Stuck between Tbolt and Droid Charge

[cltatenza]

Battery life on the Tbolt is a hugh sticking point, i need to be able to get at least 12 hours from my device. From what ive read i can get that from the charge, but thats at the cost of a crappy UI and poor history of OS upgrade roll outs.

Coming from Tmobile I have a Mytouch4g which i changed the battery out for a Mugen 1650 extended battery. Ive read that the Tbolt actually uses the same battery as the Mytouch? Does anyone thing the Tbolt will be able to get through a whole day with the Mugen battery?

 

[thozgyz]

I have the htc 2700 I think it is. And I get all day no problem. Sure its bulky but I like it. The charge just feels cheap to me.

 

[dhendriksen]

I get all day (depending on use) on the stock battery, two days on the extended battery.

 

[willymakit]

I get all day (depending on use) on the stock battery, two days on the extended battery.

Same here.^^^^^^^

 

[jackmei2]

same here, I get the same or better battery life as I did on my fascinate. I can usually go through the entire day of txt, facebook, words with friends, internet, phone calls, etc without having to recharge or stay connected to a charger. I do have to charge my phone every night tho, but I had to do that with my fascinate too.

 

[anon(220176)]

When I bought my TB, I experienced horrible battery life when I use the phone for WORK - push emails, multiple phone calls, etc. I Googled on this issues and the concession is that the 4G radio causes it.

But now the Droid Charge is out, the review so far has shown it has GREAT battery life. Just Google "droid charge battery life" and you'll see. Also see the screenshot below, which is from one of the review site and the other one is the actual screenshot from my friend Droid Charge phone he just bought.

So I believe the Thunderbolt is just POORLY MADE because it is NOT the 4G radios that causes the poor battery life, because the Droid Charge doesn't exhibit this issue. I have done all I could on my Thunderbolt, from using Juice Defender, custom ROM, custom Kernel, data sync once every 6 hours, etc but something I CANNOT disable, such as Exchange push email and NOT making phone calls. This is still a smartphone, right?

I also uses extended battery life but still will not comes close with what Droid Charge battery life with the STOCK battery. Plus, the extended battery life for the TB just make the phone plain ugly. I am yet to see anyone who did NOT comment on how BIG my phone is with the extended battery.

If I have my choice now, I would have bought the Droid Charge because I can use it like a NORMAL smartphone. BTW, I came from the iPhone 4 and I got far better battery life than the Thunderbolt.

 

[AndroidXTC]

Battery life on the Tbolt is a hugh sticking point, i need to be able to get at least 12 hours from my device. From what ive read i can get that from the charge, but thats at the cost of a crappy UI and poor history of OS upgrade roll outs.

Coming from Tmobile I have a Mytouch4g which i changed the battery out for a Mugen 1650 extended battery. Ive read that the Tbolt actually uses the same battery as the Mytouch? Does anyone thing the Tbolt will be able to get through a whole day with the Mugen battery?

FYI The Charge has slightly better battery life but still nothing to write home about in that department.

 

[Accrete]

i TOTALLY like the "bulk" of the extended Tbolt battery. It makes a secure lip for hand/finger hold for one handed-thumb swiping for texting and such. Since using the extended battery after my first week of stock i rarely have to use two hands on the phone. i would not go back to the stock battery. AND after playing with the Charge for a bit i would not purchase it due to not liking the physical buttons, UI, or plastic cheap feel...AND if you've read any of my pre-Tbolt posts you know i am PRO Samsung Hardware as i still use my ~5 year old i760 on wifi around the house.

 

[mannw1977]

Thunderbolt hands down. If you get the Charge you will dislike the ui in so many ways. I have an extended battery i use during the week and i return to the stock battery on the weekend. Sense is great. Do some reading up and it will help you pick one. Good luck

 

[dslayton]

I never get how people say that the Droid Charge has a plasticky feel. I always put a case on my phone, as I did with my Thunderbolt. In fact it is the exactly same texture case as my Thunderbolt had. Now the feel of my "plasticky" Charge, is the same as my old Thunderbolt....plus the case has a built in kickstand. (I bought the case from Verizon)

Don't get me wrong, the Thunderbolt is an awesome device. But neither is without their faults. The Thunderbolt has poor battery life, some light leakage under the buttons, the kick stands peels very easily, reboots with the update. The Charge has Touch Wiz UI, poor flash experience in the browser, sometimes gets laggy, plus it doesn't have any video chat program that works with it 100 percent (as of right now) The Charge only has 512mb of ram...and believe me, you'll feel it. But on the plus side, the Charge has a screen that will knock your socks off. Its really up to you, you can't lose at this point...unless you buy an LG Revolution.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[jhimebau]

I have been reading the charge forum on this web site. Plenty of postings about battery life there too.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I never get how people say that the Droid Charge has a plasticky feel. I always put a case on my phone, as I did with my Thunderbolt. In fact it is the exactly same texture case as my Thunderbolt had. Now the feel of my "plasticky" Charge, is the same as my old Thunderbolt....plus the case has a built in kickstand. (I bought the case from Verizon)

