HTC One battery test reveals stellar web browsing performance, but sub-par stand-by efficiency

The first fiscal quarter of 2013 has not ended yet, but we already have a good idea what phones will be battling it out throughout the year for the Android crown. You know, unless the X Phone proves legit. Or the Nexus 5. And unless the Galaxy Note 3 will come early enough to leave a mark in 2013.

But let’s just focus on the present for now, because we have plenty of exciting gadgets to talk about. On one hand, we have the Galaxy S4 and HTC One, the primary suspects for the throne, and on the other, there are the dark horses – Sony’s Xperia Z and LG’s Optimus G Pro.

One of the duels that will certainly help some folks decide between the four will be the battery life. Which of these can hold its own the most, despite the stunning Full HD panels and zippy processors?

The first Xperia Z, Optimus G Pro and Samsung Galaxy S4 autonomy results have been in for a while, and now it’s time to add in the equation HTC One’s performance too. Like all the others, the One has been thoroughly tested by GSM Arena to see exactly how much it can last in talk time, web browsing and video playback.

The first number is not exactly impressive, but it’s decent enough to keep the HTC One in the race – 13 hours and 38 minutes on a single charge in talk time. That’s a lot less than Razr Maxx and LG Optimus G Pro’s scores, but it’s very close to the 13 hours and 53 minutes of the Snapdragon-based Galaxy S4.

Some of the notable phones beaten to the punch by the One here are the One X+ (by a mere seven minutes), the Butterfly, GS3 and iPhone 5.

So far, so good for the HTC One, but it’s bound to get better. Much better actually, because the 4.7-incher is the pack’s leader in terms of web browsing autonomy. Not only is the 9 hours and 58 minutes a tremendous result, but it heavily outshines the Galaxy Note 2 and GS4 (both with under 9 hours), not to mention the G Pro (6:40) and Xperia Z (6:37).

Apple’s iPhone 5 is the only device that can come close to HTC One’s performance in browsing (9:56), with even the Razr Maxx left in the dust (9 hours and 12 minutes).

The last part of the battery test is less kind to the One, which ran for a little over 10 hours in video playback on one charge. That’s 10 minutes less than the iPhone 5, 14 compared with the Galaxy S4, over an hour less than the GNote 2 and 400 minutes under Razr Maxx’s performance.

And yet the HTC One is in the leading pack here too, which is why it’s shocking to see its overall endurance rating – 48 hours. That’s how much the phone’s battery will supposedly last if you use it “for an hour of talk-time, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video-watching per day”.

The endurance rating is tied with Xperia Z’s score, but it’s a couple of hours under Optimus G Pro’s result and a full 15 hours (!!!) less than GS4’s performance. How is that possible? Well, it appears One’s stand-by efficiency is pretty laughable.

Hopefully, that’s because of a software bug that will be identified and fixed soon enough, because otherwise HTC will have something to worry about besides UltraPixel shortages.