Frandroid Galaxy S6 Review - Let's talk about battery life

[Almeuit]

Yep, and sadly, this should be end of discussion until the embargo is lifted

I don't think the S6 has one since everyone is showing / talking about it.

 

[clevin]

There's a very good chance this phone ends up with just average-slightly above average battery life for most people, but on the plus side, there are now at least 2 sites that claim it has outstanding battery life. Whoever uses their devices similarly to the way these couple sites test their devices are going to be very happy!

If it wasn't for the GSM Arena rating, the general consensus on the device right now would be that battery life is very good. Let's all hope GSM Arena's rating was wrong!

na, GSMarena's rating is the only one so far make sense, the french review showing 75% better score is for CPU power efficiency, rather than common task battery rundown, which usually include web, video, talk, and don't stress cpu that much. The OP's battery chart doesn't even include s5, so no comparison is made here at all.

I think more realistic hope right now, is not GSMarena being wrong, rather, is somehow sammy can work hard and push out a 0-day patch to improve battery performance to be closer to s5 than it is now. I think its doable.

 

[John Kar]

I don't think the S6 has one since everyone is showing / talking about it.

Samsung does have an embargo. It's set to lift early April.
It's just that all the reviews out so far are praising it to high heaven, so why in the world would you want them taken down?

 

[unashamedgeek]

Samsung does have an embargo. It's set to lift early April.
It's just that all the reviews out so far are praising it to high heaven, so why in the world would you want them taken down?

How do you know this? And the reviews haven't been completely glowing, the one showing worse battery life isn't saying it is the greatest. Samsung could have killed that review or come out with a defense.

 

[Almeuit]

Samsung does have an embargo. It's set to lift early April.
It's just that all the reviews out so far are praising it to high heaven, so why in the world would you want them taken down?

I am not finding anywhere about an embargo. I could be wrong .. but searching around I am not finding anything about it.

 

[unashamedgeek]

I am not finding anywhere about an embargo. I could be wrong .. but searching around I am not finding anything about it.

I was unable to find anything other then people's comments stating there is an embargo. I believe most sites hold their reviews for multiple reasons. I think some, like anandtech, hold on because their reviews tend to be the most thorough. And others hold off until it is closer to release date to maximize page hits. If you release a full review now, you will likely only get the enthusiasts to hit your site -- like people in this forum. However, as the release date gets closer and Samsung steps up their advertising, more of the general cell phone public will start to look up information on the device. So if I were running a website that got money based on page views, I think I would wait to when I could maximize page hits while Samsung's marketing is doing the work of getting people looking for information on the phone.

 

[Jdroids]

na, GSMarena's rating is the only one so far make sense, the french review showing 75% better score is for CPU power efficiency, rather than common task battery rundown, which usually include web, video, talk, and don't stress cpu that much. The OP's battery chart doesn't even include s5, so no comparison is made here at all.

I think more realistic hope right now, is not GSMarena being wrong, rather, is somehow sammy can work hard and push out a 0-day patch to improve battery performance to be closer to s5 than it is now. I think its doable.

Even if we take GSMarena number as is for now, still the issue is they are comparing it to S5 after Lollipop update. If I remember correctly, it was like 72 endurance rating with KiKat. Then they retested it with Lollipop not too long ago and bumped it up almost 10. Maybe they did it correctly according to their way of calculating it with stand by/talk time though they don't reveal what carrier version.

But reality is that most S5 owners don't see much battery improvement with Lollipop if at all and often rather worse battery life, at least here in US. So if I take that into consideration, difference between S5 and S6 is not that big as they make it sound like.

 

[Inders99]

I am not finding anywhere about an embargo. I could be wrong .. but searching around I am not finding anything about it.

So we're talking OPEC now?

 

[clevin]

Even if we take GSMarena number as is for now, still the issue is they are comparing it to S5 after Lollipop update. If I remember correctly, it was like 72 endurance rating with KiKat. Then they retested it with Lollipop not too long ago and bumped it up almost 10. Maybe they did it correctly according to their way of calculating it with stand by/talk time though they don't reveal what carrier version.

But reality is that most S5 owners don't see much battery improvement with Lollipop if at all and often rather worse battery life, at least here in US. So if I take that into consideration, difference between S5 and S6 is not that big as they make it sound like.

mmmm... I see where you from. I guess the question is, if a s5 user purchase a s6 at beginning of the launch, will he or she feel s6's battery being worse? For that, the answer may be indeed a "no". Mainly because, 1) they may not have properly upgraded to lollipop (factory reset, cache wipe, etc); 2) their old s5 battery is one year old and capacity has degraded by 10-30%.

Obviously, s5 battery life "could" be significantly better if users get a new battery and upgrade to lollipop properly. But nobody gonna station at store door to tell them that, lol.

btw, s5 with properly installed lollipop is a top battery performer, s6 doesn't really need to be better than s5 in this regard, considering its main competitions will be M9, G4, N6, rather than s5.

