Help Is anyone returning this phone?

[Mallissa]

I know how people can judge it after only acouple of days, i did it with the wifes IPhone 4. I used it for one day and not for me. I know its not apples to apples but you get it. You can usually tell if its for you in a day or two, specially if you have had a android before. I am not due for a upgrade till may so I am just sitting back and watching what goes on. I was at another VZW store, 2nd one since release day, looking for a cover for my X and I asked about the TB. Reps told me the same thing thats going on here battery sucks. Also told me they are not selling. I figured it would be out of stock by now and apparently they have plenty.

Where are you located? I live near a major city and all 3 verizon Corporate Stores are sold out, 2 authorized retailers are sold out and BB has 3 left. A rep would have no idea regarding ALL sales, they must be talking about there specific store. Most people are buying online and getting great deals at Wirefly and Amazon.

 

[Mallissa]

I don't know about the breakdown of your usage but that doesn't impress me at all.

Just as a metric, the iPhone 3GS does close to 5 hours of continuous Internet usage. Obviously you didn't use your phone for 2:46 of Internet usage. Hence we can say that the TB has, unfortunately, much worse battery life than that of the iPhone 3GS. That's not good. The only thing that cured my Incredible was an extended battery.

While I'm all for being positive, the only way this gets remedied is by vehemently complaining to Verizon that the battery life is unacceptable and that they should do something about it, e.g. replace it with a same size higher rated battery or discount us on the extended (or provide credit to those who bought it.)



I really like the phone too - other than this. Minimal use and your phone battery is on its way out end of day? For a phone which HTC is saying has a standby time over over 400 hours of standby time? VZW needs to be put to task on this and on the RAM issue.

I'm unclear as to why everyone keeps comparing this phone to the iPhone. LIGHT YEARS difference. It's not even a comparable device.

 

[irish]

I have done about 3 bumps cycles on my phone. Off the charger now for 8 hours, moderate use. Youtube, work emails (15 or so), gmail (5), 30 text or so, web search and about 25 mins worth of phone calls and screen on full blast. I'm still at 42%! Battery is better then my Fascinate and my wifes DInc for sure!!

 

[rushmore]

I'm unclear as to why everyone keeps comparing this phone to the iPhone. LIGHT YEARS difference. It's not even a comparable device.

Your right, the A4 is a better chipset

I prefer Android phones and would pick the TB over the iPhone, none the less

 

[rushmore]

It's really NOT quite obvious. I'm not even going to continue this off topic discussion, it isn't worth the headache.

Chipset will, but the iPhone to me is a constrained device. The A4 and A5 both spank the Snap, none the less, but total function to me is more important.

Android spanks iOS for phones, IMO.

 

[TheXFactor]

Chipset will, but the iPhone to me is a constrained device. The A4 and A5 both spank the Snap, none the less, but total function to me is more important.

Android spanks iOS for phones, IMO.

That's a matter of opinion.

Edit: I should say that's a matter of opinion, in this particular forum.

 

[mpossoff]

The main factor is actual real usage to standy ratio.

Example, I use my device 4 hours a day of real data usage; gaming, web browsing. Stuff that eats data. Phone calling isn't a data hungry application.

 

[Snerch]

When you bump charge you power the phone up...let at least a percentage of battery come off of the phone...then power the phone back off and plug back in. The Orange light will come back on.

If the only truly lost 1 percentage, you would only see it charge for a minute or so...but that's not what will happen...instead, the Orange light may stay on for approximately 30 minutes.

I bumped charged today 3 times and each time the orange light was on for about 15-20 minutes. Is that what is supposed to happen or should the orange light stay on a shorter amount of time each time plug it back in?

 

[UBRocked]

I bumped charged today 3 times and each time the orange light was on for about 15-20 minutes. Is that what is supposed to happen or should the orange light stay on a shorter amount of time each time plug it back in?

That's what we are seeing as well. Charge to full, let a small percentage of battery drain off, power down, and then plug in. The orange light will then stay on for about 20-30 minutes (in my esperience). You can also repeat this procedure 1 or 2 more times if you want (don't really know when it stops helping).

 

[UBRocked]

Okay, cleaned up quite a few arguments. Please keep all comments respectful. If you are passing on this device, fine. If you love the Thunderbolt, fine...

But for the sake of everyone's sanity...keep your posts in check!

 

[dilly84]

I can officially say mine is going back. After receiving the replacment phone, I continue to have extremely poor service, and battery life continues the suckage. I called VZW and confirmed, that they are already getting a lot of returns on the phone due to service problems. I am just going to hold off for the Bionic now, and hopefully Motorola got the 4g phone right. Also reading reviews, many press reviews say that if the TB doesnt work out its issues quick, its going to have 2 major phones to compete with, the bionic and the 4g LG phone coming out.

