Getting the most out of my battery

[Jodi]

Hi everyone...

I got my BB Pearl 2-1/2 days ago. I don't know if I've conditioned my new battery correctly or not, but I've already had to charge it twice!

I know because it's new, I'm playing with it an awful lot, but what can I do (beside keep it off, which isn't possible, nor realistic) to extend the battery life on it?

How long can you go in between charges and what is your typical use like?

Thanks in advance!

[VZW-LOVER]

Make sure your not leaving apps running in the background. Besure to use the close option when finish using a program. I'm not that impress with the battery life. I barely make it through the day.

[VZW-LOVER]

Originally Posted by Jodi

Hi everyone...

I got my BB Pearl 2-1/2 days ago. I don't know if I've conditioned my new battery correctly or not, but I've already had to charge it twice!

I know because it's new, I'm playing with it an awful lot, but what can I do (beside keep it off, which isn't possible, nor realistic) to extend the battery life on it?

How long can you go in between charges and what is your typical use like?

Thanks in advance!

One more thought..... A company named Seidio just released an extended battery. The battery is the same size as the standard one and your battery cover fits. So far all I've read has had positive reviews.

Seidio.com

[Jodi]

I've been reading heavily about it on Crackberry.com. It's getting decent reviews, but I don't want to start spending $$$ on accessories until I "know" I'm keeping the Pearl (which I'm 98% sure I am).

[VZW-LOVER]

Originally Posted by Jodi

I've been reading heavily about it on Crackberry.com. It's getting decent reviews, but I don't want to start spending $$$ on accessories until I "know" I'm keeping the Peasurl (which I'm 98% sure I am).

When I first got the Pearl I wasn't it was for me. But after about a week I couldn't see myself without it. I bought one for my Son. And he gets emails from the business school and teachers and he's right on top of it.

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by VZW-LOVER

When I first got the Pearl I wasn't it was for me. But after about a week I couldn't see myself without it. I bought one for my Son. And he gets emails from the business school and teachers and he's right on top of it.

I agree...the more I use it, the more I cannot see myself giving it back. The only test I haven't put it through (which I need to!) is the Bluetooth headset test...my LG sucked in keeping a connection and with the July 1st law of all phones must be hands-free when driving, I want to know that my Pearl has good connectivity with my Bluetooth headset.

[VZW-LOVER]

Originally Posted by Jodi

I agree...the more I use it, the more I cannot see myself giving it back. The only test I haven't put it through (which I need to!) is the Bluetooth headset test...my LG sucked in keeping a connection and with the July 1st law of all phones must be hands-free when driving, I want to know that my Pearl has good connectivity with my Bluetooth headset.

We have the same law as of July1st. I bought one of those $119.00 jawbone. I haven't opened the box and I bought it back in December. for some reason I haven't been that thrilled about bluetooth. When I had a Motorola 815 and a Motorola 850 bluetooth, I use to get a lot of complaints from people and the static or the dropped calls. I guess one of these days I should charge it up.

[Jodi]

I got the Plantronics Voyager 510 for my LG vx8300 b/c everyone said it was the best match. When I used it, it was great; however my 8300 liked to disconnect my calls, refuse to connect, connected improperly, etc. so I tossed the 510 to the wayside.

I just found it again and recently recharged it & paired it to my Pearl. Now it's just a matter of actually playing around with it and seeing if it will work appropriately.

[Jodi]

I finally tried out my Voyager 510 tonight and it worked perfectly! Itn was the first time I could have a full conversation without being dropped and I could call out again and receive calls in and be connected 123!

That was my final test! I'm sold!

[Quint101]

Hmmm... I get about a day out of my battery as well. I have to admit that the battery on the Pearl beats the Q's hands down. I also like the fact that the battery charges quickly!

[paulmac]

Something does not sound right, when I had my Pearl, I remember getting 2-3 days between charges. I get about a day more from the 8830. I leave blue tooth enable all the time and find that it does not really affect battery life. Are you using any IM programs? Are they running in the background? Those might eat up battery life. Also, are you going in and out of coverage areas? If there is loss of signal, just like any other cell phone the battery life will suffer. Just a couple more tips, are you putting the 8100 into a holster or case that enables the sleep function? If not and you carry it around say in your pocket, then everytime the roller ball moves the screen comes back on. And do you use vibrate instead of a ringer? Vibrate chews up battery life also. I leave my 8830 on 24 hours a day, and get about 3-4 days between charges and I don't use the vibrate while in the holster. By default that is what BBs are set to do in the ringer profiles. I changed all mine to "tone" for both in and out of holster, and I don't use vibrate at all. And I rarely use IM on my BB.

