Bionic Battery Life

[krazy]

I'm trying to decide if I should return my thunderbolt or not. Any care to speculate if the bionic will be any better in terms of battery life?

 

[jayblazer]

Well it has a much larger battery so that for sure helps.. plus soon there should be a way to turn off your lte and that will help but that would help the bolt too. So yeah I think it will be better..

 

[TuxDotKing]

I posted this in the Thunderbolt forums earlier:

I would suggest going with Motorola's upcoming Droid Bionic, Motorola tends to have the best battery life of Android phones, and since you don't seem too interested in rooting, the locked bootloader shouldn't bother you. To get a picture of what you can expect the Bionic's battery life to be like, I'd drop by the Atrix forums, since they're basically the same device (LTE usage might cut that life down a bit though).

Some reviews of the Atrix's battery life:

On the battery side, the Atrix 4G packs an impressive 1930mAh battery inside, and even though Android is data intensive, we found ourselves squeezing more than 24 hours out of the device on a single charge with fairly heavy use. You can probably get more time out of the device if you avoid calls when possible and keep your brightness settings in check, but we were pleasantly surprised by the performance we saw.

Motorola Atrix 4G review -- Engadget

We’ve only been using the Motorola ATRIX for around a day now, but we can definitely report that the battery life on here seems to be pretty great. It’s easily on par or even a level better than other Android phones we’ve used and tested. We don’t do too, too much calling, but downloading, installing and using apps, email, browsing, Twitter, Facebook, and more hasn’t knocked us off the proverbial battery pedestal one bit.

Motorola ATRIX 4G review | BGR

and a detailed one from:

Motorola touts a nine-hour talk-time battery life for the Atrix, but we're not quite ready to sign on to that claim. What we do know is that the phone lasted all day on one charge, and does not have that annoying 'three hours and done' spec of some high-powered Android phones, such as the HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic.

One of the issues with rating battery life, though, is that it really depends on how you use the phone. Over several days, we tested a power user scenario, watching frequent video snippets on YouTube and running music on the phone, placing a few calls (some over a Bluetooth connection to a car), and playing games. On that day, the phone lasted more like six hours of total usage time.
On the second day, we used the phone only occasionally for music and placing calls, but not videos. The Atrix lasted about eight hours in that scenario. Presumably, if all you do is check contacts, visit a website, and place a few calls, the phone might last 9-10 hours on a charge.
We did like the fact that, upon getting home for the day, we just had to pop the phone into its dock to start charging again.

Motorola told us the battery life is better in part because of the dual-core processor, which tends to manage memory and apps better by sharing duties.
Smartphone makers are mum about how this actually works – they are not about to reveal any secrets about how their hardware works with the Android OS. In our tests, the Atrix was a long-lasting phone that's easier to charge with the docking station.

Motorola Atrix review from TechRadar UK

For the Droid Bionic, I'd expect it to last about the same on 3G, and maybe an hour or two less on LTE. And like some pointed out, there is an extended battery offered for the Thunderbolt, so that's something to look into; personally, I don't like the way it makes the phone look though. I think though that it all depends on whether you're using 4G or 3G though, if you only use 3G the Thunderbolt should be fine.

 

[Preach2k]

Motorola's always had better battery life then HTC. HTC has been known for bad battery life..

 

[French]

My experience also shows that Motorola holds a far better signal. I have the Thunderbolt but will be returning it...partially because of battery, partially because of signal...partially because LTE isn't doing what I had hoped it would in my area...and partially because I'm not sold on sense.

I have the Droid X...blur doesn't bother me at all with LauncherPro tossed over it. And I can't have a rooted phone due to work email restrictions. So locked bootloader on the Bionic is not a concern for me.

I'm very optimistic that the Bionic will do what I had hoped the Thunderbolt would (and doesn't).

 

[krazy]

Thanks guys. I'm hoping the battery life issue is a HTC + Small battery issue as opposed to an LTE issue. Hopefully the bionic is early 2Q and not late 2Q. It's going to suck to give up the TB since it's nearly a perfect phone (for my needs) when it's not dead.

 

[moosc]

and Motorola has battery management built into there devices. so that helps. I read that HTC answer to battery issue is go buy the extended battery.

 

[The_Engine]

Motorola did three things to improve battery on the bionic. Bigger battery, lower voltage ddr2 ram, and lower voltage dial core Tegra 2 chip. HTC did nothing to offset the add'l drain of LTE. So the bionic should run circles around the bolt as far as battery goes.

2 things will help all LTE phones though as time goes on. Proliferation of LTE and VOLTE. Once voice and data is running over LTE there wount be so much radio work for the device and you'll see much better efficiency. They see testing this now, and have already demod calls on the LG Revolution.

 

[AllenRulz]

I was going to get the Thunderbolt but after all the reviews about the battery problems, ect... My phone I will be getting will be the Bionic.

 

[Issemann]

and Motorola has battery management built into there devices

Interesting... Can you elaborate a bit on this?

 

[dbermanmd]

I was going to get the Thunderbolt but after all the reviews about the battery problems, ect... My phone I will be getting will be the Bionic.

