It’s no secret that part of the delay of the Verizon HTC Thunderbolt release was do to the challenging battery life of the handset on the 4G/LTE network. In SlashGear’s review today, that was never more obvious when solely relying on 4G for average use, the Thunderbolt red barred after less than 3 hours. And even though coupling 4G with WiFi the battery life becomes comparable with other HTC 4G options, clearly something needs to be done. HTC is addressing battery life concerns by announcing they will be selling an optional extended life battery in the near future.

“We want customers who are power users, that are going to have the hotspot on all day, to just go,” said Pat Bucci, Verizon’s director of accessory products.

The new battery, which will cost $49.99, nearly doubles it’s mille amp hours from 1400 mAh to 2750 mAh. But that extra boost comes at a cost because it will add another ounce to an already hefty 6.23 oz handset. And the Thunderbolt will also have to deal with being thicker as the larger battery means a new backing that will come with the battery. There is no word if that new backing will also eliminate the hefty metal kickstand that is built in.

In addition to the new extended battery, Verizon will also be offering a charging dock for $59.99 that can charge both the phone and a backup standard or extended battery in concert. A second standard battery will run about $30. Another option takes advantage of the Thunderbolt being the first Verizon phone that supports wireless charging. The optional Qi-compatible back and charging pad will set users back $29 for the Qi back and another $70 for the charging pad. Geez, that’s a lot of money to address an obvious battery life flaw.

[via GearLive]

93 COMMENTS

  4. Just talked for almost an hour with VZW customer support.

    The problem with poor battery life (a.k.a only 4 hours of standby time) was due the phone constantly looking for the 4G towers… even when the screen was off, and even after a connecting to a good 3G tower.

    HTC did correct this with an updated radio image file!

    Verizon is now saying they get:
    130 hr standby time (screen off, doing nothing) – 5 days or so
    380 min normal use (screen on, mild app use) – 6 hours or so

    Not the greatest… but about what you get with an EVO today.

  5. Just talked for almost an hour with VZW customer support.

    The problem with poor battery life (a.k.a only 4 hours of standby time) was due the phone constantly looking for the 4G towers… even when the screen was off, and even after a connecting to a good 3G tower.

    HTC did correct this with an updated radio image file!

    Verizon is now saying they get:
    130 hr standby time (screen off, doing nothing) – 5 days or so
    380 min normal use (screen on, mild app use) – 6 hours or so

    Not the greatest… but about what you get with an EVO today.

    • Yes because it doesn’t cost anything to make, distribute or the people that make them also work for free. Dumb-ass. Go fuck yourself.

      • Shit for brains….y don’t u go fuck urself….we all hope u choke on ur bfs cock! Maybe if ud take the cock outta ur ass u wouldn’t b such a miserable person…if u were the counter person I had to deal with, I’d drag ur ass over the counter and hate fuck ur mouth rite in the middle of the store! Now apologize to everyone for bein an ass fucker….

  8. The reason why im not getting TB is because of its really poor battery life. This is by far the worse android phone in terms of battery. I want a phone that will last at least a whole day. Charging almost every 4 hours is crazy.i use 3g/ 4g a lot and almost every often and my current android last 18 hours with straight 3g usage. What was htc thinking putting only a mere 1400 mah batt on a 4g 4.3 inch screen device without any powersaving technology?

  9. My thunderbolt latest 10 hrs without a charge. I got it Thursday and charged it then played with it and didn’t have to charge over night until yesterday afternoon and I’ve been on this phone a lot!

  11. Got the phone yesterday and I’m happy with everything… except the battery. For the $250.00 price tag, HTC owes its customers a battery that runs 8 hours – at no additional price.

  12. I don’t get it. I have to spend another $50 to have the phone perform the way it should out of the box? In addition to making it heaver and thicker? I feel like i have been had.

    • Go back to a flip phone because you’re just too stupid to comprehend the technology. Oh yeah and then go fuck yourself.

