Is my battery dead?

I charged the battery on my cell phone at least 3 hours. It says charging on the front. When I unplug it it goes dead? Do I need a new battery? I don't know much about the phone it was given to me. my first cell phone.

It is possibly dead, what make and model cell do you have?

It sounds like you do need a new battery.
Take your phone to where it was purchased and replace the battery. I'm sure the battery was bad once it was given to you in the first place.

thing I hate about dead cell phone batteries is that they expire around the same time the phone contract ends... if you go to your carrier, they may want to cell you a new phone...

If you have had your phone for a while, a form of limescale can form on the contacts of the battery preventing it from charging.

Take out your battery and using a rubber/eraser (like the one on top of a pencil) and rub this on the gold coloured contacts at the bottom of the battery. This will clean the contacts.

Only use an eraser and only on the battery contacts, not the prongs in the phone.

If this fails, then there is a problem with the phone or battery.

Further advice, take your phone to a store that is the same make as your service provider. Ask them to try a battery in your phone. If it works, its the battery, if not, its the phone. They wont charge you for testing this.