[Q] Tips for Non-Removable Battery

wonderrx said:

Hello all, thanks in advance for any suggestions

I have a Galaxy S5 that I will be taking back to the store since we haven't been able to get root on it yet, fairly satisfied with the phone.

I had an S3 and then a HTC Thunderbolt before that, both with removable batteries.

Removable batteries have been a huge pro for me, I am often very hard on battery using bluetooth and playing media for 12 hours at a time away from charger.

Really other than being a little tall the battery is what is keeping me away from the M8.

What options does a guy have to combat a non replaceable battery? I know the little pocket power cells have come a long way, and I currently always carry a spare battery now so maybe that is a lateral change. Are there some of those that charge very fast?

I tend to keep phones running a LONG time and pass them down to wife/kids and removable battery has always been a big pro to that.

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an external battery like you mentioned or a battery case. if you're worried about wearing out the battery, im sure you can replace it manually after 2-3 years by opening up the phone (there's teardowns posted already). I can't speak on either battery option though bc i have a charger at my desk.

wonderrx said:

I had an S3 and then a HTC Thunderbolt before that, both with removable batteries.

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Ditto, followed by a Galaxy S4.

Removable batteries have been a huge pro for me, I am often very hard on battery using bluetooth and playing media for 12 hours at a time away from charger.

Really other than being a little tall the battery is what is keeping me away from the M8.

What options does a guy have to combat a non replaceable battery?

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Probably no options are needed. I used to carry a spare battery (or two!) for my T-Bolt but found I could live with the S3 and S4 batteries by keeping a spare battery on a charger and swapping batteries around 6 PM each day.

I was VERY nervous about going to the M8 with the non-removable battery but it lasts and lasts and lasts....... I take it off the charger at 7 AM when I get up and have more than 50% when I go to bed, usually around midnight.

I have a car charger, never needed to use it, I have a USB cord plugged into my PC so I can charge while I'm typing this, never do though, it's not needed.

I can't speak to battery life 3 years down the road when cell phone batteries start losing life but in 3 years I suspect this phone will be as obsolete as a rotary dial phone is now and I'll be looking for the latest gee-whiz phone that is cosmic ray powered or ????

Don't worry about the battery, it'll be fine.

FWIW, rooted, TWRP recovery, running BoneStock ROM (thanks, AndyBones!) with power saver turned OFF!

wonderrx said:

Thanks for the input! Glad to hear very good and optimistic reviews of the power, thanks for sharing what you are running rooted wise and the like, I am missing being able to do that already on the S5.

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YW, hope it helps. You know what works for one may not work for another, right?

When Samsung and VZW locked down the S4 (and later the S3) I knew I wouldn't be buying another Samsung phone, us flashaholics GOTTA FLASH!

I was in the same boat as you. I almost went with an S5 because of the non-removable battery. Not being able to remove the battery is a stupid, and lazy, design idea. I watched a few videos about the battery and went for it. I have to say its at least 50% better than my TBolt. At the end of the day my TBolt usually was at about 30-45%. Now with the same exact usage patterns the M8 ends at 98%. Yeah I seem to only use 2% over an 8 hour work day. I use it on breaks of course. I plan on buying one of those portable batteries for emergency charging and I've got at least 3 chargers in various places. I used my phone at a family event for about an hour and a half. I watched 3-4 youtube videos ranging from 10-20 minutes each at max quality and did some web browsing and that brought it to 75%. Tethering with the WiFi Router app can suck it down pretty fast though. All in all Im happy with how well the battery holds up. Im sure someone will sell a better battery you can replace down the road with a little disassembly.

Concerns about a non-removable battery are overblown now days. If you're going to carry around extra batteries, you can just as easily carry around an auxiliary battery. The smaller ones are the size of a lipstick and are rated around 3000 mah, enough to double the capacity of nearly any device currently on the market. If that's not enough for you they go all the way up to 12000 before they start getting too large to carry around. By the time the battery actually needs replacing, you will likely have moved on to another phone.

Verdigo said:

I was in the same boat as you. I almost went with an S5 because of the non-removable battery. Not being able to remove the battery is a stupid, and lazy, design idea. I watched a few videos about the battery and went for it. I have to say its at least 50% better than my TBolt. At the end of the day my TBolt usually was at about 30-45%. Now with the same exact usage patterns the M8 ends at 98%. Yeah I seem to only use 2% over an 8 hour work day. I use it on breaks of course. I plan on buying one of those portable batteries for emergency charging and I've got at least 3 chargers in various places. I used my phone at a family event for about an hour and a half. I watched 3-4 youtube videos ranging from 10-20 minutes each at max quality and did some web browsing and that brought it to 75%. Tethering with the WiFi Router app can suck it down pretty fast though. All in all Im happy with how well the battery holds up. Im sure someone will sell a better battery you can replace down the road with a little disassembly.

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how do you expect a 90% metal phone to have a removable battery? i don't see this as possible. you're gonna get tabs that break off very easily or something else that fails bc you want to take your battery out easily.