Nokia Lumia Icon battery life test

Our review of Nokia Lumia Icon is completed and live on our homepage. Naturally, it is now time we share the complete breakdown of our standardized battery test.

Nokia Lumia Icon runs on the Snapdragon 800 chipset and features a 5″ 1080p AMOLED display. We’ve already met with the Lumia 1520, which shares most of its internal and that one did amazing on our test – so we’ve kind of expected some great numbers from Icon too.

Unfortunately something went rather wrong with the Nokia Lumia Icon battery optimizations, because it did quite miserably. Sure, Lumia Icon is powered by a 2,420 mAh battery unit – 1000 mAh less than the Lumia 1520, but we’ve really hoped for a better result. But first things first.

Our first battery tests shows how long the phone can last on a 3G call. Lumia Icon did well here – its battery went flat after 14 hours and 15 minutes. That’s just half the endurance Lumia 1520 is offering, but still a decent score for such a battery.

Talk time

• Galxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  46:44
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  28:34
• Sony Xperia Z1
  26:53
• LG G Pro 2
  25:37
• LG G Flex
  25:19
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  25:12
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  25:02
• LG G2
  25:01
• Oppo N1
  25:01
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  24:52
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  24:23
• BlackBerry Z30
  23:19
• Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue
  22:16
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  22:13
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  22:13
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  22:13
• HTC One Max
  22:13
• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  21:18
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20:45
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  20:42
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  20:24
• Motorola RAZR i
  20:07
• BlackBerry Q10
  20:00
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  19:54
• Sony Xperia SP
  19:49
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  18:12
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  18:03
• Sony Xperia ZR
  17:48
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos
  17:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  16:57
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  16:56
• LG Nexus 5
  16:40
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  16:40
• Sony Xperia Z
  16:03
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  15:32
• LG Optimus G
  15:30
• Sony Xperia ZL
  15:22
• Nokia Lumia 720
  15:17
• BlackBerry Q5
  14:31
• Huawei Ascend P6
  14:17
• Oppo Find 5
  14:17
• Google Nexus 4
  14:17
• Nokia Lumia Icon
  14:15
• Moto X
  14:06
• HTC One
  13:38
• HTC One X+
  13:31
• Nokia Lumia 520
  13:33
• Sony Xperia C
  13:29
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  13:10
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos
  12:45
• LG Optimus GJ
  12:39
• Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE
  12:37
• Huawei Ascend P1
  12:30
• Sony Xperia L
  12:30
• HTC Butterfly
  12:18
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  12:14
• HTC One mini
  12:04
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  11:58
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  11:58
• Samsung I8262 Galaxy Core
  11:52
• HTC Desire 500
  11:31
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  11:30
• Asus Padfone 2
  11:20
• Acer Liquid E2
  11:07
• HTC Droid DNA
  11:07
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  11:07
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  11:07
• Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus
  11:06
• HTC Desire X
  11:03
• Meizu MX3
  11:02
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  11:01
• Apple iPhone 5s
  10:46
• HTC One X (AT&T, LTE)
  10:35
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:20
• Apple iPhone 5c
  10:18
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)
  10:15
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  10:03
• HTC One V
  10:00
• Meizu MX 4-core
  10:00
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  10:00
• HTC One X
  9:57
• HTC One S
  9:42
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  9:40
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  9:32
• HTC Sensation XL
  9:30
• Nokia Lumia 810
  9:05
• Nokia Lumia 710
  9:05
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  9:05
• Motorola Atrix HD
  9:04
• HTC Vivid
  9:02
• Nokia Lumia 920
  8:56
• Nokia Lumia 610
  8:51
• HTC Rhyme
  8:48
• Apple iPhone 5
  8:42
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  8:42
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  8:41
• Meizu MX
  8:39
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:35
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  8:28
• Nokia Lumia 800
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  8:23
• Nokia Lumia 510
  8:22
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  8:21
• BlackBerry Z10
  8:20
• HTC Desire V
  8:20
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  8:20
• Sony Xperia T
  8:15
• HTC Rezound (LTE)
  8:10
• Samsung Galaxy Note (LTE)
  8:02
• LG Optimus Vu
  7:57
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2
  7:42
• 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
• Nokia Lumia 820
  7:09
• Sony Xperia acro S
  7:09
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  7:09
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  6:57
• Nokia N9
  6:57
• HTC Radar
  6:53
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  6:53
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:52
• Sony Xperia E dual
  6:42
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  6:22
• 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

The second test we did measures the web browsing endurance. Nokia Lumia Icon went dead after 5 hours and 17 minutes on this test, which is quite disappointing. That’s less than half what the Lumia 1520 managed and it’s probably the switch in screen technology that’s to blame here – the Icon AMOLED obviously struggles with the predominantly white web pages and even at 5″ tends to use far more power than the 6″ LCD on the Lumia 1520.

