LG G2 battery life test: long live the king

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!

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!


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.