Thunderbolt Battery Complaints + Tips/Tricks

[Mike_is_Mike]

There are lots of people having good battery life with this phone. As soon as we have a way to screen capture, I will show the results I'm getting if you don't believe me. The point is if you're not using 4G there's no need for it to be on. When you need the speed to upload/download, browse, stream, etc... It can easily be toggled on with a widget.

I have my screen set to 30% I like to be able to see things on it - so sue me.

I have it set to a 1 minute time out, I hate having to do the two-step everytime I want to use my phone.

I don't do facetwits or any of the other anti-social crap.

I use email, text, WebEx, Poynt, maps, visual voice mail, calendar, calculator, ScoreMoblie, Weatherbug, and check websites. I use WiFi at home and the two hours, one day a week I'm in the office.

I can pug it in when I'm in the car, but I'm NOT in the car for 5-7 hours at a time during the day. I could carry two phones, but then why carry the one that doesn't work? I could carry an extra battery or two, but then charging THEM becomes a hassle. It seems the simpler solution would be to make a battery (and phone to hold said battery) that could last all day - If HTC did that, they would sell more Thunderbolts than they could produce.

 

[iLLusive]

How did you set your phone on a 30 minute sleep window? There is no such setting.

I am in a 4G area and I DO blame HTC and Verizon for hyping this phone AND it's power. And I blame HTC for KNOWINGLY under powering this phone.

At least NOW I understand the TB commercial - That guy way running all over the city with his industrial size cables and trying to hook them up to enough power to run his Thunderbolt for a few hours!!!!!!! :'(

Sorry guess I need to be completely specific on what I mean. I had phone on and laid it beside me and feel asleep for the night at around 4:30am. In Menu --> Settings --> Display --> Screen Timeout (aka Sleep timer) I have mine set to 30 minutes 10 minutes. Sorry I thought it was 30 but I have maxium timeout before Never turn off option which is 10 minutes.

Also as of right now I unplugged my phone at 6:20 pm CST and this is current status as of 9:30 pm so 3 hours 10 minutes minimal usage.

Battery Current Life: 81 percent

Battery Usage:
Display 53 percent
Voice Calls 31 percent
Cell Standby 5 percent
Phone Idle 4 perc
Android System 3 perc
Handcent SMS 2 perc
Swype 2 perc

I made 2 phone calls one 11 min duration other 5 min
Screen has been on for roughly 1 hour total during last 3 hours
Transfered 15 songs via Bluetooth to girlfriends Fascinate they were wma quality and I used Music app and Astro to send them. Bluetooth was on roughly 30 minutes total.
Roughly 30 text message back and forth
Received 2 emails and checked via "Mail"

Up time shows at 20:44:50 I'm just listing this to give complete information
Awake time is 3:57:59

Currently only in 3G area with just Goggle GPS on.
Have 1 gmail, 2 yahoo email set on 30 minute syncs
Facebook 1 hour sync
Twitter 30 min sync
Weather 1 hour sync
Backup Assistance is on default settings
Brightness is set to 25 percent
All Animations are set on
Screen Timeout is 10 mins


Battery Power Level is currently 81 percent with minimal usage. These are my detailed results and if anything else is needed feel free to PM me. Different usage will have different results. I'm just trying to pass on what I have adjusted to get longer battery life then the claims of 2-3 hours. I'm full time college student on spring break for next two weeks. I use my phone all day so battery life is important to me, but I realize I can make small adjustments here and there to get better battery life while we wait out a software update and updates to apps to help improve it further.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

I have my screen set to 30% I like to be able to see things on it - so sue me.

I have it set to a 1 minute time out, I hate having to do the two-step everytime I want to use my phone.

I don't do facetwits or any of the other anti-social crap.

I use email, text, WebEx, Poynt, maps, visual voice mail, calendar, calculator, ScoreMoblie, Weatherbug, and check websites. I use WiFi at home and the two hours, one day a week I'm in the office.

