Battery life of smartphones is something we all wish was better. Especially ones like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with a huge screen and 4G LTE. Last week I had the pleasure to test the Mugen Power extended battery for the Galaxy Nexus coming in at 3900 mAh — a huge improvement over the stock 1750 mAh battery. I wanted to see if it would last the entire weekend. Read on below for my full results and plenty of pictures.
Thursday and Friday we made sure to charge the new Mugen Power 3900 mAh extended battery multiple times to give it a good cycle and drain before testing. You can see our hands-on here. The goal was to have it last throughout the entire weekend and I’m happy to report that we achieved just that. The standard 1750 mAh battery that comes with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus barely lasts 8-9 hours on a good day (for me) and using the extended battery I charged up Friday night and it died Monday morning — I loved it.
Now I must start by saying yes the extended battery is fat and ugly, but if you don’t want to fumble with multiple batteries throughout the day or week this is an awesome solution. Before I continue on I’ll just go ahead and post up my results for everyone to see. The Mugen Power 3900 Ext Battery made my Galaxy Nexus last for 2 days and 7 hours — the entire weekend!
Sure, the phone might look like a humpback whale (thanks YouTube) but check out those results above. Now I might not be the heaviest user ever but I do browse the web, check 1000’s of tweets daily, have push email enabled and more so I use my phone plenty. At first I was completely thrown back by the price ($98) and the ugly fat look of my phone but if you can get over that, or are used to using extended batteries you won’t have any issues.
After using the phone for the entire weekend I got used to the larger design and almost completely forgot about it. I found myself using that kickstand too — even though it feels extremely cheap. This review is more than just the battery life, it’s also about build quality. That is where things go downhill for me. I love the battery life, and believe it or not I could actually get used to the larger size but the low build quality really threw me off.
The kickstand is super useful and I enjoyed it, but it makes the entire thing feel extremely cheap and really ruins the experience. I’d rather Mugen lose the kickstand in favor of a better more durable battery cover, but that is just me. The rest of the battery door is solid, durable, has a great soft-touch texture for an easy grip and more but that kickstand is a major drag.
I’m happy to report that I’m actually still using the extended battery from Mugen Power this week and I’ve not charged my phone since Monday evening. If they tossed out that kickstand feature and increased the build quality this would be extremely hard to say no to. Whether it will become my everyday battery is still up in the air as I continue testing the durability of the rear cover and kickstand.
Do I recommend this extended battery? Absolutely! Will you want to use a fatter, heavier phone that looks a little funny is up to you. Get it today from Mugen Power’s online store at the link below.
Verizon Galaxy Nexus 3900 Extended Battery
[device id=2091]
Would’ve been nice to see additional screenshots, mainly the most important one not being total battery time, but “Screen On” time, reachable by selecting “Screen” in the menu right before the extended graph.
It’s great to get 2+ days, but if you only used the phone for a grand total of 45 minutes of screen time, and was using the Battery Saving Wifi antenna instead of cellular, then a 2 day battery is expected – get what I’m saying?
Seidio has an extended battery (with NFC, I might add), and their battery door doesn’t feel/look cheap like Mugen’s does. In addition, Seidio gets my vote because they actually have cases that fit the phone with the extended battery. Granted, my Galaxy Nexus has effectively become a tank and I *need* to use Swype for text input, but I think it’s worth it.
Thanks for taking your time to field-test this and opening people’s minds to the possibility of extended batteries.
Can you please confirm that the stock test had WIFI turned off, and the Mugen test had it on?
Hi I was wondering how is the battery still holding up for you? Please post more details and experiences here! 🙂
How did you get 8 hours out of the stock one?! I get that with the extended one if I’m lucky. Streaming audio and playing a bit of angry birds does it in…
I’m sorry but how do these newb like people get these jobs? Because like another post I noticed the WiFi battery saving radio was on in extended battery s.s. but not the regular battery and its 1850mah I do believe on ver Gnex.
Like most of you I know more than a lot of these reviewers he’ll the salespeople at cell phone stores don’t know shyte either.
You cheated and I had a similar battery on evo3d it’d last me the day but I’m a real user. I play games, browse the web(puffin) Facebook have email sync set to manual and this guy didn’t even show how long the display was on for. I call bullshyte
With battery 100% charged, i took nexus out for my run. I run RunKeeper (GPS on) and TuneIn apps (3G and bluetooth for my heart rate monitor). My run is only 1hr 30min and when i checked the battery status again, it has 80% juice left.
