Tag: battery

Conclusions from testing the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery

Posted
by
Kyle
on November 20, 2009, at 7:53 am
in Editorials, News, Reviews, Spotlight and Top-Story
.
6 Comments

BlackBerry_Bold_9700_battery

Testing the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery has been an interesting experience. I always thought consumer electronics manufacturers embellished their battery life expectancies in order to impress the buyer. In this case, RIM has actually slightly under-stated the Bold 9700’s battery life, and really proved themselves to be an honest company when it comes to their battery life marketing. Could we say the same for Apple? I challenge TIPB to do the same with the iPhone, and see if it can play 39 hours of music off radio and last 29 hours with heavy usage. Speaking of Apple…the BlackBerry Bold 9700 lasts longer than the best iPod.
Click through to read more about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Stress Test: How long can the BlackBerry Bold 9700 play music? (Part 2)

Posted
by
Kyle
on November 18, 2009, at 8:41 am
in Editorials, News, Reviews, Spotlight and Top-Story
.
12 Comments

BlackBerry_Bold9700_battery_test

UPDATE: The Bold 9700 battery just died. The BlackBerry Cool official time is 19:22, exactly 29 hours. This is 29 hours while using the device heavily. Let’s see an iPhone do that!

UPDATE: 16:19 and 26 hours into the test, with 10% battery left. Part 2 of the test has sort of changed. It started off as a test of the music playback under more strenuous network conditions and has turned into a test of how long the battery will last under power user conditions. I’ve been playing music, tweeting, taking pics, using Google Maps, running several other apps simultaneously, making and taking calls and constantly pulling data from both Maps and Twitter. There was a break when I went to sleep but I left all the connections and apps running so it was still very much active.

UPDATE: 14:16, 24 hours into the test, and the battery is at 25%. Something I’ve noticed is that making calls depletes the battery much faster than anything else. I knew this intuitively but the test really made it obvious. Streaming music doesn’t seem to have much impact on battery life at all.

UPDATE: 10:40 went through the night and we’ve been back on WiFi, radio for a couple hours. At 30% and around 20 hours we’re definitely going a full day no problem.

UPDATE: It’s 02:29, 12 hours into the test. The batter reads 40% and I have been using a very decent amount of apps and data. Holding the BlackBerry Button, it shows the following apps: Messages, UberTwitter, Home Screen, BlackBerry Messenger, Media, Radio Companion, Setup Wizard (I switch devices a lot), Visual Voice Mail, Google Maps, Browser, Gmail and Phone. I’m going to give the updates a rest until around 8 AM.
Click through for more about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 battery life test

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Recent Etisalat update drains the BlackBerry battery significantly

Posted
by
Kyle
on July 13, 2009, at 11:18 am
in News
.
4 Comments

blackberry-storm-etisalat-uae1

Steve just posted about the most recent Etisalat update having some strange code but there’s more to this update. UAE customers are upset because apparently this official Etisalat upgrade significantly reduces the battery life of the device.

“The problem came up when they sent a new batch to enhance the performance but instead they have killed all blackberry batteries by activating a process inside the phone which empties the battery in less than an hour if not charged,” complained a frustrated BlackBerry customer in the country who wished to remain anonymous.

“All our company employees who installed this batch file has been affected. They claim they are working on it, and the time frame to send a fix is said to be 7 days,” our source added.

So far, the only solution Etisalat is offering involves some basic battery maintenance. This means powering off your device, fully charging the battery, and powering on the device. In general, you should be draining the battery fully and charging fully at least once per month. There’s no word yet if another upgrade will be issued to solve the battery drainage.

Could this battery drainage have something to do with the strange “intercept” code found in the most recent update?

[Via]

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

The BlackBerry Gemini 8520 battery casing issues

Posted
by
Kyle
on July 9, 2009, at 8:15 am
in Editorials
.
8 Comments

I’ve been trying out the BlackBerry Gemini 8520 and I cannot for the life of me open the battery casing.

It may be that I don’t have enough calcium in my diet or it could also be that this battery casing is blogger-proof. Either way, my fingers are crossed that this changes before the device hits the market.

On a side note, don’t bother complaining about the video quality. I use a BlackBerry to take all my video and device pictures. I refuse to use an extra device. This isn’t BlackBerryandaCamcorder Cool.

Stay tuned because I’ll have a full review of the device up soon.

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Remember to swap your BlackBerry battery every 18 months

Posted
by
Kyle
on May 19, 2009, at 9:31 am
in News
.
7 Comments

BlackBerry battery

It is recommended that you change your BlackBerry battery every 18 months to ensure optimum performance. If you’re a US Cellular customer, that isn’t a problem because they’ve announced that they’re offering a new battery swap plan for US Cellular subscribers. The plans allows you to swap a dead battery for a fresh one, if you’ve purchased your device in the last 18 months and you’re experiencing a short battery lifespan.

For everyone else who isn’t with US Cellular, you should consider spending the money to buy one every 18 months.

[Via]

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Extend your BlackBerry battery life with AutoStandby

Posted
by
BlackBerry Cool
on April 20, 2009, at 10:03 am
in Reviews
.
5 Comments

I love productivity and system apps for my BlackBerry. I think there are a few that should be built into BlackBerry devices by default, such as Aerize Alerts (pop-up notifications of incoming mail/SMS/calls), QuickPull (restart your BB with a click), and QuickLaunch (shortcut links on any screen).

I recently tried another app that should come preloaded on the BlackBerry. AutoStandby, from makers, Steelthorn Software (also makers of QuickPull,) is a simple app that RIM should definitely put on all their devices.

