HTC Thunderbolt Battery Life Issues: Discuss Problems
The HTC Thunderbolt is now official as we know and was made available to customers March 17, 2011 and this is where we ask if you have any issues such as battery life problems etc.
There may be many problems with the new HTC Thunderbolt that we do not know about and this is a somewhere you can discuss any issues you have and hopefully other readers can help you out a little. There have been many reports that the Verizon Thunderbolt is slightly hampered due to poor battery life.
We had a look around and found many other websites reporting the bad news about battery life such as Gotta Be Mobile saying that the battery will only give around fours hours’ life, even International Business Times reports that this smartphone should officially give you 6.3 hours talk time and 330 hours standby, but this is not the case.
Some are even saying that using the Thunderbolt on LTE will only give you somewhere around 2.5 hours, which is very poor indeed. We also reported that the Thunderbolt is not playing nicely with Skype, are you having this problem?
We are asking all HTC Thunderbolt owners to step forward and let us know if you are having any problems at all with the handset, are you having issues with battery life, software, hardware etc. All comments can be entered below this article in the commenting area. Thanks
Comments
153 thoughts on “HTC Thunderbolt Battery Life Issues: Discuss Problems”
I get 4 hours life with little use at all and the battery gets very hot.
Ha! Im glad I got the droid x besides this…I get better battery life out of my previous enV touch than this thing!
I'm with you Jay (it must be the NAME! haha) Got tired of all the BS with the Thunderbolt so the week prior to release of the TB I got the Droid X the extended battery, car dock, home dock, HDMI cord etc…for LESS than the TB by itself. And you know what? I could NOT be any happier…the X does everything I need and lasts me more than a full day of battery time and that's without turning off EVERYTHING…I'm very glad I decided not to wait for this phone…
yes the battery life is terrible and i can only hope they somehow rectify it immediately. As far as Skpe video goes, there isn't any yet as far as I know.
I got the TB this weekend. It's an awesome phone. Like a typical HTC phone though, the battery life is extremely poor.
I get around 4 hours as well. Skype does not have a version compatible for the phone. Even with these minor setbacks, the phone is great. A real difference in speed can be seen when in the 4g network areas.
I'm shocked by how poor the battery life is. I fully charged it before going to bed, left it at my bedside untouched, and woke up to only 50% battery life?! I've also experienced issues with it bogging down from time to time.
I just returned mine, and will wait for the Bionic for my upgrade. After charging all night, the minute I would take it off the charger, the battery would go to 95%. In under 40 minutes, down to 78% with very light usage.
I was also not happy with only having 2.15 GB internal memory available of the 8 GB, due to all of the bloatware.
Loved the 4G speed, but HTC and Verizon really blew this one.
The battery life is horrific; however, it is the best phone on the market (imo (and the stats to back it up)). Ways to save some juice:
1: Change your display brightness to the lowest setting. It may look like a lot when you first do it but after 5 minutes you will never know.
2: Turn off automatic brightness.
3:Turn screen time out to 15 seconds (30 MAX).
4:Download the Android app killer.
Simple adjustments but will save a decent amount of battery.
everything you said is true except number 4. that will actually harm your phone. it does nothing to improve battery life. just close out the apps properly.
I get 7 hours and used it constantly… But I do agree it can get a little hot but likt I go to school during the day so I rlly only have 7 hours to be on it like it gets you through the day
But overall.I love the fone
Terrible battery life! If it sits doing nothing, the battery will die overnight. Also, I can only use the phone about 4 or 5 hours tops before I have to charge. Applications have to "force close" all the time too. Pretty disappointed in those aspects of the phone.
so turn it off at night stupid. ur not using it so whats the point of leaving it on?
haha good.
Folks the issue with battery life is directly linked to which network you are using, or trying to use. If you are in and out of a 4G area your battery is going to get killed for the simple fact is that is always searching for the 4G signal and jumping between 3G and 4G. If you are in a constant 4G area battery life is as expected, same applies if you are "always" in a 3G area. its the same battery issue with leaving your GPS on or WIFI for a matter of fact, if the phone resources are always searching for a signal then it will kill battery. As of now there is not 4G on/off toggle, it has been rumored to come within one of the first few OTA updates but we all know how that goes, lets just hope someone out there is developing a toggle as we speak. And no the old 4G toggle for the EVO 4G and Bueatiful Widgets do not work because those we designed for WIFIMAX no 4GLTE.
I found a on/off button in the widets, it is called "mobile" network
you can actually type in a *#*#4636#*#* on the dial pad and it should take you directly to "testing". select phone information and scroll down to CDMA +LTE/EvDo auto. you can choose CDMA only so that its not constantly searching for 4G and sticks to 3G so it wont suck your battery life. kinda retarded since the hype abt this phone is that its 4G…but i just go back n forth manually from when i need it most.
battery life has been very good for me-so far -my wireless connection comes and goes and you cannot (at least have not found out how) to make lock screen wallpaper different from desktop?
I had issues with the battery the first 2 days. I charged it over night on Sat. and got up at 7 a.m. on Sunday and unplugged it. When I went to bed last night at 10:00 p.m. I still had over 50% battery life. I used the phone several times throughout the day to make calls, used the internet and my son played games.
I love the phone so far!! The only issue I have had is the text messages showing I have unread when I don't. It doesn't boot up as fast as they said either.
It did that to me once, and I restarted it and its good now
You have to turn on the "quick boot" feature first. Do so by going to settings, then power (it's at the bottom of the screen under Power).
Phone is amazingly fast but battery blows, what good id the phone if you can't use it. Battery lasts 3 1/2 to 4 hrs when in an LTE area. Missing the iPhone even though it's not a google phone a nd apple handcuffs there customers.
I am only getting about 3 hours before the phone goes dead. I am also getting the " force close " on applications as well. Are you guys going to do an update soon?
The skype doesnt even work , when is that going to be fixed?
the version hasnt come out yet, its post launch when that comes out
I am having the same issues as everyone above1 I LOVE THIS PHONE!! AWESOME! HOWEVER, the battery is funny….I would be embarrassed if I were HTC/Verizon! They should have bumped up the battery no doubt. I live/work in areas that switch from no 3G to 3G to 4G LTE!! So I am the prime example of what the worse case scenario is for this phone! Still love it……though I feel that HTC/Verizon should either supply the owners FREE extended batteries or FIX THE DRAINAGE PROBLEM!!
Yes, I am also getting the "Force Close" on 1 app. I was traveling around yesterday looking at homes and had the Zillow app up and it had errors just about every time I was using it. That kinda bothered me!
i just got the tb and charged it all last night used it this morning only for phone calls no data or games "only calls" and the battery is already down to 30% after 1 hr and 53 min. Great phone does everything but i hate to to say it if verizon or HTC cant fix this within my 14 days im going to the iphone 4. ugh. this sucks such high hopes……..
There is nothing wrong with the battery life. I have gps shut off all the time except when I definitely need it. Same with wifi. No issues whatsoever.
I have had my phone for 4 days. Battery in my opinion is bad but not terrible. If it dies overnight without use then you must have another issue. Left my phone on last night and it dropped from 70% to 62%, not bad I'd say.
Same here. Great phone, but horrible battery life. I can get about 3 hours on it.
Love the phone, hate the battery life… hope they send a new battery. At least the battery is changeable. I charged it overnight, took it to work and 2 hrs later with little use, it is at 50%. No other issues.
Idk what y'all smokin on but my Thunderbolts battery is good. Sometimes I have to force it to die so that I can do a full charge. I even make it thru full days. Crack kills.
and what exactly do you do with your phone? because i gave mine a full charge, tooitoff the charger when i went to bed just to test it, went to bed at 4 last night, woke up at 11 and i was at 40%!
Terrible battery life, I think we have our solution right here though http://phandroid.com/2011/03/15/thunderbolt-multi…
There is an app called Phone Info on the market to kill the 4G. Once downloaded go to open it, select phone info, then select CDMA (PRL) ….that will force the phone to work only as 3g mode. If you want the 4G back just go to app again and select 4G + LTE CDMA. This works for me. Battery still sucks on this amazing phone
who makes this app? I can't find it. Yes the battery life stinks!
This works! if you search phone info on the market its the third one down. It switches them back an forth with ease which is good for a user like me because I am in a zone where it is going back and forth. Thanks Jose!
well now @ 2 hrs 30min and phone is dead!!!!!!!!! Horrible
4g can be turned off by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and in the phone info u can change the setting from cdma+LTE to just cdma this will turn on 3g only
Love the phone so far except for the battery life. I fully charged the phone before bed, unplugged it, and I woke up to nearly dead battery. I force close apps constantly, dimmed the brightness and I get 5-6 hours out of it. I may have to send it back if I can't get through a work day.
I followed the method to disable 4G and the battery is much better. My battery now last almost all day. Problem is I bought the phone to use 4G. Issue? Yea I would say…
I think verizon/htc needs to teach people how to use the phone(or any google phone/smartphone). That is the biggest problem but i do agree that the battery should have a bigger capacity then 1400. Any phone with a 1ghz processor should. Besides that, just make sure to have bluetoooth, gps,wifi and screen settings down and dont keep all your apps logged in ie messengers(skype) or video games running….the once every other day phone reboot wont kill ya either!
BTW anyone find good extended battery? ones that don't require a new battery door or make it too bulky?
Thanks!
dv8725@gmail.com
Just wondering what everyone has for settings.
1. any Live wallpapers will kill your battery fast!
2. check your auto sync settings. turn off the ones you don't use or need to use.
3. turn your screen brightness down
4. keep wifi, blue-tooth,and gps off unless you are using them.
I don't have one yet but am planning to get one soon. The steps above helped with my EVO.
battery sucks. other than that no problems.
There are some really simple ways to combat the battery issues:
1) Use WIFI when you can.
2) Set a shortcut for “Mobile Network” and turn the thing OFF when you don’t NEED to use the internet. When the Internet Connection option is off you can still get calls and text messages, you just have to turn it back on to search the web, hit facebook, weather ect..
3) Adjust the screen brightness and timeout to low/min seconds.
4) Get the App Killer and hit it every once in a while.
With these things combined you wont have any issues..
I love the phone itself but the battery life is TERRIBLE. I charged it all night and i am on low battery as of now. Wondering if this could be fixed…… If it can be fixed i would DEFINATELY stay with this phone
Am a bit upset about the battery thus far…I have realized that a bunch of my applications keep opening without me opening them and to keep my battery life I constantly have to keep closing them…just wondering if that is what is sucking the battery life dry???
Everything on this phone is turned off. Made one call – 5 mins max, two text messages, and my phone is already at 15% or lower – just 4 hours after unplugging it from charging overnight. I have my brightness to lowest available level, no live wallpapers, no autosync, no logged into networks, all android apps turned off – this has to be the worst possible battery ever matched to potential power consumption. At this rate, I may as well just pick up a clam shell that can do calls and texts…I don't feel like I can do anything with this phone without running out of battery way too fast. What's the use of having all this capability if the battery can't support it for more than a few minutes. I'm pissed – absolutely considering taking it back. And even if I get the pleasure of spending $50 for an extended battery, how does that fit with the hard shell case/belt clip I bought for a "smooth" back – the bump will render that useless.
Nice going Verizon…Couldn't have debuted a worse experience for the new 4G LTE network…this sucks.
C’mon guys! phones like Thunderbolt should only the owned by smart people! 🙂
You can’t own a Ferrari, keep it running at full speed and complain that it only runs 10 miles/gallon…
The power of this phone should be appreciated responsibly otherwise its battery will run out of juice in a blink of eye (i.e. 4 hours)
Things to consider: check your settings for gosh sake! All the tips above MUST be taken into consideration.
After you kept the fancy but battery draining settings under control, remember something: The phone’s battery consumption will fall after a few charge/discharge cycles. Since everyone’s phone is brand new, wait at LEAST 1 week of constant use to get a real picture.
The phone’s system needs time to adjust consumption and that is what happens to most HTC high end phones. Look for battery calibration online and you will find some useful tips.
Remember the car’s metaphor and don’t expect to get 2 days on a single charge with this phone. If you do, great! but most of the others won’t so enjoy your day with the phone and put it to charge over night.
You can always carry a spare battery, car charger, etc in case your commute is too long or you get hooked up too much.
Peace!
I would be happy with 12 hrs. I am smart people and smart people just like there tools to work as advertised. The specs on the web site are 2 orders of magnitude out of whack. Had I known about how poorly the battery life was or all the tweaking required (don't need to have to remember to turn settings off and on) I would have made a different decision. What good is the phone if it is dead. I need to be able to go ate least 8 hrs without a charge.
I don't expect to get a 2 day charge but I think I can expect to be able to make a 40 min phone call and not lost half my charge. I've turned down all the whistles and bells and can't even make more than 3 calls during the day before I see a power warning!
C'mon guys! phones like Thunderbolt should only the owned by smart people! 🙂
You can't own a Ferrari, keep it running at full speed and complain that it only runs 10 miles/gallon…
The power of this phone should be appreciated responsibly otherwise its battery will run out of juice in a blink of eye (i.e. 4 hours)
Things to consider: check your settings for gosh sake! All the tips above MUST be taken into consideration.
After you kept the fancy but battery draining settings under control, remember something: The phone's battery consumption will fall after a few charge/discharge cycles. Since everyone's phone is brand new, wait at LEAST 1 week of constant use to get a real picture.
The phone's system needs time to adjust consumption and that is what happens to most HTC high end phones. Look for battery calibration online and you will find some useful tips.
Remember the car's metaphor and don't expect to get 2 days on a single charge with this phone. If you do, great! but most of the others won't so enjoy your day with the phone and put it to charge over night.
You can always carry a spare battery, car charger, etc in case your commute is too long or you get hooked up too much.
Peace!
I get about 4 to 5 hours on 4G. with everything on…
I don't know about your tbs, but mine lasts all day long. There are tricks to managing your battery life better, and the best way to do this is to keep your screen turned off. I switched from the incredible to the tb and the tb lasts hours longer. Maybe you need to learn to manage your phones better and get a task killer!
I got the Thunderbolt the first day it came out. I haven't had many problems with the phone. the touch screen is great and the network is fast even on only 3G. The bad thing is the battery. The first day I wasn't worried since I was going to be testing out apps and stuff. But the second day I had it it was fully charged hardly used it got about 6 hours out of it. Charged it again used it for some Pandora, Facebook and about 300 text and it went dead in about 3 hours. I think the battery is the only bad thing but for all the technology and speed it is definitely worth it and the extended battery for this phone only cost 50 dollars.
If the battery situation doesnt get fixed anytime soom, I will be forced to go back to my CURVE. I am dependent on a decent phone for work and this new TB sucks the battery. I have app killer installed. But what good is this phone if i cant use it as it was designed.
They are a few months premature of launching the TB correctly. if it was my dept. My boss would have my head.
Embarassing!!!!!!!!
Battery life on this device is the worst of any phone I've every used. I seriously don't think HTC and Verizon will get out any updates to correct this issue, thus I returned the phone. This is likely the reason for the big delay and all the rumors that emerged prior to it launch. Not to mention that it does not have Skype as advertised, nor does it have any way to backup to HTC using HTC sense (another lie). Heck even HTC's website doesn't even recognize this device on its pulldown list. Thus, no remote wipe capability (another lie). Big fail. Even, if Verizon supplied an extended battery free, it would be bulky and weigh a lot more than it already does. Device is a big FAIL!
So here is what I noticed..
When in 4G, it drains the battery more and more. If I force the Switch to 3G I can get about 10+ hours And it was comparable to having my 1st Generation Moto Droid.
