Battery life over time

[jadams]

Due for an upgrade, and im looking at the two newly released WP8's on VZ. The 8X and the 822.

Looking at reviews the 8X is the clear choice. However it doesnt have a removable battery, and this worries me. It has a Litium Polymer battery as opposed to the 822's Li-ion. The biggest difference is that the 8X's battery is not removable and I would not be able to swap it out like I could with the 822.

I use a phone STRICTLY for its function and for work. Most of these other bells an whistles are of no concern to me. I trave ALOT for work and I cannot be tied to a power source.

My concern is that I doubt the phone will get me through days of long extreme heavy usage, and not being able to swap out batteries. But for instance... if it can handle that load how much do batteries lives tend to degrade over time? It may work for me for a whole day now, but a year and a half from now will it retain the same performance?

 

[wabbitseason]

It depends on two factors:

1. How heavy your average usage is. How frequently you drain the battery and must recharge.

2. How many years you plan on using the phone.

The more frequently you discharge/recharge the battery, the faster it degrades. If you want to use a phone for two or more years, and you're constantly burning down the battery, it would be pretty foolish to buy a phone without a removable battery.

 

[T4rd]

Are you determined to use a WP8 phone? Because the RAZR Maxx HD or iPhone 5 would prolly be the only phones that would be able to last all day with heavy/constant usage. Unless you're willing to carry around something like this. I know those aren't quite as convenient as a spare battery, but at least it's easier to charge than a spare battery (because you don't have to buy a separate battery charger or swap batteries in your phone to charge them both).

I wouldn't worry about the battery degrading so much that it affects you within 18 months. Even if it did within the first year, it would be under warranty and if it died after a year, then I'm sure it would be relatively easy to replace the battery yourself despite it being sealed inside the phone.

 

[oldpablo]

You sound like my kind of user, what drew me to windows phone was its flat out focus on communication and work oriented focus (email/office). If there are days when you know you'll have heavy usage you can pro actively go on battery saver mode. This cuts all background tasks except for phone related things like calls/texts. This can dramatically increase your battery life. Personally I'd not worry about it since it sounds like you won't be doing the hundreds if things that other users do like social media, etc. But you could also buy an external battery and keep it handy just in case. They are small and easy to use and always great for emergencies.

 

[TheReproducer]

Due for an upgrade, and im looking at the two newly released WP8's on VZ. The 8X and the 822.

Looking at reviews the 8X is the clear choice. However it doesnt have a removable battery, and this worries me. It has a Litium Polymer battery as opposed to the 822's Li-ion. The biggest difference is that the 8X's battery is not removable and I would not be able to swap it out like I could with the 822.

If I read right, Lithium Polymer is very similar in performance to standard Lithium Ion due to the fact it can be "moulded" into any shape and that it is lighter.

If you want to have maximum battery life then why not go with a Motorola Maxx (Razr or its HD variant)?

 

[XenIneX]

Ballpark numbers:
Figure that if you only discharge it once a day, it'll loose ~25% of its capacity over the course of two years. It'll scale (very) roughly with use. Heat will kill it faster. Deep discharges will kill it faster. Overcharging will kill it with fire, as will physical damage.

If battery life is truly critical, there is absolutely no replacement for the Maxx line of Razr devices -- you'll get twice the battery life, simply because they have twice the battery.

LiPo is just another form of Li-ion, which has a higher energy density for its volume and weight than the old-style Li-ion, due to their not having an exterior casing. Tradeoff is that they have to rely on the device's chassis for protection from physical damage. To my knowledge, all current smartphones use LiPos (or newer formulations thereof), regardless of marketing copy.

 

[jadams]

Are you determined to use a WP8 phone? Because the RAZR Maxx HD or iPhone 5 would prolly be the only phones that would be able to last all day with heavy/constant usage. Unless you're willing to carry around something like this. I know those aren't quite as convenient as a spare battery, but at least it's easier to charge than a spare battery (because you don't have to buy a separate battery charger or swap batteries in your phone to charge them both).
.

This isnt really that bad of an idea. The "inconvenience" is minimal compared to carrying around another battery as well. It will charge an iphone 4 twice (so i expect something similar with the 8X), and even act as a backup flashlight which is a pretty cool idea.

SOLD!

 

[Magiashkii]

I had a galaxy s2 and noticed that over the course of 2 years the battery life got much shorter... But after getting a new battery if was great again. If you stay current with the phones and upgrade every 2 years I would say that you won't have to worry about replacing a battery unless you pass the phone to a family memeber

 

[rudy]

Due for an upgrade, and im looking at the two newly released WP8's on VZ. The 8X and the 822.

Looking at reviews the 8X is the clear choice. However it doesnt have a removable battery, and this worries me. It has a Litium Polymer battery as opposed to the 822's Li-ion. The biggest difference is that the 8X's battery is not removable and I would not be able to swap it out like I could with the 822.

I use a phone STRICTLY for its function and for work. Most of these other bells an whistles are of no concern to me. I trave ALOT for work and I cannot be tied to a power source.

My concern is that I doubt the phone will get me through days of long extreme heavy usage, and not being able to swap out batteries. But for instance... if it can handle that load how much do batteries lives tend to degrade over time? It may work for me for a whole day now, but a year and a half from now will it retain the same performance?

Battery life does degrade over time, its pretty hard for me to predict though. Alot of times the phones are going along OK getting slowly worse then poof you only get like an hour out of a charge. If the phone is important find something with a removable battery, the side effect of this is they often have an option for an extended battery too. I tend to think if it worries you, then you are probably a heavy user and you run a high chance of killing the battery before 2 years is up.

You can lug around secondary power sources and even solar panels if you are dead set on getting the phones with permanent batteries, thats what I see all these iphone people doing.