The HTC Thunderbolt rolled in and out of my hands as fast as a bad thunder storm. In my multiple years with various Blackberry devices I learned how to hate my fruit flavored smartphone and forgot how to love it. I was really excited to get my hands on my first smartphone faster than most of the Thin Clients in the marketplace. The glowing feature list of the Thunderbolt re-affirmed that my RIM hardware was worthless and it was time for an upgrade. I was wrong, I was sold, and I returned.
If you’ve read anything about the Thunderbolts Battery Life you might already have reservations. If battery life is anything of a concern for you, this phone isn’t going to make you happy. While the other features of the phone seem very enticing (and they are)… for someone like myself who is constantly talking, writing e-mails and sending text messages on the go, the Thunderbolt will do nothing but leave you looking for more power. Some fixes have been provided, including an LTE network Toggle which allows you to disable the 4G connection. There’s also task killer applications, and power management applications available in the android store. But, Verizon has nothing official to say, no information on Android 2.3 (which may help), and therefore I’m no longer an owner of the device.
The HTC Thunderbolt smartphone drains battery quick. Battery statistics on the phone indicate that the screen is a major culprit, even when running as dim as possible it’s responsible for 70%+ of battery usage. Mix in using lots of memory running multiple apps, and moving in and out of 4G reception areas and your phone’s battery is dangerously low in no time. Improvements in the software (Android) could help battery life, but that is the responsibility of the handset maker and the service provider.
Don’t release a smartphone when in order to have acceptable battery life you have to disable all the features, run as few apps as possible, keep the screen as dim as it goes, and get a battery making it twice as thick. It eliminates the features of the phone, and for that reason HTC and Verizon need to understand they didn’t do a great job with this release.
The perfect smartphone involves a happy marriage between hardware, software, connectivity, and battery life. The HTC Thunderbolt was originally delayed due to these problems, and they haven’t been fixed. It’s unfortunate, but a reality of a first generation device on a brand new network. Perhaps the folks over at Motorola Mobility will get it right with the release of the Motorola Droid Bionic smartphone. The bionic will boast a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 (which may reduce power consumption), as well as the new qHD screen. I have yet to find any research on how the qHD screen compares to the Thunderbolts display in terms of power consumption. I am still baffled at the fact Motorola is launching this phone with 512MB of RAM. If the RAM consumption mirrors that of the Thunderbolt running Android 2.2, then it will most certainly be a bottle neck.
Until next time 4G Capable Smartphone running Android.
April 7, 2011 at 3:25 PM
great article .. as a result ive decided agsinst making the move to Verizon for now. I would have been making the change from and Iphone4 with great batt life to a well device with the right intentions but poor engineering.
April 7, 2011 at 3:28 PM
As a side note, Verizon’s network (3G and before) is phenomenal. It is about the network, and the LTE network will come along over time. For connectivity, they are the resource. The iPhone 4 has excellent battery life. thanks for your comments.
April 7, 2011 at 8:48 PM
Too bad…yoiu gave up on the best phone out there.
Yes, in 4G mode, with moderate or heavier usage, you are talking 4-5 hours tops before you will want to plug in…however with a simple app, Phone Life, it allows you to toggle between 3G/4G auto an djust strictly 3G.
Now you easily get a full day on this phone doing that.
Also, if your place of business has wifi, you can leave it in 4G mode and turn on the wireless card…this shuts off the 4G radio for data.
Again..battery life increased dramatically and you easily make it throug the day.
And let’s not forget the most important thing about this phone…even if you have it in 3G mode only..it still does VOICE AND DATA at the same time…something the iCrap on Verizon cannot do on the same network.
Combined with the lgithning fast speed, response and ENORMOUS amount of storage (40G), you cannot go wrong with this phone.
In a perfect world, yes, you would get a full day on 4G..but it is by no means a deal breaker as you can access it if you need it with a simple toggle, otherwise it is a powerhouse phone
April 7, 2011 at 8:50 PM
side note…I have my screen set to auto brightness and get through the day with no issue (and I am a heavy power user) utilizing the 3G toggle or wifi, and use the 4G periodically for faster web browsing or wachig Slingbox..
April 7, 2011 at 9:34 PM
Hi Mike,
I think a lot of your points are valid. I haven’t tried the Phone Life app, didn’t notice it and made my app selections for power management based on most popular, perhaps a mistake. I’m not the kind of person who finds it valuable to purchase a 4G device to have to toggle it off frequently. The thunderbolt in my experience when leaving 4G, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS on … quickly drained. I don’t mind toggling GPS off because triangulation seems to be adequate for most of my needs. Personally I find it both feature limiting and irritating to have to constantly toggle on and off the data features I want to use. One of the unknowns in my analysis and your’s is what defines heavy usage for you?
I won’t argue, feature and hardware wise, this phone is one of the best phones out there, thats for sure.
Thanks for your comments,
Alex
April 8, 2011 at 7:53 AM
Well, between 3 push email accounts, constant web surfing, periodic sling boxing, music playing etc, I give my T Bolt a good work out! (am an IT professional…and I manage our smartphone account..half AT&T and half Verizon, so I have seen and played with almost every smartphone under the sun since the Treo 600)
I do agree, I would love to leave it on 4G and not worry about anything and get my full day of use…but even as I point out, even if you make it solely a 3G phone..it is still superior to anything Verizon has do to its speed and SVDO on 3G.
April 8, 2011 at 12:18 PM
AK..I will say if you are on AT&T with your iPhone 4, I undertsand…when I say iCrap I mean Verizon’s iPhone…I mean they launch a phone that is specd out the same as AT&T’s year old one, and it cannot do SVDO and the 3G data network is lsower than AT&T’s…inferior in every way shape and form (if you can tolerate the dropped calls..which I did unti lI switched over 2 weeks ago to the TBolt on Verizon).
Another big bonus fo this phone…for $25 one time…load PDANet on it from junefabrics…it allows you to tether and use that unlimited 4G data plan instead of paying an additonal $15 to Verizon to do so.
And since you are tethering, the phone is charging and the 4G battery life thing is not an issue and you are faster than your current home cable internet.
IE..you can then save youself $40-50 a month and just use your phone as your internet connection!
December 2, 2011 at 12:00 PM
[...] Android Smartphone Round-Up: November Edition***Full Review – Verizon Motorola Droid RAZR 4G LTEGermany: ban on HTC smartphones3GB free Dropbox storage with HTC smartphones, here's the fine printHTC Thunderbolt – Bad Battery Life [...]