We’ve been passed some rather interesting information on the battery life of the HTC ThunderBolt from our pal Vince over on SlashGear – specifically, that the first day using it didn’t add up to a very good long life of usage. We’ll be getting our review model in later today, but for now, let’s take a peek at one test that revealed much less than a full day’s work on a single charge. And note – this is indeed only one test, and there’s much more testing to be done, but it is a real-world situation nonetheless.

After having just charged the unit up from zero to full, Vince took the HTC ThunderBolt from Verizon out for a spin. Once one hour had passed and having done “regular tasks” like email, internet browsing, Twitter, and a little bit of Facebook, the batter displayed 70%. Note that this was without using the camera, no videos, no YouTube:

The battery then hit 50% after having been used in the same way approximately another full hour:

And the battery is right around 30% after 2:15:21 the ThunderBolt was used an “average to heavy” amount of time.

Finally, with an uptime of 3:34:03 and actual usage time of 2:45:59, the battery was at 8%. During this time there were no phonicalls made, no YouTube or Videos watched, no Wifi used. This amount of time was dedicated to LTE for data working with email, Twitter, Disqus, downloading the app Dungeon Defenders, and etcetera.

So is the battery draining pretty quick? Seems that way. We’ll be bringing an extra battery pack along to CTIA 2011 since this will still be the phone we’re using there primarily. Speaking of which – do you think there’ll be a phone in there worthy of eclipsing the HTC ThunderBolt?

ALSO: Vince (and I) will be going through more natural day-to-day tests today for the battery and everything else, so we’ll have more results up here in a few hours. Take note that the “usage time” might be strange in the first test because every time we plug the device into the computer to take screenshots using the developer program, the time resets (if anyone has a screenshot app that works outside of root, we’re all ears!) For further tests, we’ll be taking photos of the screen to avoid this problem.

Our next test here is being conducted as a mix between LTE and Wifi whereas the test yesterday was done purely on 4G LTE. I think you’ll be interested to see that the results appear to be quite different:

167 COMMENTS

      • Wrong. Two cores drain less battery because you can run the cores at lower frequency to get the same amount of work done. The more cores in an ARM chip the better for battery life.

        This phone is dying quickly because of the LTE most likely.

      • Agreed but that will not be the biggest reason as to why the Bionic will get much better battery life, the TB has a 1400 mAh battery, Bionic has a 1930mAh battery. That’s significantly better.

      • A larger battery DOES mean better battery life–if you’re talking about them being in the same phone. However, until some real testing takes place, there’s nothing to say that the internal components of the Bionic don’t REQUIRE a bigger battery? We can assume, based on the similar specifications, but the dual core processor will definitely be a drain, as per Matt’s comment. We’ll just have to wait and see. I own a Thunderbolt myself, and the battery life is atrocious, but workable given the functionality of the device. Just gotta have a couple extra laying around, is all.

      • Agreed but that will not be the biggest reason as to why the Bionic will get much better battery life, the TB has a 1400 mAh battery, Bionic has a 1930mAh battery. That’s significantly better.

      • Wrong, having dual cores mean you can multi-task faster at the same speed as a single core. Lowering a dual core frequency would not necessarily get the same amount of work done. If you are multitasking, then yeah… But how often are you besides running some services in the background. Also more cores means more power consumption, which means faster dead battery. That is true regardless if you turn down frequencies, even to match a single core then it would be even pointless to have a dual core. Lrn2computers.

    • Dual core might be a bit more efficient than single core but that LTE radio is still gonna kill it still. Remember this is more to do with battery drain from the LTE radio not processor inefficiency.

      • In my experience with HTC (although brief) was that the battery life was terrible. It was with an Inspire 4G on AT&T and I believe they have the same size battery. It was laughable at how bad the battery is on that device. Not impressed with HTC phone battery life.

      • In my experience with HTC (although brief) was that the battery life was terrible. It was with an Inspire 4G on AT&T and I believe they have the same size battery. It was laughable at how bad the battery is on that device. Not impressed with HTC phone battery life.

  2. This is a shame…it seemed like it would be a great phone otherwise, but what’s the point of a phone you need plugged in all the time? Freedom’s in the battery.

