Tech
Galaxy S23 Battery Life vs. Galaxy S22: Samsung’s New Phone Gets a Boost
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This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.
When I reviewed the Galaxy S22 last year, my biggest criticism was its relatively short battery life. Thankfully, Samsung has addressed that shortcoming with the Galaxy S23, which launched on Feb. 17 and includes a larger battery and a more power efficient processor.
The Galaxy S23 doesn’t offer record-breaking battery life, but it’s enough of an improvement to make me feel comfortable using it on a busy day without carrying a charger. That’s more than I could say for the Galaxy S22, which left me with battery anxiety on long days spent away from a power outlet.
Petite Android phones like the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S22 can be hard to come by, which is why I’m glad Samsung made this fix to its 6.1-inch flagship phone.
Galaxy S23’s bigger battery makes a difference
Lisa Eadicicco/CNET
Samsung increased the Galaxy S23’s battery capacity by 200 mAh compared to the Galaxy S22. The new phone has a 3,900-mAh battery, while last year’s device has a 3,700-mAh capacity. But that’s not the only factor influencing battery life.
The Galaxy S23 family runs on a version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that’s been optimized specifically for the Galaxy S23 series. Samsung says this new processor brings better power efficiency, contributing to the phone’s longer battery life.
Even after spending a short time with the Galaxy S23, these changes are noticeable. The Galaxy S22’s battery would sometimes dip to the 30s or 40s by roughly 9 p.m. after a long day in the office. I even had to borrow a colleague’s charger once while attending an all-day work event because I was worried I wouldn’t make it to the evening. (I typically had the always-on display turned off and the refresh rate set to standard instead of adaptive).
My experience with the Galaxy S23 has fortunately been very different so far. I still had 64% of my battery left by 12:36 a.m. on a recent Sunday when I took the phone off its charger at 10 a.m. that morning. However, it’s important to note that I also wasn’t using my phone very frequently that afternoon. I was spending time with my family for a large chunk of the day, so I mostly kept my phone tucked away in my pocket, only retrieving it to occasionally check my texts or take a photo.
But even on a busy day, the Galaxy S23 still had more of its battery left than the Galaxy S22 likely would have. After a day of running benchmarks, taking lots of photos, recording videos and streaming YouTube videos as part of my review testing, I still had 46% of my battery left by 9:45 p.m. That’s not so bad when you consider the Galaxy S22 sometimes had 30 to 40% of its battery left by around 9 p.m. after using the phone heavily throughout the day. I also left the adaptive refresh rate setting turned on most of the time I spent with the Galaxy S23.
To further test the battery, I put each phone through a 45-minute endurance test and a three-hour battery drain test. During the 45-minute test, I continuously streamed videos on YouTube, made a video call, played mobile games and scrolled through social media feeds to see how much of a dent these everyday tasks would make in each phones’ battery. For the three-hour test, I streamed YouTube with the display brightness set to 100% and checked the battery percentage once every hour to see how much it had drained.
Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S23 beat the Galaxy S22 in both tests, as you can see in the tables below.
Galaxy S23 vs. Galaxy S22 45-minute test
| Galaxy S23 | 91% |
|---|---|
| Galaxy S22 | 89% |
Galaxy S23 vs. Galaxy S22 3-hour test
| 1 hour | 2 hours | 3 hours | |
| Galaxy S23 | 95% | 88% | 81% |
| Galaxy S22 | 91% | 81% | 71% |
It’s important to remember that battery life will always vary depending on how you use your device. Factors like screen brightness and the types of apps you’re using will impact battery life, so your experience may not directly mirror mine. For example, even though I sometimes struggled to get through a whole day using the Galaxy S22, I was able to preserve roughly 60 to 70% of my battery by 9 p.m. with the always-on display turned off on days mostly spent at home.
How to get the most battery life out of your Galaxy S22
Lisa Eadicicco/CNET
If you own a Galaxy S22 and are struggling with battery life, there are a few steps you can take to maximize your device’s longevity. First, try turning down the screen brightness by pulling down from the top of the display to access your phone’s quick settings menu.
You’ll also want to make sure the adaptive brightness setting is disabled to prevent your phone from automatically boosting brightness when needed. While that can be a useful feature under normal circumstances, you might not want the brightness to increase when you’re trying to conserve battery life. Open your Galaxy S22’s settings menu, choose the display option and make sure the switch next to adaptive brightness is toggled off.
It’s also a good idea to try turning off the adaptive refresh rate and always-on display settings if you’re trying to extend battery life, which you can toggle in the settings menu.
Samsung devices have a power savings mode that disables certain settings to make the battery last longer. Open the settings menu, select the battery and device care option and then tap battery to access it. From this battery menu, you can also limit battery usage for apps that you don’t use very often.
If that’s not enough, you can try purchasing a portable charger or power bank to power up your device on the go.
With its new $700 price, the Galaxy S22 is a tempting choice alongside the $800 Galaxy S23. Just remember you’ll be sacrificing some battery life to get that cheaper price.
