[crspy]

Anyone know how much extra thickness the extended battery adds? I wanna know if my silicon case I ordered is still going to work with it

[crspy]

actually i might of just answered my own question, i believe it will be 1mm thicker. Looking at the pictures of the incredible and the launch guide the incredible has a flush black with the camera but with the extended battery it seems the battery part is raised up 1mm.

[rortt]

What is everyone planning to do for battery life and keeping the phone going all day long?

I have used the duracell external miniUSB battery banks to charge up devices in the past, and they work well (charging MP3 player, MiFi, bluetooth earpieces, etc.). The extended battery doesn't look like it is out yet.

Any suggestions for the best option out there? I know you can charge in the car, at your computer, etc., but there are plenty days when I don't sit down for 14 hours nor have lunch, much less plug my phone in and leave it somewhere.

[sgtmilstack]

Carrying a spare battery can be a great option. Or picking up an extended battery may do the trick.

[douger]

Carrying a spare battery can be a great option. Or picking up an extended battery may do the trick.

Which is what I plan to do...although I have no trouble plugging in at work if necessary...

[DRKayak]

Any ideas as to which current HTC compatible battery to buy that will work with the Incredible?

[Cory Streater]

Any ideas as to which current HTC compatible battery to buy that will work with the Incredible?

There aren't any yet. Hopefully on launch day they announce or make some available.

[kmully]

I'm assuming the phone comes with some pre-charge on the battery.

Is it best to immediately start charging the phone, use it until it is low and then recharge, or something else?

Also, is it best to drain the phone and then recharge on a daily basis, or just charge it as you need? I don't want to shorten the already (relatively short) battery life.

[Joker35]

good question.. because i am getting mine at best buy & not sure if i should shut it off and charge it. but i am so tempted to play with it.

[alear]

Charge it to full (you can play with it while charging) when you first get it. Your first couple charges aren't going to show the full capacity so give it a couple weeks of use before you run a battery test. Lithium doesn't suffer from memory problems but what can affect it is heat and DOD (Depth Of Dischage). So I'd charge it whenever convenient but in daily use, try not to discharge more than 80%, it will decrease lifespan. Also, don't intentionally store it in hot temps like on top of a heater/left in hot car/etc. I'm not sure what kind of safety margin is built into the battery management system for discharge but the 80% is a good place to start. I know that cuts out a good portion of use but that's the way it is if you want it to last. Ideally you would store the battery at 40F at about 50% discharge but that really isn't going to happen. The battery is going to lose at least 5-10% capacity over a year if you treat it right. If you don't treat it right (always hot, always discharge until its completely flat) you'll be lucky to get a year. These numbers are approximate but close enough to understand the concepts.

Alex

[kdwg927]

Hmm

Are these batteries different from the kind of batteries they used to use? I thought you wanted to minimize the amount of cycles that the battery goes thru. Never heard about DoD. Learn something new everyday! Cool :-)

[mritter88]

Hmm

Are these batteries different from the kind of batteries they used to use? I thought you wanted to minimize the amount of cycles that the battery goes thru. Never heard about DoD. Learn something new everyday! Cool :-)

Yeah I thought the same. I've always been afraid to charge my phones if they weren't near dead. I've also heard that every once in a while you should let the phone go completely dead (like to 0%) and give it a full recharge, is this not true?

[wavechaser]

This is a very helpful discussion, I'd also like to know about the little quirks involving these new batteries.

On my Moto Droid for the brief time I had it, I used to try to get the phone to completely die before charging it, as I thought that was the best way to get a full charge.

[dgalanter]

I've always plugged my phones in when I can. They won't charge once they're full, so why not?

[kmully]

I've always plugged my phones in when I can. They won't charge once they're full, so why not?

Why not: with some batteries the more cycles you put the battery through (cycle meaning charge/discharge), even partial cycles, would reduce overall battery life.

[alear]

Yeah I thought the same. I've always been afraid to charge my phones if they weren't near dead. I've also heard that every once in a while you should let the phone go completely dead (like to 0%) and give it a full recharge, is this not true?