I can pug it in when I'm in the car, but I'm NOT in the car for 5-7 hours at a time during the day. I could carry two phones, but then why carry the one that doesn't work? I could carry an extra battery or two, but then charging THEM becomes a hassle. It seems the simpler solution would be to make a battery (and phone to hold said battery) that could last all day - If HTC did that, they would sell more Thunderbolts than they could produce.

HTC would sell more Thunderbolts than they could produce...... WITH NO RETURNS!

 

[kcoan3]

i went from 10 to 10 today. if 10 is the highest amount of use i would say i was around a 5 or 6 today.. did some video calling and some web surfing

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

Sorry guess I need to be completely specific on what I mean. I had phone on and laid it beside me and feel asleep for the night at around 4:30am. In Menu --> Settings --> Display --> Screen Timeout (aka Sleep timer) I have mine set to 30 minutes 10 minutes. Sorry I thought it was 30 but I have maxium timeout before Never turn off option which is 10 minutes.

Also as of right now I unplugged my phone at 6:20 pm CST and this is current status as of 9:30 pm so 3 hours 10 minutes minimal usage.

Battery Current Life: 81 percent

Battery Usage:
Display 53 percent
Voice Calls 31 percent
Cell Standby 5 percent
Phone Idle 4 perc
Android System 3 perc
Handcent SMS 2 perc
Swype 2 perc

I made 2 phone calls one 11 min duration other 5 min
Screen has been on for roughly 1 hour total during last 3 hours
Transfered 15 songs via Bluetooth to girlfriends Fascinate they were wma quality and I used Music app and Astro to send them. Bluetooth was on roughly 30 minutes total.
Roughly 30 text message back and forth
Received 2 emails and checked via "Mail"

Up time shows at 20:44:50 I'm just listing this to give complete information
Awake time is 3:57:59

Currently only in 3G area with just Goggle GPS on.
Have 1 gmail, 2 yahoo email set on 30 minute syncs
Facebook 1 hour sync
Twitter 30 min sync
Weather 1 hour sync
Backup Assistance is on default settings
Brightness is set to 25 percent
All Animations are set on
Screen Timeout is 10 mins


Battery Power Level is currently 81 percent with minimal usage. These are my detailed results and if anything else is needed feel free to PM me. Different usage will have different results. I'm just trying to pass on what I have adjusted to get longer battery life then the claims of 2-3 hours. I'm full time college student on spring break for next two weeks. I use my phone all day so battery life is important to me, but I realize I can make small adjustments here and there to get better battery life while we wait out a software update and updates to apps to help improve it further.

Thank you for the time to document your settings and usage. I'm sure it will be helpful to many.

At this point, I would be very pleased to get similar results. But I am not getting anything near what you have gotten. I am, however in a 4G area 90% of my day. Perhaps a 3G/4G widget would help. But that still doesn't excuse a 1400 battery in a phone of these features - especially when other similar phones have more powerful ones.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

i went from 10 to 10 today. if 10 is the highest amount of use i would say i was around a 5 or 6 today.. did some video calling and some web surfing

How was the video calling? and what app did you use?

 

[iLLusive]

Completely agree Mike_is_Mike_is and why I previously asked could this hugely be based on demand when phone is running in a 4G service area? Maybe the 4G hardware and software side needs a ton of tweaking and was not ready for this launch?

Also again yes to your second point I would of loved anything larger then 1400 battery that came by default. Just want to do my best to help people who aren't comfortable with adjusting specific settings, maybe even new to Android all together, to pass on what I have done and is working for me in terms of improvement of battery life per charge.

 

[xcalibur1011]

I given up on this phone I have to walk on egg shells so this phone can last all day without needing a charge the hell with that, I did not pay my hard earned money for a phone that dies when not in use. I don't care how sexy or powerful it is. Thunderbolt it's you and not me and I'm dumping you.

 

[bugaloo921]

Set your backlight! I did that, and tweaked out the apps running, and I charged it fully after allowing it to completely die, and have had moderate use for over six hours! Better than my stock DInc. I even have my GPS on, was surfing, and it pushes my emails. Remember to allow your battery to completely go down, and keep the power off while charging.

