1. Zimonada's Avatar
    Hey there.

    I'm loving the 8900, no complaints at all, except I seem to be having issues with the battery (unless this is normal, though it doesn't seem that way).

    Basically, I leave my BB on my bedside table every night, alarm set, and it sits there in the sleeve for 7-8 hours. Often the last couple weeks it seems to keep draining the battery overnight, notably from 30%, 45%, and last night, 70%.

    So, any ideas as to why this is happening? I was thinking maybe the sleeve isn't putting it to sleep, or just that the battery is defective or something.

    If nothing else, what ways can I reduce my battery usage, besides light settings?

    Thanks.
    01-14-09 02:38 PM
  2. aristile's Avatar
    Are you leaving the WiFi turned on? Are you putting it into bedside mode? Which OS do you have installed?
    01-14-09 02:42 PM
  3. Dj_murph's Avatar
    uninstall any unused apps and switch ur gps to 911 only and only use adible alerts vibration can drain aswell. make sure u have the latest RETAIL OS not leaked... ive done alot of stuff to figure it out i got my storm to run for 30 hrs
    01-14-09 02:48 PM
  4. aristile's Avatar
    uninstall any unused apps and switch ur gps to 911 only and only use adible alerts vibration can drain aswell. make sure u have the latest RETAIL OS not leaked... ive done alot of stuff to figure it out i got my storm to run for 30 hrs
    "Switch the GPS to 911" - what exactly does that mean?

    You don't need to only use the retail OS, that is untrue. Read the sticky at the top of the forum and you will find the feedback/experiences others have had with that specific release. The retail releases take much longer to be released. Most people seem to have really good experiences with .114.
    01-14-09 02:54 PM
  5. Taryon's Avatar
    I agree with aristile.

    However, I really feel that there is no baseline for comparing battery life amongst 8900 users. A lot of people are claiming incredible feats of battery life (i.e. ~32-48 hrs), which I have a very hard time believing with all due respect. I've tried 2 different 8900's, each with at least 2 different OS's and have never been able to surpass 28 hrs of continuous "on-time".

    To Zimonada: I think there may be an issue with battery drain while it is in the OEM sleeve, as I've noticed that overnight (~7 hours) of sitting in standby with no WiFi/no BT, the battery will drain by at least 1.5 bars (~30%). The very same results are noticed with the phone left out of the sleeve, which isn't in a standby mode of any sort. As long as your device can last through a day though, I think it's reasonable.
    01-14-09 03:24 PM
  6. maDgamEr's Avatar
    ^
    |
    That's odd... on .114 I get 2-3+ days consistantly with moderate (several hundred sms, lots of mms/pic viewing/sending, 20-30 email, lots of browsing, ~10 hrs wifi, TONS of bm, ~30 mins talk, docs to go usage, but no mp3)usage.

    Easily 4 days with lighter usage.

    Point to note, I DO use autostandby and auto on/off (midnight to 5 am every night) unless its charging.
    Last edited by maDgamEr; 01-14-09 at 05:27 PM.
    01-14-09 05:22 PM
  7. aristile's Avatar
    I agree with aristile.

    However, I really feel that there is no baseline for comparing battery life amongst 8900 users. A lot of people are claiming incredible feats of battery life (i.e. ~32-48 hrs), which I have a very hard time believing with all due respect. I've tried 2 different 8900's, each with at least 2 different OS's and have never been able to surpass 28 hrs of continuous "on-time".
    I definitely agree with what you are saying. The specific settings in the phone will effect, sometimes dramatically, the amount of time the battery lasts - from the screen brightness to the screen timeout, etc. I think the same user can compare the battery life they are experiencing between different OS versions and get a good idea, assuming they keep the settings the same between the two OS versions. Also the usage time will effect the battery life so it is really difficult to get a real idea of battery life comparison between two different users.
    01-14-09 05:36 PM
  8. Taryon's Avatar
    To aristile: Absolutely yes

    To maDgamEr: Yeah, it's a bit frustrating at times to know that your device doesn't perform nearly as good as someone elses, heh. It seems like you get pretty good battery life out of yours, and no doubt the auto standby and auto off should help.

