Thunderbolt battery life/car charger?

[chgodon]

I am currently ready to trade in my Motorola QC. I had my heart set on the Droid X. I need to be able to view flash content on the web. I don't care about the camera, gps or video conferencing. I'll probably view some youtube, but I am a big email and text user. I'm also looking forward to flash content on news, weather and entertainment sites. This is what brought me to the Droid X. I too have been reading posts on the Thunderbolt's battery life. I've noticed some users are buying the extra bigger battery for $49. That's alot of money to add to an expensive phone. Why not just buy the car charger for $29? My cell is always on charge when I'm at home. Users could charge the cell in the car. Are users sitting for over 2 hrs away from a charger? Now, I'm wondering if I should just get the Droid X. Is the Thunderbolt losing a charge after 2 - 4 hrs on standby and normal texts, emails, web browsing? To me, the car charger will be needed anyway and may solve the Thunderbolt battery issue? I don't want to regret getting the thunderbolt for 2 yrs.

 

[dmcman73]

Most people use mass transit to commute to work and will not be near a charger until they arrive home or work.

The Droid X has a weak stock battery as well and I purchased the extended battery for it which made it great, had a charge with heavy use all day and it was not a huge hump.

The Thunderbolt can have a good battery life with some tweaking which you can find all over this forum. I actually turned 4G off on my phone since the 3G speeds in my area are pretty fast, I was more interested in using emails and surfing the web while on the phone which this phone supports even while on 3G. With forcing the phone into 3G and using WiFi where I can (office/home) I can get 12 hours from the stock battery before it drops to 25%.

 

[FrankXS]

Are users sitting for over 2 hrs away from a charger?

You mean like when you go to the beach? Or when you go to an amusement park? Or when you go to a casino and spend most of the night gambling? Or when you take in a show and then dinner? Virtually all of these are more than two hours. Many are 6-12 hours away from a charger. Even just at work... not everyone sits at a desk or in a car while at work. Battery life does matter. However, I personally am satisfied with multiple and/or extended batteries to swap out. Honestly, there's not a smartphone made that I wouldn't buy spare batteries for. But that's just me.

-Frank

 

[itstheAtomBomb]

Most people use mass transit to commute to work and will not be near a charger until they arrive home or work.

...

That being said, there are some pretty interesting new products on the market designed to be portable charging devices, that you charge overnight next to your phone and when your phone dies you can plug it into this external battery/ charger and it will charge your devices. I am curious to see if they really work well, because they supposedly allow for 2-3 plus full charges on any mobile device per charge. I'm curious to see if anyone with long commutes has ever tried one of these and their opinions on these.

 

[chgodon]

Good point on the casinos and amusment parks. Just a thought...buy another standard battery! I hear the extended battery makes this phone even thicker. Here in the Orange County/LA, 4G is available all over. Does the Droid X have the same battery as the TB? I was told the 4G network is what's draining the batteries. I will be getting either the X or TB for the flash capability.

 

[chgodon]

I did a little research on standard batteries. My motorola Qc has a 1170 battery. The droid x has a 1540 battery. The bionic will have 1930 battery. The freakin thunderbolt has a 1400 battery.....WTF!!!