Hello Google Android world, please welcome this shameful WinMo apostate into your ranks right away because I'm honestly a good guy who wants to start helping you all buy more batteries smartly as, when it comes to capacity claims of everyone other than HTC that I know of so far, you are in a sea of lies and gross exaggerations. I know this from publicly testing ten batteries for the HTC Touch Pro2/Rhodium/Tilt 2, batteries from the same factories that stamped out many of the third party batteries being sold for the N1, including batteries made by Mugen and Seidio.
As of now for the N1 I have tested the OEM which is rated at 1400mAh, two Seidios and an oversized Cameron Sino. At a 250mA current over a discharge from the phone's charging cutoff down to the phone shutdown cutoff (~4.14V and 3.5V respectively), the OEM clocked in at 1357mAh, or 97% of its claimed capacity. That is the best claimed versus actual figure I've seen so far (update: except for a new TP2 2150mAh), though on par with the Touch Pro2's OEMs which I tested, also in the mid 90s. So I say hello a little short on information, inviting any of you who want to help find the truth to let me borrow your batteries to test after which, as I've been doing with the TP2 crowd, I would fedex them right back. Also the information I can bring to the table you can use to get an idea of what to expect from their N1 counterparts.
How this works:
I am using the Computerized Battery Analyzer III. The software which is somewhat sophisticated plots out milliamp hours (mAh) burnt over the descent of voltage from 4.14V to 3.5V, the level of voltage in the batteries at which point the HTC/Google Nexus One and the Touch Pro2s decide to stop charging itself and decide it's time to turn themselves off because they're too low on juice. The CBA software plots out data in graphs, PDFs, CSVs, the whole deal. I hook the batteries up to the CBA which is plugged into my computer. With the software that came with the CBA I have the CBA test the batteries at 250mA, a current in the neighborhood of what the average user would average were he to do his thing (including having push-mail fired up with the screen on bright, downloading and browsing rss feeds, the occasional call, the occasional call being recorded etc) without interruption. Looks a little like this:
I'm not Colombo out to get the third party guys that exaggerate their numbers a little bit nor am I here to rewrite Wikipedia's take on capacity calculation industry standards. You know what? Scratch that, I'm starting to hate these guys, lying and overcharging way too much. If you're a manufacturer or a battery company sympathizer and want to break my balls about voltage cutoffs, read this simple explanation which I feel sums up our position well.
Tl;dr? This is to supply you with information that will help you choose which battery to buy. And to hurt the crooks.
Doug Simmons
Test results and other info.
This table is a hotlinked image to data on the mother site of this, batteryboss.org on which the actual links work. Hit refresh if you've been here before in case your browser cached the image.
Updates:
August 7th: After doing a dry run I ran the AMZER 1800mAh for the EVO. So far it's in first place for being the biggest ripoff on the gallon. First place.
August 5th: Received Carl's AMZER 1800mAh for EVO, doing a dry run discharge now, hopefully get some data for you tomorrow morning.
July 28th: Finished Carl's Seidio 3500mAh for EVO 4G.
July 6th: Completed round one of EVO stock (John Doward). Got the coveted Amzer 1800 and a Seidio 3500, both EVO, en route thanks to Carl Willi.
June 12th: Completed first run of a Mugen 3200mAh for the Hero. Both disappointing and unsurprising. Most cost ineffective battery I've tested.
June 11th: Jasper and Dan's batteries on the way back to them. Thanks again. Hey, Mugen 3200 for Hero and EVO 4G stock on their way! Hey, just got the Mugen. Charging.
June 10th: Completed testing for a no name Hero battery and the stock Incredible battery with the EVO 4G stock on its way. Nice. Returning those batteries to my man Dan and my other man Jasper. Hey, anyone wanna send me that Amzer 1800 for the EVO? Please?
June 7th: Just ran test number one of a no name oversized Hero battery. Underwhelming. Almost done with second test.
April 26th: Ran the Seidio 1600 again after deep cycling a bit (got worse). Got some press!
April 16th: Mailed back Wade his oem 2150 yesterday, today will mail Sean's bad Mugen back to Mugen so he can finally get a damn refund, also mailing back Roto his Cameron Sino 2400 as the testing's done. Currently experimenting with a high then low (repeat 3x) current thing with Roto's Seidio 1600 to see if it produces a more flattering result (his idea). Much obliged fellas.
April 15th: Latest test of a Touch Pro2 HTC/OEM 2150mAh scored 2150mAh on the frickin' dot! Not an N1 battery but just goes to show that if you don't like being lied to, go OEM. Finish oversized Cameron Sino.
April 14th: Was going to have another run of the 1600 ready for you but the god damned windows update forced a reboot last night. Argh. Anyway, just got a Touch Pro2 2150 HTC/OEM battery. Though it's not for our phone, it's worth knowing whether or not HTC can maintain its batting average for its oversized batteries so this will yield important information for you folks. Friggin' windows updates. What the hell is that, Microsoft, forcing reboots? Oh, easily disabled if you hit start > run > blahblah.msc > whatever > whatever? FU MS. /rant
April 13th: Finished first run of the Cameron Sino 2400mAh, weighing in at 2025mAh. Nothing to write home about in terms of a company not exaggerating about their capacity but hey, that's a pretty good price. Unlike the oversized Seidio 3200 this one does come with a back door whereas Seidio is too cool to hook you up with that.
April 12th: Rotohammer's Seidio 1600mAh has arrived, charging. First run of Seidio 1600 an unsurprising disappointment. A Cameron Sino 2400mAh also arrived (thanks Roto) and is just about fully charged for its first run.
April 9th: In a continued effort to outdo himself Rotohammer just ordered a 2400mAh-rated Cameron Sino, on its way to me. Lucky I got his attention. Extremely helpful. Thanks.
April 8th: N1 Seidio 1600mAh should show up today, thanks to Rotohammer.
April 3rd: Finished Seidio 3200mAh, five runs. Learned that it's rated slightly more honestly than Mugen but is the most expensive battery per tested amp hour. Still, highest capacity. I got a new and fast and really badass server and now have a our own forum which you can fire up at forum.batteryboss.org. Finished the new Andida for the TP2, pretty weak, but for some of you the price may be right.
March 30th: Completed dry run of a Seidio 3200mAh. Need to test it at least two more times for conditioning and accuracy but Seidio is now in the lead against Mugen in terms of not lying so much about their claimed capacity. Good job, Seidio.
March 29th: Mugen engineers respond (see table). Rotohammer's Seidio arrived, charging now baby, yeah! Should be very interesting.
March 27th: Rotohammer's sponsoring a test of a Seidio 3200mAh, battery en route. Thanks.
March 20th: Just ran the first test of the Nexus One's OEM, not bad.
March 18th: Just ordered a Google Nexus One. I got an extra battery so the first thing I'm using this for is to prepare a battery for testing. Need to figure out if it has different voltage cutoffs, need to figure out how to present the data and what to do with my site, .. hmmm.
Copypasta from TP2 thread:
March 16th: Mugen wants me to send me another battery to test, I agreed and mailed them back Jeremy's battery. Also mailed Sean/Telek his OEM 1500mAh. Thank you both fellas. Also DeathmonkeyGTX offered to sponsor a test of the HTC 2150mAh -- thank you!
March 13th: Finished no name #2 3600mAh (2466mAh ). In search of voltage cutoffs for Touch Pro/Fuze, please help.
March 12th: Mugen has expressed interest in sending me another battery to test, I expressed willingness. And to you I express curiosity into which device to expand the testing.
March 8th:Finished round two of no name #2 and fake OEM #2. Waiting on another ebay OEM to verify authenticity and a fresh Andida courtesy of my main man Shawn Martell.
March 7th:Added intriguing head to head chart matches.
March 6th:Completed a few more including fresh standard legit OEM, also discovered two counterfeits.
March 2nd: Completed no name #1, cheapest per mAh so far. Dropped Jason's battery off in the mail as promised.
Feb 28th: Completed tests of the Seidio, mailing it to jasonweaver.
Feb 27th: Just received Seidio 1750mAh from jasonweaver in addition to 1500mAh no name ebay cheapo. Nice.
Feb 27th: Mugen 1800mAh testing completed, table updated. Thank you very much jcr916 who bought the battery and had it shipped to me, now I'm going to mail it to him.
Feb 22nd: Thank you jasonweaver and jcr916 who are hooking me up with a barely-used Seidio and a brand new Mugen 1800mAh respectively. Those test results should be interesting as from what I've gathered those two brands have the best reputation and are priced accordingly so let's see if they deserve it.
Telek and I just laid down some dough for five more batteries this weekend. So I'll have a lot of testing to do shortly. Stay tuned for the results!
Testing hardware:
I am using the West Mountain Radio CBA III (Computerized Battery Analyzer) which you can buy along with some toys from these guys for $149. I bought something else from them, didn't like it and they offered to shave the cost of the thing I didn't want off the price of the CBA III without even asking me to return it. Good people. The CBA III is the most accurate and reliable device we could find for these testing purposes and we spent many hours arriving at the final testing procedure. No corners cut. There is no indication whatsoever that the results it's produced are inaccurate, certainly not relative to each other given its consistency. All testing procedures were identical including the current of 250mA, starting voltage and bottom cutoff (4.14V and 3.5V respectively, the top and bottom cutoffs of the Touch Pro2, which I use to charge the batteries with original HTC wall charger). The 250mA current may be a little high and won't produce as flattering a result versus a 100mA current, but it's both a normal current we burn when we're doing stuff on the phone, it keeps each of the three tests inside six hours usually and most importantly we use that current on every single test of every single battery so this is a standardized test. Finally the OEMs get 95% of their claimed rating on this current so we believe that that current is the sweet spot to supply you with information to use to buy your next battery.
Doug Simmons
Want to help?
