Battery Life Tips & Tricks

Battery Care & Feeding

• A new battery should be charged fully, then depleted to red-line. Repeat for 2-3 cycles to condition the battery.
• Charge the phone nightly. Frequent top-offs are better for a LiIon battery than deep discharges. Consider a charging pod.
• Set the clock option for When Charging: Enter Bedside Mode. This dims the outer screen and turns off LED notifications.
• Once in a great while, red-line the battery. This recalibrates the battery meter.
• The Options screen has a more accurate reading than the battery meter. Settings->Options->Status.

Hardware Tips

• Turn off the Wi-Fi (8220) and/or Bluetooth radios when you aren't using them. Go to Manage Connections.
  [Edit 2011.04.20: Use SmartWiFi to automatically turn Wi-Fi on/off based on cell tower.]
• Turn off the GPS (8230) radio when you aren't using it. Settings->Options->Advanced Options->GPS->GPS Services: Location OFF.
• Use a BlackBerry-branded Flip holster, which has a magnet to trip the in-holster sensor and put the phone in standby mode.
• Use a USB cable for modem tethering instead of a Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth tethering uses a lot of power.

Configuration Tips

• Use UMA (8220) in weak signal areas if possible. Maintaining cell service in a dead zone obviously draws a lot of power.
• Turn off network coverage indicator (green LED). Settings->Options->Screen/Keyboard->LED Coverage Indicator.
• Turn off Bluetooth connection indicator (blue LED). Settings->Options->Bluetooth, click Menu key, choose Options->LED Connection Indicator.
• Set screen brightness as low as tolerable. Settings->Options->Screen/Keyboard->Backlight Brightness.
• Set backlight timeout as low as tolerable. Settings->Options->Screen/Keyboard->Backlight Timeout.
• Set backlight auto-dim to On. Settings->Options->Screen/Keyboard->Automatically Dim Backlight.
• Set profiles to use Tone instead of Vibrate or Vibrate+Tone.

Application Tips

• Update your BlackBerry to the latest firmware. Newer firmware often incorporates battery-saving tweaks.
• Always exit applications using Menu->Exit or Menu->Close. Forgotten applications running in the background will leech your battery. While holding down the Alt key, press Escape then scroll left/right to see the running applications.
• BerryWeather: set updates as infrequent as tolerable. Menu->Settings, "Auto Update" and "Advisory Auto Update".
• E*Trade Mobile Pro: disable streaming quotes
• Slacker: cache stations on your microSD card instead of streaming them OTA.
• WeatherBug: set updates as infrequent as tolerable. Settings->Options->WeatherBug Settings, Menu->Advanced Settings  

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