Mobile Phones - Battery Life

[Martin Brown]

I can't be the only one that needs a compact robust mobile phone that doesn't need recharging every day and does the basics very well. I have had a Nokia 6303i for ages and that was ideal until it had a terminal encounter with a bucket of water. I have gone back to my previous 6300 but its battery life was never much good when new and is much worse now.

I am in the market for a new mobile phone, but I have very specific requirements for maximum standby time and talk time between charges. I have no need of facebook, twitter or 3G on this phone. It does need to last well and work when it accepts incoming calls on lowish battery. It is no use if it bumbles along and then dies sounding the ringtone!

It is likely to be used a lot in regions of poor 2G signal coverage and so when in use will be transmitting at or near maximum power.

My jaundiced view of the present mobile phone market is that touch screen all singing all dancing web browser things are now de rigeur. Not what I want at all. Even considering buying another 6303 secondhand which would at least give me something I know my way around.

A quick survey of classic mobile phones gives me the following candidates (but it is hard work finding talk/standby hours).

Ranked in order of battery life (and probable robustness) Talk Standby / hours Samsung XCover 19 1000 Samsung GT S5260 II 7 900 Nokia Asha201 7 890 (alpha keypad) Nokia 206 20 680 Nokia C5 12 600 Nokia C7 5 650

All in theory with better figures than the 6303.

I have my suspicions that makers standby hours are measured inside a hermetically sealed Faraday cage with no ambient RF signals at all. I never get anything like the makers claimed standby life on mine.

Any other suggestions for well built classic mobiles with *really* good battery life (or with extended life aftermarket batteries)?

Any experience of these phones and suggestions of which to avoid? (some come in various flavours with variations in battery life)

In theory the Samsung XCover would appear to be a good candidate and would have survived the dunking that killed its predecessor. It is a bit on the chunky side though...

Thanks for any enlightenment.

[Jethro_uk]

Sounds like you are in the market for an *old* mobile phone ;)

Got SWMBO an HTC Wildfire last year. It came preloaded with Facebook, and unless you go through some quite technical hoops, it can't be removed.

[stuart noble]

I bought a nokia 2610 off EBay (which looked brand new) but found I couldn't read anything on the screen outdoors. I couldn't even see the clock, so it's now languishing in a drawer

[Bill]

In message , Martin Brown writes

I think you might have that the wrong way round. I suspect they test near a receiver, so the transmit power can be negotiated down.

If it were me, I'd try to get another 6303i, and probably end up storming out of these useless mobile phone shops.

I like clamshell phones and am fairly happy with my Nokia 2720, which I bought in an emergency for daughter when she dropped her phone in the bath. She then lost this one, she bought another, and I inherited this when it re-appeared.

It bends a bit when I sit on it, but hasn't broken. The battery lasts from 4 to 7 days, even though it has a relatively small battery (850mAh?) = fairly quick to charge. The camera is mediocre and, because of the clamshell, is often behind a hand or finger.

What depresses me is the price. I bought this at £30, the second one was £40 and they now seem to be £70 or £80, which is ludicrous for a basic phone.

I've been into quite a few phone shops over the years because of daughter, phones and the bath, and am always amazed by the lack of choice for basic models. I can't understand why clamshells seem so rare.

[Scion]

Martin Brown put finger to keyboard:

Look at the Samsung E1200

black/786-3368.prd

I have an earlier model but with the same battery specs (800hr standby,

10hr talk) and I only recharge once every week or two.

[Nightjar]

On 18/04/2013 11:33, Martin Brown wrote: ...

I had the Nokia C5, mainly because it was the one of the few phones for which I could get a carrier that would link it into my car's hands free system and built-in aerial. I then kept forgetting to take it out of the car when I got out, so it usually ended up staying in my shirt pocket, linked to the car by Bluetooth, instead. I have quite a lot of low signal areas around here and I doubt that being inside a car improves reception. I never had any problems with battery life while putting it on charge once or twice a week.

Colin Bignell

[larkim]

Can I at least raise the question of "Ludditery"? My wife thought the same as you do, but (despite not being a twitter or facebook user) now loves he r poor-battery-life smartphone.

