Mobile phones with long battery lives

Our mobile expert says...

Modern mobile phones run for far longer between recharges than phones available five years ago.

However, the high-tech features of modern mobile phones - such as touchscreens and video playback - are known to cause even the most power-efficient smartphone to drain its battery swiftly.

Mobile phone battery consumption

No single mobile phone is recognised as having the “longest” or “best” battery life, mainly because the length of time a phone’s battery will last between recharges depends entirely on what you use it for.

For example, watch a film and surf the internet for several hours from your mobile phone and you can be certain that it’ll have little or no power left afterwards.

Conversely, leave the same phone on standby in your bag and it’s likely that the battery will hold out for at least one day - perhaps even several.

Assessing a mobile phone’s battery life

It’s generally accepted that basic mobile phones - those only suitable for making calls and sending texts - offer longer battery lives than smartphones.

This is because smartphones, such as the iPhone 4, the Samsung Galaxy Europa i5500, and the HTC Desire have more power-hungry features, including touchscreens, video playback and mobile internet.

As you start to compare mobile phones with good battery lives, the best factors to consider are:

• Talk time

Every mobile manufacturer lists the basic “talk time” of their phones, such as 300 minutes. The quoted figure relates simply to how long a phone’s fully charged battery will last if you only use the phone for making telephone calls.

Smartphones may also be quoted as having “2G” and “3G” talk times. 3G talk times are usually shorter than 2G talk times because a 3G connection requires more battery power.

• Standby

Basic mobiles phones have been known to last for days in standby mode.

Smartphones don’t usually last as long in standby mode because their numerous features are often active in the background.

For example, your smartphone might still be checking for new emails while in standby. Leaving apps running will also continue to drain the phone’s battery.

It’s worth noting that the BlackBerry Curve 3G battery life lasted for an exceptional five days when reviewed by Mobilechoices.co.uk.

• Music playback

How long your phone’s battery will last for if you only listen to music depends heavily on the phone. For example, the Nokia Nokia X2 has a “music playback time” of 25 hours, while LG’s KM900 Arena should play music for 30 hours.

A mobile phone’s battery life can also be impacted by music features, such as bass boost, an integrated speaker or graphic equaliser settings.

• Internet use

Accessing the internet from your mobile phone while connected to 3G will use more power than if doing the same from your home’s wi-fi connection.

Which webpages you visit will make little difference to your phone’s battery consumption, but downloading and uploading music, videos or pictures will use more power.

• Video playback

This category generally only applies to smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S, designed to play high-quality films and TV shows on their large touchscreens.

Mobile phones rarely have video playback times of over 10 hours.