One of the rare niggles I’ve had with the mostly fantastic HTC Hero has been it’s thirst for power. And by power I mean battery power, not influence over nations. A while back I read a tweet about Mugen Power’s new 3200mAh battery for the Hero. Back then I still had some money set aside for impulse purchases so I ordered one. It took almost three weeks to arrive and came with a new battery door, i.e. a replacement plastic rear cover for the phone.

That’s because the new battery is a lot thicker than the original one, and practically doubles Hero’s girth. My previously slim Hero now looks like it’s about to give birth. Oddly enough I found the new fatter Hero feels somewhat more comfortable in hand than the original slim one. It doesn’t feel more comfortable in a trouser pocket, however.

According to the instructions, I was supposed to first charge the battery in the phone for 12 hours… so I did. I know, me following instructions!? It’s a crazy world. Furthermore, the instructions also say that after that first charging I should use the phone until the battery is running very low, then recharge. By repeating this procedure a few times I should have a longer-lasting battery, I suppose. To my surprise, it took the battery almost five days to run down to 15% which is when Hero starts making a fuss about recharging. The phone was on 24 hours a day and saw lots of heavy use, including 12+ hours of talking and plenty of browsing the internet via HSDPA. The original battery wouldn’t have lasted a day in similar conditions. Despite adding weight and volume to the Hero, I have to say I’m very pleased with the new battery and how it has transformed the way I use my Hero.

A few weeks back I took the plunge and placed a pre-order for a new Google Android based smartphone, HTC Hero. Mind you, it wasn’t an easy decision. Although I fall fatally in love with pretty much any new piece of gadgetry, my earlier encounters with HTC smartphones haven’t been exactly satisfying. In fact, I’d been burned pretty badly by HTC Diamond which turned out to be a rather expensive piece of crap. No, make that a complete piece of crap, barely worthy of stopping a door or weighing down a fishing line.