Customer Reviews

Seidio Innocell 1750 mAh Battery for HTC Droid Eris/Droid Incredible - ADR6300

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

My new battery came Friday, and has already increased my phone's usefulness by a good hour or so, which is exactly what it is designed to do. Perfect! I find this battery has the oomph needed to make it through the day without having to turn off every little thing, which is nice.. I bought my Incredible to use, not to disable everything it's capable of to save battery!

Here's what I mean about managing your expectations, explained in very simplified terms. The original battery is rated at 1300mAh, and gets you about 3 to 3.5 hours of heavy use.. Surfing, IM'ing, etc - all constant use. We'll split the diff and say 3 1/4 hours. So take the 1300 and divide by 3.25, you get 400. So the phone requires about 400 per hour of usage. The new battery is rated 1750mAh.. Divide that out to get hours, and it works like this: 1750/400= about 4.37. Essentially, you get about one more hour of active usage from this battery. Simplified, but that's about how it works. So if you found a magic battery that did 2500mAh, you could figure out how long it would last (2500/400= about 6.25 hours constant usage).

In a nutshell, smartphones like those in the Droid family need more power than other phones. Definitely expect to charge it at least daily. This battery should help get through the day, but it can't perform miracles or break the laws of physics. ;)

After doing my due diligence, I purchased this battery for my Droid Incredible. I followed the instructions on the packaging ("battery life will increase after 5-6 charges, allow 8 hours for first charge") and the battery care recommendations from various websites ("train" phone by fully charging and discharging [to 5% or so] for the first 5 cycles, keep battery cool). I carefully monitored the battery life with free applications such as "battery time lite" and "JuicePlotter" <-- my favorite.

I expected a 35% increase in battery life, since this battery has 450 mAh more capacity than the OEM battery (450/1300 = 0.346..) The result? No significant increase in battery life over the OEM battery. So I returned the battery to Amazon for a full refund. P.S. Amazon is great with returns/exchanges.


Some anecdotal information:

1) During my experience with this battery, I noticed that it gets much hotter during use than the OEM battery did. It seems like other reviewers noticed this as well. I'm not a battery expert, but from my experience selecting/researching/using "matched" and "tested" batteries for other applications (I would compare batteries manufactured to the same specifications by the same manufacturer), I noticed that the batteries with higher rated capacity also had higher internal resistance. Even though more current is pushed into (and out of) the "higher capacity" batteries, more of the current is wasted overcoming the higher internal resistance vs the average capacity batteries with average internal resistance. The result of current overcoming internal resistance is heat. Perhaps these high capacity batteries also have high internal resistance, which would explain why they get so hot.

2) After charging to 100%, this Seidio battery would drop to about 90% within 10-20 minutes on standby. Not really sure what that's about, but the OEM battery doesn't do that.

3) My brother purchased this same battery for his Droid Incredible. He actually had a better experience with this battery. He noticed a slight increase in battery life. He also noticed the battery got hotter than his OEM battery. I asked him if the slight increase in battery life was worth $41 to him, and he said wish he had kept the original packaging.

4) A full charge in the morning with the OEM battery usually leaves me at 10% - 20% by the time I go to sleep. I'd consider myself an average user - a few hours of music playback, texting throughout the day, an hour or so of internet use, and 2-3 hours of voice calls.


Here's my recommendation:

1) Wait for a Verizon/HTC higher capacity battery, unless you are a "power user". If you want to roll the dice for slightly longer battery life, buy this, follow the battery care instructions carefully, but keep the packaging so you can return it if you decide the cost outweighs the benefit.

2) If you are a "power user" and your battery dies in the middle of the day, buy a larger physical sized 2000+ mAh battery, deal with the slightly larger physical size, and perhaps try a normal physical sized 2000+ mAh battery if/when one is released. IHMO, this 1750 mAh battery won't be enough for a "power user" to go through a full day without recharging.

