back to article Verizon offers Motorola mobe with 48-HOUR battery life

Leading US mobile carrier Verizon Wireless unveiled three new Droid-branded handsets built by Google's Motorola Mobility division on Tuesday, including one that boasts an impressive 48-hour battery life. None of the three was the Moto X, Motorola's much-anticipated new flagship phone that's expected to launch on August 1. But …

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  1. DRendar

    Droid Maxx claims an eyebrow-raising 48 hours of usage or 25 days of standby

    Yeah sure, 48 hours usage my arse.

    It's about time manufacturers are required to put endurance figures for "in use, with screen on" I'd guess this would peg at about 7 hours, when brand new, dropping steadily to 4 after 9 months.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      If you learned how to turn off GPS, bluetooth, WiFi, 3G/4G when you aren't using them, and stopped downloading a bunch of useless battery-draining apps, you'd probably do a bit better with that battery.

      And your every movement wouldn't be tracked by the NSA and GCHQ quite so easily.

      1. Steve Todd

        Normal users don't know or understand these things. Any phone where users have to go out of their way to tune it's battery life is fundamentally flawed. That's what the OS should be doing behind the scenes without having to be asked.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "And your every movement wouldn't be tracked by the NSA and GCHQ quite so easily"

        You're right, becuase when you turn those features off, it no longer connects to any cell preventing you being tracked, only reactivating for a call or text when the magic pixies come and press the button on.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Why cripple a smartphone?

        What's the point of owning a smartphone if I "turn off GPS, bluetooth, WiFi, 3G/4G when you aren't using them"...the whole point of a smartphone is having those services running all the time, excepting bluetooth.

        No, in the real world we want bigger batteries in thicker smartphones please.

        1. Intractable Potsherd

          Re: Why cripple a smartphone?

          "What's the point of owning a smartphone if I "turn off GPS, bluetooth, WiFi, 3G/4G when you aren't using them"...the whole point of a smartphone is having those services running all the time,"

          Are you serious? Do you have the oven on all the time? Do you keep the car running when it's on the drive? GPS, wifi, 3/4G - all are tools. They don't need to run all the time.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Why cripple a smartphone?

            Location and data connectivity need to run all the time for plenty of people, including me.

            Poor oven/car analogy old chap. Have a downvote on me.

      4. Idocrase

        Back when I still had my very first Android phone (Xperia Mini Pro - the first one), I could easily get 3 days out of it, with moderate to heavy use. Of course this involved rooting, ripping out junk apps, downclocking and restricting the CPU to half it's normal power and speed, and shutting down all radios except basic GSM when not in use.

        But the result? 3 days of use (switching on GPS and 3G as REQUIRED), and heavy text messaging, and a comfortable 4-5 days if I just left it the hell alone (I got really involved in a computer game that week, it only got used as an alarm clock the entire time).

        And now? With my Galaxy S2, when it was new, I was lucky to squeeze 2 days of similar use with similar modifications. It once bounced off 3 days when I hadn't used it at all, but it was only 72 hours and 3 minutes. Just pulling up the battery monitor was enough to knock it out. And from what I can tell, it's getting WORSE. My average now with the S2 and a 2 year old battery is 12 hours normal use, although I got 24 hours out of it this week because I was stripping wallpaper and left it sitting in the other room untouched.

        The newer the phone it seems the lower the battery life. I saw an advert not long ago BOASTING about a 10 hour battery life! WTF?

        If Motorola are trying to get a handset out with a decent battery in it, I applaud them. I doubt real-world numbers will be as big, but it's a step in the right direction.

        1. Duke2010

          Better battery life

          Ditching inefficient CPU hungry Android is the best way forward. I have a Samsung Ativ S with Win8 and I get at least 24hours out of it without having to fiddle around with any settings. 3G, GPS and Bluetooth all left switched on.

          If I really need battery life turning everything off and dropping to 2g makes it last even longer. no need for installing custom roms and tweaks.

      5. DRendar
        FAIL

        "If you learned how to turn off GPS, bluetooth, WiFi, 3G/4G when you aren't using them, and stopped downloading a bunch of useless battery-draining apps, you'd probably do a bit better with that battery."

        Big fat fail there Mr Condescending nitwit, because I do infact switch off various things when I'm not using them. But if you actually READ my post you would have seen that I was NOT TALKING ABOUT STANDBY TIME.

        I was referring to the claim of 48 hours USE, which is patently utter boloocks unless "use" is defined as listening to MP3s, screen off, with the phone in airline mode.

        To me, and any other person not living in cloud cookoo land, "use" means using the phone, which means screen on, and there is no way in hell a battery of that size is going to run a screen of that size for 48 hours straight.

        Try reading and understanding a post before spouting off.

