The "Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders" vs ROG5 Preview: Branded vs Original
by Andrei Frumusanu on August 16, 2021 10:00 AM ESTBattery Life - A Horrible Downgrade
Battery life for the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders is interesting for one fact alone: Qualcomm and ASUS’ decision to equip the device with a much smaller 4000mAh battery. While that figure alone isn’t particularly small for a regular device, the industry has seen steadily growing battery capacities over the years. 4000mAh is actually the same size battery that ASUS is employing in the small form-factor Zenfone 8, and the ROG Phone 5 has a massive 6000mAh unit, so naturally we’re expecting quite a massive difference in the battery performance.
As expected, the 60Hz web browsing scores of the SSI are just horrible and massively disappointing. At 10.38 hours runtime, this is only 62% of the battery life presented by the ROG Phone 5 under the same test conditions. The SSI’s battery is 66% of the sibling device’s size, and the further difference could be explained by the more aggressive performance characteristics of the SSI.
At 120Hz, which I opted for instead of the 144Hz maximum of the phone just for apples-to-apples purposes, the device ended up as the shortest lasting high refresh phone we’ve recently tested. At only 60.9% of the ROG Phone 5’s battery life, we’re seeing two polar opposites in terms of the runtime in our chart.
In PCMark, it’s again the same story. Besides the Exynos 2100 regular small S21, the Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders ends up as the worst performing device in recent testing.
Overall, the SSI is just a perplexing phone. For the little weight difference and 0.4mm thickness differences, we’re getting a phone that’s really only less than two-thirds of the ROG Phone 5 when it comes to the battery life. This puts it amongst one of the worst performing Snapdragon 888 devices on the market when it comes to battery life, which is abysmal.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
43 Comments
View All Comments
29a - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
I was thinking to myself why would anyone pay that much for a non Apple phone.Dakhil - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Did Qualcomm not learn from McDonald's? Because a skin temperature of 59°C sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.Leeea - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
that is only 138F, what are you complaining about?Another 7 degrees and it would be at a safe temperature for cooking pork. Now that would be a sweet secondary function.
Spunjji - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Qualcomm SSI PorckChop EditionMassacreHugs - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
I seriously don't understand how there's a market for phones heavier than 140 grams for hardcore users. What kind of herculean fingers do you people have? My fingers and wrists are on fire with the case off on a 5.2 inch by the end of the dayabufrejoval - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
I am afraid you really only have one choice: You really need toa) stop using your phone while driving (or similar)
b) use you other hand for touching
Millions of Chinese women with deinty hands manage devices far bigger using this approach.
As to hardcore: Perhaps a PC or laptop might also help getting through 8-12 hours of "hard core" a day?
And for nails a hammer might do better, too.
DillholeMcRib - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
Some people think "hardcore" means being tough enough to use a 6 - 7" screen to do your work while you have a elite desktop rig w/ triple monitors sitting across the room.eastcoast_pete - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
What's this? A "smart" phone for dumb buyers?As an otherwise convinced Android user, this phone is one of the best arguments to get a top flight iPhone instead; for what this thing here costs, you can get much better value for your money. Or just get a decent, current Android phone, and buy 2-3 really nice ANC headsets with the money you saved.
drajitshnew - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
You said it. At this price an iPhone makes sensebrucethemoose - Monday, August 16, 2021 - link
Its is rather worrying.If Qualcomm has dreams of pushing ARM laptops, and maybe even ARM desktops some day, is this what we can expect from 1st party hardware?