A number of Sprint HTC Hero users have been hit by very poor battery life. Apparently there is a bug in HTC’s SMS application that locks the dialer app when sending a text message. This prevents the HTC Hero from ‘sleeping’, causing a massive strain on battery life.
A forum admin on the Sprint forums admitted that there was indeed a problem:
“I was told that they’ve identified the problem with the messaging client which prevents it from sleeping after its run. This is on the fix list for an upcoming MR. That’s all I know at this point, but as soon as I receive the details about the MR I will pass them on.”
At present, there’s no timeline for when this patch may arrive. However, to temporary get round this problem you can replace the internal messaging app with a 3rd party SMS app from the market. Two recommendations are ChompSMS and HandCent. Has this problem affected you? Is the temporary fix working for you? Let us know in the comments below.
Via Phandroid.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
The fix doesn’t work for me.
go here:
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.biz-stachibana-taskkiller-qBip.aspx
is a task killer, an automatic task killer. select all apps you want to kill, then if phone screen switches off (phone sleeps), it will kill the apps for you. just select messages in the list.
job done.
fix did work at first, but a few hours later my phone wouldn’t sleep.
i’ve done three resets, and each time the same thing happened.
i bought a spare battery, but it would be even better if they came out with a patch sooner rather than later.
After you have done the previous steps and your battery is still draining you can go to settings, applications, manage applications, click on the native messaging app and do a force close. You may have to do it a couple times a day but it works
I’ve had my Hero for 2 days and the battery issue is definitely a problem. I feel like I have to keep the phone charged as much as possible with a car adaptar and carrying around the wall charger to work. This is a serious problem. I’ve downloaded the task killer recently so I’lll see if it makes a difference. I’m hoping the 2.0 eclair upgrade for android will patch the issue.
Mugen has released a 1800mAh battery for Sprint Hero, look here: http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/sprint/sprint-hero.html
hi, i just got a htc hero from sprint – last month – under a family plan … i was really thrilled to use and play with hero…. but after the initial craze – i came to know about the battery life issues… then i researched …. online, posts etc…. – initially my battery stands for 5-8 hrs depends on use – at-least i have to charge it every 12 hrs… then i found the sprint update for firmware from the sprint site and upgraded the htc hero firmware and also found an incredible app called advanced task killer on android market – which is free – its works amazingly – and its free – you can able to manage your running apps and kll specific or all process and it extends my battery life to more than a Day… then i came to know the issue regarding the sms ( messaging ) app in the android – which causes an issue – it locks the dialer app and prevents the dialer app from closing – so it prevents the htc hero to go to sleep – even when the display screen & back light is off… this causes the battery life to reduce dramatically … so i found out there is an another app on the android market – “handcent” which is great sms and messaging app – which is also free – just download it and the … go to the Home screen of Hero and then press menu and then select all settings – then select messaging – then deselect the Auto Retrieve Messages and Deselect Notifications – now you have successfully disabled the inbuilt messaging app – which locks up the dialer app – and prevents the Hero to go to complete sleep … Now my battery life increased to 1 and half days… just want to share and help someone like me
My first day with my Sprint Hero it lasted about 9 hours. The next days I downloaded Handcent SMS and disabled the default android sms app. Also I disable “constant data connection”. My battery life jumped to almost two days!!! I consider myself a medium to heavy user and its a huge difference.
Bruce, your instructions…
“go to the Home screen of Hero and then press menu and then select all settings – then select messaging – then deselect the Auto Retrieve Messages and Deselect Notifications”
are not clear. If you go to the home screen and select “MENU” and then “SETTINGS” you will not find a menu for “MESSAGING.” I’m very interested in doing this step so could you please be clearer on this point. I have went into the “APPLICATIONS” menu and selected “MESSAGES” and selected “FORCE QUIT.”
Eric the instructions are for when you are already in the messaging app itself, then hit menu>settings
why does my phone turn off not all the way wen i unlock it??? oh btw i got the automatic task killer app plz HELP
ok i had the chomp sms but it has created a problem with my picture mail i already reseted my phone twice because i cant download how to fix this?????????
i cant get pictures because of the chomp sms