4 Days in with the ThunderBolt! My Honest take...

[Magnus_CA]

I just thought of something else I always do. I came to Android with the OG Droid from Blackberry, so I was in the habit of ALWAYS properly exiting out of programs. Blackberry would crash and burn if too many apps were left open. So I always do this on my Droids as well. I rarely ever use the home button. I back out of everything, so nothing is left running. It may not be a necessity, but I do it.

It's really not necessary. Backing out of apps doesn't keep them from running in the background. A lot of times they're running from boot up, and I'm taking about apps that have no business running at startup.

 

[rushmore]

Display is slightly smaller on the S? Read the reviews. They say it has fantastic battery life, don't believe it. Fantastic battery life and HTC don't go together.

It is not as much HTC as the actual chipset. OMAP and Tegra 2 both have dynamic power management built into the die. Radios are also managed depending on use. Seems Qualcomm should be making more efforts there.

My guess is the 9660 radio chip is a key culprit. Either a power hog chip or poorly made drivers.

 

[AustinTech]

Display is slightly smaller on the S? Read the reviews. They say it has fantastic battery life, don't believe it. Fantastic battery life and HTC don't go together.

Yes, ignore the testimonials of actual users - their experience and opinion means nothing. Ignore them. They are just people on the internet that you don't even know.

Just like you.

Seriously, I wish the battery was a bit better, but this is more than adequate - and I am on 4G most of the day. People are either blowing this battery issue out of proportion, had crazy expectations, or have recieved DUD batterys. I think it's probably DUDs because a lot of the people on this site that are experiencing bad batt life are experienced with Android devices and don't strike me as fools. I believe them when they say it has bad battery life - now as to the reason for the problem - I can only speculate.

 

[lamoglinsgal]

It's really not necessary. Backing out of apps doesn't keep them from running in the background. A lot of times they're running from boot up, and I'm taking about apps that have no business running at startup.

Yeah. I guess it's just been implanted in my brain that if I don't properly close something, it will use resources. Thanks, BB!

 

[AustinTech]

its possible some TB's slipped through the cracks, and that's why some are seeing horrible battery life, and some are seeing pretty good battery life...maybe some of us got the ones that weren't reprogrammed?

I was wondering the same thing. Who knows, but it is a plausible explanation.

 

[rushmore]

I was wondering the same thing. Who knows, but it is a plausible explanation.

I suggest the cracks are due to the subjective nature of "light", "moderate", "medium" and "heavy" use. There are too many variables to respectfully take any post about battery life being quantified seriously.

1. 3G/4G
2. Signal strength where the devise is used
3. GPS
4. Wifi
5. Live wallpapers
6. Widgets
7. Social apps updating live
8. Data sync
9. Flash video
10. Browsing
11. Display brightness & up time
12. Media playback
13. Downloading & uploading
14. Camera & flash
15. What apps you are using (games, etc)
16. Audio volume
17. Your actual duration of use for all the above

Come on folks. Can any person consider any post about use a point of parity for their own?

Unless a standard is defined, the mean tolerance at best is +/- 50%.

Added: I have thought of more variables, but the 17 above should put things in perspective.

 

[Papadroid]

It is not as much HTC as the actual chipset. OMAP and Tegra 2 both have dynamic power management built into the die. Radios are also managed depending on use. Seems Qualcomm should be making more efforts there.

My guess is the 9660 radio chip is a key culprit. Either a power hog chip or poorly made drivers.

I suspect the same thing. What I've noticed so far is that when my battery is draining the phone feels warm. I believe that this new radio chip has heat issues. The reason I feel this way is because on wifi my phone is nice and cool. But while using data my phone is rather warm. And as most of us know, heat is bad for batteries. Heat will make them drain quicker.

 

[TheXFactor]

Yes, ignore the testimonials of actual users - their experience and opinion means nothing. Ignore them. They are just people on the internet that you don't even know.

Just like you.

You know nothing about me. And yea, their opinions mean nothing to me. I believe everything written on the internet. Ya, ok. Because that is all they are, opinions. The only opinion that matters is mine, because I'm the one buying the phone. I appreciate what the OP wrote and based on my previous experience with HTC, I agree.

 

[djscoe]

My battery is doing fine. I am in 4G all day long and use the phone frequently and I get at least 24 hours out of it. I turn it off at night and turn it on in the morning. So far, it's been much better than my Incredible.

 

[jsn519]

It helps A LOT if your phone is not constantly switching between 3g/4g/1x connections. A common link between people getting good battery life is that their phones are in a consistent coverage area.

There is a number/app (can't remember it at the moment) to elect to run as either 4g only, 3g only, or 3g and 4g. IF you go 4g only and leave the coverage area it will fall back to the 1x network so you can at least make/receive calls.

Also root access and killing unnecessary carrier apps helps...

Hope this helps!

 

[sean76]

Ok so almost a full week in...

My take now? Better then it was a few days ago. Why?

Well I did a Hard Reset, and have seen some improvements. Most importantly the battery has improved quite a bit, and that was one of my main gripes. So that in itself is a good thing. And my 4G has been spot on, no hiccups at all with connectivity, Fast and Furious!

The other issues are things that can exist on any other phone , so I'm not going to harp on them! Over all, I'm thinking this will be my primary phone for a while....Well until the Bionic comes out.....lol

 

[Familyguy1]

This may help if it has not already been noted.. 4G Off - xda-developers

Have not tested it out...but who knows...

 

[Jrocker23]

Ok so almost a full week in...

My take now? Better then it was a few days ago. Why?

Well I did a Hard Reset, and have seen some improvements. Most importantly the battery has improved quite a bit, and that was one of my main gripes. So that in itself is a good thing. And my 4G has been spot on, no hiccups at all with connectivity, Fast and Furious!

The other issues are things that can exist on any other phone , so I'm not going to harp on them! Over all, I'm thinking this will be my primary phone for a while....Well until the Bionic comes out.....lol

What exactly did you do for the hard reset? TIA

 

[bigsexyy81]

My quick take?

Previous iPhone user (not quite fanboi, but drank the Kool-aid for a bit)
Enjoyed the Bolt, but too many small things (light leakage, cheap and weak power and volume buttons, few critical apps not available - Netflix, Skype) and one major thing (I don't even have to say it) make this thing unbearable as an everyday phone.
Once again an iPhone user
Potentially a Bionic user down the road as I did enjoy Android.