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Seeking participation in convincing HTC to resolve the bump-charge issue.

Medion

Android Expert
Aug 14, 2010
1,851
957
Auburn, WA
I'm not a big fan of annoying bugs in consumer products. However, they happen even to the best of companies. This is where quality companies and lousy companies get separated. The quality companies forward the bugs to the software development department so that these issues can be tested, replicated, verified, and ultimately fixed.

What I'm asking is that anyone here who is experiencing the bump charge issue to please follow the below link and report your issue to HTC's support. Ultimately, I'm hoping that enough here do it so that HTC is forced to acknowledge the issue and test it, as the responses they've given me so far have indicated that they do not want to acknowledge it.

HTC Mobile Phones - Customer Service - E-mail Support

At the very least, we can compare responses from support reps if we get enough participation. Win win, as we either get acknowledgment from HTC, or pure comedy from their support reps. One last thing though, please be polite (at least initially) with the reps and focus primarily on the issue that needs to be fixed, rather than using this as a "prank call."

Please post a response if you are experiencing the issue and if you have sent an email to CS. Once we get a few sending the email, we'll start comparing responses. If you did not send an email, please do not respond, this way, if there's no interest in doing it, the thread dies and falls off the main page.
 
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I got two separate emails from HTC out of the blue today. One was from a guy who wanted to call me (when I explained that I was in Iraq in the previous email), so...I gave him my phone number. However, when I responded to his email, I got an out of office reply.

The second email is below.

Dear "Medion",

Hello I understand you were having some issues with the Droid Incredible battery life. I have a tip to help increase the battery life. With the phone turned on charge it till it is full. then turn the phone off and continue to charge it. It will let you charge it for a little while longer. We have seen this increase battery life for our customers that we have tried it on. I have also noted what you have reported about your phones battery and charging behavior.

Sincerely,

Kimberly

HTC

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Seriously? I'm going to report a problem, detail the problem and possible solutions, and you're going to then repeat the problem to me as the solution to itself? Oh, and love how they refuse to offer a means of replying or otherwise following up.

I'd say Kimberly from HTC is ******ed, but that would truly be an insult to all those who are mentally handicapped.
 
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Unfortunately no matter how many emails we send, this will not get resolved. I don't have a inch of pessimism in me but they have no reason or motive to fix something that only 20% of HTC incredible owners will complain about. This forum represents a small amount of people, and we all know that in big business, once we start effecting their numbers and their bottom line, they won't do anything about it.

So as long as they have their D-Inc's on back order, or as long as Verizon keeps ordering more, they wont do a damn thing about it. I'm going to email them as well, but i will delete the response email and not even waste my time reading it.

Most people that have the incredible are people that don't even realize it's a droid phone. I read in a survey somewhere that if the phone is not called a "Droid", like Droid X, Moto Droid, they think they have a high quality dumb phone. Even though it says droid incredible, they still think they have an Incredible smart phone...not a droid. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it, its a flaw in marketing, they should have named it the IncrediDroid. My 2 aunts have the incredible, they went from LG Chocolate to Incredible, barely know how to use it...they get 2 days of battery out of it, because they use it for phone calls, and 2 -4 texts a day. Those are your base users, not freak fans like us :)

Jt
 
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"Fix" the bump charge issue = higher battery temps and/or fluctuating voltages during charging = shorter battery life and/or failing batteries.

Pretty sure they're not going to fix it..

^ this.

its kinda like telling a car company not to put seat belts in their cars because they're uncomfortable to you.. derp.

while i agree bump charging is annoying.. its really not that big of a deal.. if you need that extra 4% of battery.. well.. you're out of luck.
 
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Most people that have the incredible are people that don't even realize it's a droid phone. I read in a survey somewhere that if the phone is not called a "Droid", like Droid X, Moto Droid, they think they have a high quality dumb phone. Even though it says droid incredible, they still think they have an Incredible smart phone...not a droid. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it, its a flaw in marketing, they should have named it the IncrediDroid.

