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Anymanusa · 03-12-2009, 12:22 PM

I've done a minimal amount of research and so far I haven't figured it out yet. I just got this thing 2 days ago, and so far I have found 1. my gps is not on, and it isn't the cause of battery drain, 2. my facebook application isn't installed, so it isn't the cause either.

I can't watch videos or listen to music without having to charge it at lunchtime after having had a full charge in the morning. If I go to bed with a full charge, I will wake up with almost no charge. I've checked a few other things, but I can't seem to keep it in my pocket on standby for a day at work without the darn thing going to almost empty by the end of the day.

Anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

jsconyers · 03-12-2009, 12:24 PM

Welcome to the forums.

Here are some tips that may help.
Maximum Battery Life - BlackBerryFAQ

pearlinSen · 03-12-2009, 12:38 PM

thanks alot for that post, man. ever since my 8130 i've been letting the battery almost die and then charging it to 100% and immediately unplugging it. i dont know what a*****e told me to do that but we're not friends anymore. I did actually notice that when you do let a blackberry charge for a long time the battery life is better... hmmmm

TreyS · 03-12-2009, 12:49 PM

Uninstall VZ Navigator if you have it. Even if you never use it, it will still drain your battery. I went from 5 hrs to almost 2 days.

Anymanusa · 03-12-2009, 01:03 PM

thanks for the quick replies, I will try these things out.

XelhaBB · 03-12-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreyS

Uninstall VZ Navigator if you have it. Even if you never use it, it will still drain your battery. I went from 5 hrs to almost 2 days.

Sorry, and I am not trying to insult you, but that's total bunk! If your VZ Navigator is not running it has absolutely effect on your battery life. If your notion was sound, why not delete all the apps you never use and extend the battery life even further? If you aren't using VZ Navigator, the app is simply occupying space on the hard drive. Nothing more. I think someone started that VZ Navigator deletion tip because they were actually using it and leaving it running and forgot to shut it down when it was not in use. So, of course when they deleted the app the battery life improved. Now I see this bad tip surfacing again throughout this forum. It's bunk!!! I have the app in my phone and my battery life is fine.

To the thread author,

either you had a bad battery or you were leaving applications running while you weren't using them. Additionally, game applications are battery hogs. Playing a couple rounds of Word Mole will suck some serious juice out of the battery.

I leave my AIM and Yahoo running all day and make lots of calls. While doing that regularly my battery never saw the 50% mark by 7pm. However, if I get bored and play Word Mole between appointments, my battery can see the 30% level easily by 2-3pm.

Just a little info.

kurichan · 03-12-2009, 01:29 PM

My battery is mostly drained by 4 PM with what I would call "normal" use and obsessive not in use application shutdown management.

Simple fact: battery life sucks on the Storm.

XelhaBB · 03-12-2009, 02:14 PM

kurichan,

is it possible you have a bad battery?

I say this because my Storm battery has never died on me. I get about 5-10 incoming calls per hour, duration approx 2-5 minutes. I make probably 20-30 on the fly throughout the day and I am constantly on the messenger programs with my buds / family. I use the internet for basic roster searches on various websites but I do turn of the browser in between usages.

Yesterday, I played Word Mole for an extended period. For the first time I saw my phone icon display 30% on the battery icon.

I have to be honest. As far a phones go, the Storm has actually given me the best battery life performance. I used the Curve to short a period to give an honest assessment. The messenger program on my slider would kill the battery if I left it running all day like I do on my Storm. I am on my second Storm unit and the experience has been the same on both - with regard to battery life.

Due to my experience, I really am rather surprised when people have issues with battery performance on their Storm phones.

TreyS · 03-12-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

Sorry, and I am not trying to insult you, but that's total bunk! If your VZ Navigator is not running it has absolutely effect on your battery life. If your notion was sound, why not delete all the apps you never use and extend the battery life even further? If you aren't using VZ Navigator, the app is simply occupying space on the hard drive. Nothing more. I think someone started that VZ Navigator deletion tip because they were actually using it and leaving it running and forgot to shut it down when it was not in use. So, of course when they deleted the app the battery life improved. Now I see this bad tip surfacing again throughout this forum. It's bunk!!! I have the app in my phone and my battery life is fine.

Just a little info.

...and that is your opinion. I read threads that suggested it, I tried it. It worked for me.

Do you have proof that it doesn't work? Just curious.

maybe I should have added...YMMV. ;)

Background: I've had my storm since early Dec and it worked fine for most of the month then towards the end of Dec/ early Jan it just started running out of power for no reason. I assumed it had to be the battery so I swapped it with another one and had the same issue. Then I assumed it had to be the storm itself.

I later read about uninstalling VZ Nav and tried that as a last ditch effort. I did and I've gone from maybe a 5hr charge to almost two days. Placebo...maybe so.

Again....YMMV

strata615 · 03-12-2009, 02:37 PM

From personal experience, I have always noticed that my battery life is awful 1-2 days after upgrading the OS, as it was the first couple days after I had gotten it. I'd say give it a while, I get pretty good battery life. I keep AIM running/signed on 24/7, use some browsing, 100-200 SMS/day, around 50 emails/day, and will throw in some Word Mole every once in a while.(Calls vary, but usually around 1:30 talk time/day) Unplugging my phone at 8am, I've never had less than 60% by 10pm, other than the first few days after updates (where its sometimes dead by lunch).

muddasick · 03-12-2009, 03:48 PM

Wow, that's amazing.

I unplug at 7am and by 3pm I'm in the red (down to about 10-15%).

My solution is to plug the phone into my computer every opportunity, it charges fairly quickly via usb. This isn't a great fix, but it works for me.

My car charger is crap, and I bought a secondary power outlet charger and it's also crap, it freezes my phone up.