 

[ballzac]

After hearing about how the S6 is 'more efficient' whether it be the screen (even though its so high end) or processor or other parts, how will this efficiency effect the battery life? Maybe the battery will be better than people think if it is truly a more efficient phone hardware wise

 

[John Kar]

After hearing about how the S6 is 'more efficient' whether it be the screen (even though its so high end) or processor or other parts, how will this efficiency effect the battery life? Maybe the battery will be better than people think if it is truly a more efficient phone hardware wise

What's more concerning is the possibility that every flagship this year might have worse battery life than its predecessor.

The S6 will not suffer as much and if nothing else changes, its battery life is still very close to S5's battery life figures (Which are phenomenal).

The other flagships aren't fairing so well. The G Flex 2 and the M9, from current results, are significantly worse than their predecessors.

The problem comes from the reference 64-bit ARM core that is apparently very power-hungry.

Samsung is using an efficient fabrication tech to help them achieve more efficiency than Qualcomm's SoC, but even then, the the power consumption of those ARM cores are way too much.

Next year should be a lot better once Qualcomm and Samsung go with their own custom cores.

 

[jcp007]

What's more concerning is the possibility that every flagship this year might have worse battery life than its predecessor.

The S6 will not suffer as much and if nothing else changes, its battery life is still very close to S5's battery life figures (Which are phenomenal).

The other flagships aren't fairing so well. The G Flex 2 and the M9, from current results, are significantly worse than their predecessors.

The problem comes from the reference 64-bit ARM core that is apparently very power-hungry.

Samsung is using an efficient fabrication tech to help them achieve more efficiency than Qualcomm's SoC, but even then, the the power consumption of those ARM cores are way too much.

Next year should be a lot better once Qualcomm and Samsung go with their own custom cores.

Battery results are so subjective and depends upon the type of users, devices settings, users habits, how resource intensive apps are, and are apps running the background while heavy duty tasks like gaming, web browsing, social media, watching movies , listening to music, texting, email and calling. All,these things we do to different degrees and have different preferences. There will be no battery review that is more important than the one you do yourself. The GS6 battery results, absent earth shattering news, are not going to sway my purchase or pass decision about the device.

 

[John Kar]

Battery results are so subjective and depends upon the type of users, devices settings, users habits, how resource intensive apps are, and are apps running the background while heavy duty tasks like gaming, web browsing, social media, watching movies , listening to music, texting, email and calling. All,these things we do to different degrees and have different preferences. There will be no battery review that is more important than the one you do yourself. The GS6 battery results, absent earth shattering news, are not going to sway my purchase or pass decision about the device.

Yes, but in every measure of battery life (Stand-by, talk-time, web-browsing, Video playback), this year's flagships all seem to be inferior to their predecessor.
For the S6, it's not as severe and is only very slightly worse than the S5 by a few minutes.
For the G Flex 2 and M9, you're looking at an across the board 20-50% cut in battery life in all 4 metrics.

True, battery life is different depending on the type of user you are, but the results look like the battery lives will be WORSE no matter WHAT type of user you are.
If you're the type of person who barely uses his phone, the battery will still be worse because stand-by time is worse.
If you like to stream and browse the web often, the battery will still be worse because web-browsing time is worse.
If you like to watch videos, the battery will still be worse, because video playback time is worse.
If you're a mixed user, the battery will still be worse, because everything has worse battery life compared to the previous models.

This is what's concerning.

 

[STEVESKI07]

Yes, but in every measure of battery life (Stand-by, talk-time, web-browsing, Video playback), this year's flagships all seem to be inferior to their predecessor.
For the S6, it's not as severe and is only very slightly worse than the S5 by a few minutes.
For the G Flex 2 and M9, you're looking at an across the board 20-50% cut in battery life in all 4 metrics.

True, battery life is different depending on the type of user you are, but the results look like the battery lives will be WORSE no matter WHAT type of user you are.
If you're the type of person who barely uses his phone, the battery will still be worse because stand-by time is worse.
If you like to stream and browse the web often, the battery will still be worse because web-browsing time is worse.
If you like to watch videos, the battery will still be worse, because video playback time is worse.
If you're a mixed user, the battery will still be worse, because everything has worse battery life compared to the previous models.

This is what's concerning.

I think most flagships will continue the trend of putting bigger batteries in their phones each year like every company does. Samsung is the only one I've ever seen or heard of that has put a smaller one in. If the S6 battery life isn't very good then I think they missed the opportunity to really lock down the Android industry this year. But they had to be a tenth of a mm thinner than the iPhone. I wonder how many tenths of a mm increase there would have been if they put in a 3000 mAh battery. Half a mm maybe? Look at a ruler. I don't know anybody in the world that wouldn't take that.

