As part of our smartphone reviews, we try as much as possible to use the PCMark Work 1.0 or 2.0 battery test so that we have a standardized metric that we can then use to compare battery life between devices. We’re a month into 2018 and we are so ready to move forward, but let’s take a look back one more time.
If you have been reading our smartphone reviews for some time, then this may be familiar to you:
Yes, it does fail sometimes, and is quite a shame, as it prevents us from including the likes of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Max with its 5,000mAh battery in this list. Nonetheless, the phones featured in this list yielded impressive scores and are great choices, even now, if battery life is what you are after. Let’s begin.
Author’s Notes:
- Phones are arranged from worst to best.
- Launched in January to December 2017, and can be purchased in the Philippines.
This large phone takes the stylus pen approach with its X-Pen and sports modest low to mid-range specs.
Battery Capacity: 4,500mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 11 hours, 44 minutes
Price: Php9,799 (Lazada)
There may be a newer OnePlus phone in the 5T, but in terms of battery life, the OnePlus 5 manages to squeeze out a little more.
Battery Capacity: 3,300mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 11 hours, 45 minutes
Price: Php24,500 Lazada
First unveiled at IFA 2017, the Xperia XZ1 keeps the signature Sony conservative design, but it’s a powerful and premium Android smartphone.
Battery Capacity: 2,700mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 11 hours, 52 minutes
Price: Php39,990 (Lazada)
A slightly toned down OPPO F5 at best, but still keeps its AI Beautification capabilities and lower price.
Battery Capacity: 3,200mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 12 hours, 8 minutes
Price: Php12,990 (Lazada)
The Moto Z2 Play is a premium mid-range smartphone that is the successor to 2016’s Moto Z Play, and is forward and backward compatible with existing Moto Mods accessories.
Battery Capacity: 3,000mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 12 hours, 15 minutes
Price: Php21,999 (Lazada)
Launched early last year, the F3 Plus is one of OPPO’s many selfie-centric smartphones. It packs dual cameras, good internals, and recently had a price cut that makes it look more attractive to the wallet.
Battery Capacity: 3,200mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 12 hours, 21 minutes
Price: Php19,990 (Lazada)
This one is a huge 6-inch smartphone that manages to keep the battery capacity under 3,000mAh while being able to last more than a day’s work.
Battery Capacity: 2,700mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 12 hours, 56 minutes
Price: Php21,290 (Lazada)
With the F5, OPPO put their eggs in the AI basket to even further up their selfie game. Its long-lasting battery will ensure that you can literally take selfies all day long. (assuming you wanted to)
Battery Capacity: 3,200mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 13 hours, 8 minutes
Price: Php15,990 (Lazada)
A large smartphone deserves an equally large battery. At 6.44-inches with Full HD resolution, upper mid-range specs, it’s no wonder Xiaomi decided that the Mi Max 2 was getting a 5,300mAh battery.
Battery Capacity: 5,300mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 16 hours, 7 minutes
Price: Php13,500 (Lazada)
and finally…
The V7+ easily takes the cake with its score of almost 17 hours, and it manages to do that with a battery capacity that is only roughly 60% of the top 2 phone on this list. It’s likely due to its 720p display and efficient CPU. More so than the OPPO F5, you can also literally take selfies all day long with its high resolution 24MP front camera.
Battery Capacity: 3,225mAh
PCMark Battery Test: 16 hours, 36 minutes
Price: Php17,990 (Lazada)
The Vivo V7+’s win in this category wraps up this list. If there’s anything to take away from these results, it’s two things. One, the largest battery doesn’t always yield the longest battery life. It’s how the phone is able to make efficient use out of it. Two, we sincerely hope phone manufacturers can address the compatibility issues we, reviewers, encounter when using synthetic battery benchmarks such as PCMark’s.
Moving on with the current year, the Samsung Galaxy A8 (12 hours) and A8+ (13 hours, 17 minutes) have already delivered us some promising PCMark battery scores. Here’s to seeing battery life from upcoming smartphones to improve even more!