LG G2 battery life test: long live the king

posted by Victor H.

Dec 30, 2013, 9:49 AM

LG G2 battery life test: long live the king

The LG G2 has passed through our exhausting battery life test and we now have the results. A huge 3000mAh stacked battery, efficient Snapdragon 800 and few other tricks do wonders for the 5.2-inch LG G2 flagship, and it ranks above all the competition. That’s right, the G2 is the longest lasting top-shelf smartphone we’ve ever tested so far.

The LG G2 battery scored an impressive 6 hours and 48 minutes. This means that you can expect the G2 to last nearly 7 hours when you are using it non-stop, without putting it down. In real life, this translates to being able to use the LG flagship a full work day even under extreme stress and practically without putting it down.

For most people, however, even the heaviest of use actually comes with a few breaks, so even in your busier days, the G2 is still likely to last you a full 24 hours. With moderate use (but still without limiting yourself), we expect most users to get a good two days on a single charge. Those who are rarely touching their smartphones can expect three. Impressive!

The LG G2 features a non-removable 3000mAh battery.

Needless to say, the LG G2 lasts much longer than the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC One or Apple iPhone 5s. It's in a league of its own when looking at smartphones with screens of around 5 inches. It even outlasts most phablets. One phone that comes close to it is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 battery (but it still lasts less), and there is also the humongous HTC One max that actually lasts even longer, but both belong to the large-screen “phablet” category, unlike the G2.

How did LG manage to pull this out? First, the 3000mAh, or 11.4 watt-hour, 3.8V battery is stacked to fit inside the relatively compact body of the G2. We’re talking about a battery that is the size of what most phablets offer in a package that’s much smaller. Second, the Snapdragon 800 system chip brings big power efficiencies in comparison with the earlier 600 chip, especially in standby (low-power) situations. Plus, it’s built on a new and more efficient 28nm HK-MG process. Next, LG uses GRAM (Graphics RAM) that allows the display to refresh less frequently and draw less power - the savings could be up to 26%. Last but not least, the handset can draw an impressive 2A of power from its wall charger, and that significantly quickens recharge speed.

We are wowed with LG G2’s battery longevity. It’s a phone that’s not just powerful - it’s reliable and it will never fail you with a dead battery on a busy day (at least, it won’t ask you to charge until the evening). Batteries are still one area where we feel a sore need for more and faster, but the LG G2 is a nice peek into the future. Let’s see what 2014 brings!

We measure battery life by running a custom web-script, designed to replicate the power consumption of typical real-life usage. All devices that go through the test have their displays set at 200-nit brightness.

name	hours Higher is better

Sony Xperia Z1	4h 43 min (Poor)
Apple iPhone 5s	5h 2 min (Poor)
Google Nexus 5	4h 50 min (Poor)
Samsung Galaxy Note 3	6h 8 min (Poor)
HTC One	5h 45 min (Poor)
Samsung Galaxy S4	4h 59 min (Poor)
LG G2	6h 48 min (Average)

View all

Testing method:
As for our battery test, we use a simulation of real-life usage and we run our test at the same 200-nit brightness for all devices. A smartphone nowadays is used for much more than calling and texting, so we had to take this into account. The average smartphone user actually spends most of the time on the web and social media, and you might be surprised that this average Joe of a user actually listens to music and plays games more than he talks! To get a better understanding of that average use, feel free to take a look at the top activities we do on our smartphones.

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PhoneArena battery life test (21 updates)

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View Full specs

PhoneArena Rating:

9.4

Read Full Review

User Rating:

9.2

Based on 101 Reviews

Display 5.2 inches
1920 x 1080 pixels

Camera 13 MP (Single camera)
2.1 MP front

Hardware Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM

Storage 32GB,

Battery 3000 mAh

OS Android 5.0 Lollipop

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51 Comments

46. bonq0430

Posts: 1; Member since: Feb 26, 2014

The only problem with G2 is that I hesitate every nyt whether to recharge my g2 or not, because i still am confident that it will last d next working day.. ;( but then it runs out of juice the nxt afternoon and I regret not charging it the previous night. I am a moderate to heavy user.

posted on Feb 26, 2014, 2:01 AM 0

45. vishu9

Posts: 252; Member since: Mar 03, 2011

Somehow these results don't really corroborate with my AT&T model.. Do you think the carrier version could have slightly varying results?

