If the phone designers were less concerned with thinness, which is a red herring, and more concerned with battery life, which is not, then these companies would not have so much business.
I bought an Anker wireless keyboard and mouse recently. Both were very poor quality and I returned them. A button on the keyboard sheared off (they did send me a new one, great customer service) and the mouse had a rubber thumb pad that began peeling off in about a month with light use.
Monoprice has a pretty good selection of this stuff with a variety of mAh available. The biggest is 5200 mAh, which is pretty beefy.
Not any cheaper than this option, but they do have one that also functions as a hand warmer which is a goofy thing to add… but given the time of year seems brilliant.
That is so true, nixiebunny, it is so frustrating that they always spend their Moore’s law budget on thinness and CPU/GPU power. Please give battery life a little love!
And why on Earth in 2014 is the 32 gig phone still $100 more that the 16? We know what flash memory costs and it isn’t nearly THAT much…
I find it more convenient to carry a spare phone battery. It doesn’t hold quite as much charge, and it’s a bit of a hassle to power down and peel off the case to swap it, but it has the huge advantage of fitting comfortably in my wallet. One less thing to keep track of and get lost.
(Of course you also need a phone with a removable battery.)
There’s a 10,000 mAh flashlight/battery apparently coming out pretty soon.
Kind of pricey, though. I’ve seen stand-alone external batteries of that size for maybe a third of the price. But the product probably has its appeal for some.
Because people are willing to pay for it? That’s why some phones don’t include a micro-sd slot, because they want to charge a premium for bumped up internal storage.
As to this guy? You can get a 6000 mAh one for the same price, though not quite as small. The same company makes a 10400 mAh version as well (with one Amazon seller selling for $27. That’s pretty sweet.
Funny, I was just looking at these kinds of things two days ago. My question is: are there any that you can replace the battery on?
Most of these chargers are powered by standard 18650 batteries. I’ve also got some flashlights which also use 18650 batteries, so I actually think something like this would be more versatile than having a spare phone battery- it could be used for charging my Android phone, my wife’s iPhone, or a tablet.
My 18650 battery charger also has a USB out, but it’s bulky since it’s a dual battery charger, even though it only uses one battery slot for USB out. And it actually requires more than 5v in for battery charing, so it can’t be charged via USB. No, don’t go there with using a USB charger to charge another USB charger…
Something self-contained like this would be more useful. I’d also like 2A output, but most chargers would then have to be double battery (discharging a single battery at more than 2A is not that great for it), which brings up the whole problem of needing matched pairs of batteries since they’re usually just wired in parallel. Parallel discharge circuits would be needed- I wonder if you could just use two separate chargers and have a Y-cable to combine them into 2A?
sigh That’s the problem with getting really into something- your requirements/preferences narrow down so much that it’s impossible to find the exact thing you want.
Dealextreme has quite a few of these. With replaceable batteries too.
The pink color option only $15.99
As an electrical engineer, I can deal with the problem of not finding the thing I want. If it doesn’t exist, I make it myself.
The question about 18650 cells is a good one. They are available, but it’s not recommended to change them yourself, as the cells can catch fire. The problem is one of liability.
Check out http://www.batteryspace.com. I get my Li-ion packs from them. They make you sign off all sorts of disclaimers about liability before accepting your money.
Speaking of thinness, I think they should have designed this Anker to be square and thin instead of round and bulky. Much easier to travel with phone or even attach to a phone case.
I’d like one of these with a pop-out AC plug so I can charge it anywhere and not have to carry around any cables except what I need to charge my phone.
There is a lot more tolerance for defects in the flash that goes into a thumbdrive or SD card. You can replace those, but if the flash in your phone fails, that’s it for the phone.
Ergo, it’s more expensive.
God. Fucking. Damn.
Did we all forget that batteries are something that are supposed to be accessible because they’re consumables, with limited lifespan? People long ago realised that once you’ve gone through your Ds in a sweet-ass boombox, you’re gonna want to stick in some more Ds.
The problem isn’t the batteries (that’s a chemistry challenge, which will take time to solve), the problem is not being able to change your battery.
The BIGGEST gripe I have with my current android phone (HTC One) is that they made it with a non-removable battery. One of the best things about android was that you can remove the battery to put in a fully-charged one. Some manufacturers also made really think batteries, with replacement back covers to accommodate them. Locking a battery inside a phone is fucking stupid - even if you can access it with specialised tools.
PS: There’s a veritable buttload (okay… maybe not veritable) of these things for sale on DX. Free shipping for Chinese made junk. Read the reviews to make sure you’re not buying a lemon.
Exists, was a Kickstarter. Pricy (especially since it’s only 3000mAh, same as the $20 Anker one), but usability-wise it seems pretty ideal. You’re meant to use it as your normal charger at home, so it’s always charged since you’ll have it plugged in daily. With the regular kind, it’s really easy to forget to keep them charged - the batteries drain pretty quickly if you just let it sit there.
Sold out everywhere but apparently should be back in stock shortly.
This. I only have battery issues when I use my phone as a GPS. If the spare battery was flat I could easily pop it into the same waterproof pouch as my phone and let them both do their thing without having to open the package mid-travel. If anyone knows of such a product please share.
EDIT: Anker does one of those too. Can you run the phone as normal when it’s hooked up to it?
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