1. dictoresno's Avatar
    Im trying to figure out the best way to minimize battery drainage on my Torch. I have never seen a more horrible battery hog of all the phones Ive owned than the 9800. After downloading the free BB Meter app, I have been paying attention to how quick the phone seems to be draining.

    I use the phone moderately, mostly a bunch SMS/BBM/Email and Facebook postings everyday. Very few voice calls or internet browsing on average. Also, no video or music streaming either. The only open apps are the five native ones. I do have the Social Feeds app up and running and BerryWeather updates every 15 minutes.

    I can live without 3G, so using EDGE only wont be an issue. I also now turn off wifi when the phone is not on the charger at home. I would like to keep the Social Feeds app going, since checking their respective other apps would be just as draining.

    Using the Battery App, it looks like my minimum discharge this evening has been 2.9%, maximum 12.0% and an average of 6.2%. these numbers seem extremely high for a phone thats been mostly sitting idle, except for some SMS and BBMs and checking my social feeds before. At this rate, my phone would be dead in 10-15 hours of use. I think thats horrible battery time. my 9700 wasnt even that bad. Looking at the log, it shows the battery level indicator was dropping by 1% roughly every 10-12 minutes on an IDLE phone. Is this normal for you other Torch users???

    I wonder if i should leave the phone on 3G, wifi off or EDGE with wifi on. Which would you think would drain more? Im thinking 3G would drain more versus being on EDGE with wifi on.

    Theres only two things that I really hate about this phone. One is the very sensitive lock key, the phone tends to unlock itself in my pocket with the slightest touch. The other is the crappy battery life. I dont want to have to keep a charger handy everywhere i go. And im tired of unplugging the phone at 9am, and it being down to 40% by 6pm with moderate use. God forbid i actually make phone calls, it would be even lower.

    download the app here and post your results.
    http://forums.crackberry.com/f35/fre...er-app-549737/
    Last edited by dictoresno; 11-14-10 at 01:47 AM.
    11-14-10 01:42 AM
  2. Tomo1971's Avatar
    Try an app called SmartWifi.... Turns off your wifi when your away from your home or other wifi hotspots.

    Also, if your phone is been unlocked in your pocket, maybe that could be draining the battery too?

    I use BerrySlider to keep the screen locked, works like the iPhone swipe to unlock.

    I use the phone a lot in the week and easily get a day from it, thats from 6am to 11pm, charge overnight. At weekends or days off with lighter usage would be 2 or 3 days.

    S.
    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-14-10 03:31 AM
  3. dictoresno's Avatar
    i just fully charged my battery. details are as follows in the e-screen...

    Capacity: 100%
    Current: -84mA....and goes to -74mA when i let it go back to idle
    TTE: 630 mins....and goes up to 652 mins once i let it go back to idle
    State of Health: 97% (battery is still new enough to give a decent performance i would think)
    Temp: 25*C
    Last edited by dictoresno; 11-14-10 at 04:21 AM.
    11-14-10 04:18 AM
  4. qbnkelt's Avatar
    I did a few things with mine that really worked -

    I turned off RSS
    3G only
    Weather updates every 4 hours
    Put it in my 9700 case when not in use to make it go to sleep without turning it off

    Doing this I can easily last a whole day and most days into lunch of the next day.

    I average about four hours browsing, lots of email and texting but I don't listen to music on it. Also make calls.

    I use the auto on/off feature. Off at 9 p.m. And on at 3:a.m. During the week. On weekends on at 6 a.m.unless I have early competitions.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-14-10 05:03 AM
  5. homer1475's Avatar
    I use my phone way more then what you posted and I take mine off the charger around 6:30 - 7 am, always make it through a full day 9 to 11pm. Always have somewhere between 30 and 40% of my battery left. Battery meter discharge rates are as follows:
    Min: 1.3
    Max: 10.5
    Avg: 2.1
    I use my data probably as much, if not more then you, and also make 3 to 5 hours of voice calls in a day too.

