[snickdog]

OK. I got my 9930 a week and a half ago. Since the very first day, the battery has driven me crazy!

I used to have a Storm2 -- so while I know touch screens etc take more power, there's no way it would take THIS much. With the Storm 2, I could charge it every other day with heavy use -- a couple of long client calls, lots and lots of email, including sending files, and tons of texts and BBM, not to mention UberSocial, pictures and Facebook usage, and bridging with my PlayBook when out.

With the 9930, I would take it off the charger in the morning, and it would immediately drop 15% of the battery charge (using MeterBerry) without even starting a single application. After checking my email, I'd be at 65%; by noon, the battery was in the red.

I did all the stuff noted in the article on battery saving; tried letting it go low then charging with a battery pull, got rid of Social Feeds and any other program that seemed to suck power...nothing helped. I stopped using UberSocial and Facebook. Nope. Then, to add insult to injury, it took FOREVER for the battery to charge once it got below 20% -- a minimum of 3 hours to get to a full charge. I was charging it 3-4 times a day, and I wasn't even using it!

I called Verizon and told them what was going on and they sent me a new battery today -- right before my mid-afternoon charging session.

Out came the old battery, in went the new one. When I powered on the phone, the battery was at 20%. I popped it on the charger... and in 20 minutes, it was up to 100%...totally amazing.

I took the phone off the charger and watched...and watched... and the battery percentage stayed at 99+ for the next HOUR. Then, it dropped the '+'.

I answered a couple of emails, checked a couple of Facebook notifications, played some Brickbreaker (usually guaranteed to drop the battery 20%) and watched a couple of videos -- and the battery went all the way down to 98%.

It's still too early to say that's definitely been the issue -- but looking at the battery usage of the last couple of hours vs. even an hour with the OLD battery, I'm ecstatic, to say the least!

I will let y'all know how things go over the next couple of days -- I'll be at a client's later on and will likely be shooting some video with the BB, so we'll see what that does to this battery.

However, based on what I've seen so far today, I would encourage any folks with battery issues to try swapping out the battery for a new one. You never know...

>>> by the way -- the original battery was made in Japan/Mexico; the new one is Korea/China... <<<

[DannyJK]

I've read the Korea/China batteries seem to be better built and last longer than the Japan/Mexico batteries, even though they are both the same mAh. I plan on buying an extended seidio battery for my 9860 when they make an extended thats the same dimensions as the stock battery. Congrats on discovering it was the battery and not your phone! Good Luck!

[diffused]

My first battery was Japan/China. I purchased a second one from Verizon and it shipped and is Japan/Mexico. Both have the same (lousy) battery life. I will wait for a fresh batch to show up after a period of time and take them both to the Vz store for replacement.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Sharma15]

I've read the Korea/China batteries seem to be better built and last longer than the Japan/Mexico batteries, even though they are both the same mAh. I plan on buying an extended seidio battery for my 9860 when they make an extended thats the same dimensions as the stock battery. Congrats on discovering it was the battery and not your phone! Good Luck!

Not always the case. I went to BestBuy (Thank GOD for their service plan) and got my battery exchanged (was made in japan) for a new one (was made in korea) after a day, there was NO difference. 8%/hour discharge rate is ridiculous. Went back today and got a newer battery this ones made in Japan again soo we'll see how it goes. if nothing works, its either a brand new 9900 or a brand new phone (maybe android, id rather kill myself than get an iPhone 4). Lets all hope it doesnt come to that.

[Frosty_Power]

I have a Japan/Mexico battery and mine gets great battery life. No issues.

[snickdog]

UPDATE 6 hours later: Answered some emails, hit Facebook a bunch of times, showed clients a couple of videos and did some web surfing. App Management shows I've used the phone about 20 minutes more than i did yesterday. Battery percentage remaining right now: 73%. HUGE difference. HUGE.

[gordongr]

Mine isnt horrible but I feel it should be a little better, from reading some of the other threads & this one about the battery life it seems its hit & miss even when buying a new one, so I think mine will be good enough for now at least until it seems the new ones get consistently better.

[funnykindel]

mine is very bad but i am always around a PC or a power source so i dont bother that much.

[greggebhardt]

For you new battery top go from 20% to 100% in 20 minutes is not normal. That would scare me.

[o4liberty]

I have been lucky my battery life has been great so far. I had the same issue you describe on a droid incredible and it ended up being the device itself.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[snickdog]

UDATE: 15.5 hours from insertion and initial charge - and my battery is at 25%! Maybe it's a fluke, maybe not. Whatever it is, I'm enjoying it. I left the BB OFF the charger last night to see how much it discharged while idle. The battere was at 50% before I went to sleep, and at 40% when I woke up. Between waking up and posting, I read all the email I received while sleeping, hit a few web sites, texted a few folks and talked to my son for about 20 minutes (using the BB, obviously). Battery discharge, according to MeterBerry, is running between 3-6% per hour since the initial charge - MUCH better than the 10-20% drain per hour of the previous battery!

