I love my Inspire BUT...

[JoshuaExline]

I have had my Inspire since the day it released. I love the phone, I love all the different things I can do with it that fit my desires/needs. BUT there are a couple major things that are bugging me and causing me to give serious thought to going to 'battle' with AT&T to get my upgrade reinstated so I can get a different phone.

I originally went to AT&T to argue for an early upgrade because my Blackberry Bold 9700 just randomly dropped me off the network, hell the day I was in there I was able to show this very phenomenon to the sales rep because my wife was there with me buying an iPhone and while we waited for her phone to be ready my phone dropped off the network while her phone (a Bold 9000 at the time) had full 3G service standing less than a foot away.

So, anyway, ever since I've had the phone the only network issue I've had is that I can't get more than a bar of service in my office (which doesn't surprise me because the walls are mighty thick), but that is usually combated by connecting to my office wi-fi. Lately, however, the wi-fi in my phone has seemingly developed a mind of it's own. As I sit here and type this I've got full wi-fi strength on my laptop and next to nothing on my phone...here shortly it will probably drop completely off the wi-fi while my laptop still has a strong, full connection. This also happens while sitting at my house...in my living room with the router. My wife's phone will be connected, my laptop will have full service, but my phone tells me there is no wi-fi connection.

Also, for reasons I have yet to figure out, the phone will randomly put itself into silent.

And lets not forget the terrible battery life on this thing. I use my phone a lot for text messages, email, phone calls and social media stuff (you know, the things one generally uses it for) and I'm lucky if I get 5 hours out of a full charge. I have set almost all the sync settings to longer intervals (which, as a former blackberry user, aggravates me when it comes to work email) and done all the little tips and tricks I've seen mentioned on here and it STILL gets me nowhere. Luckily I'm almost always in a place where I can charge my phone...but that's not going to always be the case and will surely bite me in the ass sooner rather than later.

Sorry this was kind of long winded, but I'm just frustrated that a phone I really do like is doing a lot of the exact same stuff (or similar to at least) that caused me to switch to Android from Blackberry in the first place.

 

[Tompoint0]

I feel you bro on the battery life. I am hoping that someone makes a case with an extended battery attached. I have no problem adding weight or bulkiness in exchange for better battery life. **fingers crossed** My service is amazing, no complaints

 

[ednygma]

I came to the Inspire from an iPhone 3G and have loved many aspects of this phone. The speed, even throttled as it is, is much faster than what I was getting from my iPhone 3G. The smooth integration with all aspects of google has been great. So far I give the hardware edge to Apple but the software edge to Droid.

Three things have bugged me though with the Inspire.

The first is the way the phone seems to become almost frozen during sync. I have updated it so that it does not auto sync and have removed facebook for htc sense thus turning off the friends stream. While this is disappointing I could handle this if it was not for the next problem.

The second is the battery life. This may end up being a deal breaker for me because this battery life is even worse that what I experienced with the iPhone3G. This may very well likely push me to replacing this with an iPhone4 because I am very fearful of motoblur and do not want to have to root.

The third deals with bluetooth connectivity. I am still trying to figure out how to have the phone automatically connect to my car whenever I get inside it. My iPhone did this seemlessly but my Inspire will have to be reconnected several times a week. While not difficult it is frustrating to keep reestablishing the connection.

Overall though, this is a fantastic phone with a lot of promise. If only the battery situation could be corrected I would love this phone completely.

 

[clintrojan]

With the Wifi dropping I would make sure it isn't faulty hardware. I use wifi almost exclusively (college campus wifi YAY) and it never has dropped.

 

[JoshuaExline]

With the Wifi dropping I would make sure it isn't faulty hardware. I use wifi almost exclusively (college campus wifi YAY) and it never has dropped.

Assuming you're talking about the wi-fi routers; I can assure you it's not the routers for my wi-fi at least at work. My IT guy actually changed the router in my office last week for me because, at first, I thought it was that. But this is not the case. New/different router...same problem.

 

[clintrojan]

Assuming you're talking about the wi-fi routers; I can assure you it's not the routers for my wi-fi at least at work. My IT guy actually changed the router in my office last week for me because, at first, I thought it was that. But this is not the case. New/different router...same problem.

No, I was talking about maybe something is wrong with the phone as to why it was dropping the wifi connection.

 

[homescrub]

Well...no matter how you battle, you're SOL.

 

[aparat]

Sorry you are having these issues. Of the things you describe only battery life affects me. The WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity is seamless for me. It seems that large-capacity batteries have appeared on the market, though I haven't tried any of them yet. Instead, I bought a cradle with a spare battery, so I always have an extra full charged battery available. Yes, hardly ideal, but I am just going to live with it, which is testament to how much I like the phone. However, when I travel to Europe, I will bring my Nokia e72 due to its superior battery life and reception/call quality. It also uses 3G data more economically.

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[dressagerider]

You might have a hardware problem with your phone and need to get a phone exchange.

I switched from the atrix, which had constant wifi problems, to the inspire and wifi is no problem at all. I hook up to my home wifi and countless others all over without a glitch.

