[lilminx]

Hello!

So I'm on day 2 of having my BB Z10 ... I'm not all that impressed with batt life ... as much as I've been a fan-girl of BB for the last 8 years, I've seen a big dip in battery life in this Z10 ... i kid you not, outside of native apps, i have whatsapp and TuneIn i've got no other apps loaded on my device

i'm having to juice up 1-2x's a day

... so what gives? is the batt life on Z10 that bad?

history - I'm coming from having a 9860 on OS 7 and 9700 on OS 6 ... which both by far have superceded in the battery life category ...

... if anyone has any suggestions on OS tweaks ... or 3rd party apps to help identify the batt life issue, all advice welcome!

[shiakap]

it will get better after 1-2 weeks..depends how many times charged per day..my z10 (bought on 9th march) could last more then 24 hours after full charged..that is normal i supposed for any new battery..need to be charged 10-20 times to maximize it's potential..and also please update to the latest software..mine is STL-100-1 on 10.0.10.82..

[BrizzadMan]

Screen brightness too high, or use of LTE will result in significant drain in my experience. Keeping many active frames open while not in use can affect battery life. Push email, and frequently synchronizing accounts or apps can also be negatively affect the battery life.

There are certain apps, and games that are known to be major drains on battery as well. BlackBerry Travel currently has some bad bug that destroys the battery for some people. Many popular games I find to diminish battery life, like Where's The Water by Disney is amongst the worst I've come across.

Install Battery Guru would be my advice, and pay attention to use patterns, comparing those to the graphs. You can then see when battery consumption is high, and even share those results with cb members or even the developer. It should help correlate your use of the device to what may place more demands on power... whether that is WhatsApp, TuneIn, or other uses.

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[Ecm]

My battery life increased dramatically after about 5 days - like night and day. I was squeezing though the day (heavy usage) with battery to spare, until I installed WhatsApp. That killed my battery life. It's now off my device. BTW - I also have a company-issued iPhone. WhatsApp is a battery hog on it as well, so it's not an issue specific to the Blackberry version.

[lilminx]

thank you for the advice @Elessar.cm & @BrizzadMan !

I'm going to keep watch on this to see if batt life improves over the next week or so. After that I'll try ditching Whatsapp to see if that changes anything. Also going to d/l Battery Guru and see what's going on.

Hope it gets better through time!

[stabstabdie]

First lte phone I take it??

I have an extra battery but I really haven't needed it since the battery improvements.

This phone gets the same or better life as the iphone 5 or the s3.

If you are that concerned, get the battery charger bundle (its great) and switch from lte to hspa+ (you will get a lot more battery when using Mobile network and will not notice the speed difference trust me)

[lilminx]

yes @stabstabdie 1st LTE phone

will definitely look in to this bundle you're referring to. Thanks!!!

[knowledge_6]

yah what people say is true but not always the case... my battery got better after about 5-7 days.. and then with the new OS update it got EVEN BETTER!

now with LTE, 100% brightness, screen time out at 30seconds, wifi on all the time (i.e. on even when not connected) i get about 16-18 hrs of use on average.. on the lightest days i get over 18hrs np... example yesterday was church day and hanging out with most of the people that i would message, and more family time so i had 60% after 14 hrs... on the heavy heavy days i get like 10-12..

i consider that pretty good for a 1800 battery for any smart phone...

the bundle is great, but it is an extra "thing" you have to carry around.. and what i mean when i said "but not always the case..." is if u see consistent battery drain like +7% per hour, every hour then i would say check with the carrier to see if u can exchange it.. i heard battery guru drains your battery too.. but that would be an android thing..

good luck! but it seems the Battery life on the z10 is pretty decent when reading threads that crap on battery life.. usually the first post is BATTERY LIFE SUCKS!! then the posts after that say other wise..

[Spawn12]

Also if you havent updated to the latest OS update which was out a few weeks ago then i suggest updating to it as it definitely improves battery life tremendously.

Another app thats a battery killer is the recently released Ebay app, which is an Android port. But i had it on my z10 until an hr ago mainly because this morning my battery was on 99% and within 2 hrs it had dropped to 80% without me doing anything other than a couple of bbm messages. Figured out it must be ebay as that was the last app i installed, so far my battery life has returned back to normal.

[lilminx]

@Spawn12 I've had a few updates since getting the device - I'm running 10.0.10.88 right now

But @ knowledge_6 I can see how things like brightness of screen, wifi etc can drain it

I'm used to getting about a day & half out of previous BB devices, so if I have to juice up 1x/day I guess I'm okay with that

I didn't realize that LTE type phones use batteries differently. Though BB has always been great at battery life and I hope to see much the same with this one!

[Spawn12]

@Spawn12 I've had a few updates since getting the device - I'm running 10.0.10.88 right now

But @ knowledge_6 I can see how things like brightness of screen, wifi etc can drain it

I'm used to getting about a day & half out of previous BB devices, so if I have to juice up 1x/day I guess I'm okay with that

I didn't realize that LTE type phones use batteries differently. Though BB has always been great at battery life and I hope to see much the same with this one!

