[lparsons42]

I purchased a used 8120 and have been getting terrible battery life - about 12 hours from full charge to fully depleted, if I'm lucky.

Someone pointed out that apps in the background will deplete the battery, so I checked which apps I had in the background by doing alt-back. I see

browser
call log
home screen
blackberry messenger
messages

I went to the browser through that, and then menu->close. However, I still see the browser listed as a background application afterwards. Same for the blackberry messenger that I do not currently use.

Is this normal? Or is there a way to force those apps to quit? Something like a "kill -9" for us Unix people?

[dknyberry]

I purchased a used 8120 and have been getting terrible battery life - about 12 hours from full charge to fully depleted, if I'm lucky.

Someone pointed out that apps in the background will deplete the battery, so I checked which apps I had in the background by doing alt-back. I see

browser
call log
home screen
blackberry messenger
messages

I went to the browser through that, and then menu->close. However, I still see the browser listed as a background application afterwards. Same for the blackberry messenger that I do not currently use.

Is this normal? Or is there a way to force those apps to quit? Something like a "kill -9" for us Unix people?

It's normal to have those 2 apps still show up when you choose to switch applications. That's so that when you're on a call, for example, you can still multi-task. So don't worry about that.

I also have an 8120, and if you want to increase your battery life a bit, turn off the WiFi when you are not using it. That, and of course, turning off other applications in the background will help a bit. Oh, and go to your options and set your backlighting on your screen to turn off after 20 seconds or less. Also, turn off your LED coverage indicator.

[lparsons42]

It's normal to have those 2 apps still show up when you choose to switch applications. That's so that when you're on a call, for example, you can still multi-task. So don't worry about that.

OK, I was wondering if that may have been a feature rather than a problem. I could see them wanting to keep the built-in browser and messenger up continuously. Though it leaves one to wonder what the purpose of the "close" option on those would be...

I also have an 8120, and if you want to increase your battery life a bit, turn off the WiFi when you are not using it. That, and of course, turning off other applications in the background will help a bit. Oh, and go to your options and set your backlighting on your screen to turn off after 20 seconds or less. Also, turn off your LED coverage indicator.

I suspected that the wifi was a battery drain as well, so I turned it off, too. We'll see if it does better today. Though shouldn't the wifi be more of a drain when you are not associated with a network, since it would be looking for one at that point? Last night it drained completely while I was at home, where I was continuously associated with my own wifi lan.

What do you usually see for real-world battery life on your 8120? Can you at least make it a full day without a charge? I can tolerate charging every night if I have to, but 12 hours of (mostly idle) battery life seems wholly unacceptable to me.

[dknyberry]

OK, I was wondering if that may have been a feature rather than a problem. I could see them wanting to keep the built-in browser and messenger up continuously. Though it leaves one to wonder what the purpose of the "close" option on those would be...


I suspected that the wifi was a battery drain as well, so I turned it off, too. We'll see if it does better today. Though shouldn't the wifi be more of a drain when you are not associated with a network, since it would be looking for one at that point? Last night it drained completely while I was at home, where I was continuously associated with my own wifi lan.

What do you usually see for real-world battery life on your 8120? Can you at least make it a full day without a charge? I can tolerate charging every night if I have to, but 12 hours of (mostly idle) battery life seems wholly unacceptable to me.

I can get a full day (24 hrs) or even 2 out of my battery if I don't use it much (and I never turn off my WiFi because I'm too lazy), but keep in mind that my phone is relatively new, so the battery is still in top condition. It may be that your phone's battery needs replacement depending on how old your phone is.

[jenaywins]

There are five apps that will constantly run in the background, no matter what: Browser, Blackberry Messenger, Home Screen, and Phone.

Wifi will not kill your battery. Have you thought of replacing your battery instead of blaming the device itself?

[lparsons42]

I can get a full day (24 hrs) or even 2 out of my battery if I don't use it much (and I never turn off my WiFi because I'm too lazy), but keep in mind that my phone is relatively new, so the battery is still in top condition. It may be that your phone's battery needs replacement depending on how old your phone is.

Is there a way to tell how old the phone is? What was the release date for the t-mobile 8120 (in other words what is the oldest that an 8120 could be)?

This is my first blackberry, and I bought it used. Previous owner of the phone was apparently a high school kid, so I would suspect he sent billions of text messages and likely listened to lots of (really lousy) music on it as well. So he could well have put it through many, many battery charge/discharge cycles in a very short time.

Is there a specified number of charge/discharge cycles that the blackberry batteries are expected to be able to go through?

[dknyberry]

Is there a way to tell how old the phone is? What was the release date for the t-mobile 8120 (in other words what is the oldest that an 8120 could be)?

This is my first blackberry, and I bought it used. Previous owner of the phone was apparently a high school kid, so I would suspect he sent billions of text messages and likely listened to lots of (really lousy) music on it as well. So he could well have put it through many, many battery charge/discharge cycles in a very short time.

Is there a specified number of charge/discharge cycles that the blackberry batteries are expected to be able to go through?

I'm not sure when the release date was for the T-mobile 8120, but a brand new OEM battery from this site costs only $20 bucks, so you could give that a try: https://forums.crackberry.com/e?link...token=o-z84qKm

[mom24]

I think the release date was around april or may of 08. I am not sure thinking more like begining of may. That is when I got mine. I think a new bat. Is in order, I iae mine heavely for all sorts of things and charge nitely with out a totallt dead bat.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[lparsons42]

I think I found the battery germlin that was bothering me. The kid I bought this (used) phone from was quite fond of buying games for it, some that actually weren't that bad. I played one of them (monopoly) during some downtime at the airport and forgot to close it. Now that I no longer play it (or any other games really) I can go at least two days between charging, even with frequent wifi web browsing.

Damn you, Parker brothers.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dknyberry]

I think I found the battery germlin that was bothering me. The kid I bought this (used) phone from was quite fond of buying games for it, some that actually weren't that bad. I played one of them (monopoly) during some downtime at the airport and forgot to close it. Now that I no longer play it (or any other games really) I can go at least two days between charging, even with frequent wifi web browsing.

Damn you, Parker brothers.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Glad you figured it out. Now I have to go check if any of my games are still on.