BlackBerry Forums Support Community
              

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 02-05-2005, 11:45 PM   #1
Mark Rejhon
Retired BBF Moderator
 
Mark Rejhon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Model: Bold
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 4,870
Default Max The Battery Life Of Your New BlackBerry

Please Login to Remove!

Max The Battery Life Of Your New BlackBerry

Battery life is known to be excellent on many BlackBerry models, such as the model 7280. However, other models such as the 7750 and 7100 often have shorter battery life. There are some scattered reports of new 7250 users having extremely short battery life, including one person who sent me a PM message.

Try this if you are a new BlackBerry owner.
  1. You need to break in the BlackBerry battery. Charge-discharge it fully about 3 times. This will max the battery life of a fresh, new Lithium ion.
    Note: once you do that, don't get in the habit of fully discharging the battery everytime -- to prevent wearing it out -- lithium batteries can be damaged with excessive deep discharges like a car battery can be.... When breaking in the battery, make sure you keep it plugged in long after the battery says it is fully charged (i.e. overnight), you really want to trickle-charge your BlackBerry to top-off your battery.

  2. Lithium batteries LOVE to be topped-off. In regular use (After initial first-use conditioning), plug it in whenever you have the opportunity. This will also help keep the battery life maxed out for those days you really need long battery life.

  3. If you are constantly starved for battery power, avoid continuously realtime software such as BBToday software; it uses a lot of battery power.

  4. Keep your Bluetooth turned off when not in use.

  5. If you use Verichat or other instant messaging software, leave it running in the background or quit it when not in use. Also, stay logged off the networks you do not use much.
    Keep Verichat running in the background when it is not in use. This puts the software in a low-power state by reducing the frequency of contact-list refreshes (signoffs/signons/away mode/etc) Using fewer instant messaging networks also saves battery power. For example, if mainly use MSN and AIM, log off the ICQ and Yahoo networks.

  6. When using your BlackBerry, make sure you keep the backlight turned low or off whenever possible (rather than bright mode).
    Most BlackBerry screens (except 7100) is very readable with the backlight turned off, especially in bright office lighting and outdoor lighting.

  7. Some BlackBerries have an extended battery available, such as the Nextel 7510. There may be an extended battery product for your specific BlackBerry product.

  8. There's the novelty factor of using a BlackBerry for the first time; we tend to play with them much more heavily at first. So your usage may normallize after you get used to it.

  9. If you haven't bought a BlackBerry yet, you should be aware that the GSM/GPRS BlackBerries have the longest battery life. Battery life is longer on GPRS BlackBerries than the CDMA and iDEN BlackBerries.

  10. Phone calls made on your BlackBerry is the biggest consumer of battery life. If you make lots of phone calls for hours, then your battery life can be extremely short. Making phone calls in areas of weak reception will also use up more battery power.

  11. Consider a car power kit, or an office charger/cable. That way, you have more opportunities to top-off your BlackBerry battery.
    As noted earlier, it's always a good idea to top-off the battery in a BlackBerry anyway, even if it's not almost dead. It is not necessary to follow the age-old advice of using up the battery before charging, and can wear out modern lithium-ion batteries if done on a constant basis.

  12. Your battery may be defective or worn out. Compare your battery life to other people using the same model of BlackBerry.
    If you have been using your BlackBerry for a long time, it may be time to replace your battery. If you purchased your BlackBerry as used, you may want to replace the battery with a new one. For best battery life, it is generally best to use genuine brand-name batteries rather than inexpensive aftermarket batteries.

  13. Occasionally, it may be a BlackBerryOS issue if you are having unusually short battery life all the time. Early versions of BlackBerryOS on the 7100 tended to use a lot more battery life than newer versions of BlackBerryOS. Upgrade to a newer version of BlackBerryOS.

See if all of these works. For me, I am able to run the newest Verichat for about 72 hours nonstop, or running WebMessenger for 100 hours nonstop. I am using a model 7280, which is well known to have a very good battery life (albiet with a very dim backlight).


