I would go ahead and purchase the enhanced battery, available at most verizon wireless stores, for the HTC thunderbolt.
The enhanced battery gives you 18 to 20 hours between charges, and that's with moderate to heavy use, i.e. Streaming music, video, surfing, texting, and making phone calls.
The cost - $49.
Hope this helps!
--Alex
Download the app from the app market that allows you to switch between 3G/4G. Even if you arent in a 4G area, go ahead and turn the 4G off, it will save you a lot of juice.
Unfortunately, HTC put a sub-standard battery in this phone (1400mAH? Really?). The problem with the extended battery is the hump back. If you can live with that, fine, but I opted not to. Instead, just get an extra battery wall charger. I opted for the products from Seidio:
http://www.seidioonline.com/category-s/5448.htm
So now I have two batteries (one is always fresh and charged), as well as the car charger to augment.
I choose not to turn off 4G. Why? If I wanted a 3G phone I would have stuck with my Nexus S. 4G has much better building penetration anyhow.
Turn off background data? Again, why? That's the whole point of Android. Sorry, it's not an acceptable solution to me.
My experiences have been that the 4G network is still young and evolving. Occasionally 4G isn't available for some reason, and I think the phone hunts for it (battery drain). I've also personally had several cases of what appeared to be stuck processes. Complete battery drain in less than 4 hours. Not normal! But something to watch out for.
Download and install the app called LTE On/Off (free, byw). It allows you to switch between 4g and 3g. Set your phone for 3g when you're only using it for making calls, texting, etc... Set it for 4g when the need arises. Thus your phone will not be constantly searching for the 4g service all the time and not switching back and forth between the two, which in turn kills the battery. This is pretty much all I do and I can get a full day (12-14 hrs) out of my battery.
@mnpackrbackr - The problem with turning 4G off is that 3G signal doesn't penetrate buildings nearly as well. So I believe the phone would hunt more for 3G and switch more. I never have any problem with 4G, yet 3G is spotty.
Obviously, if your ultimte goal is the longest battery life possible, then you need to turn some of these services off. But I would rather keep it charged (wall/car) and take full advantage of the beauty of Android.
With LTE On/Off, you can lock it onto 4g only. As well as CDMA only, EvDo, only, whatever you need. As far as 3g not being able to penetrate buildings better, that's something I've never heard of. Not saying you're wrong, just never heard of it and I've never experienced any problems with 3g inside buildings. Could be possible I suppose. I'm just stating what works for me.
Verizon EVDO is 1900Mhz (in most areas) and 4G/LTE is in the 700Mhz spectrum. So yes, building penetration with 4G is much better.
dervin3 - with respect, I don't think the phone with 4G turned off represents a "real world" battery life.
I am visiting Orlando and have gotten much better battery life.
I am from Central NJ and work in NYC. At home in NJ I get a good 4G
signal but it keeps switching to 3G. I will lose 20% battery within an hour, and even with it on LTE only will lost battery. In NYC I get a sold 4G signal and it never switches to 3G, and there will still have to charge the phone within 4-5 hrs.
Where I am staying in NE Orlando Verizon coverage inside this house has always been poor for anyone phone. We need to go outside or the back porch for a decent call. 3G was getting no data so I switched to 4G. Even with 1 bar or no bars I had decent data. Yesterday we drove to Disney and I left the phone on CDMA+LTE so I would have data. As the day went on I was checking e-mail and also keeping an eye on battery. I had 3 bars in many places in Hollywood Studios and many time 1 or no bars. The phone stayed on 4G and I never once saw the phone change to 3G.The battery stayed all day. I made a couple of calls, texted lightly and received a lot of e-mail all day.
I had take the phone off the car charger at 10am, and at 10pm still had 45% battery left. This is far better than I have ever gotten in my home area.
Even though my usage was lighter I never would get anywhere near this in the NY/NJ area even with almost no use.
Has Verizon changed anything or has anyone else noticed a difference in other areas? Like everyone else I have been leaving my phone on 3G only to save battery.
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