Xperia P battery test.
When I first started using the Xperia P I noticed that the battery was only a 1305 mAh. This being smaller than the big brother Xperia S and even the little brother Xperia U! Not to mention that the Xperia P has some very hot spec for a phone of its price range. Its equipped with a dual core processor, a very good screen with White Magic technology and a full HD camera. I had a bad feeling about this from the start looking at it on paper.
As I expected after a few days of using the Xperia P I noticed that my battery was running out half way through the day (2-4pm!!!). I tweeked a few settings to see if it made much of a difference and it really didn't seem to do too much. I must state though that I always have my phone on and I use it far to much than I should so this might not apply to the average person. My girlfriend will soon tell you that I have my nose in my phone nearly constantly.
Thankfully the Xperia P uses the Android OS so I have taken it on myself to download an app to help manage the battery life and see what I can get out of this otherwise decent phone for the day. Most people who own Android phones probably own this kind of app already. A popular one is Battery Saver Dr.
Here is the log of my battery test through out today...
9:30: I got out of bed this morning and took my phone off charge. It was on 100%. I put my screen brightness down to about 25-30% as its commonly known this is the main drain on a battery. This was bright enough to use my phone without any visual problems. My first thought was that with the Xperia P's "White Magic" might take even more from the battery life. Sadly I cannot seem to find a disable button for this but I did disable the Sony Bravia Engine which is available on all Sony phones and used to provide more detail to photos and video.
I also disabled unessential things like Bluetooth, the back light, GPS and hotspots. I used the battery saving app to close all apps running in the background also.
I decided to try and use my phone less than I usually would to try and make this a test for a more realistic user who isn't addicted to his mobile phone. I didn't however want to cut all features like wifi and all data completely off as...well, what would be the point in the phone without it, right? I decided to still take the odd photo and video if I wanted as that's what the camera is there for. I also decided to try and stray away from music and video playback unless I really needed to use it.
12:00: I was very busy up until this point. My battery was going quite strong. I hardly used my phone and the battery life was well in to its 80's. In fact I hadn't posted anything on any social networking site by this point, I hadn't taken any photos or videos and I hadn't played any music. I had checked my emails, the time and Facebook. I even sent a few messages to some friends on FB Messenger, but for someone like me this was very light usage of a phone.
14:00: It was nearly 2pm and I was still not using my phone as much as I would be regularly, though I had started to use it a bit more. I was sending texts, checking emails and web browsing. I had made a few calls, I was more active on numerous social networking sites and I had taken a photo or two. I was receiving texts and FB messages too. My battery was at 68%.
16:30: My battery was at 45% at this point. I will say however that I was using my phone a lot more than I was in the morning. Probably towards more my average usage. By this point I had used a few apps like Autotrader, Youtube, Skyscanner, Amazon, Ebay and Gmail. Not to mention I was in the middle of a small conversation over FB Messenger with two people. I was fully active on numerous social networking sites and I had even taken some photos and a video on my camera. I made sure to keep canceling apps as I stopped using them with the Battery Saver App to make sure I wasn't leaving lots going on in the background.
19:00: At this point my phone was at 16%. I was expecting at this point for my phone to turn off any minute as for some reason the Xperia P turns itself off at about 8-10%. My usage had gone down a bit from before though was still a lot higher than it was in the morning and early afternoon. I was mainly bumming around on Facebook while visiting family. I checked my phone battery usage for today and found out, as expected that the main drain of the battery was from the screen (55%), second was the Android OS (12%), Wifi (8%) and Facebook (7%).
19:45: My battery died just as I was putting my son to bed. Since the screen was by far the biggest drain on my battery I checked how long my screen had been on today which turned out to be a whopping 3 HOURS. thats around 25% of the time I was out today (Yes I do have a problem. I'll seek help...one day).
I am not too sure if the White Magic really made much of a difference to the battery as this was not too far different from the Xperia Arc I once owned which shared a similar sized screen and only a slightly larger battery.
The phone was able to run for around 10 hours on a modest Sy usage, though this would probably be able to stretch until bed time for most average people. I guess this phone is not right for someone like me but would probably suit someone who doesn't use their phone 3 hours straight throughout the day. As long as your charging your phone at night and using it with battery in mind then your probably going to be ok.
The main point I have learned today is that Sony have given me a phone with top end spec which belongs in a mid ranged price bracket. The phone runs like a lightening bolt and all for a modest price. They have cut a few corners to be able to give more people the best experience they can. Its giving you more freedom to use the high end hardware if you need it but not to use it all the time.
I have read a lot of reviews about people bad mouthing the battery life of this phone also but if your a low/medium user of your mobile then you probably wont even notice the battery being a problem if you are charging it every night. Most people who are high users would probably want to invest the extra money in to a high end phone anyway. So it looks like Sony have probably hit a good audience here.
I would really recommend that people think twice about where they are going with this phone however as even the most conservative users probably wouldn't want to take this phone out over night without a charger. I certainly wouldn't want to take this phone clubbing all night.
I would also want to stay clear of using this phone for a sat nav on long journeys unless you have an in car charger. Which for me is a bit annoying as one of the things I was looking forward to going back to a touchscreen phone from the Xperia Pro was being able to use the bigger screen as a Sat Nav.
Like with all phones, you have to find the right one for you. This phone isn't for me but after thinking hard about its spec, price range and battery life I have decided that I was probably a bit too quick to judge the Xperia P. Its a good little phone and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to taste the high end lifestyle of the mobile phone industry without busting the bank.
"I like to look at the Xperia P as Sony giving people the opportunity to own a high end phone based on their ability to use a phone rather than being able to afford one"
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