iPhone 4 replacement battery

[redgrandam]

Anyone have a place to recommend to get a replacement battery? I would install it myself. Am I best to buy off an amazon.ca retailer for an 'oem' battery? Seems I be around $15 bucks. Just not sure what he best, safest, and most reliable route would be, short of paying apple $80 bucks.

I'm pretty sure my batter isn't really keepin up anymore. I thought it was just from the iOS updates or a bad app, but after some testing and the amount it drops while talking, I'm pretty sure the capacity is dropping. Nothing I hate more than a dead phone battery in the evenin when I can't get to a charger.

Edit: or is there an external battery pack that is small that anyone would recommend as an affordable option?

[canadiankorean]

Try a mophie juice pack. It's a case with battery.

[redgrandam]

Try a mophie juice pack. It's a case with battery.

I should have mentioned I have the otter box defender case on it, and need to keep that on for at work. So that actually rules out many packs, other than the ones you plugin to recharge the internal battery. I guess that's why I was thinking to replace the internal battery instead. Just not sure what is a reliable retailer for that for the best price and quality.

[blindfury]

LOL @ second floor.... most useless advice ever.

I am too in the conundrum as I notice the battery life of my iphone drops down really quickly now, it loses about 45% from the night before fully charged, 1 short phone call in the morning and 10 minutes of background audio from video file (gplayer).

I think a DIY replacement is fairly easily on iphone 4 (unlike earlier generations you kinda need a filing tool to slide those damn covers open), so there is no reason not to try some aftermarket batts.

Dealextreme seems to carry some respectable priced batteries but oddly enough most battery detail pages show "page cannot be found" and there are no reviews or ratings on them. But for $8.70 with free shipping, I think it's worth a shot. http://s.dealextreme.com/search/iphone+4+replacement+battery

Let me know if you come across any goodies :)

[redgrandam]

LOL @ second floor.... most useless advice ever.

I am too in the conundrum as I notice the battery life of my iphone drops down really quickly now, it loses about 45% from the night before fully charged, 1 short phone call in the morning and 10 minutes of background audio from video file (gplayer).

I think a DIY replacement is fairly easily on iphone 4 (unlike earlier generations you kinda need a filing tool to slide those damn covers open), so there is no reason not to try some aftermarket batts.

Dealextreme seems to carry some respectable priced batteries but oddly enough most battery detail pages show "page cannot be found" and there are no reviews or ratings on them. But for $8.70 with free shipping, I think it's worth a shot. http://s.dealextreme.com/search/iphone+4+replacement+battery

Let me know if you come across any goodies :)

I'm putting it off for the moment. I might have found a certain app that was draining my battery a bit in the background. It's still not like it was when I first got it, but I can get through the day.

I found some cheap ones, and some reviews said capacity was about 40% of new with the replacement battery. I guess that's an improvement over a dead battery if that was the case. But probably equivalent to what I have now.

I was thinking about getting it from ifixit, since I think they are reputable. A little more pricy there though. Have yet to find a reputable place other than that, where at least I'll know the capacity will be good. They also have videos etc there. Looks like its super easy.

If I could get a good replacement for 10-15 I was going to do it. For 30+ though I'll wait it out and see what happens with mine.

[ceredon]

The battery on my dad's iP4 was having problems in January where it wasn't hold a charge properly. He isn't the type to price out repairs and such on gadgets, so he went to the Apple store to have the battery replaced. They just exchanged the phone for him on the spot, free of charge. It was about 4 or 5 months out of warranty at that point I believe.

Worth trying anyway.

[blindfury]

I'm putting it off for the moment. I might have found a certain app that was draining my battery a bit in the background. It's still not like it was when I first got it, but I can get through the day.

I found some cheap ones, and some reviews said capacity was about 40% of new with the replacement battery. I guess that's an improvement over a dead battery if that was the case. But probably equivalent to what I have now.

I was thinking about getting it from ifixit, since I think they are reputable. A little more pricy there though. Have yet to find a reputable place other than that, where at least I'll know the capacity will be good. They also have videos etc there. Looks like its super easy.

If I could get a good replacement for 10-15 I was going to do it. For 30+ though I'll wait it out and see what happens with mine.

40% of the original sounds horrible, even compared to our used batteries now :confused:

I actually just courageously bought a "2430mah GOLD HIGH CAP" battery off ebay for like $10 bucks with free shipping from HK... I suspect it is just a rebranded 1430mah maybe even less.... lol, will report back.

I'm going to meet up with this guy sometime tonight for a *seemingly* legit 1430mah aftermarket, $12 @ mccowan and hwy7, will report back. http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-phones-PDAs-ipods-Brand-New-replacement-parts-for-iPhone-W0QQAdIdZ367105010

[blindfury]

The battery on my dad's iP4 was having problems in January where it wasn't hold a charge properly. He isn't the type to price out repairs and such on gadgets, so he went to the Apple store to have the battery replaced. They just exchanged the phone for him on the spot, free of charge. It was about 4 or 5 months out of warranty at that point I believe.

Worth trying anyway.

I'm surprised they didn't check warranty dates, they usually pretty uptight on those things. :confused:

[redgrandam]

40% of the original sounds horrible, even compared to our used batteries now :confused:

I actually just courageously bought a "2430mah GOLD HIGH CAP" battery off ebay for like $10 bucks with free shipping from HK... I suspect it is just a rebranded 1430mah maybe even less.... lol, will report back.

I'm going to meet up with this guy sometime tonight for a *seemingly* legit 1430mah aftermarket, $12 @ mccowan and hwy7, will report back. http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-phones-PDAs-ipods-Brand-New-replacement-parts-for-iPhone-W0QQAdIdZ367105010

Yes. Please let us know. I'd really like to find a true new OEM replacement. But I think those are hard if not impossible to find with all the imposters. Ofcourse if I wanted to pay 80, apple would do it for me.

[ceredon]

I'm surprised they didn't check warranty dates, they usually pretty uptight on those things. :confused:

He told them how old it was. They knew it was out of warranty. They just make exceptions sometimes in the name of customer service. He didn't even ask for a replacement just for the cost of replacing the battery. It helps that he has been buying Apple products since the late 70s and probably shows up in their system with lots of dollars spent over the years.

[Lovable]

My mom got her iPhone replaced in the Apple Store after she complained about battery life... I know YMMV and it probably is not worth the effort, but hey, who knows...

[redgrandam]

Might be worth a shot. Too bad my nearest apple store is 2.5 hours away. Untill they open the one here in the fall.

[ceredon]

Might be worth a shot. Too bad my nearest apple store is 2.5 hours away. Untill they open the one here in the fall.
From London? Conestoga Mall in Waterloo should be about 1.5 hours away. Still a bit of a drive on a gamble.

[redgrandam]

Ohh. Didn't realize there was one in Waterloo. Hadn't looked in a while, but I'm up that way. Worth a shot if I'm in the neighborhood anyways. Thanks

If anyone else attempts it with a 1.5 yr old iPhone please post results here.

[fatestkid]

Beware that many batteries on eBay don't have the correct hardware ID that iOS checks for. A lot of people get errors when installing these batteries.

I replaced my battery on 3GS from ifixit and works great. I probably get 70% of what the life that i got when the phone was new. Also It was a little more expensive then eBay.

[honbut]

I ordered my batteries from applenberry.. They are pretty nice quality stuff.. The only downside is that their shipping is quite heafty so i usually bulk buy when I need more stock.

Just a FYI, to replace the battery is not hard, but the battery is stuck down to the case quite hard so it might take a bit of force to yank it out.. be careful when doing this.