Documenting the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S3

Check these out too:

S Beam : Transferring files
Photos: Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S3
Benchmark test results on the Samsung Galaxy S3
Avail of Samsung Galaxy S 3 Free With Smart Unli Data Plan 2000
Globe offers Samsung Galaxy S3 for as low as 1699 pesos a month

Battery life update: On a medium-heavy usage of mobile 3 G, I got 8 hours of battery life. On a slow day, battery level is 16 hours and 30 minutes and as much 24 hours. Read below on how I used the Samsung Galaxy.

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The battery life is the most frequently asked question when it comes to smartphones. In choosing a handset, the finicky buyer will consider a cell phone’s battery life along with call quality. It’s not fun to see the battery level sink lower and lower in the middle of sending an SMS or call and no power outlet is nearby. No wonder those handy power mobile packs sell like hotcakes. I carry a mobile pack every time but with two smartphones, I think I need to increase the mAH capacity.

I document the battery life of my Samsung Galaxy S3 in various conditions so keep tuned to this page. Just you know, I am a heavy user of mobile internet using twitter, facebook and email. Sometimes I blog using the wordpress app. I barely use my phone to call people except family members. So this post may interest the mobile internet users.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 battery

The 2100mAh battery “is designed to make sure that the large screen, with millions of pixels, isn’t going to suck down the power as fast as it might do.”

According to Tech Radar, they subjected the Galaxy S3 to the same test they do to all smartphones, and result is : “the second longest-lasting device of all we’ve checked out.”

We ran a 90 minute video at full brightness and applied all accounts (Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, Exchange etc) and set them all to the most regular updates over Wi-Fi.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 managed to get to only 82% battery power by the end of the test – compare that to the 60% of the HTC One X and 74% of the iPhone 4S and you can see why we’re impressed.

Under heavy load, the phone will last about 8 hours. And we mean heavy: the battery test we mentioned plus an hour of photography and video.

Engadget says otherwise. They claim that “ lasted for just over 10 hours for video and voice, or long enough to make even a tablet like the new iPad or Transformer Prime break a sweat. Web browsing wasn’t quite so hot, though, which at a bit over five hours was well behind the seven hours of an iPhone 4S. ”

Of course, I have to use it to see Tech Radar or Engadget’s claims. So here goes.

June 3, 2012 (With Power savings on)

I finally got my regular sim card cut to microsim so I could do a proper review. I turned power savings ON and checked CPU power saving (limit the maximum performance of the CPU), Screen power saving (use low power level for scree) , background color (change background color to save power in Email and internet), turn off haptic feedback (turning off vibration can extend battery life).

The CPU power saving will not effect normal usage , like browsing and video playback, if you do not use resource-intensive apps and games.

Usage:

    – Smart mobile 3G (no wifi)
    – social media use, browsing, email
    – SMS
    – No calls
    – Sync ON for email, facebook, dropbox, samsung account, google , skype, twitter
    – downloading some apps from Samsung apps or Play Store

As you can see the battery level is at 15% after 7 hours 58 minutes 22 seconds.

At 15% level , an alert prompted me to charge the battery.

Use details show CPU total used 19 minutes ; Stay Awake is 57 minutes and 25 seconds.

Time on at screen was a total of 2 hours 55 minutes.

The close to 8 hours usage is not bad considering I will probably use my phone for a total of 8 hours during working hours. Take note that I have never monitored my battery level with Smart mobile. With my iPhone 4 & Globe mobile 3G, battery life was only 4 hours. Telco signal is a factor in battery life . A steady signal consumes less battery.

My first test came closer to Tech Radar’s observations. Let’s see.

June 4, 2012 (With Power savings ON)

    – minimal usage of Smart mobile 3G
    – minimal use social media use, email
    – no SMS
    – No calls
    – Sync ON for email, facebook, dropbox, samsung account, google , skype, twitter
    – doing benchmark tests

Since I was home, I barely used my Galaxy S3. Battery life is much better naturally. At 16% discharging, battery life is 15 hours and 12 minutes. Hopefully I can stress the battery life when I am mobile.

June 5 Power savings OFF

On my third day, I got more battery life at 16 hours and 30 minutes by the time battery level fell to 15%

June 7 Power savings off

I didn’t use my S3 much today since I was just home . I did some browsing and social media. At 29% I was getting a battery life of 22 hours and 45 minutes. My helper accidentally charged my S3 seeing that it was low battery. Hence, I was not able to check the battery life at 15%. I presume it would have reached 24 hours with same usage.

I will update this entry as the days come along. In the meantime, here is a video from engadget below and also check Tech Radar’s video:

Check out:

Photos: Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S3
Benchmark test results on the Samsung Galaxy S3
Avail of Samsung Galaxy S 3 Free With Smart Unli Data Plan 2000
Globe offers Samsung Galaxy S3 for as low as 1699 pesos a month

Disclosure: I got my Samsung Galaxy S3 from a raffle draw at the Smart media and blogger event.

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