[REVIEW] PolarCell 3400mah Note 4 Battery

[patriotaki]

PolarCell 3400mah Note 4 Battery Review​

You always wanted some extra power “juice” for your smartphone, even with the Note 4 which has very good battery life.
PolarCell sent me their Note 4 Battery with 180mah more capacity compared to the OEM Samsung battery.
Lets get started and see how it looks…

The battery itself has a simple minimalistic Design and matches with my White Note 4 very well.
It weights 1 gram more than the OEM battery and fits perfectly on the phone

Battery Life
Compared to the OEM Samsung’s original battery the battery life of PolarCell was as I expected , same SOT(screen on time) with more idle time .

Day 1 :
On first day use without calibration I managed to get 4hours and 30minutes of SOT from a full charge with almost 23hours in total use.
And I had 13% of battery juice left, that means I could get easily 30minutes more of SOT with Power Saving ON

Day 2 :
Day 2 was better I managed to get 1day and 5 hours from a single charge and 4hours and 20minutes of SOT and I had 15% more battery to spend.
I found myself browsing and using social apps a lot.

Later on you will see Day 3 and 4 , nothing different there just using Whatsapp,Viber,Browsing,Facebook,Instagram and Snapchat a lot and 3G/4G is ON most of the time.

Day 3 :

Day 4 :

Gamebench
Running Asphalt 8 on Gamebench shows the exact same results with both batteries.
Galaxy Note 4 (Snadpragon 805, SM-N910F)
Median FPS: 42
FPS stability: 65%
Battery Life: 4h 12m


Pros :
- Can charge wirelessly
- Slower draining
- Higher total wake on times
- NFC Compatible
- It doesnt add any extra bulk, fits perfectly

Cons :
- I really don’t see any con on this product , there is nothing wrong buying a higher capacity battery in the same size.

Conclusion :
The battery is just an upgraded version of the OEM one, I barely noticed any difference. Its always better to have more capacity , but it always depends on how you use your phone.
With this battery you will NOT get more SOT time, you will just get higher Total wake on times.
I noticed that when the status of the Note 4 is idle the battery is draining slower compared to the original battery.
I will stick with this battery because I get better total wake up times, so far the product seems very reliable and stable. Works fine with the QiReceiver and can charge wirelessly.
Overall the product has a German – premium – quality that only gives you extra benefits. I recommend this battery to anyone.

You can get your own battery from here :
ebay link

 

[|Black|]

thanks for the review. I'm expecting my Note 4 to arrive in about 2 weeks from today so I will probably get this extra battery as well

 

[bobn]

i assume this battery does not quick charge(qualcomm chip). i have not seen any after market batteries that do contain

 

[rafpigna]

What is the ROM and Kernel you are using?
Thanks

 

[badnaffy]

So with this Batterie i can not use fast charging? I am right?

Gesendet von meinem SM-N910F mit Tapatalk

 

[spexwood]

I too am curious about fast charging, as well as if you are using any custom ROMS or kernels. My ATT Note 4 can only use stock stuff.

Also, some other questions:

Does the battery fit properly in the phone? ie, no wiggling, sliding, etc?

Does the battery heat up any more than stock?

And finally, does the phone register the correct battery level? ie, the battery level doesn't decrease normally, but then stay at, say, 5% for a few hours. OR, the battery percent doesn't decrease and then magically increase a few % randomly?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[|Black|]

The fast charging is a very good question, as it would limit the capabilities of this battery.

I have also noticed in your comments that you mention wireless charging, but couldn't find the info anywhere on the ebay page or when googling for the battery.
Can you please confirm this is working as well?

Thank you.

 

[spexwood]

I emailed the Polarcell seller via Ebay to ask 2 questions.

First- in case anyone is interested- this battery will work in any Note 4 using the EB-BN910BBU model of battery. This should include the US Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T versions of the phone.

The second question was in regards to the fast charging. The guy said that it does work, but it isn't recommended. To me, the reason for not recommending it had nothing to do with the battery itself, but rather the long-running debate of whether fast charging affects battery life (speed of drain) or long-term battery health (battery degradation over time).

His response:
"Regarding the fast charging: it works with our battery but in general we do not reccomend it. Fast charging does not use the whole capacity of the battery and the overall performance is not as good as using regular charging."

