In our last blog post, we made reference to ‘recent reports’ regarding aftermarket batteries. Our recommendation to purchase only OEM batteries due to build quality, overall useful life and potential safety risks associated with aftermarket batteries is supported in independent testing.
Batteries are rated in terms of there capacity. Capacity is directly related to the amount and quality of the electrode and electrolyte material used in construction. The typical measure of capacity for cell phone batteries is in milliamp hours (mAh). The greater a battery’s rated capacity, the greater usable power available or the longer it can be utilized depending on the draw required by the device. A 1200 mAh battery can provide either 120 milliamps for 10 hours or 100 milliamps for 12 hours.
The typical criteria used by many in select what battery to purchase generally comes down to price and the mAh rating. It is no coincidence that the majority of aftermarket batteries advertise a higher capacity rating AND sell for a lower price than most OEM batteries. Unfortunately, reports now show the batteries do NOT live up to their rating (not surprisingly as they need to use lower quality materials and less of them to maintain a lower price point).
from Mobilecrunch.com:
Are third-party cell phone battery manufacturers deceiving their customers?
1400mAh. 2500mAh! 10 million mAh! Ah-ah-ah!
The vast majority of consumers don’t have a clue as to what those little numbers on their cell phones battery mean. Like with processor clock speeds and television refresh rates, we all tend to just assume that bigger numbers = better product. So when Joe Consumer sees some third-party manufacturer touting their batteries with ratings double that of what the official battery offers, it seems like a killer deal.
Alas, it appears that some of these third-party manufacturers might be pulling the oldest marketing trick in the world: flat-out lying.
Armed with a nothing but a fancy battery testing suite and a desire for honesty, a gent named Doug Simmons set out to put third-party battery ratings to the test. He asked his online cohorts to loan him their third-party wares, and the brawl began.
His findings? While OEM batteries are clocking in at right around the promised rating, third-party batteries.. aren’t.
Now, no one really expects the “official” batteries sold on eBay to be.. you know, official. And they most certainly aren’t. Pitched as being one-to-one matches with the real deal, some of these bootlegs are failing to perform even half as well as the original.
… But it goes beyond eBay: even amongst the (fairly pricey) batteries of some of the more well-known third parties (like Seido, or Mugen), (Doug Simmons) is seeing discrepancies left and right. Take Seido’s 1600mAh replacement for the Nexus One, for example. The battery is pitched as being about 14% stronger than the Nexus One’s original 1400mAh battery (which, by the way, tested at a very acceptable 1357mAh) — but in Doug’s tests, this “bigger” battery is actually clocking in at a lower capacity (1317mAh) than the original.
Doug’s only tested around a dozen batteries so far, but the results are eye opening; while the OEM batteries are almost always reasonably accurate to their promised rating, the third-party batteries are consistently 20-30% weaker than advertised. Check out his results so far here — and if you’ve got a new-condition battery for him to take a crack at, be sure to get in touch.
The bottom line: When a replacement is needed make sure you purchase a new battery from the same manufacturer as your phone and do so from a reputable supplier.
A special thanks to Doug Simmons for his efforts.
