Dek: Need a phone that can keep up with you all day?
Here are the five smartphones that lasted
longest during CNET Labs testing.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-6452_7-20127942/smartphones-with-long-battery-life-roundup/
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We?re lucky enough to live at a time where pretty much any phone you can buy will give you a day?s
worth of casual use before it needs a recharge.
But still, some of you need more.
Whether you?re a
gamer, a YouTube fanatic, or just someone who never puts down their phone, this week?s Top 5 is for
you.
I?m counting down CNET?s list of smartphones with the longest battery life, based on the CNET
Labs continuous video playback test.
Sorry Apple fans, they?re all Android.
Starting off at #5 with 14 hours of continuous video playback: the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.
Now, I
know you smartphone snobs wouldn?t be caught dead with this thing now that the Galaxy S4 is out, but
the S3 Mini is still hailed as one of the best entry-level Android phones around.
You get Android 4.2,
4G LTE, NFC, a good camera, and a design that actually fits in your pocket.
Throw in the battery life
and a price of just $1 on contract, and we could just stop right here.
But we won?t.
Because at #4 we have: the Samsung Galaxy Express with 14 and a half hours.
This
one gets you a little closer to the S4 in terms of screen and specs, but you?re still compromising to get
that $100 price.
That said, the S4 only tested 10 and a half hours on our video loop.
So don?t think that
paying more automatically translates into battery life.
Except when it comes to #3: the Galaxy Note 3.
When the phone?s as big as your face, you can really
fit a lot of battery in there.
In this case, 15 hours of video playback on a 5.7 inch screen that you really
might catch yourself watching videos on.
This is a killer smartphone, and really the first one on this list
that any self-respecting phone geek would consider being seen with.
Coming in at #2 with a video loop score of nearly 16 hours: the Motorola Droid Maxx on Verizon.
You
don?t put ?Maxx?
in the name unless you mean business.
They even crammed an extra X in there!
Any
more battery, and that name would be pornographic.
Maybe they?ll start adding vowels, like,
?Maaaaxx.?
Seriously though, it?s a great phone.
Now, before we get to the #1 phone for battery life, let?s take a look at the other side of the spectrum.
Here are five phones, currently on the market, that had shamefully bad battery life.
I wish I could have
been in the room when they were picking names at Alcatel.
?Evolve -- You can only go up from here.?
Alright, and finally, the phone that scored the best in our CNET Labs video drain test: the LG G Flex.
Yes, the curved phone!
17 hours and 49 minutes.
And that?s with a 6-inch screen.
On top of that, this
thing can take 88 pounds of pressure and is covered in self-healing paint.
This is a phone that can
stand up to all-day abuse.
So there you have it, 5 Android smartphones with incredible battery life.
To see what #6 would have
been, check out our roundup over on CNET.
And for more Top 5s from me, Top 5.cnet.com