XelhaBB · 03-12-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreyS

...and that is your opinion. I read threads that suggested it, I tried it. It worked for me.

Do you have proof that it doesn't work? Just curious.

maybe I should have added...YMMV. ;)

Background: I've had my storm since early Dec and it worked fine for most of the month then towards the end of Dec/ early Jan it just started running out of power for no reason. I assumed it had to be the battery so I swapped it with another one and had the same issue. Then I assumed it had to be the storm itself.

I later read about uninstalling VZ Nav and tried that as a last ditch effort. I did and I've gone from maybe a 5hr charge to almost two days. Placebo...maybe so.

Again....YMMV

Trey,

I have had two Storm units. I believe I read the same thread while on my first Storm and I did actually delete VZ Navigator. There was no change for me. However, when I warranty exchanged for the second Storm I left VZ Navigator on the phone. Same battery performance.

If you are getting two days out of your battery after previously getting only 5 hours evidently something was going on with VZ Navigator if deleting the application resulted in an extended battery life. I would feel the same way you do.

I assess the matter from an operational view. Unless an application is running, its not drawing power. Apparently, your Navigator was running in some aspect and causing the drain.

I do think the original batches of Storms had all kinds of defects. My first one did wacky things my current Storm has never done. I too have been there from the begining.

I guess there truly are "ghosts in the machine"....

Anymanusa · 03-12-2009, 06:43 PM

wow, a lot of constructive responses. I kinda sense this might be a little bit more of an 'intellectual' forum than many others that I am a part of. I can't believe I haven't gotten any "do a search dumbarse" or other negative type posts...

anyway, thanks for the replies, I have deleted the vz application as suggested above, and now I will also try 'trickle' charging past the point of full as others have suggested.

I just pretty much got the phone and turned it on and it is 'as is'. I will have to discover what to do to get more than 5 hrs of 'music listening' before the battery goes dead.

I just can't believe that everything is functioning properly when I can't go to work and come back home on one single charge.

Anymanusa · 03-12-2009, 06:46 PM

Speaking of 'wacky things'- my storm has already done some wacky things, like while I'm typing a text, if I hold my fingers in one place on the keyboard too long, the letters turn into a different language, and then sometimes the screen goes blank, and the camera comes on...

not good signs, but I put up with a whole lot of crap on my windows laptops, so I suppose it is par for the course with these computer gadgets.

BBSwany · 03-12-2009, 07:04 PM

The letters changing is a normal feature. To the screen disappearing and activating the camera is a Storm quirk. What OS are you currently running? Go to Options>Status to find out. Welcome to the forums, by the way.

Anymanusa · 03-13-2009, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBSwany

The letters changing is a normal feature. To the screen disappearing and activating the camera is a Storm quirk. What OS are you currently running? Go to Options>Status to find out. Welcome to the forums, by the way.

Nothing under status says 'os' specifically, are you talking about a MEID # or PIN or IMEI ? other than those numbers only signal, battery and file free exist.

-oh, I found it, it was under Options>about.

v4.7.0.75 (Platform 4.0.0.94)

pearlinSen · 03-13-2009, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anymanusa

Nothing under status says 'os' specifically, are you talking about a MEID # or PIN or IMEI ? other than those numbers only signal, battery and file free exist.

-oh, I found it, it was under Options>about.

v4.7.0.75 (Platform 4.0.0.94)

He actually meant Options -> About. The third line down will say "v4.7.0.xxx". If your x's are .75 you might want to think about upgrading.

Welcome to the forums

XelhaBB · 03-13-2009, 07:55 AM

Anymanusa,

If you download .99 or .103 your problems will go away. I am running .103 and from what I have seen and heard, it remains the most stable beta to date.

Additionally, you just told us something you never did before. You are listening to music on your Storm. If you are using a radio app or music playing app then you just explained why you are only getting 5 hours of use out of your phone. Both types of applications are battery hogs.

I can tell you how to get more than 5 hours of use. Here is the magic cure:

Buy an iPod or a satellite radio and treat your Storm like the communications device it is. Your Storm will then run all day and then some.

Hey, its great that the Storm does all kinds of neat things. Some cats are even configuring the Storm to be a TV remote. Ummm why? When you treat the phone like a radio, mp3 player, laptop pc, or video gaming device its going to die out on you before the day is done. You need an mp3 player - get an iPod. Have a video game fix? There are several portable units out there available and some of those don't run all day on one set of batteries. Don't freak because your Storm dies out on you when you are using it for functions other than communications.

Above all, the Storm is a cellular phone. It also is a pretty dam good instant messenging and basic email / internet access device. It has yet to ever give out on me when I use it for those purposes all day.

IMO - when you start venturing out into using the phone for other applications the battery is simply not going to hang in there all day for you. When you are playing video games and listen to music intermittently all day, your phone is not going to last until sundown. If you absolutely have to play games or listen to music on your Storm plug the darn thing into the wall and quit yer whinin'

pearlinSen · 03-13-2009, 08:22 AM

XelhaBB is right- when you start multitasking on any device it's going to kill the battery that much faster. For example, even iPods have around a 6hr battery life if it's going non stop and they're not doing anything else but playing music (errr video too these days). Keep it charged when you can. If you don't expect any calls or messages, turn off the radio when you're listening to music.

Anymanusa · 03-16-2009, 02:26 AM

I just solved my battery problem by checking the 'status' under 'options'. When the display on the home page reads battery full, the battery may only be 85% full, by fully trickle charging the battery, now I am able to have more than a days worth of play time, radio, internet, or otherwise.

Now I feel as if the device is complete and all is well.

Before, I was trying to use the device after the home battery display read full. Now I'm good to go.

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Help, my Storm battery life is terrible.