First I'd like to thank Sean Graham, Jeremey Riley, Jason Weaver, Shawn Martell and Wade Woosley who've decided to do the following for me with TP2 batteries:
The next time you decide to buy a battery, hit me with a PM first so that I can give you my address. Have the battery shipped to me, I'll test the sucker then I'll hit up FedEx and get it to you asap. I have to test the battery at least three times for posterity so give me three or so days to shoot it over to you. I'll write a bit about how grateful I am you decided to help this project, yada yada, and we'll all be happier as a result. This is very valuable information and I know the batteries are also valuable to you so just borrowing your brand new battery for a little while, I realize, is a tall order. But that's a great way to help everyone out without spending a dime. I'll cover the postage to get it to you, I'm not asking for donations, I just want to run the damn tests.
Already have a third party battery but want me to test it anyway? Yes please, I am still interested in used batteries, including used OEMs to get an idea of longevity.
So once I survey the scene for shopping links I'll use this third post to list the batteries on my Christmas list.
Interesting post. Keep it up, love the idea behind this. Is it possible for you to determine how long before the n1 battery goes below 60% of its capacity by chance? and is there anyway to best optimize them for longer life?
This is a great reference. thanks
Do you think you can use your machinery to test the difference between two OEM batteries, running different kernels? For example this Undervolted kernel by Kmobs, a lot of people would be interested in seeing hard stats in the difference in battery useage over the stock kernel.
tips
ram130 said:
Interesting post. Keep it up, love the idea behind this. Is it possible for you to determine how long before the n1 battery goes below 60% of its capacity by chance? and is there anyway to best optimize them for longer life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! As I said I am brand new to Android so I can't tell you what software to use on the phone, including roms and screen brightness managers, to make a single charge go another few miles. I can however, and this may have been what you were asking, tell you that the more you use the battery at lower charges, like below 30%, the faster you'll eventually wear it out. So the more you charge the better. Another thing I can tell you is that the hotter the battery runs the sooner you'll kill its longevity. So heavy things like tethering and youtube for extended periods will lead you to having to buy another battery significantly quicker than if you ran up your miles (milliamp hours) on lower currents. For individual discharges, one thing you may not know is that when the phone is on 3G and you're getting a weak signal or the phone, in GSM world, is on 3G but can only find itself an edge tower, the phone beefs up its transmitting power a lot. If you don't need 3G, especially if you're in a rural area where your signal isn't always strong or you're not getting any 3G (or in an unlucky corner of your office), maybe flip off 3G. I don't know if there's a setting for this on Android like there is on WinBlow but keep your wifi power setting on the lowest unless you know its affecting your wifi negatively too much.
Whenever you've got a data connection open, you're losing a lot more juice. So if you care more about your charge lasting than you do about constant immediate emailing, really frequent RSS updates and so on, go easy on the frequency so that you're using data only when necessary. If you go that route, remember to change all your synced stuff accordingly otherwise it won't help much if you switch your Gmail cycling down to a half hour but forget to turn your Facebook syncing off immediate.
There may be something like this for Android and if there is someone please mention it, but for WinMo, WMLongLife by Chainfire, author of WMWifiRouter, is a radio management program that very smartly decides when to ramp up and down to and from 3G and when to kill the data connection. If something like that does not exist and you're a programmer, check the thread for inspiration. Great if you want to save juice without devoting your life to toggling 3G all the time yourself.
Back to heavy use, if you do have a spare battery, I would advise designating one of them with a sharpie to be the battery you use during periods of your life, like watching videos on a long flight or running GPS software (especially Navigation since it uses not only a lot of processor and does the GPS math but it also uses data) when on road trips, even and especially if you've plugged it in to your cigarette lighter, go with the designated batter for those purposes, that way you can preserve one good battery to make it through a long day of work with no problem without much degradation. Your other battery will wear out faster of course, so for that consider a cheapo no name which, once I get my hands on some cheapo no names, you can buy wisely from information I give you. Don't trust their information, their ratings have no bearing on reality whatsoever. I'll give you actionable data as soon as I can test them.
Third party standalone chargers = BAD idea. Odds are, and certainly if the charger has two pins instead of four, that it gives a constant current charge unlike the OEM which goes hard when it's safe (when the battery's got empty room and is not hot) and then scales back when it senses that it needs to. That means the OEM charger that came with your phone or your phone itself when you plug in another source whether it's the wall charger or USB, or a standalone if you find one that's definitely HTC. The constant current chargers give a weaker charge than it could during most of the charge and then too strong a charge during the final clip. So that way, even though it may fill the tank up all the way, it takes longer to charge and it will hurt your battery's longevity. By how much? Can't tell you, but because of the threat of one of these dinko chargers not even having something to detect the cutoff voltage, ... bad idea, don't trust them unless you're using it on a $6 cheapo.
liam.lah said:
This is a great reference. thanks
Do you think you can use your machinery to test the difference between two OEM batteries, running different kernels? For example this Undervolted kernel by Kmobs, a lot of people would be interested in seeing hard stats in the difference in battery useage over the stock kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And thank you.
When I test batteries with this thing, I charge the battery and hook it up to the tester, not the tester into the phone to see what's doing with the battery as its being used by the phone. So I'm not testing to see how much different software, whether it's a strobe light program, HTC Sense, a custom rom or an underclocking mod, let you get the same happy phone experience while putting a lighter load on the battery. Rather I hook the thing up and tell the tester what load to put onto the battery (I use 250mA) and collect the data in the exact same way as I do for every battery I test. I'm brand new to Android and, though I'm loving it, I haven't even tried to root it yet, let alone experiment with different kernels.
From my experience with WinMo custom roms, I have never found a custom rom that had more battery drain than it would to its stock counterpart -- if that counterpart was running similar things like Sense instead of the old TouchFlo. I imagine your chefs or whatever you call them are pretty competent when it comes to making battery tweaks and trade-off decisions, however some roms will likely burn more rubber in order to deliver you more eye candy. In my old world there are barebones roms that have everything stripped down just to the point where the thing can boot, thereby delivering the best speed, most free ram, program stability and battery performance. Were I to flash one of your custom roms, once I got over my eye-candy phase at least and prioritized battery performance, I'd go for the new kernels with the least frills and install the frills myself as needed.
So I got my N1 last Friday and was immediately addicted, wailing on the thing, wishing I had immediately gone Android the moment it was first released instead of trying to run messy ported on my WinMo phone which is now collecting dust. That phone, parenthetically, takes a 1500mAh battery whereas the N1 takes 1400mAh. In spite of that, and in spite of the N1 having a larger screen, crazy fast processor and just being much more badass in general, lasts significantly longer than the WinMo phone on a single charge. Both are HTC phones so, unless the screen technology is really a whole lot different, to account for that I can only account for it with superior software. It's been so good to the point that I have been unsure that this project would get much attention from you folks than it's been getting from the WinMo crowd as they may be much more starved for battery information than you.
I love this thing.
If any of you have more advice than that please dump it here.
Doug
Mugen
I'm not surprised by the issue with The Mugen Power battery. I've had problems with them in the past.
See:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2097942&postcount=47
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2104774&postcount=50
I prefer to see a test done on a customers battery, not hand selected units from the manufacturer.
d0ugie said:
So I got my N1 last Friday and was immediately addicted, wailing on the thing, wishing I had immediately gone Android the moment it was first released instead of trying to run messy ported on my WinMo phone which is now collecting dust.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt the same way! And since I've been a Linux user for 15 years, It feels sooo good to be fully Microsoft free!
Damnit damnit, Mugen asked me to test another in case the one they sent was defective, asking that I mail it to them first, and I went ahead and mailed it to them, figuring I had enough data, and this not occurring to me. I didn't send back the counterfeits because I wanted to hang onto evidence for who knows what but it never occurred to me that whoever cooked up their batteries might have actually labeled them with different ratings. That is absolutely stunning. At least we've got the picture you took. Ouch man, that would really have pissed me off if I had bought a battery from a company I thought was reputable and saw that -- on top of the suspiciously underwhelming performance that led me to dissect it.
Still haven't received anything from Mugen, going to follow up with them. Also just let the guy know who bought that battery for me to test to get in on your discovery to find out how he wants to handle this, assuming they send me another. Other than saying they would I don't know why they'd bother.
Thanks for that, huge help, though also a huge disappointment.
dude! I love this thread I've always been careful when it comes to batteries, bought the nexus seidio 2800 mah battery and I can say there is no way I'm getting double life that they claim.
That should be the next battery to test out even though they only have the 3200 mah one now.
-Charlie
Let Mugen do the right thing and replace an under performing unit. If they want to play games, I'll have 10 people each buy a Mugen battery, I'll send them to you for testing, then open each of them up on video. If they try to deceive me, I'll setup a website dedicated to exposing any fraud.
Rule: Never piss off a geek with resources to prove a point.
d0ugie said:
Thanks! As I said I am brand new to Android so I can't tell you what software to use on the phone, including roms and screen brightness managers, to make a single charge go another few miles. I can however, and this may have been what you were asking, tell you that the more you use the battery at lower charges, like below 30%, the faster you'll eventually wear it out. So the more you charge the better. Another thing I can tell you is that the hotter the battery runs the sooner you'll kill its longevity. So heavy things like tethering and youtube for extended periods will lead you to having to buy another battery significantly quicker than if you ran up your miles (milliamp hours) on lower currents. For individual discharges, one thing you may not know is that when the phone is on 3G and you're getting a weak signal or the phone, in GSM world, is on 3G but can only find itself an edge tower, the phone beefs up its transmitting power a lot. If you don't need 3G, especially if you're in a rural area where your signal isn't always strong or you're not getting any 3G (or in an unlucky corner of your office), maybe flip off 3G. I don't know if there's a setting for this on Android like there is on WinBlow but keep your wifi power setting on the lowest unless you know its affecting your wifi negatively too much.
Whenever you've got a data connection open, you're losing a lot more juice. So if you care more about your charge lasting than you do about constant immediate emailing, really frequent RSS updates and so on, go easy on the frequency so that you're using data only when necessary. If you go that route, remember to change all your synced stuff accordingly otherwise it won't help much if you switch your Gmail cycling down to a half hour but forget to turn your Facebook syncing off immediate.
