[T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide] Blue6IX:
Well, you trade wear and tear of one part for wear and tear on another. The wear and tear on the USB jack is much, much worse then the wear and tear on the battery contacts.

The USB jack will wear out long before the battery contacts wear down.

The other part of it is every time you open the back of the device you expose the internals to dust and environmental contaminants.

I'd say as long as it's clean, not dusty or anything when you make the switch, that's the better way to go - as long as they are the same battery (which is what you said your friend had ... all good there)

The big thing would be to not make the switch outside. Try to do it indoors, in still air.

The most dust-free room of any house is most likely the bathroom. Limited to no carpeting and usually much less air space for things to be floating around in, close the window and give it ten minutes to settle first and that's probably the best location to do it. Especially if it's real tile, that's the absolute least opportunity for all the dust and fine particulates on the floor in the rest of the house to be present.

So your friends mode of operation (if when changing the battery conscious of dust and fine particle contamination) is probably the best method to stay charged and put the least wear on the device - except maybe an induction charging backplate.

The only problem with the induction charger is finding a case you can work on it with. I don't have one, but if it's the same size as the standard phone dimensions, then you could use the trident case and not scratch the device up taking it off an on (the trident case is mostly soft plastic and rubber, not hard and sharp plastic)

The downfall to the induction charger is you need a charge plate every where you go, so once you factor that liability in, what your friend is doing with 3 Ankers is probably the best method to keep the phone charged while doing as little damage to it through normal wear and tear possible.

Score a point for creativity and efficiency. I might change my mind about the Mugen and just get a few more Ankers to duplicate the method, after thinking about it. If there's a better way, why do anything else? That seems like it'd be worth buying the extra batteries for, i'll just pay attention and snipe some on sale.

Thanks for sharing, that's a happy tidbit of info and i'm definitely going to work towards implementing it. I want this device to last me as long as I can make it, and any way of taking better care of it or doing something like the battery swap method that just makes way more sense is always welcome to hear about.

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I should've gone to sleep already since I have to get moving in just a few short hours - but after typing out my previous reply I figured i'd swap my stock battery since you shouldn't let them sit without being used for a long period of time.

(I wish I could charge the stock batteries out of the device, I could copy a shorter version of that method with my two stock batteries - oh well.)

Anyways, when I did, I noticed something. Each came with one of my devices, and they are both the same battery, but they are backwards. It looks like it was deliberate, too, because all the markings are correct for + / - and whatnot.

Don't know what to make of it, so I figured i'd share just to get the info out there in case it's of use to anyone - (for what, I have no idea) - but they both suck equally, so there's no benefit of less heat for one or the other, and they both last about the same amount of time near as I can tell without actually measuring.

Doesn't seem like one lasts longer then the other, and i'm pretty sensitive to that kind of stuff. If people are curious i'll measure them a couple of times each and see for sure, if not I won't waste my time when there's other work to do.

Anyways, I snapped some pictures of it to illustrate what I mean, since describing it would end up being confusing for some and i'm half delerious as it is.

They are both the same:

- brand = (HTC)

- model = (BG58100)

- Rating = (3.7VDC)

- Capacity = (1520 mAh)

- Watt Hours = (5.62Whr)

Different serial numbers, and Different part numbers.

The one that shows the writing/bar code side up when installed in the device is:

- part number 35H00150-00m

The one that shows the blank side up when installed in the device is:

- part number 35H00153-00m

Does anyone out there have any other part numbers for the stock batteries? I wonder how many versions there are and if there are any differences between them.

Two of my friends got this device after seeing all the cool stuff I could do with it and being less then impressed with the devices the rest of our/their friends had - they needed a hardware keyboard too so obviously this was the answer.

I will check their stock batteries and see what they are, if it's anything different i'll post that too - might take a few days or so to get ahold of them and find out.

I should have noticed this a long time ago. Anyways, here's the pics to illustrate the outward differences: