ThunderBolt real world battery life.
dervin3
Enthusiast - Level 3

 I have tried doing extensive research on the thunderbolts battery life and I don't need outstanding battery life but I do need a solid 13-15 hours with light calls but fairly moderate to heavy texting and light web browsing. Can an unrooted stock thunderbolt lasts this long assuming basic battery saving strategies are used such as GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth disabled, and increased refresh time intervals?

 

   I'm asking here because I've seen alot of tips on saving the battery but I haven't seen a real clear cut answer on just how long it can last. Like I said I just want to do the basic battery saving tips and some light calling and web browsing but frequent texting. Is 13-15 hours asking too much?

 

0 Likes
1 Solution

Correct answers
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
dervin3
Enthusiast - Level 3
Now that I have gotten my phone and have had a few days to really see how it does I can say I get great battery life. All I have adjusted is turning off 4g since I'm not in an area with that right now and set my brightness to 30% and I'm getting great life. Easily 20-24 hours and that's egg moderate use. About 5-6 hours of awake time. Tomorrow I'm going to use auto brightness to see how that does. If the life is still good then all I will have disabled is 4g. One other adjustment I do is WiFi at home but that's it. I still have always on data on and background data on also. I can't speak for everyone but I think the Battery life issues is blown out of proportion

View solution in original post

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1

I think you're looking for a blackberry not any phone running android

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
dervin3
Enthusiast - Level 3

 I personally don't think that asking for a little over half a day of battery life is asking for too much. If people say that the thunderbolt cannot do that amount of time on a single charge I do have a backup plan in the form of the Droid X

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
AZSALUKI
Legend
Since turning off the 4G radio, I can get 15 hours of up time and 3 hours awake time. Everyone's idea of "moderate" or "heavy", etc use is different. But I can tell you that if you don't need the 4G all day then you can get through a full day while actually using it for 3 hours. The battery info gives you in detail the "up time" and "awake time" (how many minutes you are actually using the device). I track it and got over 3 hours of actual use yesterday while it was on for over 15 hours with about 15% left. I'm not using the extended battery.
0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
dervin3
Enthusiast - Level 3

 I'm not going to be in a 4G area atleast anytime soon so even if you aren't in a 4G area and 3G is displayed on your status bar its still sucking juice up like you're in a 4G area?

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
cmsjarhead
Newbie
iinstalled the 2750mAh battery and I'm easily getting 15-18hrs of heavy use out of it.
My stats for Friday (I am not using any power saving methods nor app killers these results are all wition the 4g network)
-3.7hrs of voice calls using a Bluetooth headset.
- received at least 170 emails. Push mail with prime hrs from 0600-2300. Responded to about a dozen on the phone.
- 30 texts, light day.
I plugged the phone in at midnight with 37% power available.

I like the extra bulk of the extended battery but, that may be the deciding factor.
Ma
0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
Tidbits
Legend

Battery life isn't that bad...  It was better than my Droid 2.

 

I have 2 iphones that last me 2 days.  Android devices i tend to tinker with it 100x more than I do with my iphone so I assume if I tinkered with my iphone as much as I did with Android devices battery life would still be better, but I wouldn't probably get no more than 12 hours.

 

Currently I am using a TB, but I am thinking about going back to the iPhone 4.  On good days I get around 12-15 hours, on bad days I get around 6-8 hours.  I have the stock battery, and I am in at the outskirts of extended 4G coverage.  Sometimes I get 4G in my house. I step outside I get 3G.  I walk across the street I get 4G.  I walk to my neighbors house across the street I get 3G.

 

One thing I did notice if I turn off the TB and charge it to full, and then turn it on the battery widget types show 95-97%, So I charge it to full.  Since doing that my battery life was extended somewhat.  Got at least 1-2 extra hours.  I still have about a week left to test it out, and I shall before I make up my mind...

 

If anyone asks...  I used my mothers upgrade(I pay for her cell service so it's my choice :smileyhappy: )

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
AZSALUKI
Legend

 


dervin3 wrote:

 I'm not going to be in a 4G area atleast anytime soon so even if you aren't in a 4G area and 3G is displayed on your status bar its still sucking juice up like you're in a 4G area?


people that aren't in 4g areas are getting much more battery. you just turn off the 4g radio all together and it wont waste juice trying to search for a signal. i have great 4g coverage and it's kind of a bummer that it kills the battery so quick, but i can just turn on 4g if i want to stream or download large files. i still may get the extended battery if they'll give me a discount on it because i would really prefer to have 4g on all the time.....but for now i'm using 3g and wifi only and EASILY getting through a work day. yesterday wasn't quite as good as the day before, but i still had 10 hours on and nearly 3 hours of use when i fell asleep. it was dead when i woke up so i'm  not sure how many more hours it went before shutting off. my kids played angry birds for an hour straight before i crashed...lol. i'm sure that's what ran it down quick. stock battery, no task killers, i keep the screen very bright, and i have email set to pull every 15 minutes. if you have strong coverage in your area you should be fine. the real problem is those who have a weak signal. it's constantly looking for a signal and dies in hours.

 

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
Newt76
Newbie

When I first got the phone I was getting maybe 3.5 hours until the battery completely died. I found that if you go to Accounts & Sync  under the Settings icon and turn off Background Data, you will get MUCH better battery life. 

On a full charge I am getting about a day and a half of battery life. You're email and messages will all still update, it just tells the phone not to constantly update all of your news feeds and such whenever it wants. You'll be able to keep the 4G service (which is why most of us bought the phone in the first place, right?)  and be able to use the phone all day without having to worry about charging the phone every 5 minutes. The only issue I have found with turning off the Background Data is that the Market will not work without it, but I just turn it back on while searching for Apps and then turn it back off when i am done. 

 

Hope that helps 

0 Likes
Re: ThunderBolt real world battery life.
dmruser
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for that bit of info - I just went back and got a Tbolt for the second time (battery life killed my joy the first time around) and I opted for the extended battery and the life of a charge is dramatically longer.  Now if I can fiddle with the phone and get a bit more, I will be very happy!

0 Likes