Droid Hype

Droid Incredible Extended Battery Seidio Case Hack

Droid Incredible users will probably know this feeling where they hear the dreaded low battery alert in the middle of the afternoon. With just a few hours under the belt, the stock battery is quite the let down in terms of powering this smartphone. There are a few aftermarket extended batteries like the 1750 or 3500 mAh varieties from Seidio or the oversea 2600 mAh cheapies from eBay. I’ve tried the Seidio and the cheapies and they seem to be great the first few days and then it kind of just goes downhill. Would you be satisfied only being able to pull 5.5hrs on the 1750 mAh Seidio? Nope, neither was I.

Luckily, Verizon had the 2150 HTC branded extended battery and door in stock. I had some great performance with the OEM Motorola Droid 1/2 extended battery, so I thought why not try an OEM HTC extended battery. The package comes with a replacement door, since the extended battery is roughly double the size compared to stock.

I was real happy to start using this new found power, but in doing so, I lost the ability to use my Seidio Innocase Active. I’ve grown to really like the combination of a hard case and a silicone case in one. So to remedy this roadblock, I grabbed my utility knife, some snips, and a metal file and started working on the case.

As you can see, the stock case backing on the left does not stick out like the extended case backing to the right.

Here’s the un-touched case that I will be trying to fit into. The case is a two piece construction that comes with a silicone skin beneath a hard outer shell.

Tools needed:

1. Utility knife or a Dremel – score and break the hard plastic
2. Snips – break off angles or sharp points
3. Metal File – smooth out edges

The first step was cutting out an outline in the silicone part that would allow the extended backing to fit through. With a sharp knife, cut along the outline that is already there in the skin.

Now place the silicone skin back into the hard outer shell. Take a pencil or marker and trace the cut-out space onto the inner part of the hard shell.

I used a pencil to make my outline. You can use a fine point Sharpie if that’s easier for you to see.

Using the knife, I scored the outer edge of my outline and place a cut directly across the middle as well. I’ll be using the middle to push through and to break it in half.

After break the last half off completely, take your snips and cut off any protruding bits along your cuts.

Now take a quick test fit and see if everything lines up still.

Here’s a test fit with just the back of the case. It looks like it will fit just right, so now would be a good time to use the metal file and smooth out some of the edges.

Here is the finished product!

This will also work for the Seidio 3500 mAh extended battery’s back cover. If you are unsure of your skill level in cutting, try it out on a thinner hard shell case. The Innocase Active is rather tough to cut through, but with some time and patience it should only take a few more minutes to perform this mod.