Are Smart Phones Really That Smart?
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Thanks to work, I just got my first smart phone. An HTC Thunderbolt. This may turn out to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I still can't see what is so 'smart' about it. Sure, the screen is nice, and there are some useful features...having Google maps in my pocket already helped me on one occasion. But...and it's a HUGE but...what is up with the battery?! Seriously. For example, I had the phone charging all night. Unplugged it Sunday morning around 8am. Didn't touch the phone all day. Not even once. Around 10pm, finally looked at it...the battery was at critical! Had to plug it in immediately. Today, tried listening to the radio on the phone. The battery was half way gone by lunch time! :doh: What is the point of a 'wireless' device that needs to be plugged in and charging almost all the time?! :wtf: Yes, there are most likely background processes that are sucking the battery power quickly. I could investigate, and try shutting stuff down. But, isn't that the whole point of a 'Smart' phone? If I shut down all the 'smart' features, then it becomes really no different from my cheap phone that I got for free, and didn't have to pay an extra $30/month for a data plan. I'm just not seeing it. Can someone out there enlighten me as to what is so 'smart' about a smart phone? :confused: It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer...
Its amazing how phones seem to be getting bigger again... if you look at cell phone evolution, we started out with those big bricks, worked our way down to some tiny phones that you could barely hold, and now they're working their way back up... ...On the other side, I do have a smart phone too, a blackberry, and I'm amazed at how long my battery lasts, sometimes up to two days...
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ChrisElston wrote:
essentially if you are doing something that means it is 'always on' then it is not going to last out a day.
So, once again, back to the original question! Just doesn't seem so 'smart'. My 'dumb' phone goes 4-5 days on a charge. Oh well, but of course, the demand for mobile coders is becoming so great that I guess I'll have to learn it, regardless.
Same here. Last year my friends and I went camping as a group noone had a charger; the one day we went in town to do stuff mine phone was the designated phone for my car; because it was the only one that had more than a trace of power left. :laugh: Despite a 5.5 year old battery I think mine lasted 7 or 8 days over xmas vacation last year before going completely dead.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
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Thanks to work, I just got my first smart phone. An HTC Thunderbolt. This may turn out to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I still can't see what is so 'smart' about it. Sure, the screen is nice, and there are some useful features...having Google maps in my pocket already helped me on one occasion. But...and it's a HUGE but...what is up with the battery?! Seriously. For example, I had the phone charging all night. Unplugged it Sunday morning around 8am. Didn't touch the phone all day. Not even once. Around 10pm, finally looked at it...the battery was at critical! Had to plug it in immediately. Today, tried listening to the radio on the phone. The battery was half way gone by lunch time! :doh: What is the point of a 'wireless' device that needs to be plugged in and charging almost all the time?! :wtf: Yes, there are most likely background processes that are sucking the battery power quickly. I could investigate, and try shutting stuff down. But, isn't that the whole point of a 'Smart' phone? If I shut down all the 'smart' features, then it becomes really no different from my cheap phone that I got for free, and didn't have to pay an extra $30/month for a data plan. I'm just not seeing it. Can someone out there enlighten me as to what is so 'smart' about a smart phone? :confused: It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer...
is your phone a 4g phone?
"mostly watching the human race is like watching dogs watch tv ... they see the pictures move but the meaning escapes them"
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is your phone a 4g phone?
"mostly watching the human race is like watching dogs watch tv ... they see the pictures move but the meaning escapes them"
l a u r e n wrote:
is your phone a 4g phone?
It is a 4G phone, but no 4G in my area, so it's only using 3G.
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l a u r e n wrote:
is your phone a 4g phone?
It is a 4G phone, but no 4G in my area, so it's only using 3G.
In that case, see if you can disable 4G. If your phone is constantly searching for a 4G signal, that might be reducing battery life.
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Thanks to work, I just got my first smart phone. An HTC Thunderbolt. This may turn out to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I still can't see what is so 'smart' about it. Sure, the screen is nice, and there are some useful features...having Google maps in my pocket already helped me on one occasion. But...and it's a HUGE but...what is up with the battery?! Seriously. For example, I had the phone charging all night. Unplugged it Sunday morning around 8am. Didn't touch the phone all day. Not even once. Around 10pm, finally looked at it...the battery was at critical! Had to plug it in immediately. Today, tried listening to the radio on the phone. The battery was half way gone by lunch time! :doh: What is the point of a 'wireless' device that needs to be plugged in and charging almost all the time?! :wtf: Yes, there are most likely background processes that are sucking the battery power quickly. I could investigate, and try shutting stuff down. But, isn't that the whole point of a 'Smart' phone? If I shut down all the 'smart' features, then it becomes really no different from my cheap phone that I got for free, and didn't have to pay an extra $30/month for a data plan. I'm just not seeing it. Can someone out there enlighten me as to what is so 'smart' about a smart phone? :confused: It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer...
Alexander DiMauro wrote:
It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer
I think this is probably an accurate assessment. Seems to be a better way for them to generate revenue. If it was not such an excellent reader I'd still have a dumb phone. The wife appreciates it b/c I never leave home without a book, phone on the other hand often sat in the office for days.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Thanks for the detailed response, I'm going to try these things out. I don't think it's a bad battery, because someone else here got the same phone, and he also says the battery runs down fast. I'll try it out, but, I guess in general I shouldn't complain too much since I'm not paying for this phone!