Me too. I was chomping on the bit to get rid of my Storm 1. I went to the Big Red store across the street from my office in Manhattan and was very impressed with the Bolt - i could not believe how fast it is. That was this past friday and decided to wait a day or two to see the first set of real reviews by people here in the forum. I was and remain struck that the battery issue is the largest theme on their thread. I was even more struck by the fact that the battery issue is that bad. its crazy.

In any event i am completely put off by the battery issue the Bolt is having and will wait for the bionic to come out and see if is suffers from the same shortcoming. i hope not.

i am unwilling to sacrifice battery life in any of my devices,,, i do not want to be tied down to having chargers in my car, by my bedside and in my office... i dont want to have to manage turning on and off widgets, software, programs, etc. i just want my device to last the day and be able to use it without fear of having it not survive the day.

Before you know it they will be making electric cars that dont have enough range to drive more than a few miles from your home without fear of having it lose power on you and dying leaving you stranded.

 

[p08757]

More than likely, The Bionic will have good battery life, but the device has not been released as of yet. All signs point towards good battery life, but until it has been released and we start using it, NO ONE WILL KNOW FOR SURE!!

Sure given recient history Moto > HTC when it comes to battery life.

Just say'n.

 

[thebizz]

Me too. I was chomping on the bit to get rid of my Storm 1. I went to the Big Red store across the street from my office in Manhattan and was very impressed with the Bolt - i could not believe how fast it is. That was this past friday and decided to wait a day or two to see the first set of real reviews by people here in the forum. I was and remain struck that the battery issue is the largest theme on their thread. I was even more struck by the fact that the battery issue is that bad. its crazy.

In any event i am completely put off by the battery issue the Bolt is having and will wait for the bionic to come out and see if is suffers from the same shortcoming. i hope not.

i am unwilling to sacrifice battery life in any of my devices,,, i do not want to be tied down to having chargers in my car, by my bedside and in my office... i dont want to have to manage turning on and off widgets, software, programs, etc. i just want my device to last the day and be able to use it without fear of having it not survive the day.

Before you know it they will be making electric cars that dont have enough range to drive more than a few miles from your home without fear of having it lose power on you and dying leaving you stranded.

I totally agree with you I want a device that can last me through a normal day. This alone had kept me from using htc devices they seems to skimp on batteries and that'd unacceptable to me I don't. Want to go out and spend 50 bucks on extra batteries and charger nor do I want get extended batteries and deal with the ugly humps they provide. So I will wait and see how this device does

 

[AllenRulz]

Me too. I was chomping on the bit to get rid of my Storm 1. I went to the Big Red store across the street from my office in Manhattan and was very impressed with the Bolt - i could not believe how fast it is. That was this past friday and decided to wait a day or two to see the first set of real reviews by people here in the forum. I was and remain struck that the battery issue is the largest theme on their thread. I was even more struck by the fact that the battery issue is that bad. its crazy.

In any event i am completely put off by the battery issue the Bolt is having and will wait for the bionic to come out and see if is suffers from the same shortcoming. i hope not.

i am unwilling to sacrifice battery life in any of my devices,,, i do not want to be tied down to having chargers in my car, by my bedside and in my office... i dont want to have to manage turning on and off widgets, software, programs, etc. i just want my device to last the day and be able to use it without fear of having it not survive the day.

Before you know it they will be making electric cars that dont have enough range to drive more than a few miles from your home without fear of having it lose power on you and dying leaving you stranded.

I agree. What is the point of having an awesome smart phone if you can't use all the stuff on it when it just kills the battery? I see all these posts about how to save battery by doing all these tricks and tips. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT LMAO. It's like my CRAPPY Storm. I have to do a Battery Pull 2 times a day JUST for this FN thing to work properly. I had to delete almost everything on it just for it to be fast. IT'S SO RIDICULOUS. I can't even enjoy my phone any more because of it. I want a Smart Phone that can HANDLE the stuff on it !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jeffdubya757]

AllenRulz...I work for vzw and I am currently using the original storm. I had the original motorola droid rooted and absolutely loved it. I have plenty of coworkers who have the incredible and one person went through 2 batteries in a day (she would use one and charge the other)! The htc eris that came out first was one of the worst android phones I have seen (the citrus takes that cake IMO).

The hardware on the droid bionic will definitely help with the battery life for reasons already mentioned...the ddr2 grade ram consumes less power. As far as the dual-core processor is concerned I am not sure the bionic will be able to take full advantage of it from the beginning. From other articles I have read, android 2.2 (froyo) and 2.3 (gingerbread) will not support dual-core processors. Currently only 3.0 (honeycomb) for tablets has dual-core support. Apparently android 2.4/2.5 (ice cream ?), or whatever number and name they give it will blend features of honeycomb and gingerbread together and would most likely bring dual-core support to android phones. Someone correct me if I am wrong about that since I just joined this forum I haven't looked all over the site yet.

p.s. The only reason I am on my old bb storm is because my droid hit the concrete one last time and vzw does not allow insurance for employees (or at least indirect agents) which is BS!!! so I will be pying around $600 for my bionic. Hopefully someone on this forum works for vzw too and will fix the no insurance issue! Its not helpful for employees who need to have a newer device to demo at times and show that we support that product. No many people can afford to shell out $600 every time they need a new phone! Sorry about the insurance rant...but thumbs up for the bionic.

