Latest and greatest specifications like multi-core processors and oodles of RAM are undoubtedly essential, but battery life is perhaps the most crucial deciding factor when it comes to modern-day smartphones. Our readers had been asking us to pit some big-battery smartphones against each other for quite a while, so we decided to do just that.
For this comparison, we chose three smartphones – Lenovo P2, Moto E4 Plus and Xiaomi Mi Max 2, which have battery capacities of 5,100mAh, 5,000mAh and 5,300mAh respectively.
So which one among Lenovo P2, Moto E4 Plus and Xiaomi Mi Max 2 stands tall when it comes to battery life? Read our in-depth comparative review to find out.
Note: The testing on all the three smartphones was conducted with screen brightness and speaker volume set to maximum at all times.
1. Marathon Run (Mixed Heavy Usage): This test routine included a mix of playing heavy games, watching videos, audio playback, chatting on IM apps and social networking. For this routine, we extended our multi-tasking usage to see if the batteries on the three smartphones really stood up to the rigors of extended day-to-day usage.
We continuously used all three smartphones until their batteries drained from 100% to 3%. For this test routine, Lenovo P2 stayed lasted around 5.26 hours, whereas Moto E4 Plus and Xiaomi Mi Max 2 lasted for around 5 and 5.15 hours respectively.
Winner: Lenovo P2
Runner-up: Mi Max 2
2. Normal Usage: For the purpose of this test routine, we fully charged the batteries on all three smartphones and started using them as daily drivers. Our usage included audio and video playback, gameplay, audio and video calls, camera usage for clicking pictures, and even using the LED flash as a flashlight. Interestingly, all three smartphones’ batteries exhibited almost similar performance. During this test routine, Lenovo P2 lasted around 28 hours, while Moto E4 Plus and Mi Max 2 ran for 24 hours and 27 hours respectively before giving up.
Winner: Lenovo P2
Runner-up: Mi Max 2
3. Audio And Video Playback: Nothing is more satisfying than watching a movie during the long commute to office and then back to home. For this test routine, we watched a movie on each of the three smartphones and used the remaining battery to enjoy music on the loudspeaker.
Lenovo P2, as expected, consumed less juice than Moto E4 Plus and Xiaomi Mi Max 2. The P2 consumed 33% of its battery for the above-mentioned audio/video test routine, whereas Moto E4 Plus and Mi Max 2 consumed about 40% and 38% of their battery life respectively.
Winner: Lenovo P2
Runner-up: Mi Max 2
4. Gaming (1 Hour on each smartphone): For our extended gaming test run, we played three heavy games on each of the three smartphones for an hour. These included Modern Combat: Blackout, Asphalt 8 and Riptide GP: Renegade. As expected, the battery levels dipped considerably during on all three handsets during the test run.
Moto E4 Plus lost 43% battery life during our gaming test run. On the other hand, Lenovo P2 and Mi Max 2 lost 35% and 40% of their battery life respectively. The fact that Moto E4 Plus lost more battery than the other two smartphones can be attributed to the fact that it uses an entry-level MediaTek processor.
Winner: Lenovo P2
Runner-up: Mi Max 2
5. Video Calling (1 Hour on each smartphone): These days, most of the people are increasingly preferring video calls over voice calls, thanks to expanded availability of 4G VoLTE services. This test routine included an hour of video calls over Skype for each of the three smartphones.
While Moto E4 Plus and Mi Max 2 swallowed 17% and 16% juice for video calls, Lenovo P2 lost just 14% battery for the same.
Winner: Lenovo P2
Runner-up: Mi Max 2
6. Temperature (Heating): All the three smartphones that we tested have full-metal bodies, so they all heat a bit after extended amount of heavy usage. So we decided to measure just how much their temperatures rose when they were put through their paces.
Talking about Lenovo P2 and Moto E4 Plus first, their temperatures increased from 31 degrees to 44 degrees and 43 degrees respectively. On the other hand, Mi Max 2’s temperature increased from 31 degrees to 41 degrees.
Winner: Mi Max 2
Runner-up: Moto E4 Plus
Conclusion
Summing things up, it’s clear that Lenovo P2 came out to be the winner among the three smartphones. It was followed up by Mi Max 2, while Moto E4 Plus came last.
So which one of these three smartphones would you choose, if battery life was your concern? Are there any other big-battery smartphones that you would like us to compare? Do let us know in the comments below.
Special Note: Lenovo P2 comes with a dedicated “Power Saving Mode,” which can be instantly activated via a physical button located on the phone’s side. It basically turns the smartphone into a basic phone, disabling all notifications and Wi-Fi connectivity, among other things.