It's not the battery, it's the phone. My Samsung Epic does the same thing, and so do all the various "smart" phones around the office. It's worse if you are in a poor signal area, as the dumb thing wears itself out trying to find a good signal and rapidly drains the battery. If you turn off every feature that makes it a smart phone, the battery might last a day or two, provided you don't talk to anyone. Cute as they may be, the battery technology does not yet exist to make these devices ready for prime time. Of course, if battery technology had been up to snuff, we'd see plentiful, cheap solar and wind power replacing fossil fuel-derived energy, and electric vehicles would get you farther than across town on one charge.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I've seen issues like that a few times. Here are some of the problems/solutions (though, I agree, the phones should be smart enough to not run your battery down):
- Disable bluetooth.
- Disable wifi when not in use (I do this on my iPhone just so I don't get the damn connect dialog all the time).
- Disable the background image (some phones will drain the battery repeatedly fetching the background image from a memory card).
- Disable automatic email fetch. Some phones default to check email every 5 minutes. Instead, turn it to manual and check your email whenever you feel like it.
Of course, it could also just be a bad battery or may require a few cycles of depleting/charging.
#3 - Mine was set to check every few minutes by default and the battery would need to be recharged twice a day. I changed the setting from 'soonest' to 'every 30 minutes' and the battery now lasts at least 24 hours. The settings on my phone are in a section called 'when to sync'. There is also a 'disable sync when battery at xx%' option.
Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am
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Thanks to work, I just got my first smart phone. An HTC Thunderbolt. This may turn out to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I still can't see what is so 'smart' about it. Sure, the screen is nice, and there are some useful features...having Google maps in my pocket already helped me on one occasion. But...and it's a HUGE but...what is up with the battery?! Seriously. For example, I had the phone charging all night. Unplugged it Sunday morning around 8am. Didn't touch the phone all day. Not even once. Around 10pm, finally looked at it...the battery was at critical! Had to plug it in immediately. Today, tried listening to the radio on the phone. The battery was half way gone by lunch time! :doh: What is the point of a 'wireless' device that needs to be plugged in and charging almost all the time?! :wtf: Yes, there are most likely background processes that are sucking the battery power quickly. I could investigate, and try shutting stuff down. But, isn't that the whole point of a 'Smart' phone? If I shut down all the 'smart' features, then it becomes really no different from my cheap phone that I got for free, and didn't have to pay an extra $30/month for a data plan. I'm just not seeing it. Can someone out there enlighten me as to what is so 'smart' about a smart phone? :confused: It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer...
HTC seem to be overlooking this as a convenience issue. I bought an HTC Desire, and while for the most part I'm pretty happy with it, the battery thing was abysmal for the first few days. Get the Juice Defender app from the Android Market. Should string out the battery power good-o. And for long hikes and bike rides (I generally spend pretty much all Sunday, every Sunday, on the road) get yourself the Power Monkey, if you need it. I can't really justify getting a separate GPS deevice, but the GPS eats battery power, so I need the Power Monkey. <a href="https://powertraveller.com/">https://powertraveller.com/</a>[<a href="https://powertraveller.com/" target="_blank" title="New Window">^</a>] Hope that helps.
Smokie, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. www.geticeberg.com http://melpadden.wordpress.com
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HTC seem to be overlooking this as a convenience issue. I bought an HTC Desire, and while for the most part I'm pretty happy with it, the battery thing was abysmal for the first few days. Get the Juice Defender app from the Android Market. Should string out the battery power good-o. And for long hikes and bike rides (I generally spend pretty much all Sunday, every Sunday, on the road) get yourself the Power Monkey, if you need it. I can't really justify getting a separate GPS deevice, but the GPS eats battery power, so I need the Power Monkey. <a href="https://powertraveller.com/">https://powertraveller.com/</a>[<a href="https://powertraveller.com/" target="_blank" title="New Window">^</a>] Hope that helps.
Smokie, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. www.geticeberg.com http://melpadden.wordpress.com
The same happens with my fiancee HTC Desire HD. Fantastic phone but short battery life.
-- Si dos montan un caballo, uno debe ir detrás.
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Thanks to work, I just got my first smart phone. An HTC Thunderbolt. This may turn out to be a bit of a rant, so I apologize ahead of time, but I still can't see what is so 'smart' about it. Sure, the screen is nice, and there are some useful features...having Google maps in my pocket already helped me on one occasion. But...and it's a HUGE but...what is up with the battery?! Seriously. For example, I had the phone charging all night. Unplugged it Sunday morning around 8am. Didn't touch the phone all day. Not even once. Around 10pm, finally looked at it...the battery was at critical! Had to plug it in immediately. Today, tried listening to the radio on the phone. The battery was half way gone by lunch time! :doh: What is the point of a 'wireless' device that needs to be plugged in and charging almost all the time?! :wtf: Yes, there are most likely background processes that are sucking the battery power quickly. I could investigate, and try shutting stuff down. But, isn't that the whole point of a 'Smart' phone? If I shut down all the 'smart' features, then it becomes really no different from my cheap phone that I got for free, and didn't have to pay an extra $30/month for a data plan. I'm just not seeing it. Can someone out there enlighten me as to what is so 'smart' about a smart phone? :confused: It seems more 'smart' for the cell phone companies than for the consumer...
I have the Desire HD and the biggest power hog is the GPS - make sure it is switched off unless you are using location or driving apps
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