    My Wifi is always on(only connected at home), Bluetooth is always on, rdio is set to 2g only, berry weather checks every 1/2 hour, Ubertwitter set to update every 15 minutes, Sixtools, and wallpaper changer changing every 15 minutes(only grabbing from CB's database, no on board wallpapers). I believe that's about all that runs on my device daily.
    11-14-10 05:29 AM
  6. dictoresno's Avatar
    I use my phone way more then what you posted and I take mine off the charger around 6:30 - 7 am, always make it through a full day 9 to 11pm. Always have somewhere between 30 and 40% of my battery left. Battery meter discharge rates are as follows:
    Min: 1.3
    Max: 10.5
    Avg: 2.1
    I use my data probably as much, if not more then you, and also make 3 to 5 hours of voice calls in a day too.

    My Wifi is always on(only connected at home), Bluetooth is always on, rdio is set to 2g only, berry weather checks every 1/2 hour, Ubertwitter set to update every 15 minutes, Sixtools, and wallpaper changer changing every 15 minutes(only grabbing from CB's database, no on board wallpapers). I believe that's about all that runs on my device daily.
    hmmmmm thats fairly impressive usage. my coworker has a Torch too and uses it fairly heavily. he said he took it off the charger at 9am yesterday and went till about 3am this morning with still about 30-40% left with alot of voicecalls and data use. its kind of bugging me now. i just got this phone a few weeks ago. i find it funny how the battery state of health is already at 97%. i usually kept my wifi and bluetooth on with 3G on my 9700 and never had a huge concern over battery drain. so this is kinda ticking me off. i did notice the other day, i went from 7am-6pm EDGE only, normal use and was only down to like 70%. im beginning to think 3G is a HUGE battery drain.
    11-14-10 05:34 AM
  7. homer1475's Avatar
    hmmmmm thats fairly impressive usage. my coworker has a Torch too and uses it fairly heavily. he said he took it off the charger at 9am yesterday and went till about 3am this morning with still about 30-40% left with alot of voicecalls and data use. its kind of bugging me now. i just got this phone a few weeks ago. i find it funny how the battery state of health is already at 97%. i usually kept my wifi and bluetooth on with 3G on my 9700 and never had a huge concern over battery drain. so this is kinda ticking me off. i did notice the other day, i went from 7am-6pm EDGE only, normal use and was only down to like 70%. im beginning to think 3G is a HUGE battery drain.
    I also noticed that in my coverage area I have no 3G and my battery would drain in a few hours. Since turning it to 2G only my battery lasts way longer now. In your case though it would seem as though you might have a defective battery. There has been a few posts lately with less then typical battery life. Perhaps a bad batch of batteries?
    11-14-10 05:48 AM
  8. anon(1308230)'s Avatar
    I would agree with homer1475 that perhaps you have a bad battery; I have found the Torch to have the best battery life of any BlackBerry I've owned! (I'm an embarrassingly heavy user.)

    When I first got my Torch, I assumed the battery life would be similar to the Storm, so I did the EDGE vs 3G switch as well...I've since turned it back to 3G since I realized my battery can support it, and there is a small difference in battery drain. (30% at the end of the day vs 40%) ...the only other thing I could think of for you would be one of your 3rd party apps is causing a memory leak that's draining your battery.

    I feel for you, as that's a pretty niggling issue to have with your phone. If it's bad enough that you're running out of charge before the end of the day, maybe it's time to invest in a new battery.
    11-14-10 06:21 AM
  9. dictoresno's Avatar
    kik messenger is the only app i installed on my 9800 that i didnt have on my 9700 and i ensure its always closed. but i have the feeling that the social feeds isnt helping much.

    but then again, im more inclined to say the battery sucks. and i have a very strong 3G signal (-70 to -80 dBm) all around my area so i dont think its that.

    hopefully more people will contribute their min/max/avg battery loss percentages.
    11-14-10 07:11 AM
  10. Ozzie_uk's Avatar
    I Currently have the same problem with my torch also.
    I put my torch on charge from about 11pm till 6 am and it will only last me till about 9-10pm.

