I just thought I'd let give a brief review of my experience with some of the cheap batteries and accessories that can be found on eBay for the Epic. I bought a $22 set that came with the following:
extra battery
car windshield mount(for google nav)
car charger
home charger
usb cord
extra battery charger
belt-clip case
I was a little skeptical given the price, but figured 22 was worth a gamble. In the end i have to say, while the products, other than the battery, are a little cheap feeling, they all work great. The batteries performed just as good if not BETTER (although probably the placebo effect) than the one that came with the phone.
Just wanted to share my experience so others might save a few bucks to get some decent accessories.
Cheers
I also think the batteries are worth the modest cost. In my experience, they basically work. But I have seen credible reports that they might test out at a lower capacity than claimed -- 1200 maH vs the 1500 maH nominal rating. The quality can vary from unit to unit.
One other caveat, I think, is that switching batteries with mismatched capacities might confuse the calibration of the battery meter on the phone. So the percentage reported, which is really an estimate based on empirical measures of voltage and temperature, may be a little off.
But compared to the high price of an OEM spare, the knockoffs seem like a thinkable method to mitigate battery issues.
There was another post about this somewhere I think......I said that I had two sets of these cheapies. Months later and I feel that they're just ok...they (in my case at least and after using them for more than a month) will last about 75% of the standard Sammy batt. All in all, I'm happy with them for the money. There have been times where I've flashed myself crazy at work and these things got me thru the day
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Is there a extended battery for the epic yet?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I believe that seido (sp?) Is in the works of making one but i have no idea if its out yet or how it will affect the back of the phone
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I'll have to look into that. I know they have the custom back doors but don't know If I'd silk be able to use my case with my epic.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I have bought the cheap ones on ebay for my EVO before. It was 2 batteries and the battery charger. They seemed to work really well for only $12. I was able to heavily use my phone and get through the day without having to worry about battery life.
I just bought two batteries, a battery charger, and 3 screen protectors for $10. They're shipping but I hope they're just as good. I hate monitoring my battery and worrying about shutting stuff off when I'm not using it.
my results have been mixed. I have three epics and got a bunch of spare battereis from several ebay vendors.
First, the are all counterfeit. They are not bulk pack g9 or g7.
The g7s I got have labels that say samsung. Their wight is perceivable less than the stock battery. They are max 1200 mah, and three of four (the vendor sent me two replacements) will report "battery is not connected" meaning the difference is substantial enough for the Epic to sense it and not charge it, although they work with standalone charger.
The otehr ones I got weigh the correct amount, but say in a tiny font "for" right before the samsung logo. In other words the label is a counterfeit use of samsung logo, desinged to trick the buyer who doesn't see the tiny "for" in an ebay picture. They also seem to be no more than 1200 mah.
all in all having a few spare 1200 ma and a charger for $10 isn't bad for several spare battery uses, I don't think they will harm the phone. But you are not getting a steal on the real deal.
Related
Hi everybody.
plz someone can help me to find a good battery in ebay for my kaiser?
I read about some batteries with high mA capacity but the same performance than the original battery, and some vendors and very bad quality batteries.
so I'm a little bit confused, I want a battery with better performance than the original, but with the same size (of preference) or not too big.
if someone can tell me about a good vendor and his best battery model I would be been thankful with him
PS: plz don't burn me by open this topic so vitiated.
Ps2: sorry about my english
I'm using this battery which is technically twice the capacity here:
http://www.superetrader.co.uk/htc-t...lacement-extended-battery-2700mah-p-3052.html
It comes with a new back casing because as you would expect it is literally twice the width of the original battery so it sticks out at the back. I haven't had any problem with the quality of the battery, but the casing does feel a little bit cheaper than the original.
This one comes with 12 months warranty, which you are unlikely to get on Ebay so bare that in mind when you do your purchase.
