Explaining Battery Life On The BlackBerry Z10

One of the largest complaints that can be made about the BlackBerry Z10 is the battery life. Whether it be from people who have owned the phone for a month or people who have owned it for two days, the consensus is that battery life on this device is mediocre at best. While some of those complaints hold merit, there is an explanation for the battery life not being as good as it could be at this moment. With patience and understanding, the battery life issue will become tolerable or nonexistant.

With any new OS, there's bound to be variables thrown in by different applications or processes that complicate battery life. I've seen numerous people point out that they believe certain applications (eBay, BB Travel, etc.) are to blame for bad battery life. Bad coding could potentially be an issue, but these are things that don't generally last very long as either BlackBerry or the developer figure it out. Do not be discouraged to use certain applications right now for fear of losing battery life; the whole purpose is to enjoy the phone. These aren't problems that will persist.

Managing sync has probably been the biggest difference coming over from Android. I'm using two email clients now on the Z10 as opposed to one on my Nexus 4. Having it pull every 24 hours for every process (calendar, contacts, mail) has made a pretty big difference in my battery life. I get my email on time, but the sync for the calendar and contacts shouldn't need to be updated on an hourly basis. If you're using multiple email accounts, I'd suggest doing the same and prioritizing if you haven't already.

If you're on AT&T like I am, you've probably noticed there's not a way to shut down LTE to conserve battery life. While I'd like to be able to choose, I understand why AT&T is doing it. Using LTE means you're using more data and also freeing up their HSPA+ network for faster speeds all around. Of course, if you have WiFi, that can solve this issue. With that said, you're also enjoying some ridiculous download/upload speeds so it kind of evens out. if the Z10 wasn't fast enough already, loading web pages and downloading anything is infinitely faster on LTE and it makes the experience pretty gratifying.

Screen brightness is probably the biggest offender as far as battery life goes. The initial shock of lowering your brightness to 30% or under is kind of annoying, but eventually you don't really realize it and it becomes natural. It also makes a big difference. If you're someone who just can't live without the screen brightness being near maximum, your best bet is to keep the screen timeout around 15 seconds. There's really not a lot you can do to counteract having the brightness that high, but that's your best bet.

Battery life on the Z10 overall, which runs a brand new OS, is really not that bad. Your first few days are going to be the most brutal (you'll inevitably be playing with it more often/it hasn't run through a few charge cycles to maximize it's life) and a snap judgement on battery life at that point is pointless. It IS removable, something only Samsung has been keen on doing lately outside of BlackBerry, and that makes a huge difference. Using two batteries with a spare charger constantly charging the depleted battery will easily get you through the day. BlackBerry is aware that there's things they can do to increase the battery life, as well. QNX is actually really efficient and as time goes on, I would bet that battery life will no longer be a concern on this phone. The majority of the upcoming updates will be focused around it for sure.

For those that haven't used a Z10 yet; do not be discouraged at the reports of battery life. It is no worse than most of the top tier smartphones (all of which I've used extensively) and holds a huge advantage of being removable. The processor/clock speed, the screen size/brightness, and OS are all things that an 1800 mah battery can maintain very well. BlackBerry just has to clean some things up to get it to realize it's potential. Knowing this company like I do, they undoubtedly will not disappoint.

I am lucky if my Blackberry makes it for more than 4 or 5 hours with almost no use - very little phone and only checking for email now and again when my notebook computer is busy. I leave it on charge all night, so I start with a full charge. I always have to charge it again through the day. I have all applications shut down unless I need them, wireless, NFC and Bluetooth are all turned off. I'll bet if I just let it sit on my desk unused all day, the battery would be pretty my discharged by the end of the day.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

I called Bell and they suggested I go back to the store and get them to provide a new battery under warranty. If that doesn't solve it, they suggest I get them to send my device back for repairs.

I've had my Z10 since Feb 8th... not even two months. I am not impressed with the battery life, although I am impressed with the phone.

Sorry I call BS on this.

4-5 hours? Total BS

Originally Posted by Michael Frenette

I am lucky if my Blackberry makes it for more than 4 or 5 hours with almost no use - very little phone and only checking for email now and again when my notebook computer is busy. I leave it on charge all night, so I start with a full charge. I always have to charge it again through the day. I have all applications shut down unless I need them, wireless, NFC and Bluetooth are all turned off. I'll bet if I just let it sit on my desk unused all day, the battery would be pretty my discharged by the end of the day.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

I called Bell and they suggested I go back to the store and get them to provide a new battery under warranty. If that doesn't solve it, they suggest I get them to send my device back for repairs.

