BlackBerry® Bold™

[RaverWild]

BlackBerry Bold 9790 hardware problem: Battery drains fast

Now don't get me wrong from the begining - this is not my first phone, I am a Software Developer (not BlackBerry developer, but anyway a developer), so I am not simply complaining and  I know what I'm talking about. Also important fact is that I purchased 2 9790s from the same store, configured them the same way and experiencing the same thing.

1) I did everything described in the "How to save battery life" article in the user manual for 9790

2) so i regularly check with the "blackberry button" what's open and close everything, except the applications which cannot be closed

3) wifi disabled

4) internet constant on from carrier provider with my service plan

5) backlight brightness lowered to 10

6) only 3 newsfeeds left, 2 of which are the Blackbery official feeds (so they don't update really), update interval set to 4 hours (today turned it to 6 hours - same result)

7) the only battery draining thing left are the location services (i guess it holds the GPS turned on)

8) twitter update set to bigger interval too

Honestly I have no idea what else to optimise. I re-charge every day at least once. If I start to take pictures with the camera by DAY TIME (so no flash used) i have to re-charge twice a day! I spend half the day in the office with my 9790 in the USB port of the computer for re-charge.

Sorry guys, but that s*x!! Tell your manager or whoever did the decision to use that battery to do something and to do it very quick, because the phone is great and I love it, just this battery is not for this phone.

I have HTC Legend which is 2 year-old-phone with slower CPU and far better battery (not to speak about my Sony-Ericsson K750i which is old like my grandmother already and the battery holds tight like a pitbull).

Right now RIM is not in the position to experiment with the users, considering how the reputation of the company was down just half year ago.

As I said - the phone is great, the hardware works great, the software works great, but the battery ruins half my experience. In our company all users have company-owned Bold 9780s and noone complains about battery life, so it's possible I hope to have one good battery for 9790 too.

This is my first BlackBerry phone, don't make people to go iPhone or back to Android, since for the same price I could get a newer Android phone.

Thanks for understanding and hope someone (hopefully RIM) would soon release a better battery.

[captainkace]

i hope i can get help on saving or stoping the battery drain

[sdgardne]

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captainkace wrote:
i hope i can get help on saving or stoping the battery drain

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Hi and Welcome to the Community!

Here is a KB that discusses that situation:

• KB14320 How to maximize battery life and free memory on the BlackBerry smartphone

Hopefully it contains something useful! There also are multiple existing threads on this site that discuss that exact error...your review of those might prove useful, and a search of this site, using the error message, error code, or symptom, should reveal all applicable existing threads to you.

Good luck and let us know!

[tiancee]

It is sad that one has to go through all the trouble just to improve your battery live. Hopefully these issues will be addressed with the new phones to be released in January 2013. Why should one be exposed to this insanity?

My 9790 started to act real crazy lately. White screens and battery drains like you will never believe. Backup is also a problem, backs up the phone memory quickly, but man when it gets to the memory card there is some serious issues as the battery gets extremely hot. No backup of the memory card data takes place as  I stop it. I do not want to get involved with the fine print of warrenty issues. Have gone to my supplier but sadly they are to daft to supply a solution. I asked them to upgrade my OS7.0 to OS7.01 (due to the heat issues but after 4 hours they informed me that the memory card was not backed up.) I shall be plodding along with OS7.0 until I replace the set.

I noted that my 9790 started acting a bit ofbeat with the latest Twitter release. Must say, I do Tweet a lot. The battery tends to get in a "battery drain loop" when I am on Twitter. I never got more than twelve hours battery life out of my 9790.

So ...... I removed Twitter and low and behold live seems to be in balance again.

I am not interested in any other smartphone as for me my BB addresses all my requirements. However, going through all this nonsense to improve battery live and "pulling" the battery ever so often to recover memory belongs to the dark ages. 

[RaverWild]

Hi Tiancee,

Must say it's already like 6 months as I am using the Bold 9790.

So I could update this post a bit now.

First of all it appears the fast battery drainage is a problem of most modern smartphones. Our sysadmin have a Samsung Galaxy III and reported that with it and other phones he had have similar problem. I spoke with several phone sellers and got similar answers. So it seems it's not just BlackBerry.