    I did not have this problem with my old curve so maybe I will swap batteries around to test it.
    11-14-10 07:17 AM
  11. homer1475's Avatar
    I Currently have the same problem with my torch also.
    I put my torch on charge from about 11pm till 6 am and it will only last me till about 9-10pm.

    I did not have this problem with my old curve so maybe I will swap batteries around to test it.
    6am to 10pm isn't long enough?
    That's 15 to 16 hours on a charge, I don't think my curve would even go that long lol. I honestly don't know how long some people think a battery should last.
    11-14-10 07:41 AM
  12. dictoresno's Avatar
    6am to 10pm isn't long enough?
    That's 15 to 16 hours on a charge, I don't think my curve would even go that long lol. I honestly don't know how long some people think a battery should last.
    well i work a 12 hr shift. i would rather not have my battery die at some point during the work day with light to moderate use. if i was a heavy user, i would understand. but this is barely browsing and almost no voice calls, just a bunch of SMS/BBMs. a 650 minute time to empty, according to the e-screen on a 100% charge, is roughly 10 hours. i think that purely sucks. i would at least like to see it get to 20 hrs to be reasonable.
    11-14-10 07:52 AM
  13. homer1475's Avatar
    well i work a 12 hr shift. i would rather not have my battery die at some point during the work day with light to moderate use. if i was a heavy user, i would understand. but this is barely browsing and almost no voice calls, just a bunch of SMS/BBMs. a 650 minute time to empty, according to the e-screen on a 100% charge, is roughly 10 hours. i think that purely sucks. i would at least like to see it get to 20 hrs to be reasonable.

    I totally agree with ya on that one, But even 20 hours I think is being a little over zealous. It's a small mah battery. 20 hours maybe if it sat idle for the entire time. Although according to my e-screen I got roughly 18 hours at 99% battery. I still say you have a defective battery.
    11-14-10 07:58 AM
  14. Rickroller's Avatar
    Perhaps your battery meter is the issue too.. I recently bought MeterBerry for the first time (right after upgrading to .337), and found that before I could easily get from off the charger at 5:30am to back on the charger at about 10:00pm and still have anywhere from 20-50% left. With Meterberry, I was down to 10% or less in the same work period (I had it set to 1hour logs..which was the lowest setting). Since I uninstalled it..i'm back to where I was before. Yesterday I actually had Slacker Radio playing (cached tunes) from 6:30am to 1:30 pm non stop and I was still at 80% battery.

    I'm not saying MeterBerry will drain everyone's battery, because we all know certain apps (and OS builds) affect everyone's phone differently.
    11-14-10 07:58 AM
  15. Rickroller's Avatar
    I do have the Social Feeds app up and running and BerryWeather updates every 15 minutes.
    This is your issue I believe
    11-14-10 08:00 AM
  16. mark-d's Avatar
    I use my Torch much the same as I used my 9700. I don't run any apps on the Torch that I didn't on the Bold (except I sadly had to switch Ubertwitter on for Seesmic as it kept freezing on refresh) and the battery on the Torch lasts nowhere near as much as the 9700.

    On an average day my 9700 lasted me from 10am when I left the house until 8pm and then I would swap to the spare battery and charge the used one up in the 9000. I'd charge the 9700 overnight so I'd always start the day with two full batteries.

    If I had a heavy usage day where I was away from a laptop and used the phone for Twitter and Facebook and a few pictures in addition to normal use then I'd change to the spare battery around 4 or 5pm.

    On an average day on the Torch (I don't have a spare battery yet) I am back on the charger by 4 or 5pm which is what I'd have expected from the 9700 on a heavy usage day.

    Look at the screen that the 9800 has to power compared to the 9700 and you can see that the smaller mah battery from the Torch is not really going to match up to the 9700 battery.