R
rfarnell said:
I'm using this battery which is technically twice the capacity here:
http://www.superetrader.co.uk/htc-t...lacement-extended-battery-2700mah-p-3052.html
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Click to collapse
Technically, yes...but in normal use, does it actually work? Does the battery work longer?
ive used an incredibly similar style of battery for an older htc phone. I used a battery with twice the mah but didnt quite get twice the life. dont get me wrong, did the job at increasing the life pretty well and u get used to it sticking out a bit on the back
ps, if yer using a tight carry case then it may not fit in with an upgraded battery
hknivers said:
Technically, yes...but in normal use, does it actually work? Does the battery work longer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is exactly my question. in this case, which battery is better in weight/size/mAh/performance?
Im using the 1600 mah from www.seidio.com. Barely adds any weight compaired to OEM. Batt life for me is extended about 4-5 hrs. On OEM, with normal usage, I am down to 30% by 10pm (I charge overnight 12am-5am). With the 1600, I am about 45% at 10pm.
All my products from Seidio have been solid. I would stray away from batteries bought from ebay. I got lame ones several times when buying batts for other phones, cameras and devices.
I forgot to add that the 1600 does not need the extended back cover. It is the same dimensions of the OEM. Also the 1600's weight is, if anything less then the OEM. The metal bars/frame on the OEM battery is not there on the 1600. Some say that the metal bars are for reception. So far I have not noticed any reception decrease nor interference difference.
transportguy said:
All my products from Seidio have been solid. I would stray away from batteries bought from ebay. I got lame ones several times when buying batts for other phones, cameras and devices.
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Click to collapse
I live in Chile (southamerica) in the ass of the world.
the only easy-fast way to buy something is ebay
I am so lucky I guess, I never had a problem buying this way always looking the vendor feedback/reputation.
thanks by the advice
I think the best battery is that http://shop.eten.hu/mugen-power-300...5-cingular-with-battery-door-black-p-207.html
breakx said:
I think the best battery is that http://shop.eten.hu/mugen-power-300...5-cingular-with-battery-door-black-p-207.html
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Click to collapse
Why do you think that? Have you compared it to the other extended batteries (including the cheap ones on eBay)? As far as I can see, they're all pretty much the same.
As far as I understand, all the extended batteries have the problem where the Kaiser incorrectly reports the capacity and shuts off when they're half full.
Have you seen this post? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2097942&postcount=48
FWIW:
We have few older htc phones at home (ipaqs, tytn1, tytn2).
I bought extended batteries for ipaqs in the past - original from HP's store, and 2600mAh and 2400mAh "generics" from ebay.
Contrary to what I've been "warned" by some people, there was no problems whatsoever with any of the "generic" batteries - they didn't explode didn't damage my phones, nor didn't malfunction prematurely either.
The 2600mAh made in China lasted me 1yr 3mths before it started to act up, the 2400mAh Taiwan-make still works (its been 1yr 5mths now) - and both are no-brand cheap batteries from ebay, and the HP's expensive extended batt (IIRC it is mere 1800mAh only) still works too (almost 2yrs now).
The only problem I had with the extended batteries were their replacement back covers.
Except for HP's original one (of course) which came with 2 extra covers, the "generics" came with really shoddy and crappy covers, the China-make one was the worst: it was slightly out-of-specs, and it always felt somewhat loose (no, it never felt off nor unlatched itself but it had this "loose" feeling always, you could physically feel it moving a bit up and down when holding the phone, not much - maybe half a millimeter - but it was there).
The other Taiwan make battery's cover was perfect in its dimensions (no "loose" feeling) but then its color was few shades off of the original color... not really important detail (specially when you pay 3x less than for the "original") but I thought I should mention it too.
I have just ordered Mugen extended battery for my TyTN II.
When it arrives - and I won't forget - I'll post here about it.
****, I am really confused now
thanks justdave by the advise.
just get a ebay cheapo
http://cgi.ebay.com/EXTENDED-LIFE-B...ryZ20336QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
this is what I ordered. from this seller. battery cover fits perfectly. no wiggle. battery lasts all day without worry with heavy usage. talk, email push, web, im on it all day.
