Touch Pro Questions/Dilemma

entwined82 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:22 PM

I've got a free touch pro coming to me but I'll have to pay $175 to cancel service with Verizon to use it with Sprint. I'm reading a LOT of negative stuff lately about the touch pro especially with regards to battery life so I have a few questions.

The custom roms that improve battery life are merely using the Juicy fix right? [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Battery]
"PollInterval"=dword:4E20 is what I am referring to. I was looking into Mighty Rom..how great of a boost in battery life do you folks using it see?

Also, will I be able to get a decent gauge for the phones life without having a carrier for it? You know, just using wi-fi and all that running apps and playing around.

I finally got my 6800 with Verizon to the point where I'm REALLY happy with the battery life. I have an extended battery and all registry battery hacks running and the performance is alright after a few tweaks..I soft-reset every couple days but its nothing too annoying. In my shoes what would you do? Will I be in a similar situation with the TP? Needing to run 12 hacks and put a battery twice the size of the stock one in to be happy with it?

entwined82 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:39 PM

secondary question..how much thicker would you all say the 3000mah mugen battery makes the touch pro? Like I said my 6800 has an extended battery, I can handle a bulky phone if it works well.

cd85233 · #3 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:41 PM

Well, why not put the TP on Verizon? I think that there is a tut on how to do that around here. That would save you a few bucks, no?

If you are worried about the battery life, well maybe newer devices are something to stay away from all together. Nowadays, devices sacrifice slim and sleek for battery life....so what I am trying to say is that the TP doesn't have horrible battery life when you compare it to other Windows Mobile devices.

That being said, I have tried a few tweaks and I have not seen a change that I could actually notice to say that it wasn't the placebo effect.

Lastly, you WILL notice that the battery life has a direct relationship to where you are in respect to signal strength. In a location where there is VERY low coverage, you will see that your battery will die at least twice as fast as normally (I can speak from experience).

So in your shoes I would simply try to get the TP on Verizon and if the batter is so bad, either get another battery or get an extended battery. Either option will get you through a day. I can go through one or two days with one batt, but your milage WILL vary.

Good Luck,

CD

**Rusty Duck** · #4 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:43 PM

The battery life is okay - it last through the day for me with Exchange push but I only use about 700 minutes a month. I do notice a great battery drain when using GPS.

it is all up to you, there are many ROMs to chose from and they each have different battery life.

cd85233 · #5 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:44 PM

Almost any higher capacity battery would require a new back cover...but the exact size, I don't know.

entwined82 · #6 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:48 PM

The hacking of the TP to make it work with Verizon isn't worth it, especially when you're like me and so new to all of this stuff haha. I've had a WinMo phone now for a year or so..most advanced stuff I've done is hard-resetting, flashing stock upgrades and reg editing. I have yet to really dive in.

I just need to decide if this is potentially worth almost $300 to me. after cancelling and getting an extended battery. The free phone just kind of pushed me over the edge. Maybe I'll just sell the damn thing, wait for my Verizon contract to end and hope by then there will be better solutions for the TP..

Anyways back to custom roms. Which do you recommend most for the TP? I've looked at a few, I may just open the TP, flash a few diff roms and test and see which gives decent life using wi-fi if I can do that.

Thanks for the advice so far. I really like this forum, you guys make this stuff a lot easier with all the knowledge possessed here.

cd85233 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-05-2009, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwined82

The hacking of the TP to make it work with Verizon isn't worth it, especially when you're like me and so new to all of this stuff haha. I've had a WinMo phone now for a year or so..most advanced stuff I've done is hard-resetting, flashing stock upgrades and reg editing. I have yet to really dive in.

I just need to decide if this is potentially worth almost $300 to me. after cancelling and getting an extended battery. The free phone just kind of pushed me over the edge. Maybe I'll just sell the damn thing, wait for my Verizon contract to end and hope by then there will be better solutions for the TP..

Anyways back to custom roms. Which do you recommend most for the TP? I've looked at a few, I may just open the TP, flash a few diff roms and test and see which gives decent life using wi-fi if I can do that.

Thanks for the advice so far. I really like this forum, you guys make this stuff a lot easier with all the knowledge possessed here.

I have not seen the HOW to for the process of converting it, but IMHO you have nothing to lose by doing it...It is a free phone and its an extra phone, thus you can live without it if you mess something up.

You could sell it and wait for the TP2 which I think (not even close to being sure) that it is coming for T-MO.

On the ROMs take the advice from someone who flashes almost 5 times a day four times a week (on open weeks), you really have to flash it and see if you like it. You will hear people preaching about a certain ROM and you will hear people telling you that it sucks...people's opinions do not beat testing it out for yourself.

#8 (**permalink**) 04-06-2009, 01:11 AM

The TP has pretty modest battery life, but haven't used your current phone before.

If I keep everything minimal - the way my phone is set up now, if it sits idle, it can make it through a full day (8am - 8pm) and still be at 85%+ battery. Keeping the screen on kills it pretty quick, as does talking on the phone. My average day consists of about 70-80 texts (each way), minimal time on the phone - maybe 20 minutes, and a good half an hour of looking things up online... usually the battery is pretty low after this, 10-20% or so but I haven't had it run out yet. I'm still using the stock battery.

The two things which improved my battery life the most were the radio switch (to the Telus radio) and switching ROMs. The radio swap had the largest impact, and switching roms was pretty minimal, but still noticable. It went from dead in 7 hours, even idle, to 85% remaining, so I'd consider that a pretty significant increase.

On the other side, I don't think I've ever made it more than 24 hours without a soft reset (something ALWAYS locks up and kills the phone), and I'm on my 4th TP and the keyboard just died on it - so I'm on to my 5th shortly here.

cd85233 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-06-2009, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowDrake

The TP has pretty modest battery life, but haven't used your current phone before.

If I keep everything minimal - the way my phone is set up now, if it sits idle, it can make it through a full day (8am - 8pm) and still be at 85%+ battery. Keeping the screen on kills it pretty quick, as does talking on the phone. My average day consists of about 70-80 texts (each way), minimal time on the phone - maybe 20 minutes, and a good half an hour of looking things up online... usually the battery is pretty low after this, 10-20% or so but I haven't had it run out yet. I'm still using the stock battery.

The two things which improved my battery life the most were the radio switch (to the Telus radio) and switching ROMs. The radio swap had the largest impact, and switching roms was pretty minimal, but still noticable. It went from dead in 7 hours, even idle, to 85% remaining, so I'd consider that a pretty significant increase.

On the other side, I don't think I've ever made it more than 24 hours without a soft reset (something ALWAYS locks up and kills the phone), and I'm on my 4th TP and the keyboard just died on it - so I'm on to my 5th shortly here.

I agree with the radio part.

My TP has yet to fail me, but I am sure that it will soon after this post, haha. But that is why I have the 7.00 insurance (can't remember what it is called ATM.)

#10 (**permalink**) 04-06-2009, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cd85233

I agree with the radio part.

My TP has yet to fail me, but I am sure that it will soon after this post, haha. But that is why I have the 7.00 insurance (can't remember what it is called ATM.)

After my third one died, I added TEP - glad I did, though so far they have been replacing them for free. This is the second one where the keyboard crapped out. It died over a span of a few days - it started skipping characters and repeating others, as if I was holding the button. It would work on a soft reset, but die within minutes again.

I thought it was ROM related, re-flashed to a stock ROM, but was still having the same issues. Went back to Juicy's ROM and now it's completely dead - even on a stock ROM. The last one just died instantly, it didn't have the slow and painful death this one did - that would have been nicer :P