3G + WIFI+ GPS service = less than a full days of battery

Well after having my Bold for less than a week I have quickly come to the conclusion that the extra bells and whistles come at the cost of my battery life.

On my first day I had the phone running on 3G, connected to WIFI at home and the office and had the GPS services set to "Location On" By the time I got home from work the battery was nearly dead. That was an approximate 8 hour day.

The next day I again kept using 3G, but turned off WIFI and the GPS services were again running. Battery life was improved, but this time I had used about half my battery in the same time frame.

Today I had the phone set to 2G, WIFI off and GPS services off and it's much much better. My battery has only gone down 1/5th. This is more like the battery life I used to expect with my old 7105.

Hopefully new software upgrades improve this, but for those of you looking at maximizing battery life reduce or close these services. PS for GPS services I went into Options/Advanced Options/GPS and changed GPS Services from Location On to Location off.

Hope this helps some of you.

Well yea its alotta juice to power those things. We're lucky that RIM threw them all in one device. Its up to you to manage it though, the battery life when properly managed should reflect previous generation berries, if not better. Gotta figure the battery is twice the size the only problem with managing everything now is its kinda inconvenient to keep opening up the connection manager every time you want to do something. With all those simultaneous radios operating at the same time its no wonder why your battery wouldnt just commit seppuku (had it the means to).

Bluetooth
Wifi
3G
GPS

Thats pretty good for one device. Besides you dont need to run them all at once. If you're using 3G then u dont need wifi. If you're at a wifi hotspot you are probably indoors and dont need gps or 3G. We just need RIM to work out a smoother way to transition from one another and shut them off when not in use.

I keep my Wi-Fi turned off until I need I or want it. I also just turn on my Bluetooth when I am connecting and using a device. Haven't explored the GPS function yet. Turning these off unless actually using them makes a huge difference in battery capacity for me.

these features are HUGE battery drains...not just on the Bold on any device, keep them off unless you actually need them on

Huh?

Seriously, with all that stuff running together, how long did you expect it too last?...no one who has a 3G phone should have all that stuff running at once unless your arse is an electrical outlet.

Your 7105 had what?...EDGE/Bluetooth that is it and it's being used to compare battery life on a 3G, WiFi, EDGE, Bluetooth device..that's not a comparison...put it against say Windows Mobile phone..then compare..as others have stated, their is NO reason to have all that running at once..I'm interested to see a real world usage comparison, unless of course your method was to just kill the battery anyways :)

this happens to ALL 3g devices.

Originally Posted by Bla1ze

Huh?

Seriously, with all that stuff running together, how long did you expect it too last?...no one who has a 3G phone should have all that stuff running at once unless your arse is an electrical outlet.

Your 7105 had what?...EDGE/Bluetooth that is it and it's being used to compare battery life on a 3G, WiFi, EDGE, Bluetooth device..that's not a comparison...put it against say Windows Mobile phone..then compare..as others have stated, their is NO reason to have all that running at once..I'm interested to see a real world usage comparison, unless of course your method was to just kill the battery anyways :)

YOU MAKE ME LAUGH !!!!

But yeh, if anyone has used any MOBILE PHONE DEVICE then WIFI, 3G, GPS All Kick the **** out of battery life ..... Welcome to the real world.

Seeing as this is the first real BB I purchase, and what I mean by that is using it was a data plan for internet, e-mail etc I sorta thought battery life would be better.

In comparison to the Curve was the same type of device management necessary?

absolutely...it applies to any device

the curve has much better battery lie, but thats cuz it doesn't have 3G

Originally Posted by wv1973

Well after having my Bold for less than a week I have quickly come to the conclusion that the extra bells and whistles come at the cost of my battery life.

On my first day I had the phone running on 3G, connected to WIFI at home and the office and had the GPS services set to "Location On" By the time I got home from work the battery was nearly dead. That was an approximate 8 hour day.

The next day I again kept using 3G, but turned off WIFI and the GPS services were again running. Battery life was improved, but this time I had used about half my battery in the same time frame.

Today I had the phone set to 2G, WIFI off and GPS services off and it's much much better. My battery has only gone down 1/5th. This is more like the battery life I used to expect with my old 7105.

Hopefully new software upgrades improve this, but for those of you looking at maximizing battery life reduce or close these services. PS for GPS services I went into Options/Advanced Options/GPS and changed GPS Services from Location On to Location off.