I havent got LTE here in the UK but from what ive been reading around the forums, it seems like LTE really is a battery killer if you have it on.
But future updates will make the battery life better just like the older BB devices, updates to the OS increased the battery life on them.
And like i said some apps arent very nice on the battery, Ebay being one culprit and to an extent whatsapp as well but i havent noticed a huge battery issue with whatsapp on my z10.
Give it a few weeks or so and im sure the battery will settle down. If you are going to use LTE then id get the battery bundle to work alongside your z10.

[vagos2006]

I had the same problem when I first got my z10. man I thought what's up with the battery, Im barely using it and the battery is draining and by 5pm I had to recharge. But people were right on the forums, you need to give it a good 15-25 good full charges from 20% remaining battery life and then my battery got better and lasted way longer and got me to bedtime with heavy use, so 7am to 10pm. after the update from Blackberry my battery life got even better, before I go to sleep sometimes I have 30-40% remaining with pretty heavy use. So for 1800mAh battery its pretty solid I would say and is on par or exceeds any iphone5 or SGS3 battery. As stated above, turn LTE off, talk about killing your battery, not joking! and active frames, keep them closed if you are not using them and push email, active sync, will drain the battery too. there are little things you can do to keep the battery going all day. Other than that I'm fairly pleased with my battery life after the 20 full charges and the Blackberry update. No more problems with battery life.

[lilminx]

@vagos2006 , you can turn off LTE?

I'm in Network Connections settings and don't see the ability to change coverage type from LTE to say 4G for example. How would I do that?

[stabstabdie]

yah what people say is true but not always the case... my battery got better after about 5-7 days.. and then with the new OS update it got EVEN BETTER!

now with LTE, 100% brightness, screen time out at 30seconds, wifi on all the time (i.e. on even when not connected) i get about 16-18 hrs of use on average.. on the lightest days i get over 18hrs np... example yesterday was church day and hanging out with most of the people that i would message, and more family time so i had 60% after 14 hrs... on the heavy heavy days i get like 10-12..

i consider that pretty good for a 1800 battery for any smart phone...

the bundle is great, but it is an extra "thing" you have to carry around.. and what i mean when i said "but not always the case..." is if u see consistent battery drain like +7% per hour, every hour then i would say check with the carrier to see if u can exchange it.. i heard battery guru drains your battery too.. but that would be an android thing..

good luck! but it seems the Battery life on the z10 is pretty decent when reading threads that crap on battery life.. usually the first post is BATTERY LIFE SUCKS!! then the posts after that say other wise..

What I like is the ability to charge the dead battery while having the full one in the phone.

[vagos2006]

@vagos2006 , you can turn off LTE?

I'm in Network Connections settings and don't see the ability to change coverage type from LTE to say 4G for example. How would I do that?

What Carrier are you with? I'm with Rogers. so in Network Connection settings click on "Mobile Network" underneath it will state your carrier for example for me Rogers. Then click on "Network Technology" my phone gives me the following options below. I have it on option 4. HSPA+/UMTS which will give you 4G all the time and will greatly improve battery life by 40%.

Options on my phone under "Network Technology". I have no. 4 selected. so my phone stays on 4G all the time.
1. LTE/HSPA+/UMTS/GSM
2. HSPA+/UMTS/GSM
3. LTE/HSPA+/UMTS
4. HSPA+/UMTS
5. GSM

In reality you don't really need LTE unless you are downloading a movie or something like that, other than that there is no reason to have it on. its a battery killer, reason being that LTE is not that established yet and spotty in many areas so the phone keeps searching for the signal, and i have actually witnessed my phone going 4G to LTE, LTE back to 4G and so one, that is what kills your battery.

Hope this helps, let me know.

[goldie335]

You finally have a real smartphone. There will be no comparison with the old BlackBerry s...they barely had a screen

[BB10fanatic]

Someone needs to develop a simple battery mangement app.


example:
Basic settings of 1 day, 3 day, or 1 week.
1 day: 70% screen, 20 min updates from emails/messaging apps
3 day: 50% screen, 1hr updates from emails/messaging apps
1 week: 30% screen, 3hr updates

Of course these numbers are coming from my posterior, but something with a very simple interface that learns a bit from the users. I'm not saying that BBRY doesn't need to do some serious work, because battery life used to be a bragging point, but that this presents an opportunity for an app developer.

[vagos2006]

Someone needs to develop a simple battery mangement app.


example:
Basic settings of 1 day, 3 day, or 1 week.
1 day: 70% screen, 20 min updates from emails/messaging apps
3 day: 50% screen, 1hr updates from emails/messaging apps
1 week: 30% screen, 3hr updates

Of course these numbers are coming from my posterior, but something with a very simple interface that learns a bit from the users. I'm not saying that BBRY doesn't need to do some serious work, because battery life used to be a bragging point, but that this presents an opportunity for an app developer.

That's actually a good idea. I would download that app right away if it was available. App developers should take note.

