Crucial to the success of new products is a vibrant user community -- that method of exchanging ideas and supporting each other as pioneers.
For Asus Eee users, I found EeeUser.com.
From EeeUser.com, I found that third-party high capacity batteries exist for my Eee 4G, something that's not yet available from Asus itself.
Asus managed to turn batteries into a PR mini-fiasco. It provided review units to journalists with strong (longer lasting) batteries, but shipped weaker (lower cost) to customers. The Eee 4G I bought from Staples in Canada came with the weakest battery: 4400 mAh, which lasts about 2 hours. Boo!
But the battery was hard to find. eBay.com claimed it did not exist. I did a Google search, and found they were available from eBay.co.uk -- the British site. Cost is $40 for the 6600mHr battery, plus another $20 for shipping from Hong Kong.
I won't give you the direct link, but search eBay.co.uk for "asus battery." There's even a 10400mAh battery available, but I wonder how bulky and heavy it would be. Just be careful about shipping costs; some charge $40, doubling the cost.
Update
There is some suspicion in eeeuser.com forums that Eee batteries may be mislabeled. While they may carry the 4400mAh label, they may in fact have a 5200mAh rating. To check yours, follow these steps:
1. Press Ctrl-Alt+T to open the terminal window
2. Enter the following Linux command:
cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info
Note that Linux is case-sensitive, so BAT must be in uppercase, and that's a zero (in Linux, 0 signifies the first item).
3. Check the rating next to Design Capacity. My battery is labeled 4400mAh, but has the reported design capacity of 5200mAh.
4. Close the terminal window by entering exit.
Update
It could be that the Eee 4G reports the Design Capacity incorrectly. I just received in the mail the 6600mAh battery I ordered from Hong Kong, and the BAT0/info utility also reports it with 5200mAh capacity.
Update 2
The design capacity is indeed reported wrong. I now bought the 10400mAh battery, and after charging it, the software still reports a capacity of 5200.
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