I think the biggest head-scratcher is why didn't Nokia just use the 1500 mAh battery. I mean just the space wasted by the stylus would be helped squeeze it in

Nah, the stylus is good. I would have thought it would be useful on such a high DPI screen, where things can get very small in some apps. I would also much prefer to have the ability to sketch and take handwritten notes than have a capacitive touchscreen with multitouch,

True, those device are targeted toward RC, but that's only because the RC crowd has an ongoing need to determine if their battery packs still have a usable capacity after countless cycles. The device in the 2nd link lists Lithium batteries. The type of battery only seems to determine what voltage the device stop measuring/discharging, which could easily be overcome by manually measuring the voltage and disconnecting if one is afraid of over-discharging. Both device can test 10000mAh

I think I would rather they put a firmware lock on batteries and be ripped off, than risk it blowing up in my pocket because its a poorly manufactured fake.

Just give me a USB-connected wrist strap with an interior surface which absorbs and converts my body heat into energy to charge my device.

Heh, look hard enough and someone's probably already done it: http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/Proje...ct.aspx?ID=568
(might have to click the blue English button)

We need someone here to start assembling some, I'm sure a well-deserved profit could be made from new N900 owners.

Here's another concept which we'll see more of next year as they get dealers in other parts of the world http://www.pedalpower.com.au/ Now take your N900 on those rugged geocaching trips with no worries on fading power.

I wish Nokia would offer a simple charging bracket/caddy you could use to charge a spare battery. Don't make it a one-piece unit that plugs directly into the wall like a block, but rather make it modular with a USB interface so you can charge it off a PC/laptop with a standard USB cable if needed or plug it in to a regular wall outlet from the same USB port..

I was looking for an external charger. Where did you find one?

The correct method for measuring these batteries is not to run with a constant load as suggested, but to present a load which draws a constant power (current increasing as volatge drops). This more accurately mimics the expected use case for this type of battery, which is power some electrnoic device via a dc-dc converter. It also protects the battery by switching off at a predetermined voltage, to prevent cell damage.

I have an electronic load available, like this one :-

http://www.teknetelectronics.com/Sea...026&pDo=DETAIL

I don't have either battery, but if one of each (plus some method of charging them) were available, it would be trivially simple for me to test them. The load just logs voltage and a current into the PC, and switches off the load at the damage level of the battery automatically. I don't even have to be there!

Though you'll probably wish you were there if some cheap knock-off battery burns down your house. (I assume you test it while stored in a metal bucket or something similar, but I couldn't resist. )

Sadly, if you test enough of these things you get a bit blase about it (until one actually *does* burn your house down of course).

I kept a failed Electrovaya Powerpad on my test bench as a demo piece for several years. these things are 16V 8Ah and about the size of an A4 writing pad.

This one swelled so much it was about 3 inches thick in the middle!

This is a interesting concept, but I presume that it is rather pricey. What about using one of those old dynamos for the headlight in your bike? Just add some clever electronics and a Micro-USB connector and then we have a very cheap, noisy and inefficient but fairly entertaining charger on the go for the N900...