We had the BlackBery Priv for review recently, but we didn't manage to conduct a proper battery test. Well, we got another chance to play with the slider and there was no escaping this time.
The BlackBerry Priv is equipped with a fairly large 3,410mAh battery. In keeping with current trends, it is sealed in, but the Snapdragon 808, powering the phone, supports Quick Charge 2.0, which can get you from zero to 60% in about 30 minutes. Sadly, the bundled charger doesn't support quick charging so you would have to get an extra one.
The Priv also has wireless charging capabilities, both Qi and PMA compliant. Sadly, only the US model supports that.
The BlackBerry Priv posted what can best be described as satisfactory battery life results. On a 3G call the smartphone lasted only around 15 hours, which is on the short side. A Samsung Galaxy Note5 can go for twice as long, while a Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and a Huawei Nexus 6P hover around the 20 and a half hour mark. Then again an LG V10 and the Apple iPhone 6s Plus aren’t much better at 16:40 and 15:51, respectively.
Talk time
Oppo R7 Plus 30:46h
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 30:29h
Samsung Galaxy Note5 28:34h
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 28:23h
Huawei G8 27:44h
Samsung Galaxy S6 active 26:29h
Motorola Moto X Play 26:28h
Samsung Galaxy A7 Duos 25:12h
Samsung Galaxy A8 Duos 25:02h
Samsung Galaxy A8 25:02h
Oppo R7s 24:03h
LG AKA 23:20h
Meizu PRO 5 23:10h
Oppo R7 22:58h
Motorola Moto X Style 22:23h
ZTE Nubia Z9 22:20h
Lenovo ZUK Z1 22:13h
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 22:02h
Xiaomi Mi 4i 21:02h
Meizu m2 note 20:55h
Huawei Nexus 6P 20:50h
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 20:27h
Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL 20:22h
Samsung Galaxy J7 18:37h
Xiaomi Mi 4c 18:31h
Huawei P8lite ALE-L04 18:25h
Huawei P8lite 17:38h
Lenovo K3 Note 17:13h
Sony Xperia Z5 17:13h
vivo X5Pro 16:57h
LG Nexus 5X 16:57h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL 16:50h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM 16:50h
LG V10 16:40h
Meizu m1 metal 16:02h
OnePlus X 15:57h
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 15:51h
Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML 15:47h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Dual 14:53h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra 14:53h
Samsung Galaxy J2 14:51h
BlackBerry Priv 14:40h
Huawei Honor 7 14:33h
Huawei Mate S 13:53h
Meizu MX5 13:15h
Sony Xperia C4 Dual 13:11h
Microsoft Lumia 550 11:40h
HTC One A9 11:12h
Apple iPhone 6s 9:41h
Microsoft Lumia 950 8:25h
The Priv’s endurance when browsing the web over Wi-Fi stood at 8:20 hours in our test. Again nothing impressive, but not entirely disappointing. It’s the exact same number the V10 posted, marginally lower than the Nexus 6P, and an hour less than the Xperia Z5 Premium. The iPhone 6s rules here with a little short of 12 hours, outlasting the Note5 by an hour.
Web browsing
Samsung Galaxy S6 active 16:25h
Sony Xperia Z5 14:35h
Meizu PRO 5 12:51h
Apple iPhone 6s 12:27h
ZTE Nubia Z9 12:18h
Samsung Galaxy A8 12:18h
Samsung Galaxy A8 Duos 12:18h
Motorola Moto X Play 11:52h
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 11:51h
Meizu m1 metal 11:33h
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 11:20h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM 10:50h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL 10:50h
Lenovo ZUK Z1 10:46h
Samsung Galaxy Note5 10:43h
Oppo R7 Plus 10:39h
Huawei Honor 7 10:38h
LG AKA 10:38h
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 10:25h
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 10:12h
Huawei G8 10:00h
Meizu m2 note 9:54h
Huawei Mate S 9:43h
vivo X5Pro 9:34h
Xiaomi Mi 4c 9:32h
Samsung Galaxy A7 Duos 9:30h
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 9:29h
Samsung Galaxy J7 9:04h
Meizu MX5 9:03h
Samsung Galaxy J2 8:58h
Huawei P8lite ALE-L04 8:42h
Huawei Nexus 6P 8:35h
LG Nexus 5X 8:32h
Xiaomi Mi 4i 8:27h
Huawei P8lite 8:27h
BlackBerry Priv 8:20h
LG V10 8:20h
Oppo R7s 8:07h
Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML 7:52h
Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL 7:43h
Microsoft Lumia 950 7:29h
Oppo R7 7:22h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Dual 7:15h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra 7:15h
Sony Xperia C4 Dual 7:05h
Microsoft Lumia 550 6:55h
Motorola Moto X Style 6:49h
OnePlus X 6:32h
Lenovo K3 Note 5:56h
HTC One A9 5:22h
Where the BlackBerry Priv performs the worst is video playback. It throws in the towel after just 6 and half hours, but in all fairness the smartphone isn’t meant to be a multimedia-gobbling device. The flagships are all over the place in this test too. The Z5 Premium, for example calls it a day after 7 hours and change, the V10 a quarter of an hour later, and the Nexus 6P in 10 hours. It’s the Note5 and iPhone 6s Plus that truly excel, both a smidge short of the 14-hour mark.
Video playback
Oppo R7 Plus 18:04h
Samsung Galaxy S6 active 18:03h
Meizu PRO 5 18:02h
Samsung Galaxy J7 16:22h
Lenovo ZUK Z1 14:14h
Oppo R7s 14:05h
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 13:57h
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 13:53h
Samsung Galaxy Note5 13:51h
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact 13:04h
Samsung Galaxy A8 Duos 12:45h
Samsung Galaxy A8 12:45h
Motorola Moto X Play 12:06h
LG AKA 11:54h
Asus Zenfone Selfie ZD551KL 11:32h
Huawei Mate S 11:26h
Xiaomi Mi 4c 10:47h
Apple iPhone 6s 10:46h
vivo X5Pro 10:41h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL 10:38h
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM 10:38h
Samsung Galaxy J2 10:35h
Huawei G8 10:20h
Xiaomi Mi 4i 10:11h
Huawei P8lite ALE-L04 10:00h
Huawei Nexus 6P 9:59h
Samsung Galaxy A7 Duos 9:58h
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 9:57h
Huawei Honor 7 9:43h
Microsoft Lumia 950 9:40h
Oppo R7 9:33h
Motorola Moto X Style 9:14h
Meizu MX5 9:13h
Huawei P8lite 9:00h
Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML 8:34h
HTC One A9 8:33h
Meizu m1 metal 8:11h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra 7:58h
Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Dual 7:58h
Sony Xperia Z5 7:53h
LG V10 7:30h
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 7:14h
ZTE Nubia Z9 7:11h
OnePlus X 6:55h
Lenovo K3 Note 6:55h
BlackBerry Priv 6:33h
Meizu m2 note 6:27h
LG Nexus 5X 6:25h
Sony Xperia C4 Dual 5:39h
Microsoft Lumia 550 5:05h
All things considered, the BlackBerry Priv posted an endurance rating of 62 hours over our proprietary test routine. That is how long a single battery charge will last you if you use it for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. Such a usage pattern is of course entirely artificial, but we've established it so our battery results are comparable across devices.
Our proprietary score also includes a standby battery draw test, which is not featured in our test scorecard but is calculated in the total endurance rating. The BlackBerry is very frugal in this respect and can last for over 15 days, if left untouched and connected to a 3G network.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
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