HTC Thunderbolt Battery Life

If you've purchased the HTC Thunderbolt and are enjoying the great speeds users are reporting when using the new Verizon 4G LTE network, I'm guessing you're also extremely disappointed with the HTC Thunderbolt battery life.

I'm not naive to believe or understand that smartphone manufacturers are constantly having to balance which features to include on their new smartphones and which features they forgo depending upon the latest technology, the consumer market they're trying to tap, and the overall usability of the smartphone product they're delivering to the market.

Keeping this in mind, I still don't understand the HTC Thunderbolt battery life or, for that matter, the battery life on most of the smartphones currently on the market today.  Some reports are noting that the HTC Thunderbolt battery life (a 1400 mAh battery inside) is supporting as little as 3.5 - 4.5 hours of use while on the new Verizon 4G LTE network with significantly more usage time if you back off to the Verizon 3G network.

It seems to me that it would be awfully hard for there to be a disconnect between the smartphone manufacturers and the consumer in this regard. I will say that the battery life on the AT&T iPhone 4 is great provided you toggle off of the AT&T 3G network and leave your iPhone on the Edge network when not in use. Unless I'm browsing the web, using maps, or any other feature requiring the use of data and don't have access to a Wi-Fi hotspot, I always leave my iPhone on the AT&T Edge network, rather than the AT&T 3G network, as I've found, in addition to the greatly improved battery life, that the call reliability and dropped calls noticed by many is reduced substantially.

Getting back on track, I'm going to reiterate that I do understand that there are many variables being balanced and that there is a huge demand from the consumer to buy a smartphone that has the software and hardware to power the latest technological advancements available at the time. There's also no doubt that pushing the limits of technology comes with having to make some sacrifices.

Again, that being said, I still don't understand why something more can't be done to address the battery life issues that plague most of the feature rich smartphones on the market today. There were battery life issues on the HTC EVO and you knew that the same was going to be true for the HTC Thunderbolt battery life.

You'd think we'd have a better solution to this issue other than constantly having to charge your smartphone battery or purchasing an expensive and clunky battery life extender.

Right?

Android Gingerbread 2.3 Coming to HTC Thunderbolt

Droid Life is claiming that one of their readers contacted HTC over a Bluetooth issue that they were having on their new HTC Thunderbolt and received the following email correspondence back from an HTC rep. noting that Android Gingerbread 2.3 is coming to the HTC Thunderbolt in Q2 of 2011.

"Dear John,

Congratulations on obtainng the HTC Thunderbolt. We understand how important it is that your device meets your needs.

John, Bluetooth manufacturers make their devices to be compatible with our phones. We do not make our phones to be compatible with the thousands of Bluetooth devices in the market. Bluetooth manufacturers conduct the testing to see if complete compatability is achievable. It is the software in the Bluetooth devices which dictates whether they work or not. Our software in the phones, ensures that the phone can pair and turn on the Bluetooth. Anything else, goes to the Bluetooth manufacturer for troubleshooting. You would need to speak with the car manufacturer to ensure that full compatibilty is achievable. The Thunderbolt does have a text to speech feature.

We are excited to announce that the Thunderbolt will receive the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) update in Q2 2011. Stay tuned for details as we get closer to the update availability."

No doubt this is welcome news to new verizon wireless customers who've already upgraded to a new HTC Thunderbolt.  Looking past the battery drain issue that you had to anticipate with the specs on the Thunderbolt, all reports indicate that it lives up to its expectations in regards to processing speed and its ability to take advantage of the new Verizon wireless 4G LTE network.

If you are a new Verizon wireless HTC Thunderbolt owner, I'm sure the only thing that was going through your mind is why all of the delays and when is the HTC Thunderbolt going to be released.

Once you got your hands on the HTC Thunderbolt and had a few hours to get settled in with your new tech toy, I'm sure your insatiable appetite for newer and better turned towards dreaming of the day when Google's Android Gingerbread 2.3 was going to be released and made available for you to upgrade!

If true, this little nugget of HTC Thunderbolt news should give you something to look forward to. Otherwise, you'll be wishing you waited for a new Verizon 4G LTE compatible phone with a dual core processor inside.

The tech gadget cycle never ends!