When it comes to increased capacity batteries for the Samsung Galaxy SIII there is no shortage of overseas suppliers for them them on the market and we have chosen to review the Mugen battery as they were nice enough to offer it to us first.
OVERVIEW
Firstly I want to thank Mugen Power for supplying me with a large capacity battery to do review and o2 for the SIII to test the battery on.
If you cast your mind back to 2001 when the Samsung A300 was launched you will realise that battery life has always been a problem and Samsung back then tried to combat this problem by providing two batteries with devices (a Standard Li-Ion, 900 mAh and a Slim Li-Ion, 570 mAh with the A300) however back then our devices weren’t deemed smart and the requirement for power from a device was no where near as much as it is today.
The Galaxy SIII doesn’t by any means have the worst battery life of modern day devices however with a standard 2100mAh battery holding a charge of up to 21 hours and 40 minutes on 2G and up to Up to 11 hours and 40 minutes on 3G it’s not hard to imagine why there is a need for an extended battery that wont require having to be charged at least one (sometimes twice for heavier users) per day.
According to Mugen Power, the battery they supply will last 2.19 times longer than that of the 2100mAh battery supplied by Samsung. Will this be a true statement or are they living in a land where unicorns and leprechauns run free?
DATASHEET
- Cell Type: Li-ION
- Voltage: 3.8v
- Capacity (mAh): 4600
- Battery Door: Included
- Original Battery Model: EB-L1G6LLU (2100mAh)
ANALYSIS / REVIEW
The first thing I noticed was the size of the battery. This battery was no lightweight by any stretch of the imagination and coming in at over double the width of the standard battery it was very much in need of the additional rear cover that was provided to house the behemoth.
It’s also worth mentioning at this point that the rear cover doubles as a stand and is at least twice the strength of the regular back casing.
The battery itself fit very snugly into the battery slot, infact maybe a little too snug if I’m being honest. The downside of this is taking the battery out (for those days when you don’t want to look like you are carrying a phone that pre-dates the dinosaurs); it is a little tough to say the least though I guess over time this would ease off.
The instruction guide that came with the phone suggested that the battery gets a full 8 hour charge for the first 3 or 4 occasions of usage to ensure it reaches it’s maximum potential so accordingly I gave the device the love and attention that it so needed to get going and left the device powered off overnight to ensure it took a good 8 hour uninterrupted charge.
Now I could go on forever discussing how it looks, how it feels and the like but for you guys I guess you just want to know how it performed right?
I would consider myself a fairly average user of my phone, I use it on WiFi as much as possible and 3G when it’s not available and I have the screen on quite a bit as I check my emails, social networks and generally faff around with it so without further ado here are the results.
At 08:10 I switched the device on the rest as they say was history…
As you can see, with a battery life of 2 days and 3 hours the Mugen 4600mAh battery more than out-performed it’s OEM counterpart and not only that but it took around 3 1/2 hours to drop from 4% battery to dead which is pretty amazing.
The one thing I have chosen to leave to the end though is what happened at 2% and why we don’t have a screenshot for periods after that…
At 11:30 I got a call on the handset which lasted just short of 5 minutes – yes folks, a 5 minute call, which admittedly did run the battery dry, on a 2% charge was just astounding.
IN THE BOX
- 4600mAh Battery
- Replacement back cover for handset
CONCLUSION
When it comes to battery power and over-performing, the Mugen 4600mAh battery blew me away. Any battery that will last over 2 days for me is a well worth the money but when you have a battery that will allow for a 5 minute phone call on a 2% battery level you simply can’t be without it.
I sat and thought, what if I was out in the car and broke down somewhere and my regular 2100mAh battery was all I had and was sitting at 2% charge, would I be OK to make that call to the roadside assistance people? Not a hope…
This battery is worth it for that piece of mind alone and is more than worthy of its 5 Land of Droid’s rating in my eyes.
You can buy a 4600mAh battery for the SIII on their website for just $88.95
Our Rating 5/5:
