Return Thunderbolt?

[Bateluer]

I rooted the phone and still very dissatisfied with battery life. As for turning off 4g.. why else would I have this phone. If I plan on rooting the phone anyway would purchasing Samsung phone be a bad idea..

But do you need 4G 100% of the time?

 

[BigDaddyD]

My thunderbolt has been unplugged for over 12 hours today and is at full charge. I had very little usage, but it is on and is on the 4g network all day. I texted a little and that was about it. I did change all of the settings as has been suggested. If you do a google search and adjust the settings your battery will last properly on this phone. If it is dying immediately...it is because of the settings, or your phone is defective. No smartphone with all settings maxed, everything synched, and everything used constantly will last. At the very least turn your screen way turn, turn off navigation when not using them, check apps that are running...I had Grubhub running on navigation (and I am new to Droid and had no idea that it was even on.) It was consuming 21% of the battery. I didn't even know it was on. I killed it and turned of the nav. The screen is very bright and comes default at like 50%. Turn it down to like 20%. Tons of other things, like the default auto sync and such....

Oh, and when I say little use...I wasn't including the music usage. I probably got a solid hour of music in there as well.

 

[Unheard]

I rooted the phone and still very dissatisfied with battery life. As for turning off 4g.. why else would I have this phone. If I plan on rooting the phone anyway would purchasing Samsung phone be a bad idea..

You rooted it, but did you do anything after that? Custom undervolted kernel, green power, underclock when screen off?

 

[bonkers325]

But do you need 4G 100% of the time?

4G is useless until you actively use it. download a program called Any Cut from market, setup a shortcut for an app called "Testing", and you have a widget that will bring up the menu that toggles 3G and 4G. it takes 5 seconds for me to turn it on, and by the time i go back to opera or market, 4G is on and ready to go. once i'm done, i turn it off.

i use 4G a couple of times a day when im browsing, or downloading the free daily app from amazon. i went through 14 hours of moderate use and still had 43% battery left (using SNES9x to play FF6 for about 3 hours).

oh yea, if you are in an area with terrible signal, 4G will eat up battery like crazy. it requires a lot more juice than 3G when operating under low signal strength

 

[Bateluer]

On an unrelated note, I ordered my Thunderbolt this afternoon. Because no stores locally had them instock, even though every VZW rep in both stores I visited had TB's climbed to their belts. . .

 

[fbrdphreak]

On an unrelated note, I ordered my Thunderbolt this afternoon. Because no stores locally had them instock, even though every VZW rep in both stores I visited had TB's climbed to their belts. . .

Did they have the huge battery too? BA-ZING!

 

[Bateluer]

Did they have the huge battery too? BA-ZING!

The ones I saw did not have the extended battery. My boss has a TB with an extended battery, and that thing is a huge F'ing brick with it.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I love my extended battery, it makes the phone a hell of a lot more practicle (although it is huge) I've done the extended battery thing with a G1, an EVO and now the ThunderBolt.

 

[Phobic9]

Return it. It doesn't look like they're pulling unlimited 4G until at least the initial "free tether" period expires.

You have any ideas on when that'll be?

 

[fbrdphreak]

You have any ideas on when that'll be?

Current scuttlebut calls for summer time as the end of unlimited 4G.

 

[postaled]

I use virus rom on mine and I only charge mine in my car, i hover between 60%-90% battery life every day.

Not really having any battery issues at all. I don't make/recieve too many calls though just a few a day.

 

[Unheard]

You have any ideas on when that'll be?

May 15th

 

[Kabob]

I'm curious, has the OP only done 'stock' things to address battery or has he rooted the phone? Now that the devs have full, perma root and kernel source, we're going to see the battery life double over the next couple of weeks.

I hate this mindset with a passion. "If it doesn't work, root it!" I want my phone to work out of the box, not because I had to do a bunch of extra crap to make it so. Rooting should be more for personalization, not for functionality.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I hate this mindset with a passion. "If it doesn't work, root it!" I want my phone to work out of the box, not because I had to do a bunch of extra crap to make it so. Rooting should be more for personalization, not for functionality.

I've used an Android OS'd phones since the G1, my favorite quote about the OS is:

"It's the only OS where you rely on a guy living in someone's basement to modify it so it works well."

 

[fbrdphreak]

I've used an Android OS'd phones since the G1, my favorite quote about the OS is:

"It's the only OS where you rely on a guy living in someone's basement to modify it so it works well."

LOL

There's no argument that Apple has one hell of a polished OS. Unfortunately you can't have it all: great UI AND highly customizable.

