VZW's response to bad battery life

[redraider1]

So I called in the other day because my phone was acting up and asked about the awful battery life and what they told me to do was turn off 4g. I then was like well whats the point of having a 4g phone if I have to turn it off just to make it 5 hours. He then responded by saying they would send me a free car charger. Gotta love how verizon knows they have such a POS on their hands and will do nothing about it. Yeah I know someone will say they shouldn't have to, but they also shouldnt release a phone that can't last half a day on a charge. Hopefully the vigor will have a little better battery life.

 

[Yeahha]

So you are telling us that you are using LTE at all times. The phone is never in your pocket/bag/purse/desk/car and is not in need of the 4G signal. Their solution is to turn off LTE when not using it not all together. By turning off the LTE when you are not in need of it (even surfing the web on forums is not helped that much by LTE) it will save your battery life, by keeping it on if the phone loses signal it will try to get it back by communicating with the tower and the LTE radio uses quite a bit of juice.

 

[CaptainObvious]

What'd you expect them to say? Did you really expect a different answer than everything you've read on all the forums? Its almost douchey to call them up knowing they can't do a damn thing and then get offended when they tell you to conserve battery by switching to 3g. Oh they offered a free car charger? Screw them anyway. I hate free stuff.

That was them having good customer service. You might not have realized that in your attempt to summon magical battery powers from the Almighty Verizon gods.
You might look at them like technicians that practically built the phone and know how to solve problems HTC can't even solve. I look at them like a bunch of underpaid people in a call center.

Sorry if this is coming off a little pissy, i just don't know what you were hoping for.

You say "turn off 4g? What's the point of having a 4g phone then?"

I say "wont do anything to solve your battery issues? You're not ready for 4g yet".

I have a spare battery as a just in case kinda thing. But i never even use it because even with 4g, i get solid battery life. Others have the extended battery and get a few days out of it. Some just use stock and practice battery conservation by turning off GPS, lower screen brightness, etc.

I know. I can hear you saying "turn off GPS and lower brightness? What's the point in having a smartphone if i have to turn everything off?"

I really don't know what to tell ya. If you have a defective battery, get a new one. If you just have bad battery life, find a solution or get another phone. Again, not being rude just realistic.

 

[DangerClose]

i don't know why people think 5 hours of battery life is unacceptable. this aint a nokia 3390. and who is really out somewhere for more then 5 hours with access to a power source (e.g car, home, office). if your laptop gets 7 hours of battery why should the miniature version of it in your pocket get more then that?

 

[jcnyc]

If you're gonna advertise the phone as the not your dream phone but the one after that and it's the first 4g phone, telling your customers to turn OFF 4g clearly means you didn't think everything out beforehand. So in that sense at least you got verizon to admit to you that they f'd up and there' snothing they can do for you. However, at least they gave you a free car charger. Wouldn't do anything for me since no one drives here but hopefully it helps you out.

 

[Yeahha]

i don't know why people think 5 hours of battery life is unacceptable. this aint a nokia 3390. and who is really out somewhere for more then 5 hours with access to a power source (e.g car, home, office). if your laptop gets 7 hours of battery why should the miniature version of it in your pocket get more then that?

I think it is coming from people who go from a dumb/feature phone to a smartphone and don't realize the difference. Yeah your old moto razr may have been able to run off one charge for 4 days while you talked and texted 16 hours a day but that phone doesn't do the same things that any android phone does. This phone is made to call people, send text, surf the web, listen to music, stream/download whatever you wish, play games, run apps, check email, pay bills... Now what was that razr used for? Calls, texts, play some crappy VZW version of a game that would have been cutting edge in 1995, and that is about it.

People want a phone that is sturdy and not cheap feeling like the droid charge, not heavy like the thunderbolt, does everything out of the box that they want a phone to do like uh...no phone, requires not work on the end user to make the phone work just like they like, and has a battery that lasts all day out of the box with no requirement for them to pay attention to what the phone is doing. If you can't make the commitment to having a smartphone, which requires you to learn the phone and work to get it set up to your liking, then perhaps you should save yourself money, time, and trouble and get a feature/dumb phone.