      • Lol that was a month ago. The tb is already an outdated piece of shit. You shit for brains.

    • Go back to a flip phone because you’re just too stupid to comprehend the technology. Oh yeah and then go fuck yourself.

      • Got the phone Friday, love the speed and features. Worked great at home for Saturday, 3G only there, Sunday in the city, 4G, drained my battery super fast along with yesterday and so far today. 4G is awesome for the speed but the battery life is super poor.

  17. battery life not great on my thunderbolt; can’t even make it through a day of work; is this extended battery available currently?

  18. I’m about to dump my TB for an iPhone. With normal use I get maybe 6 hours, with heavy use, its 3 hours. I’m not about to spend $50 to get a full days use and have it make an already big phone bigger. Love the phone but I don’t think it is worth it.

    • YES! Then you should get an Iphone dingle berry. Because that’s what faggots carry. Then go out and buy yourself a Prius.

  20. guys…what kills your battery life are the app runing on the backround, even thought you close them they are still runing….download this app “Advanced Task Killer” & it will help alot.

  21. Get the “Network” app which allows you to turn your phone back to not using LTE and 3G instead. Dramatically improved my battery life.

    3G is “CDMA auto (PRL)”
    4G is “CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto”

  22. hmmmm….the thunderbolt was delayed because of certain problems…guess they just dumped their battery problem on us…great phone but wholly crap folks….$50 extra bulky battery…$59 charging station..$250 phone,,,$69.99 assessory package…certainly isn’t PRICELESS!
    add in the data package with no Skype yet….Hello….will someone take some responsibility here!

  23. Dial *#*#4736#*#* and turn preferred network from 4g lte to CDMA AUTO (prl). Thisll dumb it down to 3g for those times you dont need 4g and its a pretty quick toggle so its not super inconvenient. Prolongs battery life.

  24. Dial *#*#4736#*#* and turn preferred network from 4g lte to CDMA AUTO (prl). Thisll dumb it down to 3g for those times you dont need 4g and its a pretty quick toggle so its not super inconvenient. Prolongs battery life.

  27. Improve battery life – it worked!!!! Actually i’m not a big user of cell phones but do like alot of the new “stuff” they have. I decided to get the Thunderbolt and amazed at what it has. I’m 62 so not into alot of techy things like alot of comments. But yeah, battery life sucked. Charge and left over night 1/2 gone. While sleeping. Not acceptable. Anyway, the “tweek” of the menu to *#*#4636#*#* and changing as noted in another web site and shown here, works. 24 hours now with some use, but not alot and 3/4 of battery life left. Verizon noted some change forthcoming regarding the constant searching for 4G vs 3G back/forth or whatever that they say kills battery life. I’m fine with 3G actually but like features of this phone. So for now, the “tweek” seems to have improved things for now.

  28. BETTER WAY TO IMPROVE BATTERY LIFE WITHOUT TURNING OFF 4G OR VOIDING WARRANT TO THIS PHONE!!!!

    I have had issues with the battery life for the thunderbolt only lasting a few hours in a day and have had to charge this phone more than twice in one day. I called verizon customer service and have got the im sorry about that speech. I then called HTC and spoke with their reps about this issue and was told the following:

    1. If using an application killer or battery saver app delete.
    2. Turn off gps when not needing to use apps requiring gps use.
    3. Go to settings, then to wireless & networks
    4. Turn off the mobile network setting and only turn it on when you need to use the internet or application requiring internet connection.

    If you follow these steps you should see a 90% increase in your battery life.

    Hope this helps!

