Purchased and Returned Eris/Could I take Mot Droid Back If Not Liked?

[pittguy578]

I bought an Eris on day 1. I liked the phone, but I hated the battery life so I returned it and got my old Dare turned back on. I have read where the Motorola Droid has a slightly better battery life. Also, I have found other applications which can help manage the power usage. I had used task killers to try to save the battery on the Eris, but I didn't know there were possibly better applications..

If I got the Droid and didn't like it (what is concerning me is the camera, but that might be fixed), could I take that phone back as well? I really want a smart phone and want to stay with Verizon, but I want to make sure I am not stuck with someone I don't like. If they fix the camera on December 11th with the update then I will definitely keep the Droid.

 

[Ataranine]

I bought an Eris on day 1. I liked the phone, but I hated the battery life so I returned it and got my old Dare turned back on. I have read where the Motorola Droid has a slightly better battery life. Also, I have found other applications which can help manage the power usage. I had used task killers to try to save the battery on the Eris, but I didn't know there were possibly better applications..

If I got the Droid and didn't like it (what is concerning me is the camera, but that might be fixed), could I take that phone back as well? I really want a smart phone and want to stay with Verizon, but I want to make sure I am not stuck with someone I don't like. If they fix the camera on December 11th with the update then I will definitely keep the Droid.

The battery life on the Eris is fine. You don't need task killers. I get 18 hours out of mine with moderate to heavy usage, and Always-On mobile enabled.

 

[pittguy578]

Not sure how you pull that off. I took mine off of the charger and used it for less than 30 minutes and already was down 20%. I had two Erises-the girl at Verizon talked me into getting another one when I took mine back-she said it may have been the phone so I gave it a second shot. Still poor battery life for not being used. I even turned off the internet/networks/whatever else I could turn off with no luck.

 

[DankyDroid]

I hear this at least once a day, from a customer, it's the same story, just the model of phone varies.
Today, lady comes in, states that her samsung goes completely dead after a full charge w/in 3 hours, while on standby.
Now I know that is possible, given certain conditions, but I have to duplicate that before I can exchange the phone as per DOA or warranty, well, plugged it in, 2 hours later, full charge, 5 hours later she comes back to see what happened, surprise surprise, it is still fully charged.
The day before,
another lady, states that her Eris, charged all night long, said it was charging, and when she unplugged it, it went completely dead. Then she said that it would not charge at all.
I asked her to leave the phone, told her it would take about 4 hours to troubleshoot it, I plugged it in in front of her, showed her that it was charging, she states, "yes but it did that last night too, and blah blah...."
Long story short, she comes back 5 hours later, phone had been fully charged and unplugged, just like the Samsung today, and sitting, and magically, it was damn near full charge when she came back.
She asks,
"Well what did you do?"
"I plugged the charger into the phone, and plugged it into the wall," was my response.
Point to this,
people are ********.
People are in general, clueless as to what proper expectations should be for battery life on a handheld device, and clueless as to all the factors that play into the battery life on standby, or w/ talk time or data use. Not to mention settings on the phone.

It's funny the things people bitch about w/ regard to their phones when they think that they are entitled to a new phone because they breathe air. But when push comes to shove, and I attempt to duplicate the "issue" (w/ regard to battery useage), 9 out of 10 times, the "terrible problem" people claim to have w/ battery life, is in their head, or imaginary.

Hell, I had a young guy in yesterday that stated as he walked in, "this phone sucks, I can't hear anything when I call people or when they call me, can I swap it for the droid?"

He was such a dumbass, I thought he was going to shit himself when I asked him "what is your phone number?"
He says, "er....um..why?"
"Because I am going to call you."
"Oh..."

I place the call, hand him the phone, and ask him...
"Can you hear me now?"
The look on his face,
priceless.
I literally called him 12 times, and chewed up 15 minutes farting around w/ him on the phone until he figured out that he wasn't gonna trade his intensity in for a droid just because he said his phone didn't work.

pittyguy,
either you are the unluckiest guy in on earth, or you don't understand the phone. I say this because, it is not unheard of to get a bad phone out of the box, but to get 2, that have the exact same issue, tells me it is probably not the phone. JMHO I am not judging you, just saying....
good luck, I suspect that you will not be happy w/ the droid, you may want to see if there is a way you can trick someone into doing and esn change for you w/ a star tac or talkabout, or maybe a 3585i, those will get you like 3 or more days on battery lol.

All 3 of those instances happened, today and yesterday, and everyday, I could be wrong, but your story, doesn't sound any different to me.

 

[mimmic]

How many days did you keep your Eris'? The first 2-3 days with mine were horrible, but after that..I've had no problems with battery life. Day 1 I completely killed the battery and that night i let it charge. took it off charger about 8am and had a plan of killing the battery that day. used it all day and abour 8pm it did finally die, so about 12 hours.

Now...after doing all of that (conditioning the battery, which I didn't think we'd have to do anymore) I can wake up at 6:30am and at roughly 11pm when I head to bed my phone is still at 40% or more battery life depending on how much I use it. I work in IT, and my exchange email goes to my phone, I'm constantly out in the field writing emails, researching problems with the internet etc.... I'm using my phone quite a bit.

You might have just not given your phone time to properly condition the battery.

PS. I leave all gps settings on. bluetooth on (for my car). and the always on network feature is on. only thing turned off is wifi unless I can't get a cell signal in the building I'm in.

 

[hrbib21]

It's funny the things people bitch about w/ regard to their phones when they think that they are entitled to a new phone because they breathe air.

