Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Motorola Droid 2 Global: Further notes

On it's second trip to Europe, the Global version of the motorola Droid2 is still performing admirably. I have been to the tops of mountains, and by rail all over Switzerland and can't complain much about performance. One gripe is battery life. I don't think I quite make it a full 8 hour work day without getting dangerously low on battery. Charging options can be quite frustrating since carrying a charger everywhere one goes is not ideal. Nor are the battery options.

My wife picked up from Ebay or Amazon a charger and battery for the Motorola Droid line of phones. However it should be noted that the battery pictured shows a battery with Motorola logo, but the battery you will receive is not authentic. Of course it should stand to reason that if the USB charging cable from MOTO cost $8 why would the battery cost less?

No now I started shopping for those rapid battery chargers, that use USB cable to charge the phone. These chargers allow you to pre-charge a larger high capacity battery using your USB cable. Then you carry around what is supposed to be around 3 iPhone charges.



From what I can see. There is quite a range of possibilities. Prices are quite variable but it looks like one has to buy in the $50 range to insure that you have a battery with 4000-5000 mAh (3-4 charges of the DROID by the numbers) The Duracell seems to be the better bargain at only $20 but only 1100mAh. which may get you going once per reload.

The so-called powerhouse by Duracell runs the price up to nearly $45 for only 2000mAh. So the brand is adding some price (but who knows how much value). The size of these things is a little daunting considering that our pockets are getting more and more packed with gadgets. So I guess I will try the GUM Plus or the Splash intense. Each of which have slightly less than obnoxious form factor and are at least no larger than the phone itself.

    
     

3 comments:

eric kam said...

Just found the ZAGG Sparq which boasts 6000 mAh of power in the battery. Which will charge most smart phones upto 4 times. I think we found a winner!

Danny Schaeffler said...

Still loving it? Looking at D2, DX, HTC Thunderbolt, Bionic. Probably not IPhone. Reception is important, since I think it is still a phone. My current BBerry has a keyboard - don't know if I want only the on-screen keyboard of the DX or the flexibility of the D2.

eric kam said...

Yes I still love the Droid2.
Here are the plusses:
+ android OS (Root the MF'er and tether for data)
+ Slide out keyboard still a little getting used to compared to the BB keyboard (somehow the smaller World Edition 3880 kb i had was a little easier) but having option of on screen or slide-out is very nice
+ Sure it has fewer apps, but the apps I need i can get. The others are all chaff. Also with the rooted OS I can block ads from the free apps
+ U can replace the battery
+ u can add memory
+ works globally (the iPhone is CDMA only with Verizon)

Verizon network has not let me down so far, here or abroad.