It does not report the battery meters correctly as with all extended batteries as noted. but this battery at 23 bucks shipped is the so much cheaper and I am betting the exact same cells as a seidio or muggen battery. they are all made in china anyways.
An alternative may be an external USB power pack. I use one of these and top up when my battery is going low. Saves the hassle of a larger phone, and all i need is a standard mini usb cable
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=2725&t_mode=des
I am also using the seidio extended life 1600ma battery, i used to charge my phone every night because id be down to like 20% after a day of use, now with the 1600 i go 2 days of use and charge it the 2nd night almost always. Also you retain the original battery cover. I dont know about you guys but this phone is dookie enough as is, i dont need a big battery that requires a new cover and makes my phone another 1/4 inch thicker. seidios a good buy imo, little pricey but ive been happy with its performance.
Extended Batteries
I have an Electrospan by Boxwave @ 2600mah and a Mugen 3000mah. Yes, I think the Mugen might be a little better, but what is interesting is the batteries are exactly the same size although the back covers are different. They do make the device thicker, but it still fits in most horizontal leather cases I have tried. Boxwave also sells an external battery pack that takes 4 AA batteries. The key is to minimize battery drain in the first place. If your data like connects to 3G, battery life goes away quickly vs. edge or GPRS. You can restrict this by using Bandswitch # www.commmgrpro.com (10 euros). Voice calls, screen brightness and push email can also contribute significantly to drain.
I am in the market for a replacement battery because after 2 years of use my Mogul battery is almost depleted after a 10 min. phone call.
I looked at the Seido 1650mah to get more juice in the same physical size (no hump) and it's $45.
http://store.wmexperts.com/seidio-1650mah-oem-size-extended-battery/8A37A2932.htm
Then I noticed that the stock 1500mah batteries are selling for $6? (on ebay and amazon)
Is there something I'm missing here, they are advertised as "new". Has anyone had experience with these replacement 1500mah not performing? If these will get me back to stock battery life then maybe I'll settle for just the 1500. I just don't see why the price disparity.
I bought one on Ebay a couple months back from wirelessstoreusa. $6.77 with free shipping.
It was marked identically with the battery I received with the phone, and performs fine. I figured that even if it just lasted six months, I could get a lot of replacements before I broke even buying a more expensive battery and paying shipping.
Unless you need a higher mah battery, I'd go with the cheap one!
I got 2 for free at a local Sprint store. They were slightly used but in good working condition plus they were free so I wasn't complaining.
Ok thanks. I guess I'll go for the 1500 then.
I went with a cheap one from Amazon and it seems to be performing the same, if not worse, as the battery I was replacing. In other words my original battery is over a year old and won't last one day, and the new one does about the same. Maybe my memory is failing, but I thought when I first bought the phone the battery was lasting longer than that.
Despite this, I think it will suffice as I don't anticipate having this phone for much more than six more months.
Thanks for posting this. I am curious to see if others have had a similar experience.
I bought an extra battery and charger on my Evo and noticed that recently, my Evo battery is now performing WORSE than the cheap Chinese generic knockoff battery.
The Chinese one use to run about 1 - 1.5days but now runs over 2 days (thanks to new kernel by HTC).
However, the red battery which used to give me 2 - 2.5 days run time (on older kernel), now only runs for 12hrs.
Any ideas?
Are you charging the stock red battery with the Chinese charger? You shouldnt do that. But as far as the chinese batteries, it doesn matter how you charge them.
Go into a battery program, spareparts or batteryinfo widget, and see if they are charging to the same voltage. I have several htc batteries with all about the same use, I have 2 of them that are almost a 100mv lower then the others so I "top" them off by unplugging and replugging them in a few times while charging.
sitlet said:
Are you charging the stock red battery with the Chinese charger? You shouldnt do that. But as far as the chinese batteries, it doesn matter how you charge them.
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Click to collapse
Where did you get this info? The external chinese chargers are a slower, less powerful charge. I get more juice out of the battery than charging it in the phone, due to the quick 10% drop. Everything I have ever read says that slower charging is better for the battery in the long run. Please link where you got this from.
