Sony Xperia P battery life gets tested, 1305mAh found lacking by WhiteMagic screen

The Sony Xperia P packs a special screen with WhiteMagic technology, which promises a lot of power-saving – up to 50% Sony says. But the other variable we need to consider here is the battery – and its meager 1305mAh capacity.

So, the screen may seem well suited to display web sites (which are predominantly white) with its white subpixels, but the battery is smaller than the one on a Samsung Galaxy S, which came out two years ago with a similarly-sized screen and a single core chipset.

Official talk time numbers from Sony say the Xperia P will last 5 hours in a 3G network. Our test shows it will last a bit longer than that – about half an hour. Still, that result puts it near the bottom of the charts alongside power-hungry first-gen LTE phones.

Talk time

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  20:24
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  12:14
• 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
• 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
• Apple iPhone 4S
  7:41
• HTC Evo 4G LTE (LTE)
  7:21
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:14
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:25
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  7:09
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  6:57
• Nokia N9
  6:57
• HTC Radar
  6:53
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:52
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T (LTE)
  5:53
• Sony Xperia P
  5:33
• LG Nitro HD (LTE)
  5:16
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  5:10
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:00
• Pantech Burst
  4:46

Web browsing was supposed to be the element of the Sony Xperia P battery-wise, but it turns out the smartphone failed to impress there too. The phone died just a minute before hitting the 4 hour mark (note that we do our tests over Wi-Fi with the screen at 50% brightness). If it’s any consolation, the HTC One S didn’t make it far past the 4 hour mark either.

Web browsing

• 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
• 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 Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• 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
• HTC Vivid
  4:46
• 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
• 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
• Sony Xperia P
  3:59
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:51
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

When it comes to video playback, the situation isn’t much different – the Xperia P lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes before its battery hit 10% (when we usually stop the test). That ranks it rather low on our charts too.

Video playback

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:01
• 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
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G 7:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• 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 3D Max P720
  3:28
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:27

In the end, the Sony Xperia P will get you through the day if you talk for one hour over a 3G network, then watch an hour of video and then do an hour of browsing and you’ll still have charge left over. Actually you can go through a bit over 28 hours if that’s your daily usage. But the Xperia P isn’t a strong performer in any of our three categories, so heavy users will want to keep a charger or at least a spare battery at hand.

On the upside, the Xperia P features boost charging, which means you can top up the battery very quickly – if you use the charger and cable it came with, you can get to 80% charge (the upper limit for boost charging) faster than with other devices.