answer to the battery riddle

[menschmaschine5]

HTC has made it sort of clear that battery life isn't its first priority. The Thunderbolt likely will not have great battery life, but it will probably be quite a bit more battery efficient than the EVO (those who are saying that the TBolt is the same thing as the EVO really need to do some research).

However, the thing is, no smartphone has good battery life. I could go for almost a week without charging my old feature phone (it even lasted for a full day after I tried to plug it in and realized it wouldn't charge, and this was right before I got my Dinc when the phone was two and a half years old), and just about every current smartphone won't last much more than a day on a single charge. Eventually it'll get better, but it's not yet. Although the Bionic has a bigger battery, I don't predict it'll have significantly better battery life, especially if Blur is as poorly integrated in the phone as it has been in the past.

In all reality, I have no desire to purchase any of the upcoming generation of phones. I'm quite happy with my Dinc, and none of these phones are significant enough an improvement that I want to shell out my money on them (just think how much an improvement the Nexus 1, Dinc and Droid X were to the Moto Droid and the Droid Eris). The technology next year will probably be significantly better, hopefully on scale of the OG Droid-Dinc.

 

[leehblanc]

I'm really not worried about the battery. Sure, the EVO has poor battery life, but once it's rooted and de-bloated it's a champ. My GF couldn't get through a workday on one charge. She's a heavy user (net browsing, constant texting, talking, etc) The other night I asked to look at her phone to check the battery stats since the root. She was at 15% 1 DAY 6 hours after last charge. Other than being rooted and de-bloated, she is stock (Sense is on the other side of the fail meter from Motoblur and TouchWiz after all)

Anyway, I intend to do the same to my Tbolt, so I'm not entirely concerned with battery life. Hell, on my Samsung Frustrate I only get 16 hours on certain ROM/kernel combinations with light usage.

 

[Raptor007]

im not saying put non swappable batteries in them. just an adequate battery to make it through the entire day for the average SMART PHONE user. with all of the standard widgets, email, web browsing, phone calls, texting etc. if it needs to be yea thick or yea wide to do it, make it so. dont make it a ridiculous hump add on that costs $60. incorporate it into the design as it should be.

I agree with you completely, put a battery in the device that meets REAL world expectations, not the BS they spout about standby and talk time. Seriously who has ever considered those numbers as real world with today's smartphones. Those were fine when your "smartphone" was a Moto Timeport and it cost $500 retail.

Today its all about how thin the battery is, and how hi-res the display is and can you get the web. The phone mfg's must be trading off the swappable battery for thickness. What they should do is offer a discount on the extended battery or include one.

Sadly I think its a carrier decision and not the mfg, they build based on what the carrier wants for their spec.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

I agree with you completely, put a battery in the device that meets REAL world expectations, not the BS they spout about standby and talk time. Seriously who has ever considered those numbers as real world with today's smartphones. Those were fine when your "smartphone" was a Moto Timeport and it cost $500 retail.

Today its all about how thin the battery is, and how hi-res the display is and can you get the web. The phone mfg's must be trading off the swappable battery for thickness. What they should do is offer a discount on the extended battery or include one.

Sadly I think its a carrier decision and not the mfg, they build based on what the carrier wants for their spec.

I agree completely, but to add even more to that, battery tech needs to improve. We can't be stuck on the 1500-1800mAh range as the standard "thin" battery forever. Users want thinner and thinner devices, so the biggest improvement needs to come in the batteries themselves being able to carry a larger capacity.

Software can only be optimized so much.

 

[SpaceHippie]

The battery life is what's making my decision between this and the iphone very tough. Im open to both phones. The Iphone imo is built better and is better integrated with all my other apple products. The TB is Bigger, more open. But battery is huge. My inc is awesome but i have to be too carefuly with the battery.

 

[reb422]

Black_Man_X had said that he was using a device that went from fully charged to dead as a doornail in 4 hours! The good news is that someone asked Black_Man_X if the device he was talking about was the Thunderbolt and he said NO. This to me really set my mind at ease because I was certain that he was talking about the TBolt... and 4 hours is ridiculous for battery life.

 

[bkorver]

Believe it or not he was talking about the Moto Bionic. He even made a joke about needing to hire a small asian man with a battery strapped to his back to follow you around if I remember right... And keep in mind that was with Heavy LTE usage seeing just how far the phone could be pushed. What I got out of that series of tweets was only turn on the lte radio when you need it and are close to a plug in.

 

[SpaceHippie]

Believe it or not he was talking about the Moto Bionic. He even made a joke about needing to hire a small asian man with a battery strapped to his back to follow you around if I remember right... And keep in mind that was with Heavy LTE usage seeing just how far the phone could be pushed. What I got out of that series of tweets was only turn on the lte radio when you need it and are close to a plug in.

I was thinking it was the bionic. The TB battery is a step up from the Inc and i can make it through most of the day with it. The problem is when it is night time. If i go out with friends, i need to charge or else it will die.
i have a 1750 MAH battery so i plan on using it for the TB. Hopefully the TB is more efficient which would help.

 

[RichardClark]

@black_man_x also said that the battery-draining device had not yet been optimized, which is why he wouldn't name it other than to say it wasn't the ThunderBolt. So production units should do better. He also said in a separate tweet that he preferred the ThunderBolt over the Bionic because the ThunderBolt had better battery life. That has helped to alleviate some of my concern about the ThunderBolt only having a 1400 mAh battery.

 

[Raptor007]

I have read the names Panda and black_man_x, are they on twitter, here or another forum?

 

[RichardClark]

I have read the names Panda and black_man_x, are they on twitter, here or another forum?

The Mobile Panda and black_man_x are the same person.
Here is his Twitter page: Twitter
and his blog: Life, politics and the confessions of a Tech addict?
He covers many topics. Of primary interest to Android Central members are his comments about Verizon's networks and mobile devices.

 

[Raptor007]

Thank you.

 

[htowngator]

FYI, the panda (black_man_x) states the TB wasn't the one he was referring to with bad battery life

 

[Mr.Miagi]

New to the newer phones since my OG Droid has been great but aging now.... So the T-bolt is going t have a 1400mAh battery and a 4.3 inch screen?? When the Incredible has a 1300mAh battery and a 3.7 inch screen and dismal battery life? I'm sorry but this is a killer for me. If I cant go a day worry free about battery life I am not investing 2 years on a phone and hoping a new rom or removing bloat fixes a problem that shoudnt be there.

 

[SpaceHippie]

May be we can look at it like this. Perhaps htc made the phone so energy efficient that 1400 was good enough. If that's the case, my 1750 mah battery should make this phone perfect.

 

[Mr.Miagi]

Thats a great way to look at it, and would be great if that was the case. We can only hope as of now. I will definitely be waiting for reviews before I switch phones though.

 

[SpaceHippie]

I truly believe the battery is better than my inc and if that's the case, i will still get it. Even if it is only slightly better. I MUST have this phone.

 

[Bushido Brown]

New to the newer phones since my OG Droid has been great but aging now.... So the T-bolt is going t have a 1400mAh battery and a 4.3 inch screen?? When the Incredible has a 1300mAh battery and a 3.7 inch screen and dismal battery life? I'm sorry but this is a killer for me. If I cant go a day worry free about battery life I am not investing 2 years on a phone and hoping a new rom or removing bloat fixes a problem that shoudnt be there.

DINC's processor is 65nm where as the TB will run a 45nm chip. Smaller cycles need less voltage, and thus, are less strenuous on the battery.