I have 2 batteries, the red one, and one that came with my Hero. I charge them in the cheap charger and rarely actually charge the phone.
I see no difference in battery life.
the whole quick charge tech is no good, my $4 chinese charger (no quick charge crap) works way better then charging in phone, i had an older laptop, one of the first to claim quick charge, with a battery that was wearing down about maybe 90-60min got an external charger that charges slowly and managed to recondition the already 4yr old battery to run 3hrs but went back to charging on laptop and battery slowly ran down again to about 1hr
On my PHILLIPS ppc6700, I had done this exact thing, with an eBay battery. I noticed NO difference between the two batteries, and I even ran synthetic tests to confirm. I believe I posted those results a LONG time ago on ppcfreaks.
I then bought the Saedo (sp?) 3700 ma/hr piece with the extended battery door and the dock, and that thing kicked ass. I would get like a week with an overclocked proc on fast evdo and a cooked ROM nue2chem I believe, its been a long time.
Then with my 6800 things got really bad. I went through maybe 6 phones from dead charging ports. I honestly felt like at least half of those failures (which were all replaced basically no questions asked, besides one) were due to gas-station car charges and laptop cords. Such a nightmare.
My guess is that most mini usb port failures from back then were due to the actual design standard being so loose that knock off, low cost manufacturers without precise and developed manufacturing techniques were marketing chargers that would arc my usb port to death over like a 1 hr drive. This is of course a guess. When Sprint questioned my one replacement I simply had the guy who had my phone taken apart bust out his magnifying glass and we could both clearly see burnt leads on the PCB. Couldn't see with the naked eye.
Also that older standard was thicker, and it thus exerted a little more tensional force on the port/PCB, which could have created the same effect.
Flash forward to my Evo: the new micro usb standard is FAR superior to the previous. No issues so far. Other chargers seem to work fine, without issue. You bet I was suspicious though, and I did all my checking within the return period. They DON'T have more Evos, so if you think that 8 dollars saved on a charger or something is worth it, Kool. Just as long as everyone knows the risks that have historically been associated with cheap chargers. At least anecdotally.
I would possibly consider some extended evo batter package if it was cool looking. Clear backed and extended maybe? With a small led batter level indicator on the battery itself, shining through the back with a small integrated button press.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Ape
cruecu said:
Where did you get this info? The external chinese chargers are a slower, less powerful charge. I get more juice out of the battery than charging it in the phone, due to the quick 10% drop. Everything I have ever read says that slower charging is better for the battery in the long run. Please link where you got this from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same id have to agree with this !
to clarify, the chargers i use are external not a phone charger, i wouldnt use a cheap charger on any of my phones
sitlet said:
Are you charging the stock red battery with the Chinese charger? You shouldnt do that. But as far as the chinese batteries, it doesn matter how you charge them.
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Click to collapse
Yes, i never charge from the phone anymore. I just use the phone till it dies and then swap with a fresh ly charged battery. I charge both of them in the cheap charger.
I was thinking that maybe the phone battery recalibration got whacked? Just a guess.
Any battery charges better with a lower amp charge period. I charge my deep cell boat batteries at the beginning of the season on 2 amp trickle charge. I have had them for 10 years now. Way over the life expectancy. I charge my evo batteries on a 400 milli amp wall charger. Way better charge and they charge 100% everytime.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Okay, I'm convinced. I'm slow charging mine in an external charger.
treckin said:
On my PHILLIPS ppc6700, I had done this exact thing, with an eBay battery. I noticed NO difference between the two batteries, and I even ran synthetic tests to confirm. I believe I posted those results a LONG time ago on ppcfreaks.
I then bought the Saedo (sp?) 3700 ma/hr piece with the extended battery door and the dock, and that thing kicked ass. I would get like a week with an overclocked proc on fast evdo and a cooked ROM nue2chem I believe, its been a long time.
Then with my 6800 things got really bad. I went through maybe 6 phones from dead charging ports. I honestly felt like at least half of those failures (which were all replaced basically no questions asked, besides one) were due to gas-station car charges and laptop cords. Such a nightmare.
