A long battery life is one of the most desirable features when looking for the latest smartphones, with people seeking the best battery performance for downloading, gaming or simply snapping selfies. We explain how to spot the best performing batteries for a range of uses.
What is mAh?
Technical bit: All mobile phone batteries are measured by mAh, or milli Amp hour, which is the measure of its energy storage capacity. For this article, we will refer to mAh as ‘talk time’. A good battery life is around 3000 mAh and above, this is about 18 hours of ‘talk time’.
Here are our top selling long-lasting battery phones:
- Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 edge - talk time of over 24 hours
- Huawei P9 and P9 lite - talk time of over 18 hours
- Pixel - Phone by Google and Pixel XL - talk time over 20 hours
What is fast charge?
Fast charging can help you gain battery power faster than a standard phone charger. A fast charger will take just 10 minutes to give a phone 21% battery life, that’s enough to make a 12 minute phone call.
Smartphones with fast charge available on EE:
Best battery for gaming and apps
A smartphone boasting a battery capacity of 15 hours talk time and above, should have long-lasting performance throughout the day. If you regularly use games and apps, a high-performing battery with around 20 hours of talk time should allow users to download and play, without draining battery quickly. The more apps and games are played, the more battery life is used so be prepared to charge your phone at least once a day, if you use them frequently.
Best battery for streaming and downloads
Streaming and downloading videos, films and music is going to drain even the best-performing batteries, so make sure to opt for a smartphone with higher ‘talk time’ of 18 hours or above. Listening to music won’t reduce the battery life as much as playing games but it will still require a charge every 24 hours or so. We recommend investing in a fast charger, if your smartphone doesn’t have one.
Best for the occasional texter
If sending emails, the odd text and occasional phone call is all that is needed then ‘talk time’ is not a priority. The options are broader for smartphones with long-lasting battery power, for occasional use.
Our top selling mid-range phones:
- Sony Xperia X and XA
- LG G5 or the LG K8 LTE