    2. cambsukguy

      I charge my phone every day like most smartphone owners, the only difference is that it often has 50 or 60 pc battery remaining and says "1 day xx hours usage remaining...". I never disable Bluetooth, I use it for music and car use far too often to even have a shortcut. Still, it has no effect that I can discover on battery life. I never turn off the WiFi, far too useful to come home or arrive where I use a known WiFi and have it on immediately. Luckily, it also has minimal effect on battery life - might even help since downloads and browsing is noticeably faster. I *did* disable the "Look for WiFi networks all the time and connect if we know the password in our NSA database" option, definitely helps with battery life but more importantly doesn't keep saying "Hey, there is a WiFi network around here you could use!".

      I use 3G not 4G or 2G (which would save battery for sure). My battery is 2000mAH, which is not tiny for sure. My view is that the reason it lasts well is that Windows Phone is efficient and tombstones apps unless explicity allowed to run. It also schedules updates/widget/tile type things at the same time and not too often. And since I can wirelessly charge my phone while I am in the shower and get a boost, I often go out in the evening with 70 or 80 pc battery without fiddling with cables - just wish I could justify more charging pads.

      So, an Android that could possibly get 2 days, whohoo, big deal - buy a Nokia 720 and get 3 days normal usage as standard instead.

  2. Andy Roid McUser

    these are the droids I've been looking for

    48 hour talk time, 25 days standby... Finally.. someone get's it. I don't care if the damn thing is 3mm thicker than an iPhone or the latest HTC/Samsung, just give me something I don't have to charge twice a day after medium usage. quad core , octocore can all close the door on the way out - 2 day battery is the sweet spot for me. Oh how i miss my Nokia 6110 and snake..

    1. FrankAlphaXII

      Re: these are the droids I've been looking for

      I seem to recall squeezing out four full days without charging on my 6110. I miss memory and snake. These Android and iOS games may look pretty, but the old Nokia games were actually fun.

      Granted, I may have gotten four days out of it as my usage was sort of light, as the 6110 was my personal phone and I had a Government Nextel for work (The Army wasn't important enough to get Blackberries outside of Staff Officers and some people at Fort Meyer and Fort Belvior) which I spent much more time on. But, hey its time for me to upgrade and if this thing truly has a two day battery life I may just embrace the suck of not having an SD card and get it.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rather restrictive manufacturing requirements.....

    three new Droid-branded handsets built by Google's Motorola Mobility division on Tuesday

  4. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    They never exaggerate

    My Samsung S2 is rated for 18 hours of talk time and 20 DAYS of standby time. It's junk and I never use it yet a full charge on a new battery gives it 25 HOURS standby. In one year it damages a battery so badly that it powers off after 9 hours of doing nothing but checking e-mail every 15 minutes.

    1. Wilberforce
      FAIL

      Re: They never exaggerate

      I think you may be struggling somewhat with how you define "standby", as polling for email every 15 minutes is active use in my book. It's surprising just how long a smartphone will go for if the only use is calls and texts.

      Case in point: my phone stopped charging one Sunday night before I went to work in the morning, leaving me with about 60% charge. Admittedly it's a G-Note 2 with a fairly monstrous battery, but I work driving a truck so can be away from home all week and by this point the thing had had 8 months of extremely intensive use, however I didn't have a single "is it going to die soon" thought.

      By dint of turning off all the radios bar the basic GSM, I trundled through my front door shortly before lunch on Saturday with a charge of between 20 and 25% remaining having been in normal contact with the transport office and other drivers by phone and text. A few hours use then.

      If I'd been paranoid and ignored the thing apart from essential use (that's what I'd call standby) I'd have probably made it to the end of the week with about 50% remaining.

      The only real annoyance was being brainwashed by daytime TV being unloaded at Tesco, rather than popping the headset on and playing GTA or Speedball 2 as normal.

  5. Chairo

    Talk time longer than standby time?

    28 hours of talk time or 13 hours of standby time?

    Shurely a mistake?

    That said, if these handsets come even close to the claimed 13 days standby time, it would be very, very impressive.

    Under real world usage conditions, anyway.

    If things like cell connection, mail polling, Skype and other background apps are running, I suppose this time will be shortened quite a bit.

    Still...

  6. M Gale

    No SD slot?

    No sale.

    Yes, yes I do use more than 32 gig of storage.

    1. Eric Olson

      Re: No SD slot?

      That's a use case that probably has many other requirements beyond a removable SD card.

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        That's a use case that probably has many other requirements beyond a removable SD card.

        Such as one handed operation?

        ;)

    2. turnip handler

      Re: No SD slot?

      Many Android handsets do allow the use of USB storage, which can be a good way of carrying around movies and music.

      1. M Gale

        Re: No SD slot?

        Far more useful on the ol' Transformer TF201 (which also is currently using most of its inbuilt 32 gig and nearly all of a 16GB full size SD and 16GB micro SD). The USB slot on the keyboard dock is great for shoving a thumbstick in for file transfers (or a joystick or pad for games, or even a mouse for some Real WorkTM).

        On a phone however, that means big dongles sticking out the end, and some kind of adapter to go from micro-USB to full size. I may not be Apple-obsessive over neatness, but that's an ugly and potentially unstable solution when a micro SD will do.