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 12:39 PM 0

43. gdogcal76

Posts: 3; Member since: Dec 31, 2013

I just finished a 3-week trial with the G2 and, while in most ways I was blown away by the phone, there was one major issue that forced me to return it, and it had a dramatic impact on the battery as well. The phone struggles significantly with GPS. Let me explain. I heard this argument before getting the phone so made sure to run this through its paces. I tested it in an open highway environment (southern california), an urban environment (downtown Chicago) and a mountain environment (socal mountains), here were my results: - Open highway- no problem at all...as long as the phone was placed at the windshield it would quickly acquire and track - Urban environment- pretty significant issues with accuracy & acquiring satellites, would often take a full minute to acquire and even once locked in, it would often put me on the adjacent street or going in the wrong direction. I was on foot here so no car roof to impede. - Mountain environment- HUGE issues, often wouldn't acquire at all or take many minutes to acquire and then lose signal intermittently. I can forgive the mountain situation as cell signal wasn't ideal and frankly dedicated GPS units can sometimes struggle, though I should note that my car GPS had no issues in that environment (albeit with the advantage of a much stronger antennae built into the car). However, the urban result was not acceptable and I'll tell you why, I had just switched from my moto X to the G2 in downtown chicago, and the X was DEAD ON, acquired in seconds, and was basically 100% accurate. But back to the point of this article, the one thing I noticed right away with GPS is that it absolutely kills the battery of this phone. I compared battery life with GPS on for both the G2 and the Moto X and the X actually lasted LONGER than the G2 when actively using GPS, that's insane. I imagine it has something to do with the overall signal strength of the X, which dominated the G2 as well, but I can't technically validate that theory. I also noticed Youtube streaming chomped away at the G2, but again, not surprising so no knock there. I want to be clear, coming from an S3 & Moto X, I wanted this phone to do well, in no way am I an LG-hater, and in fact I can't wait fro the G3 to see if this gets resolved, but it's just too critical to ignore. Of note, the G2 obliterated the S3 in every area, including GPS as it is notoriously bad on the S3. I chose to not keep the Moto X because it's just too small, and after using and LOVING the G2 I'm glad I returned it, but now I'm left with only a couple of options: try the Droid Maxx or wait for the S5/G3 and hope for the best. Sorry this is so long, but if it helps one person make a decision it's worth it. My reco, if you don't care about GPS then you can do no better than the G2, it's a beast and a blast. If GPS is vital to you (as it is for me), seriously consider waiting or having a shot with Moto.

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 11:34 AM 0

42. MobileMac unregistered

Another thing that works better on my G2 that was a nightmare on my S3; Selecting text to copy. The cursors would flip sides and sometimes I would just give up. My G2 is steady and this simple feature does not suck.

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 10:18 AM 0

41. saffant

Posts: 274; Member since: Jul 04, 2011

Give the Note 3 a 8.9mm waistline and a non-removable battery and it'll easily fit a 3500-3800mAh battery in there that will trump the G2.

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 7:44 AM 0

39. BomberXL

Posts: 82; Member since: Jan 17, 2012

also realized today on my G2 that the camera is magnetic on the back to allow for lense attachments. this phone is just full of surprises

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 1:30 AM 1

38. loccoc402

Posts: 33; Member since: Nov 07, 2013

lg's Gram bring this amazing battery life

posted on Dec 31, 2013, 12:26 AM 0

37. etotherescue

Posts: 39; Member since: Jul 20, 2012

I have a G2 and I can totally say........The battery last all day........im a heavy to moderate user.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 9:30 PM 0

36. wilsong17 unregistered

im happy with my note 3 ty very much

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 5:28 PM 0

35. mike2959

Posts: 700; Member since: Oct 08, 2011

A couple notes to the haters. First off the Razor Maxx, spec wise isnt even close. Talking about 1080p 5.2" to start with. The display is the biggest consumer of the battery so we gotta do apples to at least oranges. I've had the gs3, note 2, gs4, one, and the G2 is in its own league. If you disable some if the bloatware you squeeze even more. Root it and remove some junk in the trunk and OMG she can go all night long. I tried a few ROMS CM 10.2, CM 11..This is the first PHONE I HAVE EVER RETURNED BACK TO STOCK.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 4:53 PM 0

31. RandomUsername

Posts: 808; Member since: Oct 29, 2013

Wow... now if they manage to make this in a smaller form-factor and maybe out of aluminium, I would be blown away :)

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 2:45 PM 0

30. zachattack

Posts: 621; Member since: Jul 31, 2013

Motorola is a terrible company that makes bad phones. They re branded the maxx maybe that's why it's not there~. The G2 literally loses 0 battery when idle and it's battery lasts 2 - 3 days on medium use it's insane

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 2:34 PM 0

50. mkozic

Posts: 3; Member since: Nov 03, 2014

Could you explain what do you consider medium usage? I'm on my first smartphone ever so I'd just like to have reasonable expectations of it.

posted on Nov 04, 2014, 9:54 PM 0

23. FiddyPence

Posts: 21; Member since: Aug 08, 2012

lol, The One Max lasts the longest yet you leave it out. Then you include the Note 3 ? No biased here I see.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 12:55 PM 1

29. LGisgood

Posts: 833; Member since: Jun 23, 2012

ITS ABOUT FLAGSHIP SMARTPHONES!

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 2:10 PM 1

19. apple4never

Posts: 1064; Member since: May 08, 2013

long live the king indeed WAY TO GO LG

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 11:35 AM 3

18. Arron12

Posts: 18; Member since: Dec 30, 2013

2014 the Year of the LG.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 11:25 AM 3

14. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

It's unbelievable how LG managed to optimize the software to get the batterylife this good even if LG's skin is very heavy!

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 11:01 AM 0

21. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

Most of the "optimizations" are hardware advancements, not things LG did with the software. That said, kudos for LG for putting all of them in an attractive package and tossing in a massive battery just for the fun of it.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 12:18 PM 2

24. PapaSmurf

Posts: 10457; Member since: May 14, 2012

+1 as always.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 12:55 PM 1

13. blazee

Posts: 414; Member since: Jan 02, 2012

Do a test on moto x! I wanna know how it compares ro N5

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 10:49 AM 2

15. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

Do a test on the Droid Maxx. The 3,500 mAh battery is larger than the G2s battery, plus Moto has implemented some energy conservation tricks that should pay dividends as well. Come on PA, update your database. A 2 year old device (RAZR MAXX) is nowhere near as relevant as current products.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 11:01 AM 0

34. Victor.H

Posts: 1112; Member since: May 27, 2011

We'll take this into account. We're working on testing more devices soon, stay tuned.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 4:03 PM 0

17. sprockkets

Posts: 1612; Member since: Jan 16, 2012

Just go to anandtech.com and see for yourself. Posted the moto g review since it is the latest. http://anandtech.com/show/7586/motorola-moto-g-review/3

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 11:17 AM 0

12. Cha7520

Posts: 222; Member since: Oct 31, 2010

Wait until the LG G3 with a 4,000 mah battery!

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 10:38 AM 0

11. hmd74

Posts: 546; Member since: Jan 31, 2013

What's the difference between this battery test and the one in the review?!?

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 10:37 AM 0

33. Victor.H

Posts: 1112; Member since: May 27, 2011

We're adding a few important additional details, explaining our testing method in depth and giving this more publicity. Apart from that, no differences in the actual results.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 4:01 PM 0

10. Teja171 unregistered

With the G2, i

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 10:33 AM 0

25. OpTiMuS_BlAcK

Posts: 418; Member since: May 04, 2012

Wow he seems so speechless.

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 12:56 PM 5

9. Adrian38

Posts: 142; Member since: Nov 05, 2012

I absolutely LOVE my G2! I've gotten 7 hours and 13 minutes of on screen time with it :D That's pretty close to what my Nexus 7 gets! Haha Insane battery life :)