New mobile battery

[ivahunch]

DAK where I should buy a new battery for my 5 year old Motorola mobile phone?
(New mobiles are increasingly too big for me so I am happy to keep my Moto G5 which is a more manageable size, except for the battery)

[didds]

dunno about "best" (and define "best" in this regard) but id suspect places like amazon whilst not being the cheapest at least may have the genuine product and not some back street dodgy Chinese OEM that may burst into flames (and other paranoid possibilities!)

[AleisterCrowley]

Had this problem with my mum's old Doro. Eventually got a battery from Amazon which lasted about a year before swelling up and failing..
Although it was marked as a Doro battery I suspect it wasn't
edit - assume there's only one version of your phone?

[bungeejumper]

I've replaced batteries in my TomTom satnav, in my antique Microsoft/Nokia, and in my wife's Doro mobile, always without problems. Also, more recently, on our Dyson cordless vacuum. I don't know what the chances really are of a mobile's battery igniting, but I'd guess the priority is to not buy the very cheapest, and to keep an eye on the consumer reviews?

As a rule of thumb, I tend to look at the official replacement price, then halve it, and take the search from there. Be careful with advertisers' claims that a cheap battery is an "official" Toshiba, or Samsung, or Motorola, or Panasonic, or whatever, because there are fakes around. It's never a bad idea to take a snap of your existing battery, so that you can compare labels (and suchlike) closely with the online images.

And then buy the battery through Amazon or Ebay, or somewhere where you've got half a chance of a refund if it isn't up to scratch. Other Fools may be able to suggest retail outlets that have proved to be kosher. They won't be the ones advertising the cheapest prices.

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Possibly better to get one from a supplier with a physical UK address
Just a random example (not recommendation) below;
https://www.allbatteries.co.uk/mobile-p ... to-g5.html

[Infrasonic]

The battery swelling thing can happen with the OEM batteries as well as the knock offs. My last three phones have all done it eventually ( Sony P900, LG Nexus 5, Google Pixel 3a), even when using only the supplied official charger/cable.

(Watch out for cheap third party generic chargers and cables - not all of them are up to spec, especially some of the USB C ones which lack essential resistors. Worst case scenario is you can irreparably damage your phone...)

Sometimes it's due to overheating or charging issues that are phone firmware based and by the time an update fixes the bug the battery damage is done. If you ever feel your phone getting hot do a restart (full boot) and that should help break the runaway loop.

If you can, try and find out which third party makes the official batteries for your phone model and then ask the Amazon/eBay vendor who makes their replacement batteries. I always source from a UK vendor with a physical presence - even if it's only an industrial unit somewhere (do a Google map search on the address). Maybe do a quick companies house search as well, just to check it's not some serial company bumper or late accounts filer who you'll never get a refund from...

iFixit do a load of good model specific breakdown tutorials online for batteries, screen repairs et al..https://www.ifixit.com/

[BobbyD]

Amazon/eBay. Good selection plus good purchaser protection.

It's also worth remembering that not all non-oem batteries are worse. Back in the day you could extend the battery capacity of an ipod quite considerably by swapping out the 'irreplaceable' battery...

[Bminusrob]

I love Motorola mobile phones. I have had several, including the one I destroyed by dropping it in the sea, and the one I had stolen. They are great value, and do everything I need. As an alternative to replacing the battery in your current phone, have you considered the Moto E5? The Moto E range of phones are generally smaller than the Moto G range, although the E5 is still 10mm longer than the G5. The E5 is a couple of years old now, but can still be bought on Amazon for £81.