Should I buy an aftermarket battery for my old Sony Ericsson T200 phone?

[DaveC426913]

My Sony Ericsson T200 cell phone is ~4 years old. (I know, vacuum tubes and dial knobs). It is no longer made. Thus, they no longer make the batteries either.

My battery's life has become quite short, lasting only a day or two without use (it used to last all week), so I'd like to replace it.

A guy at the Fido booth suggests that I can get an aftermarket battery, but those batteries will not be nearly as good as the original (I don't know if he means because they're old or becasue they're knock-offs). Anyway, the number he threw out was 30%, meaning I might only get 30% performance out of them (which is about what I'm getting now).

My question: are these after-market batteries less able to perform - for whatever reason - than my original?

 

[Evo]

Most cell phone companies are giving away phones for free that are much more sophisticated than what you have. Time to let go Dave. I have my 6 lb Ericson cell phone in my closet. There comes a time when you just...have...to...let...go.

Put the phone down Dave. PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY FROM IT. It had a long and happy life, but all good things must come to an end.

Oh, and while you're at it, you might as well give up your 8 track tape deck and BetaMax. They're not coming back either Dave. :uhh:

 

[NoTime]

Aftermaket batteries that will fit your phone are most likely made by the same company that made the original battery.

Sounds like a lot of hype to me.

OTOH Evo has a point.
It will probably be cheaper to get another phone :grumpy:

 

[DaveC426913]

< rant >
My phone can
- call people
- receive calls
That's all a phone needs to do
All the rest just means longer and deeper menus and crap.

I'm not some attention-deficit teen whose phone was bought by their parents and who doesn't pay the bill so I can text message jokes and play video games all day.
< /rant >

Evo: 'sophisticated' does not equate with 'useful'. The new phones have no benefits over my current phone.

Also, those phone upgrades invariably come with prepaid contracts. I am on pay-as-you-go. So those phones are at full price.

 

[Evo]

< rant >
My phone can
- call people
- receive calls
That's all a phone needs to do
All the rest just means longer and deeper menus and crap.

I'm not some attention-deficit teen whose phone was bought by their parents and who doesn't pay the bill so I can text message jokes and play video games all day.
< /rant >

Evo: 'sophisticated' does not equate with 'useful'. The new phones have no benefits over my current phone.

Also, those phone upgrades invariably come with prepaid contracts. I am on pay-as-you-go. So those phones are at full price.

Go to Walmart and get one of those no frills "pay as you go" phones. I'm the same way, I only want my phone to make and receive calls, and that's all it does. It cost me $39. I only recharge my battery every 6 days, and that's with it always on and daily use. (I'm not a heavy user)

 

[DaveC426913]

Go to Walmart and get one of those no frills "pay as you go" phones. I'm the same way, I only want my phone to make and receive calls, and that's all it does. It cost me $39. I only recharge my battery every 6 days, and that's with it always on and daily use. (I'm not a heavy user)

But ... but ...

I have a phone.

 

[NoTime]

But ... but ...

I have a phone.

A new battery will work the same as the old battery before it went bad.

How much will the new battery cost?
Probably more than Evo's solution :grumpy:

 

[hypatia]

I'm with Evo on this one, time to say goodbye.

 

[DaveC426913]

How much will the new battery cost?
Probably more than Evo's solution :grumpy:

New batteries cost as little as $35.



Still, my question isn't getting answered (well, except for NoTime, who has, twice). Are after-market batteries lower quality than brand name batteries, specifically when it comes to stand-by life? I'd prefer an educated opinion over a guess (but I'll take what I can get).

 

[DaveC426913]

I'm with Evo on this one, time to say goodbye.

Consumer Zombies.

 

[NoTime]

Hmmm $39 vs $35, not much of a difference there.
Does that include shipping?

One thing you haven't considered is a possible defect in the phone that has caused an increase in standby load. If you don't have the tools to verify the correct operation of the phone or alternatively do a load check on the battery to make sure it is actually defective, then you are taking a risk.

Of course the value of your time in performing the tests would easily double the effective cost of the new battery.:grumpy:

As far as being aftermarket.
There just isn't that many actual companies that make the stuff compared to the number of brands you find.
For instance at one time there were some 90 odd brands of VCR but only 6 actual production plants.