There may be something like this for Android and if there is someone please mention it, but for WinMo, WMLongLife by Chainfire, author of WMWifiRouter, is a radio management program that very smartly decides when to ramp up and down to and from 3G and when to kill the data connection. If something like that does not exist and you're a programmer, check the thread for inspiration. Great if you want to save juice without devoting your life to toggling 3G all the time yourself.
----------------
Doug
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Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your post. I am truely learning alot from you and thank you for the advice. I will be sure to follow them trust me. I got two questions though, do you think its best to charge your phone off or on? Also my battery was at 15% while on a call then I plugged in. After about 10min I hang up and now its charging while on, its been 12min and so for its at a whopping 106* F, really hot..is that normal? I know heat is bad, but I can't do anything to fix it.
d0ugie said:
Third party standalone chargers = BAD idea. Odds are, and certainly if the charger has two pins instead of four, that it gives a constant current charge unlike the OEM which goes hard when it's safe (when the battery's got empty room and is not hot) and then scales back when it senses that it needs to. That means the OEM charger that came with your phone or your phone itself when you plug in another source whether it's the wall charger or USB, or a standalone if you find one that's definitely HTC. The constant current chargers give a weaker charge than it could during most of the charge and then too strong a charge during the final clip. So that way, even though it may fill the tank up all the way, it takes longer to charge and it will hurt your battery's longevity. By how much? Can't tell you, but because of the threat of one of these dinko chargers not even having something to detect the cutoff voltage, ... bad idea, don't trust them unless you're using it on a $6 cheapo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean standalone? i bought a motorola phone charger because the US pins don't fit here, i did notice the output is lower, so i expect long charge time. Is that still going to have the same problem not throttling it down at the end.
I suppose my best bet is a pair of pliers to bend the htc charger pins to fit in our wall sockets.
Also, in regards to heavy, for example navigation+ music in a car. Does having it plugged in to power help with that? what happens when it is simultaneously charging and discharging? I also suppse a good tip is to place the mount in front of an air-conditioning vent too, if it is a warm day, the phone will get super hot in minutes, but if you are air con-ing, it will stay cool.
ram130 said:
Thank you so much for your post. I am truely learning alot from you and thank you for the advice. I will be sure to follow them trust me. I got two questions though, do you think its best to charge your phone off or on? Also my battery was at 15% while on a call then I plugged in. After about 10min I hang up and now its charging while on, its been 12min and so for its at a whopping 106* F, really hot..is that normal? I know heat is bad, but I can't do anything to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charging the battery and using the battery both create heat. That said, the total heat you'd get from charging during casual use of the battery should not be great enough to warrant the nuisance of not being able to keep your phone on until you finish charging it each time. But 106F (41 Celsius) is indeed whopping hot and, according to not necessarily precise software tests I did on other HTC devices, that is the neighborhood of heat at which the phone eases back the charging current to the point where the phone may either charge at a current about even with what your phone is burning, leaving it without any net gain while running at too hot a temperature for the health of your battery or it will begin to drop the charging current toward zero so that your phone is discharging, waiting until the temperature simmers down until it turns the juice back up.
But what the hell is causing this if you didn't have things like wifi and GPS and streaming video going while talking to someone on your earpiece at the same time? Could be a runaway process, something whacky with something software related, something wrong with the battery, something wrong with the phone or something messed up with the charger. Since you plugged the phone in and didn't use a separate third party charger into which you plop the battery to charge, since the phone was involved, it's probably not the charger. My first guess would be something sketchy software-wise. The first thing I'd do is go into Settings > About phone > Battery use and seeing if anything looks crazy when it lists what software or functions are accounting for how much of the drain relative to each other. If something is burning juice harder than the screen, the good news is is that it might not be a hardware issue, might be something that could be solved with a soft reset. Could just have been a fluke. Can you recreate the problem? If you shut the phone completely off and it appears to charge without overheating, my guess is that the hardware is okay and there is no defect. And in that case, task management and auto-killing programs may be of interest.
liam.lah said:
What do you mean standalone? i bought a motorola phone charger because the US pins don't fit here, i did notice the output is lower, so i expect long charge time. Is that still going to have the same problem not throttling it down at the end.
I suppose my best bet is a pair of pliers to bend the htc charger pins to fit in our wall sockets.
Also, in regards to heavy, for example navigation+ music in a car. Does having it plugged in to power help with that? what happens when it is simultaneously charging and discharging? I also suppse a good tip is to place the mount in front of an air-conditioning vent too, if it is a warm day, the phone will get super hot in minutes, but if you are air con-ing, it will stay cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By standalone and third party I meant one of those little cheapo things you plug into the wall, generally without any wiring, and you put the battery into it instead of charging the battery while it's in your phone. Unless it's the OEM, there is some small danger to using these things but the convenience and cheapness, if you use multiple batteries, may make it worth using anyway, though I'd keep your OEM battery away from it and only use cheap third parties in it.
I'm 80% sure that as long as your phone's involved, meaning the battery's in the phone and something is plugged into the phone to charge it, if you use a weaker charger .... no I'm not 80% sure, let me ask Telek first. But if you've got an outlet that packs a voltage that the charger is indicated to be able to handle, typically 110-220 volts or in that neighborhood, then it's just a matter of getting the thing plugged in (safely) whether you buy a cheap adapter or go nuts with paperclips.
When it's charging and discharging, that's two things heating it up, but I'd be surprised if a serious AC made enough of a difference to make it worth moving the phone to where you otherwise wouldn't mount it. In spite of the extra heat from also charging the phone, running it on a low charge is also not great for longevity purposes but I think, I'm speculating, outweighed by the heat. If your battery's running in excess of 40c, that's not an ideal situation, but hey, you gotta drive sometimes and not devote your life to air conditioning alignment and plugging and unplugging your car charger constantly. I've done enough speculating -- Telek's the expert on this, let him weigh in.
d0ugie said:
Charging the battery and using the battery both create heat. That said, the total heat you'd get from charging during casual use of the battery should not be great enough to warrant the nuisance of not being able to keep your phone on until you finish charging it each time. But 106F (41 Celsius) is indeed whopping hot and, according to not necessarily precise software tests I did on other HTC devices, that is the neighborhood of heat at which the phone eases back the charging current to the point where the phone may either charge at a current about even with what your phone is burning, leaving it without any net gain while running at too hot a temperature for the health of your battery or it will begin to drop the charging current toward zero so that your phone is discharging, waiting until the temperature simmers down until it turns the juice back up.
But what the hell is causing this if you didn't have things like wifi and GPS and streaming video going while talking to someone on your earpiece at the same time? Could be a runaway process, something whacky with something software related, something wrong with the battery, something wrong with the phone or something messed up with the charger. Since you plugged the phone in and didn't use a separate third party charger into which you plop the battery to charge, since the phone was involved, it's probably not the charger. My first guess would be something sketchy software-wise. The first thing I'd do is go into Settings > About phone > Battery use and seeing if anything looks crazy when it lists what software or functions are accounting for how much of the drain relative to each other. If something is burning juice harder than the screen, the good news is is that it might not be a hardware issue, might be something that could be solved with a soft reset. Could just have been a fluke. Can you recreate the problem? If you shut the phone completely off and it appears to charge without overheating, my guess is that the hardware is okay and there is no defect. And in that case, task management and auto-killing programs may be of interest.
.
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Click to collapse
Exactly my point. What the hell could be causing it. Today I did a master reset once more, mainly angry with how things where running. Its fast again and so far I have not tried reproducing the situation as yet. I only use GPS for 5min total, mainly for directions. But I'm curious though, I had requested another battery from HTC because the one that came with the phone was losing charge too quickly(10% in hour). So far the new battery was working alot better, but now its the same. I keep hearing people say they get day and half of battery life with regular use and have 3G on. Yet my battery won't pass a day(by night its dead). I only have certain things like news and weather running and refreshing every 3hours to 6hours. I don't have twitter, facebook running or nothing like that. The screen is on auto and it happens wether 3G or EDGE is on. Only 2 hours more with EDGE. Am I doing something wrong? I feel like a complete ediat with two batteries.
I followed all advise, even turn it off during charging. Letting it die completely, tried 4 times this week. Its a regular thing letting it die completely since by the time I'm home I don't charge right way. Mainly because I would be expecting calls. My only option seems to be root unless you can shed some light. I can get a day or more if I leave the brightness on low, no internet or EDGE or no browsing and email syncing, don't fool around with my phone, with only a total of 20min calls during the day. Seems ridiculous to do that since others do ALOT than me and get better battey life. I feel like buy 2 more batteries now..its driving me crazy.
ram130 said:
Exactly my point. What the hell could be causing it. Today I did a master reset once more, mainly angry with how things where running. Its fast again and so far I have not tried reproducing the situation as yet. I only use GPS for 5min total, mainly for directions. But I'm curious though, I had requested another battery from HTC because the one that came with the phone was losing charge too quickly(10% in hour). So far the new battery was working alot better, but now its the same. I keep hearing people say they get day and half of battery life with regular use and have 3G on. Yet my battery won't pass a day(by night its dead). I only have certain things like news and weather running and refreshing every 3hours to 6hours. I don't have twitter, facebook running or nothing like that. The screen is on auto and it happens wether 3G or EDGE is on. Only 2 hours more with EDGE. Am I doing something wrong? I feel like a complete ediat with two batteries.
I followed all advise, even turn it off during charging. Letting it die completely, tried 4 times this week. Its a regular thing letting it die completely since by the time I'm home I don't charge right way. Mainly because I would be expecting calls. My only option seems to be root unless you can shed some light. I can get a day or more if I leave the brightness on low, no internet or EDGE or no browsing and email syncing, don't fool around with my phone, with only a total of 20min calls during the day. Seems ridiculous to do that since others do ALOT than me and get better battey life. I feel like buy 2 more batteries now..its driving me crazy.
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Click to collapse
Well sucks. Sorry man.