Quote:
This is a "Mark Rejhon BlackBerry FAQ" article.
Copyright (C) 2005 by Mark Rejhon, All Rights Reserved. Some portions may be Copyright (C) by respective forum members.
Mark Rejhon grants permission to use this article only for private use. For all other uses, please ask Mark Rejhon at www.marky.com to ask for permission to use this article. If any content of this article also contains content by other forum members, please ask them for permission too as well. This includes commercial use, public use, reposting in full/part anywhere on the Internet, publication in magazine/book or any other media, or any other use than private use. This copyright notice may not be edited or removed in any manner. Mark Rejhon reserves exclusive right to edit, remove, or restore this article, and this article may not be edited, removed, or restored by any other individual or organizations.
__________________
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
Author of XMPP extension XEP-0301:
www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0301.html - specification
www.realjabber.org - open source

Last edited by Mark Rejhon; 03-14-2005 at 09:24 PM..
Offline  
Old 02-06-2005, 10:31 AM   #2
sharpycl
Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
 
sharpycl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Maryland
Model: Lu920
OS: Wp 8.1
PIN: is where your heart is
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 334
Default

I did the complete charge/discharge cycle when i first got my BB, and ever since i've had no issues with battery life. Actually, the battery life may be better than my cell phones. It also helps that I don't use the phone part as much as the data part.
Offline  
Old 02-06-2005, 11:49 PM   #3
PlatinumGLI
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Model: 8703
Carrier: Bell
Posts: 13
Default

awesome advice
Offline  
Old 02-07-2005, 12:49 AM   #4
lenemery
Thumbs Must Hurt
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: emeryville, ca
Model: 9700
Carrier: att
Posts: 68
Default by full discharge, are you referring to

just doing everything to use up the battery like full brightness and bt, or is there a utility to load the battery?

i'm used to ipaqs and smartphones re memory when battery goes dead. when bb (am using 7250) battery discharges fully, what data is lost/when?
Offline  
Old 02-07-2005, 01:33 AM   #5
Mark Rejhon
Retired BBF Moderator
 
Mark Rejhon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Model: Bold
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 4,870
Default

>>just doing everything to use up the battery like full brightness and bt, or is there a utility to load the battery?

Play a very graphical videogame :D


>>when bb (am using 7250) battery discharges fully, what data is lost/when?

Never. You're safe. Everything is in flash ROM. Emails, addressbook, calendar. It's all stored in flash ROM on the fly. Even your saved email drafts too! You can yank the battery out, leave the BlackBerry aside for 2 months, put the battery back in, and all the data is still there!

That's a big advantage of BlackBerry over PocketPC and Smartphones. For other advantages, see the "Why BlackBerry?" article. Eventually, this will become a standard feature in even PocketPC and SmartPhone -- the new Treo650 and the Tungsten T3, now use a non-volatile filesystem, so it behaves like a BlackBerry in "never losing data".

The advice about "avoiding discharging" refers to something else: Preserving the health of the battery (i.e. your battery life will typically shorten to about 50-75% of its original, if you repeatedly fully discharge the battery every single time you use the BlackBerry for many months. So top off your BlackBerry whenever you can, especially when you go to bed.)
__________________
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
Author of XMPP extension XEP-0301:
www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0301.html - specification
www.realjabber.org - open source
Offline  
Old 02-14-2005, 04:20 PM   #6
sbass
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13
Default

Mark,

First of all, great site I really like all the great info I've found here. I'm a new Blackberry user after having gone through the trials and tribulations of various cell phone, smartphone, pocket PC, palm combinations and I can't believe how great this Blackberry 7230 is. I love it!

Quick questions on battery usage/life. I didn't do the inital discharge/rechange, but I've only had the device for a week or so. Is it a good idea to do it now, or just forget it and forge ahead? The device was at 55% when I first got it and I've been charging it each night.

