How to find out how long your Android smartphone really lasts

Longer battery life is consumers’ most demanded improvement for smartphones, but how long does your smartphone really last nowadays? You can read all sorts of manufacturer’s talk time and music playback data, custom-made tests that loop video, and other tests, mimicking real-life usage (we at PhoneArena run smartphones through this kind of a battery test), but none of them give you the number of days and hours that your specific phone, with your specific usage will last. After all, some people use their smartphones more, and some people - less. What you need is a number that applies to you.

That is why here we'll show you a way to find out the actual number of days and hours that your phone will last you. Doing so is actually extremely simple, but it does take some time.

We have tested a number of apps called ‘battery loggers’ that record every single change in your battery status, and can tell you the exact number of hours (or, hopefully, days) between charges. We have picked the Battery Log app, developed by Hwang Tae-rok, as it proved reliable and runs quietly in the background. It’s a free application, so all it takes is hitting the link below to download it from the Google Play Store directly to your device.

Developer: Hwang Tae-rok	Download: Android
Category: Tools	Price: Free

The next step would be to simply open the app and tap on the large ‘Start Service’ button. After you've hit start, the app will record your battery status and keep the logs even after your gadget’s battery dies.

We said this is simple, but it takes some time, so the next thing you need to do is just keep using your smartphone like you normally do, with one exception. Try to use your device from fully charged to fully drained, without intermittent charging. You can do this once, or for more reliable data - use your phone like this for around a week (set a reminder to check the battery log after that). In the meantime, the battery logger will run in the background and gather valuable data.

After that week passes and your reminder goes off, you need to do some work, and that would be the final step. Open the Battery Log app, tap on “Log Info (List)” and look for the times when your phone battery was at its peak, and the times when it was at its lowest. You’ll end up with something like this: