jay_razorv3c

hi,
I recently bought a motorola v3c with verizon as the wireless provider. THe problem i am having is that its battery is lasting only for less than 2hrs of talk time. I replaced the phone and got a new one from Amazon and i still have the same problem. It looks like it may be something else. I noticed that i dont get a strong signal at my home, not even a single signal bar shows up.. only that wine-glass shows up. Can a weak signal be a reason for short battery life?? Can it be because of weak signal phone is working hard and eating the battery too fast?? I called up verizon yesterday regarding this and the lady i spoke to said, may be because i have a lake approx 2 miles from my home.. that may be the reason for weak signal and also low battery life? I really dont know whats happening here.. I can return this phone too and get a new razor.. but i dont think the phone is bad.. i guess its something else.. Does any one else has similar problem.. or can anyone else give me an explanation for this? thanks a lot. I live in area code 98008,WA. If that will help in explaining this thing.

technokid88

Hey jay what s/w verizon do you have on your phone right now. If you have .02 then you will short battery life, If this is the case go to a verizon service center and upgrade your software to .04.

***If is this is not the case you might have a bad battery.

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jay_razorv3c

Thanks.. I checked my phone has s/w version .03. I need to update it to .04, but one of the verizon guys i spoke to said, it wont make whole lot of difference.. he said it is because of the low signal strength that the battery is lasting for less time.

digerati

Is your phone switching back and forth from EV and 1x mode?

If it is, this is known to sap your battery life.

There's a way to force your phone to stay in 1x mode which should help lengthen the battery life, assuming it's switching back and forth because of poor signal.

The only drawback would be that you wont be able to do fancy internet/download stuff at full speed if you're in to that.

jay_razorv3c

Oh yeah.. i noticed that it switches between EV and 1X, at home, where signal is very bad. What are these EV and 1x?? I wont be downloading anything or going online using my phone.. so if you could tell me how to fix it to 1x, may be my phone's battery can have a longer life. And i presume that, even if i fix it to 1x option, it can be toggled back, in case i need to download something sometime in future.. Am i right??

technokid88

- Entering the "Hidden" Setup Menu

• Flip open the phone. Type #073887* quickly on the keypad. If entered successfully a screen should pop up asking you for the Security Code (000000) If not, try again.

Easy way to remember the code is that it spells out #0setup*

The Stuff in RED dont know it this really does any improvements.

- Improving Voice Quality by changing the VOCODE (Not proven, but can't hurt)

• Enter the Hidden Setup Menu (steps provided above)
• Scroll down to Vocode and change from EVRC to 13K.

Reasoning behind the improved voice quality is less compression and increased bandwidth availability, but the towers may control which one is used. Enjoy!

- Forcing 1xrtt Mode aka Turning off EVDO

• Enter the Hidden Setup Menu (steps provided above)
• Scroll down to Test Mode
• Enable Test Mode
• Exit to Main Screen
• Hit CLR button and then Left Softkey quickly
• Screen Should Turn White and Say "FTS"
• Hit Right Softkey 3 times until Top of screen says "ServOpt: NoChg"
• Scroll Down to "HDR Pref:" and change to "cdma"
• Leave "HDR Hybr:" set to ON
• Hit "Exit" Left Softkey
• Wait for it, wait for it, screen should freeze and then freak out a little (Patience).
• Hit CLR button and then Left Softkey
• Go back to the hidden menu and disable the Test Mode.

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money69

How do you check the firmware versions on a phone?