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Samsung Stratosphere extended battery

Verizon currently has the extended battery for the Stratosphere on sale at 50% off ($24.99 instead of $49.99) online and at local Verizon corporate stores (call the store before you go, though). There are informative discussions about it here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-stratosphere/145059-extended-battery.html and here: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/9064-standard-vs-extended-battery-updated-1262011-920-pm-cst/.

There are pros and cons to this battery. The biggest, pro, of course, would be longer battery life. It's a 3000 mAh battery, compared to the stock 1800 mAh. I only got mine today, and it came with about a 40% charge, so I can't comment on how long it lasts yet personally. The second of the two links above has some discussion on that.

The major con is that it is twice as thick as the stock battery, and of course heavier as well. This means that the stock battery cover will not fit, so Verizon throws in a new, customized back cover when you buy the extended battery. The whole phone thus becomes thicker, which then means that standard-size cases, holsters, dashboard mounts, desktop dock, etc., won't fit either (at least, that is the report that I've seen).

However, when I bought the battery at a Verizon store, I asked about cases (I don't use one now, but I might want to), and they did have one available that was made for the larger form factor with the extended battery. I wonder if maybe more will become available as more people buy the battery.

My findings so far: At this price, I think it's a great, great buy if your use of the phone is such that you need an extended-life battery. It definitely changes the feel of the phone. It adds some weight and bulk; but IMHO this wasn't a light phone to begin with. I think it fits my hand better with the extended battery, but of course that's going to vary from one person to another. I also think it makes the physical keyboard more solid and stable for typing, which is a definite improvement. Unless you're a riverboat gambler type, though, I'd recommend buying at a store rather than online, so you can get the feel of it before you put your money down.

I'll report on battery life experience after I charge it up tonight and use it over the next day or two. Has anyone else tried out this battery?

Comments

jrh4054

I have a Stratosphere as my first smart phone. I agree that for the price it's a great phone. I didn't expect decent battery life from the phone. I charge the phone at my desk and at night, and haven't had any battery problems. I wouldn't consider the larger battery because the phone is already heavy and thick. In fact, these are my only real issues with the phone. I got the Stratosphere because my previous basic phone had a slider keyboard, which I liked and was used to. I have found that I don't use the Stratsophere slider. I like the predictive text of the virtual keyboard.

Dave-in-Decatur

Good points. I haven't had many issues with the standard battery either, but I figure sooner or later....

I get predictive text with the slider keyboard as well as with virtual ones. In Menu > Language and keyboard > Device keyboard, I have checks on all three items: Auto-replace, Auto-cap, Auto-punctuate. It may be Auto-replace that gives it prediction, I don't know.

When I bought the phone the salesman said that he's heard from lots of Stratosphere customers that they don't use the slider. But for me, my fingers are just not good enough on the virtual keyboard for more than a short phrase. Different strokes (keystrokes, that is.) :smileyhappy:

Dave-in-Decatur

A follow-up report on battery life with the Samsung Stratosphere extended battery: I charged it to 100% as of about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. It is now 8:30 a.m. Friday, 58 hours later, and the charge stands at 12%, low enough to get warnings from the phone to charge it, which I'm going to do.

Obviously this includes two overnights when I was not using the phone at all. I don't do any game playing or very much music streaming (and no video streaming during this particular time period). OTOH, I do leave the Bluetooth and GPS turned on all the time, even overnight, just to avoid having to remember turning them on when I go out. I do spend a fair amount of time on Wikipedia and other Web browsing, a newspaper-reading app, and Google maps. The phone requested to go into power-saving mode when the battery reached 20% earlier this morning, but I declined that for the sake of the testing.

Of course everyone's phone use and experience will be different, but 58 hours to go from 100% to 12% seems pretty good to me.

spurs21

My husband owns this phone ans he rarely texts, makes minimal phone calls, and spends little time on the internet, no streaming music, no gaming, and little you tube time. The phone is always searching for a 4G signal, which killed the battery in less than a day with little use. I see no point in getting an extended battery since he is not a heavy user of the phone. He now only enables 4G when he uses it, and the battery will now last 2 days. He also has very few apps which might eat battery life. IMHO, this phone has horrible battery life. I am glad that the extended battery is working well for you.

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