[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Accessories] strangename:
I've seen a few posts about spare / replacement batteries for the Galaxy Note. This one is about the Mugen Power 5400mAh Extended Battery (HLI-N7000XL) specifically designed for the Note (N7000 / International model). This is an internal battery, not a plug-in external unit.

To be clear, I'm not a professional reviewer and have no vested interests in Mugen. This is not a scientific review but based on my actual experience. For a more controlled scientific analysis of battery discharge time bv the minute, or whatever, you'll need to look elsewhere. However I believe it's real life experiences which really matter.

I tend to pick up first impressions of a product based on the visual quality of the packaging, case finish, instructions, etc. The Mugen product did not disappoint at this stage. It was simply packaged but effective in protecting the contents and easy to get into. The instructions where easy to read and make it clear that it's necessary to fully charge and discharge the battery for 3 or 4 times before it carries a full charge. This took well over week to achieve due to the long life of the battery between charges!

The Mugen battery is, as you might expect, physically larger and heavier than the stock Samsung Galaxy Note battery. But the increased size offers in excess of a doubling in capacity so with normal use needs much less frequent recharging. Indeed the main points of my comparison are size/weight, longevity, and price/value.

Physical Size and Weight

The thickness of Mugen 5400mAh battery at around 13mm is a fraction over twice that of the standard 2500mAh Samsung Note battery. This means the stock rear cover has to be replaced by a deeper one to accommodate the larger battery. The Mugen battery comes complete with the larger cover, which also incorporates a neat flip-out side stand. This turned out to be a handy addition and one I increasingly found myself using. The replacement case felt to be of at least as good quality as the original and fitted perfectly. The overall thickness of the Note roughly doubled so the overall effect isn't as sexy as the thin original, but in practise I found the Note was easier to hold, particularly when out and about. The Mugen case was also slightly pimpled, similar to the original, which gave a feeling of confidence that it wasn't going to slip out of my hand.

On to the battery itself. The weight of the stock Samsung Note and battery is around 180 grams. The Mugen 5400 and Note weighed in at around 240 grams. This represents an overall 25% increase in weight. In practise the heavier battery slightly changed the weight balance of the Note but after picking up and using the Note a few times I hardly noticed it. It did feel heavier when in my pocket but not uncomfortably so. I also found I could no longer slide the Note into some of my smaller pockets. To quote a great Yorkshire friend of mine: "You get owt for nowt", which in this case basically means if you want a larger capacity battery it'll take up more space and weigh a bit more! (This is almost true because Mugen do also market a slightly larger capacity standard sized battery at the original size.)

Longevity

First, just in case you don't know what mAh means: It stands for milli-Amp hour and basically it's a measure of battery electrical capacity or storage 'size'. Everything else being equal, the bigger the number the longer the electrical power should last. The issue is that for many non manufacturer supplied batteries everything else is not equal. The inequalities range from mislabelling/over ambitious claims (I call it lying), to poor battery design such that it overheats or leaks or just fails sooner than it should (some might call them cr*p batteries). Of course such inferior batteries are usually cheaper to buy!

I tested the stock Samsung Galaxy Note 2500mAh battery with WiFi and GPS permanently enabled and sync set to 30 minutes. I used the Note frequently throughout the day for 2G (voice and text), WiFi and 3G surfing, Facebook, Twitter, newsfeeds, email, diary and the occasional game. The battery was charged overnight using the USB from my Desktop, and so started the day at 100%. By 15:00 it was down to 30%. By 19:00 it was down to 10%.

I then did the same using the Mugen 5400mAh battery. By 15:00 on Day 1 the charge remaining was down to 70%. It reached 40% at 12:00 on Day 2 and 13% by 19:00 on day 2. Wow! This was over a doubling in elapsed time over the standard battery.

Real life experience:

The above test reflects much heavier use than I'd normally make of the Note during a typical weekday, where I'd see the stock battery at around 20% at 23:00 each day. At weekends I usually have to top-up the charge during late afternoon or risk running out.

Using the Note as I would more normally, but with the Mugen 5400mAh battery, I found that I used GPS more (I do a lot of walking and track my route) without worrying about running out of power. I was not having to think about saving power for later use as I knew there was plenty available. I also didn't have to top-up charge during the day at all. The Mugen battery comfortably lasted two days and sometimes three before reaching the 10% to 20% mark.

Price and Value

The RRP for the stock Samsung 2500mAh battery is around £20. This equates to 0.8 pence per mAh.

The RRP for the Mugen 5400mAh battery is £63 ($99) at time of writing. This equates to 1.16 pence per mAh. This price includes the replacement back cover.

So £ per mAh of capacity the Mugen is not a cheaper option, but it's all about usability. For instance you could always buy a second stock battery and manage the charging of two batteries at once, which means you'd also need to invest in a desktop charger at around £15, and be powering off the Note mid afternoon each day to swap out the flat battery. I'd soon get fed up with doing that!

For me and the way I use the Note this is a JDI. Just Do It (buy the 5400mAh Mugen). The few cons are far outweighed by the pros, and on the occasions when I want to show off the Note or make it a little more inconspicuous I can simply pop back in the stock battery and cover. But when I do I'd soon go back to using the 5400!

Details of the Mugen 5400mAh battery can be found on their site at mugen-power-batteries .com

I'll continue to use the battery and come back at some point with my experience of how well it stands up after prolonged use.