Helio Fin (Samsung SPH-a513) Cell Phone Review - Battery Life
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Alfredo Padilla Published on August 29, 2007 Comment on this |
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Call Time (4.42)
To test call time on the Fin we make a phone call to the handset using Skype and pipe an audio book through the connection to simulate conversation. We then time how long the phone lasts until the battery runs out. The Fin didn't perform particularly well in our test, lasting 3 hours and 21 minutes. This is at the low end of performance, as you can see from the chart below, and is not that surprising given how thin the Fin is and that it runs on a 3G network. Three hours and 41 minutes should be sufficient for those who only use their phones occasionally, but champion talkers will probably find it dies on them quickly.
| Cell Phone | Talk Time | Score |
| Helio Fin | 3 hours 41 mins | 4.42 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 5 hours 0 mins | 6.00 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 4 hours 43 mins | 5.66 |
| Nokia N75 | 2 hours 23 mins | 2.86 |
| Nokia N73 | 7 hours 48 mins | 9.36 |
| Sprint Upstage | 6 hours 37 mins | 7.94 |
Music Playback (5.64)
To test music playback performance we set an album to loop continuously while playing on speaker and time how long it takes for the battery to run out. The Fin lasted 7 hours and 50 minutes in our test, a reasonable time compared to other phones, although nowhere near the best we've seen. You should be able to listen to music for several hours a day, in addition to other functions.
| Cell Phone | Music Playback Time | Score |
| Helio Fin | 7 hours 50 mins | 5.64 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 7 hours 25 mins | 5.46 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 13 hours 55 mins | 10.02 |
| Nokia N75 | 5 hours 36 mins | 4.03 |
| Nokia N73 | 9 hours 51 mins | 7.09 |
| Sprint Upstage | 25 hours 34 mins | 18.41 |
Web Browsing (3.80)
To test the performance of the battery while browsing the Web we point the phone's browser to a page that is set to automatically refresh every 10 seconds. We ensure the screen stays on during the entire test and time how long it takes for the battery to run out. The Fin lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes, which is not a very impressive time. The Fin already showed us we shouldn't expect too much out of it in terms of battery performance given its talk time, and it connects to the Internet via a battery-draining 3G network. It's a good thing the Fin's browser doesn't entice you to browse too much, because if you did you'd quickly find yourself looking for an outlet. It should be noted, however, that the Fin isn't alone in its poor browsing performance.
| Cell Phone | Browsing Time | Score |
| Helio Fin | 3 hours 10 mins | 3.80 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 5 hours 0 mins | 4.68 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 2 hours 32 mins | 3.04 |
| Nokia N75 | 2 hours 42 mins | 3.24 |
| Nokia N73 | 6 hours 8 mins | 4.92 |
| Sprint Upstage | 6 hours 10 mins | 7.40 |
Idle Time unscored
In order to ensure we can deliver reviews in a timely manner we do not test idle time, as this can run days or even weeks. The stated standby time for the Fin is eight days.
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