First and foremost, the most critical stereotype: Made in Japan batteries are better than Made in China batteries.
whilst, personally i can’t confirm this, it does seem to me that the stereotype is true.

It seems to me that many local sets come with china made batteries, but there’s no need to panic! These are most likely to be RIM-certified battery already. As you can see above, both are the same make of battery, D-X1, both are original. The first one came with the phone, and was made in Japan, whilst the latter was from the original extra battery packing, and was made in China. Even the new series, J-M1, there is various manufacturing and finishing factories.

Warning: Do not get a battery that is not genuine or certified by RIM for your device. Doing so, you might result in your device getting damaged or destroyed along with your battery. Also, typically such batteries are of lower quality and does not last as long as the original batteries. In newer devices (ie: 9800), holograms have been included on the batteries in light of the rise of pirated batteries. Batteries such as F-S1, F-M1, J-M1, E-M1 comes with the hologram. On older battery models, such as D-x1, M-S1, C-s1. C-X1, do not have such holograms. One way to check such battery is to feel the battery. Typically, the original battery will come with a smooth and nice feeling to it, whilst the non-original latter would be rougher. Some pirated ones will also have a “off-colour”

See the comparison below:

There are reputable 3rd party vendors, however, providing OEM or extended batteries which packs more juice for your device. Whilst they are not genuine RIM or made by RIM, they have proved themselves to be reputable and reliable over the years. For example Seidio is a well known reputable company providing OEM high capacity solutions

Now batteries these day’s are using the Lithium-ion technology. Hence, there is NO NEED to discharge a battery fully before charging again. In fact, by doing so, you are actually spoiling the battery!

Well, in short, this is the recommended way of charging and taking care of your battery:

1. First time you get your battery, let it charge for at least 8 hours.
2. Never ever let your battery go below 7%
3. Once your battery is about 20-30%, its a good idea to start charging it.
4. If possible, charge with your device turned off.
5. Always give space to the charger/device when you are charging (good airflow) to moderate the temperature.
6. If you are not going to use it for a long time, charge the battery to full then remove the battery and store it properly. (More recommended to get a new battery after such a long time of not using it)

Battery conserving tips:

1. Instead of using 3G (highspeed) network, try to use 2G (aka gprs – slower).
2. Set the screen to auto detect the ambience light, setting the default to the lowest possible setting
3. Try to reduce the amount of apps running at any one time (hold the bb button to see which apps are actually running)
4. Wifi and bluetooth do take up considerable amount of power.

Admin’s note: Do send in any additional tips if you have them!