One day before Christmas Proporta was so kind to send my one of their extended batteries for the Treo 680.
The large envelope revealed a small blister-wrapped package (besides a bag of tasty christmas tea):
Inside there is the new battery and a replacement battery cover:
My first thoughts after unpacking the battery were like: “Oh my goodness, this thing is huge!”
And it IS huge. As you can see, the extended battery is more than twice the size of the stock battery that comes with the Treo. Well, the larger capacity has to go somewhere… packing more energy in the same form factor is an illusion (don’t fall for the cheap “power batteries” sold on some auction sites claiming to have 2400mAh - most of them don’t).
The new cover has a large hump on his back to make room for the larger battery. Look and feel is almost exactly like the stock cover (if you look really really close, you might notice that the new cover is a bit lighter than the rest of the phone. I needed about a week to notice it.)
There are some small gaps where the replacement cover does not fit 100%, but it’s really not bad and nothing you will worry about - remember, what you get in exchange 
The cover is a snug fit, even in tight cases or pouches it will definately not come off when you pull your Treo out of it.
The only thing I don’t like is the release-button. On the stock cover the button is a flexible part glued into the cover. Here it is cut out of the cover with only a small piece of plastic holding it. I have the feeling that this will not last too long (especially if you have a tendency to install every kind of crap to your phone, resulting in many soft-reset). In the last two weeks I removed the cover for about a hundred times and it does not show any weaknesses yet, maybe i’m just a bit paranoid
Ok, enough of the show-and-tell - let’s come to the two question you’re all waiting for.
#1 How does the Treo look like with the battery installed?
Again, my first thoughts were like. “This is a monster and I really don’t know if I’ll ever like that look”.
Well, I like it. I like it a lot. The added girth just fits perfectly into the palm of my hand. Believe it or not, holding the Treo is even better than before when you get used to the new size of your phone. You can rest your index-finger on top of the hunch, giving you a very secure grip when typing with one hand.
The downside: Forget your case, forget your dashmount, forget your Enfora WiFi-sled, forget your cradle, forget your car-kit. Almost every accessory you have to stick your Treo in will become obsolete.
#2 How does battery life improve?
This battery is a monster in size, and it’s a monster when it comes to capacity. Being a power-user I always had to have my Treo on a car-charger or in a cradle to survive a working day. With normal usage (”normal” for me: GSM turend on, GPRS always connected, Bluetooth turned on, Pushmail, some phonecalls, some webbrowsing, reading of several newsfeeds and several diurnal newspapers) and without recharging the stock battery dies after six to seven hours (or earlier if I have to do many calls). Pretty dull if your work day sometimes has 10 - 12 hours. Recharging at work is something I don’t really like - I can’t use my phone to its full potential when it constantly is attached to a power cord or a cradle - and I don’t want to plug it in and out 200 times a day.
Now, with almost three times the capacity, I can go full power all day without worrying about battery consumption at all. You don’t need Tools like Batterygraph or Treobattery any more, the battery will last long enough for everything you can think of.
Pros:
- Power beyond everything you can buy somewhere else
- the humpback makes holding the phone easier
Cons:
- Cover only available in Graphite (Crimson, Copper and Arctic are not available)
- release button of the replacement cover doesn’t look to sturdy
- many accessories will not fit anymore
- rather pricey
Conclusion:
If you are a power-user and you hate your 1200mAh-battery you really should think about this one. After two weeks of testing I will never take that battery off my Treo again. Without the annoying battery-problems I can use my Treo the way I want to, not the way the battery indicator dictates me to.
The extended battery is $104,95 (84,95 Euros, 59,95 GBP) and can be purchased here at Proporta Ltd.
I have the Seidio 2400mAh battery and door in crimson. The release button latch looks simular to the Proporta one you show here and I have had no trouble with it whatsoever. The color matches my device very well if not exactly. I also have the Enfora WiFi sled, which I have been able to grind the bottom of the sled to accomodate the new shape of my 680. I do have to hold the 680 tight against the sled using a rubber band, not particularly the best look, but I am able to use WiFi this way.
I agree, I like the feel and I can hold onto my device a lot better with the bigger door. I have placed clear egrips along the sides of the device for added grip. The only thing I dont like about the extended door is that the paint tends to wear off from the corners from my Nutshell holster. The plastic under the paint is a dark grey so it is visible with this wear. I have replaced the door once for cosmetic reasons, which makes the device look new.
I am hoping the future report of the Proporta battery plays nicely with the battery meter as the first released Seidio batteries would somehow signal the device meter that it was out of power and shut itself down - at least thats my guess as to why it would. I have replaced my Seidio battery recently and it seems they have corrected this. I have had no meter/ false shutdown problem as I just described.
The Seidio site does offer a car kit mount just for the extended door. I dont know if this would be the correct size for the Proporta one, but it looks nice and I may order one.
I look forward to more feedback of the Proporta branded battery.
Good review Oliver.
Gretchen
The battery meter works like it is supposed to - I lose about 5 to 6 percent per hour and the meter reflects that exactly.
I’ll check the car-mount but I’m afraid it will not fit since the proporta battery seems to be thicker than the 2400mAh seidio.
Holy Crap! That’s huge. Talk about the spruce goose of batteries…