[Archived] Which Mobile

[CapeTownRover]

Paul,the thing with mobile phones is this, most of the time the phones are sitting in standby. If you go on an Android device, under settings, then under battery, go and look what is using most of the battery. You will notice, that standby and display are heavy on batteries. It is also the fact that, despite apps being shut down, they will at some point start up again. There is a big difference between a Garmin device and a mobile phone, in that the phones cpu and gpu are still running in the background.

The other bit concerning iphones battery life, as compared to Android devices, is that Droids have the option of widgets. Widgets and live wallpaper are also heavy on battery use. The nice thing with widgets, is that you have the information on screen, without having to go into the application.

http://techcentral.my/gadgetsandapps/reviews/story.aspx?file=/2012/8/28/it_gadgets_reviews/20120828133648&sec=it_gadgets_reviews

[adopted scouser]

Had an HTC Desire HD, great phone but despite using battery optimisers and killing running apps the battery was woeful.

iPhone 5 now and it's fantastic

[Biddy]

using GPS outside of a car Paul? Im assuming you are, because you would be able to charge the phone in the car while using GPS.

I ran Google Navigation on my phone yesterday (HTC One X) for all of about an hour and a half and the battery drain was greater than the charge it was getting from being plugged in. It was truely atrocious.

All smartphone manufacturers should take a step back before throwing more cores and faster processors in and make sure the damn device can last longer ans 2-3 hours with the display on. I think from reading some reviews and looking at the battery stats on my phone thats its not predominantly wi-fi, bluetooth or background apps that kills a battery quickly, it is the HD massive screens that suck juice like they are Dracula. Perhaps the race to be bigger and better is not always for the best.

[CapeTownRover]

well yeh, but then it comes down to whether the battery will in any case be big enough. You have to remember, that the display is going to battery hungry, but it still shows that apps that wake themselves up are in fact the main contributors to battery drain. I ran a test on a few pre installed apps on my Asus Tab, and unless im rooted, i wont be able to uninstall them. Many of the apps are part of the system config anyway, and is needed to get the device to function, so no go in terms of uninstalling. One of the problems today is, that more and more devices are coming out with no option to replace battery. Back then, you could carry 2 batteries, flip open the back, and replace the battery. I have charged a old Nokia last week Friday, and only lost about 20 percent battery.