    • My bet is that every LTE phone on Verizon is gonna experience poor battery life when connected to 4G. One my get a little bit better life than another but that is the same with 3G phones as well.

      • Your bet is wrong. The connection to the network isn’t going to be worse on 4g then on 3g. Now the factor that will come into play is all you can do on a 4G compared to the 3G. Better gaming and video experience, Video chat and so on will hit the battery that you can’t do on the 3G models.

      • There are plenty of 3G phones whose battery life is far superior to this, and of course someone will come out with something with better battery life on 4G. The bar seems to be set pretty low.

    • 2750 battery available, $40 I believe. I would think that this would sufficient. Depending on how the battery door changes the dimensions you may want to wait and see what cases fit it. I had three batteries for my BB, always used them when going out of town instead of relying on the plug. I’ll definitely be purchasing the extended battery for everyday use and have the original for emergency backup.

      • the battery and door on the extended looks retarded..messes with the lines of the phone and is dictionary thick..

      • I agree, it does look pretty cumbersome and it would probably feel terrible in a pocket. Changing out batteries is a PITA and seems pretty unnecessary in this day and age.

      • I agree, it does look pretty cumbersome and it would probably feel terrible in a pocket. Changing out batteries is a PITA and seems pretty unnecessary in this day and age.

  7. Awake time means the screen is on… this guy had the screen on for 2:45 within the timespan of 3:30. So maybe the battery is weak but this test definitely over exaggerated it

      • Should probably keep in mind the test was done entirely on 4G. In any case, you keep any display on for a straight 3 hours you’ll obviously drain battery life. Some faster than others of course.

      • I would say 90% of people do not consider a nonstop use of a phone for almost 3 hours straight “normal use” .. I have tested this device and this test is off ….

      • I would say 90% of people do not consider a nonstop use of a phone for almost 3 hours straight “normal use” .. I have tested this device and this test is off ….

      • I would say 90% of people do not consider a nonstop use of a phone for almost 3 hours straight “normal use” .. I have tested this device and this test is off ….

  8. Interested as to why you have no task manager running (as you should with any android based phone.) Obviously “testing” all these things at different points and then leaving them all open, running, draining, throughout the whole test period is going to take alot out of a battery over a 3 hours period. Especially with 3 hours strait of usage time…I mean if your on a train or plane for 3 hours a day and physically using your phone at all times during those 3 hours (not just listening to pandora) yea then your going to have battery issues.

    No one here couldve expected this to have a battery lasting longer than your standord droid, droid x, or incredible. Anyways there is a much larger battery coming out for it in april and you can always get a powerpack (whatever those thigns are called).

    • the majority of xda-developers pros & devs will ONCE AGAIN inform most that less you truly are competitive with dev skills &/or are very very hw savvy.. TASK MNGRS ARE NOT FOR NORMAL END USERS.. so to imply all adopters / end users of this model must apply SKETCHY @ BEST theories & justifications and download one is.. well.. SKETCHY @ BEST ;]]

      • My 13 year old sister uses a task manager. My 55 year old ex supervisor used a task manager…I think you’d find most people use them not just people who are “truly are competitive with dev skills &/or are very very hw savvy..”

      • Yes, and they need to STOP USING THEM. They are hurting the battery and performance of their phones by doing so.

    • Think of this test as the worse case scenario. I’m testing more of a day to day activity. General consumers don’t bother with task managers. Also, killing tasks / apps don’t always yield better battery life – that’s a huge myth.

      • Are you on crack? Of course killing your apps via advanced task killer is going to improve your battery life. Otherwise if I open 15 apps, they could all be running in the background! I use advanced task killer every time I’m done with my phone.

      • Do some tests with your phone (I had the same opinion until I actually did tests with my Incredible – a few days not using a TK and few days using one and monitoring usage and battery life). My phone actually lasted slightly longer not using a task killer. I uninstalled and haven’t looked back.

      • Do some tests with your phone (I had the same opinion until I actually did tests with my Incredible – a few days not using a TK and few days using one and monitoring usage and battery life). My phone actually lasted slightly longer not using a task killer. I uninstalled and haven’t looked back.

