Battery Issue

[eve6er69]

when you say sprint store, does it have to be a repair shop?

[MBC1965]

I went into a Sprint store to buy a spare battery... they didn't have one to sell so the rep went into the back and she brought one out for free. Must have been from the repair center.

Also, I learned that turning off the wireless from the button isn't enought to save battery life... Go to WiFi Prefs and make sure the On Button Press selection is made. Doing that made a huge difference in my battery life.

[lmv7777]

do us all a favor please if you go into a sprint store dont try to fandangle your way to a free battery be honest and go buy one, or else when people have actual battery problems we can get help and the store doesn't assume we are trying to get something for free when we have real complaints.

[Chimmer]

Originally Posted by darren.wlsn1

i got a new one for free at sprint store but gave old one back. thats as good as i got.

Originally Posted by cptpinoy

i actually just ask one of the guys from the sprint store and they hooked one up for free. didnt think they would actually give one out.

Are they actually giving you brand new batteries still in an unopened package or are they walking in the back, coming out and handing you a battery?

They are probably just recycling them. Customer comes in with a "bad" battery, gets it exchanged. Next customer comes in with a "bad" battery and gets the one the previous guy just returned (after it's been recharged.)

One thing I've learned about battery life with this particular battery and it's probably true for all new batteries: When I first bought my Centro, battery life sucked. I would charge the phone each night and after several weeks battery life improved immensely, at least according to the phone's battery meter.

The Treo 800w has been the same way. Battery life initially sucked, then after several weeks of nightly charging, it's great.

So, what exactly is happening here? Is the battery being conditioned or is the phone's battery meter just being calibrated so that it's more accurately reporting the actual charge? I don't know.

At this point I have no complaints about battery life from my 800w. I'm still trying to get used to it and so far still prefer the Palm OS over WinMo, but that's an issue for another thread.

[MBC1965]

Originally Posted by lmv7777

do us all a favor please if you go into a sprint store dont try to fandangle your way to a free battery be honest and go buy one, or else when people have actual battery problems we can get help and the store doesn't assume we are trying to get something for free when we have real complaints.

Thanks for the tip, but mine was an actual complaint. If the battery performed as advertised we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm lucky to get 1.5hours of continuous talk time with everything else turned off. I've done extensive testing on this. It is advertised as up to 4 hours.... but that variance is unacceptable. It definitely warrants an additional battery no matter where it comes from. Palm should be reimbursing Sprint for any batteries handed out. It's ridiculous.

[afbond03]

I was unable to get a freebie battery but o well. I really didn't need it. I was just trying just because. I am a pretty light user so I haven't really had to many battery issues.

[Chimmer]

Originally Posted by afbond03

I was unable to get a freebie battery but o well. I really didn't need it. I was just trying just because. I am a pretty light user so I haven't really had to many battery issues.

You know, it's people like you that ruin it for everyone else. You don't need it but tried to get it anyway, why?

Reminds me of a guy I used to work with. If they were giving away free buckets of cow dung he would be first in line to get his, simply because it was FREE!!!

[Big D5]

Originally Posted by Chimmer

You know, it's people like you that ruin it for everyone else. You don't need it but tried to get it anyway, why?

Reminds me of a guy I used to work with. If they were giving away free buckets of cow dung he would be first in line to get his, simply because it was FREE!!!

Lets keep things civilized here lest this thread be closed. If someone takes offence to your comments you could get an infraction. People have there own conscience if they chose not to listen to it there really is nothing we can do about it so stating the obvious only serves irritation. If you don't have something nice to say say nothing.

[Chimmer]

Originally Posted by Big D5

Lets keep things civilized here lest this thread be closed.

Sorry, I was trying to be humorous with the cow dung comment. I see it didn't go over well.

[rdm]

Originally Posted by lmv7777

do us all a favor please if you go into a sprint store dont try to fandangle your way to a free battery be honest and go buy one, or else when people have actual battery problems we can get help and the store doesn't assume we are trying to get something for free when we have real complaints.

As a point of information, when I went into my Sprint store to discuss battery life they gave me a two free spare batteries. The Tech manager told me they were doing this to stop the large number of returns because of the battery life.

I do not think people should be buying them, or it is in any way wrong to get a free spare, because the reason why the stores are giving free spares is to save Sprint money from returns of entire handsets.

Originally Posted by Chimmer

They are probably just recycling them. Customer comes in with a "bad" battery, gets it exchanged. Next customer comes in with a "bad" battery and gets the one the previous guy just returned (after it's been recharged.)

No. They are giving away free spares. Apparently the battery is the same as another existing model and they take them from the return pile. The ones I got were actually more recent manufacture than the one that came with my 800W.

The way the tech explained it, it isn't that the 800W batteries are "bad" only that their size is very small for the capabilities of the 800W. The next Treo has a much bigger battery because of this problem, but won't fit in our 800Ws.