Motorola RAZR MAXX battery life test is complete, the impressive results are inside

The Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX has been our battery life champ for a long time, but it’s time to retire. It’s GSM-loving twin, the Motorola RAZR MAXX has the advantage that we’re testing it with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (and not Gingerbread which the DROID version ran back then).

ICS has shown a tendency to improve battery life, but the question is by how much? Well, a lot as it turns out.

The call test holds a potential for a vastly different result – the DROID RAZR MAXX did its calling over a CDMA network, while the GSM RAZR MAXX relied on a 3G UMTS network.

The result is almost a full hour better – the Motorola RAZR MAXX can last 21 hours and 18 minutes of talk time on a single charge. That is, if you try to use up all its energy reserves in a single call, you’ll fall asleep long before the RAZR MAXX gives up.

Talk time

• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  21:18
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  20:24
• Huawei Ascend P1
  12:30
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  12:14
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  11:58
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  11:07
• HTC One X (AT&T, LTE)
  10:35
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:20
• HTC One V
  10:00
• Meizu MX 4-core
  10:00
• HTC One X
  9:57
• HTC One S
  9:42
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  9:40
• HTC Sensation XL
  9:30
• Nokia Lumia 710
  9:05
• HTC Vivid
  9:02
• HTC Rhyme
  8:48
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  8:42
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  8:41
• Meizu MX
  8:39
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:35
• Nokia Lumia 800
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  8:23
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  8:20
• HTC Rezound (LTE)
  8:10
• Samsung Galaxy Note (LTE)
  8:02
• LG Optimus Vu
  7:57
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  7:41
• Apple iPhone 4S
  7:41
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:25
• HTC Evo 4G LTE (LTE)
  7:21
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:14
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  7:09
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  6:57
• Nokia N9
  6:57
• HTC Radar
  6:53
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos S6802
  6:53
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:52
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T (LTE)
  5:53
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:52
• Sony Xperia P
  5:33
• Nokia 808 PureView
  5:16
• LG Nitro HD (LTE)
  5:16
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  5:10
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:00
• Pantech Burst
  4:46

Now we’re coming up to web browsing, where the average is about 5 hours. The RAZR MAXX with ICS, however, ran for 9 hours and 12 minutes – that’s nearly 2 hours more than the DROID RARZ MAXX on Gingerbread managed.

It’s also three times what our lowest scoring phone here managed – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and its modest 3:01 achievement.

Web browsing

• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  9:12
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  7:23
• HTC Radar
  7:17
• Apple iPhone 4S
  6:56
• HTC One V
  6:49
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:40
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  6:15
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:56
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  5:53
• Pantech Burst
  5:51
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  5:45
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  5:41
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  5:34
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  5:33
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  5:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• Meizu MX 4-core
  5:19
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  5:17
• HTC Rezound
  5:16
• HTC Rhyme
  5:08
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  5:07
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  5:03
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  4:50
• LG Optimus Vu
  4:49
• HTC Vivid
  4:46
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos S6802
  4:45
• Meizu MX
  4:35
• Nokia N9
  4:33
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  4:24
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  4:20
• HTC One X
  4:18
• Nokia 808 PureView
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 800
  4:07
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  4:05
• HTC One S
  4:03
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  4:02
• LG Nitro HD
  4:00
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  3:59
• Sony Xperia P
  3:59
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:51
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  3:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Huawei Ascend P1
  3:23
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

The video playback time also went up – the RAZR MAXX ran its battery from full to 10% in 16 hours and 35 minutes. That’s over 2 hours better than what the DROID RAZR MAXX did. Of all other phones we’ve tested, the Samsung Galaxy S III comes the closest – but that it still loses loses by six and a half hours.

Let’s put things into perspective – say, you want to watch a full season of an hour long TV show. Without the commercials, each episode is about 42 minute on average and if we assume 24 episodes per season (most shows have less), that’s 16 hours and 48 minutes. You can watch practically an entire season of a show before you run out of juice (if you do it in offline mode).

Video playback

• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  16:35
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:01
• Nokia 808 PureView
  9:53
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  9:42
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  9:34
• HTC One S
  9:28
• Apple iPhone 4S
  9:24
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  9:07
• Nokia N9
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:00
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:55
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  7:52
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  7:45
• Huawei Ascend P1
  7:38
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• Meizu MX 4-core
  6:33
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos S6802
  6:25
• LG Optimus Vu
  6:23
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  6:03
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  6:02
• HTC Vivid
  6:00
• HTC Radar
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 800
  5:52
• HTC Titan II
  5:50
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:47
• HTC One X
  5:45
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  5:44
• Pantech Burst
  5:38
• Meizu MX
  5:27
• HTC Rhyme
  5:23
• HTC One V
  5:20
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  5:18
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  5:09
• HTC Rezound
  5:03
• Sony Xperia P
  4:30
• LG Nitro HD
  4:17
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  3:28
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:27

As you can expect, the final endurance rating is absolutely massive – we were stunned just how much the phone can go without needing the services of a charger. The CDMA version of the phone scored a respectable 61 hours, but the RAZR MAXX with ICS scores added up to 87 hours. This means that you’ll only need to charge your phone every three and a half days if you use it for an hour of telephony, web browsing and video playback per day.

Even with heavy usage the Motorola RAZR MAXX will last two full days and have some charge left over. Actually, if you do 3 hours of calls, watch 3 hours of video and browse the web for three hours in a single day (for a total of 9 hours spent actively using the phone), there will still be some juice in the battery.

Our hats go off to Motorola – the RAZR MAXX offers endurance that competing smartphones can only dream of. And the relatively thin 9mm frame and 145g of weight make this achievement all the more impressive. How long will it be before some phone dethrones the Motorola RAZR MAXX?