If you’re looking for a new smartphone, one of the biggest concerns you may have is with the battery life. Will it last the full day until you get home from work including listening to music and keeping you occupied on your journey or using it as a sat nav system in your pocket? Can it actually handle syncing all your social accounts, email and other items as well as making phone calls, browsing the web and playing back videos on the high resolution display?
In the case of the LG G3, it comes with a 3000 mAh battery that unlike it’s rival devices (apart from the Samsung Galaxy range) is removable so you can carry a spare if need be. The battery itself has qi wireless charging built in allowing you to pop it on any wireless charger to top up the battery. It uses microUSB v2.0 SlimPort to charge the battery and also transfer media to your computer and back.
Now we’ve explained what the battery compartment has to offer, let’s take a closer look at the battery life:
LG G3 Battery – Gaming
The LG G3 has a bright 5.5 inch 2k QuadHD display that is one of the best on the market with higher resolution than most of its rivals. As such, playing a resource-intensive game such as International Snooker Pro that boasts impressive graphics and runs the graphics unit at maximum output has an effect on the battery life. During our testing we found it will last between five and eight hours when constantly gaming – this is impressive as rival phablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 last a similar amount of time despite the lower resolution display.
LG G3 Battery - High Usage
Not much of a gamer but use your handset a lot? Not to worry as we have you covered in this part of the test. Our heavy usage testing includes running the GPS navigation for an average of one hour, playing videos back on the display, making phone calls, browsing the web + social media and using the handset on a fairly constant basis. In our heavy usage testing, we found the LG G3 lasted between ten and twelve hours.
This is where the higher resolution display seemed to have the biggest effect as using the handset on a constant basis (but without the resource intensive tasks such as high resolution games) does result in a battery drain. In comparison to rival devices such as the Galaxy S5, the LG G3 battery isn’t as impressive but this is no doubt due to the high resolution display.
G3 Battery – Medium Usage
LG G3 Battery - Medium Usage
Medium usage on the LG G3 results in rather impressive battery. Our medium usage testing includes video playback, phone calls, browsing the web and social media and moderate usage of the device. It’s worth noting that during our medium usage testing, we avoid using the GPS which is a known drain of smartphone battery. With that in mind, our testing revealed battery life of sixteen to eighteen hours.
LG G3 Battery - Low Usage / Standby Test
Not a big user and prefer a high end smartphone that has features in case you need them (but are hardly used in practice)? We can say without doubt that the LG G3 is for you as our low usage/standby testing will reveal. There’s very little between our low usage and standby tests (hence why we report them together) and in practice, this test involves using the phone for minimal amounts of time with the rest spent on standby with the screen off.
In our standby testing, the LG G3 lasted 36 to 42 hours (just short of two days) which is impressive. During the testing we used the handset for one to two hours per day and at the end of the testing period, we had around five to ten percent battery remaining.
Conclusion
Does the LG G3 have the best battery life on the market? Certainly not as heavy users and gaming fans will struggle to get a full day’s usage. However this is due to the high resolution display which has a noticeable impact on the battery.
The LG G3 follows other devices and has the exact same issue as its rivals – over the past couple of years, smartphone features have taken a large leap forwards but battery technology has not improved by the same extent. In the case of the LG G3, the graphics unit has to work harder than other devices thanks to the 2k display and whilst LG have taken some steps towards reducing the impact of the display on battery life, the display still has a noticeable effect – the more you use the screen (and graphics) on the LG G3, the bigger the battery drain and the less overall battery life you will get.
Overall the LG G3 has moderately satisfactory battery life for heavy users but for medium and low users who want the impressive display, it should power you through a full day’s usage.
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