Putting your phone in standby mode saves quite a bit of battery life as well as prevents accidental key presses. AutoStandby does this automatically, as the name would suggest, so you never forget. Installation is as you would expect. There is a lengthy EULA you’re made to read, but that’s about it. To save space, AutoStandby doesn’t have an icon. You can access the options via the BlackBerry options. I actually appreciate this as I find “system” program icons can become a little cluttered and I generally hide them anyway. There are a few options available for you as well:

* Disable if connected to PC.
* Disable if externally powered.
* Enable third-party interactions. This is useful for often used programs like Viigo and BeeJive.
* Seconds to wait after screen blanks.

Aerize Alerts is now automatically supported by AutoStandby as well so you know your notifications will still get through. When used in combination with the other system programs I mentioned, you can make your BlackBerry the device it was always meant to be.

It only took me a few minutes to find this app to be a great “must-have” and after seeing by battery life get boosted by at least 30%, I can easily recommend it to everyone.

Download AutoStandby for your BlackBerry on a free trial or purchase for $5.95.

[Special thanks goes to @coffeedaze for this review]

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

BlackBerry Storm/Curve 8900 1600mAh Extended Battery now available

Posted
by
BlackBerry Cool
on January 16, 2009, at 11:11 am
in News
.
3 Comments

Are you sick and tired of charging your brand new BlackBerry Storm or BlackBerry Curve 8900’s battery every day just because you want to surf the mobile web, listen to some music and use BlackBerry Maps (oh, and answer an email or two)? Don’t get mad, get a Seidio Extended Life BlackBerry Battery!

Seidio’s new 1600mAh BlackBerry Battery adds up to 15% more capacity than your original Storm/Curve 8900 battery, giving you that necessary extra bit of juice to get through the day, and relegating your original battery to the ‘use in case of emergency’ pile.

Seidio is selling their 1600mAh Extended Life battery for the reasonable price of $44.95. You can find links to your device below.

BlackBerry Storm 1600mAh Extended Life BlackBerry Battery
BlackBerry Curve 8900 1600mAh Extended Life BlackBerry Battery

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Top 5 BlackBerry Bold Accessories

Posted
by
Douglas Soltys
on November 5, 2008, at 4:52 pm
in Editorials and Spotlight
.
4 Comments

It’s Wednesday, November 5th, which means by now Americans have finished waiting in two lines: one to vote and one to pick up their AT&T BlackBerry Bold. For our friends down south waking up to a new President and a new BlackBerry, we’ve compiled a list of 5 accessories you need to help maximize your Bold to the extreme!

MicroSD Card
Trust us, with all great multimedia features on the BlackBerry Bold, 1GB of internal memory isn’t going to cut it. We recommend the SanDisk 8GB MicroSDHC card (with a MobileMate Micro Reader) for all your image, movie and music storage needs. If the $60 8GB model is too much, there’s also a $50 4GB model available.

SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Card with MobileMate Micro Reader
SanDisk 4GB microSDHC Card

Bluetooth Headset
Even though the BlackBerry Bold has great call quality, most power users will still need a Bluetooth headset. Most people are vary particular about their Bluetooth headset, so instead of trying to find one to satisfy all your needs, we’ll just point you to the most popular line of headsets in the BlackBerry Cool Store: The Jabra Bluetooth headset line. Below you find links to the $70 BT8040 model and the $20 BT2040 model.

Jabra BT8040 Bluetooth Headset
Jabra BT2040 Bluetooth Headset

Top 5 BlackBerry Bold Accessories

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Survey: Runtime trumps cost and safety for battery-purchasers

Posted
by
Simon Sage
on August 28, 2008, at 8:36 am
in News
.
0 Comments

BatteryA recent survey by Nexergy determined runtime was the top priority for those buying their batteries, which isn’t a huge surprise, but the fact that price was nearly the last thing on buyers’ minds was unsuspected.

“It was a bit surprising,” [Phil Glandon, Nexergy president and CEO] added, “that cost appeared so low on the priority list for both groups we surveyed, and nearly at the bottom among our marketing contacts. Battery performance clearly is seen as a core competitive advantage by our customers, and that should be the primary consideration as we make design decisions on new battery packs for our customers.”

Safety ranked number two on the list, and after seeing more than one incident of exploding cell phone batteries, we can certainly see why. There was also a surprising number of engineers who were unfamiliar with lithium-ion variants and other emerging battery technologies. If you’re in that boat, Giz actually had a solid post on different battery types and how they’re the major chokepoint for mobile technology.

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email

Duracell releases BlackBerry portable battery chargers

Posted
by
Simon Sage
on July 25, 2008, at 7:40 am
in News
.
5 Comments

Duracell PowerSource Mini

Two chargers were launched by Duracell today, offering BlackBerry users a full hour’s worth of talk time and the equivalent in data use. The PowerSource Mini is packing two miniUSB ports, in case you’ve got a RAZR that needs charging at the same time, and can charge its lithium-ion battery through your car, AC outlet, or even your computer. It’s a little bulkier than your standard charging cord, but hey, for an extra charge on the go, I think I could make some room. Duracell also kicked off My Pocket Charger which runs on two double-AAs rather than a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and has the added benefit of supporting microUSB in case you plan on picking up the BlackBerry Kickstart or BlackBerry Javelin whenever they come out. If you’re interested, the PowerSource Mini is going for $49.99 and the Pocket Charger for a more affordable $14.99.

Share:
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • NewsVine
  • email