Why removable batteries rock.

[iahk]

External batteries are fine if you're willing to go that route. I actually have ocd and I prefer both.

I only an extra oem battery for my galaxy S II as well as the 10,000mah anker astro3. If you had to choose one or the other, I would recommend the external battery as you can switch it from device to device. If you had a spare battery for your phone, it'd do you no good in the future if you replaced it with another device.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

no matter how you spin it, removable battery > nonremovable

Perhaps. I think there are benefits, but going nonremovable you also get a better form factor.

You know how many people have been complaining about battery life? Motorola's Razr and Razr Maxx manage to pack large batteries. They're nonremovable. The Razr Maxx wasn't even a huge phone at all.

You can argue well Samsung has a 2100mah battery. But that's in a SGS3 which is a monster sized phone.

I know it's a sacrifice but I almost NEVER swap batteries on my phone. My spare is solely for vacations where I go for long days with no charger. All other days I can access a car charger or a desktop charger, etc, anything. To me, and I'm sure many others will agree, as long as you can get a SOLID day's worth of use and charge at night, you're good. If you can pack a good sized battery like 2000mAh+ in a non removable compartment, I think most people are OK.

Plus, most of you are swapping phones anyway before the battery degrades.

I used to run spare batteries for my Nokia N82 and Motorola Milestone. They were terribly bad for battery life. The Nexus S needed it less and only in case where I needed to go a full long day on vacation. The SGS2 just totally doesn't need the spare at all.

 

[wirednuts]

ive had a few times though, where you let your phone die and it sits like that long enough the battery will drain far enough that the phone will NOT recharge it. you must remove the battery and directly charge it with a dummy universal charger or you wont be able to power on your phone.

 

[WelshBloke]

Perhaps. I think there are benefits, but going nonremovable you also get a better form factor.

You know how many people have been complaining about battery life? Motorola's Razr and Razr Maxx manage to pack large batteries. They're nonremovable. The Razr Maxx wasn't even a huge phone at all.

You can argue well Samsung has a 2100mah battery. But that's in a SGS3 which is a monster sized phone.

I know it's a sacrifice but I almost NEVER swap batteries on my phone. My spare is solely for vacations where I go for long days with no charger. All other days I can access a car charger or a desktop charger, etc, anything. To me, and I'm sure many others will agree, as long as you can get a SOLID day's worth of use and charge at night, you're good. If you can pack a good sized battery like 2000mAh+ in a non removable compartment, I think most people are OK.

Plus, most of you are swapping phones anyway before the battery degrades.

I used to run spare batteries for my Nokia N82 and Motorola Milestone. They were terribly bad for battery life. The Nexus S needed it less and only in case where I needed to go a full long day on vacation. The SGS2 just totally doesn't need the spare at all.

Do you use the Samsung extended battery?

 

[WelshBloke]

ive had a few times though, where you let your phone die and it sits like that long enough the battery will drain far enough that the phone will NOT recharge it. you must remove the battery and directly charge it with a dummy universal charger or you wont be able to power on your phone.

Ive had that happen with my touchpad (well sort of, theres a bizarre way of getting it working again), but I've got some old android/WM phones that haven't been charged in years and I bet they all still work.

 

[wirednuts]

Ive had that happen with my touchpad (well sort of, theres a bizarre way of getting it working again), but I've got some old android/WM phones that haven't been charged in years and I bet they all still work.

im sure the hardware still works fine, but plug it in and the phone will see a battery with a voltage low enough that the smart circuitry says "nope. bad battery you idiot, im not charging this"

thats where the cheap universal chargers come in. they dont care how low the voltage is. they just pump out 200-300ma for hours on end, until the voltages gets to 4.2 or the internal timer says "its been too long, stop charging"

 

[MrX8503]

Removable battery is a better option, provided it doesn't affect other areas. I'm not a fan of plastic, battery doors, or device creaking, so I have no qualms with the device having a sealed battery.

I'm a caseless user with only screen protectors. I don't like any added bulk or cheapness feel, so carrying around extra batteries for my plastic phone isn't something that appeals to me.

