Battery Life

[nhrn]

I got the Thunderbolt because it was the first 4G phone offered by Verizon in 2011, and didn't want to waste getting an iphone that was still 3G, and not all that impressive.  I loved the Thunderbolt screen size, and all the fun that went with it.  What I hate is the battery life.  I am a nurse that is frequently on call for the hospital that I work for.  This means I need a reliable phone.  It is now vital that I bring a charger with me wherever I go.  If I charge my phone before I go to work, if I don't charge it after 4-5 hours, I'm not going to have anything by the end of an 8 hour shift, which is between 11:30 and midnight.  I want a working phone when I go home, so I have a charger in my car.  Doesn't feel very much like a "cordless phone"!!  This reminds me of the very first mobile phone I had back in 1996.  Didn't dare leave it on, only turned it on for emergency calls, otherwise no battery life.  This makes this phone unreliable for my occupational needs, and I have 6 months left before I can even think about an upgrade!!! I will NEVER get another HTC!!  I'm going back to Motorola!!

[Ann154]

Standard or Extended battery?

[pmkoul]

are you trying any apps like juice defender or easy task killer.

I currently use them both....juice defender mainly because I can use that to tell my phone to turn off my data connection while the screen is off (which seemed to drain a lot of battery life)

[nhrn]

I had juice defender, but it slowed certain applications, such as Pandora, so I got.rid of it. I might try the easy task killer, thanks

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

[AZSALUKI]

don't mess with the task killer. it does more harm than good. here's what you do:

a) set it to CDMA auto (PRL)...this forces it to 3g and uses WAY less battery. you don't need 4g while you are at work (i'm assuming you aren't streaming video or downloading large files while working). when you leave work you can put it back on 4g.

b) go in to verizon and complain about the battery life and ask them if they can give you a discount on a Rezound battery. they have the authority to discount accessories and should have NO problem giving you 20% off (maybe 50% if you're upset enough and get the right rep). technically, the rezound battery is not specified for the tbolt, but i have it and can tell you it works just fine and has about 25% more juice. that battery gauge isn't always accurate with it but i con't care since i get much more life from it.

c) if you have a solid wifi network at work then turn on wifi while at work. if you are using 4g while inside of a hospital, it is constantly struggling to get a signal, which strains the battery (LTE doesn't penetrate buildings as well as CDMA....but wifi would likely be the easiest on the phone).

I will almost guarantee that if you do these things, you will have no problem getting through an 8 hour shift on one full charge. i get 20+ hours with 3+ hours of actual usage (apps, texting, talking, browsing, etc).

[nhrn]

My problem isn't when I'm at work, though so think so will try all your suggestions, but I'm concerned when I'm on call and out running errands, so I dont have to be chained to the house.

Thanks for those ideas.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

[gina7239]

The thunderbolt has a built in way to task kill. If your in 4g that could be why but also if it reboots or stuff that brakes up battery as well as if your in and out of signal. I was going to add do you have the screen go black after so many mins? That helps because it's not completely shutting off and turning on again starting up. Or you could buy an extended battery not the rezound though. I would call tech and have then replace your battery.

[Ann154]

If you are just needing the voice portion of the phone too, You can also consider turning off the data during the parts of the day to extend the life of the battery. I often did that with my Thunderbolt if I knew I wasn't going to use the phone during the day, but still wanted phone calls to come through.