Tips to Help Improve Battery Life on ThunderBolt

[dajogejr]

Chris, if I could leave you a thanks I would. So thank you!! Great article for us "crossovers"....

Sentrix, interesting. Can you ask if your friend has done anything special?

Thanks again...both of you and the others who have commented/added to this thread.

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

# -1a: Purchase an extended battery. :-D That will be my first accessory purchase. The 4" screens don't do any good to a standard battery.

Seriously though, I find that dumping the screen brightness down to 20-30% significantly helps. The other key is using WiFi whenever available. Though I am sure changing a lot of what the OP said certainly helps, there are a lot of features that I don't want to change or turn off.

Excellent post either way!

 

[guitarchris123]

Guitarchris, ok I understand that it's smart to use HTC's history and the tiny 1400 mah battery compared to much better ones in other phones. Maybe I can remain excessively optimistic about the newer generation Snapdragon, and if by some bizarre outcome that's actually right, we'll all have the unexpected fortune of not needing to refer to this thread.

Where I need some help, a reference, anything, is about the idea that 4g will use more power. Above, Sentrix reports that a 4g user is getting the same life as a DInc. More on this subject as we volley further, I don't want to fire hose about it.

Sentrix, I think we'd all appreciate if the friend you mention is the forum posting type of person and they'd come here to talk about their pre-release experiences. A lot of us will form opinions about the TB based on your comment. I'm not doubting the credibility of your comment, just looking for first hand information and an opportunity to ask questions.

I know the 2nd gen. Snapdragon processor and smaller 45nm die are supposed to help increase battery life. That will theoretically help make up for the smaller stock battery. Also, theoretically the LTE network could cause less power drain than 3G, but Sprint's experiences with WiMax on the EVO, and BMX's comments about significant drain when using LTE on the TB have left me skeptical. Sentrix could end up being right about it lasting all day on LTE, and I truly hope he is. But these tips are only to be taken if necessary, which they might not be for everyone, especially those who are not heavy users.

# -1a: Purchase an extended battery. :-D That will be my first accessory purchase. The 4" screens don't do any good to a standard battery.

Seriously though, I find that dumping the screen brightness down to 20-30% significantly helps. The other key is using WiFi whenever available. Though I am sure changing a lot of what the OP said certainly helps, there are a lot of features that I don't want to change or turn off.

Excellent post either way!

Thanks! Those are two of the most important and easiest things you can do to help. And yes, a lot of the features I suggested limiting may be selling points for the phone and preferable to keep using for a lot people.

 

[Sleeve]

At another member's suggestion, I'm hunting down anything from BMX that specifically shows LTE life shorter than life outside an LTE area. I still haven't found anything other than comments that say this in a speculative way. I respect his experience and desire to help people, but I need more than a person saying something before I repeat it.

Johnboy, are you finding any difference in battery life compared to your posts in your main thread about getting through a day with about 30% left?

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

At another member's suggestion, I'm hunting down anything from BMX that specifically shows LTE life shorter than life outside an LTE area. I still haven't found anything other than comments that say this in a speculative way. I respect his experience and desire to help people, but I need more than a person saying something before I repeat it.

Johnboy, are you finding any difference in battery life compared to your posts in your main thread about getting through a day with about 30% left?

Normal business days, the phone can last anywhere from 6hrs real heavy use to 9hrs with moderate use. It's nearly the same for me with my Droid X and the standard battery (which is why I got the Extended battery for that, so I didn't have to worry about heavy use).

The two best things you can do to save on your battery is to Dim the screen and use WiFi when available.

 

[slinky]

Given the battery size, 4G, 4.3" LCD and 1GHZ cpu... How can there NOT be battery issues? No need for quadratic equations here, since we are already dealing with an absolute

Here's the best tip:

Buy an extended battery from a third party. Don't buy it from Verizon or HTC and let them know how you feel about constantly underpowering the phone so as to require the purchase of an extended battery or a built in "incentive" not to use the 4G network too much lest you drain the battery...

 

[Sleeve]

Wait, why are we angry about a problem that doesn't have proof it exists yet?

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

Given the battery size, 4G, 4.3" LCD and 1GHZ cpu... How can there NOT be battery issues? No need for quadratic equations here, since we are already dealing with an absolute

Here's the best tip:

Buy an extended battery from a third party. Don't buy it from Verizon or HTC and let them know how you feel about constantly underpowering the phone so as to require the purchase of an extended battery or a built in "incentive" not to use the 4G network too much lest you drain the battery...

I like where your head is at, but honestly your 'protests' will go unnoticed. 1) There are a ton of corporate customers (like me) that get things paid through if ordered directly from Verizon. 2) The OEM batteries work with the "onboard" battery meters of the phones. (I have a 3rd party battery for my DX and I never use it because the meter in the status bar never shows the charge level.)

There are probably more reasons, but those are the two I can think of right off the bat... I would love to go in agreement with you here, but for me it just isn't feasible.

EDIT: Just as a last statement/jab at the iPhone fanboys that say their phones rock a superior battery, all I have to say is that I would rather have a phone that is free from censorship and overly secure file structure, etc. and have to change or charge the battery once in the middle of my day than have a restricted phone that lasts me 20 hours on a single charge. Great, your battery rocks, but the phone it is powering sucks!

 

[guitarchris123]

Now that people have had it for a couple of days, what kind of battery life are you experiencing? I only charged it a little bit after picking it up from 10-10:30 am yesterday, and I charged a little bit more that night in the car while out for St. Patty's Day. It got very low but lasted the night with the short charges, but I never had it charged up to full. I was not terribly impressed though, but I have only implemented a few of the more important techniques so far. Still getting the hang of it, so I will probably have to tweak it for a little while. I also noticed that when I rebooted, it drained a lot of battery life.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Anyone else notice that if you charge it to 100%, unplug it, and plug it back in, it takes 1-2 hours for that orange light to turn green again? I feel horrible for taking it off the charger unless that light is green! BAh.

 

[Jacquiroze]

Battery life is definitely lacking. I brought the phone to a full charge after I bought it yesterday, by 6:30pm this evening my yellow indicator light was on letting me know the battery is low. I was at work from 0800-5:00pm and only used the phone for a 3 min conversation. When not at work I've been playing/learning the phone. I'm still enjoying the Thunderbolt, but I will look into some battery saving techniques.

 

[meepstone]

I got off work at 5pm today and turned my phone on from being at full from sleeping before working. So i turned my phone on and now its 9pm, 4 hours later and my battery is at 80%. I txted like 20 times. one phone call for like 4 minutes and played words with friends a little bit.

My display ate 57% of the 20% of battery used with brightness at 25%.

Just letting you all know what im getting out of my phone for feedback. I dont have widgets except for weather running and only 1 gmail account with 1 facebook account syncing.

I hope this helps some people.

 

[peterjariel]

would this fit the thunderbolt its 1500mah

3X 1500mAh Battery+Dock Charger for HTC Thunderbolt 4G - eBay (item 270721676870 end time Apr-16-11 11:18:47 PDT)

 

[funkyb]

My TB has been on battery since 6:30AM, I've been posting here, sms, talking voice, and on market lots today, and I still have about 45% to go.

 

[meepstone]

I think people are getting terrible battery life by leaving a million things syncing and probably updating way too often plus leaving the screen at default brightness.