Ramblings of a new Hero owner

[rolltrain]

So I have had the phone two full days now and man, what a fun phone.It's sexy, smart and a capable device.

A few things that are troubling me, though. I can't get the HTC Sync software to work right.
When the phone is plugged in via the USB to my PC it doesn't charge the phone and lastly, but very worrisome is my battery life stinks. I am getting 6-7 hrs. with the phone just setting. No usage at all.
Anyone have any ideas what's up with the battery?



Thanks for any help....

-Roll

 

[glorify]

Waiting on my Hero, so no experience here, but I bookmarked this for future reference.

 

[Gabe]

So I have had the phone two full days now and man, what a fun phone.It's sexy, smart and a capable device.

A few things that are troubling me, though. I can't get the HTC Sync software to work right.
When the phone is plugged in via the USB to my PC it doesn't charge the phone and lastly, but very worrisome is my battery life stinks. I am getting 6-7 hrs. with the phone just setting. No usage at all.
Anyone have any ideas what's up with the battery?



Thanks for any help....

-Roll

thats a odd one about the USB not charging, are you using a really old PC? have you tried other USB ports? Do other phones or devices charge in your USB ports?

the battery could be a lot of things, do you have weather set to automatically update? do you have a lot of email accounts set to update very often? You'll just have to go through what things you have set up to update automatically.

and check out this on improving battery life:
Improve Battery Life for the Android Based HTC Hero Smart Phone | Gamaze.com

my battery would loose about 20% every 12 hours(without me touching the device), i narrowed it down to being #3 on that list in the link above. the only thing I have set to automatically update, is my email, which is set to update every 2 hours, now, I get about 3% battery loss every 12 hours.

also, theres a known battery drain issue when using the default SMS app I believe, do a google search you'll find a ton of info about it.

 

[Elpelco]

To add to the above, phone batteries do take a few charge cycles to get to their best/fullest capacity, so it should improve after a few days.

 

[lekky]

Also charging via USB is A LOT slower than charging via mains plug.

6-7 hours is terrible. I highly doubt you use your phone more intensively than me and mine lasts from 8am until i go to sleep around midnight!! And I listen to podcasts/internet/email/twitter/etc/etc

Could you possibly tell us what you use with your phone, what settings you have etc? We might be able to figure out what is causing such battery drain!!

 

[rolltrain]

Yeah, see that's what has me worried about my phone. I have read a lot of posts that say they get a full day + out of their battery. I'm just not gettin' it.

I let it charge all night in the wall last night. Got up and went to work @ 7. Turned it on and played with it. Surfed the net maybe an hurs worth, dl'd a few (6-7) widgets. Played with them. Maybe 5 e-mails, handful of texts and at 1:30 I got the warning that my battery was dead. Not that I couldn't see it, but that is how long it lasted.

As far as settings, I guess I can't remember everyone right this second, but; I have turned off Bluetooth, WiFi. It is scanning my emails every hour. Location search is turned off. GPS is off, (except for emergency).

Dunno what else to do. I really want to use as much as you do yours. Thats why I paid the money I did. To have all my media on one player instead of two or three. But at 6 hrs battery time, it's just not gonna be worth it.

I have an appointment to take it in Monday to teh service dude and see if he can help it. I hope he can 'cause I really dig the phone. We'll see.

But thanks for your interest in helping.....

 

[Lefthand]

It could be that you're running a lot of apps in the backround without realizing. The beauty of the Hero's ability of running multiple apps has a downside in that they keep running even after you hit the home button. Try Task Killer, it's a great free app and does exactly what it says on the tin!

 

[quantumrand]

I'm assuming that you dont have the Sprint Hero since you're posting in the GMS Hero forum, but just in case. The Sprint Hero has a bug with the defualt messaging app and lock screen that keeps the phone awake 100% of the time, causing drastically reduced battery life. They've recently released an update that fixes these problems. If you're on Sprint, you should look into that. If you're not on Sprint, please disregard this post.

 

[rolltrain]

I have task killer and spend more time than I like closing apps.

Actually I do have Sprint, but this is the first forum I found so I stayed here. Hope you guys don't mind a yankee....