Web browsing

• Sony Xperia C
  12:45
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  12:40
• Acer Liquid E2
  12:39
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  12:37
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  12:30
• LG G2
  11:22
• HTC One Max
  11:20
• Sony Xperia ZR
  11:20
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  10:58
• Apple iPad Air
  10:10
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos
  10:10
• BlackBerry Q5
  10:04
• HTC One
  9:58
• Apple iPhone 5s
  9:58
• Apple iPhone 5
  9:56
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  9:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  9:43
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  9:40
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  9:37
• Galxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  9:33
• LG G Pro 2
  9:31
• LG G Flex
  9:31
• Galxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  9:16
• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  9:12
• Apple iPad mini
  9:05
• Apple iPhone 5c
  9:05
• Oppo N1
  9:05
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  9:04
• ASUS Nexus 7 (2013)
  9:03
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  8:51
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  8:48
• BlackBerry Q10
  8:42
• Nokia Lumia 810
  8:20
• Asus Padfone 2
  8:20
• Moto X
  8:17
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  8:17
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  8:17
• HTC One mini
  8:12
• Nokia Lumia 610
  8:01
• HTC One X+
  7:56
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  7:43
• Sony Xperia E dual
  7:42
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  7:38
• Nokia Lumia 720
  7:37
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  7:35
• BlackBerry Z30
  7:34
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  7:24
• Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue
  7:23
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  7:23
• HTC Radar
  7:17
• Nokia Lumia 520
  7:15
• Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE
  7:13
• LG Optimus GJ
  7:11
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2
  7:10
• Meizu MX3
  7:09
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos
  7:09
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  7:09
• Nokia Lumia 625
  7:07
• Motorola RAZR i
  7:06
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  6:58
• Apple iPhone 4S
  6:56
• Samsung I8262 Galaxy Core
  6:54
• HTC One V
  6:49
• LG Optimus G Pro
  6:40
• Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus
  6:40
• Sony Xperia L
  6:40
• HTC Droid DNA
  6:40
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  6:40
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:40
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:40
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  6:38
• Sony Xperia Z
  6:37
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  6:35
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  6:34
• HTC Desire 500
  6:31
• Huawei Ascend P6
  6:30
• BlackBerry Z10
  6:27
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)
  6:27
• HTC Butterfly
  6:24
• Sony Xperia SP
  6:18
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  6:15
• Nokia Lumia 510
  6:13
• Sony Xperia ZL
  6:04
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  6:01
• Sony Xperia Z1
  5:59
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:56
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  5:55
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  5:53
• Pantech Burst
  5:51
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  5:50
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  5:45
• HTC Desire V
  5:44
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  5:41
• Nokia Lumia 920
  5:40
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  5:34
• Oppo Find 5
  5:33
• Sony Xperia T
  5:33
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  5:33
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  5:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  5:23
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  5:23
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• Meizu MX 4-core
  5:19
• Nokia Lumia Icon
  5:17
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  5:17
• Sony Xperia acro S
  5:16
• HTC Rezound
  5:16
• HTC Desire X
  5:16
• LG Optimus G
  5:15
• 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
• LG Nexus 5
  4:46
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  4:45
• Meizu MX
  4:35
• Google Nexus 4
  4:34
• Nokia N9
  4:33
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  4:32
• Nokia Lumia 820
  4:24
• 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
• Nokia Lumia 620
  3:50
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  3:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Huawei Ascend P1
  3:23
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

Finally, we’ve put the Nokia Lumia Icon through our looped video playback torture routine. It managed to endure 7 and a half hours before its battery reach the critical 10%. This one is even harder to explain – AMOLED typically does better than LCDs with video and even with the smaller battery the Icon should have at least matched the Lumia 1520 endurance. It appears something went wrong when porting the firmware to the Verizon-bound smartphone.