  30. I am sooo disappointed in this phone!!! I bought 2 so call me a moron, but really folks the morons are the people at Verizon for not telling u about the battery issue at the store level when u ask about it! Seriously, I asked my salesperson what the battery life was and was told it varied on usage. WHAT, is that the stupidest answer you’ve ever heard. If you are selling an item it is your job to know everything there is to know about it and ask questions so the buyer knows what they are getting into. Now I have two THUNDERBOLTS that not only suck battery life like a newborn on a bottle, but I don’t even have 4G service yet. DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE! , Gainesville, fl

    • I deal with dumb-asses like you everyday. It’s always the sales persons fault. Right? Wrong. Why not do a little research first and find out if this device is going to meet your needs instead of blaming everyone else. It amazes me how fucking stupid the general population really is. They buy these phones and they don’t have enough brain power to muster up a good shit. Do us all a favor and stick to a flip phone dumb-ass or better yet just fucking kill yourself and stop making my life miserable. Douche bag.

  31. just bought the battery and cover at the verizion store for 40 bucks , tried it out with heavy data usage for 8 hours and made is back home with extra power before having to power up the battery again..gotta love it

  32. I have to say that all of you are right !! and all prospective buyers should be made aware that the phone is useless if it doesn’t have the proper battery to support it. I believe some class action lawsuit should take place immediately. i have had the phone for 2 weeks now. and have to charge it 2/3 times a day and i am not a heavy data or phone user. I don’t want the I phone, maybe the bionic is better, or perhaps I will go back to my original droid until this issue is resolved.

  33. Hey. Listen up. If you don’t understand my analogy, too bad.
    You can’t have a modified hot rod with 900 horsepower and expect it to get 32mpg. It won’t even get 5mpg. Your Thunderbolt is the modified hot rod and your battery is the mpg. Now do you get it? You can’t just shut off the hot rod parts, pull the supercharger, change the cams and pistons anytime you want and expect it to perform like a smooth little toyota. Then turn it all back on and kick someones butt. Because it won’t… I have one myself and I hate the short battery life. But its what we chose to buy, even knowing of the short battery life. Besides its only the beginning to another great phone in development right now. Its nice to bitch from your bedroom but take a break every now and then.

    • The thing about your analogy is, your hot rod has to be on and going for it to go. The amazing thing about these phones are, they can still be on, active, and working, without having to process 100% of the time. For most people, tweaking a few things with the Thunderbolt will stop it from processing dumb, useless apps 100% of the time, which is what is eating peoples batteries. Doing that will turn your 3-4 hour charge into a 15-20 hour charge.

    • The thing about your analogy is, your hot rod has to be on and going for it to go. The amazing thing about these phones are, they can still be on, active, and working, without having to process 100% of the time. For most people, tweaking a few things with the Thunderbolt will stop it from processing dumb, useless apps 100% of the time, which is what is eating peoples batteries. Doing that will turn your 3-4 hour charge into a 15-20 hour charge.

    • The thing about your analogy is, your hot rod has to be on and going for it to go. The amazing thing about these phones are, they can still be on, active, and working, without having to process 100% of the time. For most people, tweaking a few things with the Thunderbolt will stop it from processing dumb, useless apps 100% of the time, which is what is eating peoples batteries. Doing that will turn your 3-4 hour charge into a 15-20 hour charge.

    • The thing about your analogy is, your hot rod has to be on and going for it to go. The amazing thing about these phones are, they can still be on, active, and working, without having to process 100% of the time. For most people, tweaking a few things with the Thunderbolt will stop it from processing dumb, useless apps 100% of the time, which is what is eating peoples batteries. Doing that will turn your 3-4 hour charge into a 15-20 hour charge.

  34. glad to see that a new extended life will soon be available.however,for a new high dollar hi-tech phone to be sold to us unsuspecting customers with a stand by battery life of approx 4 hours…..why should we have to pay 50 bucks to get a battery that will last a little longer.htc and or verizon should give this new battery to all that purchased the thunderbolt.aside from the short life battery issue it is by far the best cell phone that i have ever had.

  35. If I had known about the short life of the battery I would have never bought this piece of crap, does not do me any good if I dont have acces to charge it. Verizon knew they should’ve never put it up for sell !!!!!

