Do you want a spare battery?

[Guest jsplace]

OK Guys, this is a no go. The number of people interested in this is nowhere near what is needed to even make minimum order quantity. (By a factor of at least 5!)

I have found another supplier who will take a much lower minimum quantity, but the price quoted is completely unrealistic. With import taxes and costs we would be looking at a price to the end user of over £40!

Having spoken to a guy in Orange sales it seems unlikely that anyone is likely to manufacture spare batteries as the expected sales volume is quite low. (I have promised not to reveal actual figures and will stick to this as I should not have had this info in the first place)

Its a shame but seems the only hope is that ZTE or another will manufacture a mainstream phone with the same battery that is not tied to one operator in one country.

It was worth a look anyway and if I find another manufacturer with lower minimum order quantities at a reasonable cost then I will let you all know.

Hi all, I am currently looking into the possibility of having a run of after market batteries manufactured for the Blade.

Before I can proceed any further I need to know how many people would buy one in order to know whether it is worthwhile and cost effective.

Once I have an idea of numbers I can proceed to get a quote but please be aware that as there are relatively few San Fran's about compared to the bigger names it is likely that the cost will be a little higher than the average smart phone battery.

The battery will be made by a well known and established Chinese manufacturer who currently meets or exceeds EU and OEM standards and is ISO certified.

It is also likely that the battery will have a slightly higher capacity than standard, perhaps 1350-1400mAh

Please note: This is just a possibility at the moment. If there is not enough demand then prices will be too high to make it workable and the manufacturer has a minimum order quantity that must also be met otherwise its not worth their while setting up a production run.

I will give this Poll a week from now to get the numbers in.

Thanks all :P

I should also say that if I go ahead with this it will be several weeks before the batteries will be manufactured and shipped.

Edited October 27, 2010 by jsplace

[Guest dadashi]

Hope it's possible, looking forward to it...

that would make the SF a serious competitor in the market....

Edited October 22, 2010 by dadashi

[Guest jimmy2x2x]

Hope it's possible, looking forward to it...

that would make the SF a serious competitor in the market....

2 things I would really like for my SF.

1) high quality, high capacity battery

2) high quality metal replacement case

[Guest dadashi]

I wouldn't want a metal case, I'd settle for a perfectly fitting silicon cover with screen protection.

That would stop it from flying apart if it bounced off the floor :P

[Guest oscheng]

there are no other batteries on the market yet, though someone probably has made an order already... the first on the market for a reasonable price will do well.

[Guest synet]

I probably would not want a 'spare' battery, but would be interested in a higher capacity 'replacement' or 'extended' battery.

Edited October 22, 2010 by synet

[Guest Rosz]

I probably would not want a 'spare' battery, but would be interested in a higher capacity 'replacement' or 'extended' battery.

As I told in another post, when this phone become really popular....someone will probably start to produce batteries (hope to be better one)

Cheers! :P

[Guest jsplace]

As I told in another post, when this phone become really popular....someone will probably start to produce batteries (hope to be better one)

Cheers! :P

like I said in my post, I am already talking with a battery manufacturer at the moment about the possibility of having batteries made and imported. Just need to make sure there will be the demand for them.

[Guest Rosz]

like I said in my post, I am already talking with a battery manufacturer at the moment about the possibility of having batteries made and imported. Just need to make sure there will be the demand for them.

Sounds nice, I hope they will produce something more that 1250 mAh. Keep us in the loop :P

[Guest flatnote31]

Sounds good...either a higher capacity with well-managed power consumption....or, as a last resort, an extended battery...

The "spare" battery concept is quite useless IMHO...no one wants to turn off, snap cover off, replace battery, start and wait for system boot again.... PLUS, the charging would be a b****.

That would render the phone useless for 50% of the time...unless a separate battery charger is available, which will make things even harder and bulkier to move around.

Good to think of such a project :P

[Guest k0nrad]

Yeah, I'm in no market for a spare battery - as it would be a hassle in fact. But having a larger capacity replacement one (and using original one as a possible spare if really needed) - that's a tempting idea.

So my vote was: 1. none 2. yes.

[Guest jsplace]

Cool, thanks everyone so far for your thoughts, opinions at this point are important as I am sure some of you will understand, this is no small undertaking and could potentially carry a fair bit of financial risk for me if I was to judge the market wrongly!

Keep the comments coming please :P and like I said, I will give this thread a week before I get back to my contact in China.

[Guest AndyHibberd]

Interesting that we are talking about putting in a higher spec standard battery.

Why didn't ZTE do this in the first place?

[Guest jsplace]

Interesting that we are talking about putting in a higher spec standard battery.

Why didn't ZTE do this in the first place?

I'm guessing for the same reason we don't have a Snapdragon, a decent camera, 16Gb of internal flash etc etc. :P

Its all down to cost.

And it wouldn't surprise me if ZTE have a preferred supplier of components under contract, I know HTC used to.

