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Accessories My $3.19 Ebay battery from China results.

I don't think they should be used as primary power sources. Backup for 2 or 3 hours should be fine until the OEM can be charged up, but not primary (due to possible safety problems). I would hate for 20 people reading this thread to purchase these on false pretenses to use as primarys, and have one of them eventually damage their device or possibly worse (you can damage your device by steadily feeding it incorrect voltage, amperage, etc). Obviously I'm not saying this will happen, but it's a situation that we just don't know what will happen.

I would recommend to use these as backup devices, but nothing more than that.

This is a thing I was considering when everyone was saying "Oh! for just $4 can't hurt to just try it out." People tend to think the worst case scenario is the battery doesn't last long as they like so $4 is no big deal. Worst case scenario though is the battery doing damage to the phone.
 
This is a thing I was considering when everyone was saying "Oh! for just $4 can't hurt to just try it out." People tend to think the worst case scenario is the battery doesn't last long as they like so $4 is no big deal. Worst case scenario though is the battery doing damage to the phone.

Exactly. And how many times have we heard about factory OEM batteries being recalled due to manufacturing flaws?
 
Not saying anything about these ebay batteries (I ordered 4 just now), but as far as the stock battery, I can leave my phone on standby while I'm asleep and in a 12 hour span the battery will only drop 2%. I do not normally have wifi or gps turned on, and the standby time with the phone is absolutely incredible.

I'll wait until I get the batteries but I have a sneaking suspicion that these are actual stock/oem batteries, same as what you would get from Samsung or Tmobile, just being sold under the table direct from overseas. I guess I'll find out when they arrive.
 
Not saying anything about these ebay batteries (I ordered 4 just now), but as far as the stock battery, I can leave my phone on standby while I'm asleep and in a 12 hour span the battery will only drop 2%. I do not normally have wifi or gps turned on, and the standby time with the phone is absolutely incredible.

I'll wait until I get the batteries but I have a sneaking suspicion that these are actual stock/oem batteries, same as what you would get from Samsung or Tmobile, just being sold under the table direct from overseas. I guess I'll find out when they arrive.

The thing is, how would one be able to tell if the batteries are actual Samsung OEM'? It would be fantastic if they are, but they're so dirt cheap I have to wonder.
 
So I decided to test out the stock Samsung battery to see how far it would go. The results are in and it did even better than the Ebay battery. Right now I'm at 40...yes 40 hours and the battery still has 7% left. One thing was different between the two tests though. This time I had wifi switched off as I don't have very good luck with it working right on this phone. I can't be sure how much of a difference that would've made though. GPS and Bluetooth was on the whole time.

I used the phone as I normally would have for the last couple of days. As before with the test of the Ebay battery, I used the phone to talk on as well as send and receive about a dozen text messages. I would estimate total talk time of around 30 minutes. I also used some apps, but none of the battery killing ones such as Google Maps, Earth, etc. Screen timeout is set to 2 minutes and brightness is set to 100%. This automatically drops when the battery hits 29% though. I run the City at night live wallpaper. I don't run any task killers. I got a screenshot this time as well.
 

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I ordered 2 of these just to have around. I wouldn't surprised if they are actually OEM batt's they make them for cents on the dollar over there.

kbohip - What app is that?
 
The thing is, how would one be able to tell if the batteries are actual Samsung OEM'? It would be fantastic if they are, but they're so dirt cheap I have to wonder.

The samsung oem batteries (IE the stock battery that comes with the phone) has a serial # on the label that can identify the battery. I would rather imagine you could track production based on that information. I suppose you could say that either someone counterfeited the labels, or obtained the labels from the factory and then applied them to a different battery, but either one of those scenarios seems equally as hard or harder than simply taking a few cases of the real batteries out the back door and having a friend sell them for you online. If the batteries were being distributed from anywhere other than direct from China I would agree that with the low cost involved, there had to be quality issues. Regardless, I plan to keep these as backup batteries, so I don't anticipate any big issues.
 
The samsung oem batteries (IE the stock battery that comes with the phone) has a serial # on the label that can identify the battery. I would rather imagine you could track production based on that information. I suppose you could say that either someone counterfeited the labels, or obtained the labels from the factory and then applied them to a different battery, but either one of those scenarios seems equally as hard or harder than simply taking a few cases of the real batteries out the back door and having a friend sell them for you online. If the batteries were being distributed from anywhere other than direct from China I would agree that with the low cost involved, there had to be quality issues. Regardless, I plan to keep these as backup batteries, so I don't anticipate any big issues.

