There are some great smartphones available for the holiday season and we’ve been trying to give readers some comparisons to help them make the right choice for them. We all seem to be increasingly using our mobile devices and so battery life is becoming a more important factor than previously. Today we’re looking at the Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Apple iPhone 5 vs. Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD, purely as a battery life showdown.
The Galaxy S3 was released on multiple US carriers some months ago while the iPhone 5 released on the major US carriers, apart from T-Mobile, in September. Verizon also carries the Droid RAZR MAXX HD that was released just a few days ago. All have a lot to offer as far as the usual specs and features go, but how do they compare considering their battery lives?
Motorola is one of the manufacturers that have taken on board consumer desire for larger battery capacities to cope with the demands of high-spec phones. The Droid RAZR MAXX HD launched with a whopping Li-Ion 3,300 mAh battery while the Galaxy S3 is equipped with a Li-Ion 2,100 mAh battery and the iPhone 5 touts a Li-Po 1,440 mAh battery.
All Things Digital has given the Droid RAZR MAXX HD the once over in the battery stakes and managed to get 22 hours of talk time out of it, not quite the 23 hours advertised but still an amazing result. The Galaxy S3 on the other hand is advertised as achieving 17 hours of talk time while the iPhone 5 is nowhere near as good on the battery front with only 8 hours advertised talk time. Hence the Droid RAZR MAXX HD manages almost three times the amount of talk time than the iPhone 5 and that’s some going!
The only drawback for the Droid RAZR MAXX HD battery was that it’s non-removable but of course with that sort of battery life available you’re unlikely to need to swap batteries while out and about. The other hitch to having a smartphone with plenty of juice seems to be the price as the Droid RAZR MAXX HD has a heftier price than both the Galaxy S3 and iPhone. The Droid RAZR MAXX HD is priced at $300 on a two-year contract but by comparison the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 are both priced around $200 on the usual two-year contract.
Apart from the amount of talk time, All Things Digital also tested the Droid RAZR MAXX HD for more everyday usage. The phone was used for day-to-day activity such as using social networks, checking emails, streaming videos using LTE, Web browsing and more and lasted a hugely impressive day and a half before running out of power. The iPhone 5 on the other hand lasted only 9 to 12 hours before giving up the ghost on mixed-use activity.
You might imagine that having such an effective battery may mean the Droid RAZR MAXX HD is saddled with too much bulk but this is not the case either. It’s 9.3mm thick and so this is bigger than the Galaxy S3 at 8.6mm and the iPhone 5 at 7.6mm but not so much bigger that it would deter a lot of people. Of course the larger battery does affect the weight though, with the Droid RAZR MAXX HD weighing in at 157g while the Galaxy S3 is 134g and the iPhone 5 only 112g.
We’ll give you a very quick lowdown of the other key specs of these three handsets to give you an idea of what else each has to offer. The Galaxy S3 (AT&T version) has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor, 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display with resolution of 1280 x 720, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable via micro SD), LTE, an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera and was launched on Android 4.0 ICS, upgradeable to Jelly Bean.
The iPhone 5 has a 1.2GHz Apple A6 dual-core processor, 4-inch IPS TFT display with resolution of 1136 x 640, 1GB of RAM, 16, 32 or 64GB of internal storage (non-expandable), LTE, 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing shooter and released running iOS 6. The Droid RAZR MAXX HD has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.7-inch Super AMOLED display with resolution of 1280 x 720, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (expandable via micro SD), LTE, 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and launched on Android 4.0.4 ICS upgradeable to 4.1.
As you can see all of these phones offer some high-end specs and we are not claiming that the Droid RAZR MAXX HD holds the top spot when looking at specs overall. However, as far as battery life the RAZR MAXX HD will be difficult to beat, as long as you don’t mind the extra weight and cost. We’re really interested to hear from readers about these smartphones and their battery lives.
Is battery life a key factor for you now when you are deciding on a new smartphone? Would the higher price put you off the Droid RAZR MAXX HD? Maybe you think that overall the Galaxy S3 or iPhone 5 have more to offer you? Let us know with your comments.