Bump Charging seems like it gives maybe an hour or more extra.
I have Full 4G Coverage here in Oklahoma City. But I cant justify the speed for the amount of Battery Loss. I will be Sticking with 3G until a Fix is provided..
I don't quite get it. I unplugged my phone at 12:30 am this morning and have been on it nonstop. I still have 38% battery life. That is over 12 hours of use! Maybe it's just me!
The phone is amazing, but the battery life is worse than I thought it would be given I would have expected to only have to charge it once a day.
I have done the following to improve battery life:
1) lowered the brightness.
2) diabled all of the background syncing… I do it manually.
3) lowered the time to sleep with no activity to under a minute.
4) Use "Advanced Task Killer" to kill tasks when the pone is put in standby.
I made these changes yesterday and charged overnight. Battery has held up much better today (I should note, that I am not heavily using the phone today and I am in a 3G area), it is still about 7/8 full at 1:30PM.
Brant.
I am having an issue with the microphone. I have the jack in my car to plug the phone directly into the car stereo and I can hear everything alright, but the mircophone stops working as soon as I plug it in. Also, the screen seems to be off and as far as I know there is no way to calibrate the touch settings. Any suggestions?
Hi, There is a calibrate in the setting menu. The microphone thing is a patch fix for the volume. As for the plug into the car stereo and headphones issue. HTC has changed there design and if you dont have a plug with a mic on it, you cant use it during calls. Play music sure, use stnd headphones for calls nope.
Are you kidding? The battery life sucks. Yes, if you turn off all of the features that you bought the phone for (like gps which you need for the location dependent apps) and the brightness so that the screen looks like your old Motorola 4 years ago, you'll get okay battery life. I bought the extended battery and use the phone only moderately and I can not make it through a day. Now the phone feels like a brick in my pocket (a hot brick at that) and I am afraid to use it for fear that it will be dead when I need it later in the day. WTF? The phone rocks WHEN I have the juice to be able to use it. BTW, I have a consistent 4G signal.
I have the Thunderbolt and when I'm at the office, my phone is dead by noon. If the 4G is not strong, the battery dies immediately. A toggle for 4G is badly needed.
I don't have much of a battery life problem because I am in a 3g area only phone but my speeds SUCk. I set my thunderbolt next to my wifes incredible and her internet speeds are much faster. Even running a speed test side by sides shoes her phone faster EVERY time. What gives with the TB's 3G speed?
I got the phone the day it came out. I am a bit dissaponited in the battery life. i went to the mall yesterday for a few hours and it dam near died on me. I keep getting the force close alerts on words with friends as well as facebook and twitter. I use the tango app for video chat which has worked ok so far. I'm in philly so i'm on the 4g network but i watch it and i see it toggle between the 4g and 3g modes…I downloaded the app killer but i think that kills my battery too…This is my 1st dorid and i love this phone but if i wanted all these issues i would have just kept my blackberry storm…
My ONLY complaint is the Battery life I know Skpe is coming…. but thats a BIG only it sucks… I have 3 batteries on the way from a site I found… I cant wait .. But I am looking for HTC and VZW to fix this asap for the money and contract on this phone they have gotta fix it…but the phone and its 4g coverage (phx,az) amazing… Its making VZW look great compared with other 4g phones..
LEt's see, where should I begin….
1)The battery is definitely a problem, I'm getting the same bat. life as most people here.
2) It's turned on and off on me 2-3 times now, and it's no where near as fast turning on as they say.
3) The GPS is awful. More than half the time it can't find where I am and other times it says I'm 20 miles away in a random a** location. I sit at my desk at work in a 4g area on the east coast, and literally have watched it change location 3 times in 5 minutes.
4) Texting has frozen on me multiple times within the past few days.
… Needless to say, I'm very close to taking it back. I am not satisfied with having just paid $250 for the problems I'm getting. I like the camera, the display, and the internet in 4g is extremely fast. However, I am seriously contemplating converting to the iphone 4, or just going back to my old envy3 and waiting for the iphone 5. I'll downgrade speed and camera for a phone worth it's price and proven to work efficiently.
#1 – true
#2 – enable fast boot in your settings. boots in 5 secs
#3 – add the power control app to a screen, ensure standalone gps is enabled when you need accurate location. sounds like your using assisted and hopping between cell towers
#4 – dont konw!
Okay, 2 and 3 are fixable. Number 1 sounds like a general Thunderbolt problem, but number 4 has nothing to do with the Thunderbolt in general. That sounds like a problem having to do with your individual phone, or your reception area.
The solution is disabling 4G. Got 16 hours yesterday on one charge – 3G. This morning on 4G lost 10% in about 30 mins until I turned off 4G. Read the following post that explains how to turn it off. While I want to say how disappointed I am at not being able to use 4G while walking around, happy I am able to find a solution that I can easily live with for such a great phone.
http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-thunderbolt/6…
Not even getting a full day out of a charge, and I talk very little on it.
Yup, poor battery life. Fresh charge, it's a nice pocket warmer though. The uncratchable glass IS scratchable. It's got a nice deep scratch in mine, don't even know where it came from. Only 4 days old.
got first t.bolt in town after spending the last month w/ HTC's EVO both phones are in 3g service and there is really no difference in the battery life that I can tell!t. Bolt is a far superior phone by far! Features,speed,and overall construction!glad I switched……….
