[madbaumer]

I am on my second Pearl in less than 2 months. I returned the first thinking the battery was defective. Cingular is now telling me to return the second as well because they can't solve this problem and are hoping the second device has a defective battery as well.

After fully charging my Pearl overnight the battery drains in under 5 hours without making a single call or using the phone in any manner. Bluetooth is not turned on. When I turn off the data services and use the phone as purely that, the battery lasts for days. So the problem seems to be data services delivered via Cingular EDGE requiring constant PUSH connectivity. Has anyone seen a similar issue and if so, how did you work around it? My tech support says to use the auto-off feature to conserve battery.... I say that defeats the purpose of a blackberry all together.

please help

[dandrzejewski]

I don't experience the same issues you have... I use voice and plenty of data on a daily basis, and the device lasts for about 3, sometimes 4 days without charging.

Do you spend a lot of time in a weak coverage area, or do you notice the device losing signal and reacquiring it often?

[raa0425]

That's strange. I only need to charge my battery every couple of days. I would say my usage is moderate and consists of receiving/sending emails/sms, phone calls and viewing media files.

[madbaumer]

i am in metro San Antonio, home to ATT which owns Cingular... so needless to say EDGE is strong here.. my true usage is very little but the device receives approximately 20 emails per day... very light usage for the problems i am experiencing. this is a BES implementation, I wonder if there are configurable push settings that my admins can tweak?

[christo]

i've heard of cases where bad memory cards are causing batteries to deplete fast. don't know if it applies to you or not.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by madbaumer

I am on my second Pearl in less than 2 months. I returned the first thinking the battery was defective. Cingular is now telling me to return the second as well because they can't solve this problem and are hoping the second device has a defective battery as well.

After fully charging my Pearl overnight the battery drains in under 5 hours without making a single call or using the phone in any manner. Bluetooth is not turned on. When I turn off the data services and use the phone as purely that, the battery lasts for days. So the problem seems to be data services delivered via Cingular EDGE requiring constant PUSH connectivity. Has anyone seen a similar issue and if so, how did you work around it? My tech support says to use the auto-off feature to conserve battery.... I say that defeats the purpose of a blackberry all together.

please help

A few tips and questions:

Did you use the old battery on the 2nd phone they sent [my T-Mo warranty replacement did not come with a battery, I simply used the old one I had].

If you did use the old battery, maybe that is the problem.

Also, as basic as this sounds, are you sure the charger is charging the battery? May be a defective charger.

Next, on getting the 3rd phone, do not install your backup files or anything. Simply activate the radio, data and BB mail. Also, if you have a MicroSD chip, do NOT install it.

Use it for a few days and see if their is no unusual battery drain. If there is none, then it's something in your programming or chip, albeit I am not aware of any bugs in programs that cause strain on battery power. I am not aware of the chip issue, that it may cause battery drain [if defective].

Lastly, there is a vendor BBF member in here, Seidio. The member's name is Dave. I suspect they know quite a bit about batteries, especially since they manufacture and sell them.

Perhaps you can PM Seidio [Dave} and ask him about this. May be something he knows about.

Sidenote: Before I got the Seidio extended battery, on the standard battery I could not go more than two days tops without charging. In fact at the end of 48 hrs I'd be close to no power left on the battery indicator.

[CableGuy711]

Originally Posted by dandrzejewski

I don't experience the same issues you have... I use voice and plenty of data on a daily basis, and the device lasts for about 3, sometimes 4 days without charging.

Do you spend a lot of time in a weak coverage area, or do you notice the device losing signal and reacquiring it often?

I'd like to know how you are getting 3-4days of use with out charging?

i have to charge every other day MINIMUM most of the time I charge nightly.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by CableGuy711

I'd like to know how you are getting 3-4days of use with out charging?

i have to charge every other day MINIMUM most of the time I charge nightly.

Maybe that person is not using it much? Most members have reported getting two days max on the standard battery, notwithstanding RIM's and other manufacturers' bogus estimates.

