I am quite shocked to see that my battery is at 100% after having it unplugged for an hour and a half. I have already received 15 emails and yak is running in the background.

I loaded the latest cingular os .71 yesterday.

I hope this isn't a glitch.....

checked it via

alt e-a-c-e

I upgraded to the new OS as well and have also noticed a difference in battery life. It seems a lot better.

Is it available to everyone yet or just Cingular folks?

you just load the software on your pc and delete the vendor.xml file located in...

c:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader

then turn on desktop manager and it should prompt you to upgrade.

Pulled mine out of the charger 3 hours ago - still at 100%. Light usage so far in the day but looks good!

yea this new os upgrade I think is working really well for me..I am happy :-D

i was also told that aim no longer pings ever 15 seconds... or at all anymore. This has also made battery life better with yak running.

Is the new OS only for Pearl? I have a 7130c with Cingular.

yes this new OS is only for 8100 (Pearl)

where do you find the new os to download to pc?
Thanks.

thanks man.

My Pearl is on .69. I have had several calls and answered 15 emails, been unplugged from the charger at 4am and at 11:11am has 95% showing.

The OS update wouldn't work for non-Cingular/AT&T users right?

It will work for any 8100 user. You will just have to delete the Vendor.xml file

look at the third post of this thread (gah, can't post links yet..but the thread is called this): blackberry-handheld-software-v4-2-0-88-multilang

and if you want all the themes, just keep reading it to the end to see how to get them.

I fail to see technically how a software update could make the battery last longer unless it changes how long the backlight stays on or what rings with messages. I mean the same hardware's still in there. I guess they could make the meter operate differently as an illusion. There's no scientific way to tell whether the meter is accurate or not.

5.5 hours and it is at 95% for me. Yes I did notice improved battery performance on it. that is on 2 of them.

seriously??????

have you ever used a program that was written lousy?

how about the term memory heap?

how about the amount of processes running on the processor. Do they need to run at certain intervals? can they be delayed?

this all affects battery life.

if a process runs once every second.... and you change that process to run once every minute.... do you think there will be a difference in battery life?

or if rim fixes a memory heap or a sub routine to do something more effienctly.

Although the above user explains exactly why an update to the OS software can affect battery life, usually the changes are in milliseconds, but the outcome is still the same. The most battery intensive operations in a blackberry or smart device are related to the processor, the antenna, and the back light.

If you were to tighten up code to run any process using these power hogs, you could significantly reduce battery usage.

The more likely answer is that the new os has un-synced the batt meter with the actual battery level. A few cycles through the battery will solve it and the % will be more accurate. (memory heap too funny!!!)

I have OS64 and am at 90% and thats with 9 hours off charger, probably close to 50 emails on 10 different accounts received, the alarm program runnning and 21 minutes of phone call use. I get approx. 2 days of battery life with full usage all the time.

I dont use IM programs as they just drain your battery heavily. Since stopping their use my battery life has tripled.

here is some good quick reading on the subject

Dynamic memory allocation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is very easy for applications or os's to distubute run time memory incorrectly thus causing the processor to work alittle harder, crash, or be opened up for exploitation and full chip access.

this is at the lowest levels of programming and is only manually programmed at that level for video games and devices probably like the rim......

programmers use complier's to chunk their code down to machine code....

there is your lesson....

in all that transformation and coding, something is always wrong and memory gets leaked.. causing the processor to suck up more juice.

somebody here with a computer science degree can help out even further.

i am now at 90% 6 hours later.

LOL dangit you beat me to it...

oh and btw... these factors i have listed above affect processors in pc's, macs and anything else that is not battery related..... it just adds heat to the processor....

better programming= less heat + less power =

Yes! Keep in mind that even on PC's more power is dissipated across the cpu based on the load. The load being directly related to what applications you have running. Now on a PC it's not an issue since you have "unlimited power" available from your electric socket.

Same scenario now on the blackberry. The more loading or crunching done by the processor means the more work it is performing and the more power it will dissipate while meeting that load. What does this mean? Your batter will drain. So more efficient programming can indeed reduce cpu loading and directly improve battery life.

I think it would be best if i tested this. I run my BB from my drive into work listening to mp3's until i get home. that is almost 13 hours. My battery is so close to being dead it wont let me turn on the data/call features. I am running .67. I will go home tomorrow morning and update the OS. I will let you know tomorrow night what its status is.

will be waiting. I ran yesterday the GPS BT connection for an hour on it and it did not go below a half and that was on a charge that was made on Saturday morning. Before that that amount of time it would go down quick from a full charge. last night I recharged as it had 30% and I wanted to make sure it is charged for the day's use which is at 80% after normal use of about 40 mintues of talk with a BT headset and emails as well as some games play.

Did the upgrade this morning and everything went well. Did the jibi .alx swap and got the extra themes......blah. I went right back to my T-mobile zen with a custom wallpaper. The battery seems to be doing slightly better than the .67 upgrade, so that's good. Oh, and memory jumped 2mb to 21.

did the upgrade last night. I didn't charge it before I went to sleep. I was at 95% when I went to bed, and this morning was the same thing.....95%. LOVE IT! Quick question though. I didn't do the jibi unlock themes thing and now I only have the default themes. How do I do the unlock all themes AFTER the upgrade?

download or modify the blackberry.alx file from

c:\program files\common files\rim\shared\os version\blackberry.alx....

you can find the alx file in the themes, wallpapers, ringers section as a sticky... make sure to get the matching os alx.

there is no os version folder on my pc. I already got the correct blackberry.alx. And...I already upgraded. How do I unlock all themes AFTER I've already upgraded?

sorry...

shared\loader folder

inside should be the handheld installation you installed to pc...

pic the os version and replace blackberry.alx

startup desktop manager and it should say update.

but I've upgraded already to the latest os. It won't downgrade if I put it in the os version?

listen...

uninstall all versions.... from your computer.

1. install latest version
2. once installed, replace the blackberry.alx file
3. desktop manager
4. it will prompt you that there is an update
5. allow the update and it will show you what it is going to install... which is the themes...

viola...

remember more themes takes up more memory... they are not loaded on yoru blackberry, but when you do the blackberry.alx, they will be loaded onto the phone. So load all the themes and the delete the ones you don't want on your phone afterwards.. to save room.

i do believe i get better battery life with this os version...

also, yak was updated with aim's fix.. to not ping anymore. that ping turned off also adds to better battery life.

Here is the comparison that i have......

Before this os-

With nothing running all day, usually wear and tear.... i was at 50% battery...
With yak loaded and all other instant messengers.... i was at 5-10%

With new os, and nothing running, i at 11pm am at 80%
with yak and other stuff i am still at 80%

I am very careful as to what is loaded.. i have everything off, no added themes... no logs... i have about 36 megs free now on my pearl.

I think i am on day 3 or 4 with the new os.. and it is smooth sailing.

How can I upgrade my Cingular Pearl to the new OS?

it is a cingular update... go to your cingular account and download the handheld software update... you don't have to modify anything.. just a straight install.

So I upgraded to 71 and now my phone hasn't connected to anything higher than GPRS since yesterday in an area where before the update I had full service edge. Anyone have the same issue? Or think its related somehow?