There's an extended battery?
Battery life is NOT acceptable: On a full charge it will not last an hour while using gps, With wi-fi and gps turned OFF it will last about 2.5 hours, Battery dies overnight (while in standby)…. Sadly, I am considering retuning my thunderbolt to verizon.
AND the battery gets very hot sometimes.
This phone is freakin' AWESOME! iPhone killer for SURE. Apps, speed, better screen, fast as blazes too! You must have app killer, you have to turn off wifi and gps when you're not using them. I'm going to try the 4g toggle app mentioned above to see, But I may just buy an extra battery. idk, I had the samsung fascinate, which was also fabulous, and I heard all kinds of battery issues abou ti, but it lasted all day for me, and then some. Hopefully they will find a fix. Meantime I would NEVER go to the iPhone becuase I won't let apple or jobs tell me what I can or can't do, and what I can't have. So if they don't fix it, I'll get a second battery. I have a cord at my desk, on my nightstand and in my car. Extra battery and I'm good to go. I will NOT give this back for any iPhone or 3g phone!
just a quick question…I love the phone but hate battery life- can I buy any micro usb charger for my car and job to keep for recharging or does it have to be the htc one?
Went to verizon today and they laughed! Said you are lucky you get more than 3 hours, are you kidding me! I will play with it for two more days but have a funny feeling I am heading back and getting an iphone!
got the phone today. extended battery is a must … pretty much what I expected so I ordered it with the phone. verizon offers a decent deal at time of purchase. I gotta admit this things pretty bad ass. I made this entire post with voice command.
As with most of the other comments, I too have experienced only 3-4 hours of battery life. I also have text message issues, sometimes I can't view or reply or delete them. They were also arriving to my family and friends as coming from a weird 16-digit number, until I Googled to find that the solution was to restart the device.
I'm considering returning the phone I waited for since January because It doesnt even last me through one class even after quitting apps I wouldnt need to run while it sits idle on my desk…I've done everything else right: turning down brightness, forcing quit on unnecessary apps, letting it die completely before charging and then charging up until 100% no more no less.. I'm at my wits end and really dont want to part ways but it's just plain impractical to have a phone for 2 1/2 hours at a time
I've had the Thunderbolt since the 17th and am ready to bring it back to Verizon due to the horrible battery life. If you sell a 4G phone loaded with power draining software, you should consider what most of us use a smartphone for – NOT to be tied down to an electrical outlet. Verizon and HTC should announce a plan to resolve this issue very shortly or they will have a lot of returns. I've also wasted about 4 hours reading blogs on how to change my settings to get the best battery life- I'm still only getting about 4 hours of battery life after making tons of settings changes. All the bells and whistles aren't worth being tied down to a plug, after all this is supposed to be a MOBILE phone.
Battery life is horrible. Only about 2.5 hours. It takes longer to charge the battery than it does to use it up.
My battery life is the worst I have every seen, I am thinking of getting a 12v belt pack so I can walk around with the car charger pluged into my belt pack.
Also, why will Skype only work on WiFi??? The phone works great on YM with voice and video.
awful battery life. something should be done – i'm only getting 3-4 hours max out of it. disappointed that my only option as it remains will be to carry my charger around everywhere???
Got the Tbolt on Thursday. Battery life got steadily worse. Now, without using it, I'm down to 50% in 4 hours and it shuts off at 6 hours. This is with all the extras turned off, the display on for about 10 min total, no calls. I live, drive, and work in 4G. Maybe instead of moving around to try and locate a signal the Tbolt users will start driving around to get out of the 4G area 🙂
ok professor
Yes….battery life is an issue on a feature packed phones. Here is what you can do
1. Turn off 4g and here's how: dial *#*#4636#*#* –> Phone Information –>change CDMA+LTE auto to CDMA Auto.
2. turn off automations (you don't need them)
3. turn off haptic feedback on keyboard
4. turn off gps and bluetooth when not needed
5. don't use live wallpaper
Believe me, these measures in no way kill the wow factor of your device…. it's just sensible energy management
I am getting 8-10 hours battery life using the phone regularly for phone calls (some of which are conference calls of 30 minutes or more), email, and occasional google searches.
Please note: your mileage may vary if you are a heavy media user
Hope this helps
What are automations?
I hate the battery life as well. I just bought a bigger battery for it and should get it Wednesday. The other thing that really bothers me is that when you use voice to text, it doesn't Capitalize the first letter in the sentence. I use voice to text on all emails and text messages and I need it to Capitalize the first letter or I have to go back each time. That is terribly annoying to me. Other than that, it recognizes what I am saying very well.
Great phone, but battery life is a problem on a regular day I go through 3 batteries and although I am a heavy user in a 4g area this is just too much. I am having issues with the gps, no gps satellite connection what so ever. I tried a few tricks written about in other forums. My device gets no gps service so I'm going to Verizon tomorrow.
