Longtime readers will know this guide will pop up from time to time. Last time we touched on battery conservation was when we were putting the Storm2’s battery through an advanced users’ typical usage test.
So you’ve been using your BlackBerry for the better part of the day for selfish purposes. Taxing the battery by listening to radio using Nobex radio companion, checking out the Bermuda triangle on Google Maps, downloading and playing some free games from App World, and taking pictures of everything you eat for your mobile gourmet BBM group.
The workday is almost over and you receive an urgent email: An office emergency means you’ll need to spend some time across town diffusing the situation with a client. You’ve got 25% left on your BlackBerry battery and can’t afford to run out of juice what do you do?
Close all the apps you aren’t using
You probably have a few apps that run from startup, Use ALT-BACK in OS4 or hold the BlackBerry button in OS5 to access the Application Switcher (like ALT-TAB in Windows or Mac OS X) to see what apps you wish to close.
Reduce your screen brightness to 10 out of 100
My laptop gets triple the battery life when the screen brightness is at the minimum setting. Also set your screen timeout to the hyper-annoying 10 seconds setting. To adjust these settings, go to OPTIONS, then SCREEN/KEYBOARD.
Put your device on standby mode
Unless you have a holster, put your device on standby whenever you’re not using it. You’ll still get all your messages and notifications as normal and you’ll save lots of juice. To do this, press and hold the mute key on the top left of your BlackBerry.
Manage your connections
Slim down your connections by turning off WiFi and Bluetooth, and setting your device to 2G-only mode. 2G connects using less radio channels and less power per channel than 3G, reducing power draw. Adjust these setting by going to the Manage Connections icon.
Limit phone usage, features
Phone calls draw lots of power. Ignore social calls and message back something like “I’ll call you back at 9pm”. Keep business calls as brief as possible and try to shift everyone to email, BBM or SMS. Limit camera and video functions as well, as the flash, and the video light are real power hogs. Vibration also draws more power than sound-based notifications be sure to stick with a sound-only profile.
Throwing money at a problem is not my favorite solution, so instead of going to a corner store to buy a disposable cell phone battery emergency charger, I use these techniques to alter the amount of power my BlackBerry uses. I can easily double my devices’ battery life by using all of them together.
