This is the smartphone with the best battery life

In the last several years, smartphones have come a long way. The cameras in these phones have become so good that they are now challenging big DSLR cameras. The screens have become sharper and the design has become slicker. Also, the software inside the iPhones and the Androids is much better designed now and performance of these phones is almost as good as that of nondescript laptops.

There is, however, one component where not much has happened — and that is battery. Even as the phones have become faster and acquired bigger screens, their battery life has not improved. In most cases, a phone rarely lasts a full day.

That is a problem, although different companies are hoping to fix it in different ways. Some companies are putting in big batteries inside their phones. Some making sure that the battery charges fast so that even if you are short on time, you can quickly charge the battery.

The Lenovo P2, a phone that hit the Indian market a few days ago, does it in both ways. That is also the reason why this is arguably the most formidable phone when it comes to battery life. The P2 seems like the perfect phone for roadrunners. Once fully charged, it just keeps chugging, irrespective of what you do on it.

Even with heavy use, the phone easily lasts one day and then some more. If you are a little cautious, such as using automatic brightness and a dark wallpaper, two days of use from P2 is entirely possible, making it a phenomenal phone when it comes to battery life.

Good battery

There is a reason why it is so good with battery. Almost every component in the P2 has been designed and tuned keeping the battery life in mind. Not only does this phone possess a huge 5100 mAh battery, it also uses a power-efficient microprocessor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 — and an AMOLED screen, which when used with a dark wallpaper, can save a lot of battery.

There are two more features that amply show the priorities for the P2. One, it charges very fast, especially when you use the 24W charger that comes bundled with the phone. And two, it has a special button on the left edge of its body.

In phones like the iPhone, a similar button is used to toggle the silent mode. In the P2, it triggers the battery saving mode.

Well-rounded design

With so much goodness — and smartness — in its battery, it automatically comes across as a good, well-rounded phone. Earlier we saw that big-battery phones — one example is Lenovo’s own P1 — were sort of one-trick ponies. Not the P2.

Despite a big battery inside it, the phone has a sleek metal design, with chamfered edges and clean rear cover. It has a thickness of 8.3mm and while it is not a small phone, the tall-boy design makes it easy to hold and carry.

The other components too are good. The Snapdragon 625 used with 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage is fast enough to offer lag-free performance whether you are reading a web article on the phone or editing a few photos for sharing on Facebook. The 5.5-inch screen is bright and extremely vibrant.

The software, which is based on Android Marshmallow, has smooth animations and decent design, although the default are still cartoonish.

Finding flaws

This is not to say that the P2 is perfect. It is not. The fingerprint sensor on the front looks out of place. Such a sensor located on the rear cover is always better. The speakers could have been better.

But given how good the rest of the phone is, the big letdown is the camera performance. Occasionally, the 13-megapixel rear camera clicks beautiful photos. But it is too inconsistent to be considered good. It is strictly average because most of the time it either underexposes or overexposes images. Front camera too is inconsistent, and has trouble getting the metering, which creates a problem whenever there is a bright source of light in the frame.

Marshmallow too, which is now over one-and-half years old, is a disappointment. Phones nowadays should be shipping with Android Nougat.

Best phone

Yet, in the grand scheme things, these are minor niggles. If a phone with big battery is what you want, the P2 is indeed one of the best ones in the market right now, even at its current price of Rs 17,999.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Also read: If you have iPhone 7 or Pixel, you don't need DSLR

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