[chem1cal]

Hi,

I just got my Blackberry Curve 8530 about a week or so ago. I love it, but there is one problem - the battery life has diminished completely.

I charge it overnight so that it's ready in the morning. So, here's a timeline to gauge it's life:
I woke up at 6:30, unhooked it from an overnight charge.
I got to work at 7, it was still almost full.
Now it's 10:15AM and it's at 3/5 battery life. However, I've done almost NOTHING with it. I checked two e-mails, and the battery life was low prior to that.

Is there anything I can/should do to conserve battery life? My Envy II had better battery life than this.

P.S.
I use Verizon.

[elvin1983]

There's a good chance that your issue is being caused by having too many programs running in the background. Simply pressing the red "end" key WILL NOT close out the program you are using, it simply sends it to the background, where it continues to run and use battery power, data, etc. Picture it like pressing the "minimize" button on a Windows program, the program stays open, just hides down at the bottom so you can do something else.

There are two proper ways to close out of programs on your BB. The first on is to simply back out of whatever program you're using by using the back (escape) key. It's the one between your end key and the track pad. The other way is to press menu (BlackBerry key on the other side of the track pad) and select "close". This will close out your program.

If you press and hold the blackberry key for about a second, you'll see a box come up with some icons in it, this is your application switcher. Picture it like the taskbar on a Windows PC. This is a quick way to show what applications you have running currently. There will always be 5 open in this menu, Home, Messages, Phone, Browser, and BlackBerry Messenger. You cannot close these applications, they will always be running. If you have any other applications listed in that box, then you need to open each one up and close out of them properly. This should vastly improve your battery life!

[chem1cal]

Thank you so much for your help - I had no idea that the Blackberry worked like this. Once I opened up my menu there was two games open, the browser running, the clock, Blackberry App world and VCast Apps or whatever.

I searched and found some other tips that I am going to try out as well which include dimming the background light and putting the Blackberry into Standby mode by holding the top media button rather than locking it with the "A" button.

Thanks again, I wish I had known that the Blackberry worked like this earlier. You helped me out an astronomical amount.

I can't wait to see how much my battery life increases now.

[elvin1983]

Awesome, glad I could be of assistance.

The nice thing about the multitasking abilities of the BlackBerry is that it allows you to run apps at the same time. Say for instance that you are listening to some music on Pandora Radio, and while you have the app open, you get an e-mail. Instead of having to close out of Pandora to check your e-mail, simply press the red "end" key to send it to the background, then open your e-mail and proceed however you feel fit. Your music will continue playing while you do whatever you need to do, and then you can simply go back to Pandora whenever you choose, to switch stations or whatever, it's really an efficient process!

[chem1cal]

I really had no idea you could do these things. It's a bit more complex than I thought, but I like it since I can simultaneously run applications. I had Pandora running the other day and wanted to check a message. I hit the red key and it closed out (well, minimized). When the music kept playing I knew something was up, but I thought maybe it was just a music thing where only music would keep playing for some reason. Now I understand what was going on.

I'm gonna charge my phone tonight and test these things tomorrow to see how much battery life I safe from all of these ideas. I was getting worried that maybe I got a feeble battery, but I am glad it was just lack of knowledge that was depleting the battery life.

[elvin1983]

The major problem is that alot of times when you buy a phone like this, the people in the store don't properly explain the features and the way the phone operates. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've hadsomeone come in with a phone they just got, and they're frustrated because they don't know how their phone operates!

Hope everything works out for you with the Curve, if you have any other questions, we'll be here!

[chem1cal]

Yeah, the guy just threw it at me, showed me how to e-mail, and that was it. I had to figure out everything else by myself.

Thanks again.

[ncmomgoinczy]

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the battery life improve within the first couple of weeks? I think I remember reading that somewhere. Also I have the same phone and had noticed improve battery life after a couple of weeks.

[queenberrie]

very good tip to check the taskbar!
I had a game open in the background, lets hope that this was the battery drainer!

[Roflcopter132]

Yah tht was the problem for mine too thnx guys

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[azhbookkeeper]

This was helpful for me too. I was wondering is there a way to "close all" programs without having to go into each one and closing?

[angrybassets]

This was helpful for me too. I was wondering is there a way to "close all" programs without having to go into each one and closing?

That would be a great utility app.