 

[Yeahha]

If you're gonna advertise the phone as the not your dream phone but the one after that and it's the first 4g phone, telling your customers to turn OFF 4g clearly means you didn't think everything out beforehand. So in that sense at least you got verizon to admit to you that they f'd up and there' snothing they can do for you. However, at least they gave you a free car charger. Wouldn't do anything for me since no one drives here but hopefully it helps you out.

The phone after your next with today's technology, looks like they are hitting it perfectly, they could have gone with a more expensive type of battery that weighs less and can have a larger capacity but then the problem would be I paid $750 for the phone on contract and the technolgy is going to be outdated before the contract is up.

 

[GodofBore]

I carried a spare battery for my BB tour, It barely lasted 4 hours on 3g streaming XM! I am really surprised at all the bitching about this phone. Get a Iphone since all the complainers really want to be in a cult like everyone else!

 

[Funderbolt]

VZW solution to poor battery life = wall charger.

 

[hijeffinition]

I have the same battery issues and I'm okay with it, but it's not because of 4G since I don't have a 4G signal at work at that's where I'm at for 9 hours a day.

At my desk I have a marginal 3G signal (1 to 2 bars) which drops to 1X in some interior parts of the building. If I use it sparingly I can get through the afternoon okay. I'm at 70% right now after 4:34 of up time and 1:15 of awake time (minimal browsing, emailing). Of course, if I do anything more than that it gets very hot and the battery drains quickly. I haven't noticed this is any better/worse when I'm at home with a 4G signal.

So it's obviously a different issue for me since I'm not even in a 4G area. But I'm not surprised by VZW's non-solution.

 

[BDBMike]

If you're gonna advertise the phone as the not your dream phone but the one after that and it's the first 4g phone, telling your customers to turn OFF 4g clearly means you didn't think everything out beforehand. So in that sense at least you got verizon to admit to you that they f'd up and there' snothing they can do for you. However, at least they gave you a free car charger. Wouldn't do anything for me since no one drives here but hopefully it helps you out.

If there was no way to turn off 4G then that would be not thinking it through, and i don't know how Verizon messed up seeing that HTC made the phone, and they aren't know for their battery life being great.

But as far as the main point of this thread, I don't know why these battery life complaints keep popping up when there are already 100 "This phones battery life sucks!!!" threads and countless reviews stating that the life isn't great. The guy I talked to at Verizon told me I would get 3, maybe 4 hours tops and I'm sure they told you something similar. In fact, I get 8 hours easily, most of the time 12. My point is, I don't feel bad for anyone who complains because you knew exactly what you were getting into when you purchased the phone.

 

[redraider1]

So you are telling us that you are using LTE at all times. The phone is never in your pocket/bag/purse/desk/car and is not in need of the 4G signal. Their solution is to turn off LTE when not using it not all together. By turning off the LTE when you are not in need of it (even surfing the web on forums is not helped that much by LTE) it will save your battery life, by keeping it on if the phone loses signal it will try to get it back by communicating with the tower and the LTE radio uses quite a bit of juice.

No I have it on 3g most of the time because when I am inside certain buildings it doesnt get good signal. They told me to turn it off all the time which what is the point of having 4g if they tell you to turn it off.

 

[redraider1]

I think it is coming from people who go from a dumb/feature phone to a smartphone and don't realize the difference. Yeah your old moto razr may have been able to run off one charge for 4 days while you talked and texted 16 hours a day but that phone doesn't do the same things that any android phone does. This phone is made to call people, send text, surf the web, listen to music, stream/download whatever you wish, play games, run apps, check email, pay bills... Now what was that razr used for? Calls, texts, play some crappy VZW version of a game that would have been cutting edge in 1995, and that is about it.