      • Except that the majority of the apps that are “running” in the background, actually aren’t. Once you go away from them, if they aren’t doing something (like playing music through pandora), they are frozen in the background. They don’t start up again until the user initiates the app, or the app needs to get something done (say, update your twitter account after 15 minutes has elapsed). Then the cycle repeats itself.

        Now this goes without saying that there are “bad” apps that have been poorly coded and might just run as they act like (or possibly even think they do) need to do something or are doing something. This could drain the battery, but even then, I doubt the impact would be massive. I myself make sure I do not have an app that is so poorly coded that it runs more often than it should.

        The other side to the Task Killer myth is that it will improve your performance. Again, like stated to the other part of the myth, this is false. Killing apps removes them completely from the memory. Apps that are frozen by the phone in the memory will start back up almost instantaneously (depending on how old/new of a phone you got). On the other hand, the apps that have been killed off have to now be reloaded into the phones memory, causing more battery to go to waste reopening the app than you would have saved by killing it.

        Android, since the Froyo dropped, loads the apps that the phone thinks you will need into the memory upon boot. It also reopens certain apps after they have been killed off for the same reason. You killing your apps would, in the long run, hurt the performance of your phone by constantly forcing Android to spend cycles and battery reopening the app.

        The performance of your phone, especially a high end one like the Thunderbolt, will always be at its best when it has the apps loaded into the memory, ready to be used. It also has the majority of these apps frozen so they aren’t constantly running. You using a Task Killer hurts both of these things, with little-to-no gain from doing so.

        Hope this helps you, and many others, understand why many people who are a little more experienced with Android say Task Killers are unneeded. 🙂

      • task killers have been proven to kill your battery more than if you don’t use them.. android is smarter than that and if you are constantly killing apps android will try to keep using that free memory.. ever wonder why you kill apps and open the task killer a second later and 10 apps are re-populated?.. and no if you open 15 apps they aren’t always running..

      • task killers have been proven to kill your battery more than if you don’t use them.. android is smarter than that and if you are constantly killing apps android will try to keep using that free memory.. ever wonder why you kill apps and open the task killer a second later and 10 apps are re-populated?.. and no if you open 15 apps they aren’t always running..

      • wrong. android 2.2 and up is designed to deal with apps to where you don’t need a task killer. with a task killer, you kill apps, that will just start up again, which actually requires more battery than having them in the memory

      • Are you on crack? Of course killing your apps via advanced task killer is going to improve your battery life. Otherwise if I open 15 apps, they could all be running in the background! I use advanced task killer every time I’m done with my phone.

  9. love your blog!

    It is a great personal pleasure to let you know that the several million visitors to Mattters over the last year have selected your blog as one of their favorite blogs of 2010 (1st on the Android channel!).

    You can see your blog, along with the other contenders, on the Android channel at http://android.mattters.com.

    P.S. We made a cute little ‘2010 Blogs that Mattter’ award that you can pin up on your website if you like those sort of things (you can see it at http://android.mattters.com/awards).

    Oh, and if for some reason or another you ever think your blog should be on a different channel, or even multiple channels, or perhaps none at all, (or you just want to chat!) just send me a quick email at michael@mattters.com.

    All the best,
    -Mike
    http://mattters.com
    Mattters – Follow Your Interests!

  11. maybe it has the same problem as the Desire HD, try turning on USB Debugging, my phone uses a lot of battery and starts to lag if i don’t turn it on, i usually have it on 85% after my train ride each morning where i surf and listen to music with a Bluetooth headset.

  12. i’m not a big tech guy so excuse my ignorance, but i have a simple question: is it worth getting this phone over the droid or even the iphone? i use it more as a phone and to ck email all day long. what would be the best option for someone like me?

    • Well this is a droid. Any phone running the Android OS is a droid. I am a huge HTC Android fan but for you and your needs you should get a Blackberry. You cant beat them when it comes to an email client.

      • The Thunderbolt is not a part of the Droid brand, and any phone running Android is not automatically a Droid.

        If you want a Droid phone, you need to buy a Droid 1, Droid 2, Droid X, Droid Pro, or a Droid Incredible. Everything else is simply running the Android OS, and will have its own brand name.

      • The Thunderbolt is not a part of the Droid brand, and any phone running Android is not automatically a Droid.

