The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is a the water resistant version of the regular S4 and just like it has a Snapdragon 600 chipset with the four Krait 300 cores clocked at 1.9GHz and a 2,600mAh battery.
But the two differ on one key factor for the battery test – the screen. AMOLED and LCDs both have their strengths and weaknesses, so let’s see which one does better when you draw the line.
Call time should be unaffected – after all, the screen is off. That wasn’t the case, however, as the Galaxy S4 Active lasted an hour and 20 minutes less than the Snapdragon 600-powered S4. We’re not sure how to account for the lost time, but we did notice some software differences, so this may be it.
Talk time
- Huawei Ascend Mate25:12
- BlackBerry Q1020:00
- Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.319:54
- Sony Xperia SP19:49
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)18:03
- Samsung Galaxy Note II N710016:57
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Active16:40
- Sony Xperia Z16:03
- LG Optimus G15:30
- Sony Xperia ZL15:22
- Nokia Lumia 72015:17
- Nokia Lumia 62014:17
- Pantech Burst4:46
Next up is the web browser – you’d think that the LCD will be more efficient in displaying mostly white pages, but it made next to no difference in the end (a 10 minute improvement is unsubstantial). It’s a very good time nonetheless and the difference is easily explained with the higher brightness of the Galaxy S4 Active screen compared to the regular Galaxy S4.
Web browsing
- HTC One9:58
- Nokia Lumia 6108:01
- HTC One X+7:56
- Sony Xperia E dual7:42
- Samsung Galaxy S III mini7:38
- Nokia Lumia 7207:37
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Active7:35
- Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)7:24
- Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX7:23
- HTC Radar7:17
- Nokia Lumia 5207:15
- Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos7:09
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus3:01
The video playback time was quite different, as can be expected. The Super AMOLED can save energy in darker scenes, but the Galaxy S4 Active only managed 7 hours. Again, keep in mind that the LCD is brighter than the Super AMOLED, which also ate into the battery (but might be more favorable to the viewing experience in certain cases).
Video playback
- Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)16:35
- Samsung Galaxy Note LTE7:30
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover 27:30
- Sony Xperia SP7:27
- Nokia Lumia 6107:23
- LG Optimus G7:16
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Active7:03
- Nokia Lumia 7206:43
- Meizu MX 4-core6:33
- Nokia Lumia 6206:32
- HTC Windows Phone 8X6:27
- Sony Xperia E dual6:27
- Nokia Lumia 7103:27
The standby power draw of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active was essentially the same as its non-rugged sibling, but the lower talk and video playback times brought the endurance rating by half a day. The endurance rating shows how often you can go on a single charge if each day you make calls for an hour, browse the web for an hour and then watch an hour long video..
57hrs
3G Talk Time: 16:40h Web Browsing: 7:35h Video Playback: 7:03h
We expected the Galaxy S4 Active to take a hit in battery life, but not quite as much (the talk time in particular was unexpected). This is a rugged phone, which you will presumably take outdoors (away from wall plugs), so battery life is important. On the other hand, you won’t be doing much web browsing in the forest.
As far as city life is concerned, the Galaxy S4 Active still offers very good battery life and its user removable battery lets you carry a spare for those occasions when you go for several days without access to a power outlet.