Second question, I see references all over the place to "topping it off". I usually plug it in at my bedside at night and unplug it in the morning. Is this a bad practice? Should I only charge it for 10-20 minutes in the morning and that's it? Will charging it overnight degrade the battery life?

Thanks.

Shawn
Offline  
Old 02-15-2005, 01:40 AM   #7
blake.blake
Thumbs Must Hurt
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Model: pearl
Carrier: tmobile
Posts: 183
Default

well as much as i love my 7520 the battery sucks so far. it s about a week old. i took it forr the charger today at about 630 am, did about 100 emails today, verichat is allways on... and made about 20 minutes in phone calls and it was dead at 10 pm. thank god im not a huge talker but i would expect it to get me thru the day.
Offline  
Old 02-15-2005, 10:40 AM   #8
guinda35
CrackBerry Addict
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: South Texas and San Francisco
Model: z10
Carrier: att
Posts: 870
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by blake.blake
well as much as i love my 7520 the battery sucks so far. it s about a week old. i took it forr the charger today at about 630 am, did about 100 emails today, verichat is allways on... and made about 20 minutes in phone calls and it was dead at 10 pm. thank god im not a huge talker but i would expect it to get me thru the day.
Damn! 100 emails with Verichat on. You gave your Berry quite a whirl. I don't know that I would complain about the battery life.
Offline  
Old 02-24-2005, 06:49 AM   #9
Mark Rejhon
Retired BBF Moderator
 
Mark Rejhon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Model: Bold
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 4,870
Default

I'm able to run Verichat 24/7 nonstop for about 75 hours on my Rogers BlackBerry 7280. The GSM/GPRS BlackBerries are much longer lasting.
__________________
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
Author of XMPP extension XEP-0301:
www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0301.html - specification
www.realjabber.org - open source
Offline  
Old 02-24-2005, 09:24 AM   #10
guinda35
CrackBerry Addict
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: South Texas and San Francisco
Model: z10
Carrier: att
Posts: 870
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon
I'm able to run Verichat 24/7 nonstop for about 75 hours on my Rogers BlackBerry 7280. The GSM/GPRS BlackBerries are much longer lasting.
What about Bluetooth? Does it do much to conserve battery life if you turn it on only when in use?
Offline  
Old 02-24-2005, 10:16 AM   #11
Mark Rejhon
Retired BBF Moderator
 
Mark Rejhon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Model: Bold
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 4,870
Default

The 7280 has no Bluetooth.

Yes, turning off Bluetooth conserves battery.
__________________
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
Author of XMPP extension XEP-0301:
www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0301.html - specification
www.realjabber.org - open source
Offline  
Old 02-28-2005, 12:55 PM   #12
mobetterbb
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2
Default

Hey -- finally pulled me out of the woodwork! Just got my Bell Mobility 7250.

This unit -- as is typical with others -- arrived with a partial charge. Should the battery conditioning begin by discharging this partial charge? Or by trickle-charging to completion and then running a couple of deep discharge cycles?

Cheers.
Offline  
Old 03-09-2005, 01:15 PM   #13
Pentarus
Thumbs Must Hurt
 
Pentarus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Montreal
Model: 8330
Carrier: Bell Mobility
Posts: 135
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mobetterbb
This unit -- as is typical with others -- arrived with a partial charge. Should the battery conditioning begin by discharging this partial charge? Or by trickle-charging to completion and then running a couple of deep discharge cycles?

Cheers.
Since I am about to get my 7250... I would like to know if anyone can answer this question.... Looking for the expert to provide us with his feedback!

Thanks!
__________________
Pentarus
Offline  
Old 04-05-2005, 01:22 AM   #14
TRaymond
Knows Where the Search Button Is
 
TRaymond's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 44
Default

Just give you my battery story:

7100t (new...4 days old). Running Verichat (3 mediums). Read about 15 emails. Talked for about 3.5 hours (Bluetooth). Left Verichat and Bluetooth running all day.