        If you want a Droid phone, you need to buy a Droid 1, Droid 2, Droid X, Droid Pro, or a Droid Incredible. Everything else is simply running the Android OS, and will have its own brand name.

      • @Mike Droid is by Motorola running Android OS with Motoblur UI. This is Thunderbolt by HTC running Android OS with Sense UI. IMO If thats all you intend to do with a phone then this is overkill, expensive, and battery life wont be what you might be expecting. Your better off going with a cheaper Android phone with better battery life.

        @ Hudie27 Droid by name is in reference to the Motorola Droid, Droid being the model name. Calling/referring-to Android OS based phones droid just further confuses people.

    • I would almost say the iPhone and Droid hit a close comparison when it comes to Email. if there is nothing more than phone and email that interests you about a smartphone I would suggest a Blackberry. A follow up question? are you a MAC or PC user? if you’re a MAC user, then the Iphone is definately the way to go. However if you use a PC. Android is most compatible with a PC. Blackberry has it down pat on email syncronization and security. What email software/Server do you currently use? IE: Outlook, or web portal(browser)? this is also important to consider when transitioning to a email device.

  13. When I was in the store this morning they blocked my view as they threw replacement batteries in the 2 demo units. Is this a sign? I wonder if customers will make it through day one without being tied to the wall…

    android-alert.com

  14. Looking at that picture it appears the main source of battery drain is the screen not any radio 4G or otherwise. Maybe he just needs to turn the brightness down.

  15. I have been testing this device for over a month and can tell you the battery life is very similar to the Incredible. Not great by any means but also not dead by noon! As we all know, you have factors to Battery life that need to be adjusted and so on but all in all a fun phone and the 4G speed is second to none.

  16. Can you do a test streaming video over 4G only. It has blockbuster so interesting to see how much a 2 hrs movie would drain the battery streaming over 4G.

  17. Did the test involve a full battery charge prior to discharge? Most devices show full charge at 80% battery capacity and can appear to be draining quickly as it discharges due to the “full” charge diminishing from what is actually a partial charge. I’d be interested to know if this was conducted after allowing the device to charge an additional 4 to 8 hours after indicating a full charge (trickle charge). BTW, the reason this occurs is a trickle charge is needed above a certain charge level in lithium ion batteries else it can be overloaded quickly.

  20. ILL be using the t-bolt in a mostley 3g area north of L.A. just outside the 4g coverage area, so im hoping that with the 3g that battery last longer, only gunna be in 4g when ever i have to go down to la for work purposes

  21. ILL be using the t-bolt in a mostley 3g area north of L.A. just outside the 4g coverage area, so im hoping that with the 3g that battery last longer, only gunna be in 4g when ever i have to go down to la for work purposes

  22. If Verizon knew The battery life sucked why not just make the “extended battery” be the normal battery. Maybe cause they wanna make more money by selling u a new battery. But Verizon might benefit from just including it that way reviews won’t b shadowed by battery issues

  23. It was known the battery was going to be poor from the getgo, thats why it was delayed and delayed, it was only getting 1-2 hours of life. HTC has comitted to firmware updates to increase battery life “in the future”

  24. It was known the battery was going to be poor from the getgo, thats why it was delayed and delayed, it was only getting 1-2 hours of life. HTC has comitted to firmware updates to increase battery life “in the future”

  25. I think that if you leave the phone powered off all day, every day, you’ll increase the battery life dramatically.

  26. I had the exact same problem on the HTC Desire HD last November. Down to 30% at lunchtime after 20 mins of web surfing. Returned it after three days…

  27. I had the exact same problem on the HTC Desire HD last November. Down to 30% at lunchtime after 20 mins of web surfing. Returned it after three days…

  28. Along those lines, my wife got an LG Vortex a month ago due to a breakage in her existing old phone and her contract was up for renewal, so she got this free phone.

    Right away we noticed that it was really hard to hit the right keys, -and- that her battery went way down during a day’s usage of email and web surfing, and some phone calls.

    I am going to be up for renewal in Sept and am looking at phones.

  29. Dude, 80% brightness on a 4″+ screen and getting 3 hours of heavy use is typical. (My Droid X does the same thing.)

    Dump the display down to 20-30% and you will easily double the life. The Pre-Production TBolt I had lasted me over 8 hours while I was at work, getting emails, etc.

