Buying A Back Up Battery

[sas]

hi i have the n95 and want to buy a back up battery to keep on me when abroad and travelling , will be down my local high street at wk-end ,should i buy whats already in my phone or is there a better choice ?

[bhwarrior]

I suggest a power brick/power pack. I'm also traveling overseas in a month, and I purchased one for the long flight. It stores 3-5 charges for the phone. I think its a much better option in my opinion. It set me back AU$30, so probably 15 pounds with postage. Buying a second battery will cost you a lot more; you want to get a genuine one from a nokia dealer because most of the ones from ebay are all fakes and they simply do not perform anywhere near as well, you'll be lucky if you find a fake that lasts 1/2 the time of a genuine battery.

Just my two cents. ;)

[ez2remember]

I'm flying out on Thursday to Vancouver, Canada and also thought hmm, the battery needs to last... Anyway I suggest you either get a genuine Nokia battery or if you don't mind the extra bulkiness, get a double size battery pack. I bought one from here and it does a great job.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Capacity-Extended-Battery-1350-mAh-For-Nokia-N95_W0QQitemZ160169519480QQihZ006QQcategoryZ20365Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

BTW, I've tried many batteries and this one is really good. A lot of 3rd party batteries are a waste of time. It last about twice as long as a genuine Nokia battery. The back cover is a bit loose but if you put a loose elastic band around the hunch back of the battery and then fit the back cover over as normal, you get a nice tight fit with non slip grip. lol ;)

[drwalker]

As bhwarrior says, a power pack would be a good option, bulkier than a battery, but then again, holds a few charges for not much more cost. In the UK there's the Proporta for £30, or there is the Freeloader solar charger (with battery pack included with extra packs going for around £13 each). No experience with either, I'm afraid, and am not sure if the Freeloader would be as effective as it is a lower output.

[FonzCam]

I have the proporta and it's great not only can it recharge the N95 but also most other gadgets to (I use it with my iPod, GPS and DS). I also have a Scotty solar charger and it takes ages to charge and then doesn't have high enough output to charge devices.

It's not the most elegant thing when you need to charge and use the phone at the same time, at times I've had 3 cables attached to my N95 on the train (headphones, power and USB hard drive) it goes to show it really is what the computer has become!

[drwalker]

I have the proporta and it's great not only can it recharge the N95 but also most other gadgets to (I use it with my iPod, GPS and DS). I also have a Scotty solar charger and it takes ages to charge and then doesn't have high enough output to charge devices.

It's not the most elegant thing when you need to charge and use the phone at the same time, at times I've had 3 cables attached to my N95 on the train (headphones, power and USB hard drive) it goes to show it really is what the computer has become!

Which hard drive do you use? I've taken to using a card reader with mine as I found it to be quicker and plus my phone started resetting when using it as mass storage.

[sas]

I have the proporta and it's great not only can it recharge the N95 but also most other gadgets to (I use it with my iPod, GPS and DS). I also have a Scotty solar charger and it takes ages to charge and then doesn't have high enough output to charge devices.

It's not the most elegant thing when you need to charge and use the phone at the same time, at times I've had 3 cables attached to my N95 on the train (headphones, power and USB hard drive) it goes to show it really is what the computer has become!
=====

thanks alot guys ,so which one do you sugggest ,

Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger (USB Rechargeable Battery) with Car and World AC Power
Proporta Travel Survival Kit - Power and charge your phone, iPod or any USB device, wherever you are, from this compact and powerful rechargeable battery, and Car and World AC Power Supply.

More details
£ 34.00..Inc. VAT £ 39.95

or

Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger (USB Rechargeable Battery)
Proporta Mobile Survival Kit - Power and charge your phone, iPod or any USB device, wherever you are, from this compact and powerful rechargeable battery.