 

[bthomp21]

Hey, wait a second, I own a Corvette and I get great gas mileage Seriously.

lol, i know you can. but do you race as fast as you can from light to light? not highway mileage. im referring to blazing fast tb

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

I given up on this phone I have to walk on egg shells so this phone can last all day without needing a charge the hell with that, I did not pay my hard earned money for a phone that dies when not in use. I don't care how sexy or powerful it is. Thunderbolt it's you and not me and I'm dumping you.

I wonder if BGR or Engadget will be reporting on TB returns next week?

It's a crying shame they didn't get the battery thing right. They knew what kind of power this thing was going to use, and they knew this little 1400 butter pat wasn't up for the task. They knew.

My guess it was some higher up corporate BS decision that rammed it through, thinking we wouldn't notice and or maybe we can fix it later.

I'd like to see a tear down of this phone to get a peek of wasted space.

 

[acmorris]

Yeah you think HTC would have learned from there fiasco with dam Evo last year, guess not?!!

 

[Mike_is_Mike]

lol, i know you can. but do you race as fast as you can from light to light? not highway mileage. im referring to blazing fast tb

I think he was referring to using the car as it was designed to be used, kind of like a smart phone is supposed to be used for texting, emailing, calling, surfing, etc. Not down loading movies at 4G speed 24/7.

 

[bthomp21]

I think he was referring to using the car as it was designed to be used, kind of like a smart phone is supposed to be used for texting, emailing, calling, surfing, etc. Not down loading movies at 4G speed 24/7.

haha touche sir

 

[babybrownz]

I don't feel like going back to read the all the pages..but how do u battery bump? I'm assuming its working for most people cause I've been hearing alot about it..

 

[jaguarpaw]

my battery is never 100% when off the charger. it drops to like 97-96% right away. and this is after a bump charge. any one else having this problem? ideas?

 

[bthomp21]

it will never be a 100%, its impossible. you take it off, the discharge process is normal so therefore you're going to lose .1 + % of battery.

 

[akira751]

So i just went into the running apps. And i forced stop dome more uneeded crap. No gb just friend stream which is on limited sync and the screen is still using 73%....im below 25% brightness. I think today is going to be better with battery life. Ill let you guys know in about 5 hours.

73% thats still kinda of high. I have it set to auto and range from 51% to 54% and I use my phone a lot.

 

[iLLusive]

I don't feel like going back to read the all the pages..but how do u battery bump? I'm assuming its working for most people cause I've been hearing alot about it..

1. With phone powered ON charge the battery until you get green light - 100% might show as 99 on widget.

2. Power off the phone.

3. Plug charger back in and wait for power light to hit green again.

Steps 4 & 5 are if you feel the need to do it I never have personally seems excessive but to each their own.

4. Unplug the phone from charger power it ON then OFF

5. Plug back into the charger until you get the green light on again.

Way battery technology works is since battery does warm up while charging when it is on and pluged in when it hits 99 percent it doesn't charge any futher. Some devices then start to drain the battery life again and it trys to keep it fully charged but doesn't always work the greatest. So people feel to ensure you have completely charged the battery is to charge it when it is powered off and not using any battery function.

 

[babybrownz]

1. With phone powered ON charge the battery until you get green light - 100% might show as 99 on widget.

2. Power off the phone.

3. Plug charger back in and wait for power light to hit green again.

Steps 4 & 5 are if you feel the need to do it I never have personally seems excessive but to each their own.

4. Unplug the phone from charger power it ON then OFF

5. Plug back into the charger until you get the green light on again.

Way battery technology works is since battery does warm up while charging when it is on and pluged in when it hits 99 percent it doesn't charge any futher. Some devices then start to drain the battery life again and it trys to keep it fully charged but doesn't always work the greatest. So people feel to ensure you have completely charged the battery is to charge it when it is powered off and not using any battery function.

Thank you..Trying it first thing in the morning!!