 

[Yellow Snowman]

If you want to wait 3-6 months for a phone then enjoy. Also enjoy tiered plans.

I'm going to enjoy my TB for the next 10 months and then evaluate. IF tiered plans suck I stick with TB. If they dont then I upgrade and get my next phone and sell TB for $250

 

[rcpratt]

FWIW, I asked the salesperson how they were selling and she said they had sold out four shipments. Also said that only one person had returned the phone, and it wasn't because of battery life.

 

[offanairplane]

Where are you located? I live near a major city and all 3 verizon Corporate Stores are sold out, 2 authorized retailers are sold out and BB has 3 left. A rep would have no idea regarding ALL sales, they must be talking about there specific store. Most people are buying online and getting great deals at Wirefly and Amazon.

Right.

Which is why I had to wait for them to deliver mine. And which is why lots of people on here had to wait, because the stores were out of stock. I live in a big city too, and when they said they were out of stock, I asked if I could just go to another store, they said all the stores around them were out too.

 

[LadyX]

I am definitely returning this phone and I have to say at this point it isn't even a matter of the battery! I've had numerous issues with this phone, more than any other and I believe I've given myself adequate time to judge the phone and make my final decision. Does the battery suck? Yes, this we know but it is something that I could deal with if everything else was working properly. I am in a strong 4G area, yet have multiple service problems. If I power my phone off and turn it back on, I have no service unless I pull the battery out. I have also had multiple dropped calls between 4G and 3G areas. I originally thought the call quality was clear, but it has gotten progressively worse. All phone calls have extreme static. My phone has also been lagging a lot lately. I have an insane amount of SMS errors, where I can't even get a text message to go through and the whole phone overall is just lagging. Many of my applications have been force closing such as Twitter and Pandora. I couldn't even get through a song last night without Pandora force closing on me every minute. I am also having issues with my Gallery, where sometimes pictures will show up and other times they won't. I just can't see doing a battery pull or a reset multiple times a day every day to get the phone working properly for a temporary amount of time. Even today when I tried to pull the battery it took such a long time to get the back cover off. I'm really disappointed because this is a sexy phone and I really wanted to love it! It seems that as each day goes on I am getting a bit more frustrated. I think it's safe to say I will be returning my HTC Thunderbolt and waiting for a new model, or waiting til they atleast fix all these problems everyone has been experiencing. I've never had any major issues with my Incredible or Fascinate quite like this. I understand the new 4G technology is creating a few complications but until it is perfected I will wait it out for something better! I should have known with the extreme delay in release that I'd be encountering some problems.

 

[upz33]

And have you seen how ridiculous said extended battery makes the phone look? It's a joke and a complete deal breaker.

Just makes it look like the G1.....

 

[slinky]

Not I...

After having the phone for 3 days I feel it is living up to the hype! 10 hours battery life using only 4G today, 20 hours of using only WiFi yesterday...I can deal with that.

When you mean "using" you mean having 4G on but perhaps not using 4G for things like surfing, etc. I can only realistically get 2 or so hours of email, surfing etc. and maybe a bit more but not a whole lot.

 

[Mallissa]

If I power my phone off and turn it back on, I have no service unless I pull the battery out. I have also had multiple dropped calls between 4G and 3G areas. I originally thought the call quality was clear, but it has gotten progressively worse. All phone calls have extreme static. My phone has also been lagging a lot lately. I have an insane amount of SMS errors, where I can't even get a text message to go through and the whole phone overall is just lagging. I am also having issues with my Gallery, where sometimes pictures will show up and other times they won't. I'm really disappointed because this is a sexy phone and I really wanted to love it! It seems that as each day goes on I am getting a bit more frustrated.

My husband had a lot of the same problems your having. Not saying another phone would work for you, but it sure made a world of difference for him. Slacker no longer force closes, he hasn't had a jumpy signal, and his text messages are now going to Handcent instead of his mail inbox. lol Maybe try a replacement??

 

[ska.t73]

I am definitely returning this phone and I have to say at this point it isn't even a matter of the battery! I've had numerous issues with this phone, more than any other and I believe I've given myself adequate time to judge the phone and make my final decision. Does the battery suck? Yes, this we know but it is something that I could deal with if everything else was working properly. I am in a strong 4G area, yet have multiple service problems. If I power my phone off and turn it back on, I have no service unless I pull the battery out. I have also had multiple dropped calls between 4G and 3G areas. I originally thought the call quality was clear, but it has gotten progressively worse. All phone calls have extreme static. My phone has also been lagging a lot lately. I have an insane amount of SMS errors, where I can't even get a text message to go through and the whole phone overall is just lagging. Many of my applications have been force closing such as Twitter and Pandora. I couldn't even get through a song last night without Pandora force closing on me every minute. I am also having issues with my Gallery, where sometimes pictures will show up and other times they won't. I just can't see doing a battery pull or a reset multiple times a day every day to get the phone working properly for a temporary amount of time. Even today when I tried to pull the battery it took such a long time to get the back cover off. I'm really disappointed because this is a sexy phone and I really wanted to love it! It seems that as each day goes on I am getting a bit more frustrated. I think it's safe to say I will be returning my HTC Thunderbolt and waiting for a new model, or waiting til they atleast fix all these problems everyone has been experiencing. I've never had any major issues with my Incredible or Fascinate quite like this. I understand the new 4G technology is creating a few complications but until it is perfected I will wait it out for something better! I should have known with the extreme delay in release that I'd be encountering some problems.

