Saturday 26 March 2011

Motorola Droid


Buyer beware when not purchasing directly from Amazon. I got my Droid 1 battery from the seller UnitedIntegral. This is not a Motorola OEM battery as pictured, it's Chinese knockoff.



UPDATE: Seller UnitedIntegral contacted me, offering to refund my money in exchange for removing the negative feedback I put on their seller profile. Unfortunately for them, I care less about my money than I do about being ripped off by deceptive and dishonest merchants selling their Chinese knockoff crap as the real thing on Amazon. Something tells me the other merchants selling these batteries for dirt cheap are doing exactly the same thing.



AVOID THIRD PARTY MERCHANTS FOR THESE BATTERIES, BUY DIRECTLY FROM AMAZON. Motorola DROID and DROID II 1300mah Standard Battery

I bought this battery direct from Amazon. I do not trust the 3rd party sellers; none of whom appear to be authorized Motorola resellers. Counterfeit cell phone batteries are widely available for cheap prices, but who knows what quality you are getting. Cell phones have been known to catch fire or explode and manufacturers usually blame counterfeit batteries. The battery that I received from Amazon appears identical to the battery that came with my Motorola Droid phone, including the hologram labeling that is printed on the bottom of the battery.



My Droid can last a whole day on one charge if I use only the phone features. If I use the internet or media or GPS features heavily, then the battery can last less than 8 hours. Fortunately, the Droid does allow you to easily pop in a spare battery.

I bought this item as a back-up battery for my Motorola Droid. It is the OEM battery and works as well as the one that came with the phone. I get between 24 and 30 hours of use off of a charge which is comparable with the original. Now when the phone goes dead, I take out the old battery, pop in the freshly charged one and I'm never tethered to a charging cord. And the price was a heck of a lot cheaper than I expected so who am I to complain? :)

Seems to be the exact battery that came with my Droid. Considering when these first popped on Amazon they were 40 bucks. At this price, you can't go wrong. Has the same battery life as my original Droid battery. Great for having as a backup, I keep the other in my notebook bag.

Not much to say; battery arrived quickly from seller but was DOA. Seller claims it is a legit Motorola battery but I have my doubts as it looks different enough from my original Motorola battery. Even the label material around the battery is different.



In the end though it doesn't matter because it doesn't work.



I gave the seller 5 stars though because not only did they send me this item in record time but they solved my issue and gave me a full refund in record time as well.

Update: If you were thinking about the Seidio Innocell 2600 mAh Extended Battery for Motorola Droid, my advice would be "don't do it." The OEM battery is a much better power supply. It actually lasts longer than a few months, which is more than I can say for the Innocell battery I purchased.



Review:

I enjoy my Droid phone and with my usage, I go through batteries quickly. You can conserve power by turning off options you are not using (Bluetooth, 3G, Screen Brightness, GPS, Wi-Fi, Checking Email) but sometimes I forget or don't want to cut my features. I got a spare Original Equipment Manufacturer battery and an extended life battery at the same time. This is an OEM battery worked properly from the start, unlike the extended life battery which needed to be "trained" in the phone. I could not tell the difference in run time between this battery and the one that came with my phone from Verizon.



The Good



The battery fits in my Motorola car dock, which I use all the time. It also fits in my desktop charging dock which I like to use. The Extended life battery does not fit the Motarola car dock or the desktop charging dock The OEM battery does not add bulk to the phone.



The Bad



The OEM battery does not last as long with the features most people use turned on. It is a pain to have to manage phone usage to keep the battery alive. I am a heavy user of "Advanced Task Killer" which I usually access by holding down the Home key.



Conclusion



I am happy with the purchase. I chose my battery according to what my use will be. When I have been out all day with my first battery and I'm going out at night it's nice to be able to snap in a charged battery. (without taking the time to charge my battery) If I'm going to be in my car I use the OEM battery. If I am out and about I use the extended battery. It is nice to have options. I still bring my OEM spare battery when I don't want to take the chance of having a dead phone.



Unlike our I-Phone friends we have the ability to pop in a new battery. ;-)

btw, this battery is 1390 mah, not 1300 as it's listed in title and description.



5$ for a battery that cost 50$ from "Official" Markets like Verizon & Retail Chains? definitely sounded too good to be true. But I thought, what the hell, for 5$, I'll give it a shot, and from some scattered reviews, they seem to be satisfied that it's likely OEM w slight differences. And if Amazon Direct had once sold it for 5$ as well, then 5$ from private amazon sellers no longer sounded so far fetched.



There were slight differences in what I received compared to the "GENUINE MOTOROLA" that came w my phone so i DID question it's authenticity. The font size on these spare batteries were slightly larger on the front. and there are slight differences in placement of information on the back of the battery. Otherwise all the info and branding is the same, even with the same holographic prism across the back.

**btw, the photo in this listing is of the OEM Stock battery that came with our USA phones, NOT the version we'll be receiving.



I later came to feel more secure with my purchase from private sellers after my brother bought his Droid2Global phone. Since his phone is considered a "Global" product, all his included accesories included outlet adapters, etc. and when I looked at his battery, sure enough, it looked EXACTLY the same as the ones I buy off amazon sellers.



So the conclusion is:

-the batteries from the amazon marketplace are indeed OEM, but they're GLOBAL OEM inventory. if it matters to anyone, there's probably slight differences between USA Standards and Global Standards. But for most of us, as long as it's officially OEM, it's good enough for us.



So I placed in an order for one battery from a few merchants.



OEM Planet : US 1st Class Ships from NY with Tracking in small bubble envelope, not in retail packaging.



OEM Shop : US 1st Class Ships from NY, w/o Tracking. Courteous Customer Srvc Response 1 day email turnover



BTO Inc : US 1st Class Ships from NY, w/o Tracking. in small bubble envelope. not in retail packaging. Extremely generous Customer Response 2 day email turnover



Amazon : To Be Shipped, BackOrdered @ 5$



***then again, all it really is.. is a sticker around a battery. For me personally, I'm 95% assured they're Global OEM. and for the record, even Amazon has slipped up before and accidentally sold counterfeits.'


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