That's because it IS an Incredible Smartphone.

Droid is a named that is being licensed to Verizon. The software that you are referring to is called ANdroid. Since Verizon is the one paying Lucas to use the name Droid, they get to say who uses it and who doesn't.

Not that any of that matters since the Incredible is officially called HTC Droid Incredible. Do it IS there.


The fact that the average user doesn't know what OS is on their phone doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Most people don't realize that the iPhone runs iOS... most people just think it's "apple". It's the same thing.
 
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That's because it IS an Incredible Smartphone.

Droid is a named that is being licensed to Verizon. The software that you are referring to is called ANdroid. Since Verizon is the one paying Lucas to use the name Droid, they get to say who uses it and who doesn't.

Not that any of that matters since the Incredible is officially called HTC Droid Incredible. Do it IS there.


The fact that the average user doesn't know what OS is on their phone doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Most people don't realize that the iPhone runs iOS... most people just think it's "apple". It's the same thing.


Exactly, lets not miss the point here. Just because apple users are the same, it makes no difference in our case. It's the same thing happening here. We are using the Android OS, but because it's not called the Motorola Droid (the Word Droid ending in the name), most people do not realize it is an Android Phone. That is what the bottom line is. For the bump charging issue, it's not really an issue, more of a complaint.
 
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"Fix" the bump charge issue = higher battery temps and/or fluctuating voltages during charging = shorter battery life and/or failing batteries.

Pretty sure they're not going to fix it..

^ this.

its kinda like telling a car company not to put seat belts in their cars because they're uncomfortable to you.. derp.

while i agree bump charging is annoying.. its really not that big of a deal.. if you need that extra 4% of battery.. well.. you're out of luck.

I'm sorry, but this is just incorrect. The reason the battery gets hot is because it's being charged and used (drained) simultaneously. When plugged in, most phones simply use the battery to complete a circuit. The battery charges while the phone technically runs off the external power.

So, in a normal phone, when the battery is fully charged, the phone ceases charging, but keeps running off the external power. You can unplug it days later and still have a fully charged phone.

By comparison, the Incredible stops charging the battery, but keeps draining it. However, the battery isn't polled while plugged in and "charged," so it's reported as being fully charged even while it drains. After you unplug it, at the next battery poll, the real battery life is reported. This is why we bump charge, to compensate for this.

Fixing this issue would not only alleviate the need for a bump charge, but it would also fix the overheating while charging issue, and thus, get rid of the need to charge slowly like they added in 2.2. That's a lot of fixes stemming from one idiotic issue.
 
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I agree with a lot of people about this issue not being resolved, but my response to HTC was my anger at the way they ignored every support request. Its like they just don't care about their consumers. Oh, by the way I have added beef with HTC, they've botched my screen repair 3 times now...

Here is my response to their response plus the picture I attached...

It probably won't get me anywhere, but it made me feel WAY better :rolleyes:

I am absolutely appalled at the response I received from "William" and the other IDENTICAL emails I have received from . It is clear that HTC as a company, especially after the 4 weeks I've spent without a phone after there were several mistakes made to my phone repair, does not care about the average consumer. If you actually had taken the time to read the email I sent to you, you would have realized that you're "solution" to the problem I stated word for word. I understand that a corporation the size of HTC doesn't and won't ever care about the individual consumer, but please be honest when you don't care. A simple, we realize this is a problem but have no intention of fixing it because the resulting solution would end with higher battery temperatures while charging and therefore a shorter overall lifespan of the battery. The costs outweigh the benefits. It is a simple as that.