    • I noticed when I unsynced facebook I can get more than 24 hours almost 1 year after purchasing my droid X.. from 7am to 11pm with moderate usage I will have about 30% left.. I get pretty identical if not better battery than my 4 month old iphone

      • Hi,
        Really new to Droid world. Just got the thunderbolt. I can’t find any voice recognition apps. I went to store, they are clueless. I went online and all I get is: not available for this pone. I just bought this phone and have another week before returning. Any input is highly appreciated!

    • I noticed when I unsynced facebook I can get more than 24 hours almost 1 year after purchasing my droid X.. from 7am to 11pm with moderate usage I will have about 30% left.. I get pretty identical if not better battery than my 4 month old iphone

  30. You guys must have everything in the world running on it. I picked mine up this morning at 9 AM and I charged it to 90 percent and it is now 619 in the evening and I am at 60 percent. That’s only 30 percent in 9 hours! What are you guys doing that drains the battery?

    • I am on the the 3g network and not 4g LTE, so i don’t know if the LTE drains the battery quicker. I am having no issues with my battery life all the same.

      • 4G sucks power for sure but there is a setting in Wireless Settings >> Mobile Network called “Enable always-on Mobile Data”

        I’m not sure what it does because everytime I look at my phone it has the data turned on but I went for about 6-7 hours without it going below 60% earlier in downtown DC in a 4G coverage area. I was using a few apps, facebooking, texting, google talk, and took a few pictures to show people some features as well as ran a few speed tests to brag to the MAC tech who sits amongst us Windows techs heh.

  31. I see that the only complaint so far is the battery and even that semms manageable. I love the damn phone. I ditched by BB this morning.

  32. I see that the only complaint so far is the battery and even that semms manageable. I love the damn phone. I ditched by BB this morning.

  33. so it repeatedly says they didn’t use wifi. well guess what icon i see in the status bar. plus certain web sites are very bias in favor of apple. i’ll wait til engadget reviews this. while they favor the iphone, they’ll admit somethings good when they see it.

    • You a full of it. I picked up mine last night and ran it for over 2 1/2 hours before having to connect the charger – and that was on the sh*tty 1/2 charge (if even that) that was on the phone when it came out of the box. The battery issue is WAY overblown.

  37. I can’t wait to get mine today and run some tests myself. These type of tests can always be misleading. Give me any phone and I can make some tweaks to either kill the battery in less than half a day -or- make it last a full day. I am not saying the reviewer is purposefully trying to show this battery as bad, but:

    1) What is the screen brightness set at? The battery usage is showing as 80% usage to the backlight and display, which means the brightness may be set too high. This may solve the whole problem.

    2) What programs are installed, and are any of those known battery killers? Are any standard programs left running instead of being closed properly?

    3) How many auto-syncing programs are installed and what are the syncing frequencies? When I have my Facebook, Gmail, and Exchange all syncing at the highest frequency, I notice a significant decrease in battery life.

  38. I charged it fully overnight 100%, woke up put it in the holster walked in circles, drove to work 30 minutes, made it to office, checked battery now at 70% (4g covers the whole area). Not a good sign of things to come. To be fair my Droid2 started out battery bad and got better so I am going to give it a chance but come on. I don’t use Task Killers, have the screen at 25% and briefly looked at one new email during the trip.

    • My DINC’s battery life was much better 6 months later than it was when I first got it… hopefully this is the case with the TB as well.

    • My DINC’s battery life was much better 6 months later than it was when I first got it… hopefully this is the case with the TB as well.

  39. Solution: buy a car or wall charger, reduce screen brightness, and close unecessary apps…I just got the Thunderbolt LOVE the phone! I had an HTC incredible before and it had similar battery problems but both are great phones. Battery technology is behind so until they can fit more power in a smaller battery or a better battery management system problems will persist.

