All OS Battery Life/Screen on Time (SOT) for smartphones thread

Stronk

Stronk

Adept
Hi all,
Hope everyone is doing well. I created this thread so that people may more easily share and compare battery life for their smartphones, providing an informative thread for owners and potential owners for various smartphones. I could not find any other similar thread but if there is one, mods feel free to delete/merge this one.

I believe the most useful would be to attach a screenshot of your recent battery drain which shows which app has used what percentage battery life over the last charge cycle. For the sake of consistency, please only include information where there is a linear drain, ie, the graph is of a single cycle and it does not show multiple charging peaks.

Also add information about how you used your phone and any other relevant information for battery life. Do include age of the smartphone and charging habits.

I'll go first:
  • S23 Ultra 5G 512GB US model
Less than 2 weeks old, been charging it to 100% but will now switch to 85% limit.
Screenshot is yesterday's usage.
  • Used for about 2hrs with high/max brightness outside, used camera for about 10 minutes.
  • 5G and 2G off, phone connected to WiFi most of the day except for about 5 hours.
  • AOD set to notifications only. Limited S-Pen use. Most apps in deep sleep, disabled a lot of unnecessary apps/bloat through Universal Android debloater (including Bixby and Google Assistant)
  • Generally good network coverage except for about 4 hours with only 1 bar and intermittent WiFi/mobile data usage.
  • Adaptive battery and adaptive brightness on throughout.
  • Bluetooth off the entire time but listened to music via apple USB C dongle for about 2.5hrs.
  • Location used for about 30mins total. Have background scanning, google location accuracy, ultra wide band (UWB) and location history turned off.
  • Charged phone to 100% before hitting the sack the previous night; there was a tiny +2% peak at 40% since I was transferring some files around end of day.
Let me know if I'm missing something!
 

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Well, ig sharing battery endurance numbers isn't popular. Anyway, will be my last post on this thread as I don't want to clutter the forum up with needless info.

Start the day at 7 by charging the phone 85% with a 30W fast charger. Everything same as before except this time the Bluetooth is on the whole time and Huawei Health is running in background 24x7. Location on half the time but minimal high brightness usage. Very happy with the SOT and battery life overall. Translates to about 8h SOT from 100-0 based on these figures.
 

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S23 Ultra has been the most reliable battery phone in recent times.
I am using the Xiaomi 13 Pro but it's nowhere close but Xiaomi Phone charges much faster even on 25 watt chargers.
Screenshot_20230304_224325_Device care.jpg

My S23 ultra battery life( when I had it)
 
Stronk said:
Hi all,
Hope everyone is doing well. I created this thread so that people may more easily share and compare battery life for their smartphones, providing an informative thread for owners and potential owners for various smartphones. I could not find any other similar thread but if there is one, mods feel free to delete/merge this one.

I believe the most useful would be to attach a screenshot of your recent battery drain which shows which app has used what percentage battery life over the last charge cycle. For the sake of consistency, please only include information where there is a linear drain, ie, the graph is of a single cycle and it does not show multiple charging peaks.

Also add information about how you used your phone and any other relevant information for battery life. Do include age of the smartphone and charging habits.

I'll go first:
  • S23 Ultra 5G 512GB US model
Less than 2 weeks old, been charging it to 100% but will now switch to 85% limit.
Screenshot is yesterday's usage.
  • Used for about 2hrs with high/max brightness outside, used camera for about 10 minutes.
  • 5G and 2G off, phone connected to WiFi most of the day except for about 5 hours.
  • AOD set to notifications only. Limited S-Pen use. Most apps in deep sleep, disabled a lot of unnecessary apps/bloat through Universal Android debloater (including Bixby and Google Assistant)
  • Generally good network coverage except for about 4 hours with only 1 bar and intermittent WiFi/mobile data usage.
  • Adaptive battery and adaptive brightness on throughout.
  • Bluetooth off the entire time but listened to music via apple USB C dongle for about 2.5hrs.
  • Location used for about 30mins total. Have background scanning, google location accuracy, ultra wide band (UWB) and location history turned off.
  • Charged phone to 100% before hitting the sack the previous night; there was a tiny +2% peak at 40% since I was transferring some files around end of day.
Let me know if I'm missing something!
Click to expand...
Try to distinguish between being on Wifi and Data. In this case, I don't think your being on data made a difference.

There was a guy who used to make battery videos that I considered the best on YT. sadly he's not active these days.

Latest Samsung he tested was the S20

What I liked about his videos is his use was fairly consistent whether on wifi or data. If you watch more of his battery videos you get a real feel of what battery life is like on various phones under normal usage.