I have had my phone only a few days and the battery life is a bit poor. I get around 3-6 hours of battery life. Im gonna take some advice on here and lower my screen brightness and change some of the wireless and gps settings and see if that makes a difference. I called verizon and they are aware of the problem….but the extended life battery is $59.00 extra!!! ( thats kinda bad business if you ask me….) I talked them into splitting the cost with me so we will see…….I love the phone though. I will take the battery issues before I get an Iphone for sure:)
Posting this from my thunderbolt. I am experiencing the same issues with the battery. I live in a very low coverage area but work in an area that is saturated with 4G. I'm sure that probably plays a big part. I'm doing some experimenting with settings to see if I can get more battery out of the device. I have noticed if I leave myself signed in to Trillian the battery goes from full to dead in 2 hours. Today I turned off all wireless connections like GPS WIFI and Bluetooth and made sure to keep the brightness all the way down and quit Trilly when not chatting. I also turned off the HTC Sync option. Got about 5 hours before I needed a charge. My guess is something else is going on in the background that I'm not seeing that's eating the battery. I am having no problems with Skype.
I had a couple guys I work with, and at first they had lotts of great things to say abou tthe TB. So I bit the bait and went and got one….I love it…BUT, one of my friends returned his due to the battery life..It frustrated him beyond belief…I have noticed this is a HUGE set back not only for HTC, but Verizon as well…. I would like to think that either company would attempt to fix this, but I highly doubt it. I really want to keep this phone..Has anyone tried the larger battery? I too, am only getting about 4 hours of battery life, and wanted to know if the bigger battery is beneficial. Input would be greatly appreciated.!!
This phone is great except the battery, i used it for an hour or two non stop and it drop to probably 50 then it was left on standby for 2-3 hours and it was dead. Just right now i'm trying this thing i found and will update if works.
http://www.intomobile.com/2011/03/21/howto-turn-y…
Bought 2 TBs BATTERY SUCKS I even asked about this before buying I was told "I think it's pretty good, but I'll get back to you on that" he never did – because his battery was dead
battery really sucks, I've tried app killer, low screen backlight, turning off wifi/gps and still can't get a full day with minimal calls and data. I think I'm gonna return it and wait for the droid bionic.
I was the first on in the Grand Rapids, MI store the morning this device was released and i think that I was surprisingly let down. I was most excited that this would be the 1st 4G phone, Dual Camera, Latest HTC Sence, updated GHz snapdragon and the Kickstand, the kickstand is truly the only thing that i am satisfied with, the dual camera is nice but the audion is horrible when trying to use tango the skype feature is not yet available as mentioned before the release, rumor was the HTC sense software would allow us to change its settings off the computer……AND MY BATTERY LIFE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HTC you really gas'd me up on this one!
8hrs battery life for me. I never put my phone down. I never seem to have a problem with battery life. Try closing apps that aren't killed my the task killer
My battery life sucks I fully charged it and took it off three hours later I went to get on it and it was completely died HTC thunderbolt
Welcome to the HTC superphone world, kiddies. You will need to root your phone and tweak it out with a custom ROM in order to get the most out of it. It takes days for your battery to become stable, so be patient. 4G is a power hog, so buy some extra batts. and deal with it, if you want to rock the 4G. I'm and EVO lover and we have been where you are trying to go now. At first we all complained about the batt, then we developed stragegies for dealing with it. If it is too much, get a different phone ASAP. Once the haters and whiners leave your community, those of you who remain will be hard-core fans of the TBolt. In no time, you will have developers working hard to remedy HTCs mistakes with this phone. You have to commit and you have to take a few knocks before it all works out.
I am having to do three full charges each day and I am not a power user. this is by running basic text email phone use while I am at work. Today I forgot to bring the charger with me to work and I was screwed. It was dead by 1pm. At least my iPhone lasted the full day with the same usage. I am considering returning it even though no other issues exist. I love it, BUT I need it to last longer!!
I love the phone but the battery life is terrible. Only getting about 4 hrs before habing to charge.
since I’ve got the thunderbolt I’ve had nothing but problems with it in 3G and 4G battery is horrible either way in my pocket with out touching it all day I get about 8 hours of life and if I actually do something with it it will last about 3 hours. on top of that I constantly have to reset it because when I call people they can’t hear me. it’s getting really annoying and I’m to the point where I’m using it with no apps and just factory settings and it’s not any better. the name fits it perfectly though because as quick as a thunderbolt I bought it and will be taking it back and waiting for the droid bionic
Everyone who is making these horrific battery claims must not have explored any options available on this phone. Yes the phone comes preloaded with tons of bloatware that runs in the background and makes quick work of draining the battery. If you make use of the htc widgets that allow you to toggle data, wifi and gps, along with turning off auto sync for the services that you don't need constantly, the phone's battery is more than sufficient to last a full day. Yeah you may need to keep a charger close if you plan on using data or gps constantly, but for standard use it should be fine. This issue is extremely exaggerated imo.
I HAVE owned THE THUNDERBOLT FOR TWO DAYS . On a one day test , WITH A FULL CHARGE THE BATTERY BARELY MAKES 5 HRS. I HAD 2 INCOMING CALLS AND 2 E-MAILS THAT DAY. I have everything turned off . IT IS A Super Fast PHONE BUT THE BATTERY NEEDS TO GO MUCH LONGER , You should only have to charge it after the day is done ( 12hrs. min.) ) . You can't be thinking about charging it all the time, if you forget you are all done. I will be returning it !
i get over 7 hours cuz i installed the app killer and also, my screen brightness is not that high. overall, i'm content with it.
