How can you do the equivalent of a battery pull with the Razr?

[bbtkd]

My wife is up for a new phone and she likes the Razr, and may get the Maxx. The main concern is that we've had Droid I, Droid II, Bionic, and other smartphones that periodically need a battery pull to get them going. They eventually fix the software to reduce the need, but the need never seems to go away completely. I asked a Verizon store drone (aka sales critter, or "expert") how you deal with no ability to do a battery pull. First he said you could do a factory/hard reset. Sure, and when my PC locks up the first thing I want to do is throw away all the files and reload Windows...

I said that wasn't usually acceptable, so he said "just turn it off". These guys apparently don't use the products they sell if they don't understand that if it needs a battery pull you can't shut it off, and a factory reset can lead to hours of recovering things that don't reload from Google, such as app files, settings, etc (and you can't install a decent backup without root). It would have been very simple and cheap for them to install a small recessed momentary-break switch in line with the battery which would allow you to use a paperclip to do the equivalent of a battery pull. So - what's the experience of Razr users? Have you found a way to soft reset? Have you had to return a phone for a problem you feel a battery pull would have fixed?

 

[obxsalvo]

Power button and volume up or down or together. Hold them about 10 sec.

 

[jpcalhoun]

My wife is up for a new phone and she likes the Razr, and may get the Maxx. The main concern is that we've had Droid I, Droid II, Bionic, and other smartphones that periodically need a battery pull to get them going. They eventually fix the software to reduce the need, but the need never seems to go away completely. I asked a Verizon store drone (aka sales critter, or "expert") how you deal with no ability to do a battery pull. First he said you could do a factory/hard reset. Sure, and when my PC locks up the first thing I want to do is throw away all the files and reload Windows...

I said that wasn't usually acceptable, so he said "just turn it off". These guys apparently don't use the products they sell if they don't understand that if it needs a battery pull you can't shut it off, and a factory reset can lead to hours of recovering things that don't reload from Google, such as app files, settings, etc (and you can't install a decent backup without root). It would have been very simple and cheap for them to install a small recessed momentary-break switch in line with the battery which would allow you to use a paperclip to do the equivalent of a battery pull. So - what's the experience of Razr users? Have you found a way to soft reset? Have you had to return a phone for a problem you feel a battery pull would have fixed?

The closest thing you can come to a battery pull with the Razr is a hard reset which is accomplished by holding down the power button and the down volume rocker at the same time for 10 seconds. It will power off your phone and reboot.

 

[SallyC]

Power button and volume up or down or together. Hold them about 10 sec.

Yup. I've only had to do it once since November but it worked fine with no bad effects.

 

[bbtkd]

The closest thing you can come to a battery pull with the Razr is a hard reset which is accomplished by holding down the power button and the down volume rocker at the same time for 10 seconds. It will power off your phone and reboot.

OK - so that leaves your data intact - not a factory reset, correct?

 

[jpcalhoun]

Yup. I've only had to do it once since November but it worked fine with no bad effects.

I've only had to do it once and it was something I was doing...not the phone. It works fine, accomplishes the same as a battery pull.

 

[jpcalhoun]

OK - so that leaves your data intact - not a factory reset, correct?

Yes, it is NO factory reset.

 

[SANhacker]

Correct. No data loss.

 

[FoxKat]

It would have been very simple and cheap for them to install a small recessed momentary-break switch in line with the battery which would allow you to use a paperclip to do the equivalent of a battery pull.

The paperclip reset switch has been effectively replaced by an electronic version of the same. The two-button reset on the Droid RAZR is NOT a software dependent feature. It is a direct HARDWARE POWER CYCLE that is built-into the motherboard. When the two buttons are pressed for the 10 seconds it triggers an independent hardware process that can not be avoided or circumvented by a lock-up of the system or an app. Once the 10 seconds is up, the motherboard electronically cycles the power to itself so it accomplishes the same goal. The reason it waits 10 seconds is so that it is not triggered accidently. It is essentially the same as holding the power button on the front of most Windows PCs. The wait also drains the on-board power capacitors so that there is no residual power left when the power cycle takes place. It is similar to when the tech support reps tell you to pull the battery for 30 seconds to allow all power on the board to drain. Otherwise there is the possibility without draining the power capacitors that there could be components that are still in an active state once the battery is reconnected, and the reset may not be complete.

 

[smalltowngirl13]

nice explanation fc...

~to powerful to fall into the wrong hands~

 

[bbtkd]

The paperclip reset switch has been effectively replaced by an electronic version of the same. The two-button reset on the Droid RAZR is NOT a software dependent feature. It is a direct HARDWARE POWER CYCLE that is built-into the motherboard. When the two buttons are pressed for the 10 seconds it triggers an independent hardware process that can not be avoided or circumvented by a lock-up of the system or an app. Once the 10 seconds is up, the motherboard electronically cycles the power to itself so it accomplishes the same goal. The reason it waits 10 seconds is so that it is not triggered accidently. It is essentially the same as holding the power button on the front of most Windows PCs. The wait also drains the on-board power capacitors so that there is no residual power left when the power cycle takes place. It is similar to when the tech support reps tell you to pull the battery for 30 seconds to allow all power on the board to drain. Otherwise there is the possibility without draining the power capacitors that there could be components that are still in an active state once the battery is reconnected, and the reset may not be complete.

Ok, that concern dismissed, now we're down to the merits of the phone. Thanks to all!

 

[jpcalhoun]

Ok, that concern dismissed, now we're down to the merits of the phone. Thanks to all!

Good luck with your decision. From my personal experience, the Razr is an exceptional phone...I love mine and would not trade it for any other smartphone on the market. I've had Treo, Blackberry and two other Android phones and the Razr is by far the best (yes, I have tried the Gnex and the Rezound). I don't want to start a fight...so I'll just say the Razr is the best.