    Are you using a specific app for the standby? Mine is in the OEM sleeve (and in standby I believe) whenever not in use but it seems like it is draining faster while in it, oddly enough. I might want to test using my BB without the sleeve and manually putting into standby to see if that makes a difference (I don't really see how, but who knows).
    01-14-09 05:44 PM
  9. paul55g's Avatar
    I have read in several reviews that the sound coming over the speaker when talking to someone is fuzzy and not very clear. Are you experiencing any of this with your 8900?
    01-14-09 06:10 PM
  10. sdbadd's Avatar
    Do not use the OEM sleeve that came with the phone. I suffered through 2 weeks of horrible battery life while using the sleeve. The max I could get was 30 hours and that was with very light usage with the phone in the sleeve 95% of the time. I've since stop using the sleeve and the battery life has increased 5 times!!!! No lie. I'm going on 48 hours from my last charge and my phone is at 65% charge still. At this rate I'll get atleast 5 days out of a charge. Bare in mind that my usage is very light, however the comparison still stands from me using the sleeve to not using the sleeve.

    Either the phone has a bug in which using the sleeve does not put the phone to sleep or the sleeve is defective and maybe the screen is randomly turning on/off during the day. I'm going to try an aftermarket case and see what the battery life is like.
    01-14-09 08:42 PM
  11. Taryon's Avatar
    Interesting. If that's indeed true, it would explain a lot. I'll try it out without the OEM sleeve and see if anything improves.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    01-14-09 08:57 PM
  12. aristile's Avatar
    Do not use the OEM sleeve that came with the phone. I suffered through 2 weeks of horrible battery life while using the sleeve. The max I could get was 30 hours and that was with very light usage with the phone in the sleeve 95% of the time. I've since stop using the sleeve and the battery life has increased 5 times!!!! No lie. I'm going on 48 hours from my last charge and my phone is at 65% charge still. At this rate I'll get atleast 5 days out of a charge. Bare in mind that my usage is very light, however the comparison still stands from me using the sleeve to not using the sleeve.

    Either the phone has a bug in which using the sleeve does not put the phone to sleep or the sleeve is defective and maybe the screen is randomly turning on/off during the day. I'm going to try an aftermarket case and see what the battery life is like.
    Wow that is very interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience. What OS is running on your phone?

    @Taryon - Let us know what you find out and also if a different OS improves anything.
    01-14-09 09:04 PM
  13. ausch's Avatar
    Leaving Wi-Fi on all the time can drain your battery a lot. PLus the OS sometimes has a lot to do with battery life also. I heard that the new .114 gives pretty good battery life, so I would try that out.
    01-14-09 09:54 PM
  14. Zimonada's Avatar
    Wow, thanks for all the advice guys. I haven't really ever left it out of the sleeve (the OEM sleeve is the one that comes with the Curve, correct?) when not in use, so I'll try that tonight and see how it goes. In the meantime I've shut off WiFi when I don't need it.

    Couple more questions:

    1) What will having WiFi off affect? What can't I use with it off?
    2) Would setting the BB for auto on/off before I go to sleep and an hour or so before my alarm save power? I remember on my old phone powering on/off took a bunch of power, so I just left it on all the time.
    3) This'll sound stupid, but I didn't even think of it: is it set to auto-standby or something when put in the sleeve? If not I would need to set it, which explains a lot.

    In case it helps anyone, I have light usage. A few texts here and there, but otherwise it's "standing by" most of the time.
    01-14-09 10:03 PM
  15. ausch's Avatar
    Couple more questions:

    1) What will having WiFi off affect? What can't I use with it off?
    2) Would setting the BB for auto on/off before I go to sleep and an hour or so before my alarm save power? I remember on my old phone powering on/off took a bunch of power, so I just left it on all the time.
    3) This'll sound stupid, but I didn't even think of it: is it set to auto-standby or something when put in the sleeve? If not I would need to set it, which explains a lot.
    1. It doesn't really affect I don't think, just not being able to get Wi-Fi internet. And Wi-Fi calls ( I don't know a lot about this stuff)
    2. Yes setting your phone to auto on/off will save power because even if it's on but your not doing anything it still uses some power, not a lot but a little because of applications in the background.
    3. Yes when you put it in the sleeve it goes to sleep automatically.
    01-14-09 10:09 PM
  16. Taryon's Avatar
    The OEM sleeve has a magnetic plate in it that activates standby automatically when the device is placed inside. This (and please correct me if I'm wrong) acts the same way as manually activating standby (either via the mute key on the top of the device or through the AutoStandby application).

    The thing is, some users who use the OEM sleeve are reporting far worse results in terms of battery drain with the device in the sleeve. I have always used the sleeve, myself, assuming it was the most battery efficient. What I plan on doing is using charging my phone up fully tonight and using it tomorrow without the sleeve (manually entering stanbdy) to see if there is any difference. I'll report back during the day.
    Last edited by Taryon; 01-14-09 at 10:41 PM.
    01-14-09 10:16 PM
  17. Zimonada's Avatar
    And the OEM sleeve is the sleeve that comes with the 8900, correct? Sorry, I'm new to the BB terminology.
    01-14-09 10:22 PM
  18. ausch's Avatar
    Yes the OEM is the case that came with the phone.
    01-14-09 10:30 PM
  19. sdbadd's Avatar
    Wow that is very interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience. What OS is running on your phone?