Hope this helps some of you.

I have been using 3G phones for almost 3 years, And what you have mentioned above, is a pretty decent battery life all things considered. If you want bells and whistles, it comes at a cost. If you have a car charegr or USB cable at work then there are no worries.

General rule of thumb on portable computing devices is shut off anything you are not actively using to conserve power. BT, WiFi, GPS, minimize running apps in the background, and you will drastically reduce battery juice waste. Also put screen brightness and backlighting as low as you can tolerate it maybe a notch lower, as it helps a bit too if you use it so that the screen and backlighting are on for long durations. Following the advice I just typed up on my 8330 I get as much as 24 hours of use (3 days between charges up to 8 hours of use per day).

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All portable devices have finite power budgets. The Bold is no exception. Just because the functionality is there does not mean that you should switch it on a leave it on all the time.

This is like leaving the oven on 24/7 just in case you want to cook a pizza from frozen, and then complaining about the power bill. It is still a power budget.

My Curve has bluetooth off unless I need it, Screen Backlight Timeout to 20 secs, Backlight Brightness to 70%, AutoStandby set to 10secs. I get 2 -3 days before the battery hits 50%. The phone's miniscule (1AH that's 1/45th of your auto) power budget is managed in a miserly manner by me.

EDIT: My quick math is wrong. The correct number is closer to 1/150th of your auto battery. I forgot that an auto battery is 13.2 volts and the BlackBerry is 3.7 volts. This does not make any difference to the Amp-Hour rating but it make a 13.2/3/7 times difference to the amount of power in watts. Sorry about that.

i have a nokia e61, it has a constant 3G signal at home, i leave it switched on and rarely use it. It lasts for 5-6 days on standby. So why does the 3G make such a difference on the blackberry? Am i missing something just being connceted via 3g but without using data does this eat up battery life?

Originally Posted by markhilsea

i have a nokia e61, it has a constant 3G signal at home, i leave it switched on and rarely use it. It lasts for 5-6 days on standby. So why does the 3G make such a difference on the blackberry? Am i missing something just being connceted via 3g but without using data does this eat up battery life?

I had an e61 as well, but you cant compare the battery use on that to a Bold or even the Nokia E71. Ok the E61 is 3G, but the Bold is 3.5G, GPS, WIFI and Backberry BIS/BES constant connection email push. Big difference in features and power consumption.

Originally Posted by markhilsea

i have a nokia e61, it has a constant 3G signal at home, i leave it switched on and rarely use it. It lasts for 5-6 days on standby. So why does the 3G make such a difference on the blackberry? Am i missing something just being connceted via 3g but without using data does this eat up battery life?

not a good comparison, hes talking about leaving WIFI (the granddaddy of battery drain) & GPS on too

Plus there is a difference between leaving a phone sit that has 3G and actively using the 3G connection. However if BT, WiFi are turned on the are in active use because a pulse is sent out at a steady interval based on the nature of the technology. GPS is probably the same way when location on is set. Toss in running a GPS app to that and you drain more. Which is why its best to turn off anything your not actively using. I think keeping GPS set to location on should be ok as I keep mine set to that I just make sure I'm not actively running any GPS apps.

A suggestion-

Assign one of your convenience keys to Connectio Manager. Then, you can click one button to control all the radios that drain your battery.

If I had a Bold, or when I get my Javelin B^D, that is what I'd do.

Thanks for posting this VW. Now I feel better knowing that its not just me staring at a Blackberry Bold on my desk with no battery life left.

Now I can turn off a few things to preserve some of that battery life.

And for the record I am at work, and when I say desk, I mean the company has yet to upgrade to computers that use USB 2.0 and therefore can't power up my BB. Only had it 3 days, and didn't think to bring the AC with me.

Ive had my BOLD for a week and im finding that the battery life is getting better every day ...

Im now just about managing a full day (7am to 10pm)

It still has nowhere near the same battery life as the Curve, but we have to expect that with 3G.

I'm on 3G, wifi off except when neccessary, BT on ...

Also i just turned off my GPS (location OFF), so hopefully that improves it!

Oh I forgot to add in my last post my reminder to always use standyby when not actively interacting with your BB as well. Standby saves a lot of juice and you can still be notified for all of the stuff like calls, text, email, appointments etc. I assume the bold has that mode like the other BBs do.

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