There are several, 20+, forums and websites constantly posting about how horrible HTC in relation to their consumers as well as multiple copies of the email "William" sent to me signed as Kimberly, Jeff and other generic employee names. I am a loyal HTC user, the only phones outside of old flip phones I have ever used. But after this most recent event and the poor treatment I received, wait I should restate that...I was ignored, poor treatment implies you, William/Kimberly/Jeff, actually acknowledged my concerns as a consumer who has put more than a few grand into your company over the past few years. Thankfully, Verizon HAS acknowledged my concerns and has wonderfully allowed me to change phones, and keep mine so that it does not wind up in the hands of another, soon to be mistreated, HTC consumer. I will be changing to the Moto Droid X, a inferior phone in my opinion but at least the issues that phone has are pleasantly being resolved, if not acknowledged by Motorola Mobility.

The last bit I would like to add, a large part of your consumer base seeks information and advice about your products from the very same blogs, websites and forums that are chock full of consumers who have been mistreated by HTC. Why don't you take this opportunity to redeem yourself, at least in the eyes of one of your more loyal consumers.

Sincerely,
<generic consumer name>
 

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I eliminated the need for a bump charge by buying an slim extended battery and battery charger from Seidio. The Seidio charger charges the battery to 100% every time. I just swap batteries every morning. Problem solved.

I understand the frustration expressed by people who are bump charging and I also understand that you should not have to shell out the cash for extra accessories to get the battery charged 100%, but I also believe in controlling the things I can and not stressing over the things I can't....
 
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I think the concept of "bump charging" confuses the issue. The problem is that our phones don't attain a full charge unless they are powered off while charging. It has nothing to do with charging first while on then charging more while off. You can charge while off from beginning to end and still get a full charge. Here's the email I sent to HTC (no response yet):

Hello,

I noticed that my HTC Incredible doesn't attain a full charge unless it is powered off during charging. Others have confirmed that this is normal behavior for an HTC Incredible, which strikes me as strange and not optimal. Will there be a fix for this?

Thank you,
Amin Sabet
 
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I believe, based on only my personal observations, that when the phone is on while charged it ceases to charge after charging fully, I assume, to protect the battery. So even tho still plugged to external power, it starts to drain the battery at that point. If you could unplug the phone from the external source the instant it attained 100%, you would not see the "issue". Am I wrong?
I guess if I even have a point it's that choosing to protect the battery over continuing to charge is a solution I can live with.
 
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I believe, based on only my personal observations, that when the phone is on while charged it ceases to charge after charging fully, I assume, to protect the battery. So even tho still plugged to external power, it starts to drain the battery at that point. If you could unplug the phone from the external source the instant it attained 100%, you would not see the "issue". Am I wrong?
I guess if I even have a point it's that choosing to protect the battery over continuing to charge is a solution I can live with.

this seems that it is true, if you use juice plotter, and peak at it after a full charge, you will see the line go up to 100, then down to about 90, then back up to 100 over and over.

so i'm going to say that a powered down charge will hit 100%, and then not drain down, while a powered on charge, you may catch it at 100%, or you may catch it at less...it's a crap shoot...but i'll still do my testing...it will take a few days to get some readings though...so bear with me, I will post a new thread with my findings...so keep an eye out if you're interested.
 
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I believe, based on only my personal observations, that when the phone is on while charged it ceases to charge after charging fully, I assume, to protect the battery. So even tho still plugged to external power, it starts to drain the battery at that point. If you could unplug the phone from the external source the instant it attained 100%, you would not see the "issue". Am I wrong?
I guess if I even have a point it's that choosing to protect the battery over continuing to charge is a solution I can live with.

This is what I've been saying, and yes, this seems to be the case.

As another poster above mentioned, I moved to having a 2nd battery, an external battery charger, and just swap batteries as needed. Noticeably better battery life.
 
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results were conclusive....2 different batteries, a 1300 &1500 both htc oem batteries....charging with phone on resulted in 4.0 volt reading...after 1 bump charge, 4.15 reading, after 2nd bump charge, still 4.15v....so yes, bump charging sites result in a battery with a higher charge and you only need to do it once not multiple times.

Still need to compare charging the battery while the phone is powered down to see if that results in a full charge, or if bump charging is needed there too.
 
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