That's why HTC has their Sense UI. I've yet to use one extensively, but from all impressions it is leaps & bounds above vanilla Android (which I can't stand).

And btw, rooting is not needed to "fix" the Thunderbolt. It has a tiny battery and a power hungry 4G radio. Think of it as the muscle car of smartphones

 

[Unheard]

LOL

There's no argument that Apple has one hell of a polished OS. Unfortunately you can't have it all: great UI AND highly customizable.

That's why HTC has their Sense UI. I've yet to use one extensively, but from all impressions it is leaps & bounds above vanilla Android (which I can't stand).

And btw, rooting is not needed to "fix" the Thunderbolt. It has a tiny battery and a power hungry 4G radio. Think of it as the muscle car of smartphones

Sense is probably 75% of the reason people root. To get rid of that bloatware crap.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Sense is probably 75% of the reason people root. To get rid of that bloatware crap.

You call it bloatware/crap, the average user probably appreciates it. Especially if you show them Vanilla Android vs Sense.

 

[jaydee]

You could return it, but you risk ending up with a Samsung phone with about the same battery life, poor software upgrade support and no unlimited 4G. Virtually identical specs otherwise, the screen will be better, but I really have no complaints with HTC's screens.

My wife's got the Thunderbolt and loves it, but we have steady 4G and she's a stay-at-home mom, so the battery life isn't a factor. Just about the perfect phone for us.

 

[zoiks]

I don't have a Thunderbolt but I know that if you leave the GPS on, have live wallpapers, have the screen on too brightly, have 4g on consistently..all of this will indeed suck the life out of the battery.

 

[dguy6789]

Sense is probably 75% of the reason people root. To get rid of that bloatware crap.

It wouldn't be hard to argue that Sense is better than Vanilla Android, MotoBlur, Touchwiz, and almost every single custom ROM right now.

 

[KentState]

I just connect to the wifi at work and at home and use 4G on the go. Doing that, the battery life is no worse than another other smartphone. I can typically get a full days use without going below 30% battery.

 

[Bateluer]

It wouldn't be hard to argue that Sense is better than Vanilla Android, MotoBlur, Touchwiz, and almost every single custom ROM right now.

Uh . . . what? Sense may be better than Blur and TouchWiz, but realistically, you could crap in a box, let it ferment for a few days, and it'd be better than Blur/TouchWiz.

The LP/ADW found in most custom ROMs though, is definitely better than Sense.

 

[fbrdphreak]

You could return it, but you risk ending up with a Samsung phone with about the same battery life, poor software upgrade support and no unlimited 4G. Virtually identical specs otherwise, the screen will be better, but I really have no complaints with HTC's screens.

Bingo. Current reports put the battery at 1600mAh, which is only 13% more than the Tbolt. The Seidio enhanced capacity battery for the TBolt is also 1600mAh, so you'd probably be better off to drop $50 (MSRP) on the Seidio battery and keep the TBolt.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Uh . . . what? Sense may be better than Blur and TouchWiz, but realistically, you could crap in a box, let it ferment for a few days, and it'd be better than Blur/TouchWiz.

The LP/ADW found in most custom ROMs though, is definitely better than Sense.

Without a doubt. But the point still stands that Sense is a good out of box experience. Much better than vanilla Android, generally better than other custom skins, though probably not on par with the Apple experience.

 

[Kabob]

You could return it, but you risk ending up with a Samsung phone with about the same battery life, poor software upgrade support and no unlimited 4G. Virtually identical specs otherwise, the screen will be better, but I really have no complaints with HTC's screens.

My wife's got the Thunderbolt and loves it, but we have steady 4G and she's a stay-at-home mom, so the battery life isn't a factor. Just about the perfect phone for us.

This. I've got a Fascinate and it alone has convinced me never to buy another Samsung phone again. Their customer support is ATROCIOUS! The screen is beautiful and the battery life is alright, but it's not better than what you've got in your pocket right now.

What else is there to choose from? DX? Better battery, worse phone. DInc? Very nice, but same battery issues.

Stick with the TB. The only other move I'd consider would be an iPhone 4 but that's a major switch.

Without a doubt. But the point still stands that Sense is a good out of box experience. Much better than vanilla Android, generally better than other custom skins, though probably not on par with the Apple experience.

None of the Android skins are as good as iOS, Sense is definitely the most user-friendly of the bunch though. Blur and TW are awful, I kinda like stock Android though, but I think the average consumer wouldn't.