A replacement extended life battery may be a late Christmas Present to frustrated G1 owners from T-Mobile.
As polled here and elsewhere, the main concern with the G1 is the short battery life as with only moderate use it would be lucky to last a day with only one charge.
The other concerns such as video recording, on screen keyboard, and stereo Bluetooth should be addressed when T-Mobile sends the OTA update in January 2009 with the Android CupCake branch improvements.
T-Mobile is reported to be sending a new extended life battery plus the compatible back cover within a month to all T-Mobile G1 owners.
I am curious if this leaves out those who purchased the unlocked And Dev 1 phones as well those that the approximately 18,000 Google employees are receiving as a Christmas bonus.
Currently the G1 has a 1150mAh battery so I am assuming the replacement will be 1400mAh which is about 20% more battery life.
*** A commenter to this post, Eric, brought out the excellent point that the 1400mAh battery would not need a new back cover. Since the reported T-Mobile plan included a back cover then perhaps its the 2400mAh battery providing over twice the current battery life and needing a seperate back cover as sold here ***
A notice will be sent out to G1 owners either via mail or email about this in the coming weeks.
There has been no formal announcement within T-Mobile, but thier PDA support is aware of this.
A T-Mobile representative states, “After everything they did, and the amount of time put into this (extended battery) project, I doubt they would scrap it now.”
Now we just need to know when FLASH will be provided for Android and the G1 as its already been demoed by Adobe to work back in November as seen here:
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Seidioonline.com promises up to 15% more battery life with a 1400mAh battery for only $42.95. Even it it doesn’t last as long it might be nice to have a second battery to be able to swap out.
Direct link:
http://www.seidioonline.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BASI14TMG1
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Hi
You can go onto ebay and find a bigger battery 2400 with replacement back for about five quid plus p&p.I wouldn’t pay 42 pounds have a look round first but do try ebay for a lot of things.
@ Steve,
I saw that mentioned in CrunchGear last week about the battery – http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/20/extended-1400mah-g1-battery-now-shipping/
It is a steep price plus the shipping for only 15-20% more life – I rather have T-Mobile front the bill ;)
While battery life is amazingly important … the other two features you mention in cupcake aren’t as important (an on-screen keyboard is almost useless to me).
However, the lack of tethering (preferably all 4 methods: wifi, BT DUN, BT PAN, and USB … esp. USB to a cradlepoint router) may cause me to abandon my G1 and go back to my Nokia E61i. As much as I do love the G1, that missing functionality is becoming far more important to me.
So, unless the fix that problem sometime soon, I may be giving up on both Android and T-Mobile (because I could get 3G by switching to something like an E71 on AT&T).
i have been tethering on my g1 seens I got it so i dont know what’s up with your lack of googling it John
120% of nothing is still nothing. Worse battery life of any phone I’ve ever owned.
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Fingers crossed that this story is actually true. 24hrs, just gimme 24 hrs!
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I agree….”However, the lack of tethering (preferably all 4 methods: wifi, BT DUN, BT PAN, and USB … esp. USB to a cradlepoint router) may cause me to abandon my G1 and go back to my Nokia E61i. As much as I do love the G1, that missing functionality is becoming far more important to me.
So, unless the fix that problem sometime soon, I may be giving up on both Android and T-Mobile (because I could get 3G by switching to something like an E71 on AT&T)…” as this is a real problem, even if it was edge connection….better than NO CONNECTION…with my N82…
I do agree in the sense there should be a more seamless way than these arduous tethering steps for the G1.
Even though T-Mobile isn’t combating it, they also arent supporting it either.
You have to remember their 3G network is fairly new so perhaps once its more mature and robust they can provide a more direct means of using the G1 to tether the Internet to your computer.
you suggest that the new battery would be a 1400mAh but I understood those to fit with the current backplate. If these batteries are shipped with modified backplates wouldn’t you imagine something bigger?
@ Eric,
That is an excellent point as the 1400mAh would not need a new back cover.
Since this T-Mobile initiative stated it would include a replacement back cover then that would lead me to believe the battery would be MUCH more than the 1400mAh & its 20% improvement.
Then it could be the 2400mAh battery that would last twice as long and require a different back cover as sold here – http://www.boxwave.com/products/highcapacitybattery/electraspan-high-capacity-extended-battery-t-mobile-g1_3283.htm
*** I will append this to the post as well ***
I just followed that link to the 2400mAh battery. I would NEVER use a phone that thick. I hate having poor battery life, but that is a laughable solution. The G1 is already suffering in the looks department and adding a battery and cover that large is just kicking a man while he’s down. I’ll take the 1400mAh battery and hope for some software optimization over that behemoth any day.