I've had my Z10 since Feb 8th... not even two months. I am not impressed with the battery life, although I am impressed with the phone.

pic evidence u have the z10 or ur lying.

Go on ...

(edit : removed op. )

Bad battery would be the place to start. I had poor performance on my 9850, but it took a while before it couldn't hold a charge at all. Looking back, the failing battery explained why my phone drained so quickly. Duds do happen.

You can have email set to "Push" while calendar/contacts can be set to sync as often as you want (I personally have them set to 4 hours).

Originally Posted by Michael Frenette

I am lucky if my Blackberry makes it for more than 4 or 5 hours with almost no use - very little phone and only checking for email now and again when my notebook computer is busy. I leave it on charge all night, so I start with a full charge. I always have to charge it again through the day. I have all applications shut down unless I need them, wireless, NFC and Bluetooth are all turned off. I'll bet if I just let it sit on my desk unused all day, the battery would be pretty my discharged by the end of the day.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

I called Bell and they suggested I go back to the store and get them to provide a new battery under warranty. If that doesn't solve it, they suggest I get them to send my device back for repairs.

I've had my Z10 since Feb 8th... not even two months. I am not impressed with the battery life, although I am impressed with the phone.

I did a 3 day test on battery life, that included day 1, network and wifi, day2 was network LTE only, and day three WIFI and bluetooth and LTE always on but not always connected except LTE, and I averaged around 8-9 hours with moderate use... not great, not terrible, I woud say 4-5 is terribly unusual and there must be something you are doing to drain it faster.... I would check settings...

Yes, try a new battery...keep the dud as a spare. My battery comes off charge at 04:45 and by 20:30 it's about gone, got maybe 15% remaining but then it's ready to go back on charge for the night anyway. I run BT, WiFi & 2 email accounts all day with moderate other uses. I can't really complain especially since I just got my Z four days ago. Good luck!

The 4-5 hours post could easily be true. Prior to the update to 10.0.10.90 I was having similar problems, tried another phone and another battery, neither of which helped.

Since the update things are much much better and depending on usage and mobile signal, I can now get about 15-16 hours with reasonable use.

Posted via CB10

Doesn't anyone find it odd that so many people are claiming to get 15-20 hours of battery life while a large amount of people are also complaining about getting less than 6?

One has to believe that something went wrong in the Z10 manufacturing process and left a ton of people with bum devices. I can't think of any other way to explain this massive gap in battery life that people are reporting.

I thought it must have been hardware related before the update but honestly got such a big increase since the update its hard to say. I was on the verge of throwing mine in the bin. Today after 12 hours off charge, still at 40% and it's as good if not better than my 9900. I definitely sympathise with people still suffering tho.

Posted via CB10

Hopefully that suffices.

Don't think fanwar meant you...even though you are the "OP"...thanks for your observations!

A Lot of it depends on signal strength from your carrier cause when I'm at work connected to wifi all day 7am-5pm I leave with 70-75 percent battery and when I'm home also connected to wifi after 8-9 hours I'm down to 40 percent and I do the same Check BBM text Facebook twitter emails some games and calls

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by EricKane

Hopefully that suffices.

Well i apologize.

Blackberry was once known for making quality products once. It used to be they "just worked"

Guess quality control went down over the years.

Maybe u have a lemon perhaps u can exchange it.

Once again i apologize.

I've experienced days of 4-5 hours and have also had days of 20+ hours. There are lots of factors and OP covers many of them... the upgrade in OS was a major major upgrade to battery life. If update hasn't been done, it would explain a lot.

But LTE, screen, frequency of update, crappy android apps and or usage can result in wide range of usage.

Once you learn the phone and settings, battery is not an issue. I am a highly active user-- and now have more than enough battery to last the day and the highest usage days only have me switching to second battery around 7 or 8pm.

In contrast, before the upgrade to the OS I went through 4 full battery changes in one day (on the assumption that were was even enough time to recharge the batteries).

I appreciate the OP's first post...(i ordered the Z10 in white from Verizon) but if i really have to consider shutting off LTE and set my email to sync once a day to get decent battery life, then i may have purchased the wrong phone. I have a simple smartphone style...Email, contacts and calendars are set to push, facebook and twitter sync every 2 or 4 hours, and i turn off wifi and bluetooth whenever not connected.

Wrong guy responded with photo. Michael Frenette was the one that was called BS on

Originally Posted by HartfordWhalers

Wrong guy responded with photo. Michael Frenette was the one that was called BS on

Oops i apologized too soon.

My z10 has been returned to tmobile uk ,yesterday. Battery life was abysmal maybe 7 hours with very little use ...installed os updates and if anything it was worse...lady in shop said I should only char

Sorry only charge when needed and not overnight.....what a clown