People want a phone that is sturdy and not cheap feeling like the droid charge, not heavy like the thunderbolt, does everything out of the box that they want a phone to do like uh...no phone, requires not work on the end user to make the phone work just like they like, and has a battery that lasts all day out of the box with no requirement for them to pay attention to what the phone is doing. If you can't make the commitment to having a smartphone, which requires you to learn the phone and work to get it set up to your liking, then perhaps you should save yourself money, time, and trouble and get a feature/dumb phone.

Nah I have had about every smart phone on verizon and it is always htc that have problems. I had the droid,droid x, fascinate, r2d2 droid, i4 + a few blackberry's and all could easily make it through a day. Yeah they dont have 4g but I still get better battery life with them on 3g versus the tb on 3g. And I wouldnt consider it sitting in my pocket not being used and dying in 3 hours to be me needing to learn anything. Please I know how to work a smartphone and Im not saying it should get blackberry battery life but if it cant make it through atleast a work day there is something wrong. And no I shouldn't have to plug it in multiple times a day.

 

[redraider1]

What'd you expect them to say? Did you really expect a different answer than everything you've read on all the forums? Its almost douchey to call them up knowing they can't do a damn thing and then get offended when they tell you to conserve battery by switching to 3g. Oh they offered a free car charger? Screw them anyway. I hate free stuff.

That was them having good customer service. You might not have realized that in your attempt to summon magical battery powers from the Almighty Verizon gods.
You might look at them like technicians that practically built the phone and know how to solve problems HTC can't even solve. I look at them like a bunch of underpaid people in a call center.

Sorry if this is coming off a little pissy, i just don't know what you were hoping for.

You say "turn off 4g? What's the point of having a 4g phone then?"

I say "wont do anything to solve your battery issues? You're not ready for 4g yet".

I have a spare battery as a just in case kinda thing. But i never even use it because even with 4g, i get solid battery life. Others have the extended battery and get a few days out of it. Some just use stock and practice battery conservation by turning off GPS, lower screen brightness, etc.

I know. I can hear you saying "turn off GPS and lower brightness? What's the point in having a smartphone if i have to turn everything off?"

I really don't know what to tell ya. If you have a defective battery, get a new one. If you just have bad battery life, find a solution or get another phone. Again, not being rude just realistic.

I have gps off and screen turned down all the way. I am being realistic the charge and revolution both get better battery life. These companies need to figure it out it is always htc with piss poor battery life. Look at pretty much all htc reviews and the bad is the battery.

 

[redraider1]

If you're gonna advertise the phone as the not your dream phone but the one after that and it's the first 4g phone, telling your customers to turn OFF 4g clearly means you didn't think everything out beforehand. So in that sense at least you got verizon to admit to you that they f'd up and there' snothing they can do for you. However, at least they gave you a free car charger. Wouldn't do anything for me since no one drives here but hopefully it helps you out.

Thank you atleast you see with how they advertised I would hope it would have a half decent battery since my dream phone would have that. But of course you have all the people on here who say you dont know how to use a smartphone when they have no idea what phone/s I have used before. Just saying this is one reason Iphone does so well because it lasts with battery I just wish android would do the same or atleast HTC. Good thing the next nexus is supposed to come to verizon and be made by sammy who knows how to make the battery last.

 

[Puppa]

Nah I have had about every smart phone on verizon and it is always htc that have problems. I had the droid,droid x, fascinate, r2d2 droid, i4 + a few blackberry's and all could easily make it through a day. Yeah they dont have 4g but I still get better battery life with them on 3g versus the tb on 3g. And I wouldnt consider it sitting in my pocket not being used and dying in 3 hours to be me needing to learn anything. Please I know how to work a smartphone and Im not saying it should get blackberry battery life but if it cant make it through atleast a work day there is something wrong. And no I shouldn't have to plug it in multiple times a day.

You had a droid, a fascinate AND an r2d2 droid2 and never had problems?
All three of those have their major issues. "Yeah, my Fascinate was great, I just couldn't receive incoming calls for a few days..." Sounds like it's about time your lucky streak ran out!

 

[redraider1]

You had a droid, a fascinate AND an r2d2 droid2 and never had problems?
All three of those have their major issues. "Yeah, my Fascinate was great, I just couldn't receive incoming calls for a few days..." Sounds like it's about time your lucky streak ran out!