One wonders how Cupcake deployment for the Android Dev Phones which are NOT on tmobile will go.
I would love a replacement battery
Hope this is true and also includes U.K. customers too!
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Do we have to notify tmobile about the battery problems to get the free battery or what? I just got the g1 one for christmas so I’m still getting used to it
So when you see a battery that says it’s 2200Mah for the G1, is this really true (it’s on Ebay for $18.00)
@ Maine,
I believe there are batteries compatible for the G1 to my knowledge up to 2400 mAh – so if this particular one being sold on eBay is legit I couldnt say.
Also note for batteries of this size you WILL need a G1 backcover replacement – so it should come with your battery purchase.
adding a battery and cover that large is just kicking a man while he’s down.
I about fell out of my chair reading your post.
I agree.
http://www.boxwave.com/images_bw/products/thumbnails/t-mobile_g1_highcapacityextbattery_bcktop_sm.jpg
That would literally turn the G1 into a brick!
I called T-Mobile to complain about the battery life and Customer Service told me to not use any radio functions (GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G) and uninstall all applications that I don’t use all of the time. In other words, I should make my G1 act and operate like a cheap, disposable phone if I want it to run more than a few hours on a charge. T-Mobile and Google suck!
So have anyone able to get the replacement battery? I tried with support, and they have no idea about this replacement program. Tried twice.
I called T-Mobile today too and they told me the exact same thing and it really kinda made me mad. He told me to ‘turn off location, gps and 3g and it will increase my battery life.’
I asked him why it was required that I have a 3g data plan if they suggest I don’t use it.
It’s just not right.
But I suppose things could be worse. Look at Circuit City today.
Well I was lucky enough to get them to send me a free battery and received it today. The battery they sent me fits and works just fine but has a different part number. Can anyone tell me what the difference between the -02M that came with the phone and the -04M tmobile sent me? They both seem to be 1150 mah. The batteries are not identical but the fit is still perfect.
erasable, are you in the u.k ? if so I will try to get one, and i agree with others, i don`t want a thicker battery is your same size as the standard one supplied with phone ?
Kate
@ kate,
I’m in the US. And the battery is the same thickness. It is essentially identical to the orignal battery in size shape and performance. Only difference is part number and slight comestic differences.
@erasable, I guessed so, I dont think T mobile in the u.k are likely to be as helpful.
I have found a battery and separate charger on e bay for 9 quid, however do i really want to be taking off my fancy cover and the back plate each time ? I hope the u.k will catch up and supply a new battery soon.
thanks for reply . K
@erasable, as an extra thought do you know if you can open pdf files yet on the G1 ?
Plus which version of flash player is used? i can`t work out which one i should download and those i`ve tried say “not supported by this phone”
any ideas ? K
As someone who has just bought a G1 last week I was amused to read all the flurry of similar unsourced blogs online ‘just in time for Christmas’ about how T-Mobile was going to ship new batteries. Anybody ever seen one? Time for an update, surely?
@skipdiver,
T-Mobile support still claims a replacement or at least better battery efficiency via an OTA update will happen in the near future.
Does that mean, before *next* Christmas….? Has anyone yet seen the fruits of this mythical replacement battery project?
@skipdiver
Yea, seems T-Mo has sidestepped the battery issue as I haven’t even heard of them debating this program internally anymore.
Looks like the ship has sailed and the best they will do is simply replace the same mAh battery for free upon request.
I thought this might be pie in sky and it seems to be right.
I sent a support email to T-Mobile about the phone a few days ago, got an automated reply and I am still waiting for a reply. Considering I am on a £40 a month contract and cannot get out of it for eighteen months, I am getting a bit peed off, especially as the latest contract advertised on TV at huge expence is only £35. They changed it after the initial promotion.
battery life is terrible, max 10 hours before recharge on new G1 bought 6/09
I got a free battery shipped to me, after I complained buying my g1 in marchish.. I havent used it yet since I learned about “training” the battery… look it up, its in the tmobile app in the market.
Also, charging USB is supposedly a weaker charge, so if you can, always use the WALL CHARGER as it is supposed to give your battery a longer lasting/stronger charge.
Share the info if ya get it! Later!
Any one got a new battery then? did Tmobile cough up?
Anyone in the UK got one?