Samsung Galaxy S4 Alternative Battery Choice

[ShadowBlazes]

Hello, I've recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 and was wondering could anyone give me an alternative high capacity battery choice that is really good but doesn't compromise the size as I don't want the phone to get bigger because of battery. I've found several but I don't think they're reputable ones and just cheap Chinese ones so don't want my phone getting damaged. I live in the UK so will have to go with one in GBP (?Pounds).

 

[fjc75]

I bought through amazon 2 anker batteries and a charger for $19.99
2600mah
They work great

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[Stubbo]

I just got one of these beasts

Samsung Galaxy S4 Extra Battery Kit - White: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

I swap the battery in the morning, swap it again in the evening (regardless of if it needs it or not!)

Boom, no more waiting for my phone to charge, and if I ever needed to I could take both batteries with me if I'm out for a long day, you also get a little plastic case to carry your 2nd battery around in

edit: just incase it isn't clear on the amazon thing, you get the charging pod and an additional battery with the kit!

 

[StepW]

I was going to make a new thread but I thought there's no need since this thread is relevant to my question.

I'm still pretty new to the whole smartphone business and while the S4 is leaps and bounds better than my old phone, the only disadvantage is the fact that my battery lasts just a day and even less with constant usage. I've downloaded battery-saving apps, followed tips to increase battery life and I'm still not entirely happy with my battery.

Therefore, I'd like to get a more powerful battery. Like OP said all I can find are unbranded cheap ones on eBay. Some of these go up to 3900 mAh which is a whole 1.33x better than the official one that comes with the S4. Is it a bad idea to buy one of these? Will they harm my phone?

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[Dave-in-Decatur]

I can't speak to the unbranded batteries, but as for battery-saving apps, I've often seen their usefulness questioned. If they're just task-killers, they may actually be wasting battery, since the apps they close will just get reloaded by the operating system, or it will load other apps in their place. The way I've seen it explained, the Android OS seeks to keep RAM filled with apps that it has learned you will use. In Windows, you often close apps to save RAM. It doesn't work that way in Android, and trying to run as few apps as possible is actually counter-productive.

It's certainly true that the S4 is a power hog, but it uses that power to do all those things that we love having it do. One thing you can do is be sure to use the charger that came with it, which is a 2-amp charger and will do those all-too-frequent battery recharges much faster than less-powerful chargers.

 

[StepW]

Nah the battery saving app I use just turns off Wi-Fi and mobile data 1 minute after I lock my phone, and turns it on and off again every 15 minutes to sync data. It's good, and I noticed a significant increase in battery life because of it.

Still, I dunno. Ever since the Android 4.3 update, I find myself running out of battery much more often, and this isn't due to a particular app since the battery page looks normal, with something like 75% of the battery used by the screen (as expected from the 5-inch HD AMOLED screen).

There's nothing else I can think of except getting a better battery. I wouldn't mind compromising on phone size *a little* if needed and I certainly don't mind additional weight (the phone is light as it is), as long as my phone reliably lasts me a day at least. Right now I've got to charge my phone twice a day sometimes. Granted, I use it a lot, but before the update my battery would consistently last me all day and then some.

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