So you did a hard reset, restoring everything to how it was out of the box, and it still sucks. This might be a longshot but do you happen to be in an area where you typically don't get a full signal? ... and could you see what happens if you go to Settings > About phone > Battery use? It might reveal clues though if you did a hard reset and it didn't help, that suggests some kind of hardware problem I hate to say. Download a battery monitor app and see what kind of temperature you get when using the phone normally. If it's not that high but the thing drains fast, then maybe it's the battery, secondary to what could initially have been a software problem that worked the battery so exhaustingly that it's now behaving like this without the software problem.
That's right though, what people are saying, at least for most of us; I am getting so much better life than I used to on my WinMo phone, free at last. I used to have a second charger, one at my desk, the other by my bed. Not necessary anymore. I bought a spare battery but I haven't had to use it yet. Only used it to run tests for this project.
Any chance you're still under warranty? Don't lose hope just yet man, we might be able to get out of this. Check that battery use thing.
d0ugie said:
Well sucks. Sorry man.
So you did a hard reset, restoring everything to how it was out of the box, and it still sucks. This might be a longshot but do you happen to be in an area where you typically don't get a full signal? ... and could you see what happens if you go to Settings > About phone > Battery use? It might reveal clues though if you did a hard reset and it didn't help, that suggests some kind of hardware problem I hate to say. Download a battery monitor app and see what kind of temperature you get when using the phone normally. If it's not that high but the thing drains fast, then maybe it's the battery, secondary to what could initially have been a software problem that worked the battery so exhaustingly that it's now behaving like this without the software problem.
That's right though, what people are saying, at least for most of us; I am getting so much better life than I used to on my WinMo phone, free at last. I used to have a second charger, one at my desk, the other by my bed. Not necessary anymore. I bought a spare battery but I haven't had to use it yet. Only used it to run tests for this project.
Any chance you're still under warranty? Don't lose hope just yet man, we might be able to get out of this. Check that battery use thing.
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Click to collapse
Well so far its been 1hr 32min since I turned it on. I made 5min call and sen a few texts. I'm 94% now and this is what battery use is showing:
Voice calls 39%
Display 29%
Cell standby 7%
Android system 6%
Phone idle 6%
wifi 4%
Gallery 3% (WEIRD, have not went in there)
Android OS 3%
Google 2%
Current temp: 86.9*
Voltage: 4.0.84v
I took some pictures of it. Please note, to take pics I had to plug in via usb, using the SDK.
Lets have some fun!
I found a brand new Seidio 3200mAh battery from when I had a Motorola Q, and since I have no use for the Q or Verizon, the battery is just screaming "Open Me Up!"
View attachment 299144
Heres whats inside: 3 unmarked cells that are 32x48mm.
View attachment 299145
Compare that with the aprox 52x42mm N1 battery, we can do some math:
Code:
32x48 x
------ = ----- x=940mAh/cell * 3cells = 2820mAh total
52x44 1400
Of course this is just an approximation. The cells should be 1066mAh each, and they very well could be. I'm happy to see 3 cells in there
The new Seidio N1 battery is 52x44mm 9.5mm thick vs 4.75mm thick for the stock battery.
Simple math here, I bet theres two 1400mAh cells in it Although, they do sell a 1600mAh battery, so If thats true, then this battery could have two 1600mAh cells in it.
I weighed each cell in grams:
Code:
N1 1400mAh 30g
MQ 3200mAh 56g
N1 3200mAh 58g
N1 2400mAh 51g
Edit: Added Cameron Sino 2400.
Accounting for packaging, It sure looks like the two 3200mAh batteries are really 2800mAh.
Lets assume thought that Seidio has higher capacity/gram batteries. This will be proven when it gets tested by d0ugie.
ram130 said:
Well so far its been 1hr 32min since I turned it on. I made 5min call and sen a few texts. I'm 94% now and this is what battery use is showing:
Voice calls 39%
Display 29%
Cell standby 7%
Android system 6%
Phone idle 6%
wifi 4%
Gallery 3% (WEIRD, have not went in there)
Android OS 3%
Google 2%
Current temp: 86.9*
Voltage: 4.0.84v
I took some pictures of it. Please note, to take pics I had to plug in via usb, using the SDK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd contact tech support because Doug is probably right. You have to have either a hardware or software problem that is causing your phone to drain your battery (like GPS is always on, even though it shows it is off).
ram130 said:
Well so far its been 1hr 32min since I turned it on. I made 5min call and sen a few texts. I'm 94% now and this is what battery use is showing:
Voice calls 39%
Display 29%
Cell standby 7%
Android system 6%
Phone idle 6%
wifi 4%
Gallery 3% (WEIRD, have not went in there)
Android OS 3%
Google 2%
Current temp: 86.9*
Voltage: 4.0.84v
I took some pictures of it. Please note, to take pics I had to plug in via usb, using the SDK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is Gallery is activated every time you look up contacts and used for the background?
I think you have your phone searching for signal all time. Go into the wireless settings and click the Only use 2g networks. Only turn it on manually when you want to use 3g.
Tell us how your battery is after that. I suspect you spend some time in areas where the phone is boosting power to get a good signal and its causing battery loss. (BTW, you only get a few hours with the screen on)
Maybe you could try using the phone during a typical day, then posting your battery results after 8+ hours of use... that should give us a better idea of where your drain is coming from, but if it is still inconclusive I would still say you should contact tech support.
Related
Hi. I have used G1 for 5months and I satisfied it except that battery is too fast run out.
anyway,For 5 months, I have had only one battery.
I know that it's really uncomfortable. but I don't wanna buy another battery.
I used to charge it everyday and it make my USB cab going to come off.
It should be came off within a few days.
I wonder that I get a replacement by free.
P.S. In my case, I can't charge it with turn it on when battery is under 15%.
I have to turn it off and charge it. Is it problem?
thanks!
Just call your carrier and ask. CSR's are mostly retarded and you will get different results depending on who answers the phone. Some may replace it, some may not.
just whine to 611
i got a new one that worked much better than the battery i got on Oct. 22 (opening day) seems maybe the first few had bad cells...
and charge till full the run till dead the first 5 or 6 times you charge, its best to run it till the thing dies, as the warnings are just guesses and the battery much like some kinda power junkie needs to find its OWN "bottom"
then the phone and the battery know each others habits and will get along well for the life of the battery, (which is no where near as long as peeps think)
How many times have you heard "my battery always dies I plug it in every chance I get but it just doesnt seem to last as long as when it was new" you say "how long have you had the phone 3-4 years(same battery)" there ya go
batteries and the chargers made to charge them are more sophisticated than in the good ole' nicad days, mostly because an AA nimh can make a pretty big BOOM if not taken care of properly, you will see alot of stuff that says that all this full discharge -> full recharge stuff isn't necessary with modern rechargeable, you don't have to do it forever but those first few charges/discharges ARE important if even just to make your device aware of the capacity of a new cell.
alkaline - discharge on a nice slow decline
nicad - pretty much the same w/ a bit faster drop on the last 1/4th of the charge
nimh - pumps a stedy voltage unlike its older relatives listed above, but that last 1/4th drops like a stone, (kinda like your car notice the first 1/4th lasts waaaay longer than that last 1/4th, perception is reality, perception is reality)
yea, tmob knows there is a problem, so they musta gave the low level CSR rights to give away a new battery, cause I wasn't put on hold or transferred, and got a new charger, just say you used your voltage meter and talk alot about voltages and amperage, they may come up off one of them also, they did for me.
bhang
bhang said:
batteries and the chargers made to charge them are more sophisticated than in the good ole' nicad days, mostly because an AA nimh can make a pretty big BOOM if not taken care of properly, you will see alot of stuff that says that all this full discharge -> full recharge stuff isn't necessary with modern rechargeable, you don't have to do it forever but those first few charges/discharges ARE important if even just to make your device aware of the capacity of a new cell.
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Click to collapse
While I can't find specific references, it is NOT NiMH. It is wishfully LIPO (unstable when damaged), but I believe it is Lithium Ion.
These type of battery do not have the "memory" that you hope they do. The battery and the device will never acclimate to each other through charge/discharge cycles.
I dont know much about betterys so please bear with me if i am being stupid. Why are those 2400mA batteries larger and need a larger back cover. I have some AA batteries that are 1800mA and 2400mA and they are both the same size?
Chris
I'm thinking of buying a G1, but I'm put off by all the complaints that it has horrible battery life. Does the cupcake update help this any? How long do people get?
The cupcake update hasn't been released, yet. At first, I had a HORRIBLE battery life, but after calibrating the battery, it's got a decent battery life. I haven't really taxed the phone much, though.
I know cupcake hasn't been released yet, but the code is open and people have already flashed their phone with it. So I mean, "Does cupcake (so far) help battery life?"
You can calibrate the battery all you like .... it's still really crap !
Just as well the phone is soo brilliant at everything else that it doesn't bother me!
jengu said:
I know cupcake hasn't been released yet, but the code is open and people have already flashed their phone with it. So I mean, "Does cupcake (so far) help battery life?"
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Click to collapse
from experience, no not really. mind you, the version we have working atm is no where near the finished version. so maybe they'll implement a better power management or something, i dunno.
thats if they ever release the damn thing
The battery just doesn't last on the G1 no matter what you do. You can extend the battery life to a couple days if it sits idle and has the right settings, but that's boring.
This phone shines through use so expect to charge it daily. If you do things like tether, stream music, web browse, constant email/texting, and etc, then I would say keep a charger handy.
I bought an extended battery (2600mAh) off ebay for about $45 and i'm a pretty heavy user with irc,music,youtube,twitter all that jazz and my battery lasts 2 days. Sure it's a little bit thicker, but it stays in a jean pocket all by it self and everything is just great.
I think The battery life increases with cupcake as i flashed the latest cupcake build (sync-ed & build yesterday by me) it usually used to go down till morning when i sleep but today it was 70% left means very much...
Also as i changed the statusbar battery icon to show 1%, 2%, ... 100% i was able to keep track of my battery...
lets see i ll stay 1 more day on cupcake and let u know...