A cool aftermarket software program you might want to check out is called soft re-set. It basically re-boots you BB just like as if you pulled the battery out and put it back in, without having to actually do that. I use this program about once every couple of days just to re-boot my 8830 in case anything has been left running that I am unaware of. Don't panic the first time you use it as it takes 1-2 minutes for the device to re-boot. Soft re-set is a free app, that every BB owner should get, handy little program, check it out here

http://www.blackberryforums.com/afte...treset-bb.html

If your battery life continues to be bad since it is so new take it back and see if they will replace the unit, or at least give you another battery.

[Quint101]

Wirelessly posted (Quint's Pearl: BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

It's more like 2 days with the battery. It lasted me one day because I didn't put the phone down at all since I bought it last week. But I will check out your suggestion. My only complaint is the low ringer volume...but that's another topic...

[Jodi]

Follow-up...

I've had the BB for 2 months now. I think the battery just needed a break-in period. I've been talking on it all day and it still has an 80% charge. I've heard that as it conditions, it works better. It seems to be that way fo me.

I did get SoftReset and it's a great program.

[VZW-LOVER]

I just love this battery. It seems to get better with age!

[paulmac]

Originally Posted by Quint101

Wirelessly posted (Quint's Pearl: BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

It's more like 2 days with the battery. It lasted me one day because I didn't put the phone down at all since I bought it last week. But I will check out your suggestion. My only complaint is the low ringer volume...but that's another topic...

Low ringer volume? I did not know that was an issue with the 8130, it can be with the 8830. Lots of discussion on that over at Blackberry forums. I myself do not find the ringer volume to be a real issue on my 8830. But evedently some people do.

[annbatt24]

While I don't own a Blackberry phone, I do know a bit about cellphone batteries. A battery's talk time and standby time depend on it's mAh # - standard batteries generally have around 1000 mAh which should give you around 31/2 hours of talk time, but this number is dependent upon many factors including whether your phone is in analog vs. digital signal. Here are some tips for charging: Lithium Ion batteries prefer frequent shallow discharges over letting the battery run all the way down and charging it fully back up again.

[Eric47]

my curve last 2 days with heavy usage of talk/text/email, if i throw in alot of web use it will go down to about 1.5 or so. if im not heavy calling and just texting/email, sometimes i can pull 2.5-3days

[paulmac]

Originally Posted by Jodi

Follow-up...

I've had the BB for 2 months now. I think the battery just needed a break-in period. I've been talking on it all day and it still has an 80% charge. I've heard that as it conditions, it works better. It seems to be that way fo me.

I did get SoftReset and it's a great program.

Yeah, I think you are right, the battery does usually require a few cycles to get up to par. Whenever I get a new device I fully charge it, then let it drain way down before re-charging it. I do that a few times then after that the battery seems to work fine. Except for when I had the Motorola Q. No matter what I did with that thing, I was lucky to get a day out of it. Which is why I got rid of it.

One more thing with a blackberry under options there is a setting for Auto Off and Auto On. You can set this to turn your device off at night if you don't want to be disturbed and then turn itself back on in the morning. I don't do use this feature I just leave mine on 24/7 but I would think that would extend battery life also.

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by paulmac

Yeah, I think you are right, the battery does usually require a few cycles to get up to par. Whenever I get a new device I fully charge it, then let it drain way down before re-charging it. I do that a few times then after that the battery seems to work fine. Except for when I had the Motorola Q. No matter what I did with that thing, I was lucky to get a day out of it. Which is why I got rid of it.

One more thing with a blackberry under options there is a setting for Auto Off and Auto On. You can set this to turn your device off at night if you don't want to be disturbed and then turn itself back on in the morning. I don't do use this feature I just leave mine on 24/7 but I would think that would extend battery life also.

I have to leave mine on 24/7 as I'm in the health care field and have to be available if my phone rings at night....I could put it on stand-by though...that would be one way to save battery juice too.