Unplugged phone at 7:00 AM and around 4 PM I got the Beep telling me my battery was low. Don't know if this is good battery performance or not. I will be buying the Standalone Battery charger and spare battery to swap them out I think.

-------------
TRaymond
Offline  
Old 04-18-2005, 10:31 PM   #15
cwilli01
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
Default

I have seen a significant reduction in battery life since the BES 4.0 upgrade. It seems like I have to recharge it every 24 hours. Has anyone experienced the same thing?
Offline  
Old 04-19-2005, 06:44 AM   #16
dulcamara
Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
 
dulcamara's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: RDU
Model: 9810
OS: 7.0.0.261
Carrier: ATT
Posts: 343
Default

This is great advice. I was not aware that you needed to do the charge/discharge thing at the beginning.

Thanks.
Offline  
Old 04-19-2005, 10:16 AM   #17
stonent
BlackBerry Extraordinaire
 
stonent's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Model: 8220
PIN: FFFFFFFF
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 1,734
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by cwilli01
I have seen a significant reduction in battery life since the BES 4.0 upgrade. It seems like I have to recharge it every 24 hours. Has anyone experienced the same thing?
With BES 4 and OS 4, the phone can do wireless syncs. That will take a lot of juice.
__________________
Stonent

Prior: BES: 7510, 7520, 7290, 7230, 7130, 8220 (No Data Plan), Droid Eris
Post your question on the forum, don't PM me.
Offline  
Old 04-19-2005, 05:19 PM   #18
tammoo
Knows Where the Search Button Is
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Model: 7250
Posts: 18
Default

[QUOTE=Mark Rejhon]Max The Battery Life Of Your New BlackBerry

Battery life is longer on GPRS BlackBerries than the CDMA and iDEN BlackBerries.


Why would that make a difference?
Offline  
Old 04-19-2005, 09:13 PM   #19
Mark Rejhon
Retired BBF Moderator
 
Mark Rejhon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Model: Bold
Carrier: Rogers
Posts: 4,870
Default

It takes more power to do the CDMA and iDEN transmissions than GSM/GPRS transmissions.
__________________
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
Author of XMPP extension XEP-0301:
www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0301.html - specification
www.realjabber.org - open source
Offline  
Old 04-21-2005, 10:52 AM   #20
tammoo
Knows Where the Search Button Is
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Model: 7250
Posts: 18
Default

Verizon is CDMA?
Offline  
Closed Thread


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


Vintage White APPLE IMAC EMC 1857 15

Vintage White APPLE IMAC EMC 1857 15" 20GB HDD Mac OSX 10.2 256MB RAM 500MHz

$85.00



Lot of 6 Vintage Apple Drawstring Bags For iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, iPod picture

Lot of 6 Vintage Apple Drawstring Bags For iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, iPod

$45.00



C2102A-4 INTEL VINTAGE 1K SRAM 1024Bit CERAMIC GOLD PINS APPLE 1, DC1976 Mimeo-1 picture

C2102A-4 INTEL VINTAGE 1K SRAM 1024Bit CERAMIC GOLD PINS APPLE 1, DC1976 Mimeo-1

$31.57



Vintage Food Cut-Out Display Print: Mama's Apple Pie w/Ice Cream Topper picture

Vintage Food Cut-Out Display Print: Mama's Apple Pie w/Ice Cream Topper

$19.00



Vintage  Rainbow Logo Apple Post-It Sticky Notes 4

Vintage Rainbow Logo Apple Post-It Sticky Notes 4" Rare computer collectible

$39.99



VINTAGE 1994 Apple Black Toner Laser Writer Cartridge M 2473 G/A NEW SEALED picture

VINTAGE 1994 Apple Black Toner Laser Writer Cartridge M 2473 G/A NEW SEALED

$25.95







Copyright © 2004-2016 BlackBerryForums.com.
The names RIM © and BlackBerry © are registered Trademarks of BlackBerry Inc.