        Besides, most of the internal space is actually taken up with apps. Yes really. You know how many gigs of space putting just a few Gameloft or Rockstar titles on the device will take up? Stick a few albums and some DVD rips on there and you're full, and wondering what to delete to make room. That extra 16 or 32GB makes a massive difference when you only have 16 or 32GB to start with.

        1. Eric Olson

          Re: No SD slot?

          Perhaps I'm missing something then. I often swap movies and music in and out of my phone using a USB cable and disk mode. And I have a removable micro SD card. It's just that by the time I remove the back of my phone, take it out, plug it into the USB port via its included USB cradle, and start the transfer process, I could have just plugged my entire phone in with a USB cable, selected disk mode, and started the transfer. And some phones with removable SD cards are hiding them in a way that requires tools and other procedures just to get it out of the phone.

          While I get that a lot of the internal memory can be used by the OS and bloatware (7.5 of the 16GB on the S4 and with the added pleasure that they didn't allow you to install apps on an SD card you inserted), it does seem like much ado about nothing. I get if you are on a longer trip or stuck on a transcontinental flight, it might be nice to have more than a couple of movies with you. But we are still talking about a feature that isn't high on the list for most smartphone buyers, who rightly or wrongly have been wooed by light and thin. Perhaps it will be in the future, but with WiFi everywhere, pretty decent LTE coverage (at least stateside), and other things, on-phone storage of media might become rather antiquated. Data caps might strangle that idea before it can get out the cradle, though.

  7. Barry Rueger

    My Minimum needs?

    It's not a phone, it's a really little computer that also makes phone calls. Gotta change your expectations.

    If I can go a full day (24 hours) with wifi, bluetooth, gps, and whatever running, and with moderate usage as an actual phone, and not need to plug in, then I'll be very happy.

    If the camera is good, even happier - "good" means markedly better than snapshots, and can capture a moving dog. I don't expect DSLR quality from a phone.

    If the phone is reasonably rugged, even better, where rugged means "Yes, I do drop the damned thing about once a month, onto hardwood or even concrete.'

    And finally, if the touchscreen will work in wet, rainy, cold weather, with numb fingers - at least enough that I can answer a phone call! - I'll buy it.

  8. T. F. M. Reader

    New definition of "Mini"?

    So a phone with a 4.3 inch screen now counts as a "mini"? What is the world coming to, eh?

    I have a 4 inch phone and it's way too big. Yes, I use it as a phone, not as a laptop replacement.

    1. Mark .

      Re: New definition of "Mini"?

      Well these things are relative - there's another device on the market at 8" that's labelled "mini".

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. AndrueC Silver badge

    My Galaxy S3 lasts over a week on a single charge. That is with an aftermarket 4.3AH battery. I don't use it for phone calls very much but I do use it to play music for an hour each day (bluetooth headphones) while I walk and every 10 minutes it checks in with my mail server to see if any mail has arrived. Plus the usual Android related stuff. It spends most of its time within range of a usable wifi connection and I have an app that switches off all the radio stuff between 11pm and 8am.

    Discharge level averages out at about 9% a day typically.

    Obviously a heavy user wouldn't do as well but I think most people could get 48 hours out of it without too much difficulty.

    1. HipposRule
      Meh

      Question

      What's the app you've got to switch stuff off?

      1. KjetilS

        Re: Question

        I'm guessing Tasker. It's what I use, atleast.

      2. AndrueC Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: Question

        It's called 'Power Schedule'. I preferred the older UI but this gets the job done.

        Power Schedule.

      3. dajames
        Thumb Up

        Re: Question

        What's the app you've got to switch stuff off?

        There are several fairly decent ones. The one that was recommended to me when I got my first Android phone is called "Timeriffic". I've been using it now for about 3 years and it seems to do what's required without inordinate fuss.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That is with an aftermarket 4.3AH battery

      Could I suggest you don't carry that anywhere near anything you're very attached to?? It may not be your thighs it goes after :)

  10. PaulR79

    Gimmick ahoy!

    "a feature that lets you easily take photos by shaking the camera and then touching anywhere on the screen."

    I would not refer to that as a feature or something that allows me to easily take a photo. Shaking the camera (phone) then touching the screen is more likely to see people dropping it.

    1. Mark Allen

      Re: Gimmick ahoy!

      Lots of photos of the insides of pockets then...

  11. Mark Allen

    13 hour standby time?

    Is that Mini for real? A phone that can barely last half a day? That's just bonkers. You'll have to have a charging cable always in your pocket. Or is that one made so bad on battery to show off the more sensible Maxx?

    I have an old Blackberry Bold 9780. I'll fight to keep this phone alive as long as possible. Battery easily lasts three to four days. Have managed to drag it out for six days once on minimal usage. Even a heavy day of lots of chat and playing music still gives me plenty of charge left deep into the next day.

    The sooner Battery Technology can catch up with these devices the better. I need my phone to be there when I want to make a call. If I break down at the side of a empty country lane at 2am in the morning I want to be able to make a call and not have to start hunting for a power point to charge my phone up first!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mini?

    When will phone manufactures stop naming devices "Mini" that are actually still HUGE!?

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