Undependable battery life was probably the only major issue with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, and despite Samsung's promise of better power management because of the efficient Exynos CPU and fast and wireless charging support, neither of the two devices scored high on endurance on a single charge. The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ launched last month with pretty much the same hardware as the S6 and S6 edge, but with larger batteries under the hood.
But then again, 3,000 mAh batteries don't exactly inspire on phablets with 5.7-inch displays; the Galaxy Note 5 has a considerably smaller battery than the Note 4, but more efficient hardware and software optimization allow it to offer more or less the same endurance. We've been using both devices for about a month now (our reviews will be out very soon), and we can confirm that battery life is better than what we were expecting. It's not impressive, but that constant worry of finding a charging point that we had using the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge has been reduced by a fair margin.
We're sure many of you have bought either the Galaxy S6 edge+ or Galaxy Note 5 in recent days, and we would love to know what kind of battery life you have been getting. For some it's probably too early to ask as their devices might not have settled down enough to be giving the highest possible battery life, but even the early days are a good indication of how good a smartphone can be when it comes to chugging along without needing a charge. So, do let us know about your experience through the poll, and also through the comments section!
Update: Well, the votes are in! More than 2,000 people voted despite our poll going live extremely quickly after the two phones' launch, and it seems the consensus is that both the Note 5 and the S6 edge+ have battery life that's above average for most users. Our own experience has been pretty respectable on the two 5.7-inch phones, and we have to say we're glad to see people aren't seeing the same poor battery endurance that was almost a common feature on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.
At the end of the day, battery life can vary greatly depending on how someone uses a smartphone, and our poll speaks for but a fraction of the number of people that might have bought one of Samsung's latest flagships. Quite a number of people (26 percent) selected the “Still carrying a charger everywhere I go” option in our poll, so it's clear that Samsung still has some work to do. But overall, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ seem to have brought enough improvement in one of the most important features of a smartphone, and we can only hope the next hero device from the Korean manufacturer makes things even better.
Our poll is open until this weekend, so if you haven't yet, do let us know about the battery life on your Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 edge+!
- Could have been better 18%, 899 votes899 votes 18%899 votes - 18% of all votes
- Could have been better 18%, 899 votes899 votes 18%899 votes - 18% of all votes
- It's great! 18%, 897 votes897 votes 18%897 votes - 18% of all votes
- It's great! 18%, 897 votes897 votes 18%897 votes - 18% of all votes
- Still carrying a charger everywhere I go 13%, 634 votes634 votes 13%634 votes - 13% of all votes
- Still carrying a charger everywhere I go 13%, 634 votes634 votes 13%634 votes - 13% of all votes
