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I purchased my playbook back in April this year. Have really loved it so far. Its been about 8 months since then. Today I bought an app 'battery guru'. Here are the readings, it shows. It shows my battery life at 88% (after 8 months of use). is it normal?

[PedroBorgas]

Yup

Mine was 86% after 3 months so, you're ok

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[adadadad]

Yup

Mine was 86% after 3 months so, you're ok

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

Thanks a lot. Now I'm a much more relieved.

[adadadad]

Yup

Mine was 86% after 3 months so, you're ok

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

BTW, I'm interested to know - how old is your playbook and what is your battery life now (as per battery guru) ????

[Chaddface]

My PB fluctuates between 85-86% and has for as long as I can remember. That's after 1 1/2 years and 393 on the recharge count.

[pelletizer]

Mine is at 87% since day one.

[dugggggg]

My PB was manufactured in April of 2011. When I bought it a year ago, health was around 95%. Four months later it had fallen to around 91%. Now, after 226 recharge cycles, it's at 88%.

[peter9477]

I purchased my playbook back in April this year. Have really loved it so far. Its been about 8 months since then. Today I bought an app 'battery guru'. Here are the readings, it shows. It shows my battery life at 88% (after 8 months of use). is it normal?

Others have already given good responses. I just wanted to point out the app does have a top-swipe menu (swipe down from the upper frame/bezel area) and in it you'll find a link to the app's web site, which has some background information on various things including the Health reading. If you want to read that on your PC, just click the last link in my signature...

I can also see from the screenshot that you don't generally leave the app running all the time. Feel free to do so, so that you can learn more from the time plot of battery level and power readings. The app does NOT use any measurable additional battery power when you leave it running, nor noticeable CPU. Other than allocating some extra RAM, you won't even notice it... until you start to peek at it frequently to observe the effect running various other apps is having on the battery consumption...

Thanks for the purchase. :-)

[PedroBorgas]

Tomorrow i'll post, but i remember it was getting some improvements

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[rotorwrench]

Others have already given good responses. I just wanted to point out the app does have a top-swipe menu (swipe down from the upper frame/bezel area) and in it you'll find a link to the app's web site, which has some background information on various things including the Health reading. If you want to read that on your PC, just click the last link in my signature...

I can also see from the screenshot that you don't generally leave the app running all the time. Feel free to do so, so that you can learn more from the time plot of battery level and power readings. The app does NOT use any measurable additional battery power when you leave it running, nor noticeable CPU. Other than allocating some extra RAM, you won't even notice it... until you start to peek at it frequently to observe the effect running various other apps is having on the battery consumption...

Thanks for the purchase. :-)

Thanks for a great app Peter. I've been using it for monitoring apps and settings to optimize my battery life since day one of downloading it. I've also used it to prove to naysayers how good my PB battery life is. Many people don't realize that if they have problems interpreting their charts that they can send you the files for you to look at. Thanks again!

[adadadad]

Others have already given good responses. I just wanted to point out the app does have a top-swipe menu (swipe down from the upper frame/bezel area) and in it you'll find a link to the app's web site, which has some background information on various things including the Health reading. If you want to read that on your PC, just click the last link in my signature...

I can also see from the screenshot that you don't generally leave the app running all the time. Feel free to do so, so that you can learn more from the time plot of battery level and power readings. The app does NOT use any measurable additional battery power when you leave it running, nor noticeable CPU. Other than allocating some extra RAM, you won't even notice it... until you start to peek at it frequently to observe the effect running various other apps is having on the battery consumption...

Thanks for the purchase. :-)

Oh! What a great app this is! I got to know more about it after reading your last comment. Yeah, never left it running. Will do so and see, what transpires. Thanks a lot.

[adadadad]

One more question friends---- when my battery goes down to 9%, I get a message "your battery is low". Is it safe, If I continue using playbook even after that?? I mean, will it have strain on the battery or the device????

[PedroBorgas]

The main thing you might want to keep in mind is to NEVER let it go to 0%!

If that does happen you'll have a lot of problems turning it on!

(Just search for PB wont charge threads)

So yeah, when i get that message i let it turn off or, just finish what i'm doing and then turn it off myself!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[kill_9]

One more question friends---- when my battery goes down to 9%, I get a message "your battery is low". Is it safe, If I continue using playbook even after that?? I mean, will it have strain on the battery or the device????