It's a trade-off. Yes, there is a specific cycle life. These cells can probably handle about 1000 cycles under good conditions. However, if you discharge completely every day that may drop to <300 cycles before the useful capacity is gone. So in my opinion, its better to charge early when convenient rather than specifically run down the battery. Also, I'm not sure if a 20% top off counts as a full cycle. The mindset of running a battery dead is from older battery technologies that suffered from battery memory and required a deeper discharge to maintain capacity. Lithium cell chemistry is not prone to this. My experience is from lithium cells used in electric vehicles but the concepts are the same.

Alex

[mritter88]

It's a trade-off. Yes, there is a specific cycle life. These cells can probably handle about 1000 cycles under good conditions. However, if you discharge completely every day that may drop to <300 cycles before the useful capacity is gone. So in my opinion, its better to charge early when convenient rather than specifically run down the battery. Also, I'm not sure if a 20% top off counts as a full cycle. The mindset of running a battery dead is from older battery technologies that suffered from battery memory and required a deeper discharge to maintain capacity. Lithium cell chemistry is not prone to this. My experience is from lithium cells used in electric vehicles but the concepts are the same.

Alex

I understand now I think. Thank you for the very helpful information :-) I will try to keep this in mind when I get my new phone.

[nox]

It's a trade-off. Yes, there is a specific cycle life. These cells can probably handle about 1000 cycles under good conditions. However, if you discharge completely every day that may drop to <300 cycles before the useful capacity is gone. So in my opinion, its better to charge early when convenient rather than specifically run down the battery. Also, I'm not sure if a 20% top off counts as a full cycle. The mindset of running a battery dead is from older battery technologies that suffered from battery memory and required a deeper discharge to maintain capacity. Lithium cell chemistry is not prone to this. My experience is from lithium cells used in electric vehicles but the concepts are the same.

Alex

Wow. Thanks for all this info on Lithium batteries.
Will be sure to keep this in mind

[Colin]

Since I sell laptops and ipods and stuff, I deal with battery myths all the time. There are a lot of battery tips that still float around that aren't true with lithium ion batteries. Most of them come from NiCad or NiMH types, but NiCad is all but gone and NiMH is pretty rare in cell phones and computers. Almost everything these days is Lithium Ion.

I always tell people that with LiIon batteries, it's all about "mileage" so using up 80% of the battery and then charging it up is roughly the same as using up 40% twice. In addition, it's bad to let it get to zero, and very bad to let it sit at zero for an extended period of time. So the best thing you can do is charge it whenever you can and ignore anybody who tells you to run it all the way down.

You can also ignore people who say it's bad to leave the thing plugged in when it's already fully charged. Apparently this myth came from electric razors in the 70s or something. Pretty much any modern electronic device has built in mechanisms to prevent it from "overcharging" the battery.

[mobilemedic20]

Yeah it's amazing how many people still don't know how to treat lithium ion batteries as they've been the main technology in consumer electronic devices for several years now.

Don't listen to anyone (including the Verizon reps, frequently!) who tells you to "let it discharge fully before you plug it back in" or "don't charge it overnight!". That's completely false! Charge your battery whenever you get the chance, and it's completely safe to plug it in at night and let it charge til morning. That's how I've treated my cell phone batteries for a long time, and they last years with initial improvements in performance, followed by a very gradual decline until eventually they just stop working. Then replace.

[Colin]

background reading on LiIon batts:

[RanHam335]

Thanks for the info guys, I had it all wrong too. I do have a question though. I was planning for the initial charge to charge it for 24hrs turned off, do I have to do that? I thought I heard someone tell me that.

[Amyshubby]

I was planning for the initial charge to charge it for 24hrs turned off, do I have to do that?

Nope. Most new phones can fully charge in a few hours.

I'm having the Incredible shipped to my office (ETA tomorrow!!!). It should arrive with a partial charge and I am going to plug it in and play with it when I get it, and it should be fully charged by the time I leave for home.

[rortt]

Has anyone ever bought any of these?

The price is right (two batteries and charger with shipping) for $16. However, I get the feeling they may just be paperweights. Surprisingly, the vendors have good feedback.

Next, has anyone tried the HTC Battery Bank G300. It is designed to recharge your phone a couple times. Looks like it would be a good item to throw in your laptop bag.

[douger]

Did I ever say that Storm sucks?

I've had my Incredible for about six hours. Other than the battery drain...coming from playing with it and setting it up, I'm sure...I will never ever go back to Blackberry again.

I think I will try to hunt down a spare battery, though.