So there we have it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[spexwood]

Update:
I just ordered one. It will be here in a few weeks since it's coming from Germany and I live in the US.
I'm really interested in the longer standby time since I average about 2hrs of SOT every day, so more standby time would be nice.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[stilkus]

i assume this battery does not quick charge(qualcomm chip). i have not seen any after market batteries that do contain

Fast charging chipset is imbedded in your Note4. this battery just accepts whatever the phone provides it in terms of power. Fast charging has been there for decades but it can easily overheat a battery and shortens it's lifespan. It's recommended to use slow charging and charge overnight, slow charging stays a tad longer by the way, but just a tad.

 

[spexwood]

Hey guys, I just got my battery about 2 hours ago. I charged my phone while eating dinner (normal charge, not fast charge), and took the phone off the charger at about 92%. I've been on Tapatalk now for about 16 minutes and have only lost 2% battery. With my stock battery, I think drain was a little faster.

I can't make conclusions yet though. I will need until Friday night to tell for sure whether this battery is any good. During weekdays, I use my phone about the same way every day, so I tend to come home with about the same amount of battery left. So I'll easily be able to tell how this new battery compares to the stock one.

I will say this though:
I've bought a few "slim extended batteries" before for other phones. All turned out to be Chinese low quality batteries. They tend to be some cheapo plastic battery with a sticker wrapped around them. This Polarcell battery is really nicely made though. It has similar build quality as the stock battery, and the label is printed directly onto the metal casing of the battery. I'm impressed with the build quality at the very least so far.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[haidar7]

Very nice

My note 4 gives me 4 hours and 30 minutes of SOT. I was hoping this one lasts much longer than 5 hours.. but still 5 hours and little bit more is still good..

 

[spexwood]

My note 4 gives me 4 hours and 30 minutes of SOT. I was hoping this one lasts much longer than 5 hours.. but still 5 hours and little bit more is still good..

I guess I can report back now.
First of all, 3400mAh isn't that much more than 3220mAh. So it lasting "much longer" than the stock battery is an overly high expectation.

I pretty much use my phone the same way every day, with the exception of the occasional higher-than-usual day. I pretty much end my day with 5% more battery than with stock. I can't give you a SOT estimate since I usually end my day with about 2-3 hours of SOT and between 20-30% battery remaining.

Overall, the battery does last a little bit longer than stock, but nothing amazing. However, the build quality of the battery is excellent. It's not a cheap Chinese battery made of plastic. This thing is of equal or higher quality to the OEM battery!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[haidar7]

I guess I can report back now.
First of all, 3400mAh isn't that much more than 3220mAh. So it lasting "much longer" than the stock battery is an overly high expectation.

I pretty much use my phone the same way every day, with the exception of the occasional higher-than-usual day. I pretty much end my day with 5% more battery than with stock. I can't give you a SOT estimate since I usually end my day with about 2-3 hours of SOT and between 20-30% battery remaining.

Overall, the battery does last a little bit longer than stock, but nothing amazing. However, the build quality of the battery is excellent. It's not a cheap Chinese battery made of plastic. This thing is of equal or higher quality to the OEM battery!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Thanks alot for ur reply.. i still find it a very interesting battery and i am thinking about ordering it..

 

[patriotaki]

Thanks alot for ur reply.. i still find it a very interesting battery and i am thinking about ordering it..

You should you will be just another happy customer

Sent from my SM-N910F using XDA Free mobile app

 

[spexwood]

You should you will be just another happy customer

Sent from my SM-N910F using XDA Free mobile app

Yeah, it's a good battery. It just won't give you any amazing increase in battery life. It does increase life a little bit, but not by hours.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[patriotaki]

yep... as mentioned in my review you dont see big improvement in battery life , you just get some extra juice and it works better in idle mode

 

[dancrow]

I also bought this battery several days ago from the same store on eBay Germany as you all..
Checking the amperage, did you guys mange to find an application to show the real 3400 mAh value on battery proprieties?
Using system settings and CPU-Z, PhoneInfo or AIDA64 still showing as 3220mAh. Is this OK?

 

[redzion]

Today I ordered this battery. When I will receive battery I will do complete report etc... Also I receive notice that it will be send from Germany.

Sent from my SM-N910C using XDA-Developers mobile app

 

[lohigno]

Waiting for you review man.