Help Faulty Platform?

[drshame]

I've got several month's worth of experience with my Vibrant / T Mobile Service.
While the network seems adequate and the Vibrant's Screen Display is exceptional, I am very disappointed with the overall platform and user experience with TMobile.
Battery life is horrible unless basically all the apps, including Bluetooth, are turned off via Task Killer.
Turn on bluetooth to use in in my car, and the battery dies within 3-hours.
Kill Bluetooth and my hands-free function in the car is disabled.
Does this thing need to be plugged in all day to work right with all the apps it ships with?
Offering an advanced smart phone that only works as a portable phone for a few hours with no advanced features because it kills the batteries is a very poor decision.

Then there's the repeated visits to T Mobile. "Install Task Killer and use it" was all their help.
I just spent almost 2 hours at my local T Mobile store, between speaking to the local sales-person and two levels of customer support on the phone.
The "Advanced Android" specialist told me the phone worked as designed and there were no solutions.
She transferred me to a "Customer Retention Rep" who never came on the line after holding on for another 5 minutes.

Poor Product. Poor Customer Support.

I almost feel like swapping the sim back into her old Motorola Razor and putting the Vibrant up on EBay.

Horrible Experience.

Anyone know if Mophie Juicepack or anyone else makes an extended- rechargeable battery for this platform?

 

[HadouGhost]

sounds like you need a car charger, brah.

or, depending on where your cigarette lighter thingy is in your car get this:

Powered Car Lighter Charger Mount for Samsung Vibrant - eBay (item 160463847072 end time Nov-30-10 16:19:46 PST)

please excuse my dirty as hell car but for me it works perfectly

 

[intltracon]

First problem is Task Killer, 2nd TMO REP said do a master reset...what a joke. I lovw my phone, gps works and all the features. Task killer, your JI6 update came with a task manager.

 

[HadouGhost]

First problem is Task Killer, 2nd TMO REP said do a master reset...what a joke. I lovw my phone, gps works and all the features. Task killer, your JI6 update came with a task manager.

its not really a ''task killer'' it pretty much just allows you to stop running apps.

actual task killers suck bawls

 

[intltracon]

I know, you dont need one is what im saying. Task manager good for rogue moments. I just people would learn more about the phone and quit wishing it would print money, build an island and fly you there.

 

[drshame]

I'm tying the extended battery and oversize case-back to see if it adds usable time to the Vibrant.
I'll post my experience.
I'll trade a little thicker case with a "hump" for more usable time between charges.
If it can last a full 8 hour work day..it's well worth the $$$$.
Anyone have any experience with it?
I have a Mophie Juice Pak on my 3gs I Phone and it works great. But without it, I can still get several days outta the battery charge using energy savings and turning it off at night.
Hopefully, the Vibrant with the extended battery will help.

 

[drshame]

I just got Kevin Moore's extended Vibrant Battery and case back to fit it in.
The order arrived 4 days after ordering it, so it was probably shipped immediately, which is nice.

It came in a plan plastic covered card and was easy to slide open to get it out of the minimal packing and the plastic/cardboard case was unmarked with no labels or instructions at all...which aren't really needed anyway.

The battery had a weird name, and was identified as "Made in China". But it was a bit thicker than the original Samsung Battery the Vibrant came with and looked like a very professionally made product covered in shrink wrap.

Installation was litteraly a "Snap"....remove the back of the case..snap out the original battery, install the new one and snap the new case-back on.

It fit perfectly, but my Vibrant Rubber Cover doesn't fit anymore because of the extra "Bump" in the back from the extended battery cover.

If the new battery gives me the extra power it advertises, I can always trim the back of the rubber case so it fits around the back extension.

Kevin tells me to drain the battery down before it's first charge. he says it takes a few cycles to get the most power out of it...I'll see.

I hope it works because this phone BADLY needs an upgraded battery system to keep it going through at least 6-8 hours for reliable daily use.

If it works better than the original, I'll let you know.
If not...the Phone gets sold and replaced with something that gets a full days use out of a reasonable charge.

Is there such a thing in the "Android World"???

 

[drshame]

Hope this is a good sign.
Haven't used the new battery much, but I have the phone on for the past few to drain it down before giving it an initial charge.
To accelerate the battery usage...I killed my battery saving options and put on wifi, gps and bluetooth.

It was still going strong after 2 days..I'll check it to day to see if it's died yet.

If this extended battery really works beyond a day or 2....it will change my opinion of the Vibrant dramatically and Samsung should buy out the company and include a bigger battery and extended case for all their Vibrants as an option.

Also, if it works out, it reinforces my belief it's a defective platform because of the badly undersized battery.

Update: After the initial use/discharge cycle...I am tracking the actual "real world" battery power. So far on Day 1...it was used for a regular 8 hour day with Task Killer and GPS,WiFi, Bluetooth off as usual. It drained down from 100% to 80%.
I'll try full power with wifi/bluetooth on all day and no task killer in a few days to see how it performs. We only used it for some telephone calls and basically no web/app usage as a test to compare how we had used it with the base battery...which under the same conditions...died within 4-5 hours.
Again, the added rear case gives it a little thicker profile..more to hold onto. But so far, I'd suggest this as a very viable alternative to fix the otherwise dismal battery performance.