Im a new Verizon customer and I decided to go with the HTC Thunderbolt but Im mad at Verizon now because my battery dies out way too fast and the speed is not as fast as it should be. Very good phone but minor problems that should be fixed.
i too noticed horrible battery life at first but then i noticed that the stock app and news app in accounts & sync was checked and i dont use them so stopped syncing them lowered display light to 15 sec d/l screebl an battery life is quite a bit better not great but deff better and tolerable
full battery then overnight it dies, charging it makes it hot. Two hours max. how can they sell this? Don't know what works, never have enough battery. Chargers fall out easily.
Yes I'm getting maybe 1 hr I keep it off most of the time I like the phone but not the battery ! I'm going to contact verzion and see if they can do anything about.
I love the phone overall but my battery life is beyond poor.
Phone is great, but like everyone else, the battery is worthless. Only getting 4 hours or so of normal use. I have spent more time figuring out how to save battery by turning down brightness, sleeping often, no blue-tooth unless needed, setting mail push times and not using any apps that do not allow the phone to sleep. Facebook is an example. Fully charged, installed Fbook and went to bed. 5 hours later the battery was down to 15%..
I really like the phone and have been waiting for it for some time. Now I find myself planning when I can plug it in during the day to not run out of juice and I can not run some of the nice apps.
Purchased the Thunderbolt on Thursday 17-MAR-11 with a renewal contract at Verizon.
First, I love the phone…it's been a long wait for something great, was originally holding out for the iPhone to come to Verizon, but then found out about the Thunderbolt.
Battery Life:
I'm running out of battery before the end of my work day. Yes, I'm on the smartphone like I was with my BB but right now I leave in just under an hour and it's showing my battery with a red sliver at the bottom. Today I have used my email/text/talked 20mins maybe and it has made it 7 hours with less than 10% remaining. I also run "Advanced Task Killer" every half hour. I randomly check out what apps are currently running and it's bonkers, apps seem to run themselves when they want with out my push of the run button. I gotta figure that one out.
Photo Folders:
Still can't figure out how to create a photo album/folder with what software I already have. Guess I have to go and research what's out there.
I can't add to what everyone else is complaining about. I love the phone — HATE the battery!! If you leave the phone on while charging, it will never get a complete charge. I made one phone call today and spent a total of about 15 minutes checking mail throughout the day. Walk out of the house and it's beeping to connect to the charger!! Really defeats the definition of "wireless" service when it's connected to a charger all day long!!
terrible battery, just terrible. have to charge a minimum of twice a day just for normal use. as much as i paid for the phone they should have put the extended life battery in from the factory instead of charging another hundred dollars. this is my first smart phone and i love it, but i hate the fact that the default background is the connect to charger screen.
Awful battery life. I have gps and wifi turned off, brightness at the lowest setting, and am in a fully covered 4g area. With moderate/low use, my phone dies after less than 12 hours unplugged. Will give this another week, if it doesn't improve I will return it.
Battery Life is absolutely horrible. I am extremely disappointed. My battery only last 2-3 hours (only 4 over night. I've charged my phone right before going to bed because I use it as an alarm and I would awaken to a beep approximately 4 hours after being fully charged alerting me to the phone powering down because of Low Battery! That is ridiculous…it's wasn't even being used!). I've had it a total of 7 days now, I am seriously considering returning it, which would require me to PAY a $35 restocking fee!
I've heard that the 4G network is the main problem on why the battery life shortens. To improve battery life, you need to set your 4G network to 3G network. I know this will slow down the phone, but if you want better output, you can just do that.
My battery lasts 3 hours at most and it takes approx 4 hours to charge back up to 50%. I am going to return it and get the droid X. I need a phone that works.
HORRIBLE battery life.. It went from fully charged to 20% in a mere 3 1/2 hours. It was sitting in my bag, doing NOTHING in silence mode while I was in a meeting. Great graphics, great camera, but the battery really is the weak spot here. I'm not even going to wait for a bigger battery… and why would I turn off the 4G when the selling point *is* the 4G.. I'm returning it.
haha
Battery life is horrible!!! I got the ThunderBolt on 3-19-2011 and seem to be charging it every couple hours just to keep the battery level over 50%. This is crazy! Thinking on trading it in if no fix gets done ASAP! I came from the Droid 1 and miss the battery life it had although even that battery wasn't all that great.
stop telling people the secrets.
Just wondering. Is anything being done to rectify the battery issue on this phone? I don't mind toggling between 4G and 3G. I have a routine I follow that keeps the phone from dying.
I would be happy with a discounted standard battery.
I might get a portable battery pack or solar charger.
Let me know. Thanks.
Yes, Jose thank you, a MUST HAVE Band Aid for VZ Droid TB
My thunderbolt battery life is very poor…we all paid over $300.00 for this phone..I bought it thinking it had Skype video….it doesn't..Verizon needs to fix this free of charge.we can't sit back and let them get away with this. Someone call the news media a.d make it public….
All,
The battery life on this phone is terrible. When I first bought the phone, the battery life seemed great. The phone went all day with out needing a charge. When I finally put it on the charger(10:00 pm), I had about 50% life left. Now, I can charge it all night for a full charge the next day that only last for about 4 hours tops. I love the phone,but hate the very poor battery life. I may have to revert to the Iphone.
