[chelboed]

Batteries are weird. LiPo's and LiIons "supposedly" do not develop a memory, therefore the whole draining to sub-20% before charging should be BS...but I actually agree that it helps...no matter what your battery technology market specialist tells you.

One weird thing about LiPo's that people aren't aware of is that you never run them "dead". They are 3.7v batteries, but when fully charged, they are 4.2v. They don't stay at 4.2v for very long due to their nature...they hover around the 3.7v range for the longest time...when they drop to about 2.8v, the device that uses them is programmed to shut them down. (think about your Lithium Drills...how they don't gradually die like the old NiCd version...they drop a tad and then just "stop") If it's just a "flashlight", then there is a small circuit board installed in the battery pack itself that cuts the power at 2.8v so you don't ruin the pack. If you discharge below 2.5v...you are in serious danger of causing the thing to spontaneously combust when you plug it back into the charger. Most LiIon's and LiPo's have either a smart circuit PCM board installed unless the device is programmed to do it. The reason that the fully charged phone drops quickly...then hovers for a long time in the 50-80% 'ish range is b/c of the battery's tendancy to hover in that 3.7v range for the longest period.


I immediately ordered the 3500mAh Seidio when I got the Evo b/c I could only get around 14hrs of "light" use on mine. Battery life was a bit worse than my TP2. I use the GPS alot. I surf the web often. WiFi at work b/c I don't get a signal.


One thing that I feel kills the battery a little faster is the fact that my average reception is 3 bars. There are places around here that give me 5, but 3 is average. When the phone accesses the web "all the time" for email, weather location, etc...it uses less battery when you have killah reception.


I'm doing the "Official HTC NumbNutz Battery Tweak"...I charged all night, took the phone off charge. After about an hour...it was down to 92%...I turned the phone off and charged to green...turned back on and plugged back in...as suspected, the light is amber. Now charging to full. I'll pay attn. to it and see how goes.


I admit that I also use the starfield live background and screen brightness on "high". I feel that if it's there I may as well enjoy it. BS if you can't even use the features of the phone.