1. If you've never worked inside a phone before, I don't recommend DIY. One pinched wire, one broken connector pin, and you're going to be out the full repair price plus. (An AT&T phone, which will work on Cricket, for a gently used one, os as little as $50. See swappa.com.)
2. Some 3rd party batteries are good, some are shipped already shot. You take your chances - even if someone got a good one from the same vendor.
3. Never let the battery discharge past 40%. A lithium battery is not a deep discharge battery. (The manufacturers don't tell you that, because replacement batteries are a high profit item.) A battery should last at least 4 years these days.
I have the same problem with a Samsung S5. I'm too old to be opening phones up any more, and this one needs a teardown. It's about $80 locally, but I can buy a gently used one for $80. So I'll probably buy a used one if I decide to keep using an S5. (And I've repaired many phones in my time, but my eyes aren't so good any more, and my hands aren't steady. I know my limitations.)
12-28-2017 01:38 PM