Need replacement battery for Galaxy Note 4...is aftermarket the way to go?

[TubeTote]

Hi all,

I did a quick search in the forums and was surprised to find that this wasn't much discussed. The battery in this phone is terrible, it has been causing issues for most of the time I have owned it. For example, at around 50% it will die and need a decently long recharge to turn the phone on again. Recharging takes many hours, and it drains extremely fast compared to any phone I have ever owned.

I looked around on eBay, Google and Amazon for a replacement. There are plenty of OEM batteries available, and they aren't too expensive (around 8 to 12 dollars)...but a similar experience isn't worth the money to me. When I changed the searches to 'customer reviews' rather than 'price', I noticed that everything in the search was pointing towards after market batteries. The problem many stated in the reviews is that using an aftermarket battery voids the warranty, but mine is out of warranty anyway so that isn't my concern. My concern is mainly that any negative reviews said that the battery ruined their phone by overheating, and a few other problems as well.

I just want to know if anyone on here might have any experience with a Galaxy Note 4 aftermarket battery, and can make any recommendations. Here are the two that I am most considering at the moment:

https://www.amazon.com/PowerBear-Ba...ments=p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:10030589011

https://www.amazon.com/OhmniPax-Rep...ments=p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin:10030589011

Anyone tried either of these, and what was your experience? Any others I might want to consider?

Thank you!

 

[Zaap]

I recommend Anker:
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Replacement-Battery-Samsung-T-Mobile/dp/B01LXCS553/

For all my Galaxy phones with replaceable batteries (including the Note 4) Anker always had the best performance.

Stay clear of supposed Samsung branded batteries that are > $12. They are virtually ALL fakes, on Amazon, eBay and elsewhere. I don't know how the knock offs get away with it, but Amazon is littered with fake stuff that's supposedly OEM. Whenever it's significantly cheaper than everything else- just trust that it IS a knock off.
Example:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-Standard-Battery-3220mAh/dp/B00WBH9QQE/

Blatant fake. It's so bad on Amazon- if a battery has the Samsung logo on it, resembles an OEM battery, and says 'By Samsung" as if they made it... chances are it's fake! Again, don't ask me how anyone gets away with this on Amazon, but it's rampant. It's even true of brands like Apple as well, though not nearly as much as Samsung.

On the other hand, a company like Anker is big enough to be legit, yet not big enough for the knock offs to bother faking. So their stuff is legit.

Also, aftermarket batteries don't void any warranty for a phone that has a user-removable battery. Unless you get a battery that's so terrible in some way it literally damages the phone, there's no way what battery you use could have anything to do with the warranty. It doesn't do anything to the phone but power it. (Unless as I said, you get one so bad it could actually physically damage it.) if it were really some issue, just keep the original and put it back in the phone before anything that would involve the warranty. It's not like there's an alarm that would trigger "Wait! You had a third party battery here before! VOID!"

If a battery causes the phone to overheat and such- 100% chance that's a defective knock off like the one linked above. No legit battery from a reputable manufacturer will do any such thing.

Stick with Anker (or other legit third party) and you'll be fine.

 

[TubeTote]

Excellent response, thank you.

I didn't know about the 'fake' battery thing, but it does seem too good to be true that many of the supposed 'Samsung OEM' batteries are cheaper than on the Samsung website itself, I was wondering about that.

I'm not familiar with Anker, but it seems most of the reviews are positive...and as you said, I won't be getting a knock off. Definitely worth my consideration.

 

[Rifter]

I second the Anker battery, i used one daily in my note 4 for over a year and its still fine, still use it today around the house while my s7 is charging.

 

[gorcorps]

I'll 2nd anker. They make batteries and a lot of phone charging accessories in general. All of their stuff is usually well reviewed and decent quality for the price.

 

[TubeTote]

I'm very much leaning towards the Anker battery at this point, as it seems that there is a good reputation on this forum with actual users, and decent reviews across the internet.

I understand that you should fully charge and then discharge a new battery (and this is best in general use)...but I noticed in some of the reviews of various batteries that you should 'calibrate' the new battery. Does this apply to the Anker battery, and is there an application and /or method recommended?

Thanks!

 

[wilds]

+1 for Anker. They offer the longest warranty as well.

But if you need more juice, I don't think Anker has an extreme variant like they do for the Galaxy S5. I own a 7500 mAh Anker battery for my Galaxy S5 which supports quick charging and has been wonderful.

I bought a 10000 mAh ZeroLemon battery for my Note 4 which does not support quick charging which means slow charging.

Both batteries get 15-20 hours of on screen time before shutting down. I do love my battery life.

I had to calibrate the ZeroLemon once; and it was stuck on 1% for about 4 hours before it died. After fully charging it reads accurately.

The 6440 mAh Anker looks like a great fit for the Note 4 imo. It may seem a little bulky at first, but I think that it looks slim compared to what I'm used to. It will probably need a calibration where you will need to run it until it shuts itself off and then fully charge it.

Edit: I never had to calibrate my Anker battery. It just worked. My ZeroLemon actually requires a special kernel to be flashed (which I just did).

Anker all the way. I recommend ZeroLemon for rooted users who don't mind slow charge times.

 

[TubeTote]

Hi to those who responded...thank you. I have been using the Anker battery for a week or so now (for some reason it took forever to ship from Amazon). It's like having a new phone. Even with a decent amount of use, I can get nearly 2 full days of charge. When not in use, the battery drains very slowly, maybe a few percent overnight. Very pleased. In fact, now that I have a 'free' line from T-Mobile actually working like it is supposed to, I plan on buying an Anker battery for my Note 3 as well. Thanks again for the good advice and info.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Be sure to register on Anker. They have very good support and when my note 2 battery died earlier this year they sent me a replacement in less than 24hrs after filling out a warranty request. I bought a Samsung battery so I could keep going but the anker replacement is set aside for when I do need it.

 

[TubeTote]

Thank you for the advice, I wouldn't have thought to do that.

 

[stormkroe]

Didn't realize the thread started so long ago, but an fyi for anyone reading, I've been using a powerbear 7500 in my note 3 for months and it's been amazing.