However on Crackberry I've noticed some 3rd party manufacturer produced better batteries for old BlackBerry phones. Unfortunately I didn't saw one for 9790. Have to check again.

As for the phone itself - works like charm, never had any issue. Well the GPS locks slow if you don't' move or walk slow - I guess this is some sort of battery-saving trick - who knows, because if I am in a moving vehicle, which is speed of 20km/h for example or faster - it locks immediately.

The only problem I got is from intense internet usage, like downloading a podcast episode of 50mb or playing "Fashion icon" - after playing 20 minutes this game my battery becomes very hot and drains 50%. So I deleted it. Maybe other games drain it too - never tried big games. I don't play much games.

But important thing to say - I always update my phone regularly. After I purchased it, first thing I did was to check for system updates. And I update only from my carrier provider. Unfortunately they don't yet provide the OS7.1 update so I am on 7.0 with the latest update. All apps I have are also updated regularly.

Another thing to say is the BlackBerry OS is much more convenient and user-friendly compared to Android. But truth is the phone works best with physical keyboard. Fast typing with a touch screen is a hell. My main reason to get a BlackBerry was the keyboard. Everything else came as a bonus.

As I wrote in my first post here, the same day I purchased two identical Bold 9790 phones - one for me, one for my wife. Both are updated with same system updates, both are updated regularly, just she uses different apps. And both phones work great.

However - I do recharge the battery 2 times most days. Never changed the power-saving settings I said I did in my first post, so it's the same configuration - everything set for power saving. And battery drains. Because I listen to music, watch music videos and chat. If I don't do that - battery lasts one day.

So my final words are - phone is great, but if I have to go in the mountain on a hike, would rely ONLY on my old Sony-Ericson K750 (or probably a modern super-simple handset). A smartphone is simply useless away from civilization even for a day.

And I will be a BlackBerry user, until they make phones will a physical keyboard. If they stop - will buy another phone.

[tiancee]

Let me just state, I could not care for any other smartphone but a Blackberry. Fond of all the features on my 9790.

I believe that the developers of the Twitter app took some stupid shortcuts. Maybe they moved the app to the backburner and focused all their efforts on the development of the Twitter app for BB10. Must say, I never experienced the problems I had lately with the previous versions of Twitter. (I do tweet a lot)

Of course I am paying a "price" for uninstalling Twitter. I just loved the Twitter integration with Facebook and BBM. Furthermore I do take many a photo and shared my "Blackberry moments" on Twitter and Facebook. Sadly no more direct Twitter photo uploads for me.

Eversince I uninstalled the Twitter app, my battery life increased with 200% with an added bonus of no "white" screens, far and inbetween battery "pulls", the system is not always "busy", the battery does not get hot no more and a unscheduled "adhoc" reboot "bug" I expereinced has also come to an end.

I can only conclude that my 9790 problems can be directly contributed to poor programming within the Twitter app. So if you are experiencing battery problems, and you do tweet, it could be worth your while to uninstall Twitter version 4.0.0.15 and see whether your overall BB9790 experience improves. Mine did.

[BillJ]

I've also found that reloading the phone's OS helps some times.  I'm not talking about updating it to a newer version (which is also recommended), I'm just talking about putting the same OS you're currently running back in to the phone.

This can be done by using BlackBerry Desktop Software and clicking Device>Restore in the software.  You then pick the one with (Currently Installed) beside it and load it.

Cheers. 

[RaverWild]

It's not just Twitter. I tweet one message every week or every two weeks, which is I almost don't use Twitter. And Twitter update interval is set to very rare for me. So Twitter is not an issue. Also I don't follow many people because to read everything is a madness - some people tweet like crazy. I don't read all my friend updates on facebook too and as I said I set all internet applications to refresh very rarely. But still battery drains.

However if I stop using all internet apps, don't take pictures, don't watch videos.... what's the point to have a "smart" phone? Money for nothing.

So all this cool functionality is pointless without a nice battery.

[tiancee]

Good advice. Forgot about that option on my side.

Please excuse the punt, "You lucky fish you!: :-) Z10!!! We hope to see it in our little republic in three months time. I will get one, and that is non negotiable ......:-)

[tiancee]

I am one of those "tweet like crazy" users. I never experienced the problems with the previous versions of Twitter.

If an app is "damaged/bugged" irrespective of your activity, it could effect the performance of your equipment.