Battery Test 1

As we probably already know the Xperia Z2 has a monster battery, far bigger than any of its rivals in the market with a whopping 3200 mAh!

Not only that but is has a ton of battery saving technology, mainly Sony's Stamina mode which can extend a battery for days and day if left. 

Being a heavy user,  I decided to give it a bash and see how it fairs with a technology geek like myself. Its all very well an advert telling us how long it will last, or an app giving us some vague usage, but do we have any real idea how long it will really last?

For my battery test I decided to pick a day that I was going to be particularly busy and see how this new monster battery can last, if at all.
My previous phone, the Xperia SP, would usually need charging at around 1600 with the level of usage I usually give it, so a charger in my bag was nearly always a constant issue.

Here is my day.

The Morning.

I woke up at around 0830 this morning. The first thing I do is turn my alarm off and stick the kettle on. While that prehistoric piece of rubbish I call a kettle tries to boil the water I check the news on my phone. I was pleased to see that after checking Google News and my Facebook updates in the time it takes to get ready, eat my breakfast and having a shower, that the battery hadn't gone down a single percent. Even when I got out the door for around 0900 the battery was still on 100%.

Incredibly impressive!

0900

I got in to my car, as I do every morning, and stick on my tasteless music. I attached my phone to my dashboard with an in car holder and plugged the phone in through the auxiliary to play my music.
My journey to work is usually around 25 mins every morning but due to a freak occurrence which only happens once every couple of decades, the traffic was quite good, so I ended up making it there within 20.

That was a full 20 minutes of music being played and the battery had only gone down a couple of percent. I made sure to turn off my screen while the music was playing which probably saved quite a bit of battery life. If the screen had been on the entire time then I would imagine it would have easily been down a full 5% by the end of the drive.

0930

Being the incredible professional I am, I had to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I managed to check the odd notification from Facebook and reply the occasional work email while I wasn't too busy, so usage was quite minimal up until this point. I decided to stick my phone in stamina mode to save juice while I worked.

See the different Stamina Mode can make!
I managed to get to 1100 and I had only used a couple of percent. This feature proves very useful. In fact if you don't use the phone much at all you might even go back to Nokia 3300 battery life. I can see Stamina Mode being useful for long shifts, festivals and holidays.

1100

When it hit around lunch time work got quite slow. I ended up using my phone a bit with Facebook and to promote both my blogs through Twitter (Curry Crew and Sony Sy), oh and argue with my agency through numerous emails. This took up a lot of battery power, something my old Xperia SP would have simply died at, but barely a dent was made through the afternoon with my battery being in the 80% region after lunch. 

1430

Once I finished work at 1430 I decided to catch up on social media. I went through Snap Chat, continued my long addiction to Facebook and took a few work phone calls. 

Afterwards I headed to my son's house to spend some time with him before my next shift at 1900. 

Battery at 78%

1600 

4K recording!

Treasured memories are future proofed with 4K recording.

I fitted some stabilizers to my boys new bike and took him out for his first cycle! Naturally there was no better time to whoop out 4K video and future proof this historic moment. I set myself to proud father mode and ended up getting incredibly trigger happy with the camera and 4K camcorder feature. 

I recorded several minutes of 4K video and took 30-40 photos and NO, there was hardly any over heating ;) 

1730

By this point it was around 70% and it was slowly tipping towards dinner time. I hadn't slowed down though, I thought I would take some background defocus pictures of my cat who decided to harass me. 

 My son decided he wanted to play around with the Augmented Reality feature on my Xperia Z2's camera just after too. This has become a real hot feature for him and every time I get my phone out he will not leave me alone. I think this takes up a reasonable amount of battery up as you have the camera on for long periods of time while you play around with it, especially when he is using it.

1800

Once we had done it was just past 6 o clock and my battery was starting to look a bit worse for wear. The battery had hit around 60% mark.
Granted, it had a lot of use up until this point with 4K recording, lots of Augmented Reality photos and being used as a walkman several times. Not to mention I was using lots of social media, taking phone calls and sending many emails.

1900

I headed off to work and used my phone again for music in my car. It was nearly 1900 and my phone wasn't even half way through, This is something the Xperia SP would have needed charging by now. Its not uncommon for a mid ranged phone or an older generation high end device to be hovering around the 20-30% mark here in my experience, but the Xperia Z2 is like the Duracell bunny.

59%

2000

Once I got to work I stuck my phone in Stamina Mode and rolled up my sleeves. Later I ended up going down the pub with a client. We had an ale and curry which went down a treat. I decided to pull out my camera and take a few more pictures as I cannot seem to help myself when it comes to photography. 

As you can tell from the shape of the Hobgoblin picture above, I was quite proud of it and uploaded it to Instagram. The other two pictures are just to show that I was still quite active with my camera and phone during my shift. 

I was asked to use my phone by my client who was curious as to what what it was capable of, so I showed them Google Now voice control, Augmented Reality, the water proof feature and some videos to show off Trilluminus display.

Stamina mode is great for saving battery while you aren't using it by closing background and unused apps, it really adds to your battery life. Perfect for work and long shifts. Other than that brief moment I was taking photos and showing my client my phone, I barely used it, so sticking it in Stamina Mode is a no brainer!

50% battery 

2300

By the time my shift had finished at 2300 I had a long journey back home which lasted about 25 minutes. I stuck my music on in my car and went home. So often with older phones at this time I would never have thought about doing this as I would have been running incredibly low on battery power! 

Not any more, I am now worry free!

You can almost see the steam coming off my feet.

Once I finally stumbled through the door and put my feet up after a long long day it was around 23:23. It had been a day of numerous social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Snapchat and Instagram), many photos, 4K video recording, Augmented Reality, using my phone in the rain, emails, calls, and almost anything else you can think of.  I had not touched my screen brightness at all in the name of saving battery, I simply had it on auto. 

I was left with 42%. 

That is 15 hours of pretty consistent use. I dread to think how long this phone could last if you economised!

I think the days of us charging our phone daily is a thing of the past. Unless you have days like mine every single day. If I was working simple office hours then I bet I would have been home with a battery of around 70%.

The real star feature for me was Stamina Mode, which shows that Sony have done so much more than simply stuff a large battery in a phone but also tried to find smart ways to save power too. If you are on holiday, at a festival or working very long hours then Stamina Mode can be a real life saver by closing down apps and wasteful features you aren't using.
The Xperia Z2 can last numerous days no matter what you at it, no more worrying, no more carrying a charger around with you, but it doesnt end there either as it can take a lot of physical punishment too, being water resistant and equipped with Gorilla glass. So its a phone which redefines the durability of the smart phone in every sense of the word!

This is a phone for everyone, even the adventurer!

Thanks for reading!