Version 1.1 helped a lot with battery life. Most of the initial complaints were with version 1.0. Most of those initial complaints were also very shortly after the initial introduction when a lot of new units suddenly hit the market -- as with any battery device, it needs time to break in and calibrate itself. Note: cupcake is to be called version 1.5 (there will likely be no 1.2-1.4). Expect 1.5 to have better power management than 1.1, it does have a newer kernel with better power management features, and no doubt many optimizations in userland tools.
how can you calibrate the battery?
lbcoder said:
Version 1.1 helped a lot with battery life. Most of the initial complaints were with version 1.0. Most of those initial complaints were also very shortly after the initial introduction when a lot of new units suddenly hit the market -- as with any battery device, it needs time to break in and calibrate itself. Note: cupcake is to be called version 1.5 (there will likely be no 1.2-1.4). Expect 1.5 to have better power management than 1.1, it does have a newer kernel with better power management features, and no doubt many optimizations in userland tools.
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Click to collapse
Are there battery benchmarks somewhere for 1.1? I've been googling but it's hard to find real numbers and usually they don't mention the version. How much battery life do you get?
With normal use I wouldn't expect to get more than 24hours. I reckon by switching everything off I could double that. OTOH as the phone charges via USB I just leave it charging whilst I'm working - it'd be sat on the desk anyway so the extra cable is no hardship.
Nitro212 said:
how can you calibrate the battery?
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Click to collapse
By using it.
You calibrate the battery by letting the phone completely die while it is on, as in let the phone shut off because it's out of battery. Then, give it a full charge from the house charger, preferably while not using the phone (while sleeping, for example). Should be done twice a month or so for this phone.
You should know that modern batteries dont have the "memory" that old batteries do.
There is no need to do the above.
They don't have 'memory' but modern batteries still have a break in period. You'd have to probably have a solid battery like thin films to avoid that.
sjbayer3 said:
You should know that modern batteries dont have the "memory" that old batteries do.
There is no need to do the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, for example, While it takes 5 minutes of watching video for the battery to move from 10% to 5% it can take 30 minutes to move from 5% to DEAD with a non calibrated battery.
I train my battery every so often. I can get a solid 3 to 5 hours of talking/texting/browsing/downloading/playing games/etc on a single charge.
I don't think its too much to ask for. It's in line with other phones of like capabilities. Upfront people were just pissed that they couldn't sit and play on their G1 for 10 hours a day with no charging in between.
You can't do that with an iphone, itouch, psp, ds, portable dvd, or laptop computer. People were expecting it to perform better than all the things listed, but the only thing technological about this phone is the software. It has the same tech restrictions as every other portable device.
i thought that the new batteries nowadays do not need to be conditioned anymore? that whole break in theory was based on the old nickel based batteries. but now they no longer needed since batteries are now lithium-ion batteries that do not have that "memory state". correct me if im wrong because i always hear both arguments.
Hmm if I remember correctly the actual battery (LiCoO2) doesn't need conditioning or has a memory effect, but its the electrical component/chip that tracks the capacity and over time though repeated charging they tend to "forget" the actual capacity of the battery so you need to drain it completely then charge it completely so it re-learns it again.
zacfield said:
You calibrate the battery by letting the phone completely die while it is on, as in let the phone shut off because it's out of battery. Then, give it a full charge from the house charger, preferably while not using the phone (while sleeping, for example). Should be done twice a month or so for this phone.
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Click to collapse
calibrate the battery is a joke!
Li-on battery no need to do that!
I spent less than $30 over at Amazon and got two 1900mAh batteries and a charger for them. The batteries say that they are for the Sensation but work perfectly for the MT4GS. I take lots of photos with my phone(30-40 daily),, send a 150 or more messages a day, surf, compose emails and have about an hour of total talk time per day. 2 Anker batteries takes me through the day without needing an outlet.
I can fully recommend these for our phone. I am in no way affiliated with Anker and did not know the name before I purchased the product.
UPDATE: These batteries are NOT A WIN! After a month and a half of intense usage, I am finding (with two separate batteries) that these may not get enough power to our phones and results in an error for the camera flash when no real error exists (except with the manufacture of this battery perhaps).
I am checking out new batteries. Will report back asap. I am recommending folks avoid Anker for now though. I'm still investigating this situation.
FYI: The exact error is "unable to use flash due to cold weather".
UPDATE: After a few days of trying to reproduce the flash error, I've had zero problems and lots of fun with my phone so I think we can chalk it up at most to a defective battery and not a systemic issue. I've been using the battery since with no problems. Enjoy your phones!
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA Premium App
http://www.amazon.com/Anker-1900mAh..._23?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1313683743&sr=1-23
That's the link to the one I just ordered, it shipped yesterday, should be here in another two days. I'll definitely review after I get it.
Anker batteries in the 1900 capacity have been recommended by several here so far, and I haven't heard anything negative about them except for:
One user reports that the fit is almost too snug in the battery case. Any words on this?
Other then that - they sound like a solid win, enough so that I bought one too.
I actually purchased the set that comes with two batteries as I bought my MT4GS on Craigslist and couldn't verify the integrity of the battery it came with. The batteries for the Sensation DO fit snug but it doesn't cause any problems. I spent 30 minutes looking at that aspect. Putting them in, taking them out.... The batteries last a good while (1900mAh) and the charger seems to work well after the initial charges which are a bit longer than normal (but not much longer).
One thing to look out for is that the charging prongs on the charger have a design I have not seen before. Since it is a universal charger from Anker they slide along a rail as so that they can be used to charge various HTC batteries which may have the charging port at various different points along the top of the battery. So like the G2 or the HD2 battery could be charged in the charger as well (I've done it) because you can move the charging prongs from left to right along this rail that they slide on. So you have to make sure that you have them lined up for the + and - port on the MT4GS battery so that you're getting a proper charge and not just sitting there wasting your time.
It's a small thing and not a problem. In fact, it might be a bonus for those who have other HTC devices that it can also charge.
Congrats on your purchase. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Chinese 3 battery combo with charger
I have been buying the spare batteries from Hong Kong/China with the slow ass battery charger for my past few devices. They are 10.95 delivered. The MT4GS and the Sensation are IDENTICAL. I spent 1 dollar more for the MT4GS and everything was exactly the same and there was no reference to MT4GS on either of the packages that arrived at the same time.
I can't complain. I always have my laptop bag with all of my techno gear spare 2A DC and AC chargers.
I can't not be connected?
Blue6IX said:
Anker batteries in the 1900 capacity have been recommended by several here so far, and I haven't heard anything negative about them except for:
One user reports that the fit is almost too snug in the battery case. Any words on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's definitely a tight fit, but it's not too bad -- it's not hard to pull out when you want to change the SIM or microSD card, for instance. It is tight enough that it doesn't fall out by itself very readily, though -- a couple days ago when I was experimenting with the carrier unlock and swapping SIM cards, I forgot to put the back of the phone* back on when I was done, and I carried the phone around for several hours without having the battery fall out or come loose. I even dropped the phone about 2.5 feet from my desk surface onto the non-carpeted floor and the battery didn't pop out.
So the fit is definitely snug -- much snugger than I'm used to in a phone battery, in fact -- and you have to press down to get the top to slide into place properly, but in my opinion it's a good thing, not a bad thing.
*That is, the "battery" cover, although it covers a lot more than just the battery, unlock my G2's battery cover, which I wish they had made the mT4GS's battery cover more like, but now I'm a bit off topic...
Good to know.
Mine came in today, and i'm watching the charge light turn purplish now as it goes from red to blue, so it should be real soon that it's done charging for the first time.
I think i'm going to restore my first solid CWM backup after rooting on my old battery, then wipe the battery stats file, power down, swap batteries, and power up to run it down. Hopefully this will get me a good calibration right off the bat.
I can't wait to start using it - this holding off until it's charged all the way the first time is killing me lol.
I'll report back in a few days how it works after the first 4-5 discharge cycles the package says it'll take to get my full capacity out of it.
Do you have to use the charger that comes with the battery to charge the battery or can you charge it as normal inside the phone? I would like to get a longer lasting battery but I certainly do not want to have to remove it from my phone every time I want to charge it.
No, it charges just fine inside the phone. The external charger is just in case you need to charge it outside the phone for some reason, like if you have two batteries and you want to charge both up for a long trip or something.
Awesome! Just picked up two MT4G Slides the other day and already I can see the battery life is going to be a potential issue. Coming from a Bold 9700 I knew I was going to run through the battery much faster, but I wasn't quite expecting this fast.
Okay, after my second day with the Anker 1900 battery, I am extremely impressed.
It's like a night and day difference. Honestly, my biggest concern was the heat issue. I noticed that my stock battery got pretty warm, and while not enough to burn me, was enough to impact the lifespan of the device and battery.
I had a theory that spreading the same amount of load over a greater range of discharge would produce less heat, and that has proven out to be true. Maybe the Anker battery is just made better, but more likely my theory was correct.
The Anker battery doesn't get anywhere near as warm with general use of the device as the stock battery did. Solid win there.
The amount of time I get with the battery before having to charge is already significantly increased, and I haven't fully broken it in yet. I'm no longer having to plan out where my next charge location is going to be and trying to ration my device usage to make sure I get to it. Now I can just go about my business without worrying about running out of juice.
Bonus points because now my stock battery is available as a backup, just in case - making the win that much sweeter.
Thanks to everyone who suggested this battery, it was definitely a great buy, and the price is unbeatable.
u think I can buy sume of those battery from amazon.com? I'm Italian, but I can't find shipping restriction section...
Good find. I might pick up one of these. Would really have liked the charger to be USB powered, though (or at least have a long cord) so I could set this on my desk next to my phone.
Evo 3d Battery
Has anyone tried the Evo 3d battery? It's rated at 1730mah and reportedly works just fine in the sensation.
ylam310 said:
Has anyone tried the Evo 3d battery? It's rated at 1730mah and reportedly works just fine in the sensation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you'll find much traction for this - the anker battery has a higher capacity rating and lots of endorsement from people (myself included) who think it is a superior replacement for the stock battery.
I'd be curious, just to know, but I would recommend the anker 1900 battery for the sensation above anything else.
I wonder why you would want to know this?
Contacted Laptopmate (US Distributor of Anker) via Amazon's customer service. Turns out they have an Ebay store and an Amazon store.
