Review - Samsung Droid Charge i510 Extended Capacity 3600mAh Li-Ion Battery + Battery Door Cover

I recently purchased a Chinese made extended battery for the Droid Charge. As many of you have experienced, the battery life of many Android devices can be very poor. The Droid Charge is no exception. Many people get four hours or less depending on their individual usage usually focused around the apps they are using. GPS and streaming video apps will of course drain your phone in a heartbeat. Rooting and running a more efficient ROM can help, but many people do not like to go down that path.  So, I found an alternative and have given it a run.

Upon ordering the battery came quickly even with me living in the middle of nowhere Montana. The packing was acceptable and came with a little black and white note. The instructions read that you must cycle the battery three times in order to receive the full benefit of the battery. If you fail to do this, you risk having a battery with a short life than the original stock. The cycling really was not a problem as I did not mind having my phone off while it recharged. The process really did take quite some time as the battery immediately lasted just under 14 hours with my average use which I will cover.

The first thing I noticed was the weight. Yes, the battery is twice the physical size taking up some real estate when compared to the original, but I expected that. However, I now have an unexpected weapon in my pocket. I could see the weight being a problem for some people as it is a bit significant. If you wear thinner clothing you may not consider this purchase. In jeans or a jacket pocket will be fine.

I choose to use a non-name brand battery which can be a recipe for problems. I just could not pass up the price. The Chinese make is fairly cheap at just over $12. Many other extended batteries for phones can range from $20 to $40 on average. $12 almost seemed too cheap. The price even included the door cover which is a must for this new double sized battery.

After a week of use and proper initial cycling I have a huge improvement in overall battery life. To help give you an idea I have what I consider average use habits. M day consists of leaving all radios on including Bluetooth, GPS, and wifi. Throughout the day I get push notices from multiple email accounts, calendar, news, and finance. I check finance and general news about every hour or two. And on most days I usually watch about an hour or two of streaming video. The streaming does cut down on the life, but not by too much if I only watch one video. I tend to use the camera app quite often as well. My screen is usually kept on the brightest setting which as you may know is just about the largest battery drain short of video streaming. If you have similar habits I would bet you would have similar performance. Please leave some comments below sharing your experience. We all need to know if it rocked or sucked because everyone deserves to get the most out of their purchase. You can check out my link on the left to get your own extended battery.

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