Hi, I'm new to BBs so I just have a quick question: Since the BB Messenger is always running in the background does it drain the battery faster? I know it can be uninstalled but I want to use it, but not if its killing my battery faster then if I didn't have it installed.
well any app running will be draining your battery... but if you use it, then you have no other choice. BB's are usually very good with battery life. If you find that your battery is not lasting the entire day, you might want to consider a mobile charger for your car. My battery typically lasts me the entire day with very heavy usuage, so I doubt that you'll be a position where your battery doesn't last you the entire day.
This topic is a challenge to debate, there are plenty of opinions but there are few documented testing results to back them up.
BlackBerry uses Sun Java VM, an interpreted multitasking operating system. When any program is installed, the code is resident in memory.
If it is not active, the OS executive does not waste cycles (or battery power) servicing them. When the process is active, receiving a message and activating the notifier, reading and composing messages, power is being used.
The best data comes from the published specs:
Originally Posted by Bold 9700 Spec
Battery & Battery LifeBattery: 1500 mAh removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Talk Time: Up to 6 hours (GSM and UMTS) Standby Time: Up to 21 days/504 hours (GSM), Up to 17 days/408 hours (UMTS)
Music Playback Time: Up to 38 hours
...
Standby Time means the default applications are active, including BlackBerry Messenger. Up to three weeks of standby means there is very little power being used, just enough to service the Java executive and maintain the connection to the network.
When an application is running, Music Playback in this example, more power is being used. Instead of lasting 21 days, the battery will last 1.5 days.
That all pails to noise compared to the power required to operate the Phone, making any kind of real World testing practically impossible.