    @Taryon - Let us know what you find out and also if a different OS improves anything.
    I'm on the latest OS (.114). Maybe my sleeve is just defective due to a poorly placed magnet. The screen does turn off when I slide it in, but my suspicion is that the screen randomly turns on and off while inserted. Another weird behaviour I noticed while using the sleeve is that the battery would still drain over night while turned off using the auto on/off feature. When not placed in the sleeve, my battery does not drain at all overnight using the auto on/off feature.
    01-14-09 11:11 PM
  20. sdbadd's Avatar
    I was playing around with my sleeve to see what may be causing the issue. The BB definitely goes to sleep when I insert the unit (or atleast the screen turns off) and I tried to get the screen to turn on by shaking the sleeve and pressing on the cover and sides with no luck. I then noticed that one of the aA keys at the bottom (the key that changes letters from lower case to caps) gets pushed everytime I slide the BB into the sleeve. You can see this because aA appears at the top right corner of the screen right before it turns the screen off. Is it possible the poor battery life while in the sleeve is because one of the keys is always being pressed? Maybe the case is fine, but it's just too tight. I'm going to try to loosen the case up a bit and then try using the case again to see what happens.
    01-14-09 11:37 PM
  21. aristile's Avatar
    I think pressing your key would be the culprit if it is indeed getting pushed the entire time. I'm not sure but that seems like a logical cause to your problem.
    01-15-09 12:03 AM
  22. laurent08's Avatar
    I would say i'm quite a heavy user:

    2 - 3 hours talktime
    No Wifi
    BT On
    100 - 150 emails received
    20 - 30 sent
    Lots of BBM
    Lots of web browsing

    Battery usually lasts me from around 7am to 10pm.
    I've just changed to the 8900 from a Bold, i got pretty much the same on the Bold (with no 3G) ...

    As long as it lasts me 1 full day, i'm satisfied ..
    01-15-09 12:52 AM
  23. litchblade's Avatar
    I'd say Im a medium-heavy user:

    1 hour talk time
    WiFi on
    BT on
    50 emails received
    20 - 30 sent
    HUGE Amount of BBM Traffic, all day long
    Lot of web browsing aswell

    On some days I even got more than 1 hour talktime.

    Battery lasts from 7 to the time I go to bed, and I think the same. I just need 1 day, thats it.
    01-15-09 01:14 AM
  24. Pete6's Avatar
    I agree with aristile.

    However, I really feel that there is no baseline for comparing battery life amongst 8900 users. A lot of people are claiming incredible feats of battery life (i.e. ~32-48 hrs), which I have a very hard time believing with all due respect. I've tried 2 different 8900's, each with at least 2 different OS's and have never been able to surpass 28 hrs of continuous "on-time".

    To Zimonada: I think there may be an issue with battery drain while it is in the OEM sleeve, as I've noticed that overnight (~7 hours) of sitting in standby with no WiFi/no BT, the battery will drain by at least 1.5 bars (~30%). The very same results are noticed with the phone left out of the sleeve, which isn't in a standby mode of any sort. As long as your device can last through a day though, I think it's reasonable.
    This is a new phone and there are at least 4 different OS revisions. We know that the earlier OS releases were worse on battery life than the newer releases.

    I am now getting 2 days easily with my phone. I use AutoStandBy, Auto On/Off at night and the sleeve to put it into StandBy Mode. There is no issue with olster/StandBy Mode. Using this, there is greatly reduced battery drain. I lave WiFi running most of the time and I use bluetooth whenever I am in my car.

    I charge my phone in a cradle using the supplied wall charger which has a 700mA output and is more powerfule than other BlackBerry chargers.

    I do not run any IM applications and nor do I run Viigo. My phone is primarily a business phone. The major apps are DocsToGo and Google Maps. I have 145Mb of File Free memory and almost never need to do a battery pull.

    My experience is that I do not have an issue with batttery life since I have installed OS 4.6.1.114.
    01-15-09 01:27 AM
  25. litchblade's Avatar
    I dont want to use auto on/off because I never know when I need my blackberry. The reason I use my blackberry is because I want to be reachable everywhere I am, and because of that I won't use that function.

    I think even with WiFi on + BT and less BBM and IM my battery would last at least 2 days. Just depends on how much I'm writing.
    01-15-09 01:34 AM
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