What brand of battery to buy?

[QueBert]

Picking up an HTC Evo tomorrow and want to get a bigger battery, not so big I need to put a new cover on the back. I'm seeing a Mugen 1800mAh which looks interesting, fits the same door, but I can't find any reviews outside of a few "great battery!" which doesn't tell me much. Anyone here used the Mugen with an EVO? I was wondering exactly how much more life I'd get out of it over the stock 1500mAh. The Mugen's $45 bucks, if there's any brand that's good and around the same price I'm all ears.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Seidio has great products and offers a 1750mAh battery for the Evo 4G.

FYI you can generally find better prices on their products through an authorized reseller on eBay. You can also subscribe to their newsletter for frequent % off coupons.

http://www.seidioonline.com/product-p/basi17hev4.htm

 

[QueBert]

1750 sounds good, I found a 2000mAh a few people claim fit the standard battery door, but it's one of those HK crap batteries which is probably worse than the standard one. I've bought $8 cell phone batteries off Ebay and learned my lesson lol.

 

[Pliablemoose]

You can only pack so much juice into a given area, I've seen glowing reviews of the Seido batteries and some pretty bad experiences as well, IMHO, go with the larger OEM HTC battery/back combo, I've used some eBay batteries and they usually crap out after 6 months or so.

 

[QueBert]

True, but if I could squeeze another even 45 minutes of use out of a battery it would be worth it to me. Since I've never used an EVO I only can go off what people say, and pretty much everyone says the battery life's pathetic, so an extra hour would probably be worth it. All the 3200mAh batteries I've seen come with ugly ass battery door that has a huge weird looking square bulge right in the middle.

 

[Pliablemoose]

True, but if I could squeeze another even 45 minutes of use out of a battery it would be worth it to me. Since I've never used an EVO I only can go off what people say, and pretty much everyone says the battery life's pathetic, so an extra hour would probably be worth it. All the 3200mAh batteries I've seen come with ugly ass battery door that has a huge weird looking square bulge right in the middle.

Get one of those charger/docks that allows you to charge a spare battery, carry it with you (the spare battery).

The EVO is a great phone with a lot of developers behind it.

To save juice, I turn off the 4G unless I'm doing something data intensive. Due to the high latency of the WiMax network, I see no appreciable difference between 4G and 3G with regular use.

 

[QueBert]

Get one of those charger/docks that allows you to charge a spare battery, carry it with you (the spare battery).

The EVO is a great phone with a lot of developers behind it.

To save juice, I turn off the 4G unless I'm doing something data intensive. Due to the high latency of the WiMax network, I see no appreciable difference between 4G and 3G with regular use.

I found a dock for it that will charge a 2nd battery, and since I'll be using it on Metro PCS I can just keep the 4G off since it's not compatible. 1X data speeds here I come!

 

[MrBond]

Check this out before you buy a third party extended battery.

http://batteryboss.org/

Not sure how current that is, I remember seeing that when I was looking for an extended battery for my phone.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Before you buy an extra battery, you should be getting pretty decent life if you keep the 4G off, give it a try before you spend the $...

 

[fbrdphreak]

Check this out before you buy a third party extended battery.

http://batteryboss.org/

Not sure how current that is, I remember seeing that when I was looking for an extended battery for my phone.

Cool link - the lesson learned here is to buy OEM only and leave that other shit alone.

 

[iahk]

True, but if I could squeeze another even 45 minutes of use out of a battery it would be worth it to me. Since I've never used an EVO I only can go off what people say, and pretty much everyone says the battery life's pathetic, so an extra hour would probably be worth it. All the 3200mAh batteries I've seen come with ugly ass battery door that has a huge weird looking square bulge right in the middle.

Through my experience, the 1800mah vs. stock battery isn't going to be any noticeable difference.

I have the seidio 3500mah myself. The good thing about the larger rear cover is that it protects the camera. I hate how the design of the original rear cover pretty much leaves the rear camera potruding. You put down your phone too hard and there's a chance you just smashed your camera.

Are you planning to root your evo? That's one of the best ways to save battery. Custom rom and custom kernel.

 

[QueBert]

Through my experience, the 1800mah vs. stock battery isn't going to be any noticeable difference.

I have the seidio 3500mah myself. The good thing about the larger rear cover is that it protects the camera. I hate how the design of the original rear cover pretty much leaves the rear camera potruding. You put down your phone too hard and there's a chance you just smashed your camera.

Are you planning to root your evo? That's one of the best ways to save battery. Custom rom and custom kernel.

I will root it, but I don't want to mess with a custom kernel though. I actually like 2 of the Sense widgets a lot. And there aren't any knock off ones that measure up.

 

[vshah]

the same size extended batteries almost never offer any additional capacity. the larger ones are still overrated, but will give you more juice than stock.

 

[dguy6789]

the same size extended batteries almost never offer any additional capacity. the larger ones are still overrated, but will give you more juice than stock.

This. Seidio lies about the capacity of their batteries(So does everyone else who claims they can make an 1700-1800MAH battery that is the same size as a 1300, it doesn't work like that). The "extended" batteries they offer that are the same physical size as the stock batteries actually offer less capacity by a little bit. Don't be swindled.

http://batteryboss.org/

The only batteries that give you extra capacity are physically larger batteries. Tiny companies like Seidio and Mugen don't have magic advanced technology that lets them create significantly more advanced batteries than much larger companies, contrary to what they would have you believe.

 

[fbrdphreak]

The only batteries that give you extra capacity are physically larger batteries. Tiny companies like Seidio and Mugen don't have magic advanced technology that lets them create significantly more advanced batteries than much larger companies, contrary to what they would have you believe.

While your link does support the conclusion that said "enhanced" capacity batteries are over-rated, this is incorrect. Seidio and Mugen don't build their own batteries - they buy from other manufacturers and re-label them. And it is entirely possible to have different capacities in the same form factor - it has happened in laptops many times.

But would a cell manufacturer skip out on a few hundred mAh additional capacity in their OEM battery? Nope. And as your link shows, aftermarket "enhanced" capacity batteries that are the same physical size are a waste.

 

[dguy6789]

While your link does support the conclusion that said "enhanced" capacity batteries are over-rated, this is incorrect. Seidio and Mugen don't build their own batteries - they buy from other manufacturers and re-label them. And it is entirely possible to have different capacities in the same form factor - it has happened in laptops many times.

But would a cell manufacturer skip out on a few hundred mAh additional capacity in their OEM battery? Nope. And as your link shows, aftermarket "enhanced" capacity batteries that are the same physical size are a waste.

I agree. I intended to convey that the batteries that come stock in these phones are already using the highest cell density currently feasible for that size and that buying a special Seidio isn't going to get you anything, not that it's not possible at all for batteries of the same size to have different capacity.

 

[vshah]

any perceived improvements from a new "extended slim" battery are probably because your current oem battery is old, and has lost some capacity as all batteries do.