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Reviewing the Power Max Energizer P550S

‏”Do you have a charger my battery has died?”, “I wish I had my old Nokia, that would last forever!”

There’s not a week gone by that I’m saying either one of these things while scrambling for an additional percent of battery to video call my family while away for work.

Technology has progressed at tremendous pace and we’re walking round with computer power technology at our fingertips. With the advancement in mobile technology one thing that hasn’t kept up with the change is battery technology.

While the latest processors use AI to regulate their power and memory usage across the most used apps, it’s still nowhere near the week-long battery life of a Nokia 3210 and that’s including playing around with the polyphonic ringtones and a marathon session on Snake.

Phones have grown in size to cram more and more technology into their phones and with each new iteration comes new specs, higher res cameras, more memory, the latest updates OS and a new gimmick.

I’ve often felt that all of these new updates and additions have forced me to move phones as they’ve increased the memory usage and storage. But what if you aren’t looking for futuristic, 3D touch, face scanning, retina quality technology? What if you just want a phone, with a little bit of social, a camera good enough to post a picture of your child on Facebook and a battery to last longer than a free pie offer in Wigan?

Energizer the brand that’s known for going on and going on thanks to a certain Bunny, has partnered with a leading phone provider to provide a range of options for the various phone users in search of a phone which can take everyday’s usage while powered by their battery technology. To be fair if you were going to look at companies to provide a long lasting battery it’s either Energizer or Tesla.

So these were my thoughts as I received a metal tin before my trip down to London before my charity walk from Fulham to Birmingham. It gave me a couple of hours to have a good look at, copy my files and read all the bumpf. Energiser had seen the walk and the fact that there would be days of 12 hours+ walking and out of all the models of the new Energizer phone, I had the Energizer PowerMax 550S. A 5000mAH beast, with a 20 day standby time and 12 hours or talk time over 4g! WHAT!!!

It’s not just a battery beast though, it has a fingerprint sensor that works most of the time, a capable 13mp back and 5mp front camera, dual sim slots (for the pimps out there), a decent screen, USBC fast charging and a killer for me, a headphone jack! So not only is it a supercharged phone it’s quite clearly got enough to get you through the day.

Before I tell you how it went let me tell you about how I use my phone on a daily basis. As a blogger, instagrammer, spending lots of time listening to audio books and a binger of Netflix it’s all about media. The one thing batteries love! Not. I’m also a big user of Bluetooth with in car connectivity and my fitness watch keeping track of me and my steps all day including GPS mapping while trekking. Perfect to test a phone to it’s limit. Let’s see how I got on!

Having finally swapped my content, apps and contacts across thanks to the easy Android exchange tool I connect my watch (finally) and start to log in to my social media accounts. I’m amazed to press on the battery icon and see the potential usage time available to me. Let’s see how quickly it’ll be used!

Having arrived at Fulham Football Club, met all my other walkers on the first day, loaded up with kit, posed for photos and videos my phone was now ready for the challenge. Sitting at 98% thanks to about 20 minutes of videos and photos of Fulham and the surrounding area, I now got the opportunity to take some pictures of the famous pitch and my fellow walkers.

The camera in good light was surprisingly pretty decent. The detail was there and the many different modes gave me all of the usual options I was hoping for. There was a slight delay in the processing of photos and focussing compared to my Note 8 which to be fair was to be anticipated.

After the goodbyes, it’s gone time! Backpack on, headphones in, GPS recording started and my Harry Potter audiobook ready. So as I set off on the first day I’m using my pre-saved audiobook on my phone. After about 5 hours of walking it’s clear that we need some navigation support and doing a checkup with everyone on who has the most battery life left it’s clear, I’m sitting at the top.

Switching over to the lead group, Google Maps On, it’s my directions now and legs are starting to get tired. Audiobook off and Amazon Music on! The Greatest Showman to the rescue to give me the juice needed to push on. That first day was still a novelty to everyone and I made sure I got lots of pictures and videos throughout adding additional drain to the battery.

On the first day, I walked 32 miles before my blisters popped and I was picked up a couple of miles short of the hotel. While I ran out of power that cannot be said for the phone. From 9am to 9:30pm of solid usage throughout the day navigating me, keeping me entertained and recording my trek I had 15% left! That’s ridiculous. How? I had literally not used it any different from any other hike but my battery pack was firmly in my bag not having to be used at all.

 

The phones battery life truly has been remarkable.

But there are some limitations. I remember a few years ago Google tried to make a modular phone where you could basically choose what you wanted internally. There was so much space and hell if you wanted the biggest camera sensor you’d need to reduce size elsewhere. The rules haven’t changed here and while fitting in this mammoth battery there has been some features compromised. Heavy usage with multiple media sources runs with lag and the Bluetooth connectivity and GPS aren’t quick at connecting up.

In true honesty, this phone isn’t for me and I’ve realised that the bigger battery is amazing to have and I’ve really taken advantage of not needing to charge. However the higher end processors for me are more important and of course I have to pay a heavy price for that. I will miss the simplicity of the phone, it’s UI and seeing how well Energizer builds phone batteries I’m going to invest in one of their battery packs.

The P550s is a phone for those that don’t want to pay nearly a £1000 for a top end phone, isn’t a heavy social media and blogging user who demands the long battery life of a phone juiced up by Energizer.  If this is you, you’ll absolutely love this beast of a phone. Big in size, with good features and set to be priced £169.99 it’s not just battery % you’ll be saving.

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