Workaround for HTC Hero battery life issues discovered
By Donald Melanson 
posted October 29th 2009 5:26PM
posted October 29th 2009 5:26PM
Well, there still isn't a fix for the problem some people seem to be having with receiving text messages on their HTC Hero, but it looks like a workaround has been discovered for another pesky issue that can put a strain on the phone's battery life. Apparently, the phone has a bit of trouble going back into sleep mode after you send a text, or after you simply turn on the phone and immediately disable the screen without any activity. While some fairly elaborate fixes were tried by some users initially, it looks like the simplest actually works the best: just don't use the default SMS app to send texts. Instead, you can use a third-party app like ChompSMS or HandCent, which apparently have no problems letting the phone go back to sleep after you send a text. Of course, an official fix would still be the best but, in the meantime, you can hit up the link below for all the necessary details on making the (hopefully temporary) switch.[Thanks, Sean]
iKurt XII)
You mean, they can't deal with such problems because the platform is closed.
I'm glad my 3GS isn't the only phone with random bugs here. It's humbling that even the Hero has some minor issues. I would get the Hero (the squarish one, the Sprint one is ugly) if I didn't have the iPhone.
I have this phone and I frequent www.sprintusers.com often. Some people have this problem, but not everyone. I, for example, do not have this issue.
I have had an Hero since june and never ever had any of these problems.
I also know at least 3 other people who have this excellent phone and I have never heard about these supposed bugs.
The battery is not a record holder but the phone itself is tops.
If you haven't purchased a Hero yet, or already did at best buy... here is a $50 off coupon good for this week. I just had best buy price match two phones and am $108.25 richer. I am sure if you go to a sprint store they will price match as well... HTH. So for 129.99 the phone is a pretty good deal. The coupon is here on the last page. Print it and go get your cash!!!
http://image.emailinfo2.bestbuy.com/lib/fef41d77766c04/m/2/ESE_20091028_RZ_Core_Coupons.pdf
you're the man! i'm proud of sprint for doing this, but it makes sense...
just couple more days till i get mine..
ANd people were expecting something good?
haha shitty iphone!
oh wait... !
This POS looks exactly like the Windows Mobile "Smartphone" I had in 2003. You know the one where once the battery died you lost all your data and had to re-sync.
My HTC Windows Mobile phone has the same issue. It is really annoying. It receives a text, activates the touch screen. and sometimes calls the sender, all while it is in my pocket. Next thing I know.... I hear someone screaming hello for my pocket. I had blamed WinMo, but maybe it is HTC.
hancent is working great for me but unfortunately facebook integration is keeping it awake 100% too. =/ hoping for fixes in the eclair update.
When I hear htc I think Hyundai.
When I hear apple iPhone I think Acura BMW lambo etc,.
Anyone else?
wow, acura. you might as well throw hyundai into that mix since it would represent about a 1% increase in the astronomical range of affordability you're presenting with that list.
My GF's 3GS battery only lasts for 2 or 3 hours and she doesn't do anything with it. I have push, BT and WiFi turned off and she still needs to stay near a charger to use the phone. I keep telling her to send it back but so far she hasn't.
Before this fix i was getting 4 hours of battery life before going in red, now it is as 10, and when i say 10 thats with hardly any useage, like 10 texts 10 minutes of browsing and 20 minutes of talk, and phone is dead in 10 hours!~ And i am not dumb my GPS Wifi and Bluetooth were off.
I had this 3 weeks and it's very capable and very nice, but the battery life is not acceptable, i am tearing apart my room looking for my BB Pearl so I can have it reactivated. I will give it a few months before I buy a new device like this again. I would much rather have a little bigger device with a much bigger battery.
Dude, if you like Iphone? Stick with it! I don't need to know your fu$%ing opinion... c'mon, get real!
Coming from an Iphone user...
@laxfan0930 We all know you can't do that on an iPhone is does not support flash.
I don't have issues playing videos via the YouTube application. However, does anyone have video playback issues from the internet or applications. Specifically speaking I have the NBA Game Time application which has video highlights. My Sprint Hero will not play them. Sometimes the audio loads, but no video. I have tried over the mobile network and wifi and neither works. Am I just suppose to wait until they update the flash player? Why would NBA digital put an app out that can't be used fully?
"just don't use the default SMS app to send texts."
This is ridiculous. Is it HTC's fault or Android's fault? I hope it's not Android's problem.
took long enough to post this...
So what's the deal, is the whole pathetic battery life issue just with the Sprint HERO? All i heard was rave reviews of the jay leno model and it's been out for quite awhile...
BATTERY BATTERY BATTERY.
Users must be allowed to close every application if they desire without having to resort to stupid task management applications. I am still shooked that google thought this was a good idea. I am assuming this would be ok if we had the technology to pack 2X the battery power we have today, but not cool idea with in todays world.
Running application on the background is wasting about 30% extra of battery.
I still can't figure out why goggle thought this was a good idea
Seriously.... everyone moaning about TasKiller and not being able to close Android apps - do you even know how Linux works? Do you know that the scheduler doesn't run apps in the background, but hibernates them whenever they don't need CPU time.... it's not like Windows where more tasks = more CPU cycles, they just sit there and wait until they need to use cycles.
Have as many apps open as you want, if they're non-interactive apps that aren't doing any processing then your battery life will not change. It just means they open up a bit quicker when you next need them.
When are they going to fix EMAIL on WiFi. You can not sign up on Yahoo email through WiFi.. ok..no big deal, do it on the sprint network.
But you can not even download/view email on WiFi after you have it configured.
My IPOD 2.0 does it Yahoo email just fine on WiFi
Ok. I just got my hero. Could somebody explain what exactly this battery issue is and how can I tell if I have this issue?
Sure it does. Go on a trip that you don't always have access to a plug. Try changing the battery on that IPhone brick. I have 4 battery for mine and they didn't cost that much. I can go two weeks with out a plug.