You can safely use your BlackBerry PlayBook until it shuts itself down when it reaches 0% per the battery meter. The battery actually never reaches true 0% so you can ignore people claiming the tablet will never reboot afterwards. I let my BlackBerry tablets deplete to 0% at least once every 6 months without any ill effects. Recharge the tablet via the wall plug, docking station, or rapid magnetic charger. The USB cable is best left only to transfer data if you do not want to use WiFi.

[F2]

One more question friends---- when my battery goes down to 9%, I get a message "your battery is low". Is it safe, If I continue using playbook even after that?? I mean, will it have strain on the battery or the device????

I would suggest NOT doing that very often. While it may not cause issues as noted, some folks have run into problems where SOME pb's become hard to recharge. So if you can avoid running it down completely, why not throw it on a charger before it gets that low.

[rotorwrench]

In addition to what F2 said, another reason to avoid deep discharges is it is detrimental to Li-ion battery life. All manufacturers of Li-ion batteries advise against the practice of repeated battery depletion unless necessary. The preferred method for long battery life is frequent top offs, avoiding regular discharging below 40% or less. I know that may not be practical for some but just a heads up. FWIW, we have effectively increased the average battery life of our tools and instruments at work that use Li-ion batteries by around 25% by frequent topping when not in use. I myself don't worry about it, especially after experiencing how simple it was to change out the battery in the PB.

[peter9477]

There's some room for debate about whether going to 0% is a good idea. It is well above the point where any serious damage to the batteries would occur. There certainly are instances, however, of people who've let it shut down at 0% and then had some difficulty getting it restarted. Having done that dozens of times on multiple units, I have no concerns about it personally. If you're somewhat nervous about it, and certainly if you're a technical "noob", it would be best if you recharged earlier. That said, if you hit 0% and it shuts down, and you put it on the charger and it restarts just fine, then have no fear that you've done anything wrong or damaged the device, because you have not.

As for continuing to use it below the 9% (or 8%, or whenever you get it) warning, absolutely feel free to do that. If you're almost done your movie, or want to keep playing that game for another half hour, or whatever... go right ahead and do it. The warning is merely to remind you that you might not have too much time left, but it's in no way a warning of impending damage or anything bad like that.

[ichat]

These apps try to predict the expiry date of a lithium ion. Well, its around 1000 cycles of charge and will probably last 2-3 years.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9860 on 7.1.0.714 with Tapatalk and my fingers

[peter9477]

ichat, which apps are those?

[dugggggg]

I think the biggest mistake when taking the battery down until auto-shutoff (or "0%" or even "9%") is not promptly recharging it. Due to internal resistance, the battery continues to lose power even with the PB off---and having to go through "stack charging" and other BS can be totally avoided by simply being a responsible owner.

Just plug it in as soon as the battery gets low!

[adadadad]

There's some room for debate about whether going to 0% is a good idea. It is well above the point where any serious damage to the batteries would occur. There certainly are instances, however, of people who've let it shut down at 0% and then had some difficulty getting it restarted. Having done that dozens of times on multiple units, I have no concerns about it personally. If you're somewhat nervous about it, and certainly if you're a technical "noob", it would be best if you recharged earlier. That said, if you hit 0% and it shuts down, and you put it on the charger and it restarts just fine, then have no fear that you've done anything wrong or damaged the device, because you have not.

As for continuing to use it below the 9% (or 8%, or whenever you get it) warning, absolutely feel free to do that. If you're almost done your movie, or want to keep playing that game for another half hour, or whatever... go right ahead and do it. The warning is merely to remind you that you might not have too much time left, but it's in no way a warning of impending damage or anything bad like that.

thanks a lot for the information.

[F2]

I think the biggest mistake when taking the battery down until auto-shutoff (or "0%" or even "9%") is not promptly recharging it. Due to internal resistance, the battery continues to lose power even with the PB off---and having to go through "stack charging" and other BS can be totally avoided by simply being a responsible owner.

Just plug it in as soon as the battery gets low!

You mean it is NOT a Pet Rock?

[kill_9]

I would suggest NOT doing that very often. While it may not cause issues as noted, some folks have run into problems where SOME pb's become hard to recharge. So if you can avoid running it down completely, why not throw it on a charger before it gets that low.

Okay. But I said once every 6 months, not once every month or every week. The zero percentage discharge per the battery meter is like purging the tablet of evil spirits in the old days except it does make the tablet more efficient afterwards.

[jpash549]

Do you burn incense and mutter incantations while you dance around the Blackberry?

[colinstone]

Rip off UK - $1.99 for USA; £2 for UK!!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® Curve 3G using Tapatalk