There has been a significant improvement in the battery performance of the latest VoLTE smartphones, according to test, measurement and service assurance vendor Spirent Communications.
Spirent carried out a detailed comparative test using first-and second-generation VoLTE smartphones and operator US-based operator MetroPCS’ CDMA and 4G LTE networks in Texas.
Specifically, it collected current drain and power consumption samples at multiple locations for CDMA and VoLTE calls, as well as for multi-service CDMA/LTE and VoLTE/LTE simultaneous voice and data calls.
Spirent’s results showed that there is a 35 percent lower current drain for VoLTE calls and an 18 percent lower current drain for CDMA calls on second generation VoLTE smartphones, such as the LG Spirit 4G, when compared with first generation equivalents.
Combining the improved current drain with the increased battery capacity translates to an overall battery life improvement of 122 percent for VoLTE calls, according to the vendor.
“We conducted this second round of VoLTE battery performance tests to gain some understanding of whether recent technology advances have helped decrease battery drain and improve capacity for VoLTE calls,” said Nigel Wright, Vice President of Wireless at Spirent in a statement.
The chipset within a smartphone is key to the performance of the battery life. The LG Spirit 4G used in Spirent’s tests has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2 GHz dual-core, dual-channel, single LTE chipset.
In addition, Spirent also tested Voice over IP (VoIP) calls using the Skype OTT Android application on the LTE data network and discovered that, on second generation VoLTE smartphones, Skype calls also result in approximately one-third less current drain.
Ovum telco strategy analyst Jeremy Green told Mobile Europe: “From an operator’s point of view, how well the battery performs is very important as smartphones have fairly rubbish battery life and operators make more money with better battery life.”
OTT app developers on the other hand are unlikely to be concerned about battery drain.
“Skype is a bit notorious for battery drain – OTT app developers are often less concerned about optimising their apps for the battery life on a smartphone, as their apps have often been adapted to run from another platform,” Green added.