Thinking of chosing a S4 over the next iPhone, but questions

[Deleted User]

Had a Moto Droid A855, then switched to an iPhone 4s. We went and checked out the S4 at Verizon for an hour or so, and seems pretty nice.
Every App except for 7 (photo filters and a couple games) on my iPhone is available, or I had purchased previously from the Google Play store I would want.

However I had a couple concerns- Battery life and screen brightness.

How is the battery life of the S4 for 'average' use? I plan on disabling NFC as well as all the gesture controls as not interested. This follows into my 2nd question:

Screen brightness - the display model had the brightness cranked to max, if I turned it down to 1/2, it was really dim in my opinion. Does keeping brightness at about 3/4 really kill the battery?

I don't want to have to use a battery case or extended battery, or carry around a spare battery with me. I really can't find any battery tests for this phone that provide any detail.

 

[Canesfan]

I've had iPhones prior to my close to six months experience with the S4. Battery life is inversely proportional to one's screen brightness setting. It is definitely less than the iPhone's battery life with average, as well as, heavy use.

We can debate the two formats, ad nauseum, and can make cases for either platform. The reality is that there are definitely pros and cons of the Android format vs. IOS. A few of the Android pros are the greater ability to personalize, upgradable external memory, and the replaceable battery. If battery life is your main concern with Android, I don't think it's a big deal carrying around an extra battery during periods of heavier usage.

 

[Deleted User]

I've had iPhones prior to my close to six months experience with the S4. Battery life is inversely proportional to one's screen brightness setting. It is definitely less than the iPhone's battery life with average, as well as, heavy use.

We can debate the two formats, ad nauseum, and can make cases for either platform. The reality is that there are definitely pros and cons of the Android format vs. IOS. A few of the Android pros are the greater ability to personalize, upgradable external memory, and the replaceable battery. If battery life is your main concern with Android, I don't think it's a big deal carrying around an extra battery during periods of heavier usage.

Thanks for the input. Battery life on the iPhone 4s is disappointing at around 6 hours, so I believe either a S4 or iPhone 5x (whatever it may be named) would be marginally better.

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

Battery life for me, moderately heavy use (mail, web, gmaps, loys of wifi) and I always have lower when out goes to charger at night.

The screen is bright and on par with my sister's iPhone install. But, her outdoor visibility is noticeably better.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I've owned iPhone and several Android devices. The S4 has the best battery life of any I've used. I easily get 10hrs with moderate to heavy use. I suspect the display S4 had auto-brightness enabled (its default), which most people find unsatisfactory. I have it disabled with the slide setting in the middle, and it is plenty bright.

 

[Goodspike]

I use my phone constantly throughout the day to check email and websites (no video) and I seldom go below 70% (except during that roughly 2 week period Google Services was using up battery). I use the automatic brightness setting, have most gestures turned off, but do have NFC on.

I really like the automatic brightness function--I don't think I've ever had to turn it off. Much better than on my old Moto D2G.

 

[itsallgood]

I've had my S4 for four months now and the battery life is great. I'm a heavy user and get 14 to 16 hrs of battery life. Using auto brightness with around 4 hrs On screen time. WiFi for around 14 hrs a day. Bluetooth and streaming Pandora for 2hrs. I have 3 email acct. That update every 4 hrs. 8 home screen widgets that update throughout the day. On the web a few hrs and doing a lot of reading for about 2 to 3 hrs.

I have a spare battery that I carry with me, but have never had to use it. (Better to have it then not to.) With moderate use, about 1 to 2 hrs on screen time, I can get 18 hrs easily.

When I play intense video games, Ashalt 7 or the Sims, battery goes down much faster.

 

[LaTuFu]

My wife uses her iP4s for work, constantly on calls and sending texts and emails. She carries a charger around with her at all times because its usually just about dead. This is after over a year of constant daily use, so I'm not surprised the battery is dying.

My S4 does well with screen brightness on auto, WiFi disabled (don't need it in my area, strong 4G coverage) and GPS disabled most of the time. 4-5 email accounts, I do not have FB installed as an app (the silent battery killer, IMO) instead I go thru Dolphin Browser if I want to look on FB.

I am generally at 50-60% by the end of the work day with moderate to heavy use. I carry a spare battery with me, it makes it nice on those days where I won't be going home right away and I can just swap batteries and keep going.

The S4 battery performance definitely stacks up very well compared to any other smart phones out there. I'm sure its not the best, with the size of its screen, but it definitely is not the worst. My SGS1 and SGS2 were much harder on batteries than this one has been.

 

[lotus49]

No smartphone has good battery life but the S4's is at least decent and the ability to replace the battery is a major plus. I carry two spares (they came as a pair) and even using it constantly all day with poor reception and playing games for hours, my spares have kept me going.

On a normal day I don't need to replace the battery but really heavy use can see battery life down to 5 hours. I have a iPhone 5 as well which I use for work and I do get better battery life but I don't really like it so I use it far less than my S4 so it's hard to compare.