Video playback

• LG G Flex
  19:57
• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  16:35
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  13:32
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  13:12
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
  13:12
• HTC One Max
  13:11
• Sony Xperia C
  12:53
• Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos
  12:52
• Apple iPad mini
  12:51
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  12:51
• Apple iPad Air
  12:49
• Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE
  12:32
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  12:31
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  12:30
• BlackBerry Q5
  12:28
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  12:18
• Galxy Tab Pro 10.1 (S800)
  12:10
• LG G2
  11:51
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  11:38
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  11:29
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  11:27
• BlackBerry Q10
  11:15
• Oppo N1
  11:15
• BlackBerry Z30
  
  10:35
• Apple iPhone 5s
  10:31
• Apple iPhone 5
  10:12
• HTC One
  10:02
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  10:01
• Moto X
  10:01
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  10:00
• Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus
  10:00
• Nokia 808 PureView
  9:53
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  9:49
• Galxy Note Pro 12.2 (Exynos)
  9:43
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  9:42
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  9:34
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  9:30
• HTC One S
  9:28
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)
  9:27
• Apple iPhone 4S
  9:24
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  9:17
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  9:07
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  8:45
• BlackBerry Z10
  8:44
• LG Optimus G Pro
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  8:41
• Nokia N9
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  8:34
• HTC Butterfly
  8:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  8:25
• LG Optimus GJ
  8:15
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos
  8:11
• HTC One X+
  8:11
• Motorola RAZR i
  8:11
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:00
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:55
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  7:52
• HTC Desire 500
  7:50
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  7:46
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  7:45
• Apple iPhone 5c
  7:41
• Asus Padfone 2
  7:38
• Huawei Ascend P1
  7:38
• Nokia Lumia Icon
  7:34
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:33
• Acer Liquid E2
  7:30
• Samsung I8262 Galaxy Core
  7:30
• Sony Xperia ZR
  7:30
• HTC Droid DNA
  7:30
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  7:30
• Sony Xperia SP
  7:27
• Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4
  7:24
• HTC One mini
  7:23
• Nokia Lumia 610
  7:23
• LG Optimus G
  7:16
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  7:03
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  7:03
• Huawei Ascend P6
  6:55
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  6:54
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  6:49
• Nokia Lumia 720
  6:43
• Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue
  6:40
• Meizu MX 4-core
  6:33
• Nokia Lumia 620
  6:32
• Nokia Lumia 625
  6:29
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  6:27
• Sony Xperia E dual
  6:27
• Nokia Lumia 810
  6:27
• HTC Desire V
  6:26
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  6:26
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Nokia Lumia 820
  6:25
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  6:25
• Gigabyte GSmart Maya M1 v2
  6:24
• Nokia Lumia 510
  6:23
• LG Optimus Vu
  6:23
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• Nokia Lumia 920
  6:19
• Sony Xperia Z1
  6:12
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• LG Nexus 5
  6:06
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  6:03
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  6:02
• Sony Xperia T
  6:01
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:01
• HTC Vivid
  6:00
• HTC Radar
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 800
  5:52
• Nokia Lumia 520
  5:50
• HTC Titan II
  5:50
• LG G Pro 2
  5:49
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:47
• HTC One X
  5:45
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  5:44
• Sony Xperia Z
  5:39
• Meizu MX3
  5:38
• Sony Xperia acro S
  5:38
• HTC Desire X
  5:38
• Pantech Burst
  5:38
• Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
  5:34
• Sony Xperia ZL
  5:28
• Meizu MX
  5:27
• HTC Rhyme
  5:23
• HTC One V
  5:20
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  5:18
• Oppo Find 5
  5:18
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  5:18
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  5:09
• HTC Rezound
  5:03
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  5:02
• Google Nexus 4
  4:55
• Sony Xperia L
  4:44
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  4:30
• 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

Unfortunately Lumia Icon did poor on stand-by too. This plus the uninspiring performance on the web browsing test resulted in the rather low 40 hours endurance rating.

The 40 hours score means you will have to charge your Lumia Icon every 40 hours if you use it for an hour of 3G calls, a hour of web browsing and an hour of video playback each day. That’s far lower than we expected and, given the Lumia 1520 marvelous performance, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not the best the smartphone can manage. Nokia should act quickly to identify that issue that causes the battery drain and fix it as soon as possible.