I have heard about the default message function, so I got Handcen and have used that exclusively for the past two days. One thing I don't like about that is, when I get a message, it shows up in both, so I actually get two messages, they're just the same. Is there some way I can stop getting them in the default prog?

I will have to look into screen lock a little more and see if that is it.
Nothing is better today. I started with a full charge, listened to the mp3 for about 45 songs on my way to work and checked 2 emails and have lost about 15% battery so far. Frustrating....

Thanks again for the replies!!

-Roll

 

[nich]

I have heard about the default message function, so I got Handcen and have used that exclusively for the past two days. One thing I don't like about that is, when I get a message, it shows up in both, so I actually get two messages, they're just the same. Is there some way I can stop getting them in the default prog?

I think this is how you remove duplicate messages:

From within the Messages app.
Menu > Settings > Notifications (un-tick it).

 

[Slug]

Hope you guys don't mind a yankee....

Not at all, but the guys and gals along the corridor in the Sprint Hero forum may be able to offer you better advice.

 

[rolltrain]

I'm starting to peak at that forum now. But you have had it longer than us so I will probably keep you all in my pocket, too!!!

 

[lekky]

You only ever get 1 message, and both apps can show that same message. For instance if you delete a message in handcent, it will not be shown in any other message app.

 

[rolltrain]

Hmmm, can't say I am so familiar that I can argue that point but, when I get a text, it shows up in Handcent, and then it shows up in the default app. I have to go in and open it in both or it will continue to show in the indicator bar. Not sure about what happens if I were to delete it in Handcent, but I don't always want to delete the message as soon as I get it. That means I have to open it in both apps or it continues to show up in the one I didn't open. This I am sure of....

 

[lekky]

I think this is how you remove duplicate messages:

From within the Messages app.
Menu > Settings > Notifications (un-tick it).

Did you try that, I guarantee that will fix it.

 

[rolltrain]

I did try it, but I am not so popular that I get many texts early Sunday morning.

I will let you know one way or the other as soon as I get a text!!!

 

[nich]

I send texts to myself, just so I can see the Hero in action

 

[rolltrain]

It is as you said it would be, sorta. Only one alert in the indicator bar, however, the default app lit up with a 1 on it indicating I had a message so I had to click on that to clear it out. So, it's better, but not yet right.
That is not to sound un-appreciative. I do thank you for your help!!!

-Roll

 

[lekky]

It is as you said it would be, sorta. Only one alert in the indicator bar, however, the default app lit up with a 1 on it indicating I had a message so I had to click on that to clear it out. So, it's better, but not yet right.
That is not to sound un-appreciative. I do thank you for your help!!!

-Roll

what lit upon the default app? Are you using the HTC message widget??

If so, then that will have a 1 on it because you have a new message, if you click on the message body in the widget to open the message it will open up in handcent. This means you have read the message, it is not new any more and all and any 1's will disappear..

Let me know if i got that right, or if you meant something else!

 

[rolltrain]

Hmmm..... I am dragging my indicator bar open and clicking handcent from there. I don't think I have used HTC message widget to open a text since I installed Handcent. So when I open from the indicator bar, teh "1" stays next to the message widget. Next time I will open it from the widget and see what happens. And, uh.... thanks for "holdin' my hand through all this" !!!!

 

[lekky]

The handcent widget?

 

[rolltrain]

No, the 1 is beside the HTC widget...

 

[lekky]

if you open the text from handcent, either via the nbotification or the pop up, the 1 should disappear from the hancent widget. so once handcent marks it read it still doesnt disappear?

it does for me, but then again i make the pop up mark the message as read, and this removes the 1, maybe its a bug you found?

 

[rolltrain]

Correct. It's not the biggest deal in the world. I was just hoping there was a quick fix. Half of that issue was fixed, anyway with un-checking the detection box.

I can live with the 1 if I can get the battery issue solved
Thanks again for your input.

-Roll

 

[JayCee]

I started with a full charge, listened to the mp3 for about 45 songs on my way to work and checked 2 emails and have lost about 15% battery so far.

If each mp3 lasts say an average of 2 mins...2 x 45 = 90 mins...that's an hour and a half of the audio playing and your battery is down by 15%.
To my mind you don't have a battery draining problem.