[General Accessories] Robcr:
The opinions below are based on my experience, training and the tests I carried out on the purchased batteries. I am not affiliated to or employed by any battery or phone manufacturer.

I will be happy to retest and add to this report should any supplier or manufacturer believe that I have tested faulty items and are prepared to supply me with another/others to test. The additional information will be added honestly however it tests.

Tests based on a rooted and optimised version of the official 2.3 build of the HTC desire with a standard htc desire 1A charger.

Utilities used included:

Battery monitor widget pro

Antutu battery test

The reference battery is a two year old original HTC battery which is well used but still in very good condition. Capacity reasonably tested and calculated at around 1180 - 1250mAh of the original rated 1400mAh. Given normal projected losses for li-ion batteries this seemed high for a 18-24 month old battery but as other ratings are relative to this, the other estimates should be equally on the high side if anything.

A took great care to fully charge/cycle the new batteries as described by the sellers, and did a full calibrating charge cycle on the original before rating it. Battery stats were cleared for testing as each battery was tested.

Various tests were carried out including using battery monitor widget pro to analyse any different usage/performance and estimate power of each battery in addition to using original as benchmark.

SUMMARY RESULTS (mAh accuracy expected to be +/- 15%)

Antutu test scores. Note these do not define a power rating, only relative benchmarks on the same phone in the same situation. The capacities stated result from the tests with battery monitor widget pro and compared to the confident rating of the original.

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2 year old original HTC battery claimed 1400mAh - tested 495 (approx 1200mAh)

New Cameron Sino (in loose packaging) claimed 2400mAh - tested 773 (approx 1900mAh)

New Bilitong gold in original packaging claimed 1650mAh - tested 356 (approx 850mAh)

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The Good

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The Cameron Sino tested is the first chinese battery I have tested which actually gives more (around 50% more) capacity than the good condition 2 year old original. This equates to somewhere between 1800-2000mAh for this battery. This does result in testing to a 50% longer phone life in the same use.

Its available very cheap :)

The large case back needed by these large batteries and as supplied by the Amazon seller is a good fit, seems good quality. Although effectively doubles the thickness of the phone is easy to hold unlike the reports of some no brand large batteries and larger covers with 'quick break' :( clips. It actually seems easier to hold to me than in the phones 'skinny' form. It of course feels significantly heavier.

The Bad - some seem very serious

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There is some impact on the quality of pictures taken by the deep recessed slots the pictures and flash have to pass through.

The large battery does seem to move some with a bit of a clunck felt which should be easily addressable with a small cushion pad added to the inside of the case.

The Cameron Sino battery I tested (like the bilitongs) does not seem to have proper (or at least working) control and protection electronics, in that neither the voltage or the battery temperature is correctly reported to the phone. Both report a fixed voltage of 3923mV and a relatively fixed 24.x temperature even when the phone is noticeably hot to the touch.

Both the Cameron Sino and the Bilitongs seem unwilling to report a 100% charge. Both stick at 99% although I have seen 100% on the Cameron Sino once, which may have been a very minor phone calibration error rather than the battery actually reporting 100%.

Both the Cameron Sino and Bilitong batteries demonstrated erratic battery % left (which is all they really reported) sometimes going back up significantly after being in light use and often dropping very sharply in reasonable use (wifi and browsing with bright screen).

The original did not do this to any noticeable level, always showing consistent and accurate % remaining, and as the original also reported accurately full range battery voltage and temperature, so is in a vastly higher league in its status reporting and presumably safety.

It seems to me that in both the Cameron Sino and Billitong batteries, the proper control and protection circuitry is replaced by a something akin to a simple resistor/diode type setup which is just enough to fool the phone into actually using these batteries rather than reject them as faulty as would occur if there was nothing on these circuits.

Its worthy of note that the standbye/self-discharge rate on the none-original batteries (all) is actually higher than the original with full protection circuitry - adding to the view that there are something like low quality resistors replacing the control circuitry.

This means that I cant see how any any over or under voltage or over temperature protection is done with the 'compatible' batteries potentially increasing the risk of damage to the phone.

The Ugly?

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Ok with the Cameron Sino its twice as thick and a fair bit heavier. But I don't see this as a great issue. It sits nicer in the hand in my view and I'm Less likely to loose it by dropping it un-noticed.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

So my personal views in summary.

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Based on the one I received, the Cameron Sino will give 50% better capacity than a good condition 2 year old original.

Presumably the gains would be significantly less over a new original HTC battery, and more over a worn out original.

Beware of the apparent lack of protection and control, the increased weight/size and possible camera problems.

If you are using the standard phone software, you could get much better increases by installing one of the optimised versions of the HTC builds available freely from the developer forums. I gained over 50% on the usable life per charge just from installing one of these, and ensuring things like gps and wifi were switched off unless I needed them. (at the touch of an icon).

Even if you don't do this, the latest official HTC 'radio reportedly improves power use significantly over older versions.

*** Do any of these at your own risk and after properly investigating the options.

Finally, I would strongly suggest you completely avoid the Bilitong batteries just as much as the unbranded chinese batteries, which in my experience are unlikely to give much better than 850mAh (whatever they claim) when new and very quickly fade, let alone the apparent lack of proper control and protection electronics (seemingly shared by the Cameron Sino).