Monday 2 May 2011

Galaxy S 2 (II): Battery Life - Heavy Useage with Wifi

In my previous post on battery life in the Galaxyy S 2 I wrote about how the device copes under what I would call "moderate usage". Here I will briefly summarise a charge of the phone under typical(?) "heavy usage". 

For me, this involved:
  • WiFi on constantly
  • Multiple games and keeping those games running in the background
  • Various other applications (a total of 25 apps/games by the end of the charge)
  • 30 minutes of high definition video content
  • 3G/HSDPA on constantly with hour in total call time
  • Screen on 100% brightness
  • Lots of web browsing
  • Sending emails
  • Updating facebook status
  • Checking Reddit.com (fellow reddit users will know this is almost a constant thing...)
  • 45 minutes of GPS usage
  • Not clearing the RAM
  • Skype, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter all updating
  • Microbes Live wallpaper
  • Widgets for weather, stock market + gmail
  • A series of alarms set to go off throughout the day

For those interested in "standby time" with and without WiFi, I decided to have a period of no-wifi standby and then "with-WiFi" standby at either end of the period of heavy usage



You can split the usage here into thirds: 
  1. On standby - only 3G/HSDPA on and background socialnetwork/email sync. WiFi Off (12 Hours)
  2. Phone on about 50% of the time, Heavy Usage, WiFi On (12 Hours)
  3. On standby, WiFi On (12 Hours).

 With that in mind I would expect to get a good 14-15 hours if I had started with heavy usage from the start. I would imagine that most people need to sleep and have a break from their phone at *some* point during the day (to sleep, for example?) so it looks like the Battery life of the Galaxy S 2, even under heavy usage will be more than sufficient! Hurray! 

10 comments:

  1. Looks very promising.

    Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The wobble is to do with how the sensor works
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_shutter

    You can see its stranger effects by pointing it at a propellor
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fPSpeBfTgw&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
  3. Meant to post that on the video test post. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Dom. I am not getting the same battery life you got for the same activities on phone. I will send you my battery usage snapshot please do have a look at it and let me know if i need to modify any settings. thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. am having a hard time believing this, as my phone wont last 6 hours under heavy usage!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice writeup. How does the battery of the Samsung Galaxy S2 compare with other phones of similar features ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Dom. I am not getting the same battery life you got for the same activities on phone. I will send you my battery usage snapshot please do have a look at it and let me know if i need to modify any settings. thanks
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    ReplyDelete
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