Samsung Galaxy Pocket battery life fully tested, results are inside

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket is a budget offering from Samsung, which aims to scrape the bottom of the Android barrel by luring users into the smartphone game for cheap.

It packs a meager 2.8 inch screen of QVGA resolution, a QVGA camera, and no real power-hogging connectivity features to speak of, so the 1200 mAh battery, despite being on the rather small side, should be good enough to provide ample power. Our barrage of battery tests should certainly help us see how well it actually does.

Official talk time for the Samsung Galaxy Pocket is 5 hours and 4 minutes on a 3G network. Our test shows that this is more or less accurate, as we were able to get just a bit under 6 hours . Still, that result puts it near the bottom of our talk time charts.

Talk time

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  20:24
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  12:14
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  11:07
• HTC One X (AT&T, LTE)
  10:35
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:20
• HTC One V
  10:00
• HTC One X
  9:57
• HTC One S
  9:42
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  9:40
• HTC Sensation XL
  9:30
• Nokia Lumia 710
  9:05
• HTC Vivid
  9:02
• HTC Rhyme
  8:48
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  8:42
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  8:41
• Meizu MX
  8:39
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:35
• Nokia Lumia 800
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  8:23
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  8:20
• HTC Rezound (LTE)
  8:10
• Samsung Galaxy Note (LTE)
  8:02
• Apple iPhone 4S
  7:41
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:25
• HTC Evo 4G LTE (LTE)
  7:21
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:14
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  7:09
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  6:57
• Nokia N9
  6:57
• HTC Radar
  6:53
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:52
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T (LTE)
  5:53
• Sony Xperia P
  5:33
• LG Nitro HD (LTE)
  5:16
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  5:10
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:00
• Pantech Burst
  4:46

Web browsing shows the same poor performance; the phone lasted just under 4 hours, which can be a blessing of sorts, since it will force you to spend less time browsing on that awful screen (note that we do our tests over Wi-Fi with the display at 50% brightness).

Web browsing

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  7:23
• HTC Radar
  7:17
• Apple iPhone 4S
  6:56
• HTC One V
  6:49
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:40
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  6:15
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  5:53
• Pantech Burst
  5:51
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  5:45
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  5:41
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  5:34
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  5:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  5:17
• HTC Rezound
  5:16
• HTC Rhyme
  5:08
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  5:07
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  5:03
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  4:50
• HTC Vivid
  4:46
• Meizu MX
  4:35
• Nokia N9
  4:33
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  4:24
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  4:20
• HTC One X
  4:18
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 800
  4:07
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  4:05
• HTC One S
  4:03
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  4:02
• LG Nitro HD
  4:00
• Sony Xperia P
  3:59
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:51
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  3:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

In video playback the Pocket does slightly better. The battery hit 10% (when we usually stop the test) at just over 6 hours, which puts it squarely in the middle of the pack.

Video playback

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:01
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  9:34
• HTC One S
  9:28
• Apple iPhone 4S
  9:24
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  9:07

• Nokia N9
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:00
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:55
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  7:52
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  7:45
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G 7:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  6:02
• HTC Vivid
  6:00
• HTC Radar
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 800
  5:52
• HTC Titan II
  5:50
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:47
• HTC One X
  5:45
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  5:44
• Pantech Burst
  5:38
• Meizu MX
  5:27
• HTC Rhyme
  5:23
• HTC One V
  5:20
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  5:18
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  5:09
• HTC Rezound
  5:03
• Sony Xperia P
  4:30
• LG Nitro HD
  4:17
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  3:28
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:27

When all’s said and done, the Samsung Galaxy Pocket will get you through the day if you talk for one hour over a 3G network, then watch an hour of video and then do an hour of browsing. In the end, you’ll still have charge left over and then some, as we’ve rated the device to last up to 34 hours if that’s your daily usage. However, the Pocket isn’t very capable in any individual category, so if you plan to do a lot of talking, you may want to keep a charger or at least a spare battery on hand.

While you could probably do worse in terms of battery life, the 1200 mAh-powered Galaxy Pocket is about as low as you’d want to go. While it does have a good standby time, if you’re heavy into calling or web browsing (we wouldn’t recommend this screen for web browsing even if it aced our battery test), then you could probably do better.