  36. stumbled across this article while reading up on the battery life on the tb. a few interesting responses below. I’m inclined to agree with the hot rod philosophy. this is the fastest device I’ve ever used. and yeah, the battery life sucks, but it’s manageable.

    it’s new technology fellas, of course they’re going to stumble a bit with it. and learn from it. you think you’re pissed now? wait a few months and the next-gen thunderbolt-esque device will be out, most likely sporting dual processors and maybe more memory, so not only will it be faster, but the battery issue will probably be fixed. suck it up, or be forever waiting for next better device before you get in the game. me, I friggin’ love the thing. came from a first gen HTC Eris, tried the Motorola Droid Pro (sucked), then they announced the iPhone. I tried the iPhone for a couple of months, and while I’m a Mac user and liked some of the features (best voice quality of any device I’ve ever used), I found that I missed HTC’s Sense terribly, and couldn’t customize the iPhone for crap. so, here I am with the Thunderbolt and couldn’t be happier to be on-board with HTC again, sucky battery life an’ all.

    just my .02

  37. Thunderbolt was ok for light use on standard battery for about 16 hours. Got the extended battery and the life is awesome and the extra size doesn’t affect anything.

  38. Thunderbolt was ok for light use on standard battery for about 16 hours. Got the extended battery and the life is awesome and the extra size doesn’t affect anything.

  39. The phone is amazing. The battery sucks ass. And if you look into the battery usage info on the phone it plain as day says 75-90% of the battery is drained by the screen. A problem witch I’m sure other phones don’t have. I love this phone but I don’t want to have to pay 50 bucks to fix a problem on a phone I already spent almost $300 on to begin with. I’m sick of the battery dying after a short couple of hours of light to moderate use. I love the phone and wouldn’t trade it for anything out there but I wish HTC/Verizon would just own up and correct an obvious mistake.

      • Yes buy an Iphone faggot. Then take your son to faggot camp and you can have a circle jerk in your new Prius.

      • your a very angry person, arent you biff? little homophobic too.. i guess thats what happens after 40+ years of living with your mother and father.. you should stop calling people “fags” and maybe work on discovering your own sexuality, losing your virginity would be a start..  if you can find the right man.. 

  40. OMG I just got this phone and love love love it – it makes work on the go a million times easier for me – but this battery SUCKS. I don’t game or surf at all, I use this phone mainly for email/texting, and it really does drain after just a few hours. Very frustrating. If they can fix this problem they have a real winner here, as the phone and operating system and really everything else about it is just amazing.

  41. I love the phone Wish verizon had told me that I’m in a 3g network and the phone will continue to search to a 4 g network which that will make the battery run low.

  44. Well I just now got the extended battery for my htc thunderbolt but one BIG question. Why is my phone only giving me access to 3g? I heard that because of the case metal it can only give u 3g not 4g. I am only hoping that this phone gives me 4g + 10 times more battery life then the original battery. What also sucks about this is that now I have to get rid of my thunderbolt case and hoister and get a new one due to the fact that my thunderbolt looks like it gain some weight.

  45. I would like to see a phone designed from the ground up around a battery in the 4000mah range.  Yes, it would definitely be bulky compared to most handsets, but maybe they could make the battery longer (and thereby thinner) than the add-on batteries of that size.

  46. Ive had this phone a little over 2wks. I love everthing about it except the stupid battery issue which I knew about when I bought it. I just didnt know how bad it was. I disabled the automatic app/email updating and tweek’d  settings, switched it to cdma since Im not in a 4g area anyway, that didnt even help. When I was still inside my 2wks window to return it, I called tech support to see if they had any other pointers but nothing I hadnt already tried. She did send me an extended life battery at no charge, extended my return window another wk and gave me her # and ext if Im not satisfied. The new battery is better but nothing to brag about and it has transformed my sleek n slim phone into a brick! Just have to decide now if Im going to live with it or send it back..

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