Ebay store is MUCH cheaper. Found batteries and a charger for $15 less.
One thing this company does on both sites is "overlist" they will have the same product for $8.99, and $9.99 for example. I found the first eBay mt4gs battery was 11% off and listed at $14.99 with charger, I kept exploring and found it later for $11.99 - same item.
You also need to watch they have some other non-Anker batteries with varying capacity sizes that might be a bit less. YMMV.
Now just sitting back and waiting for them to arrive.
Will be picking this up for me and my friend (who has the sensation). Good find!
Just ordered two today! Can't wait...as I take lots of pictures and videos so it'll be refreshing to have fully charged batteries ready to go, on the gooooooo.....
Just so people know, it is a little bit bigger. I have a problem squeezing my body glove case on (but it does go on, barely). I'm just waiting for another case with more clearance so it fits.
Sent from my MyTouch 4G Slide
That bad? Jeez...
I need a case, otherwise this phone will be abused too much. It is an expensive piece of equipment.
On a side note, I've been trying my damned hardest to drain this thing for 6 hours, and I'm only at 50%. Highest brightness game playing and browsing, and 4G has been on the whole time. Plus, I took enough pictures of my gf to get her irritated.
Sent from my MyTouch 4G Slide
ok guys i really need your help/opinions. my mytouch4gslide has recently been overheating while just casualy using it (facebook,twiitter,minor games,etc). and 2 days ago it started having horrible battery life it goes down 1 or 2 percent every minute or two. and also ive been trying alot of diffrent roms and im still trying each one out again but the problem is still there.before i was with tmobile i had an optimus v for virginmobile and the battery lasted much longer and it wouldnt overheat like this. im really tempted to send this to htc and get it fixed?replaced but i really cant wait two weeks without a phone. so guys tell me if this has ever happened to you or what i should do, i wish i still have the tmobile asurion insurence but i thought it was useless and canceled it last month, what shoudl i do?
o and i bought this piece of crap from tmobile for 500 dollers no sh!t and im still paying for it so i would really like it for it to get fixed
Yea, that's how much I paid for my first one too - well, still paying for...
Did you get insurance with your plan? Not sure if it covers the battery - but it did come with it, so I don't see why not.
Maybe take it in-store and see if you can get a manager or someone who could swap your battery out? Not sure if it works like that.
I'd be leaning towards the battery being shot, or on it's way there.
If it's overheating a lot, then it's just damaging the battery further - but it's also a sign of damage to the battery itself. Some of the cells are burnt out or malfunctioning and preventing/blocking/impeding or somehow just jamming up the electricity transfer in and out of the battery.
If you do an insurance claim, (if you got it with your plan) they ship you a new phone and when it comes in, you send your old one back. Think you have like 7 days to decide if you want the new one or keep the old one.
That would at least give you two batteries to test back and forth and see if it really is a battery problem (but that's the most likely answer)
You might consider getting an aftermarket battery?
On my second phone I swap out between the two HTC batteries I have, and in my plan phone I have the Anker battery I got. The Anker never gets as hot as the stock battery (either one) for the same workload, and I can push the device with the Anker to do much, much more then the one with the stock battery.
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I did do an HTC warranty repair on my second device, and I had to ship it back, they fixed, and sent it back to me. Didn't take that long, less then 13 days (probably by a few days) I could look up my records and find out exactly how many days I didn't have it including my shipping to them - but once they had it, it was speedy service.
The HTC people were an absolute pleasure to deal with on the phone, extremely helpful and taking the time to patiently answer all of my questions or look up accurate answers if need be (and they had to a few times, but you could imagine the grilling of questions I gave an HTC rep since I was on the line with them already)
Definitely seperated themselves from the vast majority of companies i've dealt with for customer service issues (beyond phones into other stuff too)
So past making some awesome tech the people behind it have been fantastic in my experience.
(even if they do make a ****ty battery they should be ashamed of - phone company, not a battery company, but the quality of the battery is way out of spec for the device it's in )
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Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I have a feeling that people are going to start following you who have been using the stock battery for as long as you have.
It generates too much heat, is too inefficient, and that makes it break down faster and die quicker. The more it dies, the less efficient it gets, and the quicker it reaches the end of it's service life.
If I were in your shoes, i'd call the battery shot and start worrying about what that amount of heat is doing to the device itself, specifically its Snapdragon processor. Heat is enemy numbers 1, 2 and 3 for the processor, especially one pushing the limits of it's design like the Snapdragon does.
If you are running an OC kernel, i'd stop that immediately. Hopefully you aren't or haven't been.
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I'd say go to a T-Mo store and start there, do an HTC direct warranty replace as a last resort and consider an aftermarket battery.
The Mugen batteries are unquestionably higher quality then the Anker batteries, but much pricier too.
The Anker battery is far and away better then the garbage stock battery - so even that would be a step up and it's what I run and like using.
(when I can afford to i'm gonna step up to the Mugen battery and gift the Anker to my second phone)
If I were you i'd overnight an Anker battery and stop in a T-Mo store tomorrow to see what your options were and how they were going to make it right for you.
Worst case is an HTC warranty, it's still in the warranty period, the phone hasn't been out for a year yet. I know that's the least desirable option, but if you do have to go that route make sure to mention how the heat has probably damaged the phone itself and they should have a tech or two go over the whole thing with a fine tooth comb. That heat against the processor has really shortened the lifespan of your device.
I say this because sometimes I put down my second phone and turn it off to save it from the heat of a functioning stock battery - a broken one would be a lot more of a concern.
Wish I could say something more positive, but while you are in warranty and have options is not the time to ignore issues that could bite you later.
Edit:
Especially since this is clearly not your fault - you are using the battery provided to you with the device itself, and that is now malfunctioning. You didn't do anything to cause this, it's either dumb luck with an even worse battery then normal that HTC themselves provided you, or you are the first of more who are hitting the end of service life on the battery the device came with.
It sucks that the worse it gets, the more quickly the problem gets worse. It's a vicious cycle that there is no way out of, because just using the battery breaks it more.
Even if you have to be without a phone for a week because you have to ship it back to HTC (worst case scenario from your point of view, since you have no device in the meantime) they'll make it right for you. This device is too awesome, and costs too much money, to settle for something that's defective - especially since it's not something you did, just the way it came.
Let's just hope for everyone's sake you got a particularly bad battery and this doesn't turn into an epidemic. Because the overheating of the battery basically breaks it more and more quickly, this is about the right amount of time for them to start crapping out if you got it within the first month of launch.
(based on the ludicrous - yet identical - amount of heat i've been experiencing from two stock batteries is where i'm framing this fear from)
Edit again:
Sorry, noticed you said you cancelled insurance, i'm pretty tired, but i'll leave what I said in case it helps someone - I wouldn't hesitate to call up HTC and file a manufacturers warranty claim, it should be covered since it's their branded battery that failed. I definitely give them a very high rating for customer service from my experience - I have nothing but good things to say about them to anyone who will listen.
The anker battery definitely will cool down your device. It seems like our stock battery takes a sh*t after about 3 months... Once I got the anker battery I loved the phone so much more, I recommended it to all my friends with sensations/mt4gs phones.
My one friend ended up getting himself 3 ankers, so he always keeps one on the wall charger, one in the phone, and one fully charged in his pocket. He doesn't even plug the phone into the wall anymore. If you do something like him, your phone will also avoid the heat involved with charging via usb
Sent from my RubiX ICS Infused using Tapatalk
leoilios said:
...
My one friend ended up getting himself 3 ankers, so he always keeps one on the wall charger, one in the phone, and one fully charged in his pocket. He doesn't even plug the phone into the wall anymore. If you do something like him, your phone will also avoid the heat involved with charging via usb
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you trade wear and tear of one part for wear and tear on another. The wear and tear on the USB jack is much, much worse then the wear and tear on the battery contacts.
The USB jack will wear out long before the battery contacts wear down.
The other part of it is every time you open the back of the device you expose the internals to dust and environmental contaminants.
I'd say as long as it's clean, not dusty or anything when you make the switch, that's the better way to go - as long as they are the same battery (which is what you said your friend had ... all good there)
The big thing would be to not make the switch outside. Try to do it indoors, in still air.
The most dust-free room of any house is most likely the bathroom. Limited to no carpeting and usually much less air space for things to be floating around in, close the window and give it ten minutes to settle first and that's probably the best location to do it. Especially if it's real tile, that's the absolute least opportunity for all the dust and fine particulates on the floor in the rest of the house to be present.
So your friends mode of operation (if when changing the battery conscious of dust and fine particle contamination) is probably the best method to stay charged and put the least wear on the device - except maybe an induction charging backplate.
The only problem with the induction charger is finding a case you can work on it with. I don't have one, but if it's the same size as the standard phone dimensions, then you could use the trident case and not scratch the device up taking it off an on (the trident case is mostly soft plastic and rubber, not hard and sharp plastic)
The downfall to the induction charger is you need a charge plate every where you go, so once you factor that liability in, what your friend is doing with 3 Ankers is probably the best method to keep the phone charged while doing as little damage to it through normal wear and tear possible.
Score a point for creativity and efficiency. I might change my mind about the Mugen and just get a few more Ankers to duplicate the method, after thinking about it. If there's a better way, why do anything else? That seems like it'd be worth buying the extra batteries for, i'll just pay attention and snipe some on sale.
Thanks for sharing, that's a happy tidbit of info and i'm definitely going to work towards implementing it. I want this device to last me as long as I can make it, and any way of taking better care of it or doing something like the battery swap method that just makes way more sense is always welcome to hear about.
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I should've gone to sleep already since I have to get moving in just a few short hours - but after typing out my previous reply I figured i'd swap my stock battery since you shouldn't let them sit without being used for a long period of time.
(I wish I could charge the stock batteries out of the device, I could copy a shorter version of that method with my two stock batteries - oh well.)
Anyways, when I did, I noticed something. Each came with one of my devices, and they are both the same battery, but they are backwards. It looks like it was deliberate, too, because all the markings are correct for + / - and whatnot.