Tech
The video game industry’s annual trade show E3 is canceled again as organizers say they will ‘re-evaluate the future’ – Fortune
E3, the annual trade show of the video game industry where upcoming titles are unveiled and showcased, has been cancelled for 2023—and many observers suspect the event might finally be over for good.
The Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop, which had been hired to organize this year’s show, announced the cancellation late Thursday. The news came after a growing number of game publishers, including Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Tencent, announced they would not take part in E3 2023.
Both the physical and digital events were scrubbed. On the E3 Website, the two show organizers declined to address whether they would attempt another gathering next year, saying only “both parties will re-evaluate the future of E3.”
That’s a tremendous U-turn from the hyperbole of the show runners last July, when they claimed E3 2023 would set “a new benchmark for video game expos in 2023 and beyond.”
News on #E32023 from the source. pic.twitter.com/BK7TUlb8mZ
— E3 (@E3) March 30, 2023
The last physical E3 was held in 2019, where attendees were able to get their first hands-on time with Google’s Stadia cloud-streaming service and Microsoft began discussing “Project Scarlett,” which would become the Xbox Series X. (Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake earned “best of show” honors.)
The ESA cancelled the show in 2020 due to the pandemic and held a digital version in 2021 that met with mixed reactions, at best. In 2022, it once again cancelled both the digital and in person show.
While E3 is dead, the industry is still likely to unveil upcoming games over the course of the summer. Ubisoft plans to host an event (likely online) around the same mid-June time frame E3 was scheduled for. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will likely hold their own showcases. And Summer Game Fest, hosted by Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley, will take place on June 8 in Los Angeles.
While many in the industry are mourning the apparent death of E3, the wheels for the show’s diminishing relevancy were set into motion a decade ago. In 2013, Nintendo broke tradition and announced it would not hold its traditional pre-show press conference, opting instead to talk directly to fans via a Webcast and offering demos of unreleased games at Best Buy stores around the country in conjunction with E3.
That initial Nintendo Direct proved to be an effective way to talk directly to customers, without the filter of the media. In the years since, all of the major console manufacturers have embraced it, as have many third-party publishers, such as EA and Ubisoft.
And even in 2013, some analysts were questioning whether the show could survive.
“With the acknowledgement that most of the growth, in a general sense, in gaming is coming outside of retail, E3 is going to take another tick down,” said John Taylor, who was with Arcadia Research Corp, said at the time. “I think we’re going to start hearing discussions about how important E3 is. … It may end up being too big of a venue.”
Many car makers tout smartphone connectivity as a selling point, but GM won’t in the future. In a Reuters interview, GM digital chief Edward Kummer and executive cockpit director Mike Himche say GM will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with upcoming electric cars, beginning with the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV. Instead, you’ll have to rely on Android Automotive and its apps.
Users will get eight years of free Google Assistant and Google Maps use at no extra charge, GM says. The company doesn’t mention what you’ll pay if you still need those functions afterward. We’ve asked GM for comment. It will still offer CarPlay and Android Auto in combustion engine models, and you won’t lose access on existing EVs. GM plans an all-electric passenger vehicle line by 2035.
The company argues that Android Automotive provides more control over the experience. There are upcoming driver assistance technologies that are “more tightly coupled” with navigation features, Himche says, and GM doesn’t want them to require a smartphone. Kummer also acknowledged that there are “subscription revenue opportunities.” Don’t be surprised if you’re paying a recurring fee for certain features like you already do with some brands.
Android Automotive has a growing footprint. On top of GM, companies like BMW, Honda, Polestar, Stellantis, Volvo and VW are adopting it with or without Google apps. However, the platform doesn’t preclude support for CarPlay or Android Auto. GM is deliberately dropping those features. While this could lead to some innovative driver aids, it could also force you to mount your phone if there’s an app or function the EV’s infotainment system doesn’t support.
The decision is a blow to Apple. Its services may not have native support in GM EVs. The iPhone maker is also developing a next-gen CarPlay experience that can take over the entire dashboard — GM just ruled itself out as a potential customer. If Apple is going to have more control over your drive, it will have to turn to other marques.
April Fools’ Day has not yet arrived quite yet in 2023, but that hasn’t stopped Sega from celebrating. The company stealth dropped a new Sonic the Hedgehog game for free called The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, which lets players solve, as the title says, who killed the Blue Blur.
This game is currently on Steam and takes around 70 minutes to complete. It’s a text-based adventure where players have to piece together clues and use them to prove a suspect’s alibi in order to figure out who “killed” Sonic in a Glass Onion-style murder mystery gone awry. There are also small runner levels where players control Sonic and collect rings while dodging obstacles.
Sega put out a cheeky trailer with the game, too, saying it had “heard the feedback” and was taking the franchise in a whole new direction.
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The video game industry’s annual trade show E3 is canceled again as organizers say they will ‘re-evaluate the future’ – Fortune
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