new Blockbuster app eating battery again?
maaltan
Newbie

So a while back everyone was talking about how the blockbuster app eats battery even if you dont use it.  The solution was posted as:

 

1. Load blockbuster app

2.  update if neccessary

3.  go to settings and disable all the automatic updates.

 

This gave me about 30% more battery life (from 24 hrs in 3g to about 36-48 depending on signal and usage)

 

Well 4g just came to my area and after fighting with tech support for a month, I finally agreed to factory reset my phone.  this allows me to use 4g and after a week im almost back to normal EXCEPT my battery live is back to unaccepable levels.

 

I followed the above proceedure and bam ..the new version requires a credit card number.  The settings window is basically blank.

 

I contacted blockbuster and they gave me this:


Welcome to Blockbuster Live Chat. Please wait for the next available agent to assist you.

You have been connected to Oleg .
Oleg : Welcome to Blockbuster On Demand Customer Care
Customer: hello, I recently had to do a factory reset of my phone. I need to disable the blockbuster automatic list updates (the background process) not the market auto-updates.
Customer: before all i had to do is open settings and it is there. now i must enter a credit card number. This in unacceptable. This is destroying my battery life
Oleg : i do apologize, there is not a way to do this from the app and you would need to contact your wireless service provider for more info about disabling app updates
Customer: is there anyway for you to insert dummy billing info into my account so i can access the settings menu?
Oleg : that is only done to link your blockbuster account to the app, it won't offer any way to disable this; we do not have dummy info to enter
Customer: so your saying that this recent update removed the ability to disable the background update service?
Oleg : it could've been a change by your wireless service provider, blockbuster simply supplies the app and it is up to your provider to determine how it runs and if/when it can be disabled
Customer: ok ..thanks i will contact them

Now what should I do?  for me to keep this phone (and probably verizon) it looks like i will need a "voided warranty" waiver to root my phone or an extended battery. 

 

Btw this is my 3rd thunderbolt and 3rd factory reset (so 6 times ive thrown everything away and had to start over)

 

Also i have NOT downloaded the gingerbread update yet.

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Re: new Blockbuster app eating battery again?
AZSALUKI
Legend

i really wouldn't worry so much about the blockbuster app. what is killing your battery is 4g. 4g is great when you need to use it, but 90% of the time you don't. download an app called "LTE OnOff" and you can use it to switch back and forthe from 4g to 3g. i only activate the 4g radio if i am streaming video or downloading large files. for idle time, calling, texting, and even most of my browsing, i leave it on "CDMA auto (PRL)," which is 3g. the blockbuster app was fairly new and CONSTANTLY updating a while back. i could be wrong, but i doubt it updates nearly as frequent anymore and it's likely the 4g radio that is draining your battery so fast.

 

also, i would bet that you could manage to get a free extended battery out of this whole ordeal. i've seen others do it.

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Re: new Blockbuster app eating battery again?
maaltan
Newbie

Sorry, forgot to mention ive disabled 4g.  i just use it when i need it (which is rarely, but I wanted to have it available since i paid for it by buying a thunderbolt which is why i factory reset Monday)

 

Also i upgraded to gingerbread last night, but not without hassle.   Because, the issue is not showing up in any searches in google or here,  Let me detail it here for postarity

 

  1. Look for update
  2. Upgrade fouind
  3. start download
  4. <service interruption, download canceled>
  5. reenter service area
  6. Look for update.
  7. No new updates found (gingerbread update was NOT installed)
  8. Update status says "download failed" and "code:412"

 

After spending an hour on tech support call and going down many script paths that terminated in "factory reset phone" i told them to forget it and i would try to figure out something myself and factory reset if needed.    About 4 hours of punching the "check new" button it finally came back up.  Started download again .... and my timerriffic app sent my phone into airplane mode..   doh!.     Well of course i had same issue.   Right at 4 hours it worked again.

 

My assumption is that verizon only allows you to attempt to download the update once ever 4 hours.  maybe this is some kind of load mitigation they are using on release day or something.  If so it would be nice if they educated the call center staff in this behavior (or at all?  not entirely fair, i had one guy that was good.  he helped my hack my phone into 3g mode when the eHRPD stack got corrupted after the second phone).

 

Btw, Some random automatic mini-update thing was released after the tbolt crash fix update but before the gingerbread update  (i dont remember pushing the update button but its possibe i did) added an entry to the wireless setting menu that let you toggle cdma and lte without jumping through hoops ...  It still isnt a widget, but better than the previous alternatives

 

Since gingerbread is supposed to be more aggressive against battery wasting processes, lets see how things go now...

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Re: new Blockbuster app eating battery again?
AZSALUKI
Legend

maaltan wrote:

Sorry, forgot to mention ive disabled 4g.  i just use it when i need it (which is rarely, but I wanted to have it available since i paid for it by buying a thunderbolt which is why i factory reset Monday)

 

Also i upgraded to gingerbread last night, but not without hassle.   Because, the issue is not showing up in any searches in google or here,  Let me detail it here for postarity

 

  1. Look for update
  2. Upgrade fouind
  3. start download
  4. <service interruption, download canceled>
  5. reenter service area
  6. Look for update.
  7. No new updates found (gingerbread update was NOT installed)
  8. Update status says "download failed" and "code:412"

 

After spending an hour on tech support call and going down many script paths that terminated in "factory reset phone" i told them to forget it and i would try to figure out something myself and factory reset if needed.    About 4 hours of punching the "check new" button it finally came back up.  Started download again .... and my timerriffic app sent my phone into airplane mode..   doh!.    lol.....one of my favorite apps, until i'm online at 11:45 pm and it goes into airplane...lol!!  Well of course i had same issue.   Right at 4 hours it worked again.

 

My assumption is that verizon only allows you to attempt to download the update once ever 4 hours.  maybe this is some kind of load mitigation they are using on release day or something.  If so it would be nice if they educated the call center staff in this behavior (or at all?  not entirely fair, i had one guy that was good.  he helped my hack my phone into 3g mode when the eHRPD stack got corrupted after the second phone).

 

Btw, Some random automatic mini-update thing was released after the tbolt crash fix update but before the gingerbread update  (i dont remember pushing the update button but its possibe i did) added an entry to the wireless setting menu that let you toggle cdma and lte without jumping through hoops ...  It still isnt a widget, but better than the previous alternatives This feature was included with the MR2 update. I just use LTE OnOff app. it's pretty nice.

 

Since gingerbread is supposed to be more aggressive against battery wasting processes, lets see how things go now...


 good luck and i hope you can find a way to get your battery life back!!!!

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Re: new Blockbuster app eating battery again?
DroidM
Enthusiast - Level 2

 

I have the GB Update and The BB Ap has not caused me any problems. I keep my phoen on 4G all the time except at home where i use my WiFi network. I check regularly to see what Aps are doing what to my memory and battery and the Block buster AP ha snot shown up at all including after the GB update. I also have never run the AP at all and althou the marekt keeps telling me i have an Update I have never run it. Not shore if this would work but you can go to the Market and look under My APs find the blockbuster AP and ther shoudl be an option to remove the most curent update, maby that will help.

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