How I Killed My G1 Battery, Avoid My Mistakes!
by Antonio Wells
Dec 17, 2009 8:36 AM –
Recently my G1 (yeah still use a G1, waiting on the Nexus One Google phone or Sony Ericsson Xperia X10) would just abruptly power off and die during use, especially on process intense apps. Update: I killed the battery in less than 6 months. Called up T-Mobile and PDA Support helped with the first recommendation of battery replacement, which they promptly shipped out free of charge. I will illustrate my normal patterns where I believe I went wrong and how you can avoid them with your Android phone.
The Culprit: Overcharging
I use my phone a lot… a whole lot; more for other things like Email, Web, Social, checking out Android apps, Texting, than the phone itself. All this activity in addition to notoriously poor battery life on Android phones caused me to habitually plug into the charger most of the day. Since I’m always near a computer I’d just charge while working. Win/Win situation you’d think right? Nope, in the long term it degraded the quality and strength of my battery’s charge. I should’ve become keen to symptoms:
- After charging the battery all night it would report “Charging 83%” (and not 100%).
- When I had a reported full charge it would drain in two hours (even after following my own performance and battery saving advice).
- False-positives in battery charge reports (turn phone off, charge a short while, turn phone back on and mysteriously report 100% charge).
- Inaccurate battery health reports in apps like T-Mobile’s My Account which stated “Good”.
- Battery Bulge! Look at the old and new battery in the pic, somehow it started to expand! I’m glad it didn’t explode in my pocket.
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G1 Batteries (Old on Left, New on Right)
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G1 Batteries
With my new battery I have stopped leaving it on the charger all night or plugged into PC all day (Green supporters may give me some respect knuckles for that). With all my activity it still holds a charge all day and I charge it maybe 2 hours throughout the entire day.
So take advice from my experience, try not to overcharge your Android phone or risk bricking your battery. If you are experiencing these symptoms, then you should consider getting a new battery… here’s a few recommendations from our buddies at AndroidGuys.com and AndroidandMe.com.