I think if you use a smart phone as a phone only, the battery life is respectable, right? (I have no personal experience with the current generation of smart phones.) In contrast, a "dumb phone" has no option of using smart features.

You might try one of the pre-paid options ( walmart has some deals) keeps you out of the 2 year contract for a very good price

If you disable data, clock down the CPU and use it as a phone only, they get pretty respectable standby time.

But again I didn't buy a $600 phone to use make phone calls only.

My HTC Incredible 2 has great bettery life. Once I set email to only download when I ask it to and that is about the only change I maade to it. It will keep a charge for at least 5 days, if not 6.

I like the phone, it has never had to be rebooted, except after an upgrade. I am on Verizon and the HTC Incredible 2 is one of the only phones Verizon sells that can be used internationally. It has a SIM card slot for that. The phone is only 3G but 4G coverage is pretty limited to major cities and it has not been an issue at all for me. When I got this phoneee, over a year ago there were only a few 4G choices and they were all huge phones with limited battery life.

Not an Apple fan, I have seen to many friends have issues with them. I doubt the iPhone craze will last much longer with all the great smartphone on the market now. Apple still hasn't offered a 4G model.

A smart phone will consume more power under normal phone use than a feature phone, because it has to drive a much larger display and backlight. I expect that it uses more power when sleeping (due to background processes and a less power-efficient CPU) than feature phones do on standby. That doesn't mean you're wrong, it means that a good smart phone has to have a larger battery to get respectable battery life as a phone only, which many do.

This is unquestionably correct. I compensate by having several different methods of recharging available (car 12V outlet, laptop, LiPo rechargeable battery in my laptop or hiking bag, belt case LiPo charger, 2xAA recharger in BOB). The benefits of a smart phone to me vastly outweigh the battery life.



I think all of Mophie's batteries are LiPo, and LiPo batteries are indeed fine to leave plugged in all the time.

Maybe that's true for some smart phones that aren't so smart. My girlfriend's LG Optimus turns off the screen when she puts the phone to her ear. Her battery seems to be about the same or better than a dumb phone when she just uses it to talk.

http://www.metropcs.com/metro/detail/LG+Optimus+M%2B/LGMS695

By the way the offerings at Metro PCS are quite appealing. I'm thinking about trying them out. The non-contract is appealing.

To be completely honest, I've found my cell phone to be pretty much worthless if I get off the beaten path at all - I love T-Mobile, but it's the only carrier I have found that I can keep a signal in an Elevator but pretty much no where else outside major highways or population centers.

Hopefully that's going to change soon.

Its not a feature of Lipo or Lion that then can be plugged in all the time, its because the phone (or laptop or whatever) charge circuitry has to stop the charge when its complete.

LiPo and LiON batteries can take top-up charges well compared to some older battery chemistries, but you're right that it's the charge circuitry that matters. However, as far as I know there aren't any consumer LiPo battery chargers that aren't designed to do well when left plugged in all the time.