She takes the benefits from it (integrated sat nav, emails out and about, e ase of use, voice activation, bluetooth capabilities, sports-tracking, game playing, app using etc etc) and has made adaptations to her concept of req uired charging - puts it on to charge overnight, puts it in a car charger w hen she is driving etc etc. For those small penalties, she gets the additi onal benefits.

It might be a bit like taking a look at Ford Model-T early last century and complaining that it doesn't work well when fed with grass and shod with ir on shoes from the black-smiths...

(You may have a perfectly good reason for looking for a more traditional mo bile phone, but I thought I'd raise the question at least!)

Matt

[chris]

I wouldn't recommend that. I had one and it needed charging every day to ensure it didn't run out of juice. I didn't use it very heavily.

[Martin Brown]

you do, but (despite not being a twitter or facebook user) now loves her poor-battery-life smartphone.

You can raise it - yes.

I have access to an Android smartphone and 3G dongles but what I want from this phone is absolute longevity in fairly adverse conditions.

Bluetooth is useful, WiFi would be nice, but battery life is paramount! I'd prefer it to have a decent (for a phone) >3Mpixel camera but would happily compromise on that to get longer battery life.

of use, voice activation, bluetooth capabilities, sports-tracking, game playing, app using etc etc) and has made adaptations to her concept of required charging

- puts it on to charge overnight, puts it in a car charger when she is driving etc etc. For those small penalties, she gets the additional benefits.

complaining that it doesn't work well when fed with grass and shod with iron shoes from the black-smiths...

Or today looking at showrooms that only offer insane overweight SUV gas guzzlers with bulldozer, crane and cherry picker attachments fitted as standard when what you want is a sleek motorbike to get from A to B.

mobile phone, but I thought I'd raise the question at least!)

If I could have a smartphone that would do 600+ hours on standby then I would quite happily use one. I am not a Luddite by any means, but neither am I someone who buys the latest model of phone because it has a fancier case, 100 more pixels or a 2% increase in processor speed.

I know how often the smartphone needs recharging and I don't want that!

[RJH]

snip

Why? I just charge mine overnight using a £20 bedside clock radio.

Don't get me wrong - I'd happily pay for the convenience of long life batteries. But that's all it is to me - an inconvenience that can be overcome quite easily.

Rob

[Fevric J. Glandules]

Try a supermarket instead:

Nineteen quid.

which I found from here:

Lack of demand?

Different things are popular around the world. IIRC the clamshell is more popular in the East, BICBW. An example I am more confident of is that the USA really *likes* (or liked) little stubby aerials coming out of the top of their mobe, and the Europeans really

*disliked* such.

[Steve Firth]

Simple phones, big buttons, long battery life.

[Terry Fields]

Buy a phone for its features, and power it from one of these:

12000mAh in your shirt pocket should see you OK, and you'll find a plethora of uses for it.

I use one of these, had it for a couple of years:

Charge it from your computer's USB port.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 14:11:46 on Thu, 18 Apr

2013, chris remarked:

If you disable GPS, wifi and 3G (use just 2G) and attach a "pregnant" battery, it'll last a week. Probably; mine does.

[Bill]

That Tesco site for the Nokia 100 says

Power Standby Time (hrs) 840 Talk Time (hrs) 432

which surely cannot be right.

And I went to Tesco looking for a clamshell phone. They had nothing suitable.

And I have a Sony Xperia which is great for listening to internet radio at home via wifi, but would be hopeless carried round in my pocket with the keys, coins, tape measure etc etc. Its battery lasts 48 hours at most, and it never makes a phone call.

[polygonum]

Standby time (2G): 609.3 h Talk time (2G): 6.7 h

[Theo Markettos]

Nokia 105: talk 12.5 standby 842

and apparently GBP13, though I'm not sure you can buy it yet.

Theo

[Martin Brown]

BINGO!! Thanks Theo - that looks like it should hit the spot. (and at that price it is easy enough to take a punt on it)

[chris]

Kind of defeats having a smartphone, though. Useful to know, however, as I've passed it onto my wife.

I used it primarily for 3G and wifi, she won't.

[robgraham]

/ hours

I got a Nokia 201 recently (£40) and have been seriously impressed by how long I get without having to charge it. My requirements were much like the OP's and it has satisfied them with the only drawback being that it pushes the width of the phone pocket in my jacket a bit.

Rob