More details
£ 25.49 Inc. VAT £ 29.95



http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=603&t_mode=cat&type=41

[pa49]

I have tried the lot.
External power Packs and extra batteries all do the job.
I have, however, made a power pack that beats them all. It takes a little construction but has added advantages.
You must search for a four AA cell battery compartment. I found one in a car boot sale. It was attached to a set of christmas lights like you see in cars and truck windsceens about this time of year. I paid 50p.
I cut of the lights leaving a tail of a few cm to play with. Then I obtained a USB extension cable which has the female USB socket on one end. I cut the cable and wired the cable with the socket onto the tails. Red is positive and black is negative. Use shrink tube to insulate the solder joints.
You can now use rechargeable NiMh cells ( available in 2800Ma capacity) in the pack. Plus when you drain the rechargeables you can use alkalines which are readily available anywhere in the world.
You can now also charge anything that uses a USB port as well and this method of charging is becoming more common.
Maybe not the solution for everyone, but, it is very versatile.
BTW NiMh will give circa 5.6v and alkalines will give 6.0v and neither has given me any trouble at all.
I have charged a nokia, a sony ericsson, a bluetooth headset and a T-mobile Ameo by this method.
If you carry a spare set of rechargeables and an international charger all the better. And the cost is significantly less than other solutions.

[FonzCam]

Which of the two proporta products depends on what you need.

The battery has a USB mini connector for input (so you can charge from PC) so the difference is that the car and world kit lets you charge it from mains and car lighter sockets.

I went for the USB one because I already own some UK mains->USB-mini and Car->USB-mini chargers from my previous phones/GPS recievers but if you don't and you want to be able to charge the battery pack away from your computer then go with the world/car pack (or you can probably go for the basic pack and pick up these chargers cheaper on ebay)

drwalker: I have a 20gig SmartDisk FhotoChute it acts as a standard USB powered HD but also has a USB host socket and a small LCD screen and buttons where you can copy files to and from the drive to any USB mass storage device in size, weight and appearance it's a lot like a portable MiniDisc player. It's designed to backup photos from digital cameras but works just as well to store extra movies/music for the N95 on long trips away. I got mine back in June on clearance from Cancom for a little under £45 inc delivery.

[drwalker]

drwalker: I have a 20gig SmartDisk FhotoChute it acts as a standard USB powered HD but also has a USB host socket and a small LCD screen and buttons where you can copy files to and from the drive to any USB mass storage device in size, weight and appearance it's a lot like a portable MiniDisc player. It's designed to backup photos from digital cameras but works just as well to store extra movies/music for the N95 on long trips away. I got mine back in June on clearance from Cancom for a little under £45 inc delivery.

Ah, same here - awesome little beggar. I keep hoping that there is an app in the offing that will enable access to the files via the phone (then it would be unstoppable).

[ebony.branch]

Anyone tried these (http://www.battery-megastore.co.uk/nokia/nokia-n95-battery/) yet, and if so, are they any good?

[digitalsafari]

The Recharge4, which is similar to Porporta is now £19.99 at Maplin instore and online.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=recharge4&source=15&SD=Y

http://www.recharge4.com/

My one has a dodgy 2mm Nokia connector, but is charging the N95 using the USB adaptor and a USB to 2mm cable.

[topgearuk]

One of these work well for emergeny.

http://www.firebox.com/product/1875?src_t=cat&src_id=gadgets

It's works off a single AA, you can use normal or rechargeable with it.

[cj190782]

I have tried the lot.
External power Packs and extra batteries all do the job.
I have, however, made a power pack that beats them all. It takes a little construction but has added advantages.
You must search for a four AA cell battery compartment. I found one in a car boot sale. It was attached to a set of christmas lights like you see in cars and truck windsceens about this time of year. I paid 50p.
I cut of the lights leaving a tail of a few cm to play with. Then I obtained a USB extension cable which has the female USB socket on one end. I cut the cable and wired the cable with the socket onto the tails. Red is positive and black is negative. Use shrink tube to insulate the solder joints.
You can now use rechargeable NiMh cells ( available in 2800Ma capacity) in the pack. Plus when you drain the rechargeables you can use alkalines which are readily available anywhere in the world.
You can now also charge anything that uses a USB port as well and this method of charging is becoming more common.
Maybe not the solution for everyone, but, it is very versatile.
BTW NiMh will give circa 5.6v and alkalines will give 6.0v and neither has given me any trouble at all.
I have charged a nokia, a sony ericsson, a bluetooth headset and a T-mobile Ameo by this method.
If you carry a spare set of rechargeables and an international charger all the better. And the cost is significantly less than other solutions.

I didn't think you could charge the N95 through USB?

[Mithent]

You can buy an adapter which has a USB plug on one end, and a Nokia charger on the other, like this:
http://europe.nokia.com/A4397382