our review, the phone managed to run for an impressive 16 hours and 45 minutes on the video loop test. Considering the phone doesn’t have a really large battery (it’s only 3000mAh) unlike the others in this list, optimised hardware and software have to be attributed to this feat. So should you buy the OnePlus 3?
Well, the company very recently launched a minor upgrade to the phone – dubbed OnePlus 3T. Apart from the slight upgrade to the chipset and bumped up front camera resolution, the OnePlus 3T also has a bigger 3400mAh battery fit into the exact same body, and it has just launched in India. Stay tuned for detailed verdict on the OnePlus 3T post our review.

OnePlus 3 OnePlus 3Rs. 27,999
REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Great design and build
Record-breaking performance
Decent battery life
Superb software
Fast and accurate fingerprint sensor
Bad
Sub-par low-light photography
No expandable storage
Read detailed OnePlus 3 review
BUY AT
Amazon
OnePlus 3 (Soft Gold, 64GB) –
Rs. 27,999
5) Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – Best big battery phone under Rs. 50,000<
There’s no denying that people will look at Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge with some doubt, thanks to the exploding Note 7 debacle. That aside, this phone has been a fantastic all-rounder with a beautiful display, top-line performance, fantastic cameras and all the bells and whistles like dual SIM and microSD card support, water resistance. A new Samsung flagship is going to be in the offing soon, but the price cuts on the S7 Edge make it an attractive buy for under Rs. 50,000 – most comparable phones are still fairly more expensive.

Another reason to like this phone is that the S7 Edge doesn’t feel unwieldy despite the 5.5-inch screen size, perhaps due to curves on both sides. Speaking of curves, the Edge display may stand out in appearance, but isn’t very useful and takes some time getting used to, especially when you’re performing corner-swipe gestures.

The battery life on this phone is stellar – thanks to the relatively large 3600mAh battery pack and Samsung’s optimisations. During our video loop test, the phone ran for a whopping 17 hours and 49 minutes. Real world usage also easily lasts over 24 hours with regular use. The bundled fast charger also tops up the battery quickly.

As a side note, the smaller Galaxy S7 is also not too shabby when it comes to battery life, and is about Rs. 8,000 cheaper. If you’re looking for a great phone with great battery life, both are good picks, though the Edge is a little better when battery life is the priority.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Samsung Galaxy S7 EdgeRs.50,900
REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Looks absolutely stunning
Record-breaking power
Incredible camera
IP68 protection
Bad
Slightly unweildy
Hybrid SIM/microSD slot
Bloated software
Read detailed Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review
6) Google Pixel XL – Best big battery phone
The Galaxy S7 Edge may be a fine phone, but you still have to deal with Samsung’s software customisations, which slow down the speed of Android version updates (for instance, Android N hasn’t officially launched for the Galaxy S7 smartphones yet).

If budget is not a problem, you should consider the Google Pixel XL. Since it’s #MadebyGoogle, this phone will always receive the newest software updates first, and even get special treatment – like how today Google Assistant is available exclusively on Pixel phones. Google also offers unlimited uncompressed backup of all photos and videos you’ll take using this phone – which is awesome considering the stellar camera onboard should tempt you to click more pictures.

Talking about the battery, the Pixel XL has a 3450mAh battery inside, which lasted for 14 hours in our video loop test. In real world usage the phone managed to last an entire day, even with heavy use like 4K video recording, playing games, streaming audio and video, etc. The Pixel XL is the best all-round performer that delivers a long battery life today.

Google Pixel XL Google Pixel XLRs. 66,990
REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Brilliant low-light photography
Fast modern processor
Great battery life
Google Assistant with localisations for India
Bad
Not very stylish or eye-catching
Expensive
No storage expansion
Read detailed Google Pixel XL review
BUY AT
Amazon
Google Pixel XL (Quite Black, 32GB) –
Rs. 66,990
Amazon
Google Pixel XL (Very Silver, 32GB) –
Rs. 66,990
Flipkart
Google Pixel XL (Very Silver, 32GB) – OFFER
Rs. 67,000
So there you have it. Which one would you choose? Let us know via the comments below.

Tags: Mobiles, Smartphone, Battery Life, Xiaomi, Redmi 3S Prime, Lenovo, Zuk Z1, Z2 Plus, OnePlus, Samsung, Galaxy S7 Edge, Google, Pixel XL

[“Source-Gadgets”]

TAGGED: , , , , , , ,
Previous Article Features Android and iOS Should Borrow From Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Others Features Android and iOS Should Borrow From Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Others HIGHLIGHTS iOS and Android used to be distinctly different in their early days Of late, they’ve overlapped in terms of features and finish Google and Apple should ‘take some inspiration’ from fading competitors During their infancy, it was very easy to distinguish between Android and iOS. Apple’s mobile operating system was well-designed and easy to use. Google’s Android was customisable and flexible. As the years passed by though, you could see both operating systems learn from each other, to the point where both are now more similar than ever before. Android started becoming more beautiful with the introduction of Material Design in 2014, the same year that iOS started becoming more flexible, with iOS 7 adding features such as multitasking and Control Center. Even comparing the two most recent versions – iOS 10 and Android 7.0 Nougat – there are features that have crossed over on either side. For example, quick replies from the notification bar, and 3D-Touch-esque quick shortcuts on home screen icons, are things Android took from iOS. At the same time, iOS 10 took inspiration from Google Photos in the way it uses face and object recognition to auto-organise photos, and in how the Mail app now has an easy to reach unsubscribe button for mailers you receive, something Gmail has had for over a year. Having said that, we hope that the two biggest players in the world also pay attention to some interesting ideas other competitors came up with, ideas that are futile now because those companies have lost ground in the smartphone space to the big two. We’re of course referring to ‘the other’ mobile operating systems, BlackBerry 10, Windows 10 Mobile, and Ubuntu Touch, that together constitute less than one percent of the total smartphone market share in recent times. Here are five interesting things these companies worked upon, which we hope Apple, Google, or both will take ‘inspiration’ from: 1) BlackBerry Hub The erstwhile smartphone champion may have been onto something in 2013, when a feature called BlackBerry Hub was introduced in BlackBerry 10 OS. It collated email, SMS, call and other notifications into a chronological view. Right now, there’s a good chance there are at least three to four instant messengers you may have installed on your phone, and different people interact with you using different services. What if there was a messaging hub of sorts, where all your chats, maybe emails and calls too, would show in one place, irrespective of whether you received them on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or Slack? It would be a lot easier than having to open each messaging app and look at pending conversations. You could send quick replies to messages from right there, or jump into the respective apps for more actions. This idea is certainly worth exploring for Apple and Google. App developers certainly would be interested in integrating with this hypothetical ‘Hub’, if either OS were to create it. 2) Notification syncing between devices Microsoft introduced notification syncing between PCs and Windows 10 Mobile or Android, which as simple as it sounds, synced notifications between the computer and phone. This kind of syncing can be very useful when you’ve already attended a notification on one device, but still need to clear it from another. There are services like Facebook Messenger, and Slack, which are proactively programmed to save us from notification hell. But not every app maker takes these efforts, so it’ll be nice if the OS makers themselves figured out a way to tie notifications from computer and mobile versions of the same app, so that we can avoid this duplication. 3) Microsoft Display Dock or Ubuntu Convergence In recent times, there have been two unsuccessful attempts at making the smartphone the only computing device you’ll never need. Both had the same approach – using smartphone hardware to power a full computing experience. By making it easy to connect a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to a phone, the idea was that you wouldn’t need to carry a separate computer to work. Microsoft even sold a product called Display Dock that had HDMI and full USB ports to connect peripherals on one side and a USB Type-C to connect a Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL on the other. The idea might not have taken off for several reasons – but we imagine one of them was the lack of apps for the Windows 10 platform. Of course, another issue was that very few people were buying Lumia smartphones. Ubuntu OS came up with a similar feature, though the platform never really took off. Now consider a similar dock being available for an Android phone or an iPhone. Would that not pique your interest towards the BYOD setup described above? The main difference between this and the attempts before – access to all your favourite apps from Google Play or Apple’s App Store, which should (theoretically at least) greatly enhance the feature’s appeal. microsoft display dock microsoft display dock continuum The Microsoft Display Dock 4) Pressure sensing Did you know that Microsoft was working its own version of 3D Touch much before the iPhone 6s? It isn’t exactly like Apple’s implementation – instead of sensing pressure applied on the screen, the phone could detect finger position even before you touched the screen (like an inverse 3D Touch). It worked using a few different components, including pressure sensors on the sides of the phone. These pressure sensors also did cool things such as keeping the screen on when the phone is held, or silencing a call by simply grabbing the sides. Another interesting feature is the ability to change orientation based on how you’re holding your phone. If you held the phone from the sides, the phone will not change orientation even if you tilt it. It’ll only do so when you’ve actually held the phone from the top and bottom edge. This eliminates the need for any orientation lock that you need to keep switching on or off. This will be much appreciated every time you’re in bed, holding the phone and your screen rotates to landscape when it doesn’t need to. 5) Gestures One more thing that iOS and Android should study is the Gestures app, which was released by Microsoft for Windows Phones. It had useful tricks like turning the speakerphone on when you put the phone on a flat surface, and turn it off upon putting it to your ear. There were other basic features like flipping the phone over to silence calls, answering calls by just putting the phone to the ear, and putting a call on mute when you keep the phone face down. Now, to be fair, some Android phones already have some of these features – but it would be nice to see Google bake these directly into Android, making them available for everyone. Considering the dedicated ‘Moves’ section in the settings app on Pixel phones, maybe we’ll see them add useful gestures like these to Android as a whole, in the future. These are five features from other phone operating systems that we hope find their way to Android or iOS. What do you think? Let us know via the comments section. Tags: Android, iOS, BlackBerry, iPhone, BlackBerry 10, Ubuntu Touch, Windows Phone, Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Continuum Dock, 3D Touch, Gestures [“Source-Gadgets”]
Next Article Google Pixel Phones Make Android’s Fragmentation Problem Worse

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