I couldn't agree more. That's the problem with having a 30 (60) day return policy, people abuse it and this forum is filled with threads about returning phone X for phone Y. Does nobody do any research on an item they will (probably) be using for the next 2 years?

I need to add a caveat: Both Android phones are what, a month old? So I can understand some folks who bought in at the beginning not being able to research. But now we're a month in, please research.

 

[RvLeshrac]

DankyDroid sounds like the Verizon rep that was on the phone when I was screwing around and wasting my time trying to figure out why *every* Verizon dealer offers a plan that, apparently, no longer exists. Horribly rude. And I work retail tech support, so I *know* rude, and I *know* stupid.

Also sounds like every other cellular rep I've ever spoken to. Always willing to point out that things work in the store, but not willing to accept that conditions change, and not willing to ride out to where I actually, you know, *USE* the devices. Full signal in the store is great, if you're offering to let me move in.

Having a phone sit around charged is fine, but I'm pretty sure that she was, well, *using* the phone, not letting it idle. You'd have to have a *broken* phone, not merely *defective,* for it to die after a few hours asleep.

I've had *almost* nothing but issues with the Eris and the Droid so far. Both phones have problems, though most of them don't intersect, and most of those problems could be deal-breakers for different people.

I kept my Eris for 4 days, and the battery life didn't improve. Topped out at 9 hours. I got a phone to *use* it, not for it to be a brick. If I wanted a brick, I'd have gone with T-Mobile's terrible coverage.

Droid is better in the battery department, but if Battery Left is right, still only 12 hours, and that's not going to cut it. If a 3GS can make it through my entire day, the Droid should.

 

[DankyDroid]

DankyDroid sounds like the Verizon rep that was on the phone when I was screwing around and wasting my time trying to figure out why *every* Verizon dealer offers a plan that, apparently, no longer exists. Horribly rude.

lol
Wow, you are right on point buddy very relevant to the OP. So what exactly does a Verizon "dealer" and the plans they offer have anything to do with the OP? And what in my post was anywhere remotely related to this?

And I work retail tech support, so I *know* rude, and I *know* stupid.

I bet you do, so when someone comes in w/ a question, do you just go off on a rant about a totally unrelated topic, like how you didn't get your supersize fry in the drivethru earlier that day?

Also sounds like every other cellular rep I've ever spoken to. Always willing to point out that things work in the store, but not willing to accept that conditions change, and not willing to ride out to where I actually, you know, *USE* the devices. Full signal in the store is great, if you're offering to let me move in.

3 Points
1. In my post, (which you obviously did not read, or read and comprehend), the issue was not service, it was a power issue. The cust said, ver batum, "I did not use the phone at all, it was powered on and just died."
I asked her, how much did you use the phone, were you using data, where was the device, in a basement, steel shipping container, main floor of your house, what?
2. W/ regard to "riding out where you "use" your phone, I have done this, personally, and Verizon does this as well.
3. As per company policy, I have to duplicate the "issue" in the store or confirm it first person, before I can provide a warranty exchange for a device. That's policy, not my rules, that is VZW rules. This cuts down on the people that think they can just make something up, bring in a phone, and get a new/different phone. Which happens about 10 times, everyday.

Having a phone sit around charged is fine, but I'm pretty sure that she was, well, *using* the phone, not letting it idle. You'd have to have a *broken* phone, not merely *defective,* for it to die after a few hours asleep.

Well I was there, I can only go off of what she actually told me, I didn't see you anywhere around? Maybe you were at her house? Maybe you should come in w/ her next time. ROFLMAO How exactly do you know she was well, "using" the phone?

I've had *almost* nothing but issues with the Eris and the Droid so far. Both phones have problems, though most of them don't intersect, and most of those problems could be deal-breakers for different people.

I kept my Eris for 4 days, and the battery life didn't improve. Topped out at 9 hours. I got a phone to *use* it, not for it to be a brick. If I wanted a brick, I'd have gone with T-Mobile's terrible coverage.

Droid is better in the battery department, but if Battery Left is right, still only 12 hours, and that's not going to cut it. If a 3GS can make it through my entire day, the Droid should.

Good luck, I mean w/ everything, phones, job, life. I can't imagine someone working in "retail tech support" that doesn't comprehend basic trouble shooting procedures. But maybe you do, who knows?

I apologize to the OP, I don't want to muck up your thread w/ this back and forth, but did feel compelled to respond to this very enlightened poster, hopefully if he feels compelled to engage in an off topic rant directed at me personally, he will do so through the PM or email, which would obviously be more appropriate, and not so, um...

rude and stupid. But if there is anyone that knows, rude and stupid, by golly it's RvLeshrac.

 

[RvLeshrac]

But... you went off-topic in the first place. And I was hardly the one belittling the people who may *genuinely have believed* that they had issues.

Doesn't help that *every single review* of the Eris cites a poor battery life, while you're implying that people who have battery life issues are hallucinating.

I called VZW about my signal strength. Reps hardly offered to come take a look, only response I got was to exchange the phone. I asked about my battery life, and the only response I got was to exchange the phone.

http://img.drlinky.com/images/1819/DroidNoMAC.png pretty well explains both that a) I have a low signal and b) The battery will drain faster *because* I have a low signal.

And the resolution explains that I *have* a Droid.

*edit*

http://img.drlinky.com/images/1820/DroidNoMAC.png is 8 minutes later (duhclock). If I call myself with another phone, straight to voicemail.

*edit2*

http://img.drlinky.com/images/1821/DroidBatteryLife.png And one more for the road.