Good luck!

 

[Hypnopottamus]

One thought. If you haven't done so already, make sure you are not syncing to HTC sense (which never really works anyway). It is a HUGE battery hog. Go to Menu---->Settings---->Accounts & sync. Uncheck HTC Sense. I use my phone pretty much the same as OP and easily get through the day and then some. Hope this helps.

 

[JoshuaExline]

One thought. If you haven't done so already, make sure you are not syncing to HTC sense (which never really works anyway). It is a HUGE battery hog. Go to Menu---->Settings---->Accounts & sync. Uncheck HTC Sense. I use my phone pretty much the same as OP and easily get through the day and then some. Hope this helps.

Went ahead and did this, currently charging the phone. Hopefully it'll make an improvement.

 

[Hypnopottamus]

Went ahead and did this, currently charging the phone. Hopefully it'll make an improvement.

Please let me know if this works. If not, maybe there are other things I can help you tweek to get your phone get similar battery life to mine.

 

[JoshuaExline]

Please let me know if this works. If not, maybe there are other things I can help you tweek to get your phone get similar battery life to mine.

I appreciate that.

It helped some but I'm giving it a couple days to see if it's a long term help or more a "i just didn't use my phone as much as I might normally for one reason or another" phenomenon.

As far as what I have syncing still it breaks down like this:
Exchange Active Sync
(which I really need to consider changing the interval on, I'm getting some important work related emails entirely too late for my liking)

Facebook (vital...I use FB a lot)

Facebook for HTC Sense (not sure if this is vital or not honestly)

2 Gmail address

Weather

 

[CutRiteFX]

I came from the iPhone 4 and love this phone. My complaint too is the battery. I get a full day from moderate use. But always finding myself making sure I have a full charge in the event I am not near a charger.

I did see on ebay that there are 1600mh batteries from Hong Kong for like 10.88

2x 1600mAh battery + Wall charger for HTC Inspire 4G - eBay (item 180641060367 end time Apr-17-11 05:18:46 PDT)

Just don't trust it. This has been talked about this on this form and some people say they did not help much.
http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-inspire-4g/72166-1600-mah-battery-now-available.html

Hopefully someone will come out with a more reliable battery that will last longer. But you know what for the 11.00 you have 2 extra batteries on hand. I might just give it a shot.

 

[Hypnopottamus]

I appreciate that.

It helped some but I'm giving it a couple days to see if it's a long term help or more a "i just didn't use my phone as much as I might normally for one reason or another" phenomenon.

As far as what I have syncing still it breaks down like this:
Exchange Active Sync
(which I really need to consider changing the interval on, I'm getting some important work related emails entirely too late for my liking)

Facebook (vital...I use FB a lot)

Facebook for HTC Sense (not sure if this is vital or not honestly)

2 Gmail address

Weather

I have a similar setup minus Facebook for HTC Sense. Not sure how accurate this may be, but in my experience, PUSH mail for my Exchange account is less battery intensive than having it poll every 10 or so minutes. When it is PUSH, it is always connected. When you have it poll, it has to go through the process of connecting and then syncing. From my experience, switching to PUSH for my work email actually gave me more battery than polling every 15 minutes. Plus you have the benefit of instantaneous mail. Others may disagree, but try switching to PUSH also.

My other 2 email addresses are less important, so I have that set to every 30 minutes. The Facebook widget for HTC Sense gives live updates I believe. I don't use this, but it may also cause some battery drain. If you like having a widget on your homescreen for facebook then you should keep it. Try switching your Exchange account to PUSH first.

 

[Verdes8891]

I also go into the applications menu and go to running applications every few hours and force close everything i am not using with the phone and i get through the day with alot of phone calls, texting, social networking and some occasional app downloading and maybe streaming, with battery life to spare.

 

[Hypnopottamus]

I also go into the applications menu and go to running applications every few hours and force close everything i am not using with the phone and i get through the day with alot of phone calls, texting, social networking and some occasional app downloading and maybe streaming, with battery life to spare.

One thing to be careful of is that some applications automatically restart after you force close it. This is the reason why you really shouldn't use task killers on Froyo (Android 2.2) devices. The constant shutting down (force closing) and automatic restarting actually causes battery drain. It takes power to restart apps. Just because you see an app in the background doesn't mean it's actually running. It is in a "sleep" state so that it is easier to open when you do want to use it. The impact of an app in it's "sleep" state is minimal on battery life.

 

[Droid_Evo_8]

Try checking out the external batteries from New Trent. They have a 5000mah one for $41 something and a 11000mah for $80.

Sent from outer space.

 

[enigmaos]

Try checking out the external batteries from New Trent. They have a 5000mah one for $41 something and a 11000mah for $80.

Sent from outer space.

^They are for HTC EVO.

 

[Droid_Evo_8]

Um, nope, they just said that which meant for all HTC phones that have micro-usb. They even supplied the battery with different connectors.
I ordered the 11000mah for my bolt. (And my future tablet).

Sent from my Rooted Tbolt