  40. I unhooked my Thunderbolt at 8:15 am and it lasted to 7:45 pm. Its a work phone so I sent 3 emails, 32 texts including 2 picture texts, received 12 texts and 3 had photos to download. Took 2 pictures and 8 phone calls in the 2-5 min range each. I searched for the history of St. Augustine on the web app as I spoke to my wife. She happened to be in…St. Augustine Fl. I checked facebook 3 times on the facebook app and downloaded 2 apps from android market. I spent 10 min on the web trying to find out why the swift key app does not have the smiley key button on my Thunderbolt when it had it on my froyo incredible!?! I found a 4g signal for about 6 minutes and tried to load some web sites- pretty fast! I expected much worse from the battery and can live with this type of performance. On a day where I am heavily web surfing I will expect less.

  41. I unhooked my Thunderbolt at 8:15 am and it lasted to 7:45 pm. Its a work phone so I sent 3 emails, 32 texts including 2 picture texts, received 12 texts and 3 had photos to download. Took 2 pictures and 8 phone calls in the 2-5 min range each. I searched for the history of St. Augustine on the web app as I spoke to my wife. She happened to be in…St. Augustine Fl. I checked facebook 3 times on the facebook app and downloaded 2 apps from android market. I spent 10 min on the web trying to find out why the swift key app does not have the smiley key button on my Thunderbolt when it had it on my froyo incredible!?! I found a 4g signal for about 6 minutes and tried to load some web sites- pretty fast! I expected much worse from the battery and can live with this type of performance. On a day where I am heavily web surfing I will expect less.

  42. I unhooked my Thunderbolt at 8:15 am and it lasted to 7:45 pm. Its a work phone so I sent 3 emails, 32 texts including 2 picture texts, received 12 texts and 3 had photos to download. Took 2 pictures and 8 phone calls in the 2-5 min range each. I searched for the history of St. Augustine on the web app as I spoke to my wife. She happened to be in…St. Augustine Fl. I checked facebook 3 times on the facebook app and downloaded 2 apps from android market. I spent 10 min on the web trying to find out why the swift key app does not have the smiley key button on my Thunderbolt when it had it on my froyo incredible!?! I found a 4g signal for about 6 minutes and tried to load some web sites- pretty fast! I expected much worse from the battery and can live with this type of performance. On a day where I am heavily web surfing I will expect less.

  43. I unhooked my Thunderbolt at 8:15 am and it lasted to 7:45 pm. Its a work phone so I sent 3 emails, 32 texts including 2 picture texts, received 12 texts and 3 had photos to download. Took 2 pictures and 8 phone calls in the 2-5 min range each. I searched for the history of St. Augustine on the web app as I spoke to my wife. She happened to be in…St. Augustine Fl. I checked facebook 3 times on the facebook app and downloaded 2 apps from android market. I spent 10 min on the web trying to find out why the swift key app does not have the smiley key button on my Thunderbolt when it had it on my froyo incredible!?! I found a 4g signal for about 6 minutes and tried to load some web sites- pretty fast! I expected much worse from the battery and can live with this type of performance. On a day where I am heavily web surfing I will expect less.

  44. I unhooked my Thunderbolt at 8:15 am and it lasted to 7:45 pm. Its a work phone so I sent 3 emails, 32 texts including 2 picture texts, received 12 texts and 3 had photos to download. Took 2 pictures and 8 phone calls in the 2-5 min range each. I searched for the history of St. Augustine on the web app as I spoke to my wife. She happened to be in…St. Augustine Fl. I checked facebook 3 times on the facebook app and downloaded 2 apps from android market. I spent 10 min on the web trying to find out why the swift key app does not have the smiley key button on my Thunderbolt when it had it on my froyo incredible!?! I found a 4g signal for about 6 minutes and tried to load some web sites- pretty fast! I expected much worse from the battery and can live with this type of performance. On a day where I am heavily web surfing I will expect less.

  45. guys just buy the 1600 mah battery from seido. it fits right in the original spot too so there is no need for a back door replacement.

  46. Um…. really technical sounding write up… but you missed a VERY IMPORTANT THING!!

    Your battery percentage is a LIE! Lithium Ion batteries (when stored at a partial charge for a while) will not be reporting accurate SOC (State of Charge).

    You Require a full day (24hr) of charging. Preferably with the device OFF. And/or a complete discharge too.

    Otherwise, the device will stop charging the battery at about 75%… because it is reported as 100%

  47. Just ordered a TB and am a little concerned about the battery life… I usually charge my Blackberry every other day–if this phone can last me through at least a 12 hour work day I will be thrilled!!

