Earlier today, I outlined my experiment with three of the largest wireless carriers here in the States, as I went from Arizona to Colorado. An unplanned road trip suddenly became a great way for me to test out the network strengths as I traversed a small patch of the country. It went swimmingly, and while I wasn't blown away with the results, I definitely noticed a few things here and there.
While on that trip, I almost forgot my iPhone 5s's lightning cable. You know the one. The cable that allows me to charge the device. Here I am, about to go on some 8-hour trip and I almost walked out of the house without the thing that'd keep my phone going for the duration. After all, the iPhone 5s's battery isn't the greatest in the world. And a trip like this, one that would make me use the Maps app, along with listening to music from Spotify, would certainly drain that battery faster than ever before.
It was on this trip that the iPhone 5s proved one thing to me: the battery is consistently inconsistent.
In this particular case, I mean that in a good way. As I said above, the iPhone 5s's battery isn't the greatest, and I've had my troubles with it ever since I picked the device up. It goes up and down, but it's never been too heavy on one side or the other. It's been "good enough," while there's still plenty of room for it to "do better." Eventually I'm sure it'll be great across the board, but I'm guessing we've still got some time before that happens.
So, I remembered my lightning cable. I got it all packed up, then slotted into the car charger as I started on my way. For the majority of the trip, it's an easy route. Just stay on this one road and go to where you're going. So, great, I don't need to use the Maps app all that often. At this point, it's just listening to music, with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on. When I stop to get gas, I check up on social networks, send a few texts, and then get back on the road. Nothing too heavy duty.
I freaked out about the car charger because I thought, without a doubt, that I'd need it for the trip. That, halfway through the route, I'd need to plug the phone in and charge it up. And yet, it never got that bad. At least, not in this nightmare world I had concocted. Yes, I did have to plug the iPhone 5s in, but it wasn't until I got well into Colorado, and almost arrived at my destination. (Which is good, because I didn't have any network signal to check the Maps app, anyway.)
As you can see in the image above, which is a screenshot of the iPhone 5s in question when it hit the 20% mark (and when I always plug it in), the phone's usage is ridiculous. Ridiculously good. And that's exactly what I mean about the battery being inconsistent. I would never have imagined I'd get this sort of life out of it. Not even for a second.
What's more, I took the phone off the charger at 10:30pm the night before, and didn't plug it in at all until it hit that 20% mark. With everything that I did on it, which obviously wouldn't equal a heavy usage (with the exception of the constant music listening, I guess), it's still quite impressive.
I want this battery life out of every single phone. Not just the iPhone 5s, or the next iPhone, or the Galaxy Note 4 or whatever they call it. I want this type of battery life to be consistent, across the board, right out of the box. If it can get better than this? Great. If not, this needs to be the standard from here on out, as far as I'm concerned. Why? Because then people don't have to worry about their battery life, especially when they're on trips. Which would be great.
Yes, it could be better, and I want it to be better. But, if we have to get to a point where this becomes the standard, then so be it. With over 19 hours of standby time, and with over eight hours of usage, it's honestly too good to be believed -- especially for an iPhone. I was a happy camper yesterday, let me tell you what.
We'll see how the iPhone lives up to its usage from here on out. Honestly, I'm not expecting much. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a one-time thing, honestly.
Which phone are you currently using, and how is the battery life for you? What's the longest you've seen it last, with moderate-to-heavy usage in a day? Are you planning on making sure that your next phone has a bigger battery/longer lasting life? Let me know!
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