Smartphone battery life is a problem for a lot of people these days. As Android enthusiasts, we love our quad-core processors and 1080p displays, but all of that comes at a cost. Your battery may get you through a full day of use, but it may not. We also like our devices to be thin and easy to carry in our pockets. Device manufacturers could make phones with bigger batteries, and some of them are. Most handsets come with batteries that just don’t make it through a full day of use.
Philips is working on a smartphone that may solve the battery life problem. The new Philips Xenium W8510 is able to last about 35 days on standby, according to the Dutch manufacturer. It will also get you 18 hours of talk time on 3G, and 14 hours of web browsing if you’re on Wi-Fi. The key to this incredibly long battery life is the 3,300 mAh battery and mid-range 4.7 inch screen. The screen comes in at 720p, which is still HD but isn’t necessarily high-end, so to speak.
The Chinese technology site CNMO doesn’t have any other details for the Xenium W8510 at the moment. Philips has not made a big push in to the smartphone space recently, but this could be the start of something good. If these claims are true, other manufacturers had better take notice. It would be fantastic to see more manufacturers adopt the attitude of “bigger is better” when it comes to battery capacity. Motorola has done the same thing with the RAZR MAXX HD and the upcoming Motorola Maxx on Verizon. A bigger battery equals longer battery life. It’s simple.
Another interesting note with the Philips Xenium W8510 is it’s quick-charge ability. If you charge the device, from an empty battery, for just 10 minutes it will last you 20 hours on standby, or 2 hours of talk time. With only a 30 minute charge, it will last 57 hours in standby mode, or 6 hours of talking before the battery needs to be charged again. We don’t yet know how Philips is able to do this, or even if these claims are legitimate. We hope they are. This is definitely an improvement that Android needs.