Honestly? It sounds like you got a lemon, the only issue that I have that is the same as yours is the Gallery one, I would have to either unmount and remount my SD card or reboot the phone. What I did was download the app SDRescan from the market, now if I notice that the pictures aren't showing I simply use SDRescan and they show back up. It looks like it is simply an issue with the included SD card.

Other then that my phone is running great. Again if you want to love the phone I would at least try to exchange it for a new one and see if the problems are solved. There is always going to be a few lemons that get out in the first waves when a device launches. If the second one is just as bad then I would say to wait on the Bionic.

 

[Outlaw.99]

Happy with mine... Cant go by battery first day or so... I had issue with messages showing up with wrong ## to others but that was solved with quick reset once you set up the sim card....

 

[ska.t73]

Also to the people have connection issues, I think we need to understand that this is really a first for most VZW employees. The don't deal with sim cards at all and for most this is the first one they have ever had to set up. I would suggest going back into the store and seeing if it is something they can fix.

I know that when I got mine I was the first person in the store. The rep made some comments that it might take a while since we were the first one they had to do this on. He actually had to try two sim cards before mine was done. I haven't had any problems at all with my connections and I'm in a 4G area that then goes to a non 4G area (Phoenix and Surprise AZ). Switches without an issue.

 

[LadyX]

I could possibly have a lemon, but I'm curious since I notice others having similar problems. If anything, I could always give it one last try and do an exchange to see if the second one is any better. We all know how frustrated these things can make us! I also understand that the whole 4G/SIM card concept is new to VZW and I can't expect it to be perfect. Once they do get around to perfecting it though it should definitely be amazing! It's almost been a week already with this phone so I'll see what else I come across in the upcoming week!

 

[LoyalServant]

Wow you have got a lot of issues.
Seems like a bad device to me.
When I was in the VZW store launch day they pulled a bad unit out of the box for another customer standing right next to me.

It powered on and locked up so they pulled the battery.... put it back in, powered it up and it seemed to work but 30 seconds later it froze up again.

They just went in the back and got another one and that worked fine.
Mine also worked fine the first time.

It happens.

 

[UBRocked]

Not I...

After having the phone for 3 days I feel it is living up to the hype! 10 hours battery life using only 4G today, 20 hours of using only WiFi yesterday...I can deal with that.

When you mean "using" you mean having 4G on but perhaps not using 4G for things like surfing, etc. I can only realistically get 2 or so hours of email, surfing etc. and maybe a bit more but not a whole lot.

No, when I say I'm on 4G all day, I mean I'm on 4G and actually using my phone. I don't think I've ever spent so much time justifying my usage on a phone. I'm getting decent battery life. It's not great...but it's enough. I don't know how else to say it and I'm sorry if some of you aren't seeing the same.

Last night, I took my wife and kids to WWE Smackdown. I had a full charge when I left the house. 6 hours later and I had 30% battery life left. While that may not sound too impressive, keep in mind that I took over 250 pictures. My phones display accounted for about 60% of battery drain, and the camera accounted for about 30% of the drain. Now, I took my Fascinate to a similar event and took about 400 pictures. But that event only lasted about 3 hours and my phone was almost completely dead.

The worst day I've had with the battery was the first day I had the phone. I only got 7 hours out of it on 4G with moderate usage. I even documented that usage in an older post (that I don't care to look for but be my guest). I know I streamed an hour of Pandora, made a phone call or two, sent a few text messages, played a 10 minute YouTube video over 4G on the way home. I was disappointed with that amount of usage, but I've seen improvement since that first day.

So when I say I get 10 hours on 4G...I mean I get 10 hours with normal use. If I only got 2 hours of out my phone I would return it in a heartbeat (which is something some of you might want to consider).

 

[jennay22]

I don't have any MAJOR complaints other than the data connection stalling after being idle, say overnight. I'm just going to keep an eye on it for the next few days. I'm going with the kids up to No Va this weekend (Alexandria) to visit my folks and will finally get to check out 4G on this phone. Whether I will experience some tech difficulty while I'm up there, not sure, but this is one good phone and I plan on keeping it. I'm also on a one yr plan so in 10 months, I can get a new phone if I want, sounds better than waiting 20 months.