DIY repair work (back-case and battery)

[bobgorila]

There's a pretty big crack down the back of my black 3G and its battery life is appalling. It's out of warranty now, so I'm thinking about doing a little DIY to replace the battery and, while it's open, put a new back-case on.

I'm no novice: I've replaced a cracked and damaged LCD on a 2G iPhone before, and disassembled/reassembled loads of Macs working for an Apple authorised repair centre, so I'm fairly confident in my ability to follow a good teardown guide.

It's just, the actual sources for these parts look pretty dodgy...

I'm seeing a lot of batteries on eBay and such rated at many more mAh than the built in one. Some as high as 1800mAh, like this one. Is there a catch? Do these seemingly dirt-cheap replacement batteries actually last longer than a brand new 1130mAh battery that comes in a 3G? Or is their half-life poor? Or are they prone to exploding? I have no idea, it just seems like there should be a catch.

And cases too. Should I expect a casing like this that doesn't explicitly state being an official Apple part to be an imitation? Would it actually be any worse for being such?

It all seems a little suspect, so I guess I'm basically wondering if anyone here has had positive experiences with buying and fitting spare parts like these?

 

[abijnk]

Not sure about the specific parts you posted, but another forum member recently had good success with a replacement back from ecaseshop.

You can see his results here.

 

[Coukos34]

Just to let you know, I recently had to replace my internal dock connector (water damage) and I bought a 1600mAh battery cause i figured i might as well upgrade the battery while im doing it. The battery was of poor quality visually and after putting everything back together, I noticed after the first charge it was having problems charging again. After a few days it eventually quit charging altogether. I went back to my original and has been working fine now. What I noticed after comparing batteries, is that the battery also has a small pcb with transistors and such, and the quality of that alone was huge. I think that was what made my battery fail. The failed battery was super cheap and
I wont make that mistake again. I would use genuine parts if possible. less headaches. If you go with an extended battery I would do some research and find one that is quality. Even the first dock connector I was sent was faulty, the mic on it it didnt even work!

 

[bobgorila]

thanks for the recommendation - I've ordered a bright orange back-case on a whim (£15 inc airmail, which isn't bad).

I'm still open to battery suggestions, since it seems like a veritable minefield of suspect merchandise.

Oh, and the home button has started requiring a much more deliberate press to actually register, I'm going to have a look at the housing and see if there's anything obvious when I change the back-case, but if anybody has some past experience that might be handy?

 

[iphone3048]

"more mAh than the built in one. Some as high as 1800mAh"

I believe those are FAKE big time. In order for a battery to have a bigger capacity it has to be LONGER or WIDER or THICKER. Those batteries are neither! The inside of the iPhone does NOT have room for a longer or wider battery. It does have room for a thicker battery, BUT, just very very very little room for that. They cannot produce a 1800mah battery for the iPhone, no way no how.