My guess is that most mini usb port failures from back then were due to the actual design standard being so loose that knock off, low cost manufacturers without precise and developed manufacturing techniques were marketing chargers that would arc my usb port to death over like a 1 hr drive. This is of course a guess. When Sprint questioned my one replacement I simply had the guy who had my phone taken apart bust out his magnifying glass and we could both clearly see burnt leads on the PCB. Couldn't see with the naked eye.
Also that older standard was thicker, and it thus exerted a little more tensional force on the port/PCB, which could have created the same effect.
Flash forward to my Evo: the new micro usb standard is FAR superior to the previous. No issues so far. Other chargers seem to work fine, without issue. You bet I was suspicious though, and I did all my checking within the return period. They DON'T have more Evos, so if you think that 8 dollars saved on a charger or something is worth it, Kool. Just as long as everyone knows the risks that have historically been associated with cheap chargers. At least anecdotally.
I would possibly consider some extended evo batter package if it was cool looking. Clear backed and extended maybe? With a small led batter level indicator on the battery itself, shining through the back with a small integrated button press.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Ape
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to go off topic but you typed all this on your evo? Does your finger hurt?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I am looking for a Nexus One replacement battery. Any recommendation appreciated on where to buy something good and reliable (and what to stay away from).
A battery with a higher capacity but same form factor as the standard one would be great.
Thanks.
Mugen brand or Seidio
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the opposite of what most people will probably tell you... Go to eBay! I wouldn't eBay if you definitely need an extended battery, but if another battery with the same capacity of the original is good enough for you, you can get cheap knockoffs that perform as well as the stock battery without it costing you an arm and a leg.
My G1's previous owner must've overheated the original battery or something... it's puffed up and barely fits anymore and it doesn't hold more than an hour or two charge. I ordered a pack of three batteries off eBay that came with a wall charger. I got the batteries a couple weeks later. One battery was completely dead. One only holds about 90% as much as a stock battery usually does. One was perfect. I contacted the seller about the dead battery and he refunded my purchase price completely, no return required. All in all, it worked out pretty well for me... and the original cost was only seven or eight dollars.
TL;DR at bottom. For those who like reading, continue..
I recently bought a Nexus 7 for tinkering and nostalgia reasons. I am really impressed that the tablet is STILL supported by custom ROM developers, pretty insane for a 8 year old device. However the battery life was terrible, reporting a capacity of ~56% via Accubattery. That is just poor and almost unusable in my opinion. Off I went on the Google machine searching for a genuine battery, most if not all were fake. I saw mostly photoshopped images of a generic batteries, that don't even look like the original. I did however find one listing of actual "new" genuine Asus/Panasonic batteries but they ship from China, ETA was over a month. Here is that listing for it: eBay link for ~$24. I am very impatient and decided to take a chance on this battery, shipping from California: eBay link The reason I chose this one was because I was about to purchase a battery from iFixit for $30, almost $40 including taxes and shipping. The battery in the second eBay link is the SAME battery shown on the iFixit page for less than half the cost. Insane. One of the reviews reported the battery only had around 83% capacity of 3950mAh with Accubattery, not good.
At ~$16 shipped, 83% capacity is helluva lot better than 56% and decided to go for it. The battery came well packaged along with those super flimsy small screwdriver set, adhesive stips and two plastic prying tools. Don't use the included drivers, they will strip the crap of whatever screw you try to remove. Opening the Nexus is the most tedious part of the battery replacement. I did crack the back casing where the headphone jack port is, it is not that noticable once back together. That area is the thinnest part of the casing and still cracked while being super conservative with prying. Once the back is off the rest of the battery replacement is much easier. Once everything was said and done I powered up the Nexus and the battery was charged to around 80%. And the improvement was already noticeable, the battery did not drain rapidly like the old one did. I drained the battery until it shut off, plugged in the charger and waited. And waited, and waited. It took over three hours for the Nexus to fully charge. And Accubattery reported... 90%! Granted this is just the first battery cycle but for $16 I could not be happier. I do not know if I got lucky with the battery I received but I cannot complain one bit. 90% capacity of 3950mAh! However the battery does suddenly cut off at 3%, something that the original did not do but that doesn't bother me. Draining Li-Ion batteries to 0% degrades them immensely, as well as charging them to 100%. Increase battery life (literally) by keeping the charge from 20-80%. This applies to all devices with Li-Ion batteries.
