Review: Seidio Extended Battery + Cover for 8900 Curve

[C_86]

How is everyone doing today?

Today I wanted to post a review about a wonderful product by Seidio. Today I will be reviewing the 8900 Extended Battery and back cover.

Let me start off by saying, I am in no way facilitated or employed by Seidio in any way, shape or form.


Let's see where to get started... Boy there is so much to this review its hard to decide where to begin!


I guess lets first start off with the shipping and packaging. My extended battery and cover was shipping on Thursday March 26th, 2009 by USPS by Seidio, and arrived on Friday March 6th, 2009. The package arrived undamaged and in good form. Nice and fast shipping considering it was coming from Texas and I am in Canada.

Let's start off with the device in its regular form. You can see my 8900 in the picture below untouched and gorgeous!

Below you can now see the battery in its natural area of the phone. Nice looking, isn't she?

Here's another look of it from a shot that's further away...

Now as you will already know, since this is an extended battery, it will add some weight and thickness to the device. Below is a picture of the battery in the phone showing it without the cover on it. As you can see from the picture it does about 2-3mm thickness to the device. More on the feel and weight in a bit...

Now on to what most people want to know about a product like this, how does it feel... The below statements are my opinion... Weight, it doesn't add that much to the device at all... Before I put it all together I was thinking to myself, boy this is going to be one heavy device, but that's not the case at all. With the phone in its OEM state I think its a little too light. With this battery I think it adds a good amount of weight to the device. The phone feels just right now in my hands. Now I can actually feel the device in my hands...

Now the feel of the rubberized battery cover. As most people already know that have a similar battery cover know, it feels good. With the OEM battery cover the device feels slippery, I always had to have a rubber skin on my device to make it feel like it wont go flying out of my hands like a wet bar of soap. This battery covers makes the device feel good. Doesn't feel slippery in any way, which should give you some peace of mind.

The back cover doesn't cover the camera at all, and doesn't block any of the flash or imagine when taking a picture... Same goes with the charging contacts. The cover leaves these free to use an OEM docking charger without any issues at all. As you will see in the pictures below the battery covers fits likes a glove on the phone, no bulging, no seam issues, everything is perfect on it.

Top:


Bottom:

Now from the pictures, it looks like the battery and cover adds quite a bit of thickness to the device, but believe me its not that much... Remember the camera adds 10 lbs!! LOL

Lets get on the most important part of a product like this, performance and battery life...

Normally on the OEM battery, sending about 75 emails, 8 ~30 minute conversations on voice, countless BlackBerry Messenger conversations, countless MSN messages, 300+ SMS, about 2 hours worth of browsing, WiFi off and BT off while at work, Viigo updating every 30 mins, same with the Weather network app, and I don't know how many other apps i have that constantly connect to the internet to get updates every once and a while. When I get home WiFi is on for about 8 hours before heading to bed and plugging her in (all this using the latest OS build). Now normally on a regular day like above, I would be plugging her in with about 30% left on the OEM battery. Doing the same with the extended battery, I plugged her in at about 70%... Now that is awesome! I may only need to charge once every 3 days now! WooHoo!!

Here's another example of how good I found this battery to be. Normally on the OEM battery when I go out of town to a smaller town to visit the in-laws, the device is constantly searching for signal as there is no service out there. On a average day being out there for 12 hours, my battery is done (with 5-10% left)... The constant load of searching for signal is tough on the battery and drains it. Last night I was again out of the area and signal range, so my device was always searching for something... When I went to see what my battery life was at, it was sitting at a nice 60%... Now that is amazing in my opinion.

I am having a very hard time finding any flaws at all with this battery and cover, really... I cant think of anything to say that would knock it. I guess the only thing I could really knock about it, is that with this extended battery there is no way to put on a protective skin or cover on the device. I personally like to have a rubber skin on my device, just for that extra protection, but you cannot with this extended batter and cover. But I don't know if i can really fault this with that.

Weight: 10/10
Added Thickness: 9.9/10
Feel: 9.9/10

Overall: I give this wonderful product a 9.8/10

Seidio out did themselves with this!


I hope everyone has enjoyed this review as much as I enjoyed writing it and filling everyone in about it. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask and I will be more then willing to answer them for you.

Thank you again for reading! Take Care!!

[thebignewt]

EXcellent review Cory (new here from BBforums like me, eh?). Very complete. I imagine one could use parts of BSE to cover most of the phone until there's a case for this setup. I had the bigger Seidio battery/back for my 8100 (still do-anyone need it?) and got 4 days out of it. I don't use as much as Cory. I get 2-3 out of my 8900 now. I think a lot of people will want this. It probably doesn't add that much bulk/weight to it overall.

[Garz]

Very good detailed review

[crippenx]

Really good review!! You've got me sold on it now, I was waiting for someone else to review it before I got mine

Please let us know the final charge time -- Sounds like you were still on your first charge, I'm wondering if you did make it to 3 days afterall

[laker072]

Great review!!

[overboost]

Originally Posted by laker072

Great review!!

X2 Very Informative!

[C_86]

Update:

After 3 days of the use i have been doing (as per above review, same amount of email, talk time etc etc) i made it to the end of 3 days with 15% left in my battery... i think thats unbelievable...

As for the people saying, whats the point why not just charge it every night... well normally i used to, but whenever i go to my girlfriends house, i dont have a charger there so i am unable to charge... i used to be in trouble come the second day because my battery was almost done because of the OEM battery and not being about to charge....

For people like me, who arent able to charge everyday, this is a great battery.

Hoping everyone is well, and stay tuned for more reviews coming from me!!

[seidioseidio]

Hello, currently we are developing an Innocase Extended for the 8900 Curve that will compensate the additional thickness while continuing to provide all-around protection. Here is an example of one from 9530 Storm:



Stay Tuned!

[C_86]

Nice!! i'm looking forward to this one!!

[TexasTrainer254]

Great job on this review.

[ImGeorgeous]

your review practically convinced me to get one for the bold!! hahaha. if only it worked with the charging dock.. i had one for the treo 680 (which REALLY needs it) and it worked great. but bedside mode works too well to give up.

[Speedv1]

Excellent review. They battery part truly enlightened my concerns. Thanks a million OP.

[Crackberrykills]

Well done C.

[bmerdinian]

i got 2 x 2600 MHA they rock. I sometimes forget to charge and even feels better when you hold the phone. Not fragile anymore.

[nm1k0]

I wish that the back for the bolds extended battery looked that nice. I would totally get it then.

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