[pspiegel]

Hi Everyone,

Just switched to a curve from an 8820, I love the small form factor and the device works great! However, I have noticed that my battery is draining very quickly, it is basically only holding a charge for around 5-6 hours with very light web browsing/texting use/bluetooth off.

Do you think I may have gotten a faulty battery or unit? I have a family member with a curve who's battery life was at 60% last night with much heavier use than mine (and mine was dead at that point).

Any ideas? Thanks!

[bcinelli]

Check to see if you have the WiFi on ... i tend to go thru battery life quickly when UMA is active with WiFi on ..

That could be me.

[BCollins521]

Wifi should eat your battery up...I have my bluetooth and wifi off during the day and can go with heavy browsing all day (730 to 430) and be down to like 40%

[O'dell]

Originally Posted by BCollins521

Wifi should eat your battery up...I have my bluetooth and wifi off during the day and can go with heavy browsing all day (730 to 430) and be down to like 40%

You should still get more out of a new battery than that. I leave wifi and bluetooth on all the time (am connected via UMA at work and home), am running a BETA OS and still get two maybe three days. That's with 300+ emails a day, 30 minutes phone usage, quite a few text messages, and probably 30 minutes to 1 hour of internet usage.

[pspiegel]

No wifi on my curve, I have the one with GPS from ATT, But bluetooth is off.

[pspiegel]

Originally Posted by O'dell

You should still get more out of a new battery than that. I leave wifi and bluetooth on all the time (am connected via UMA at work and home), am running a BETA OS and still get two maybe three days. That's with 300+ emails a day, 30 minutes phone usage, quite a few text messages, and probably 30 minutes to 1 hour of internet usage.

Is there something I should check on the phone or is it more likely the battery that is the culprit for my issue?

[blue0745]

Originally Posted by pspiegel

Is there something I should check on the phone or is it more likely the battery that is the culprit for my issue?

If you are contsantly going in and out of service you will go through a battery pretty quick. See if your BB is constantly looking for service.

[BCollins521]

Originally Posted by O'dell

You should still get more out of a new battery than that. I leave wifi and bluetooth on all the time (am connected via UMA at work and home), am running a BETA OS and still get two maybe three days. That's with 300+ emails a day, 30 minutes phone usage, quite a few text messages, and probably 30 minutes to 1 hour of internet usage.

That's with browsing almost the whole time and texting every couple min throughout that time period...I text my wife waayy to much and also a few phone calls...usually I sit at like 60% at the end of the day if I'm light on the browsing

[pspiegel]

Originally Posted by blue0745

If you are contsantly going in and out of service you will go through a battery pretty quick. See if your BB is constantly looking for service.

I wish this was the case but I have full signal, I am in a major city with good service so it isn't searching for service.

[smithj_33]

Bluetooth eats my battery. If I leave it on, then I will get a day or less. With it off I get 2-3 days.

[greggebhardt]

What software do you have running in the background?

[pspiegel]

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

What software do you have running in the background?

None other than browser/Blackberry Messenger/and then ATT''s Push to Talk thing which I can't seem to get to quit, however I don't think it is even running since I didn't initialize it and have had that in the background on all of my blackberries from them.

[greggebhardt]

Well, it is rare but it is possible you have a bad battery, charger or device. Are you using the plug in charger. Does it show the charge symbol (plug) next to the battery when you plug it in? Does it go out after it is fully charged? When you plug it in at the end of the day, does the charge symbol stay on for a while?

If you just got it, you can take it back and trade it for another new one. Just do a backup before so you can restore your new device.

[pspiegel]

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

Well, it is rare but it is possible you have a bad battery, charger or device. Are you using the plug in charger. Does it show the charge symbol (plug) next to the battery when you plug it in? Does it go out after it is fully charged? When you plug it in at the end of the day, does the charge symbol stay on for a while?

The charge symbol does appear when its plugged in and turns off when it is fully charged. When I plug it in at the end of the day it does stay on for a while, about the same amount of time as my old 8820. It seems that it is charging fine just draining quickly.

Is there a way for me to assure that it isn't the device that is the issue? or is it more likely the battery? Is there any sort of period where the device gets "broken in" and stabalizes? It seems to be draining slower today but still fairly quickly.

[skottema]

have you tried using the phone until it actually dies? sometimes the sensor is not reporting the charge correctly and it thinks the battery is low when it is actually not. this can be true for any device using lithium ion batteries.

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by pspiegel

The charge symbol does appear when its plugged in and turns off when it is fully charged. When I plug it in at the end of the day it does stay on for a while, about the same amount of time as my old 8820. It seems that it is charging fine just draining quickly.

Is there a way for me to assure that it isn't the device that is the issue? or is it more likely the battery? Is there any sort of period where the device gets "broken in" and stabalizes? It seems to be draining slower today but still fairly quickly.

Several cycles on a L-Ion batery may yield a "little" more results but not alot. Do not drain the battery too far as it will greatly shorten it useful life. The only way to really tell if it is the device or the battery is to try another battery. Might be worth taking it back to where you purchased it and ask for another battery.

Blackberry devices are know for having rather good battery life and if you device is doing no more than 5-6 hours, there is something wrong.

I have a 8310 and use over 2000 minutes a month and handle 60+ emails a day in the field. I unplug mine from the charger at 4am and it get repluged into the charger at about 7pm with an average of 60% battery remaining.

You should not have to worry about your battery under normal use so do not settle for 5-6 hours.

[pspiegel]

got a new battery today from ATT, hopefully this will solve the issue, I am wary to swap the phone since I am just thinking this may be the life of the curve vs the 8820. The phone is not doing anything funky/battery is not warm/is charging fully so I am thinking maybe it was the battery or just the way the phone works. Either way I will probably order an extended battery.. Is sedio still the best?

[JSanders]

On your curve, try draining it to 15% three times in a row, each time fulling charging it back to 100%. That will often help reset the "meter" on the curve of the battery charge (which can get displaced at times, on any BB).

Normally, the battery should last about 300 charge cycles. Yours should not be bad by now.

[kentpowley]

I have the same issue.

I asked some techs who work for RIM and they told me that the battery drain problem is a "known" issue with the 8330.

It is not the battery.
It is not (necessarily) the apps you have running.
It is the device.

I'm not sure if the new 4.5 firmware fixes this at all or if it is a hardware problem.