Thanks to the iPhone 11 Pro, autonomy has become a serious matter

Whether you admit it or not, autonomy is one of the most important criteria of our smartphones.Until 2019, it was only very rarely an important subject for smartphones manufacturers.A sensible subject ?Yes.But not an important subject.In 2020, it is a safe bet that things change.

Photo by Jannis Lucas

Autonomy is one of the most important criteria when you choose a smartphone, and we can understand it: the use we have of our smartphone now extends beyond a simple communication tool.He opens our cars and our houses, he helps us to move, he entertains us, he assists us at work, he saves lives ... He occupies such a large place in our lives.Autonomy is therefore an essential criterion, and it is one of the main criteria of your research when you are looking for a new smartphone.

At Frandroid, an important criterion has long been.To assess the autonomy of smartphones that we test, we are used to performing several tests: already, we use the smartphone tested.It may seem completely mind -blowing to read this, but I can assure you that this is not the case for all testers.Changing smartphone every week is very restrictive in the long run.

Then, we collaborated with a Rennes company - smartvisvis - to design a personalized protocol, which will evolve in 2020, it allows us to have a precise idea of the autonomy of the devices tested and above all it facilitates the comparison between the different models tested.

How it works ?We carried out a study (you were thousands to respond) to determine what a classic day was used for a smartphone (applications, standby, sms, calls, video, etc.).These data were used to design automated protocol that has been updated each year.

When we receive a smartphone to test at the editorial staff, we therefore launch this protocol after having correctly calibrated and set the smartphone (it's important to have the same screen brightness for example): the 100 % loaded smartphone will therefore goTurn a set of tasks until the battery reaches 0 %.The tasks we perform on a daily basis, so he simulates what we do with our smartphones.We record everything that is happening, and we use data to understand how the smartphone behaves.Obviously, this test is carried out in addition to actual use of the product.In short, autonomy is a serious matter at Frandroid.

Autonomy is not good on our smartphones

Personally, after having used an Apple iPhone X for a year, I used a Google Pixel 3 also a year ... Autonomy was a recurring problem on these two devices.I complained about it all the time.

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Complaints concerning the life of smartphones is not lacking and Apple was, year after year, one of the biggest offenders.The American company trotted iPhone after iPhone, always thinner and faster than the previous model, but autonomy was not a subject for Apple.Admittedly, some Android manufacturers were getting better, such as Huawei for example, but the solution often consisted in putting large batteries on devices with large screen diagonals.I am obviously talking about the Huawei Mate range, which was even proclaimed to load iPhone via the inverted wireless load.

Samsung also made fun of the iPhone and its low autonomy.The Korean company has even created several advertisements around iPhone owners who go in search of a wall outlet or a charger.And I can tell you ... We have sold external batteries, many of you were looking for a vital palliative solution.What does "palliative" mean?Which reduces the symptoms of an illness without curing it or even a means of remedy temporarily or incomplete to a difficult situation, to mitigate the consequences without stopping it however.

To go further external battery: our comparison for Android and iPhone smartphones

The manufacturers have found another palliative solution: the fast load.Less time to load your smartphone, it's less battery problems.It is true, but it is not a solution to our problem of autonomy.It’s just a way to live better with very average autonomy.

And the iPhone 11 pro arrived

In 2019, Apple unveiled iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max a little thicker and slightly heavier than previous models, but with larger battery capacities.Then, the magic of the optimizations and constraints of iOS did the rest.The result ?Huge progress in autonomy.I can testify to this: autonomy is no longer a daily problem, we think more about it.No need to deactivate bluetooth or Wi-Fi, monitor applications that drain autonomy or activate plane mode at the end of the day.For iPhone users, this is a revolution.For Android users, it is also a great thing.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

Apple iPhone 11 Pro

Why ?Like it or not, Apple very often determines what is acceptable and important in the industry.Now that Apple has made autonomy a strong point of its smartphones, manufacturers of Android smartphones no longer have the choice: you have to do better or die.Hoping that Google and all other manufacturers become aware of that.

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