Agreed. I'll be keeping a close eye on mine for a while however. I've not noticed...are the OEM batteries made in Korea or China?

I just checked...my battery says made in China. All the more reason to think you could be correct.
 
Agreed. I'll be keeping a close eye on mine for a while however. I've not noticed...are the OEM batteries made in Korea or China?

I just checked...my battery says made in China. All the more reason to think you could be correct.

Yes, OEM's are Chinese. It's a good thing their batteries aren't like their food or we would be charging these things every 30 minutes!
lol.gif
 
I got my Chinese batteries a day before yesterday.
They definitely hold less of a charge, but will do well as spares.
One concern is that they do run about 10 degrees warmer on average than my Samsung battery that came with the phone.

Definitely run them through more than one cycle. The first charge-discharge cycle on the first one I tried out was horrendous, but the next cycle went significantly better.
 
I got my Chinese batteries a day before yesterday.
They definitely hold less of a charge, but will do well as spares.
One concern is that they do run about 10 degrees warmer on average than my Samsung battery that came with the phone.

Definitely run them through more than one cycle. The first charge-discharge cycle on the first one I tried out was horrendous, but the next cycle went significantly better.

I'd say that's definitely something to keep a close eye on!
 
One concern is that they do run about 10 degrees warmer on average than my Samsung battery that came with the phone.

That right there is a symptom of using cheaper, lower quality components. Instead of using quality nickel plated tabs that cost $0.18 per piece like Samsung, they're using thinner, lower quality ones for $0.03 per piece from China or Taiwan. Same goes for the temperature and voltage control components. Samsung buys quality, name brand stuff for $1.00 + per component, where as the asian competitors sell lower quality ones for $0.36+ per component. Granted, Samsung makes a good profit on their stuff, but it's made a lot better.

Use these batteries for backups, folks.
 
That right there is a symptom of using cheaper, lower quality components. Instead of using quality nickel plated tabs that cost $0.18 per piece like Samsung, they're using thinner, lower quality ones for $0.03 per piece from China or Taiwan. Same goes for the temperature and voltage control components. Samsung buys quality, name brand stuff for $1.00 + per component, where as the asian competitors sell lower quality ones for $0.36+ per component. Granted, Samsung makes a good profit on their stuff, but it's made a lot better.

Use these batteries for backups, folks.

I dont have a problem with them running 10 degrees hotter. I have a cheapo in my phone now for a test run and it is 91 degrees.
 
I dont have a problem with them running 10 degrees hotter. I have a cheapo in my phone now for a test run and it is 91 degrees.

You're right in the fact that 10^F won't make much of a difference, but the nature of these types of battery packs lead them to continue to get even more hotter as you use them. I used to design battery packs for some of the largest companies in the biz, and it's not the short term that affects these things, it's the longer term. That's why I mentioned to only use them as backup, because as a primary, the results are unpredictable.
 
You're right in the fact that 10^F won't make much of a difference, but the nature of these types of battery packs lead them to continue to get even more hotter as you use them. I used to design battery packs for some of the largest companies in the biz, and it's not the short term that affects these things, it's the longer term. That's why I mentioned to only use them as backup, because as a primary, the results are unpredictable.

Agree. I am testing this one i just got but it will be a backup unles it shows to be a phenom or something. Dont think that is going to happen...lol
 
Frankly, I'm less worried about the batteries than I am about the charger. Do we even know who makes them? Are they going to go crazy and destroy your batteries? Sorry, but I think I'll stick with the official Samsung charger for now.
 
So I decided to test out the stock Samsung battery to see how far it would go. The results are in and it did even better than the Ebay battery. Right now I'm at 40...yes 40 hours and the battery still has 7% left. One thing was different between the two tests though. This time I had wifi switched off as I don't have very good luck with it working right on this phone. I can't be sure how much of a difference that would've made though. GPS and Bluetooth was on the whole time.

I used the phone as I normally would have for the last couple of days. As before with the test of the Ebay battery, I used the phone to talk on as well as send and receive about a dozen text messages. I would estimate total talk time of around 30 minutes. I also used some apps, but none of the battery killing ones such as Google Maps, Earth, etc. Screen timeout is set to 2 minutes and brightness is set to 100%. This automatically drops when the battery hits 29% though. I run the City at night live wallpaper. I don't run any task killers. I got a screenshot this time as well.
What!! How do you get such good battery life?
 
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