Often overlooked, a smartphone's battery capacity is probably one of the most important features that users should heavily scrutinize before purchasing a phone. Today's innovations continue to beef up smartphone internals while keeping their form factor thin, and oftentimes the battery life takes the toll.
But great specs and great battery life are not mutually exclusive. Here are the top 2016 smartphones that not only rock excellent specs, but also boast excellent battery capacities.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Active
Samsung's more rugged Galaxy S7 variant not only packs a punch in the protection department, but it also comes with a pretty creditable battery - in fact much beefier than its metallic-clad siblings. It clocks in 21 hours of battery in real-world tests while the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge only manage to put out 19 and 16 hours, respectively.
The Galaxy S7 Active rocks a 5.1-inch Quad HD display with 576 ppi. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and an Adreno 530 GPU. It comes with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage.
The battery, at 4,000 mAh, is deftly apt for heralding its ability to withstand rugged usage. This phone would most likely accompany hikers and adrenaline junkies in their outdoor activities, and its battery capacity complements just that.
OnePlus 3T
The successor to the already-exemplary OnePlus 3 is undeserving of a full-fledged "successor" moniker, according to fans who were dismayed over its mild upgrades. However, the OnePlus 3T is still an excellent top-tier phone without a top-tier price. It rocks a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display, and is powered by a 2.35 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip that is reportedly faster than Google Pixel's configuration. Powering it all is a 3,400 mAh battery that lasts for more than 16 hours, according to CNET.
Motorola Moto Z Play
It's surprising that the cheapest, least vaunted entry in the Moto Z line, the Moto Z Play, beats out its siblings in terms of battery life, clocking in nearly 23 hours of usage with its 3,510 mAh battery. The handset is worth getting for its battery life alone, although its Moto Mods compatibility is undoubtedly an additional attractive selling point.
The Moto Z Play rocks a 5.5-inch Full HD display, and packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, with an Adreno 506 GPU. It comes with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, and is priced at $449 unlocked.
Asus Zenfone Max
The Asus Zenfone Max holds one of the biggest battery capacities ever seen on a smartphone at 5,000 mAh, so its "Max" suffix is very well-deserved. Even with a colossal battery capacity, Asus has managed to design the Zenfone Max to be thin. Because of its excellent battery, one might easily wonder whether the Zenfone Max is a phone, a battery pack pretending to be a phone, or both.
The original Zenfone Max variant released in January rocks a 5.5-inch 720p display, and is powered by a 1.5 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor with an Adreno 306 GPU. The phone comes with 2 GB of RAM, with 8 or 16 GB of internal storage.
LeEco LePro 3
LeEco's official U.S. multi-market entry brought a number of products stateside, one of which is the LeEco LePro 3, which sports top-tier specs and is fairly priced. Under the hood is a 4,070 mAh battery, along with an impressive spec sheet for a $399 phone. It's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with an Adreno 530 GPU, and it comes in two configurations: one with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, and one with 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage.
Have a smartphone in mind that beats out any or all phones featured in this article battery-wise? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
