Featured Editorial: Dear HTC, Where’s My Battery Life?

| November 18, 2012 | 13 Replies

    There’s been a developing problem when it comes to HTC and their devices, over the last year they’ve brought out some seriously good hardware, there’s no denying it. However, this brilliant hardware is often backed up with tiny sized batteries. Now, I’m at expecting the company to bring out massive sized phones that last forever on a single charge but, after the recent announcement of the Droid DNA, with a 1080p 5-inch display and a…2020 mAh battery, it’s clear that HTC have a problem on their hands.

    For me, as an owner of the original One X in International form, with the Tegra 3 quad-core and an 1800 mAh battery, this is becoming a big problem for me. Of course, working from home means that I have little excuse to leave the house on anything less than full battery and while I stand by this theory, it’s something that I shouldn’t have to adopt, no matter what phone I’m using. We might still be using the same battery technology from the dumb phone days but, if the answer is to put more battery in your phone then you know what, HTC should put more battery in their phones.

    Yesterday, for example, I was out of the house in the afternoon for an errand and I took my phone with me, I had 75% of battery left on my phone. Around the area I live is some pretty good 3G so, I was checking the feeds and checking in on things as I was out. I wasn’t even out for that long and yet, I came home with 6% of battery. This was through just browsing the web and some app use, all 3G based of course but, WiFi was off, Bluetooth was off and I had brightness as low as I could take it.

    Color me unimpressed.

    Certainly, when I got home it was just a matter of plugging the phone in and then charging it back up but, in all seriousness, HTC should have put a bigger battery in this. The AT&T version has a 2100 mAh battery and while 300 mAh doesn’t seem a lot, when you’re dealing with screens of this size, every little helps. My Dad has a Galaxy S III, the international version with the quad-core Exynos, and Samsung saw fit to put 2100 mAh in that phone. It’s also removable and no thicker than the One X so, what gives HTC?

    The Droid DNA is a stunning phone and with a resolution of 1080p on a 5-inch display it’s certainly worth putting up with the extra screen size. Then there’s the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro, the same CPU at the heart of the Nexus 4, which is a stunningly fast CPU and said to be the most power efficient CPU out there. Yet HTC still saw fit to throw in a measly 2020 mAh battery. Do they really think that this is going to get anything more than 6-7 hours on daily, light, use? Perhaps it was Verizon who held them back to push the Droid RAZR MAXX HD? Well, the Butterfly J in Japan – basically the same phone – has the same battery.

    I really don’t know what is wrong with HTC when it comes to battery life, it’s not as if they can turn around and tell us that Sense is battery for your battery than stock Android because it certainly isn’t. In fact, it’s more than likely worse. It doesn’t matter how much they do to the kernels that they ship with these phones or whatever special modes they throw into Sense, until HTC realize that the consumer is more than happy to take a thicker phone with a bigger battery, road warriors will continue to avoid their phones. There’s little reason for HTC to not produce thicker phones with bigger batteries either. Sure, the race for the thinnest phone is something that will continue but, when it comes down it, it’s a much better brag to have phone that lasts longer than how it fits in your pocket.

    C’mon HTC, I love your phones and the One Series has been really quite good but, you’re killing me here. All I want is a modern phone with a modern sized battery and until you guys can do that, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to part ways.

      Category: Android News

      About the Author ()

      For years now I've had a heavy interest in technology, I grew up with 8-bit computers and gaming consoles and have been using Linux for years now. Android saved me from the boredom of iOS years ago and I've loved every minute of it. As a big reader and writer nothing pleases me more than to write about the exciting world of Android and technology as a whole.
      • http://twitter.com/SontaaSuomesta Sontaa Suomesta

        HTC Droid DNA uses LCD3 display, which consumes 30-50% less power than screens of the previous generations, so battery life should not be problem.

        • http://www.androidheadlines.com/ Alexander Maxham

          You also still have the LTE issue though. I know LTE has gotten better as far as battery consumption goes, but we’ll just have to wait and see how well it works in real-life conditions.

          • http://twitter.com/SontaaSuomesta Sontaa Suomesta

            You can always turn the LTE off (unless you’re stupid enough to use operator which forces you to use LTE always-on).

            • http://androidheadlines.com/ Tom Dawson

              Which SLCD3 is indeed more power efficient, you have to account for the massive increase of pixels that are being pushed to the screen, as well as some other factors in the Droid DNA. On the whole the phone seems loaded with hardware that’s going to strain that tiny battery to its limits!

      • Shaner

        There also the issue of not having a memory card slot. 16gb is a joke these days and once formatted you only end up with 11gb which is even more pathetic. So in a couple months you will have to decide what apps to delete when you want to dl a new one. I wanted this phone so bad. I think it’s time to part way myself!

      • Dadio

        Watch, they will probably do what Motorola did…come out with MAXX version and a bigger battery.;)

        • http://www.androidheadlines.com/ Alexander Maxham

          Thought would drive up sales, and also piss a lot of people off that bought the Droid DNA before they did announce it. But it wouldn’t surprise me.

      • redeu3

        To me larger battery is a need while an expandable memory is is not so important to me, that said, if this is suppose to be a super phone then the memory should be larger than lackluster 16GB, how many 1080p movies can you store in there? It is not good enough just to have ‘sufficient’ battery, especially if we are at a bad reception area, I don’t know how they do these tests on the phone, I own an One X (Aust Vodafone Tegra3 version) and the phone could only last half a day here in Malaysia presumably due to bad reception, in Australia it could last me through the day without issues. I love HTC phones, and I am really hoping that they will include a Note 2 Matching battery for the International version of the DNA… one can only hope…

      • http://twitter.com/tagont1 Joseph Lotorto

        My last 5 phones were HTC all had pathetic battery life but they were removable so I accepted it and replaced battery half way through the day. Since they sealed the battery my latest phone became the Galaxy Note II. Battery is big and removable and gets me through a whole day. Hate touch wiz and really miss Sense. I wish HTC would wake up and smell the coffee.

        • http://androidheadlines.com/ Tom Dawson

          I started out with an HTC Desire and the battery life really was poor, especially when listening to Music which is all I seem to do on my phone that drains the battery.

          Like you said, the battery is removable so I myself, had a couple in numerous jacket pockets. It was fun to get a full battery again halfway through the day but, why on earth should we even have to consider it?

        • cst

          > Since they sealed the battery my latest phone became the Galaxy Note II.
          Same here. As for Sense – only feature I really miss is clock and weather widget, but I fixed it with HD Widgets.
          I really hope HTC will pay more attention to what Motorola and Samsung did even if it is downright brute solution like installing battery of greater capacity instead of finetuning power consumption.

      • João

        I have an Htc One X and, unfortunately, i change for Samsung Galaxy S3 because of the battery life… It´s very poor, almost unbelievable… Lasted little more than half a day of low utilization. And with the Droid DNA the same thing will happen… Wake up HTC please!!!!!

      • http://twitter.com/RogersBlant RogersBlant

        I’ve been an HTC customer for a few years now, starting with the HP iPaq 6915, which was made by HTC for HP. My current HTC phone, a Sensation, is likely to be my last, however. I am of the opinion that if a mobile (cell) phone manufacturer cannot trust me to do simple things like changing a battery, or installing a ram chip, then I cannot trust the manufacturer to make a reliable product that I would wish to use. So, it looks like Samsung or even Sony may well be getting my business in a few months. Heck of a shame, really.

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