It is sad that this amazing phone does not have adequete battery life. If this problem is not resolved soon, I am going to revert to the Iphone 4 or wait on the version 5.
there is an app to switch to 3 g i notice battery is good for at least 10 hours
battery life is poor and when plugged into car via auxillary the microphone wont work
This phone has a horrible battery life. The fact that they offer an extended battery that's TWICE the size for $50 is a slap in the face. HTC falsely advertised the battery life on their phone. I think the only way to seek justice is by filing a class-action law suit. This will scare the crappy out of the Taiwan-based company and we'll see them scramble to rectify the problem.
WHO'S WITH ME?
As of 27 March, my HTC TB ceased functioning. It won't turn on. I ran the battery down to near-empty through normal use yesterday, charged it overnight, and now it's a $250 brick. Hard reset doesn't work. Doesn't register that the recharge cable is supplying power – I confirmed the phone was recharging before going to bed.
Heading to the Verizon store momentarily.
Got a Thunderbolt the day after release and I can attest to the horrible battery life. On a full charge I get 4 to 5 hours tops. Last night I plugged it into the wrong port on my laptop, expecting it to charge once I turned my laptop off. The phone died over night and my alarms didn't go off. I am glad this happened on a weekend. Absolutely amazing phone otherwise.
battery life sucks. period. I returned it yesterday.
Bearly get 4 hours out of it. So stupid. I now carry the charger wherever I go.
Everyone had the same complaints with the droid. Incredible.. sucky. Battery. I have the incedible and bitched about the battery life when I got it last year. Everyone will get used to it on the thunderbolt too. I think he bigger complaint should be able size of that thing. There is no way you are fitting it comfortably in your pocket.
have to keep in plugged into the wall all day, its draining faster than the computers usb can charge it. nothing run on it that wasn't running on my Droid X which lasted all day.
Its funny how people justify a new product working so bad. Ohh just shut this off and turn that off. Or keep a spare battery on you at all times. Its a bran new phone and I hate to say it but my iphone never had this problem and it was ahead of its time at one point. Had the biggest brightest screen etc. My wife and I both got the Thunderbolts. Neither one of us can make it through the work day. Im gonna give it some time hopefully they come out with something to fix it. Or we might be sending them back for new iphones.
I have the extended battery and my phone still wont make it through the day I feel like my phone should make it at least 15 hours no matter what im running
Bought the TB last Monday. Asked about the battery issue at Verizon. The rep told Me to buy and extra battery. I take it off the charger at 0500 and use it as a phone less then ten minutes a day and 10 minutes of web browsing. By 1100 hours the phone is at 50 percent. By 1630 it's dead. Can still return it before the 14 day grace and will do this. I have almost all apps turned off and where I work 4G sucks the life out of the battery. Leaning towards the X or bionic if it comes out soon.
I just bought the Thunderbolt a few days ago, everything is great about it but as soon as i click on my messages its really slow takes forever for it to pop up, everything else is fast internet etc….Does anyone know how to fix this?
Horrible Battery life. I have to have a charger at work, car, and several around the house at home. Awful. Also, the 4G internet connection loses signal a lot! and I have to restart, restart, restart. That gets old. And lastly, so many applications force close that it's not worth doing anything on the phone. I wish I could return the phone as a lemon, but Nay, Verizon's return policy is strict. Not happy with the phone, and glad to read that everyone else is having these SAME issues, they're not just me.
Received the Thunder—T on May 28,2011. This is the first device I ever owned that was charged daily three or four times. Never got a chance to download any apps. I have been limited to four calls in and about three calls out and three and then I need a recharge. I had battery life problems with the HTC Incredible, but always carried an extra battery. SAMSUNG
HTC knows the battery life sucks but they sell a more powerful battery for about $60.00. I switching to the Samsung Charge. Buyer Please Be Aware.
GREAT Phone when it has power. Used my phone during a 2.5 hr trip, using it to listen to Pandora and Map navigation mode. Sad mistake! My phone shut down on me close to the end of my trip, got lost because I was relying on my Great HTC Phone 250.00 dollar phone at that. Oh yes I had my phone plugged into the car charger to entire time.
Very Poor Battery Life, So Bad that the car charger would not keep up. And don’t think that the phone will operate off a changer when the battery gets to a low state. It Will Not!
Paid to much for this phone along with a 30 dollars+monthly plan. Verizon should be held accountable for this problem, but they got us all by the ???? Sad :–{
Gene
GREAT Phone when it has power. Used my phone during a 2.5 hr trip, using it to listen to Pandora and Map navigation mode. Sad mistake! My phone shut down on me close to the end of my trip, got lost because I was relying on my Great HTC Phone 250.00 dollar phone at that. Oh yes I had my phone plugged into the car charger to entire time.
Very Poor Battery Life, So Bad that the car charger would not keep up. And don’t think that the phone will operate off a changer when the battery gets to a low state. It Will Not!
Paid to much for this phone along with a 30 dollars+monthly plan. Verizon should be held accountable for this problem, but they got us all by the ???? Sad :–{
Gene
Just reordered a new battery which is still unable to hold a charge…dont know whether it is the battery or the phone at this point. Charge it for hours, take it off and immediately the battery is dead 🙁
I just got a new Thunderbolt through insurance, and the weird thing is that it fully charges in less than 10 minutes and dies in less than an hour. Im really starting to hate HTC phones.