Yes no problems from any of those. I bought a used droid and r2d2 and used that for a few months with no issues and the fascinate I got straight from verizon and never had any issues I know guess my luck ran out lol.

 

[Yeahha]

I find it hard to believe you had better battery life on the D2G than on the TB. Stock I got about the same on each, rooted I get much better battery life than I did on the D2G. Instead of having VZW send you a charger ask them to send you a battery or extended battery, that sounds like it would fit your needs better than another place you can plug your phone in.

 

[mdeblaz]

To add some extra battery life, switch to Launcher Pro. I went back to LP a week ago since my battery was doing worse since the last OTA and I noticed some gain in battery life. Maybe it's not LP, maybe it's something else... but I'd give it a try

 

[McLabia]

i don't know why people think 5 hours of battery life is unacceptable. this aint a nokia 3390. and who is really out somewhere for more then 5 hours with access to a power source (e.g car, home, office). if your laptop gets 7 hours of battery why should the miniature version of it in your pocket get more then that?

^This. I bought this phone EXPECTING crap battery life. I bought the extended the next day. Still didnt solve my problem so I rooted and put a better rom on it. I think that in general, if youre not willing to do anything to fix your phone because of the fact that you think you are entitled to one thing or another, well, that sucks for you. If youre not willing to do anything to fix it, you dont get to bitch about it. Even without rooting there are a TON of ways to get better battery life. Juice Defender is one damn good one.
/rant

 

[thorthunderblt]

So I called in the other day because my phone was acting up and asked about the awful battery life and what they told me to do was turn off 4g. I then was like well whats the point of having a 4g phone if I have to turn it off just to make it 5 hours. He then responded by saying they would send me a free car charger. Gotta love how verizon knows they have such a POS on their hands and will do nothing about it. Yeah I know someone will say they shouldn't have to, but they also shouldnt release a phone that can't last half a day on a charge. Hopefully the vigor will have a little better battery life.

When did you buy the phone? when it first came out or a couple weeks after that? If you did any research on the phone u should of known that the battery isnt all peachy keen. So you coming on here saying that u are sick of the battery and u did research on the phone is just pointless. In verizons eyes you should do a complete background check before you make the purchase so you dont have any reason to call them and complain about the battery or software. I know that i did research on it since i was paying $249 for it so i knew what i was going into.

 

[xeno2011]

Verizon states on their website that the Thunderbolt gets 367 minutes of usage battery life. That pretty much says it all right there. On my last phone (the illustrious LG Chocolate Touch), I literally could watch the battery indicator run down in about 25 minutes if I tried to access the internet - so the dumb phones wouldn't fare well in these situations anyway. I get a days worth of battery easily on my Thunderbolt with my usage, and my wife gets two days on her iPhone 4, and the Thunderbolt has a larger screen as is 4g, so it's not surprising that it doesn't do as well as the iPhone. Verizon can't market phones as well with "great battery life" as a feature, compared to "4g", "internet", "email", "hotspot", etc, so you take what you get, pretty much.

 

[Yeahha]

That is over 6 hours of battery life, I would like to see what they call useage. My battery lasts over 10 hours while I am at work all day but that is only with around 1 hour of use and being off airplane mode and I am still under 70% by the time I get home, and usually have to plug it in within 2.5 hours

 

[UBRocked]

I get so tired of people arguing about others experiences. You don't know how other people use their phone, you don't know all the apps installed/running on their phone, you don't know how many times they take their phone out of their pocket to turn the screen on and check to see if they have any important notifications.

If someone says they get better battery life with one phone over another... Who can argue with that?

Enough with the back and forth BS! Why does it always have to turn into an argument? Offer an opinion, advice, or move on.

 

[MorTality]

I remember when I had to carry an Audiovox 6700 for a company I worked for. I had chargers everywhere and got maybe 2 or 3 hours of battery life. I cant complain with either the stock battery life or the extended battery life of the thunderbolt. I think the phone is actually really good for what it does.