[Guest Nick Rhodes]

I am quite often away from home for a few days at a time, usually I find a charge point, but not always. Would need a spare battery or have to take a back up phone.

Happy to pay proportionally extra for a larger capacity standard size battery.

[Guest tdodd]

Speaking as a light user I have no need for a spare or extended battery. It's been 28 hours since my phone came off charge and I still have 82% battery remaining, and that's after three phone calls, a couple of alarms and picking up emails a couple of times. Like I say, I'm a light user, but based on current performance I should get four, maybe even five, days use out of the phone on a single charge. In practice I will probably top it up daily or every couple of days, so the need for extra battery power is even less critical to me.

[Guest PAUL1897]

As a user who sold his T-mobile Pulse ( today £57 !)

I am very used to charging every night

The Blade battery life is a vast improvement

An extended battery would like the old days

Smartphone battery life has always beem a problem

P1897

[Guest retrend]

im sure any battery run you managed would all get sold.

[Guest NinjaChips]

I'm interested in both a higher capacity standard sized battery and even higher capacity increased sized battery - but it would depend on the details.

I see that the regular blade battery is rated at 1250mAh - what would the increase of 100-150mAh from a 1350-1400mAh standard sized battery be like in the real world? Is battery useage linear, so if I see 10 hours out of 1250mAh would I expect 11ish hours out of a 1400mAh battery, for example?

How much larger physically would an extended battery be? What sort of extended capactity are we talking about; would we see 50% extra to say 1775mAh, double to 2500mAh, more even?

Thanks!

[Guest legolamb]

I'd be more interested in an extended battery as long as it didn't increase the size of the phone significantly.

[Guest jsplace]

I'm interested in both a higher capacity standard sized battery and even higher capacity increased sized battery - but it would depend on the details.

I see that the regular blade battery is rated at 1250mAh - what would the increase of 100-150mAh from a 1350-1400mAh standard sized battery be like in the real world? Is battery useage linear, so if I see 10 hours out of 1250mAh would I expect 11ish hours out of a 1400mAh battery, for example?

How much larger physically would an extended battery be? What sort of extended capactity are we talking about; would we see 50% extra to say 1775mAh, double to 2500mAh, more even?

Thanks!

Great questions :P

OK, firstly, although Li-on battery drain profiles are not quite linear (theres some really strange maths involved) it is close enough to call it so. So yes 10% extra capacity will give you roughly 10% more time between recharges. (And 10% extra time to recharge)

As to physical size and capacity of an extended battery is concerned that really depends on how much extra weight and bulk people want to carry around in their pockets! Size and capacity are at the moment being looked at by one of their design team who is also looking at the design of a suitable replacement rear cover to accommodate the bulge from the extra battery thickness.

Remember though, you get nothing for nothing in this world and you cannot squeeze extra capacity into the same amount of space. An increase in capacity of 50% will mean that your battery will be 50% heavier and 50% thicker.

How much thicker would you all think is acceptable? Personally I dont mind the extra bulk and have a whopping great 3000mAh battery in my Hero which effectively doubles the thickness. For me this is not an issue. For others it probably is.

I would guess that an increase of around 50% would be acceptable to most and would give a capacity of somewhere around 2000-2200mAh. But this is just a guess and your opinions on this would be appreciated!

Keep the questions and your thoughts coming please :D

Edited October 22, 2010 by jsplace

[Guest mephestic]

I would def be interested' in a battery as I was thinking a spare would be ideal. Provided its not really really expensive for sure

[Guest jsplace]

OK, the final dimensions will obviously be decided by the design team but as a rough guide for dimensions with an extended battery...

50% extra capacity will give your phone a bulge over the battery area that will increase the thickness by approx 3.5mm

ergo.

75% increased capacity = + 5mm

100% increased capacity = + 6.5mm.

Rough figures people!

Edited October 22, 2010 by jsplace

[Guest oh!dougal]

like I said in my post, I am already talking with a battery manufacturer at the moment about the possibility of having batteries made and imported. Just need to make sure there will be the demand for them.

I expect there will be a demand for replacement batteries in a year or two.

I doubt that there's a mass market for a bulging case.

Maximising capacity within the standard case would likely be the best seller.

Hot-phone users burning through their battery inside a day, and not being prepared to recharge during the day, are a serious minority within the user population.

Given that the phone recharges over a fairly long time period while in use, has anyone given any thought to how they intend to charge their second battery? (Or do they intend to set an alarm for 3 am, and change the batteries over then?)

Edited October 22, 2010 by oh!dougal

[Guest flatnote31]

OK, the final dimensions will obviously be decided by the design team but as a rough guide for dimensions with an extended battery...

50% extra capacity will give your phone a bulge over the battery area that will increase the thickness by approx 3.5mm

ergo.

75% increased capacity = + 4mm

100% increased capacity = + 6.5mm.

Rough figures people!

What I do understand is that an "extended" battery would have its volume evenly spread on the back, not localized...Correct me if I misunderstood plz. :P