 

[jcp007]

Yes, but in every measure of battery life (Stand-by, talk-time, web-browsing, Video playback), this year's flagships all seem to be inferior to their predecessor.
For the S6, it's not as severe and is only very slightly worse than the S5 by a few minutes.
For the G Flex 2 and M9, you're looking at an across the board 40-50% cut in battery life in all 4 metrics.

True, battery life is different depending on the type of user you are, but the results look like the battery lives will be WORSE no matter WHAT type of user you are.
If you're the type of person who barely uses his phone, the battery will still be worse because stand-by time is worse.
If you like to stream and browse the web often, the battery will still be worse because web-browsing time is worse.
If you like to watch videos, the battery will still be worse, because video playback time is worse.
If you're a mixed user, the battery will still be worse, because everything has worse battery life compared to the previous models.

This is what's concerning.

Good points all. However, if you have these concerns now, then may be the GS6 is not for you. Take as a given that a smaller battery has the potential to adequately power a much better device. If it at least meets last year, then I am fine. My personal, first hand experience is what makes my mind up. Right now there is not enough from a battery perspective to sway my decision. As it is the least of my worries, am looking for other issues that may arise that are more of a priority. The market segment that truly is influenced enough to have doubts or pass on the deivce because of the battery and the storage issue is a shrinking one at best. Otherwise, it might have made it into the GS6.

 

[Alex_NJ]

How do you guys do your own battery tests?

Do you just take advantage of your carriers 14 day returns policy?

 

[edgefever]

How do you guys do your own battery tests?

Do you just take advantage of your carriers 14 day returns policy?

Its the only way to do it, and really know if it will work for you

 

[John Kar]

I think most flagships will continue the trend of putting bigger batteries in their phones each year like every company does. Samsung is the only one I've ever seen or heard of that has put a smaller one in. If the S6 battery life isn't very good then I think they missed the opportunity to really lock down the Android industry this year. But they had to be a tenth of a mm thinner than the iPhone. I wonder how many tenths of a mm increase there would have been if they put in a 3000 mAh battery. Half a mm maybe? Look at a ruler. I don't know anybody in the world that wouldn't take that.

I think other flagships have to put in a higher capacity battery because they need to. The G Flex 2, even with its 3,000 mAH battery, isn't impressing anyone.
I am pretty disappointed that Samsung decided to reduce battery capacity and I'm hoping that the S6's battery life is better in the final version, though I'm extremely skeptical.

I think the numbers from GSMArena are reflective of end devices and I'm sure the numbers from tweakers about the M9 are also accurate. Anyone looking for drastic improvements will probably end up disappointed.

This year is kind of a dud in terms of battery life for all OEMs.

Good points all. However, if you have these concerns now, then may be the GS6 is not for you. Take as a given that a smaller battery has the potential to adequately power a much better device. If it at least meets last year, then I am fine. My personal, first hand experience is what makes my mind up. Right now there is not enough from a battery perspective to sway my decision. As it is the least of my worries, am looking for other issues that may arise that are more of a priority. The market segment that truly is influenced enough to have doubts or pass on the deivce because of the battery and the storage issue is a shrinking one at best. Otherwise, it might have made it into the GS6.

I'm thinking of waiting until the S7/S7 Edge, which should have Samsung's own custom CPU and GPU cores. If rumors are correct (And they usually are), Samsung is working on expanding bus throughput while massively reducing power consumption.

It's just that the S6 Edge is very seductive and I'm trying to resist buying one. I got a hands-on preview in Galaxy Experience Store in NYC recently and I genuinely think there's nothing else like it in the market in terms of looks and feel.

 

[gamblor77]

For what it's worth... I just got back from BestBuy and was testing both the standard and edge S6. The regular S6 had been unplugged for 4 hours and had a screen on time of 1:40 and still had 75% battery on it. That's putting it around 6-7 hours of screen on time if that held up.
I made sure it had not been plugged in and checked all the battery stats and was pleasantly surprised.
FYI - The Samsung rep told me Samsung directly told him to expect 17-19 hours of standard daily use. Obviously usage time depends on the user but all the evidence I've seen points to a very respectable to possibly great batter life. Finger crossed!

 

[jcp007]

For what it's worth... I just got back from BestBuy and was testing both the standard and edge S6. The regular S6 had been unplugged for 4 hours and had a screen on time of 1:40 and still had 75% battery on it. That's putting it around 6-7 hours of screen on time if that held up.
I made sure it had not been plugged in and checked all the battery stats and was pleasantly surprised.
FYI - The Samsung rep told me Samsung directly told him to expect 17-19 hours of standard daily use. Obviously usage time depends on the user but all the evidence I've seen points to a very respectable to possibly great batter life. Finger crossed!

I am definitely going by a Best Buy later today after work and seeing if I can try one out for myself.