BlackBerry® Bold™

[iceout]

I upgraded to V6.0.0.526 a few weeks ago.  The battery life now is less than half what it was and I keep getting low memory notices quite often, Inow have 16.7 MB free.  How can I safely downgrade to my old V5?

[BillJ]

Plug your phone into your PC via USB and open BlackBerry Desktop Software.  Click Device at the top and Update from the drop-down menu.  The box will say you're already up to date, so click View Other Versions.  Your current one, the one you want to get rid of, will be the top one.  Check the version directly below that one and click Update.

This will restore your previous OS version. 

P.S.  If you've done data backups with BlackBerry Desktop Software, click Device at the top and Restore from the drop-down menu.  Choose the most recent backup file before you updated to the newest version of OS.  Click Restore and this will restore your previous OS and settings.  This method is preferred over the first one I described if you've done data backups.  If not, continue with the first one described above.

Let us know your results. 

[johnnerd]

I went back to 5.0 today with no problem. Gave up on 6.0 as could not synchronise outlook calender and the bluetooth connection to my hands free in the car did'nt work. It worked fine on 5.0.

[iceout]

One more question.  When I upgraded to V6 a bunch of new apps came with it.  What will happen to the new apps if V5 doesn't support them?  Thanks

[BillJ · Accepted solution]

If the apps came with OS 6, you'll lose them when you revert to OS 5 by using the Update or Restore functions I described for you.

The only way to keep them is to keep OS 6.  It's kind of an all or nothing deal. 

[FOIA_Gras]

Iceout, have you tried a different version of OS 6?  After having issues with an earlier version of 6 I updated to 6.0.0.543 which you can get at http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-9700-series-discussion-bold-2/247914-latest-os-9700-6-0-0-23....  I still show less available memory than when I ran OS 5 but can still run tabbed browsing.  I should also disclose that I keep the third party apps to a minimum but the later version of OS 6 may be worth a try?

[iceout]

With V6 out does that mean that there won't be any more updates to V5?  Unless there are updates to V5 it appears that my 1 year old Bold 9700 is now obsolete as it doesn't have enough memory to run properly with V6 and all those nice apps that came with V6 many have to be deleted in order to keep it running.  And then there is the battery issue.  After about 3 weeks since I loaded V6, yesterday my phone went from a fully charged battery to depleted in just 11 hours and I did not make any phone calls on it!  I don't know what is going on but I am every disappointed with RIM that they would come out with a new OS that they must know that the Bold 9700 won't work very well after upgrading. :-(

[FOIA_Gras]

I don't know whether RIM is no longer developing OS 5 updates. My 9700 is 9 months old and I have not seen battery issues (the battery is actually 18 months old from my first 9700 which I had to have replaced). I run hours of podcasting and radio broadcasting and have not seen any battery degradation with the upgrade to OS 6. There are plenty of apps which will put greater load on the battery. The 9700 does have less on-board memory than the other Bold models but your experience sounds like a software issue. Try removing unneded files from your device and do a reboot to free up device memory. Get rid of any apps you don't use, especially fb, Twitter, and don't let old messages pile up on your device. My experience with OS 6 is that it's been like getting a new phone. Trust me, your 9700 is far from obsolete.

[iceout]

Thanks for your very fast response.  I don't understand what you mean by "Try removing unnended files from your device".  With V5 I could get about 4 days on a fully charged battery and with V6 it is down to much less than 2 days and as I mentioned the last day I used V6 before downgrading back to V5 I got 11 hours with the same type of usage.   So far today after 9 hours of "normal" usage for me my battery is at 90%.  As far as old messages do you mean e-mail's.  With V5 I have 83.7 MB of free space application memory and 1.7 GB free space on my media card.  Is there some way I can use more of the media card for memory storage?  I think I need a IT department to keep my 9700 running but being retired I can't afford it. :-).  I really like my BlackBerry phone, this is my second model, but this is so completely frustrating to operate like this. I realize I have mentioned several subjects here and I greatly appreciate your help.  Thanks agn.

[BillJ]

@iceout, if it'll put your mind at ease, getting two days out of a charge on a smartphone is quite normal.  Sure, you might have have got more from OS 5 but OS 6 has more going on.  These days, anything more than a day on a single charge is acceptable (unless you're a really heavy user, then a day is good).

Keep in mind that BlackBerry phones use Lithium-Ion batteries.  These batteries can be topped up at any time, for any length of time.  If you're ever just sitting around, plug your phone in for a few minutes.  That will keep it topped up and you'll never find yourself without battery power when you need it.

I hope that helps you.