Introducing: GSMArena Battery Life Test 2.0 and the new Active Use Score

08 November 2023
The way we use our mobile phones has evolved, and so has our new Battery Life test.

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Akashraj, 09 Nov 2023Some devices has good active drain and bad idle drain. From... moreUnfortunately if it's not in the test people won't really notice one line about stand-by drain hidden in a review. And it'll be forgotten about. Which is precisely why it's important to have it in this battery test - it's just as consequential in the real world as the other test categories.

    taghack, 08 Nov 2023On the subject of idle testing: Throughout the years of ... more"Due to a number of factors including things like background processes, signal and OS version differences."

    But those are the exact things that impact battery drain when a phone isn't used. Some phones will do it better because they've been optimised in those regards. It's important we still see that in battery tests.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 0BG
      • 09 Nov 2023

      der2, 08 Nov 2023RIP endurance rating, I remember back in the day I would ju... moreThese numbers were always crap and will always be until they start testing mobile phones in actual mobile usage. Still testing on WiFi instead of mobile data is simply ridiculous. It was ridiculous even in the 3G era, and now with 4G and especially 5G, numbers will be completely different.

        taghack, 08 Nov 2023On the subject of idle testing: Throughout the years of ... moreSome devices has good active drain and bad idle drain. From the old endurance rating, one can conclude about idle drain from overall endurance rating and active drain from individual tests. Please do mention a line about the idle drain in all reviews if you're still going ahead with the new test method.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 0fU
          • 09 Nov 2023

          This is actually kind of disappointing for me. I've found GSMArena's Endurance Rating is the most realistic since it factors in standby time.

            PatelAzamah, 09 Nov 2023This is an excellent job. Keep it up!! Please could you pe... moreTheres a link in the article. Also look for the + sign and search for the phone. Together with the ip15+ they perform excellently with this test.

              This is an excellent job. Keep it up!!
              Please could you perform the Battery Life Test 2.0 on iPhone 15 pro Max
              Thank you!

                • S
                • Stanby
                • U{%
                • 09 Nov 2023

                Who uses their phone continuously for hours..Draining battery on standby hurts a lot when you check your battery percent.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • XRg
                  • 09 Nov 2023

                  Why not add the standby time as a slider? Google Pixel has very bad standby time. You new test is hiding it unnecessarily. I don't use my phone continuously since I have a job. So standby time is important to know.

                    • T
                    • T the Tinkerer
                    • 0p}
                    • 09 Nov 2023

                    Dolle, 08 Nov 2023Totally agree. In the old test, a 80hr score vs a 100hr sco... moreYeah, I think they tailored the new test style for the average social media hooked millennial. Some of us do not use our phones like this. Usually I use the phone in spurts, where it will also sit for hours at a time. I also do not use social media apps. Too much data gathering. I do got they at least mention what kind of standby each phone gets in the narrative part of the review.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • XUv
                      • 09 Nov 2023

                      Mills, 08 Nov 2023What games are we talking about? Genshin? COD? Mobile Legen... moreWhat interested me actually:
                      What version of each game use now...
                      Will it be updated along with official game release...
                      If it's updated, how can we compared today results with (i.e) the results from the next year, because the "game were different"

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                        • Anonymous
                        • XUv
                        • 09 Nov 2023

                        Anonymous, 08 Nov 2023There's too much weighting put on calls. 10 maybe 15% ... moreYou can adjust the percentage to you're liking

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                          • Anonymous
                          • XUv
                          • 09 Nov 2023

                          T the Tinkerer, 08 Nov 2023Where I work, phones and electronic devices are not allowed... moreYou work in prison?
                          Why don't you turn off the phone while in truck?
                          Or perhaps turn of all the data

                          You could also put the phone in DND mode.
                          In DND mode, you can select all aps not to run in background at all.

                            I'd like to see 1/2/3 year followup tests on the devices to at least get a few datapoints as to how well the battery holds held up and if updates improve battery life or not. I wouldn't mind if one performance benchmark could be run too.

                            We've speculated that manufacturers can do nasty stuff like planned obsolescence, making devices slower, or sacrificing the battery health for better performance at launch. Also maybe security patches make the devices slower. How much slower?

                            So followup tests would be great. Not for all devices but ones you have access too.

                              Do they still equalize the brightness of all the devices before running the tests?

                                • R
                                • Ramsey
                                • kqj
                                • 09 Nov 2023

                                It’s great this is being updated.

                                However, where’s the stand by time?

                                That’s an important variable as well.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • nDJ
                                  • 08 Nov 2023

                                  taghack, 08 Nov 2023On the subject of idle testing: Throughout the years of ... morethe idle testing should be tested by a fresh factory reset ,after all updates are settled down, 50% of the time on wifi, 50% of the time on mobile data, this should be pretty accurate.
                                  my x90pro+ loses 8-10% when sleeping on idle which is huge while my wife's s23 ultra loses 2-3% only but if you would test both phones in your tests samsung would win by 5% max while in reality is like a 15% difference

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • mAZ
                                    • 08 Nov 2023

                                    Zendroid, 08 Nov 2023So, nothing a standard adult power user do with phones. Rog... moreSuch as?

                                      Pixels now suddenly look good 😁 and iPhones look reeeally good. Compared to before with idle drain taken into account

                                        Akashraj, 08 Nov 2023The issue with this new system is idle drain is not taken i... moreYou nailed it. My S23+ has really good battery life, but I was thinking there is no way I could get 9+ hours of gaming in on my phone. Mostly because I would never take it off the charger and play games for 9 straight hours. Adding an idle score would help in that regard.

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