Don't know what to make of it, so I figured i'd share just to get the info out there in case it's of use to anyone - (for what, I have no idea) - but they both suck equally, so there's no benefit of less heat for one or the other, and they both last about the same amount of time near as I can tell without actually measuring.
Doesn't seem like one lasts longer then the other, and i'm pretty sensitive to that kind of stuff. If people are curious i'll measure them a couple of times each and see for sure, if not I won't waste my time when there's other work to do.
Anyways, I snapped some pictures of it to illustrate what I mean, since describing it would end up being confusing for some and i'm half delerious as it is.
They are both the same:
- brand = (HTC)
- model = (BG58100)
- Rating = (3.7VDC)
- Capacity = (1520 mAh)
- Watt Hours = (5.62Whr)
Different serial numbers, and Different part numbers.
The one that shows the writing/bar code side up when installed in the device is:
- part number 35H00150-00m
The one that shows the blank side up when installed in the device is:
- part number 35H00153-00m
Does anyone out there have any other part numbers for the stock batteries? I wonder how many versions there are and if there are any differences between them.
Two of my friends got this device after seeing all the cool stuff I could do with it and being less then impressed with the devices the rest of our/their friends had - they needed a hardware keyboard too so obviously this was the answer.
I will check their stock batteries and see what they are, if it's anything different i'll post that too - might take a few days or so to get ahold of them and find out.
I should have noticed this a long time ago. Anyways, here's the pics to illustrate the outward differences:
no worrys i just charged my phone all night and its workin good again, and i do have anker. im on your bulletproof rom and ive been off the charger for an hour and ive been texting and playing games and its still at 100 percent
Blue if ur gonna copy my friend, keep the spare in a ziplock bag, moisture is one of the reasons people say u shouldn't leave them out and unused for long periods of time
Sent from my RubiX ICS Infused using Tapatalk
wiswis said:
no worrys i just charged my phone all night and its workin good again, and i do have anker. im on your bulletproof rom and ive been off the charger for an hour and ive been texting and playing games and its still at 100 percent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome to hear you're in good shape again.
Was the problem you were having with the stock battery or the anker?
leoilios said:
Blue if ur gonna copy my friend, keep the spare in a ziplock bag, moisture is one of the reasons people say u shouldn't leave them out and unused for long periods of time
Sent from my RubiX ICS Infused using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have some nylon camera cases i've been using to carry around the doubleshots, and they have pockets that I slip things like memory cards, cables and the stock batteries in (whichever one isn't being used).
Appreciate the heads up, but I got the cases to keep the doubleshot behind a zipper to keep dust out, and when the accessories are in the zipper pockets they are protected enough. There isn't a lot of fog where I live, only rarely and otherwise the ambient moisture is not very high so it's not a big deal.
If I didn't have the cases, though, i'd definitely be using something like that. There were a couple of times I carried the doubleshot itself around in a ziplock bag back in august, if it was raining or going to rain that's how it left my house in my pocket. That's what prompted me to get the nylon cases - and though they aren't waterproof or anything, it's enough to not have to worry about it.
If i'm going to be in the rain then that's what I do - i'll have to come up with something better before it hits the rainy season around here - this time of year it doesn't rain often.
I'm having a similar problem, though not as extreme.
My phone's battery doesn't actually heat up but the area around the simcard. I'm running Pyroice with the extreme UV kernel and underclocked the CPU to 810mhz Max with setcpu 2.1.1a but it still warms up around the simcard area. I also never get anything better than 12hrs battery life.
Should I be worried?
sent via my messenger dog
cybot_x1024 said:
I'm having a similar problem, though not as extreme.
My phone's battery doesn't actually heat up but the area around the simcard. I'm running Pyroice with the extreme UV kernel and underclocked the CPU to 810mhz Max with setcpu 2.1.1a but it still warms up around the simcard area. I also never get anything better than 12hrs battery life.
Should I be worried?
sent via my messenger dog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had this same problem from day one. Even with the anker battery, and on every rom I have tried. I sometimes use flat icepacks to cool it down when it gets too hot. I haven't found anything fix.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using XDA App
I use my Mugen as my regular battery and my two Ankers as spares. I only have the OEM battery in case I need to send it to T-Mobile.
So I got the model numbers from both stock batteries that my friends have for their phones. Both are the same.
- part number 35H00153-00m
...and that matches one of the ones I have from above.
Anyone else have any other model numbers on their stock batteries that are different?
It would be nice to know what's out there and if a particular model seems to do better then another.
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I run both stock batteries in one phone, and the anker in the other. Very rarely does the anker device get hot enough that I take notice and pay attention to it, but it does happen.
The one swapping out stock batteries back and forth can trigger a battery switch if it has been two days and I haven't swapped, or it gets too hot.
If it gets too hot I turn it off, let it cool down and then turn it on with the other battery. I try to keep the one not in use as full as viable, but never less then about halfway for more then a short while.
Enough people have shown a serious reduction in heat of the device by using an aftermarket battery that we've concluded pretty solidly that the stock battery is responsible for a large portion of the excessive heat.
Heat is the number one enemy of these kinds of batteries and microprocessors. If it starts to get hot enough to be uncomfortable in your hands, then you should start thinking about letting it cool down before running it so hard.
It happens more frequently then i'd like with the device running stock batteries, but I always make the decision that whatever i'm doing isn't worth aging the device and reducing it's service life just because I couldn't stop using it for a few minutes to let it cool off. The money I spent on it means more the longer it's in service, abusing it unnecessarily is wasteful to me.
I'm pretty particular about things like that, just my way. Your mileage may vary.
Blue: my stock battery has the same product number
i can't really say i've noticed it getting hot enough to take notice of it, but then again, i mainly use the Anker, since i only need to charge it once a day.
i was wondering if there's a chance that the heat issue is something HTC addressed in the last OTA update? definitely hard to say, but possible i suppose. perhaps i can try using the stock battery on the newest stock ROM and see if it heats up.
I doubt it's a matter of software or we wouldn't see much if any change when swapping to a different battery like the mugen or anker.
Any theory is valid until disproven though, and you never know unless you try so let us know how it turns out.
So I was surfing the intraweb last night and came across http://www.mugen-power-batteries.co...galaxy-s-relay-4g-t699-with-battery-door.html. Very tempting, especially considering that according to Mugen it has NFC. What do y'all think? Should I?
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda-developers app
uuh... the relay is already quite thick, with that battery it will be huge... i personally wouldn't, but it's a matter of personal taste
I had an extended battery on my Doubleshot before this - the bulk didn't really bother me. Maybe I'm strange but I didn't mind. Especially with the battery life I got.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda-developers app
i has extended batteries for my G1 one back then. i used them when i took the device with me geocaching. I had two of them and they made the device stay up longer than i ever did
downside with the bulky back covers is, that the device won't fit into any pouches no more. and, of course cases no longer fit either.
but once you're used to the shape - imho - the added thickness is no longer disturbing.
onebornoflight said:
So I was surfing the intraweb last night and came across http://www.mugen-power-batteries.co...galaxy-s-relay-4g-t699-with-battery-door.html. Very tempting, especially considering that according to Mugen it has NFC. What do y'all think? Should I?
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can go for this solution....1/5th of Mugen's price:
http://www.hyperionea.com/product/hyperion-samsung-galaxy-s-relay-sgh-t699-2-x-battery-charger/
I had purchased a EZO high capacity battery with cover from Amazon--the same day I ordered the phone. That was months ago and I see the battery is no longer available on the site.
That's a shame, because the package was reasonably priced, the cover fits well, and the battery works as promised.
The device can run about ten consecutive hours for me running CM9 without any CPU profiles and with the governour set to interactive.
If I'm going to be away from a charger for a long time, I've found that setting the device to powersave is tolerable for most applications and the battery goes from good to ridiculous...
The additional bulk will turn off some buyers; however, I have found that it makes sliding the keyboard open much easier...
If you can find an EZO battery and you don't mind the extra bulk, I recommend one.
orange808 said:
I had purchased a EZO high capacity battery with cover from Amazon--the same day I ordered the phone. That was months ago and I see the battery is no longer available on the site.
That's a shame, because the package was reasonably priced, the cover fits well, and the battery works as promised.
The device can run about ten consecutive hours for me running CM9 without any CPU profiles and with the governour set to interactive.
If I'm going to be away from a charger for a long time, I've found that setting the device to powersave is tolerable for most applications and the battery goes from good to ridiculous...
The additional bulk will turn off some buyers; however, I have found that it makes sliding the keyboard open much easier...
If you can find an EZO battery and you don't mind the extra bulk, I recommend one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.amazon.com/EZOPower-Capacity-Extended-Replacement-SGH-T699/dp/B00AQRVYXY - this one?
Does it have NFC? I don't see it anywhere on the page.
janejunx said:
http://www.amazon.com/EZOPower-Capacity-Extended-Replacement-SGH-T699/dp/B00AQRVYXY - this one?
Does it have NFC? I don't see it anywhere on the page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. No NFC.
I've had my Relay 4G about a month and a half now, and am already looking at getting an extended battery. I find myself charging it a few times a day - sometimes I'll only get maybe 3 hours before it's "critically low". Yes, I do use it a ton - it's currently my main computer, since I rarely have access to my parents' laptop and my desktop, whose case+mobo+cpu I recently sent to the recycle bin, bit the dust over a year ago. Also I have unlimited unthrottled 4G on T-Mobile (and used well over 10-12GB last month, & this (billing) month am currently at 12.21GB since April 28.
I've seen the Mugen 4600mAh battery with NFC online around $90 (way too rich for my blood), and the EZOPower 4100mAh (no NFC) for around $17-23 or so at Amazon or NewEgg, among other places. I was originally wary of the cheap price on the EZO, but if the huge price difference is due to NFC and not being a cheaply made battery, I'd want the EZO, possibly 2. I don't use the NFC hardly at all, and I suppose if I really need it sometime I could pop the original stock battery back in for the occasion.
