My batteries have batteries

I'm posting this in the General forum because lots of "smartphones" have crappy battery life, not just my G1. As I understand it, it's mainly a consequence of the large, bright screens, and because we tend to use those screens when we're using our phones. I know I spend much more time in the Web browser than on voice calls (where the phone dims the screen in a few seconds).

Last fall on a business trip, where the plane had Wi-Fi but no usable seat power in coach, I happily read the news, WA, Engadget, etc., until my battery ran out, which was somewhat before the end of my 2 1/2 hour flight from Boston to Atlanta. Of course, I charge it overnight and it had been essentially full when we took off. This had me so frustrated that when we landed in Atlanta, I ran to one of those airport gadget stores and bought the

FatCat ChargeCard Portable Charger Kit FC-CC (around $50)

Cyberguys sells this and their website has a nice image viewer that shows the ChargeCard and accessories. You can also get it at X-tremeGeek

In practice, I only carry 2 of the included tips, the regular USB, for charging the FatCat, and the micro USB for charging my G1. It does not come with a wall charger, but one can use any standard micro USB wall charger (e.g. for BlackBerry or Android) to charge the FatCat, if you don't have a USB port handy for power.

While it's an extra battery to carry and keep charged, this little gadget has given me many extra hours of use (and peace of mind) when otherwise my G1 wold have been useless. So my batteries have batteries. I'm a geek, I know.



SW

 

True. While I can buy an OEM battery for the G1, I can't buy one with 2000 mAh capacity that fits in the stock form factor (the big batteries have their own case backs that make the phone even bigger). Bleh.

Next, my G1 is in a terrific case (which I have posted about before) but it's not so terrific to take off and put back on routinely. Finally, with an OEM battery I would still have to have some kind of external charger and would still have to carry something extra around.

Bottom line is, if I'm going to carry around something extra, I'd rather it be a high-capacity battery that can be charged by my regular AC and car adapters, and doesn't require me to take the case off my phone.


SW

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