What is "SOT" in the phone, and why is it important?

You may have seen on the Internet that somewhere in the specification of the phone you see the abbreviation "SOT", so it was not clear to you what it was. In fact, the answer is very simple: "Screen On Time".

You can find out the SOT information only from the phone users themselves, for example on forums, blogs, comments on social networks, etc. The reason for that is that the manufacturer himself cannot, or does not want to, write how much the SOT is.

Galaxy S7 SOT XDA forum

The case in which the company cannot write the amount of SOT:

Companies simply cannot afford the resources (time and money) to test a device to obtain a SOT number. The process would take a long time and would require certain funds, and every minute and dollar are important. That number is not even important to them for selling phones, moreover, it can reduce sales for the following reason.

The case in which the company does not want to write how much is the SOT:

The SOT number is always lower than "Battery life", so it is not good for marketing. That's why manufacturers will always write "Up to XY hours of battery life" - pay attention to "Up to...". This is a marketing ploy that companies use because they can put in a bigger number.

Let's say "Battery life UP TO 12h" sounds tempting, doesn't it? But those 12 hours are feasible only in some of the ideal conditions they created for testing. The average user will hardly get that much with one charge.

But even to get as much as it says, it is by no means 12 hours of active phone use. This is where the SOT parameter comes into play. It shows how many hours you can actively use the phone with the screen on.

How to calculate SOT?

You can find this parameter in the settings and in the section where they write information about battery consumption. Somewhere you will see a list of applications ranked from those that consume the most battery. Somewhere near the top, there will be an item "Screen", ie. "Screen". When you tap on it you will see how many hours the screen has been used since the last charge - it's SOT!

Galaxy S7 SOT

And then you can charge the phone to 100% and use it normally, then write down the SOT when the battery drops to 1%, for example. Repeat the same at least 7 times and extract the average SOT by the arithmetic mean.

Why watch SOT at all?

When buying a phone that you don't know much about, in addition to the classic specifications, be sure to look for SOT. This information will mean a lot to you because you will know much more precisely how long the battery lasts from charging to charging.

Of course, if the phone has a stronger battery, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to use it longer from charging to charging. It happens that a phone that has a stronger battery drains sooner because the software is not well optimized. This is where Bloatware applications come into play, and can "choke" the phone, so it is recommended to remove them if they are not used. Basically, it is recommended to watch SOT instead of just Battery life.