3) Turn off autosync, bluetooth, GPS, and wi-fi, unless you are doing something that requires them to be on. Why waste energy when you have the option not to?

4) Download "JuicePlotter" (it's free) from the android market place and monitor your battery useage with that nifty and colorful graph.

5) Download "Advanced Task Killer" (it's free) from the android market place and shut down applications when you aren't using them, unless it's an app that you want to run all day (I prefer to leave "city ID", "advanced task killer", "weather", "clock", "calendar", and "JuicePlotter" running at all times).

I hope this helps

6/9/10 Update: It was brought to my attention that the currently unreleased 2150 mAh battery is actually a larger physical size than the OEM battery. I revised the review to reflect this. However the conclusion is still the same: I recommend waiting for a higher capacity, same physically sized, battery from HTC or Verizon. I did not notice $41 worth of increased battery life with this 1750 mAh Seidio battery.

With the barely two month old OEM battery, my Eris would usually die on me during my commute home. My office is located in a poor reception area that causes phone to consume more energy than normal. With this battery, I usually get home with at least 30% charge left. In areas with decent reception, my phone easily lasts two whole days even with moderate/extensive voice & data usage. The battery definitely held its charge better after about 5 cycles. I got the Eris due to its slim/compact profile, and this battery allows higher capacity while keeping same profile.

My Journal of the Seidio slim extended battery for the HTC Incredible/Eris

Day 1: Charged overnight from 12 AM to 7:15 AM, battery gauge showed full, indicator light on HTC Incredible showed green. Wi-Fi and Cellular radios enabled, screen brightness set to automatic, using Advanced Task Killer app. I've been in and out of WiFi points all day, placed several phone calls, surfed the internet heavily, a handful of SMS, Twitter, Facebook, a few games, and took about 20 pictures with no flash. Current stats on the phone indicate nearly 140 MB downloaded, 12 MB uploaded. I did power cycle the Incredible around 8:00 PM because my free memory was in the 50s and ATK couldn't free it up. According to the Smart Monitor Lite app the battery is at 29%. It is now 10:17 PM, so that's a solid 15 hours of usage. On the standard battery I would have been plugged in at my desk by noon, and again after dinner.
Update: I logged a solid 1 hour phone call from 11:30p to 12:30a and the battery is still kicking!

Day 2: Charged from 2AM to 8:30AM, battery gauge showed full, indicator light showed green. Same radio settings as Day 1. Spent the morning in a Wi-Fi zone, minimal surfing, Facebook, and email. Around 6:00 PM I enabled the GPS and has been on ever since. Only a few minutes of cell phone usage. Moderate surfing, Twitter, and Facebook. At 12:35 AM the Smart Monitor app indicates that the battery has 40% remaining. I used Advanced Task Killer a handful of times today, no battery pull, no power cycles, no reboots performed today. Battery is impressive.

Day 3: Charged approximately from 1:00 AM to 7:30 AM. Same radio settings as Day 1, this time I enabled the GPS at 8:30 AM. Actively used Navigation app for about 30 minutes. Navigation app was active for a total of 1.5 hours. Turned off GPS around 11:30. Turned GPS on and off again at least a dozen more times throughout the day to check-in using 4Square app. Checked my phone multiple times every hour by unlocking the screen and checking Twitter. Browsed the web, used Facebook, Twitter, and SMS for nearly 80 megabytes. Currently it is 11:03 and my battery gauge is in the red and suggesting I plug in before it dies...it has been saying this for well over an hour now. I used Advanced Task Killer multiple times today, no battery pulls, no power cycles, or reboots today. I still highly recommend this battery.

Day 19: Charged approximately 6 hours, unplugged from power source @ 9:00 this morning, wifi and cell radios enabled. Few phone calls, heavy internet browsing, twitter, facebook, about 10 minutes of youtube videos, and a few pictures. The battery icon is now red, with a little more than 4 hours left until it has been 24 hours. Advanced Task Killer has been running all day, but I have not used it once. I am beginning to suspect that the OS is capable of managing itself better than my forced intervention. Phone did lock up around 12 midnight, so I did a battery pull, but that was the only intervention. The battery is worthy.

