[CRMurray]

I'm wondering if anyone else has came accross this. I've noticed that from the past couple of days that my battery is draining within a day. For the life of me I can't understand it, as my phone usage hasn't changed any.

Could there be some app somewhere that is open that I cannot see and is the issue? I've had the phone for 9 months and for the most part only charge the phone when is completely empty unless I know I need to make a phonecall. I have to say that I cannot stand the fact the by 15% of battery power all the phone is good for is to play games. After all its meant to be a phone first and formost!

I love using my curve and have came to terms when it suddenly deletes all messages when it gets full (a warning would be nice) and when bb messenger acts all strange on me. So I'm hoping that its something simple to fix the battery, as having to buy a new battery under 12 months just doesn't seem right.

Any help would be appreciated.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Pete6]

You seem to have two seperate problems.

The easiest is to clean up your message deletion problem. On a BlackBerry this is always due to the phone not having enough File Free memory. To check this, go to Options, Status and look at the |File Free Number. It's in bytes so you need to divide by 1 million to get to Megabytes. You need a minimum of 12Mb before the phone behaves itself.

The easist way to get more memory is to delete stuff. The easiest to delete and the most useless app is the BlackBerry Sample Video. To do this, go to Options, Advanced Optiions, Applications and scroll down until you see the BSV. Now press menu and select Delete. You just got back over 2Mb of memory.

You also mention that you think that applications may be running in the background. Tos check this, first remove the battery for about 30 secs and when the phne wakes up again, check the File Free number to see how much memory you now have and immediately afterwards, go back to the Applications Desktop screen. Press the Alt key and then Menu. Select Switch Application and a list of running app will be displayed. You will see Call Log, Home Screen, Browser and Messages. These 5 apps always run. Any ohers may be killed by switching to them and pressing Menu and the Quit. This is the preferred way of ending an app so that it does not remain in memory.

As to your battery life, there are some things tha you can do. Switch off bluetooth when you are not using it. Kill all unneeded running apps.

Use the Standby button. Press and hold the silver button on the top of the phone. This will save you a ton of battery and will still allow calls, emails, SMSs, etc. to arrive.

The biggest battery drainer is to be in a poor signal area. The phone tries hard to keep in touch and in high signal areas it can reduce its radio signal power and the interval which it says 'Hello, here I am.' to the carrier towers. Conversly in poor signal areas the phone e=sends out a more powerful signal, more frequently and thus uses more battery.

Usinf the original BlackBerry wall charger will also significantly improve battery life over using USB or car chargers. It was designed for the job and performs significantly better than other wall chargers. A forum search will verify this as there are many posts on the subject.

Lastly, welcome to CrackBerry.

Check out the 101 link in my signature as there is a wealth of useful information in there that wil shorten you learning curve (pun quite intended).

[voli]

First off you need to read the <a href="http://crackberry.com/blackberry-101-how-free-memory-your-blackberry-smartphone">Freeing up memory guide</a> or your BB will delete information you sometimes don't want it to. It's simply awesome.

On the battery note:

Make sure you have no programs running in the background by pressing Alt + Esc (the curved arrow next to the trackball). Keep Alt held down and scroll through all the programs.

Phone, Messages, Browser, PTT (AT&T), Home, Call Log, and BB Messenger will always be running. Other programs you should close when not using. Get in the habbit of pressing Menu > Close instead of just pressing escape.

Good luck hope this helps..

Also, if you have a poor signal you're battery will drain faster due to it constantly trying to get a better signal.

[voli]

Sorry.. I dont know if this is considered duplicate post.

I think we were typing about the same time.

[CRMurray]

Thanks for both of your replies.

I've read some of the 101's before when I first got the phone and had deleted that great video. :d I think the wattpad stories has used up some of my memory. I was more just commenting on the fact that it would be nice for a warning that memory is getting low. If all my old phones could do it and my aging ibook can, I wonder why rim doesn't. Its just one of those minor bug bears.

The only other app that I can see running is gmail, the rest are the other normal 5. Although it only gives me a exit and not close for that app. I tend to close my apps other than when I'm intentionally trying to empty my battery. Does os 4.5 fix the problem of having 10-15% of battery power left but doesn't switch off your phone signal.

I had totally forgotten about poor phone signal affecting battery life. It slipped my mind probably cause my wife hasn't commented on her curve giving her problems.

Thanks again!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com