About two years ago I got tired waiting for the day that Verizon was going to get the iPhone and decided to buy the HTC Droid Incredible.  Appropriately enough, the reviews of this phone were indeed incredible; so incredible in fact that they wound up back-ordered for quite awhile because Samsung couldn’t keep up with the demand for the then AMOLED displays.  They had not yet launched the first generation of Samsung Galaxies.   When they came back into stock fit with SLCD displays a few months later I was able to take advantage of a $1 Best Buy Promotion.  Good things come to people who wait (every great once in a while).

If you read my review of the Incredible back then you know I just waxed poetic over this phone.  I was like a schoolboy in love and two years later still am.  The principal weakness of this phone was the puny 1,300mAh battery that was tasked with powering this brute.  Sure, it kept the Incredible looking “Apple 3GS-esque” in terms of dimensions, but clearly it just couldn’t hack it.  You simply couldn’t use the awesome new features of this phone and expect to end the day on anything but empty without at least one mid-day charge.  The slightly more powerful HTC slim-line battery (1750mAh) could buy you a couple to three more hours but you still had to really manage your resources.

I however decided to let it all hang out.  If I was going to have to pay $29.99 for an unlimited data plan I didn't want to have to be judicious in its use.  I opted for a Seidio Innocell 3500 mAh Extended Life Battery with a back door designed specifically for the HTC Incredible.  Sure, it almost doubled the thickness of the device, but strangely made it feel better in my hand. With the 3500mAh battery in place I was able to get 3 - 4 days of moderate use or 2 days of heavy-duty use with no consideration of whether or not I kept things like wi-fi, GPS or Bluetooth on. 

Today, almost two years later I’m just beginning to see the battery losing a bit of its strut.  Keep in mind though that I’m very attentive to deep charging (bump-charging) the battery.  Maybe I can’t depend on it lasting a full 72 hours, but it’s rare that I don’t see 48 or 36hours if I’m really stressing the resources.  That’s still impressive performance.

Contour
If you’re familiar with the Incredible you know that it has a multi-tiered contour.  The included Seidio back-door retains the multi-tier design rather than flushing out the form to make it more “brick like”.  The back-door is finished with a rubberized coating that gives it a firm feel in your hand.  Any concern that I may have had about the coating wearing away have long been forgotten.

Durability
When I first purchased this extended battery I also purchased a beefy, rugged Seidio Case specifically designed to fit this massive battery, but found that the increased bulkiness wasn’t to my liking.  I’ve used this phone “naked” for most of the last two years and the back-door has proved to be solid.  On occasion, a hard spill might have me watch the back-door and battery separate and go sliding across a hard tile floor, but putting it all back together it remains unscarred and the phone never fails to re-boot properly.

The Past is Prologue
Given my experience with the HTC Droid Incredible and the Seidio 3500mAh Extended Battery, the beauty of the Motorola Razr Maxx is not lost on me.  That 3300mAh battery in a resource gulping 4G phone is a definite unique selling point.  While my heart is calling out for a Samsung Galaxy III, my head is saying “don’t be a chump, go with the big battery so you can continue to pee in the tall grass with the big dogs.”  Decisions, decisions!

Closing Thought
If I had to, I could easily go another year with my HTC Incredible without feeling too deprived as long as I still had my Seidio Innocell 3500 mAh Extended Life Battery.   If you own an Incredible (or an Eris) and are looking to go another year or so before upgrading, a Seidio 3500mAh battery just may make it a considerably easier road to travel.  I highly recommend it.

Quick Link:  HTC Droid Incredible 

Rudi

Recommended: Yes