What's not to like? It's the same size as the original battery (so your phone doesn't get bulkier and you can keep your protective case), but it seemed to last almost twice as long in my Droid Eris. The extra life let me leave GPS, Wifi, etc. turned on all the time, and still only had to charge every couple of days. With the old battery I had to keep some wireless features turned off when I didn't need them, and still needed to charge every night.

I can get through a full day with this battery and I could not do so with the OEM battery. Be patient - make sure you follow the instructions to fully charge the battery. After 5-6 charges you should see improved battery life.

I chose this battery rather than the 3500 because I like the slim profile of my phone. This battery is the same size as OEM and I can continue to use my Seidio case.

1750mAh compared to the 1300mAh battery that comes with the Incredible? I'll take it! No extended back needed either. After the battery is "burned in" in 10 charge cycles, I average about 2 days+ of moderate use on a single charge. Well worth it in my opinion since I was only averaging just a day with the original battery on a charge. Do yourself a favor and pickup the Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger for Use with HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, Droid Eris and Touch Pro 2. This will allow you to charge and cycle between the original and extended battery.

Here's a few battery saving tips for the incredible. First off, don't bother with task killers, they do more harm then good and actually drain your battery faster. Turn off wifi, gps and bluetooth if you do not use them. Only have apps installed that you use (some run in the background and drain battery). Set the screen timeout down to a minutes. Use full charge cycles (drain battery to dead and charge to full).

**There is a bug with how the Incredible charges your battery. It does not give it a full charge when connected and powered on. To achieve a full charge you must charge your phone until the green led comes on and then turn it off. You should see the green led change to amber. It will then change to green again in about 30 minutes. Your phone will be FULLY charged now. If you find this is a pain, you can purchase an external battery charger like the one listed above. This is a hardware related issue that HTC is aware of.**

As with any Seidio product I have no complaints whatsoever. Phone manufactures really need to focus on battery life with their handsets then trying to pump out the fastest phone.

This has made my phone last about 15 hours while running Meebo IM. Before, I would last 8 hours.

Fits perfectly into my phone and did not change the size.

The first few days after my Incredible arrived, I concluded the OEM battery was inadequate. It's a pretty RED but the charge doesn't last long at all. I replaced it with the Seidio Innocell 1750 mAh Battery and am very pleased. I run apps, make calls, exchange messages, surf the web and still have battery life at the end of the day.

Well worth the bucks

I can definitely notice a difference in battery longevity between the original HTC incredible battery and this one. The 1750 mAh batter won't give you 5 extra days of battery life, but I have noticed at least an extra day. The original battery that came with my phone would last me a whole day and through the night. I would then have to charge the original battery during the day so that my phone wouldn't die. The new 1750 mAh battery has been able to get me a whole day, a whole night, and then through a-whole-nother day. So it essentially lasts 2 days for me. Now, I am not a heavy user when it comes to my phone. I am sure that if I surfed the web, loaded all my apps at once, and talked on the phone all day, neither of my batteries would get me through a day. Having this extra battery though is awesome. I even bought the "Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger" -> Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger for Use with HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, Droid Eris and Touch Pro 2 to go with my batteries. Now I always have an extra charged battery with me so my phone never dies.

A couple things to remember with your phone:
1) batteries are like dogs - you have to train them. Use your battery till it is almost depleted and then recharge it.
2) phones nowadays are laptops in your hand. The more you use your laptop in a day, the faster you battery will deplete. Same goes for a smartphone. Let me put it to you this way - I am going to compare a human brain to computer/smartphone - as a human, try cooking, cleaning, teaching yourself greek mythology, playing racquetball, fixing the kitchen sink, brushing your teeth, quilting, while watching your favorite soap opera. Yea, your brain will be on overload and will be tired. Computers and smartphones are electronic brains.... they get tired too.