LG Optimus G Beats Samsung Galaxy S III in Battery Life… Or Does it?

Written by Lerato Majikfaerie!

According to claims made recently by LG, their latest flagship smartphone (Optimus G) far outperforms the Samsung Galaxy S III in battery life.

As reported in the Korea Herald LG has been working on improving battery chemistry for extended power, giving the Optimus G an advantage over Samsung’s S III, which is now being used as the industry standard benchmark.

While both devices boast a 2,100 mAh battery, LG’s own tests reported that starting from a full-charge and using 50% brightness with both phones connected to the same network, the Optimus G kept running for a whopping 15.8 hours of talk time, compared to only 9.5 hours on the Galaxy S III.

Interestingly, LG’s claim for the phone outperforms their official specs of 15 hours talk-time for the Optimus G, but aside from talk-time, how well do these two smartphones go at being smartphones?

LG’s testing showed that the Galaxy S III held up for 7.3 hours playing video, which was beaten by the Optimus G which lasted 7.9 hours – but what does that mean in real terms? About 35-40 minutes. I would, however question the validity of this particular test: LG’s testers reportedly chose to watch the video clip of Gangnam Style for nearly eight hours as their benchmark indicator, which leads one to question their level of scientific method.

Apparently, I’m not the only one questioning LG’s testing on their own battery life – Android Police did their own testing of the Optimus G and found battery life to be severely lacking, summing it up with the damning words “Don’t leave your charger at home”. It seems that even with the phone set in “eco-mode” which purportedly maximises battery life, the phone drained dramatically with a mere 2.5 hours of on-screen time.

This is in clear contrast to Android Australia’s recent reporting of a comparison of smartphone battery usage, in which the Samsung Galaxy S III blew the competitors out of the water with an impressive 359 minutes (close to six hours) of continuous internet surfing with screen at full brightness – 30% more than the second best and nearly double the iPhone 5.

While we applaud LG for working on improving battery chemistry – something desperately needed in the industry – it seems that this particular offering hasn’t made much difference.

Source: Phone Arena