Earlier this year, the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active was released as an exclusive to AT&T in the U.S. and was meant to be a more rugged version of the original Samsung Galaxy S5. Most of the specs remained unchanged but it did have a new external design that was meant to give some extra protection from the bumps and bruises that occur when carrying it about on various adventures. It also included a suite of features that Samsung called the “Activity Zone”. The Activity Zone featured things like a barometer, a compass and a stopwatch, things that Samsung assumed that people with active (see where they were going with this?) lifestyles would enjoy having on their smartphones. After its release, however, many Galaxy S5 Active users were unhappy with the on-board 2800 mAh battery and found that their phone would lose power fairly quickly. Well, these folks should fret no longer as Mugen Power Batteries has come up with a pretty great solution to this problem.
AT&T Galaxy S5 Active users can now purchase a 5900 mAh Lithium-Ion battery that, according to Mugen, will extend the battery life of the S5 Active by 2.11 times. Nikolai Lebedovsky, the CEO of Mugen Power Batteries, states that “What we’ve done here is something very special. We focused on the consumer during the design and execution phases. That’s what has made the difference. We’ve doubled the longevity of the manufacturer’s battery. That’ll get users through the day and more. That’s what we set out to do, and that’s what we’ve done.” This battery retails for US$89.50 and can be bought directly from the Mugen Power Batteries website.
While this is great news for Galaxy S5 Active users, one can’t help but wonder what the implications could be for the smartphone market as a whole. Battery life is something a lot of people have complaints about in regard to their smartphones and if you don’t have a removable battery it can be quite frustrating. Having a device with a removable battery is a highly coveted feature, especially for those who put their smartphones through heavy use during the day. If their first charge runs out of juice they can simply swap it with a second battery that’s charged and ready to go. However, having a super charged battery like the one discussed here would completely eliminate the need to swap batteries and it would solve a major problem for all the people who do not have the removable battery option. If smartphone manufacturers see lots of their customers purchasing batteries from other companies, it may make them sit up and take notice and start including super-charged batteries in their devices right out of the box. Here’s hoping.