    I accept as a heavy user of my phone (calls, bbm, facebook, twitter etc) that I'm not going to get days and days out of the battery but I was more than happy with the 9700 battery and sadly up to now a bit dissappointed in the 9800 battery
    11-14-10 08:57 AM
  17. anon(1308230)'s Avatar
    I use my Torch much the same as I used my 9700. I don't run any apps on the Torch that I didn't on the Bold (except I sadly had to switch Ubertwitter on for Seesmic as it kept freezing on refresh) and the battery on the Torch lasts nowhere near as much as the 9700.
    Did you do a "switch-devices" in Desktop Manager when you got your Torch? I found the same problem when I did, and the easy fix was to delete all my 3rd party apps, and re-install them in their Torch-compatible forms. (I did lose some )
    11-14-10 10:34 AM
  18. mark-d's Avatar
    Did you do a "switch-devices" in Desktop Manager when you got your Torch? I found the same problem when I did, and the easy fix was to delete all my 3rd party apps, and re-install them in their Torch-compatible forms. (I did lose some )
    I did a device switch wizard and everything except Seemsic worked fine so I removed it and re-installed. Did a couple of clean installs and sadly it still froze upon refresh a few times.

    Seemsic told me they are working on a new version which will be fully 6 compatable and will also include Facebook as well so hopefully that'll be out soon
    11-14-10 12:54 PM
  19. jaxterz's Avatar
    My battery seems to be the same as yours. I feel ya.
    11-14-10 01:46 PM
  20. dictoresno's Avatar
    anyone else care to post their min/max/avg discharge rates?
    11-14-10 06:58 PM
  21. homer1475's Avatar
    Today after a slow day on the device and only streaming some music for 3 hours from yesterberry:

    Min: 0.1
    Max: 24.0
    Avg: 6.7

    Took off the charger at 6am and sitting at 85%. Like I said though today was a slow day, 4 hours of talk with bluetooth, only 5 emails, 20 or so sms messages, and 3+ ours of streaming music from yesterberry.
    11-14-10 07:03 PM
  22. realcanuk's Avatar


    I am finding the battery on my torch very good. I took it off charger at 9.35am and now after 11 hours I am at 51%. It was heavy use day for me with average calls, but heavy web and feeds use as I just installed socialscope and played with it often today. I was also in a building with no service for a few hours and I assume the torch looking for a signal would use more than normal battery. I did have terrible battery life on my second torch right out of the box so I swapped the battery from my first one and it is perfect. I'm just saying that some torches obviously shipped with weak batteries so if your having problems I would look to that.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-14-10 07:43 PM
  23. dictoresno's Avatar
    Today after a slow day on the device and only streaming some music for 3 hours from yesterberry:

    Min: 0.1
    Max: 24.0
    Avg: 6.7

    Took off the charger at 6am and sitting at 85%. Like I said though today was a slow day, 4 hours of talk with bluetooth, only 5 emails, 20 or so sms messages, and 3+ ours of streaming music from yesterberry.
    jeeeez thats not bad at all. i took mine off the charger at 5:30 this afternoon. made one 15 min phone call and maybe 100 texts/BBMs. its 11:30 now. 6 hours and im at 60%. that just seems waaaaaaay excessive considering you had 4 hours of phone calls and 3 hrs of streaming music and you are only at 85% at 18 hrs of use.
    Last edited by dictoresno; 11-14-10 at 10:33 PM.
    11-14-10 10:29 PM
  24. dictoresno's Avatar


    I took it off charger at 9.35am and now after 11 hours I am at 51%. It was heavy use day for me with average calls, but heavy web and feeds use as I just installed socialscope and played with it often today. I was also in a building with no service for a few hours and I assume the torch looking for a signal would use more than normal battery.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    see, and im going to be at 7 hrs with light use and im gonna be at the same 50% mark. wtf???
    11-14-10 10:35 PM
  25. dictoresno's Avatar
    well by 5:30 this morning i was on the verge of dying (7%, 40 mins remaining). so basically i went 12-13 hrs total (100%-7%). pathetic. my coworker said he can stream music for 2 hrs, phone calls and tons of BBMs/emails and still be at like 60% in the same amount of time. theres gotta be a battery issue with mine.
    11-15-10 08:20 AM
36 12
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD