Home
News
You are here

Top 5 affordable smartphones with great battery life

Published: Jul 26, 2015, 11:04 PM

6comments

Top 5 affordable smartphones with great battery life

Last week when we analyzed five of the thinnest Android smartphones currently available, we talked how the quest for thickness often affects the battery life of today's handsets. Today, we're here to take a completely different approach, as we're about to discuss five of the best affordable smartphones with great battery life.

Since we previously discussed the top 10 modern flagships with amazing battery life, this time around we picked handsets that do not break the bank. Although great battery life was a top priority when assembling this list, we also took other things into consideration, such as the sharpness of the display, the processing power, or the design of the handsets.

To illustrate the battery life of the smartphones included here, we have used the results previously obtained using our demanding battery benchmark.

Motorola Moto E (2015)

Price: $119.99 (3G) $149.99 (LTE)

The 2015 version of the Motorola Moto E is a very affordable smartphone that performs well for the money. The 2390mAh battery fits inside a rather thick 12.2mm body and managed to last for 9 hours in our battery benchmark, which is an excellent result.

Sold at $119.99 for the 3G model and $149.99 for the LTE-enabled one, the Motorola Moto E is not a smartphone for enthusiasts. The 4.5-inch display runs a resolution of 540 by 960 pixels at 245PPI, being the smallest and the least sharp display discussed here today. The processing power is drawn from a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 chipset paired with 1GB of RAM. Other specs include 8GB of expandable internal storage, a 5MP primary shooter a 2MP secondary sensor.

If interested, make sure to read more about handset by heading over to our full 2015 Motorola Moto E review.

Blu Studio Energy

Price: $150

At the moment, the Blu Studio Energy blows straight past every other smartphone that we've had the chance to test in our labs. With a score of 14h 53 min, the Blu Studio Energy is currently the undisputed king of our battery benchmarks. The Studio Energy comes with a gigantic 5000mAh battery packed in a body that measures 10.4mm across the diagonal.

This marathon runner comes with power-efficient specs such as a 5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels at a PPI of 294. Under the hood beats the heart of a 1.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor. In terms of memory, the Blu Studio Life comes with 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of microSD-expandable internal storage. In the camera department, the handset is equipped with an 8MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary sensor. Overall, the handset is nothing to get excited about in terms of performance, but that's to be expected from a dirt-cheap smartphone.

Priced at $150 unlocked on Amazon, the Blu Studio Energy is the perfect choice if you're in the market for an affordable Android smartphone that can handle basic operations and comes with an amazing battery life.

Note: The Blu Studio Energy is actually a rebranded Gionee Marathon M3, sold by Blu under a different name in the US.

Nokia Lumia 830

Price: Varies with retailer

Out of all the Windows Phone handsets that we've reviewed here at PhoneArena, the Nokia Lumia 830 has managed to achieve the best score in our benchmark tests, with a run time of 9 hours and 19 minutes. The Lumia 830 comes with a rather small 2200 mAh battery inside an 8.5mm body, but it looks like Windows Phone is a really energy-efficient mobile operating system.

The Lumia 830 was the last mid-range smartphone designed by Nokia before its handset business was rebranded as Microsoft Lumia, and it's quite a decent phone overall. The display is a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels at 294 PPI. Under the hood, we find the familiar entry-level Snapdragon 400 chipset. Other specs include 1GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable internal storage, a 10MP primary camera, and a 0.9MP secondary sensor.

ZTE ZMAX

Price: $252

If you're a T-Mobile or MetroPCS customer, you might want to check out the ZTE ZMAX. Priced at about $250 unlocked, the ZTE ZMAX is an affordable phablet that bets big on battery life.

The ZTE ZMAX integrates a large 3400mAh battery in an 8.9mm body. In our tests, the phone managed to keep working for 10h 53min. By comparison, the iPhone 6 lasted only about half as long, 5 hours and 22 minutes.

The display is a 5.7-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 720 by 1280 pixels at a PPI of 258. The processing power is ensured by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 chipset paired with 2GB of RAM. Other specs include an 8MP primary camera, a 1.6MP secondary sensor on the front, as well as 4G LTE connectivity. In our ZTE ZMAX review, we found that the overall performance of the smartphone was satisfactory, although certainly not impressive.

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 (5.5")

Price: $250

The 5.5-inch version of Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is one of the best affordable smartphones currently available in the US. The handset integrates a 2910mAh battery in a 7.4mm, which is why we have been surprised to see the handset managing to last for 8 hours and 29 minutes in our battery tests.

In terms of performance, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 breezes past all other smartphones included in this list. The brains of the operation is a Snapdragon 615 processor paired with 2GB of RAM, and you can get the handset with either 8GB or 16GB of expandable internal storage. The display, a 5.5-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels at 401PPI, is a beauty to watch, with loads of detail, superb brightness, and natural color reproduction.

Priced at $250, the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 isn't the longest-lasting handset on this list, but it's the best all-rounder, and still offers a very good battery life. Head over to our full Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 review for more details about the handset.

View Full Bio

Mihai Andrici is a former news writer at PhoneArena. He's produced a large body of content during his PhoneArena run, drawing on years of experience in the field. Mihai's coverage touched on various topics, from Android phones to Apple ecosystem products. In addition, he was quite active in bringing the latest mobile tech deals to PhoneArena readers.