Once I saw his videos I could tell who was faking it on XDA. The problem with SOT threads is that many guys testing the same phone under different conditions is much harder to understand than one guy testing many phones under similar conditions.

Having played with BBS the Xda app, how good your standby is depends largely on the signal where you are. If it is weak the difference can be telling. An hour or more of SOT less would be normal in that case compared to someone that was stationary with a good signal. One indicator of this is how much % battery dropped overnight after a full charge.
 
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blr_p said:
Try to distinguish between being on Wifi and Data. In this case, I don't think your being on data made a difference.

There was a guy who used to make battery videos that I considered the best on YT. sadly he's not active these days.

Latest Samsung he tested was the S20

What I liked about his videos is his use was fairly consistent whether on wifi or data. If you watch more of his battery videos you get a real feel of what battery life is like on various phones under normal usage.

Once I saw his videos I could tell who was faking it on XDA. The problem with SOT threads is that many guys testing the same phone under different conditions is much harder to understand than one guy testing many phones under similar conditions.

Having played with BBS the Xda app, how good your standby is depends largely on the signal where you are. If it is weak the difference can be telling. An hour or more of SOT less would be normal in that case compared to someone that was stationary with a good signal. One indicator of this is how much % battery dropped overnight after a full charge.
Click to expand...
I understand the concerns regarding inconsistent testing methodologies, but that's a part of the reason why I made this thread - so people can see and compare battery life they are getting based on their usage of a device. My intended purpose was to have a sort of database/archive/history of phone usage styles and corresponding battery life, so if someone is thinking of purchasing a phone, they could look up and see what battery life people are getting based on different usage styles.
Laboratory conditions are anyway not achievable in life and on this forum I doubt many, if any, have the patience to do so. Together we can document and put forth useful info for all to use, with context provided. The reason why I put this line as well, to make sure context is not lost when sharing information:
Stronk said:
I believe the most useful would be to attach a screenshot of your recent battery drain which shows which app has used what percentage battery life over the last charge cycle. For the sake of consistency, please only include information where there is a linear drain, ie, the graph is of a single cycle and it does not show multiple charging peaks.
Click to expand...
 
Stronk said:
I understand the concerns regarding inconsistent testing methodologies, but that's a part of the reason why I made this thread - so people can see and compare battery life they are getting based on their usage of a device. My intended purpose was to have a sort of database/archive/history of phone usage styles and corresponding battery life, so if someone is thinking of purchasing a phone, they could look up and see what battery life people are getting based on different usage styles.
Laboratory conditions are anyway not achievable in life and on this forum I doubt many, if any, have the patience to do so. Together we can document and put forth useful info for all to use, with context provided. The reason why I put this line as well, to make sure context is not lost when sharing information:
Click to expand...
He tests over several days sometimes even over two weeks. This way you get an average of what the ballpark SOT figure is. I'm saying one test isn't enough. You need to do several under the same conditions. He's done several days of just Wifi maybe a couple of data only. That is much better than several guys with the same phone doing it under different conditions. Unless they too post numerous tests. Do you understand?

Just watch his videos. He spends more time on battery testing than other bigger names spend on doing an overall review. He's done over twenty phones like this and all I ever needed to do to know how a phone would perform was to watch his video for that phone once I understood his thinking. He started those videos because nobody is doing it right and now that he's out the picture isn't any better. Because it takes effort to do. Battery life is an afterthought that no reviewer can be bothered to take a proper stab at.

You don't need lab conditions, his tests are all real life keeping variables to a minimum where possible. What one can realistically expect under a standard set of conditions. Whatsapp, social media, YT, phone calls. Very ordinary stuff that 99% do even power users. Brightness on auto. About as dumbed down as it can be and how a layperson would use the phone without any tweaks. That's not too hard to do is it.

I found him good to within an hour of SOT whenever I got the phones he reviewed. That's really good for a topic most do not understand and still come up with a usable result that even the aam admi can use.
 
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blr_p said:
You don't need lab conditions, his tests are all real life keeping variables to a minimum where possible.
Click to expand...
Again, you're missing the point of the thread - it's not to "test" these devices. For that, reviewers like GSMArena and others exist with what some may call are objective numbers.
The point is to share how people's usage affects battery life. The objective is not to keep variables to a minimum but to share the battery life each person is getting depending on how they use it. Hence why I placed an emphasis on the context as well. The point isn't to spend days testing battery life, but to share how the days are going with a handset for an individual(s).

If you are looking for an objective analysis of battery life then this thread is not for you. If however you want to see how different people with the same handset are getting different battery life and what may be the reason behind the same, and how one can improve their battery life/usage patterns based in the same, or make a purchase decision, then please post your SOT/battery life as a data point for others to see.

