Huge Battery Drain - Indicative of a problem

[slinky]

Today I took an accounting of my usage of the Thunderbolt. The battery drain is unacceptable and I'm guessing that something is causing a problem that can be remedied, even though the battery life remains paltry.

In short - I listened to music for 90 minutes while using the phone to rearrange apps, read a few emails, etc. for about 50 minutes of that time, all while having airplane mode on. Drained the battery from 100 to 65%. Not very good at all. A few short video recordings and pictures drained the battery another 15%. I was at a dinner and the phone was at 50% and didn't use it at all except to play a 4 minute high definition video clip that was on the card. By the end of dinner 2 hours later, the battery was down to 10%. I have nothing knew on the phone that I didn't have on the Incredible.

I'm experiencing some very strange quick drains that are unexplainable. Others are too. Some of you are getting better battery life, nothing that I deem acceptable but better than this. I'm going to be speaking with someone tomorrow that I know who has technical background and hopefully will have some answers. Doubtful at this point who knows. Verizon Wireless also instructed me to take the phone into a store to have it checked - as if that will make any difference. They will probably give me a new battery and tell me to see what happens.

 

[Craiger22]

Aside from there being an obvious glitch with the TB, I think its biggest demise is that tiny battery. it is not big enough to support the device in perfect order, let alone with some issue causing unintentional drain

 

[want a droid]

Battery life for us in 4G areas is tough.

Sent from my ADR6400L using DroidForums App

 

[mkjellgren]

Honestly, it must be as simple as the LTE radio constantly polling for signal. I'm in a 3g only area and have no issues making it through a whole day even with almost constant use. No sudden drops for me at all and literally almost zero drain in standby, maybe 5% drain overnight even with most widgets syncing once per hour. I use WiFi whenever I can (usually about 75% of my up time is on WiFi). Overall I get 10-15 hours on a single charge under very heavy work load. Go in to your local VZW store and see if they will give you a replacement battery, if that doesn't help download the phone info app from the market and change your preferred network type to CDMA auto (PRL). That should prevent the LTE radio from polling for a signal. If that stops the drain in standby, you know what the problem is...hopefully someone comes out with a one touch 4g toggle widget soon.

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[jdbaker82]

You really can't turn off the 4G on the Thunderbolt? If not that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard I don't know how they got away with that.

 

[mkjellgren]

You really can't turn off the 4G on the Thunderbolt? If not that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard I don't know how they got away with that.

At this point the only option is to use phone info app to change your preferred network settings. The phone info app is essentially a shortcut to the *#*#4636#*#* testing menu (same as dialing *#&#4636#*#* from the phone)


Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[jntdroid]

This is the one issue that's kept me from jumping on this phone... I'm in a 4G area 99.99% of my time, and if my battery is dead after half a day, that's just plain ridiculous and unacceptable. That's probably a worst case scenario, but still...

 

[vzdroid13]

Does anyone think that the 1600 mah seidio battery would make a difference. Im thinking about getting it, but I don't want one those huge ones with the new back. I dont need the phone to last forever, but a little longer would be nice.

sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[2001400ex]

Does anyone think that the 1600 mah seidio battery would make a difference. Im thinking about getting it, but I don't want one those huge ones with the new back. I dont need the phone to last forever, but a little longer would be nice.

sent from my Thunderbolt

Exactly. People have had good things to say bout the Siedio in other phones. I read an article that it had less than the advertised Mah though. So doubt it will help much. I would pay for it for an extra couple hours though.

 

[want a droid]

I will most likely end up getting the seidio 1600mAh battery. I could use every bit of extra battery I could get (while I don't want to destroy the look of the phone, see: Verizon's 2750mAh battery).