A Brief Look at the Nokia N95 US 3G, PT. 2- Battery Life Comparison

There's a huge difference between the N95 and the N95-3 and users are excited that the battery has been improved.  I had to test this out to see how much of a difference there is according to everyday life.  Let me start by saying that while I'm home, I usually leave my N95 on a charger.

Being a 10+ year Nokia user I'm still stuck on the old instructions that tell you to charge your device overnight before using.  Lol force of habit.  So I charged both devices overnight.

Before unplugging the devices at 8 AM I switched them both to GSM mode only.  Since I don't have 3G in my area there was no need to have it turned on.  I'm both a T-Mobile and AT&T customer so I was able to use the devices in exact methods.  I also made sure that I had bluetooth turned on.  Since bluetooth is a battery drainer I felt it necessary for this test, although others might not use it.

At 9:30 AM I logged onto the web in order to leave the internet connection open, which also drains the battery.  Now I'm not completely certain if this is the case with GSM phones, but with CDMA if you are roaming that's a bit of a battery drainer, so since there is only native AT&T coverage here I chose to put that sim in my pink N95 and use the T-Mobile sim card in the N95-3... I figured if roaming is a battery drainer it would be best to roam with the stronger battery.

During the day I made and received calls and text messages from both devices.  I transferred my whole music collection that's on the pink n95 to the n95-3 and after messing around with timing (pressing the play button so that both songs started at the same time) I listened to songs on both devices.  Lol, not quite stereo but it did sound a bit cool.  I have a playlist that has 27 songs on it and listened to the whole playlist.

I kept the WLAN search off all day because at this point I don't have a reason to use it.

Around 1 PM I had some running around to do, so I shut off the internet connection on both devices.  I decided to leave my Pink N95 home and travel with the N95-3.  This gave me the opportunity to get Nokia Maps working on it since I hadn't run that app yet.  I also downloaded some applications and browsed through MOSH.

Like watching a fight and waiting for that round when the contender finally decides to give up, around 9PM my pink N95 had to bow down.  Even with breaks during the day it still didn't stand the test.  About 5 minutes prior to these screenshots I had installed Jaiku for S603rd and had inquired about something that installed.  So I would say that was around 8:20ish... feel free to check my Jaiku presence for the exact post if you want verify the time.  But even around that time my Pink N95 was beeping to let me know that I had a low battery.  The N95-3 was still at full bars, and at 12:47am as I'm typing this post I'M STILL AT FULL BARS!!

So exactly what does this mean?  It means that Nokia listened to the requests of their users and improved the battery! 

Now the next request would be to make a similar battery for existing N95 users. 

If there is anything that I might have left out that you would be interested in my testing, just drop a comment.

Comments

[Icyhot1966]

Thanks for the review of the battery. I sure would love to have this beautiful device, then I could give my current N95 to my daughter. Unless it falls out of the sky though, it isn't gonna happen LOL. I had to choose between this and taking her to Disney World. DW easily won out :)

[Abdullah]

I have same question which one of the guys already asked. Can you put this new battery in old N95?

[ACTPOHABT]

Were both batteries absolutely new? Cause batteries tend to hold less down the road of using them.

[Lalit]

Dear Darla,
I would be really surprised if they have actually changed the battery of N95-3 it's quite costly to do so. I suspect that they have done a big firmware update. In my previous company we could gain as much as twice battery life by just improving the battery consumption by the software. So there is a good chance that if they back port the battery consumption fixes to N95, you may be able to get better battery life in your existing N95 with just the firmware update. It's cheaper for us customers as well !!
Cheers,

[emc]

Thanks to the test so all of us aware now...........

It's important you shown your test as at least me is avoiding the new N95 due to it's former model is so bad in terms of battery life.

I was thinking getting N81 due to it's size compare to new N95 which is slimmer., and now battery is improved so I might consider the new 95 due to it's much larger screen...... :-)
(but still thick)

I should check also Nokia site to see if they point out this improvement too.

Thanks again.

[uwsider]

This is great, your time spent doing this is MUCH appreciated! Its a shame you don't have 3G in your area to take full advantage of browsing speed :)

Any chance to do a quick comparison of the GPS (both with A-GPS) to see if n95-3 is better at picking up a signal

[Darla]

@ACTPOHABT
Very very good point!! Unfortunately, it wasn't a brand new battery that was used in my pink N95. I'll have to update this possibly while in LA and see if I can get my hands on a newer battery.

@Abdullah
No you cannot use the BL-6F in the regular N95.

[Sparkbox]

@ACTPOHABT

FYI they did change the battery that has been the big news for the past month! The old battery was bl-5f 950 mAh. The new battery is the bl-6f 1200 mAh. Also the size is different (the bl-6f is bigger) which is why the N95-3 does not have a lens cover anymore.

[Nick]

This is the best news I've read in any blog in a LONG time!! Thanks for doing this comparison, Darla!!

[olly]

"Dear Darla,
I would be really surprised if they have actually changed the battery of N95-3 it's quite costly to do so. I suspect that they have done a big firmware update. In my previous company we could gain as much as twice battery life by just improving the battery consumption by the software. So there is a good chance that if they back port the battery consumption fixes to N95, you may be able to get better battery life in your existing N95 with just the firmware update. It's cheaper for us customers as well !!
Cheers,"

They are different models of battery, FYI,

-olly

[James]

This is excellent news! I tend to charge mine in the car during the day, but it would be nice to go back to a phone that could perhaps last 2 whole days without charging.

[Jeremy]

Hey Darla, thanks for all of the information you've provided on this device. As far as I'm aware this is the first non-prototype unit that's been spotted in the wild, and I'm really glad to see it finally hitting our shores.

I'm surprised to hear that battery life is improved by that kind of margin. I know it's not an apples to apples comparison (as others mentioned, batteries do lose maximum charge over time) but it's already clear that this is a massive improvement. Going a day without losing any bars on is great for any phone, much less an S60 device! I know 3G will sap that some, but it looks like you could turn 3G off and use the device for days on end if you needed to.

Have you tried to see how long a single charge will last with normal use (i.e., charge it once and see how many days you can go before it's dead)?

I'm going to be in NYC this weekend and will probably pick up the new N95 regardless. I'm curious about another thing though - I'd heard a rumor that only the "sand" color will be available initially, but the one you have looks like the "black" color. Do you have any more info on which colors we should expect at release?

[Mazor]

Nice comparison! One has to wonder about your pink N95's battery being considerably older and hence would exhaust faster than a brand new BL-5F?

In my experience I have found that high draining devices whereby I have to charge every day from near empty to full, lose their ability to hold the same charge as when they were brand new.

MAzor

[Rajaie.AlKorani]

Wow,nice to see nokia has finally learned to respond to peoples complaints.

[Viipottaja]

I would think the real test is when it IS actually connected to 3G. That's what its built for, so that's really the more relevant test than just comparing it to the original N95.

In any case, so far so good and sounds promising! :)

[Alex]

We absolutely loved your in-depth encounter with the Nokia N95-3. We provided a link on T-MobileSignal to this review. Thanks again!

[Popy]

check this out!

http://mynokiablog.com/2007/09/28/nokia-n95-with-1200mah-bl-6f-battery-its-possible/