 

[WelshBloke]

im sure the hardware still works fine, but plug it in and the phone will see a battery with a voltage low enough that the smart circuitry says "nope. bad battery you idiot, im not charging this"

thats where the cheap universal chargers come in. they dont care how low the voltage is. they just pump out 200-300ma for hours on end, until the voltages gets to 4.2 or the internal timer says "its been too long, stop charging"

Couldnt work out why the C500 wasnt charging till I opened it.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

I have an extended battery pack, as well as a 5000 mAh battery pack charger. I was once at a hospital for 18hrs and with both the battery pack and extended battery it kept me online and in touch throughout.

 

[wirednuts]

Couldnt work out why the C500 wasnt charging till I opened it.

if you stored them while still on and theyve been sitting flat for 5 years, i am impressed

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Do you use the Samsung extended battery?

Nah. I could get it but its 2000 mAh vs 1650. Decent bump but not a huge bump.

But there are still times when I can run this thing dry. It depends how liberal I am on usage. I think moderate use can last a full 16 hours no problem. Heavy use starts wearing down by 10-12 hours. I do check in on foursquare everywhere I go. The only issues I seem to run into are in Vegas where I have to struggle to get data to work properly which wastes battery. I try to turn off data until I need to use it there now.

 

[jhansman]

BTW, I learned the hard way that non-OEM batteries don't always substitute. I went into the mountains with a Chinese spare for my Atrix 2, only to learn that yes, it powered the phone, but no, it would not make a cellular connection. Oh well, now I know.

 

[wirednuts]

BTW, I learned the hard way that non-OEM batteries don't always substitute. I went into the mountains with a Chinese spare for my Atrix 2, only to learn that yes, it powered the phone, but no, it would not make a cellular connection. Oh well, now I know.

wow that sucks. didnt have the oomph to run everything at once... weird...

most generic batteries ive bought (the $4 ones) tend to be about half the run time as oem batteries. but there are a few out there (like $6 ones) that do work just as good as oems... you just have to go with what seems right and hope you found one from a good batch.

 

[Zaap]

For me, the pros of a non-removable battery don't come close to equalling (let alone outweighing) the pros of removable.

Removables just make more sense- my phone is never out of commission tethered to anything and I have no worries it'll ever not be charged when I need it. Much more valuable to me than a few millimeters of thinness, and negligible weight difference.

 

[Zaap]

wow that sucks. didnt have the oomph to run everything at once... weird...

most generic batteries ive bought (the $4 ones) tend to be about half the run time as oem batteries. but there are a few out there (like $6 ones) that do work just as good as oems... you just have to go with what seems right and hope you found one from a good batch.

Yeah, this is why you have to avoid the cheaper ebay batteries. On the SGS3, the cheap-o batteries (< $16+) don't support NFC, and often don't hold a charge equal to the OEM.

I always read the user reviews of specific batteries on Amazon, and get the higher quality ones. Rather than $5 and some cheap-o + charger with no feedback off eBay, I spent $25 on Amazon for 2x + charger a decent brand that had lots of good reviews, users reporting as good or better life than the stock, and full support for all the phone's features (like NFC, S-Beam etc). Worth it not to cheap out and get what you know will work.

 

[jhansman]

wow that sucks. didnt have the oomph to run everything at once... weird...

Wasn't a question of oomph; the OEM battery is proprietary and, like several dSLRs these days, the phone will not fully work unless a factory battery is detected. Just ordered a non-OEM battery for my wife's Captivate that, according to all the Amazon reviews, should work. Samsung want's $40 for a new one, money that I would sooner put into a newer phone. My Nikon takes a $50 battery, but I just can't see spending that much for a spare. Probably will, though, eventually.

 

[KeithP]

You can forget to charge your spare battery just as easy as you can forget to charge your phone. But even if that spare battery is charged, what happens if you have a different handheld device that needs charging in a pinch? Another spare battery I suppose.

IMHO, external battery packs with USB ports make more sense.

-KeithP