I'm up at 2:15am to work. Emails sync every 1 hour, 30 minutes on weather. 4 calls, 15 texts, plus internet. so far I have 13 hours on mine with 67% batter left. I use no-lock app from market and turn screen off immediately after I use it instead of let it time out. Loving the battery life of mine. Great forum lots of info. Thanks to all of you!
This usage is representative of my routine. I have been playing more (learning android and downloading and changing settings) and still getting the pretty much the full day. I have taken lots of notes from people here: running task killer (not on auto - only manual) using power control widget to toggle unnecessary radios and lower screen brightness, adjusting polling email according to priority, bump charging for these first few days (think that will be totally unnecessary once I get a stand alone charger - unsure about the cheap one linked on ebay - probably get the OEM dock when it comes out), using weather only as needed and even then polling only once or twice/day, etc. To my mind, power management is kind of common sense - I just have to learn Android enough to figure out best ways to do it. Just because the phone CAN do a bazillion things, does not mean they all should be running simultaneously.
Just like over-taxing anything - capabilities vs efficiency are never equal. 1400 mAh is 1400 mAh. However, while I do not want/need the big batt, I will have the stand alone charger and carry a fully charged spare batt whenever I think I might need one (if that becomes every day - so be it). This 4.3" screen and functionality are awesome.
As for the demands of 4G, well - I don't have any 4G signal for 100 miles so it is not much of an issue. But, I have to say that 1800+ down and 900+ up consistently on 3G is faster than my Qwest DSL at home and plenty fast for me. When I go into a 4G area, I can always toggle 4G back on (Phone Info app is great for that).
I appreciate how people feel this is a 4G phone and theoretically "should" be able to run all this stuff all the time but realistically, it is the first VZW 4G phone, the network is new, the screen is huge and running all this stuff drains batts. "Should" it be better? Perhaps, but it is what it is and what it is blows the doors off my BB Storm that I was paying the same monthly dollars. Moto Blurr? No thanks. iPhone at $50 less and same monthly? Nope.
When EVDO first launched - the first Evdo phones were constantly searching for EVDO signal and that was fast draining batts too. Many posts sounded just like many of the complaints I am reading now. It got better.
Overall, for me, this is so far great. Is it for everyone? Obviously not but people trashing the phone based on batt life makes little sense to me. If their needs are greater, get a bigger batt or carry two batts or get a different phone. It meets my needs and apparently many others are satisfied too. So, while it could be better, and I imagine there will be updates and better future models, this one is what I anticipated so far.
