I’ll be headed to several music festivals this summer–at least Bonnaroo and Forecastle (in Louisville), and probably others. I’ll be covering them for my radio show, so I’ll be sending live tweets and photos and such from my phone.
The problem is that when I’m using it a lot like that I’m lucky to get 8 hours out of the battery. I’ll have a press tent where I can plug in, but it’s kind of a pain in the ass to do that all day. Last year I had an extra battery, which helped a little but was a pain because it had to be in the phone to charge up.
I’ve seen some external battery packs that claim to stretch useful life to 24 hours or more. I’ve also seen solar chargers.
Has anyone used anything that was great? (Phone is a Motorola Milestone X (same as a Droid X), if it matters.)
Is it a battery that’s also used in cheaper phones? If so, you could use your extra battery and charge it in the cheaper phone plugged in while using your better phone, then swap the batteries over.
Get an extra battery or two and an external charger. You can find them on eBay and they’re relatively inexpensive.
This is what I always do when traveling to art shows because I use my phone to accept payments. Just be sure to get an OEM battery because the knock-off ones don’t last as long. My old phone was a Droid, so I’m certain you’ll be able to find an external charger for yours.
That’s what I like about the iGo charger; you can leave it charging while you’re somewhere else, and come pick it up when you’re done. Many other models (e.g. Duracell) charge over USB, but this one can be plugged in to charge, and then carried around to charge your phone while you’re moving around. Comes with a micro-USB and iPhone/iPad tip. Will also charge iPad while screen is off.
I have a Galaxy SII which is pretty power hungry. I have two official batteries (1650 mAh) and one knock-off battery (1450 mAh), as well as a universal portable charger (2200 mAh). That’s enough to keep me going on full surf 3G+ mode for about three full days without needing to visit a socket. However if a socket’s available I also have an external battery charger.
Rather than buy a bunch of extra lithium batteries, you can buy a generic phone charger that takes AA batteries. They’re really cheap, and AA batteries are available everywhere.