Posted via CB10 from my Awesome Z10

[lilminx]

What Carrier are you with? I'm with Rogers. so in Network Connection settings click on "Mobile Network" underneath it will state your carrier for example for me Rogers. Then click on "Network Technology" my phone gives me the following options below. I have it on option 4. HSPA+/UMTS which will give you 4G all the time and will greatly improve battery life by 40%.

Options on my phone under "Network Technology". I have no. 4 selected. so my phone stays on 4G all the time.
1. LTE/HSPA+/UMTS/GSM
2. HSPA+/UMTS/GSM
3. LTE/HSPA+/UMTS
4. HSPA+/UMTS
5. GSM

negative - I'm on ATT so these advanced options you refer to aren't in Network Connections > Mobile Network

looks like I'm SOL on being able to change network type - guess I'm stuck on LTE like it or not

TechSupp @ ATT says it's a no-go on being able to change it - either it's because ATT hard-wired it to LTE only - or because my phone isn't unlocked?

I've got a ticket open now with BB about it

[Spawn12]

Looks like you are and that's down to at&t most probably. Is your handset at&t branded?? They probably have locked u out of those settings.

For the record I have an unlocked handset that I bought off contract, when I put my old sim in I have access to 4G and can change it but my normal sim I'm only limited to 3g and 2g. So looks like my network, which is Vodafone here in the UK have locked out the 4G setting as they haven't released their 4G network yet here in the UK but my other sim, which is tmobile UK has 4G on their network.

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[vagos2006]

negative - I'm on ATT so these advanced options you refer to aren't in Network Connections > Mobile Network

looks like I'm SOL on being able to change network type - guess I'm stuck on LTE like it or not

TechSupp @ ATT says it's a no-go on being able to change it - either it's because ATT hard-wired it to LTE only - or because my phone isn't unlocked?

I've got a ticket open now with BB about it

That is very odd. Why would AT&T not offer their customers the option to change to 4G? I don't think this has anything to do with an unlocked phone because my phone is locked to Rogers. This has to do your Carrier AT&T not giving their customers that option. Remember when the US carriers were doing their testing they add all their options and settings to the z10 to suit their network. Same goes with the Canadian carriers when they do their testing. Wow that really sucks big time. Rogers always gives us the option to change networks from LTE, 4G or 3G.

So this an AT&T issue, I don't believe BlackBerry will be able to help if AT&T won't allow it. But you can try and see what happens. I'm a little bewildered at why they would not allow you to change the network to at least 4G? You should ask them them then why do Canadian carriers give that option to their customers? I know for a fact all Canadian carriers allow you to change networks in the setting menu I described to you.

I'm curious to find out what T-Mobile and Verizon will allow their customers to change networks from LTE to 4G? If so then this is something AT&T will have to fix. That's gonna be a big issue for battery life. Doesn't matter if have a z10 or SGS3 if the only option is LTE then battery is going to be a problem for a lot of customers such as yourself. But in the meantime just do the basics described above to give you more out of your battery.

Good luck and enjoy your Z10.

Posted via CB10 from my Awesome Z10

[peter9477]

i heard battery guru drains your battery too.. but that would be an android thing..

This is the first time I've seen anyone even suggest that. I don't believe it's true. I'm particularly puzzled by how you worded it though... are you under the impression Battery Guru is an Android app? It's not... it's a Cascades app on BB10 (and an AIR app on the PlayBook).

I've very carefully designed and tested both versions of Battery Guru to make sure they have negligible impact on battery life. On the PlayBook I eventually was able to do enough testing to confirm that the impact was no more than one minute on your whole battery life, and probably much less. Basically it wasn't possible actually to measure the impact.

On BB10 I haven't yet got enough data to make the same calculation, but all signs point to the same thing... no measurable impact on battery. I actually run two copies in parallel most of the time, and have also run four at other times, with no apparent change in battery life as a result.

If anyone believes they have evidence to the contrary, please provide it to me so we can discuss. Chances are you'll have made a mistake in your conclusions...

[lilminx]

I'm curious to find out what T-Mobile and Verizon will allow their customers to change networks from LTE to 4G? If so then this is something AT&T will have to fix. That's gonna be a big issue for battery life. Doesn't matter if have a z10 or SGS3 if the only option is LTE then battery is going to be a problem for a lot of customers such as yourself. But in the meantime just do the basics described above to give you more out of your battery.

true!

When I spoke with BB TechSupp earlier, the person I spoke with said there have been a number of ATT users calling in about it. Perhaps ATT may change in future. Wait and see I guess! In the meantime, battery apps and battery packs for me!

[asherwiin]

My battery life has dramatically improved after I changed my Gmail sync interval from 15 minutes to 1 hour and reduced screen to about 60%. Have LTE on, Wifi on, and after 15 hours of normal use, have 55% battery left. :-)




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[lilminx]

My battery life has dramatically improved after I changed my Gmail sync interval from 15 minutes to 1 hour and reduced screen to about 60%. Have LTE on, Wifi on, and after 15 hours of normal use, have 55% battery left. :-)
I can probably be okay with screen brightness reduction; not the gmail sync though



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