    • no. that is not true android AUTOMATICALLY kills tasks that are not being used. Things that are just in memory will not kill your battery anyway… it takes the same amount of battery for the memory told hold nothing as it does to hold data and task killers usually just kill the inactive tasks which are just that and anything else they kill could end up hurting preformance as android will just restart the ones it wants anyway. A task killer with manual use for apps that freeze is ALL that you really need in most cases.

  49. 2 day owner. if settings are set to optimum power savings. i.e. high sync intervals, task killer set to kill often, screen power set low, turn off auto sync of stocks, news, and weather, no vibration sespons on button press… i got over 12 hours of time before my battery turned red, and this is with a medium to heavy use of setting all my apps and settings up. not to mention pandora use for 2 hours as i did my lawn yesterday. now 12 hours of that kind of use is nto bad at all so i have no clue what the problem is.
    on a side note phone has been off the charger for 5 hours now (just sitting idle) and i still show a full battery.

    • I think 4G is the main killer. I will try to turn off 4G based on that link.

      Starting 8 am today, with a full charge, I turned off internet access (none at all), screen brightness at 25%. Made one few minute call, and 2 text messages. Also looked at my calendar a few times. Lost 20% of my battery after 5 hours, which was phenomenal for me given what I’ve experience the past 2 days (sounds bad though).

      In the afternoon at ~ 1 pm, I turned on internet (I’m in a great 4G area), and used push e-mail. By 3 pm, I was at 20%, and turned off the internet. Then in another 30 min – 1 hour, it drained completely and shut down (without doing anything).

      I guess I’ll try the 3G option, but it defeats the purpose of having a 4G phone…..

      • Yep Lets just have our customers turn of the entire reason for buying the phone in the first place, instead of putting a battery in the damn phone that is useful. These companies are pathetic!!

    • I think 4G is the main killer. I will try to turn off 4G based on that link.

      Starting 8 am today, with a full charge, I turned off internet access (none at all), screen brightness at 25%. Made one few minute call, and 2 text messages. Also looked at my calendar a few times. Lost 20% of my battery after 5 hours, which was phenomenal for me given what I’ve experience the past 2 days (sounds bad though).

      In the afternoon at ~ 1 pm, I turned on internet (I’m in a great 4G area), and used push e-mail. By 3 pm, I was at 20%, and turned off the internet. Then in another 30 min – 1 hour, it drained completely and shut down (without doing anything).

      I guess I’ll try the 3G option, but it defeats the purpose of having a 4G phone…..

      • No. Confirmed through both my own use, conversations with other folks and other board postings. Its not merely the detection process on a fringe area its simply the use of a 4G data connection that seems to be draining the battery. Supposedly based upon this post, Verizon/HTC have acknowledged the issue. I assume a toggle widget is the first step followed by some sort of software update as a permanent fix. Defintiely agree that 4G was one of the main selling features of the phone, I guess its up to people out there to decide whether its a show stopper for keeping it. If battery life was poor on 3G as well it definitely would be a show stopper for me as well. Does not seem to be the case from my experiece so far. Also, if I was paying more for 4G than 3G right now I would pretty upset. If the problem persists and there is no long term solution it would be great if “Hot Spot” was included as the value of 4G is diminished greatly.

        http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-thunderbolt/70282-how-turn-off-lte.html

  51. This is such a great phone, and I just gave up my iPhone 4 for this one and so far I really like the UI but the battery life is freaking AWFUL!!! I have to charge this thing constantly & I have installed the app killer & all that stuff & its still really bad. I have had it plugged into my usb on computer for 3 hours & have made 8 less than 5 min conversations & a few texts and when I unplug it still says 15% batt, now this is the same thing I did if I needed to charge my iPhone & it worked fine. I used my other phone constantly running multiple apps while talking on the phone & texting. This is total BS, they could put a better battery in. I shouldnt have to manually stop everything, that should be built in if they know this stuff. Doesnt matter how cool a phone is if you cant ever use it & the type of people they are targeting with these super phones are the people that are doing a million things at once!

