3000mAh battery is standard for 2017

[zipro]

The U Ultra has often been criticized for it's relative small battery. But as it seems, the S8 won't have a bigger battery, either. Seems to be the standard for this year - and no big deal, either. Battery life has been consistently decent for me - easily lasts through the day - every day.

 

[Aquila]

3000 is a HUGE battery... but the size of the battery is sort of an irrelevant number. If the battery life sucks, then either the software sucks or the battery was too small.

 

[zipro]

3000 is a HUGE battery... but the size of the battery is sort of an irrelevant number. If the battery life sucks, then either the software sucks or the battery was too small.

Weirdly, lots of reviews say battery life is fine, but XDA developers say it's atrocious. Not sure what the difference in testing methods is - mine has been consistently good, comparable to the iPhone 7 Plus it replaces.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

It's standard for a device that is small in comparison.

Remember, screen-size should be compared to the device's overall dimensions. Far too many people assume that the screen size reflects the device's overall dimensions when in fact, the size of the bezel needs to be taken into account.

The truth is, a 3000mAh battery is just too small for the U Ultra's dimensions.

The U measures 6.39 inches on height, 3.14 inches on width and 0.31 inches on depth (that's 162.4mm on height, 79.8mm on width and 8mm on depth if you're eager to know how it's like with the metric system). The similarly sized Huawei Mate 9 measures 6.18 inches on height, 3.11 inches on width and 0.31 inches on depth (that's 156.9mm on height, 78.9mm on width and 7.9mm on depth in the metric system).

Notice that the Mate is slightly smaller overall, and yet it packs a humongous 4000mAh battery.

3000mAh is large on its own, but in the overall size of the U Ultra, it's rather petite. You might get solid results out of it, but once you use a phone like the Mate 9, you start to wonder how HTC thought that 3000mAh is fine for a device that huge. It's even more damning when you know that there's no headphone jack and HTC didn't even bother to make full use of whatever space it frees up.

Also note that it has to power not just a 5.7" QHD display but a secondary 0.2" ticker display as well. That's a whole 5.9" of display space to power. And since IPS LCD hasn't caught on much in terms of display efficiency compared to OLED, it's just not as efficient as its OLED counterparts.

I'm happy that you get solid runtime out of your U Ultra, but I can't and won't let HTC off the hook for packing a rather anemic battery for such a huge phone.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

I don't think I'd classify the 3000 mAh battery in the U Ultra as "small" but it's definitely not what you'd originally expect for a phone of this size. For comparison, LG gets a 3200 mAh in the LG V20 (near identical dimensions to the U Ultra) and it's removable. LG gets a 3300 mAh non-removable in the much smaller LG G6, and OnePlus gets 3400 mAh in the OnePlus 3T.

I never experienced bad battery life, but I think it's an expectation thing — people think if they're going to use a phone this big, it should have a really big battery. With the optimizations HTC has done, 3000 mAh makes it through a day on the U Ultra, but it definitely isn't the battery life champion some had hoped considering its physical size.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I don't think I'd classify the 3000 mAh battery in the U Ultra as "small" but it's definitely not what you'd originally expect for a phone of this size. For comparison, LG gets a 3200 mAh in the LG V20 (near identical dimensions to the U Ultra) and it's removable. LG gets a 3300 mAh non-removable in the much smaller LG G6, and OnePlus gets 3400 mAh in the OnePlus 3T.

I never experienced bad battery life, but I think it's an expectation thing — people think if they're going to use a phone this big, it should have a really big battery. With the optimizations HTC has done, 3000 mAh makes it through a day on the U Ultra, but it definitely isn't the battery life champion some had hoped considering its physical size.

I still think they should've stuffed a bigger powerpack.

It's not that it's bad. It's just average. And with a phone THAT large, you really start to wonder why that chassis space isn't even used to more potential

 

[Matty]

The U Ultra has often been criticized for it's relative small battery. But as it seems, the S8 won't have a bigger battery, either. Seems to be the standard for this year - and no big deal, either. Battery life has been consistently decent for me - easily lasts through the day - every day.

I think battery size is considered being small or large relative to the device its being used in For example a device with a 5.7" inch QHD display + a secondary screen with a 3,000 mAh battery i would consider average but a device with a 5.0" inch 720p display having 3,000mAh i would consider very large. So its all perspective in my mind.

As long as the artery lasts me the whole day, i don't mind how big or small it is.

 

[Martin Collazos]

Weirdly, lots of reviews say battery life is fine, but XDA developers say it's atrocious. Not sure what the difference in testing methods is - mine has been consistently good, comparable to the iPhone 7 Plus it replaces.

Xda are power users, may be for that baterry sucks for them.

 

[Morty2264]

I think a lot of it also boils down to bias and subjectivity. Some people will just prefer to dislike certain brands and manufacturers; so they will criticize one specific thing about said brand and ignore the same "thing" in a brand they like. The mobile device game is a harsh and critical one...

 

[mohit9206]

When a small (by today's standards) phone like Redmi 3S can pack in a 4100mah battery, what excuse do you think HTC can give for putting in just a 3000mah in Ultra?
In fact what excuse does any other brand can give for not putting a huge battery in their phones.
What good is a dead phone? Every android smartphone must have atleast a 4000mah battery or bigger. U Ultra should have had a 5000mah battery but instead they chose to focus on being razor thin.

 

[Nubwy]

The U Ultra has often been criticized for it's relative small battery. But as it seems, the S8 won't have a bigger battery, either. Seems to be the standard for this year - and no big deal, either. Battery life has been consistently decent for me - easily lasts through the day - every day.

I think we have reached the limit for size and with the S8, we've seen innovation on software enough to increase battery life. Without increasing battery capacity mind you.

 

[Morty2264]

3000 mAh does seem to be the standard... I think some people will indeed use their own device biases to determine which specs are "bad" versus "good" - even if a device they like has that same specification.