Replace Battery at Verizon Store?

[fightfan]

Hi all,

New forum member, first-time poster! I just have a simple question.

Does anyone know if the HTC Rhyme's battery will be replaceable at a Verizon store in the future? I know it is not "removable" to swap batteries frequently, but I am curious about when the battery starts to lose charge in maybe a year, would Verizon be able to replace the battery on the spot, i.e. without leaving the phone with them? Any comments/suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!

-fightfan

 

[WeaselWeaz]

I would guess not. From what I hear they don't even have techs in their stores anymore. You would probably need to get a refurbished replacement, but that's also a guess.

 

[fightfan]

Thanks for the reply WeaselWeaz. I talked to a Verizon rep in store the other day, and she just reminded me that the phone has a 1 year warranty. After 11 months, you could try returning the phone as having a defective battery if the capacity has diminished severely. That's an interesting idea, but I don't know what they would consider defective, and I'm not sure I really want to take that chance.

Still, it seems like a great phone for my wife who will be getting her first smartphone. I can think of a couple solutions to worst-case scenarios. All would be inconvenient but probably not dealbreakers considering she could just dump it for a new upgrade in 2 years.

1. She could use one of those portable batteries/chargers.
2. In one year if the battery life is lousy, she could buy a cheap phone on EBay to tide her over until she can upgrade again.

 

[WeaselWeaz]

Is the battery really going to get so much worse over one year that you need to replace it? Generally, the reason I read that someone wants to replace the battery because they don't like the initial battery life or want the extra security of a second battery.

 

[fightfan]

Is the battery really going to get so much worse over one year that you need to replace it?

I have some firsthand experience in the diminished capacity of a battery. I've had an Incredible for about a year, using an extended capacity battery (1750mAh?) that whole time. It is fully charged in the morning, and I use it to listen to music for about 2 hours in the morning. By noon, it is often down to about 30%. I have since replaced it with the almost never used original battery (1300mAh?), and with the same exact usage, I am now at about 50% by noon.

I won't go into details about preserving battery life here, but suffice it to say that this is a pretty even, apples to apples comparison. It just makes me nervous to think of being stuck with only one battery for the lifetime of a phone. Even though we can upgrade at a discount every 2 years, I can seriously see my wife sticking with a phone for like 3 or 4 years easily. Right now she's still using an old flip phone!