Secondly, i could not find any cases or belt pouch to hold the nexus now. Can anyone recommend where to buy one?
did you get the 3900 mugen battery? does it last long?
I bought the 4000mAh type. Not impress by it. On average, one hour of usage would consume 20% of battery juice. I’m simply using TweekDeck, Facebook, Chrome web and Pulse.
One hour of non stop 4glte usage on battery is pretty heavy duty for any phone!
I saw a nice little DIY video with extended batteries and otter box defender cases. Essentially, you just use the front piece of plastic, and wrap the silicon around it like normal, just don’t use the back piece of the case. It works cause the front plastic piece grips and locks the silicon, but youd have to check on that. I know it works on the rezound, but you should be able to walk into best buy or similar and give it a try. This way you can use the included belt holder as well, and get some decent protection in the process. Maybe worth a look.
Thanks for your reply. I had been using this extended battery for a month now and Mugen battery lives up to its name. Solid and good battery. I do not have to worry whether it could last till i go home to recharge. I do not have to think or restrict myself to use the mobile for internet, research or social activities. The battery is always enough. I could use my Galaxy Nexus continuously on the internet for 5 hours. But so far, i only use it for 3.5 hours of on screen a day.
However, it would be very good if Mugen could sell us mobile case for extended battery that Mugen sells just like Seidio battery.
🙂
Probably check ebay for just the battery door – in the past I’ve reached out to sellers and explained that my door “broke” and they sent me just the door itself after a paypal transaction ($15ish),
Seidio has some awesome cases and belt holsters for the extended battery, part of the reason I finally jumped on the bandwagon for this phone.
Thanks for the review! I just ordered a Galaxy Nexus and was wondering if there were extended batteries available.
I have a 2700 mAh Mugen battery for my Galaxy S, and while the battery is great (and I too found myself using the chintzy kickstand), the case material is poor quality and has already broken on every corner from a few drops, while the stock rear cover is unblemished (after many more drops!).Glad to hear this one has a more durable back cover with soft touch plastic unlike the brittle glossy plastic of the Galaxy S extended battery.
We worked on our quality when it comes to backcovers quite a lot, so the new ones are much better than the old ones.
Glad to hear it!
Btw, we can replace the backdoor for you if you still use our battery. Contact us on twitter and we will do that.
That’s pretty cool
Thanks 🙂
anyone else have exp with the battery? where did the author go???
You can check with our fans on Facebook or on Twitter. We have an extensive following.
Ok so I got my order of this exact battery. I can happily report the battery is actually very strong and I love it. Glad I got it cause I love my Nexus and the larger and crisp screen. So glad didnt trade for the ugly Razr. Given my phone is not a tool I use to get girls with, I dont mind it looking bigger. Its a tool for me to be productive with, not to get girls with so its looks is not a high priority for me.
Amazing! Thanks Tom!
uhhhhmmmm. dude had wifi on for the 1st test but not the 2nd test….
very nice observation ..
True, but if you look closely you’ll realize that he had the wifi turned on while testing the Mugen battery. And it was turned off while running the stock battery.
I think this should primarily be viewed as a testament to the power of the Mugen battery since it outperformed the stock battery by so much even with the disadvantage of having Wifi on the whole time, while the stock did not.
…I’m not bias, I haven’t purchased this battery yet but I am considering it. Hopefully the battery cover does a better job than the that of the comparable Seidio version. http://www.seidioonline.com/galaxy-nexus-3800-extended-life-battery-nfc-p/bacy38ssgnln-bk.htm
True, but if you look closely you’ll realize that he had the wifi turned on while testing the Mugen battery. And it was turned off while running the stock battery.
I think this should primarily be viewed as a testament to the power of the Mugen battery since it outperformed the stock battery by so much even with the disadvantage of having Wifi on the whole time, while the stock did not.
…I’m not bias, I haven’t purchased this battery yet but I am considering it. Hopefully the battery cover does a better job than the that of the comparable Seidio version. http://www.seidioonline.com/galaxy-nexus-3800-extended-life-battery-nfc-p/bacy38ssgnln-bk.htm
I can’t speak to this particular phone/battery combo, but in my experience getting the larger extended battery has always been worth the money. No amount of slim stylish elegance can make up for a dead phone.
I would add a 10,000 mAh brick to the phone if I could get one that fit with a cover. I know you can charge a battery with an external battery, but it’s not very efficient.