This Phone Is the New Battery Life Champ (By a Lot)

By Mark Spoonauer
published

The Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom lasted nearly 17 hours on our 4G web surfing test, which makes it the longest lasting phone we've ever tested.

With a name like ZenFone 3 Zoom, you'd think that the best part about the new unlocked phone from Asus is its camera. And that camera is great, as the 2.3x optical zoom is even longer than what you'll find on the iPhone 7 Plus.

But it's how how long this phone lasts on a charge that makes it truly stand out. In fact, this is the longest-lasting phone we've ever tested.

Illustration: Tom's Guide

Illustration: Tom's Guide

On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G on 150 nits of screen brightness, the ZenFone 3 Zoom endured for a truly epic 16 hours and 49 minutes. That blows away the average smartphone at 9:32.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom also beats our former champ, the Moto Z Play (13:46) by more than 3 hours and our former No. 2, the LG X Power, by nearly 4 hours.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom lasted nearly 17 hours on a charge. Credit: Jeremy Lips/Tom's Guide

(Image credit: The ZenFone 3 Zoom lasted nearly 17 hours on a charge. Credit: Jeremy Lips/Tom's Guide)

How does Asus' phone compare to the top flagships? Very, very well. The Galaxy S8+ lasted 11:04 and the iPhone 7 Plus 10:35.

Part of the credit goes to the ZenFone 3 Zoom's monster-sized 5,000 mAh battery, but it also benefits from the power-efficient Snapdragon 625 CPU. This phone isn't as fast as handsets with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 835 chip, but we're willing to bet that a lot of people would be willing to trade some speed for the best battery life ever.

Mark Spoonauer
Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom's Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • pbug56
    No other info on the phone? Great battery life and zoom; can you make phone calls with it?
    Reply
  • Zyzoff
    Beware of Zenfone. I have the Zenfone 2. It came with Android 5 Lollipop and was promised in print that it would be upgraded to Android 6 Marshmellow (which was released about two weeks after I purchased the phone) and even 7.0 Nougat. That was two years ago. Asus ignores customer complaints. There are better phones out there.
    Reply
  • pbug56
    I have since found it is gsm only. Plus I agree; asus support is spotty; I have an asus mobo installed under Win 7 which didn't fully work until Win 10 drivers replaced some from asus.


    19675025 said:
    Beware of Zenfone. I have the Zenfone 2. It came with Android 5 Lollipop and was promised in print that it would be upgraded to Android 6 Marshmellow (which was released about two weeks after I purchased the phone) and even 7.0 Nougat. That was two years ago. Asus ignores customer complaints. There are better phones out there.

    Reply
  • Chris_86
    awwww.......I didnt get the latest droid update....just like millions of other droid users...i think im going to cry....even though the version I have works perfect....whaha.....buy the ASUS because its a great phone, not because of the inherent droid problem of getting updates that really do nothing much anyway
    Reply