If you're here just to question the reason of existence for this thread, kindly step away or ask the mods to ban it if it's such an issue of sharing non-objective stats; but please don't keep complaining about it and contributing nothing - it is starting to look like this thread is being derailed (and yes, I realize this reply is part of the problem, but mods please clean up thread if needed).

I'm done discussing this.
 
Stronk said:
Again, you're missing the point of the thread - it's not to "test" these devices. For that, reviewers like GSMArena and others exist with what some may call are objective numbers.
The point is to share how people's usage affects battery life. The objective is not to keep variables to a minimum but to share the battery life each person is getting depending on how they use it. Hence why I placed an emphasis on the context as well. The point isn't to spend days testing battery life, but to share how the days are going with a handset for an individual(s).
Click to expand...
What I proposed isn't objective. It's anecdotal and if done in a consistent way is good enough to figure out quickly what a phone can do. It's the consistency that gives an idea of how the phone performs. You seem to not want to do that. Yeah, it's only this way you get a common set of figures. If others can reproduce that then you know its real-life use.

What you are doing is the same clueless way on XDA which is under varying conditions and makes it difficult to figure things out because the context is constantly changing. Some people get more SOT others less there is confusion without understanding why. Limiting the variables makes it easier to figure out. That means just use the phone normally without any tweaks ottb. Forget you're an expert user. Use the phone as your mother would.

GSMareana tests don't give an idea of real-world use. They are only good to test phones against each other under a limited set of conditions.
Stronk said:
If you're here just to question the reason of existence for this thread, kindly step away or ask the mods to ban it if it's such an issue of sharing non-objective stats; but please don't keep complaining about it and contributing nothing - it is starting to look like this thread is being derailed (and yes, I realize this reply is part of the problem, but mods please clean up thread if needed).

I'm done discussing this.
Click to expand...
I'm here to propose a better way of doing things. Upto you I'm not bothered.
 
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Fantastic battery performance as usual. Same stuff as before (wifi on all the time, bluetooth connected with smartwatch all the time, data used for about 4hrs) but with about 1hour of max brightness usage. About an hour of location usage. I have stopped carrying around a power bank now - no matter what, this phone delivers a consistent ~ 10hr SOT at 100% battery life.
Probably my last update here on this post till I notice any significant changes (such as, after an update). The battery in the SS was currently at 19%, having started from 85%.
For people who don't believe in sharing everyday experiences of battery life, please stay away from this post/mute this. Thank you.
1692315338782.png


Compared to the S22 Ultra where I was barely getting 7h of SOT from 100%, this is a massive improvement and overall very happy with my purchase. Easy 10+ SOT means I can charge my phone just once in the day (usually morning), and trust it to last at least one whole day and then some. I believe this is better for the battery as well since it gets charged fewer total number of times, although I am using a 30W fast charger for the phone when I do charge it. I had switched off fast charging on the S22 Ultra simply because I was charging it at least twice a day, sometimes thrice.
 
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My S22 Plus SOT
I regularly get about 7+ hours of SOT as per my usage.

Usage and details of phone
  • The Phone is 3 months old
  • Has a good battery health (SS attached below)
  • I use Samsung 45watt fast charger
  • Phone is mostly used on WIFI and Mobile Data is on in background (Even when connected to wifi)
  • Network mode is set to 5G preferred so the phone switches network as availability
  • Location, NFC, AOD, is always on
  • Phone is always on Ring + Vibrate
  • Media consumption is done via a TWS
Here are the SS :

25 AUG.jpg29 AUG.jpgBattery Health.jpg
If anything in the post needs correcting please feel free to correct me.
 
People don't really care about SOT anymore. This thread reminds me of the olden days at XDA. Nowadays 69 watt charging is the new normal.

Getting 6 hrs on average as long as I stay on WiFi and don't use the camera that much is fine by me, especially considering a 2 year old device which had been on the shelf for another 2 years prior is fine.

Thanks to Rahul's service I was able to get this Pixel 2 XL for a mere 14k from bhphoto on 4th July sale. Wish the service was still here :(
 

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Device - Redmi K20 Pro.
Usually gets 5+ hrs. of battery backup on my 4 years old device.
Battery health is above 90%.
I'm using 33watt supersonic charger from Xiaomi.
Mostly used on Wi-Fi & when outdoor used on Mobile Data.
Phone is used on ring + vibration & location is kept always on.
Also media consumed via Bluetooth.
Notes -
1. Phone is running on A13 custom rom.
2. Battery has been replaced last year.
3. I only charge my phone until 80% battery (using smart charging).

Below snap for reference.
1693929192119.png
 
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