The company that made the phone would source from a battery company.
It simply is not cost effective for the battery company to set up a separate process to make "aftermarket" batteries. It all comes off the same conveyor belt.

 

[DaveC426913]

Hmmm $39 vs $35, not much of a difference there.
Does that include shipping?.

Hang on. Saving money isn't the big issue. I wouldn't give up a phone that
- I'm used to
- has all my #'s in it
- is compatible with my wife's phone
- is good quality
- etc.

One thing you haven't considered is a possible defect in the phone that has caused an increase in standby load. If you don't have the tools to verify the correct operation of the phone or alternatively do a load check on the battery to make sure it is actually defective, then you are taking a risk.

Of course the value of your time in performing the tests would easily double the effective cost of the new battery.:grumpy:

Having a reliable piece of equipment doesn't come free these days.

As far as being aftermarket.
There just isn't that many actual companies that make the stuff compared to the number of brands you find.
For instance at one time there were some 90 odd brands of VCR but only 6 actual production plants.

The company that made the phone would source from a battery company.
It simply is not cost effective for the battery company to set up a separate process to make "aftermarket" batteries. It all comes off the same conveyor belt.

Anything costing more than a Starbuck's coffee has cheaper knock-offs made of it, why would batteries be any different?

 

[ray b]

they do vary some BUT most are common cells bought in bulk and put in
a case to fit the phone shape so the cells may be the same as original even in a second party case or better then original or worse
some is luck of the draw as to how long they work

ni-cads get a memory effect if short charged [recharged at 1/2 charged]
they last best if run full cycle max charge to totaly dead
but that's hard to do on a phone
but DONOT charge a more then 1/2 charged battery
or buy 2 and use intill it is dead then switch

 

[blemon]

Just don't overcharge your cellphones. Its good for the life of the battery.

 

[DaveC426913]

Way to dredge up an old thread... :)

Um. I presume you meant "it's NOT good"...

 

[moose]

damnit! About two weeks ago, a local electronics store had these batteries for about 2.99 a pop! Talk about cheap surplus! http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15617
they seem to be out now though :(

 

[wxrocks]

I'm with Dave on the old phone thing. Living away from a metro area, I miss my old StarTec that allowed me to manually switch to analog mode. Often it was a much better signal than the digital. Now, 2 phones later I can't even get it to go to analog.

Stand your ground Dave! Buy an aftermarket battery, and if it doesn't work well -- well I am sure you've spent $35 on worse things in your life.

 

[turbo]

Here you go, Dave. ~$25 gets you a lithium ion battery (no memory effect when charging partially-depleted batteries).

http://www.cellular-blowout.com/ert2tliionba.html

BTW, your phone makes my old Nokia look like it should have a cord on it.

 

[nickenrite]

increase battery life?

i don't know if this actually works if you put the battery in the freezer? they say it clears the "memory" and should last longer

 

[jmnew51]

Look on ebay. I was going to get a new battery for my old cell phone at one time because it was having the same problem as you. And I think it was actually a better battery. Meaning my old one was say rated at 800mah, while the new was rated at 1200mah. And you could get one for peanuts compared to buying direct from the cell phone manufacturer. Heck for $10 or so you can't go wrong. I understand where your coming from about letting go of your old phone. In fact my new one had exceptionally poor sound quality compared to my old one.
Jim

 

[Dr Transport]

Replacing the battery on my wifes 2 1/2 year old phone was $35, getting a new phone $40, it took about 5 minutes to transfer the account to the new phone and swap chips. The difference was well worth my time and agravation after having spent an hour running around trying to find a replacement battery in the first place and the additional features were well worth it.

 

[ajaber]

let go

Most cell phone companies are giving away phones for free that are much more sophisticated than what you have. Time to let go Dave. I have my 6 lb Ericson cell phone in my closet. There comes a time when you just...have...to...let...go.

Put the phone down Dave. PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY FROM IT. It had a long and happy life, but all good things must come to an end.

Oh, and while you're at it, you might as well give up your 8 track tape deck and BetaMax. They're not coming back either Dave. :uhh:

I agree let it go

 

[DaveC426913]

Yeah. Great. I've got a new phone now.

It's broken. It wants to update my daylight savings every single time it wakes up.

I'm so, so glad I bought a new phone.