Biggest Galaxy Note 8 Surprise? The Battery Life

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Despite its relatively small 3,300 mAh battery, the Note 8 is one of the longest lasting flagship phones.

You could almost hear the collective groan from prospective Galaxy Note 8 buyers across the web when one key spec became official: 3,300 mAh.

The battery inside Samsung’s new phablet has less capacity than both the Galaxy S8+ and the previous, ill-fated Note 7 (both 3,500 mAh). As it turns out, there's no need to worry.

Credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide

(Image credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide)

We’ve put this 6.3-inch beast through the ringer in our full Galaxy Note 8 review, and it turned in quite and impressive runtime on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test. It involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE (in this case, on T-Mobile’s network) on 150 nits of screen brightness.

Galaxy Note 8 Battery Life vs the Competition

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Galaxy Note 811:11
Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom16:46
OnePlus 513:06
Galaxy S8+11:04
Galaxy S810:39
iPhone 7 Plus 10:38
Moto Z2 Force10:23
LG G68:39
Essential Phone 8:09
Smartphone Average9:40

The Note 8 lasted a strong 11 hours and 11 minutes before conking out. That edges out the 11:04 the Galaxy S8+ turned in, as well as the 10:39 offered by the Galaxy S8.

To put that endurance in perspective, the iPhone 7 Plus lasted 10:38 on the same test, and the Moto Z2 Force hit 10:23. The LG G6 turned in a lowly 8:39, and the smartphone average is around 9:40.

So why did the Note 8 last so long despite its relatively small battery? Samsung didn't reveal many details, but it has apparently made some optimizations for efficiency to go along with the fast and efficient 10nm Snapdragon 835 processor inside the device.

There are certainly other phones that last longer on a charge. For instance, the Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom is the marathon runner of Android handsets, as it endured for an epic 16:46. The OnePlus 5 is another handset with excellent battery life, lasting 13:06 in our test.

Still, by surpassing the 11-hour mark, the Note 8 makes our list of the longest lasting phones. And it’s seemingly small battery shouldn’t deter you from investing in this device.

Mark Spoonauer
Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom's Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • perry.megginson
    Did you max out the resolution?
    Reply
  • justbarry
    So with:
    Note 8 battery that is 5.71% SMALLER (NEGATIVE impact)
    2GB additional RAM (NEGATIVE impact)
    Screen TINT bit bigger (NEGATIVE impact)
    IDENTICAL SoC with NO performance tweaks/boosts (neutral impact)

    You REALLY expect someone to believe the comparison between the 8+ and Note8 is accurate?
    How many runtime tests were run? Was a script used to achieve identical usage pattern? What temp were the devices at? How many apps were installed and setup? Were the phones tested factory reset/new out of the box? So MANY factors the results you offer are TBH laughable. It is PHYSICALLY impossible for the Note8 to achieve a longer runtime than the 8+. Pretty sure physics says so. Oh and chemistry too.
    Reply