 

[DolfanCole]

The thing is ... at the end of the day, it's still a phone. And still the main reason to even have a cell phone is to be able to make calls when you need to, particularly in an emergency. So, there has to be some level of confidence that you have in the phone and it's battery life, and it's ability to at least have some charge should you really need it. I'd rather that confidence level not be influenced so much by whether you have to keep it on a charger all day or not. Instead, I'd rather have it charge overnight and be there should I need it at any time during the day.

I have never owned any HTC device, nor any Android device for that matter. I do have a BlackBerry, while I wait to purchase my first Android device. But, it appears from what I've seen regarding HTC devices that, while they make great devices, they seem to have forgotten or at least lowered the priority of such an important quality (and maybe the most important quality) in a phone.

 

[AllenRulz]

AllenRulz...I work for vzw and I am currently using the original storm. I had the original motorola droid rooted and absolutely loved it. I have plenty of coworkers who have the incredible and one person went through 2 batteries in a day (she would use one and charge the other)! The htc eris that came out first was one of the worst android phones I have seen (the citrus takes that cake IMO).

The hardware on the droid bionic will definitely help with the battery life for reasons already mentioned...the ddr2 grade ram consumes less power. As far as the dual-core processor is concerned I am not sure the bionic will be able to take full advantage of it from the beginning. From other articles I have read, android 2.2 (froyo) and 2.3 (gingerbread) will not support dual-core processors. Currently only 3.0 (honeycomb) for tablets has dual-core support. Apparently android 2.4/2.5 (ice cream ?), or whatever number and name they give it will blend features of honeycomb and gingerbread together and would most likely bring dual-core support to android phones. Someone correct me if I am wrong about that since I just joined this forum I haven't looked all over the site yet.

p.s. The only reason I am on my old bb storm is because my droid hit the concrete one last time and vzw does not allow insurance for employees (or at least indirect agents) which is BS!!! so I will be pying around $600 for my bionic. Hopefully someone on this forum works for vzw too and will fix the no insurance issue! Its not helpful for employees who need to have a newer device to demo at times and show that we support that product. No many people can afford to shell out $600 every time they need a new phone! Sorry about the insurance rant...but thumbs up for the bionic.

If the Android 2.2 and 2.3 can't handle Dual core, What OS will be on the Bionic?

 

[DolfanCole]

If the Bionic can't handle 2.2 and 2.3, what OS will be on the phone?

It's not that the Bionic can't handle it, it's that the OS is not optimized for the Bionic (or any dual core device). So, it should run fine, just not optimally, including taking advantage of the more efficient use of the battery by dual core devices.

 

[dbermanmd]

I agree. What is the point of having an awesome smart phone if you can't use all the stuff on it when it just kills the battery? I see all these posts about how to save battery by doing all these tricks and tips. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT LMAO. It's like my CRAPPY Storm. I have to do a Battery Pull 2 times a day JUST for this FN thing to work properly. I had to delete almost everything on it just for it to be fast. IT'S SO RIDICULOUS. I can't even enjoy my phone any more because of it. I want a Smart Phone that can HANDLE the stuff on it !!!!!!!!!!!!

If i may....

my Storm 1 is fine,,, i have to due the Blackberry battery pull every 2-3 days. and i consider that a very unnecessary intrusion and part of the reason i am ready to leave RIM. I dont want elective bought devices whether they be PC's, cars, televisions, etc to require any maintenance beyond routine servicing.

the concept of knowingly entering into a voluntary contract with a portable electronic device that has battery issues is silly. In addition to purchasing an extra battery i would have to buy additional health insurance for all the ulcer medications i would be taking.

this beggars the question as to why VW and HTC would move forward with a device that has these issues. I am surprised that they are willing to create ill wind with customers. I cannot imagine customers who are enchanted with what the phone provides technologically but are unaware that it probably does not have the batter power to survive a full days use. if you go into this remarkable device with your eyes wide open, so be it.

i was really impressed by the Bolt when i played with it last Friday,,, really impressed. it has only whetted my appetite for a LTE Droid and i hope the droid bionic does not have the battery issues the Bolt does or they solve it quickly.

 

[French]

This was just posted in the Thunderbolt forums:

Here's a good video for everyone to check out that's thinking about getting the Bionic... YouTube - Motorola DROID Bionic Hands-On. Pay attention to the battery level while watching, I can't be sure but it seems to drop while watching the demo. Also, listen to the demonstrators comments on the Bionic's battery life, not to promising. I will say that Motorola phones always seem to have really good alternative battery options available for us to purchase. Whatever the case, I do not expect the Bionic to have good battery life on the stock battery. If HTC or Verizon brings out a decent alternative battery that doesn't ruin the look of the phone the Thunderbolt would be a good deal. Just something else to consider.