    • I’m in the same boat as you! I have the iPhone 4 on at&t for anoter month and only got this phone so when verzion pulls unlimited data plans I’m grandfathered into the 4g plan. I love iPhone and the plan was to cancel at&t in another month and use this phone until the iPhone 5 comes out. Then sell the thunderbolt and get the iPhone 5! But now I don’t think I can keep this phone as my main phone, the battery life is just soooooo bad!! I’m lucky to get to lunch time without te phone dying! This is my first Android phone and I was kinda pumped about it! So now I don’t know what I’m going to do!!! Thank god I didn’t cancel my at&t iPhone just yet! But I will say the phone its self is nice, but not as good as my jailbroken iPhone 4! Can-do more with it then thunderbolt! And the battery latest ten times longer!!!

  52. & disabling 4g is not the answer (no offense John) thats why we all bought this phone – for the ‘lightning fast 4g’ so disabling it seems really silly!

  53. Any smart buyer will wait for the later generations of LTE devices that will feature better power management features. These first LTE devices are just for tech bloggers to review, not for consumers to use. Everyone knows that.

  54. Any smart buyer will wait for the later generations of LTE devices that will feature better power management features. These first LTE devices are just for tech bloggers to review, not for consumers to use. Everyone knows that.

  55. Any smart buyer will wait for the later generations of LTE devices that will feature better power management features. These first LTE devices are just for tech bloggers to review, not for consumers to use. Everyone knows that.

  56. I just got this phone 2 days ago and I’m not having any battery life issues. I’ve not disabled the 4G either. I got 15 hrs battery life out of it yesterday.

  58. I was going to get the Thunderbolt but went with the iPhone 4 because of the battery. I can watch a 2 hour movie on Netflix using 3G and my battery will go lose 25%. I never have to charge my phone until I go to sleep at nigh and most times it’s still at 50-60%. I am not in 4G LTE coverage so the choice for me was simple. I can also stream radio all day long at work and my battery will still be at 60% when I get home. Until they make an Android phone with decent power consumption I will stick with my iPhone.

  59. Where is this new battery that people are talking about? $ 50.00???? I bought a back up battery, but it is the same as that which comes with the phone. Would like a day out of it. Not 8 hours. and I don’t use it at all during the day. ?????

  60. The battery life on this Thunderbolt sucks!!! I turned off just about everything on the phone to try to extend the battery life – so what good is 4G if I have to turn everything off??? The ‘extended life battery they are selling for $50 makes the phone quite a bit larger and looks relaly ugly. Since I’m within the first two weeks after purchase, I’m going to exchange it for a different phone, this one isn’t worth it.

  63. The only reason the Battery life for the ThunderBolt sucks is because 4G is available with Verizon, but not available in MOST areas. I spoke with a verizon rep the other day about it. Its like if you have a regular phone, and it’s roaming, and it sucks the life out of your battery… it’s searching for something that’s not really there. He said most areas will have it by 2012.

  64. This battery life issue is a problem for ALL HTC phones, BUT THERE IS A FAIRLY SIMPLE FIX!!!!

    You need to calibrate the battery (I had to do this for my Incredible last year). It is a flaw in the battery register. It tells the phone that the battery is charged when it is only about half charged, therefore, the phone stops sending enough electrical current the battery to continue charging.

    Here’s the fix:

    1. While the phone is on, charge it until the led turns green, then
    2. Power the phone OFF and charge again until the led turns green again (about 30-60 mins), and
    3. Finally, power phone on for two mins, then power down, and charge one more time until the led turns green again.

    I know it’s a pain in the butt, however, I’ve been heavily using 4G LTE ONLY for the past 10 hours…on the standard battery…so you tell me if it’s worth doing this one time.

  65. I was having the same problem so I went to a Verzion store to see if there was something that I was doing to cause it. The salesman said no that they just did not have a long battery time. He showed how to turn off the internet so that it would not drain as fast. As far as I am concerned that is why I purchased the phone so I could get e-mail when I need to. I think it S..KS.

  66. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  67. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  68. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  69. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  70. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  71. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  72. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  73. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  74. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  75. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  76. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  77. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

  78. I’m a little late but in my experience with the EVO I get much better battery life when my mobile network (3g signal) is off. I leave the wifi on and the 4g on all the time and get solid battery life. Not sure this is the same on the Thunderbolt but worth a try.

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