Newer technology iPod Battery Verdict: Probably the best-value upgrade for the iPod we've ever seen Anyone who bought an iPod when the product was originally released is almost certainly now running into one of the limitations of technology: the diminishing life of batteries. With three years on the clock, a first-generation iPod will have significantly lower battery life than when first released, with - at best - an hour or two's worth of power squeezed out of the ailing Sony Lithium Polymer unit inside. However, the batteries in both first- and second-generation iPods are easy to replace (see Replacing your iPod battery, 5 March 2004, p58). Apple itself has a battery-replacement programme, but at £79, it's hardly cheap, especially when you consider you could simply pay an additional £100 and have a brand-new iPod mini instead. Happily, third parties are happy to provide what Apple fails to create: a cheap replacement battery that users can fit for themselves. The latest of these, the Newer Technology High-Capacity iPod Battery, and comes in at the incredible low price of $39.95 - about £30 once you've included postage, package and duty. The product comes with two small plastic tools to help you lever off the back of the iPod. The process is simple: all you do is slide one of the tools down the crack between the metal cover and the rest of the body on the left of the iPod, and then repeat the same process along the bottom, listening for the click of the catches that hold the back in place as you open them. The back then comes off easily to reveal the battery underneath. Separating the battery from the hard drive that lies beneath it is a little more difficult, as it's held in place by two small sticky strips. This means you have to lever off the battery with slightly more force than you'd expect, which, as the battery itself is slightly flexible, makes the process somewhat nerve-racking. However, the old battery is quickly removed. Note that, because it's a Lithium Polymer battery, it needs to be disposed of correctly: don't just put it in your home waste. Once that's done, you just need to unclip the lead delivering power from the battery to the rest of the iPod, and reattach the new battery using the adhesive strips. Then just clip the back of the case in place again and you're ready to charge the iPod up and turn it on. As might be expected, battery technology has moved on since the iPod's release, and Newer's battery delivers some 2100mAh of current compared with the 1200mAh of the original. In use, this translates to an awful lot more playing time. For our test, we simply fully charged the battery and, on roughly 50% volume, allowed it to play a random selection of tracks until it completely ran down, which happed more than 20 hours after we started. Given that the original battery in the iPod had dwindled to such an extent that it was giving less than an hour of play, this was a huge improvement. Overall, if you have a first- or second-generation iPod, this battery is an excellent replacement. Fitting is so simple it could be done by anyone, and the sheer amount of playing time you'll get will extend the useful live of your iPod by years. This makes this probably the best-value upgrade for the iPod we've ever seen. |