As for a long term test, we shall see. If the battery does fail prematurely I'll post an update here.
TL;DR: eBay sells the same battery for ~$16 delivered that iFixit sells for over twice the cost. The replacement battery has ~90% capacity of the advertised 3950mAh. Link for battery I bought, same as above: eBay link
perez6991 said:
...pretty insane for a 8 year old device. However the battery life was terrible...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the link. Another battery power solution for our almost-a-decade-old device is no-battery mod and a cheap 10Ah (or more) power bank glued to the back. In this "configuration" Nexus 7'13 can survive independently of battery supply sources
perez6991 said:
TL;DR at bottom. For those who like reading, continue..
I recently bought a Nexus 7 for tinkering and nostalgia reasons. I am really impressed that the tablet is STILL supported by custom ROM developers, pretty insane for a 8 year old device. However the battery life was terrible, reporting a capacity of ~56% via Accubattery. That is just poor and almost unusable in my opinion. Off I went on the Google machine searching for a genuine battery, most if not all were fake. I saw mostly photoshopped images of a generic batteries, that don't even look like the original. I did however find one listing of actual "new" genuine Asus/Panasonic batteries but they ship from China, ETA was over a month. Here is that listing for it: eBay link for ~$24. I am very impatient and decided to take a chance on this battery, shipping from California: eBay link The reason I chose this one was because I was about to purchase a battery from iFixit for $30, almost $40 including taxes and shipping. The battery in the second eBay link is the SAME battery shown on the iFixit page for less than half the cost. Insane. One of the reviews reported the battery only had around 83% capacity of 3950mAh with Accubattery, not good.
At ~$16 shipped, 83% capacity is helluva lot better than 56% and decided to go for it. The battery came well packaged along with those super flimsy small screwdriver set, adhesive stips and two plastic prying tools. Don't use the included drivers, they will strip the crap of whatever screw you try to remove. Opening the Nexus is the most tedious part of the battery replacement. I did crack the back casing where the headphone jack port is, it is not that noticable once back together. That area is the thinnest part of the casing and still cracked while being super conservative with prying. Once the back is off the rest of the battery replacement is much easier. Once everything was said and done I powered up the Nexus and the battery was charged to around 80%. And the improvement was already noticeable, the battery did not drain rapidly like the old one did. I drained the battery until it shut off, plugged in the charger and waited. And waited, and waited. It took over three hours for the Nexus to fully charge. And Accubattery reported... 90%! Granted this is just the first battery cycle but for $16 I could not be happier. I do not know if I got lucky with the battery I received but I cannot complain one bit. 90% capacity of 3950mAh! However the battery does suddenly cut off at 3%, something that the original did not do but that doesn't bother me. Draining Li-Ion batteries to 0% degrades them immensely, as well as charging them to 100%. Increase battery life (literally) by keeping the charge from 20-80%. This applies to all devices with Li-Ion batteries.
As for a long term test, we shall see. If the battery does fail prematurely I'll post an update here.
TL;DR: eBay sells the same battery for ~$16 delivered that iFixit sells for over twice the cost. The replacement battery has ~90% capacity of the advertised 3950mAh. Link for battery I bought, same as above: eBay link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
I just got a nexus 7 2012 version from someone for free.
It does not turn on, does not charge. I tried all sorts of things including "jump starting " the battery.
Looks like I fried the battery doing that.
THe battery reads about 3.4 volts but it should be 4.7 volts correct?
Seeing all this, do you think its worth it to purchase another battery to see if this is the problem?
I am thinking its a dead battery with a reading like that, and wont accept charge anymore.
Any idea?