Review: Seidio 1300mAh and 1600mAh Extended Batteries for your Treo 750

Did you just get 3G in your area? Are you a big fan of push email? Do you browse a lot on your 750? Chances are, if you have one you do at least 2 of those 3 and are probably planning on holding onto your 750 for a little while, especially since the 750 just got its WM6 update and will soon get an update to 6.1.

The Treo 750 by default comes with a 1200mAh battery that claims up to 4 hours of talk time and 250 hours of standby. This, of course, assumes that the phone is in GSM/EDGE mode since we all know just how much 3G/UMTS can drain the battery when compared to GSM/EDGE. As a result several reviews of the 750 around the 'net highlight their disappointment in Palm for deciding on an even smaller battery than the Treo 700w/700p for the 750. You've probably seen the 1300mAh battery ($34.95) and 1600mAh battery ($49.95) extended batteries in the WMExperts store, but are they worth the money over just another OEM Palm battery? Click on to find out!

Usage

I was stoked when I got my 750 from ATT. Call quality is amazingly clear on UMTS, push was faster on my phone than on my desktop, and the fact that I could talk to someone while tethered or browsing on the phone was just icing on the cake. What I didn't like, however, was how doing all of that causing my battery to go from full to null in a matter of mere hours. In my typical workday, I'd go home with my 750's battery at about 20-30%. This would usually be after 30 minutes to an hour of talk, EAS push enabled all day, and the occasional browsing and downloading of different files or PDF attachments all on the 3G/UMTS network. If I forced my phone to GSM, I could easily get away with about 50-60% at the end of the day if not more, but doggonnit I bought a 3G phone, I wanna use it on 3G!

This is when I turned to the extended batteries that Seidio made for the Treo 750. What I like about these batteries is that they're both OEM-sized so that they'll fit the 750 without adding any extra bulk. The 750 is already on the thicker or curvier side of smartphones these days, so it really doesn't need to get any thicker. I first tried the 1300mAh battery, but I didn't really see any discernible improvement in battery life. Then I tried the 1600mAh OEM sized battery, which claims a 33% increase in battery life, and I definitely noticed a marked increase in battery life in my daily routine. At the end of the day, I'd usually end up with my battery around 50-60% instead of the paltry 20-30%.

Benchmark

To get some tangible numbers, I ran Spb Benchmark with all three batteries from full to no charge with the phone's radio turned off (to ensure there were no variations in wireless conditions), screen brightness turned all the way up, and auto shut off disabled. Spb Benchmark then simulated typical use and timed the battery until the last bit was drained and the phone would no longer turn on until plugged in again. As you can see in the chart, the results are very showing. While there isn't really a noticeable increase from 1200mAh to 1300mAh, there's a definite benefit when you jump to the 1600mAh battery. Why Palm didn't struggle to put their own 1600mAh into the 750 I can't say, but Seidio claims you get a 33% increase in battery life, and according to my numbers it's true.

Conclusion

So do I recommend buying an Seidio Extended battery for your 750? Well, it depends. Personally, I don't feel the 1300mAh Seidio battery offers any tangible benefit to your Treo's battery life, but it usually runs about $10-15 more which doesn't seem like a smart buy for me. If you're going to spend the money, and you're looking for longer battery life without extra bulk consider the Seidio 1600mAh OEM-sized battery ($49.95). The only choice you have to make is if the convenience of having a larger battery is worth the $49.95 the 1600mAh battery will cost you over the $19.95 of the 1200mAh Palm OEM battery.