Samsung Galaxy A36 5G Review

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G Battery Life Tests

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G is powered by a 5000 mAh Li-Pol battery with 45W fast charging support. It arrives with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and without a charger in the box. All battery life tests are developed by us. They are performed with the device's screen being calibrated to 200 cd/m². Battery-saving features are disabled. The Galaxy A36 5G has some built-in battery-saving features that cannot be controlled, hence, the 3D/Gaming tests have not been run because the result wouldn't be comparable. All test results and battery life comparisons are below. The Galaxy A36 5G charged from 0% to 100% in 2 hours and 2 minutes. We used the unit's own USB cable and a Samsung 45W charger. The battery settings contain a battery protection feature for charging. For the sake of receiving a valid comparable result, this feature was turned off while performing this test. The charging process maintains a relatively steady pace from the start until the battery charge reaches 90%. This takes a bit less than 1 hour and 40 minutes. After that, the process slows down visibly and it takes 25 minutes to charge the battery to 100%. The battery temperature is quite stable from the start until the end and within very low levels. It starts at 33°C and slowly decreases to 32°C.= only to increase back to 33°C. After the battery reaches 90% of its charge, the battery temperature starts decreasing together with the slowing down of the charging process and in the end, it measures 30.5°C. For this particular charging test, we have also recorded and shown in the graph above the battery voltage during charging as this can give more insight into the process. The graph demonstrates that the battery voltage records a jump in the beginning and settles down after the battery reaches 30% of its charge. After that, it dynamically shifts from 3900 mV to 4200 mV. The 4200 mV level is standard for Li-Ion(Pol) batteries. When this level is reached, the voltage develops in parallel with the charging process. The graph also demonstrates that the voltage reaches a plateau of just below 4500 mV when the battery reaches 88% of its charge - that's actually the beginning of the slowing down of the charging process, which, however, gets visible a bit later on the green line graph. During our intensive browsing test with the refresh rate set at 60Hz, the Galaxy A36 5G battery lasted for 11 hours and 15 minutes. The discharging process develops steadily from the start until the battery drops to 1% of its charge. It maintains this 1% for 7 minutes before shutting down. Again, the battery demonstrates a very controlled temperature behavior - almost during the entire process it measures 31°C. With the display's refresh rate set at 120Hz, the Galaxy A36 5G battery lasted for 9 hours and 36 minutes. The discharging process draws the same graph as the one observed during the 60Hz browsing test. This time the 1% level is maintained for even longer. The battery temperature measures 31°C from the start almost until the end when it drops to 30°C. The video test for battery life uses a 1080p video at 30 fps with a ~20Mbps rate. The Samsung Galaxy A36 5G battery lasted for 19 hours and 25 minutes in this test. The discharging process follows the same pattern with a minor hunch in the middle of the process, suggesting a slight increase in discharging speed. The 1% level at the end is retained for around 45 minutes. The battery temperature starts at 24°C, reaches 27°C in 20 minutes, and gradually increases to 28°C, remaining at this level until the end. The 4K video battery life test uses a 2160p video at 30 fps with a ~55 Mbps rate. The result from this test is 15 hours and 47 minutes. The discharging process marks a slightly slower start this time, an even subtler hunch midway, and sticks to the 1% ending, which continues for around 30 minutes during this test. The battery temperature starts at 33°C, drops to 28 in 30 minutes, and remains at the 28°C-30°C level until the end.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G Battery Settings

The Battery menu is a typical One UI one. The "Learning usage patterns..." sign should go away within a week after you start using the device. At least one full cycle of charging-discharging should be done. During this time, the system will learn how you use your smartphone and adjust accordingly to save battery life automatically. For example, it can turn Wi-Fi on or off when it knows you might not be using it and may also put some of the apps you rarely use to sleep. The first toggle appearing below the battery status data is Power Saving. Even though it is turned off by default, when you tap on it, it opens an additional list of options that you can customize when the device enters power-saving mode. These include but are not limited to limiting the CPU speed, turning off the AOD, dimming the display, switching to a 60Hz refresh rate, etc. There's a maximum power saving toggle that limits the number of apps and functions on the Home screen.

"Background usage limits" is the second menu in the battery settings. From here, you can control whether to put apps to sleep or not. The "Battery protection" option has three levels. The default one is "Basic" and allows the battery to charge to 100% but when this level is reached charging stops. The "Adaptive" level stops charging at 80% during the time you're asleep and switches to "Basic" before you wake up. The "Maximum" level is when the battery stops charging after it reaches 80%. We recommend this setting at all times for any smartphone with a Li-Ion battery for optimum battery health. "Battery activity" shows the battery usage level by data, the screen on and off time, and battery usage by app and function. The "Charging settings" include two toggles - fast charging and show charging information. "Battery information" is the last menu in the battery settings. It includes the battery status, level, capacity, health, cycle count, manufacture date, and first used date.