Don't get me wrong, the Thunderbolt is an awesome device. But neither is without their faults. The Thunderbolt has poor battery life, some light leakage under the buttons, the kick stands peels very easily, reboots with the update. The Charge has Touch Wiz UI, poor flash experience in the browser, sometimes gets laggy, plus it doesn't have any video chat program that works with it 100 percent (as of right now) The Charge only has 512mb of ram...and believe me, you'll feel it. But on the plus side, the Charge has a screen that will knock your socks off. Its really up to you, you can't lose at this point...unless you buy an LG Revolution.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Trust me even with a case the Charge would feel cheap and toylike to me. I came from a Storm, have the Thunderbolt, and my wife has the OG Droid. I'm quite used to substantial phones and I myself would probably end up breaking the Charge if I had it.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[AndroidXTC]

I never get how people say that the Droid Charge has a plasticky feel. I always put a case on my phone, as I did with my Thunderbolt. In fact it is the exactly same texture case as my Thunderbolt had. Now the feel of my "plasticky" Charge, is the same as my old Thunderbolt....plus the case has a built in kickstand. (I bought the case from Verizon)

Don't get me wrong, the Thunderbolt is an awesome device. But neither is without their faults. The Thunderbolt has poor battery life, some light leakage under the buttons, the kick stands peels very easily, reboots with the update. The Charge has Touch Wiz UI, poor flash experience in the browser, sometimes gets laggy, plus it doesn't have any video chat program that works with it 100 percent (as of right now) The Charge only has 512mb of ram...and believe me, you'll feel it. But on the plus side, the Charge has a screen that will knock your socks off. Its really up to you, you can't lose at this point...unless you buy an LG Revolution.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

This is exactly right. Owning both phones now I would have to say I think the Samsung works a bit better than the Thunderbolt and I really like the lighter feel.

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

Samsung phone are made of plastic, but they don't feel cheap. My Nexus S feels more solid than my EVO. There is no creaky battery door, and the phone is a lot lighter. Everything feels tight. I love it. Plus, the screen is awesome on my Nexus S, therefore the Charge's screen must be absolutely gorgeous.

 

[AndroidXTC]

And just look at that sexy screen!

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

You can say what you want and post all the pictures you want but it wouldn't sway me. I've held and used the Charge. It feels cheap and I would probably break it if I even held it the same way I hold my Thunderbolt.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[DroidXcon]

You can say what you want and post all the pictures you want but it wouldn't sway me. I've held and used the Charge. It feels cheap and I would probably break it if I even held it the same way I hold my Thunderbolt.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

lol the Hulk huh

 

[dslayton]

I owned the Thunderbolt. While metal, there were far too many creaks and cracks (sounds) for my liking. The Charge is light weight from the plastic, but solid. I always had my phone in a case so the Thunderbolt's creaks didn't bother me too much. But the phones build quality isn't that much far apart.

If you have to make a choice on which phone to get don't let build quality be a deciding factor.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[Forgetful]

I'll post some screen shots if anyone wants them but this is what I got over the last two days

Display on time-- 3 hours 55 minutes
Time unplugged--- 2 days 2 hours

This was on 3G only. I turn data off at night when I sleep. Display 25% except for 45 minutes at night where it was 18%. I browsed the net on 3G for 1.5 hours. The rest was on wifi. I finally charged it when it reached 9%. Stock 1400mA battery. Almost all the display on time was internet. Rest was messing with some apps.

 

[mightyfacundo]

I'm beginning to think that not all of the Thunderbolts were created equal. I know some people have had serious problems with this phone, while others have had a great user experience. I fall in the latter category, with one caveat: I'm not in a 4G area yet. That could very well explain why I haven't experienced any rebooting, powering down, and get very good battery life.

With that said, this weekend, I put it to the test. I pulled it off the charger at 7:12 a.m., read the latest articles on Pulse, checked a few other sites, played some games, went outside to mow the back 40 and listened to Pandora the entire time (2.5 hours), put it on standby while I cleaned up, read my book using the Nook app for an hour and a half, checked in on the forums here at AC, and then watched a few videos from YouTube for good measure. After dinner, I messed around some more on the internet and with my apps off and on until I went to bed around midnight. I had 27% battery remaining.

I recognize that if I was on 4G, I probably wouldn't have been able to get through the day doing everything I did, but 3G is pretty fast on this phone (and when you haven't tried 4G, you don't really know what you're missing). The phone never lags, and I'm glad I took the plunge after unsuccessfully waiting for the Bionic to come to fruition. It's a great phone for me, but as I said at the beginning of the post, it doesn't seem like all of the Thunderbolts were created equal.

So, my advice to cltatenza would be to try the Thunderbolt, and hopefully you get a phone similar to mine. If you do, I think you'll be pretty happy with it. If you get a phone that reboots constantly, powers down, and makes you want to throw it at the wall, then take it back and give the Charge a try. I know that's what I would have done had I experienced those problems like so many others. Hopefully one of them works for you...... or you could always wait for the Bionic to finally come out in a few months(?).