So any reason for me to NOT get the EZOPower 4100mAh? If I get 2, I'll probably also want an external charging solution so I can charge one while using the other. Also is there a hardshell case (with a built-in stand) available that fits the phone with the larger battery door? BTW unavailability of those two things won't be dealbreakers for me getting the battery. I had an extended battery for my G1, and that phone finally bit the dust after ~4+ years. (I wonder if my SGH-T699 will last that long…)
would somebody care to explain to be why nfc is dependand on the battery?
the batteries have just the same 4 connectors as any other cell battery i always had in my hands.
or are they made of materials that don't shield the nfc waves passing though?
nfc antenna is in the battery casing. NFC antennas go for about $5 on ebay, if you figured out which two connectors go to the nfc you could probably set up your own if your battery doesn't support it.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda premium
Can anyone confirm whether the Relay accurately reports on the extended batteries? I'm currently using a patched Droid 3, but I'm starting to find its limitations too restrictive, and I'm thinking of plonking down for a Relay.
EZO battery
orange808 said:
I had purchased a EZO high capacity battery with cover from Amazon--the same day I ordered the phone. That was months ago and I see the battery is no longer available on the site.
That's a shame, because the package was reasonably priced, the cover fits well, and the battery works as promised.
The device can run about ten consecutive hours for me running CM9 without any CPU profiles and with the governour set to interactive.
If I'm going to be away from a charger for a long time, I've found that setting the device to powersave is tolerable for most applications and the battery goes from good to ridiculous...
The additional bulk will turn off some buyers; however, I have found that it makes sliding the keyboard open much easier...
If you can find an EZO battery and you don't mind the extra bulk, I recommend one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also picked up two EZO batteries. They have a well made cover and last for twice what stock does. Unfortunately it didn't have a NFC antenna and both have now swollen up to the point they no longer fit. While I had left them plugged in after full charge, they seem to stay warm and not tolerate it well. Can't say how well they could have lasted if better cared for, but abuse or overcharging seems to effect them quickly.
Does the mugen or other brands also have issues? If anyone else have suggestions.
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 PM ----------
5318008 said:
Can anyone confirm whether the Relay accurately reports on the extended batteries? I'm currently using a patched Droid 3, but I'm starting to find its limitations too restrictive, and I'm thinking of plonking down for a Relay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it just displays a percentage. It at least seems accurate while logging with Juice Defender's graph, it would track down at fairly consistent rate until charged or out of power. As for swapping over to a Relay, It's about as well supported as any slider out right now. I haven't been disappointed.
ezo
the EZObattery rocks. For $19 (I got mine on ebay) I get 2 days and a few hours into the 3rd before needing a charge.
I have the same issue kilr00y mentioned about it not fitting into pouches or cases except I found now that the phone is harder to flip open and safely hold at the same time while doing 90 other things at once which is when I always need to use the phone. I keep an aftermarket case on the front screen part but can't find an extended back case. I made my own from a tube of black silicone but would love to hear it if anyone finds another option. I don't mind if the phone turns into 1988 brick style size so long as the battery lasts and I don't crack the screen again.
I was looking at extended batteries and if I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a genuine extended battery that should work with this phone. Just would need an extended battery cover. Battery model is: EB-L1K6ULZ (Link)
rudias said:
I was looking at extended batteries and if I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a genuine extended battery that should work with this phone. Just would need an extended battery cover. Battery model is: EB-L1K6ULZ (Link)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks good. Be aware that most "extended" battery will not last long... In particular when they have a lower voltage than the original battery. Lot of battery with higher mAh run at 3.7V instead of 3.8V this make it last shorter than the original.
I've had 2 of the EZOPower 4100mAh batteries, and am experiencing the same problem that stonefoz mentioned about the batteries swelling. In my case, for example, the current one has gotten to where the cover will just spontaneously pop off, and the battery will dislodge, forcing the phone to lose power. Also, regarding his "staying warm" comment - sometimes when I was doing something extensive on the phone, it'd sometimes get so hot, especially the keyboard area, that I could barely hold it, and that concerns me some.
I believe the second one has lasted longer than my first, though. It's not quite as bad now as my first was when I replaced it. I bought my first one May 18, 2013, and my second one September 18, 2013, 4 months later. It's lasted till now, May 7, 2014, 7 and a half months later, but it's about time to replace it.
It looks like it's no longer available, but I was thinking I should try a different one anyway.
One option is this 4600 mAh Mugen battery for about $90, and another is this 5000 mAh MPJ battery for about $35. The MPJ does say it's only 3.7 volts, which according to scaltro could be a concern with longevity per charge.
I definitely would like better battery life. I've noticed that playing FarmVille 2: Country Escape is quite a drain - I'd go from full battery to getting the low battery warning after only something like 2 to 3 hours or so, even with the EZO battery. Earlier, I popped in the factory Samsung battery, topped off its charge, then decided to test battery life playing FV2. I also turned on bluetooth (and sent the sounds to an external speaker), cranked the screen brightness all the way up, and turned off power saver mode, in an attempt to get a "worst-case scenario". I tried turning on WiFi (we have a hotspot here now) but it wouldn't connect to the game server, so I just went through my unlimited+unthrottled 4G.
The results:
2:45am - battery full, unplugged
4:15am - battery 22% (I checked it a few times along the way periodically, but neglected to note the times)
4:23am - battery 14%, had just gotten the battery low popup warning
4:33am - battery 5%, battery critically low popup warning
4:35am - battery 3%, then I went and plugged it in.
So, it lasted only about an hour and 50 minutes from full to 3% remaining. I'm hoping a good battery would be able to go all day and all night and into the next day with similarly-intensive use. (No I wouldn't be playing games the entire time of course!)
Personally, if the $35 MPJ battery would be good enough, and significantly better than the EZO, I'd prefer to go for that one.
I'm wondering, though, if the $90 Mugen is a huge leap up in quality, though (disregarding the NFC for now which I haven't had to use)? It's a bit rich for my blood to drop all at once on a battery for a phone ... BUT, their website tells me they accept returns up to a year later (and I've gone through TWO EZOs in that time), which gives me some hope. If, overall, I'd be spending less by getting one Mugen and it outlasting 4 or 5 EZOs (if they were still available), I'd get that.
On a side note, it'll be a while before I can afford to replace my phone, but when I do, I'd really like a good QWERTY keyboard. I see that very few phones come with them now, though, and the ones that are are near the bottom of the barrel spec-wise. I'm thinking I'll need to get an external compact bluetooth or USB keyboard with my next phone, and expand my options for the phone itself. Ideally I'd like to get one that I can put in a flip case, with the phone in the other side of it, and close it when I'm not using it. (Although, there is the concern with getting the phone out quickly to answer calls, although I maybe only talk 25-50 minutes a month or so.) Any suggestions on what to look for in the case/keyboard department, for example? Chances are it won't be till 2015 at the earliest (and my wallet hopes my Galaxy S Relay 4G will last through 2016 or so unless it dies or something else goes seriously wrong) before I get a new phone, but I like to start my search early. When I do get one, I'm hoping it'll last at least 4-5 years, and maybe stretch it to 7-10 if I'm pressed for cash then.
My high capacity EZO battery eventually bloated and swelled up--after a year. I replaced it with a Mugen battery. Both came with new back covers and make the device about as chunky as a Sidekick II.
My device can run OpenGL applications for about 9 hours straight with the brightness set to 50%. It's about the same for movies. I get decent signal at my house and GPS is disabled when I am not using it. I use Green Power and Greenify to save battery when the device is locked, but that wouldn't affect using the device.
I am on an official Cyanogen nightly, so there's really no battery saving hocus pocus at work here.
Make no mistake, an extended battery will get you about 9 hours of heavy use. I thought I was going to die when I used a stock battery for a week waiting for my new Mugen to replace the old EZO. The device literally couldn't survive one day of use for me.
orange808 said:
My high capacity EZO battery eventually bloated and swelled up--after a year. I replaced it with a Mugen battery. Both came with new back covers and make the device about as chunky as a Sidekick II.
My device can run OpenGL applications for about 9 hours straight with the brightness set to 50%. It's about the same for movies. I get decent signal at my house and GPS is disabled when I am not using it. I use Green Power and Greenify to save battery when the device is locked, but that wouldn't affect using the device.
I am on an official Cyanogen nightly, so there's really no battery saving hocus pocus at work here.
Make no mistake, an extended battery will get you about 9 hours of heavy use. I thought I was going to die when I used a stock battery for a week waiting for my new Mugen to replace the old EZO. The device literally couldn't survive one day of use for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, so your EZO bloated too, just took a little longer than mine did.
Sounds like the Mugen (if that's the one you describe getting 9 hours of heavy use) has relatively decent life. Would you say it's significantly better per charge in that respect than the EZO was when it was good?
Also how is the Mugen for longevity, as in not swelling, etc? If I buy a Mugen, would I over the long term pay the same or less than if I had kept buying EZOs? Paying $90 in one blow seems a bit heavy on the wallet, but I'd do it if I'm getting that much better quality & longevity.
pianoplayer88key said:
Ahh, so your EZO bloated too, just took a little longer than mine did.
Sounds like the Mugen (if that's the one you describe getting 9 hours of heavy use) has relatively decent life. Would you say it's significantly better per charge in that respect than the EZO was when it was good?
Also how is the Mugen for longevity, as in not swelling, etc? If I buy a Mugen, would I over the long term pay the same or less than if I had kept buying EZOs? Paying $90 in one blow seems a bit heavy on the wallet, but I'd do it if I'm getting that much better quality & longevity.
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Honestly, I got about the same results with my EZO battery: just over 9 hours of constant heavy use. Other than the fact it swelled up, it worked great. I guess there was a reason it was so cheap...
I had a Mugen battery for my Sidekick 4G before I bought the Relay and it still works great. (I loaned the SK4G to a friend that broke his phone.) My new Mugen hasn't had any problems, but I've only had it a few months.
Combined with TeamApex's Cyanogen and this awesome QWERTY keyboard, my extended batteries have made this phone the most productive and useful device I have ever owned. I can't say enough great things about ApexTmo, the Relay, and extended batteries.