RE: charging time. My Storm2 used to charge very quickly, especially on the car charger, so that doesn't worry me.

I'm going to pop it on the charger in a few and will post back at the end of the day with further results of my "experiment."

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[HaTaX]

FWIW, when I did my battery swap I noticed that the battery gauge not accurate for 1-2 charge cycles of going completely down (radios shut themselves off) to complete charge. When I would take it off the charger it would sit at 100% for a few hours, then drop to like 90-95% and continue ticking down normally from there. Now I see the 99% and each percentage step after that and it doesn't take an hour or two to move from 100%.

[snickdog]

FWIW, when I did my battery swap I noticed that the battery gauge not accurate for 1-2 charge cycles of going completely down (radios shut themselves off) to complete charge. When I would take it off the charger it would sit at 100% for a few hours, then drop to like 90-95% and continue ticking down normally from there. Now I see the 99% and each percentage step after that and it doesn't take an hour or two to move from 100%.

Yeah, I figure it's going to take a bit to settle in. I was just surprised by the huge difference between the initial setups of the two different batteries.

[snickdog]

You see, and that's why I started this thread:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...rmance-642976/

No concrete proof, but I have strong suspicions there are lots of bum batteries out there! Lots of them - but is there a way to figure out which ones are bad - hence the thread.

Good to hear you ended up with a good second battery (as did I).

Battery performance was just as poor with the original that came packaged with the phone. Now I'm stuck with a toxic wafer as my carrier won't exchange it for a fresh battery (they say to contact RIM... but RIM won't hear any of it: "call your provider"). BS

Here's a question for you: have you noticed anything "physically" different? When i was changing the battery out, I noticed not only the country of origin on both, but also that the "unhappy battery" had an extra little white pad-type sticker on the contact end...

[crigga84]

Mine has been off charge for 12 hours. Quite a lot of usage, apps refreshing in the background, etc..

45% left. Pretty happy with that. I put it on charge every night.

[snickdog]

Day 3 update and observations:

First of all, I'm ecstatic with the performance of the new battery. Like OrangePit, the new battery is running cool (hanging in the mid 70's F), discharges at idle at 1-2% and in use between 5-7%. Over the last three days, I've charged it a total of three times. The Bold is "happy" and alive for a minimum of 15-16 hours between charges, without the radios turning off.

in contrast, the "unhappy" battery (no need to give it a complex or anything) always ran hot (at rest 95 F; in use 115-120 F), discharged at idle 15-20% and in use 18-30%. Over the course of the week and a half that I had it, I charged it a minimum of three times per DAY, sometimes more. With the old battery, the Bold was "unhappy" and shut the radios down every 3-4 hours.

Coming from a Storm and Storm2, I tend to be very memory conscious - the minute I got the Bold, I set up sound and LED profiles that would only blink for emails from one of the three accounts on the phone and text/BBM only, but never for FB, Twitter, etc. i do use the Bridge, and have Funambol syncing calendar changes every couple of hours.

I have to say (as I've only used OS 4/5; never used OS6/7 and don't know if this existed before), I really love the Application Management utility. It's nice to see exactly how much I use not only the phone but various apps. What I've learned is that I use my BB a solid 3-4 hours per day at minimum, spent mostly on emailing and talking to clients - which is exactly what I got the phone for. Now, with the new battery, I can actually use the Bold the way I used the Storm2, without being tethered to a charger.

Notes on physical appearance of the battery: I haven't sent it back yet, so I took a look and yes, the "unhappy" battery has those two holes, whereas the "happy" battery does not.

Well, I'm feeling pretty secure at this point that my particular issues were due entirely to the battery included in the Bold out of the box. When I swapped it out, I made no changes to my setup, and the problems disappeared.

There may be a chance that there were some batches of batteries that sneaked through QC that shouldn't have, or it could be manufacturing differences between different factories.

I would suggest that folks get MeterBerry or some other utility to help gauge their discharge rates and temperature, and if there's an issue, contact your provider or pick up a new battery. Check the two for differences; do some testing on your own. If, like me, you get a replacement battery from your provider, write a detailed report of the differences between the two and include it when you send it back. Verizon was extremely nice when I called and told them of the issues, and asked if I would let them know if the battery was at the heart of the matter - I intend to do so, as it may help them find and pull the bad battery lots off the shelves.

[BBFTW88]

My out of the box battery has those holes etc you are talking about.

I am still waiting for a replacement to be sent through