Like you, battery duration with the Pearl OEM battery was so pathetic that I had my phone hooked up to a charger most all the time. [I use past tense because I now have a Seidio extended battery which has eliminated my concerns on how long the battery will last].

[madbaumer]

I received a new battery the second time. Completely new setup w/ different charger as well. I just can't believe this is standard life for an OEM battery(s). When i setup #2 i didn't install any additional files. Simply powered up and synchronized my mailbox/calendar. I guess the easiest thing is to try #3 then fork over the 49.99 for an extended life battery at this point. Thanks everyone!

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by madbaumer

I just can't believe this is standard life for an OEM battery(s).

Just a comment, it's not RIM's fault about the battery. They can't publish real usage battery times because that would be a big wart on otherwise impressive specs. So they have to do what all the others do, publish unattainable battery estimates.

Pretty much for the past 15 years most people in the know look at published estimates and chop those numbers by one-half to two-thirds.

I can't think of a single device I have had [notebook, camera, PDA, cell phone] where I have got more than half the published battery life for the device.

And I can't recall ever reading a review where the writer said the battery performed as published.

To RIM's defense, I suspect they wanted to keep the phone as small and light as possible [to advertise "world's smallest smartphone"] so they made the the standard battery as small as they could get away with.

In comparison to many batteries, that yellow Pearl battery is pretty small for powering a cell phone with multimedia capabilities. I'd pretty much say it is underpowered. No way a battery that size should last more than two days, three if one is lucky.

For comparison, I have two 5 megapixel cameras that use lithium batteries about the same power rating as that used in the Pearl. In fact, they are about the same size. Those batteries do not last long, so much so that I have to take three to four extra batteries whenever I am planning on taking pics somewhere. So it is kinda impressive that the Pearl battery last as long as it does, IMHO.

[Tylar]

On a heavy email/page day it'll last about 10 hours for me, tops.

[figsjohn]

Day and a half for me, Regaurdless what i do throught the day.

[JSanders]

Originally Posted by madbaumer

I received a new battery the second time. Completely new setup w/ different charger as well. I just can't believe this is standard life for an OEM battery(s). When i setup #2 i didn't install any additional files. Simply powered up and synchronized my mailbox/calendar. I guess the easiest thing is to try #3 then fork over the 49.99 for an extended life battery at this point. Thanks everyone!

ok, pardon if this is a dumb question (I've been known to ask some in my time), but, reading what you wrote above, did you actually charge the NEW battery before using it? Or as you wrote, "When i setup #2 i didn't install any additional files. Simply powered up and synchronized my mailbox/calendar." The new batteries come with some small charge which could register as 100% when first installed... but that is deceiving, I believe.

You need to give the new unit a good charge, fully to 100% and then let it charge some.

[madbaumer]

not a stupid question, i did fully charge the battery. I am on day 3 of battery life as a result of turning data services off and on throughout the day.... this seems to confirm that it is an issue w/ the constant push combined w/ the inherent weakness of the OEM battery. tonight i plan to fully charge again and try the "off when roaming" setting vs. simply "off" for data services and see how much improvement that gets me... i like the idea of an extended battery but i am one of those "cell phone goes in pocket" guys so i'm not too excited about adding thickness to the Pearl.

[JSanders]

You know all that is way too much. You should be able to use the phone under normal use, which includes data on, all the time. Everyone else does, why not you.

Do you have background programs running like google maps, etc.? If this were a widespread problem, there would be much he!! raising around here about it.

There must be a specific issue with your phone or something in its use to drain the battery that fast.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by madbaumer

I like the idea of an extended battery but i am one of those "cell phone goes in pocket" guys so I'm not too excited about adding thickness to the Pearl.

I put the extended battery phone in my pockets all the time and I cannot tell the difference from using the OEM battery.

In fact one time I was about a block away from my home, felt around looking for my phone, said "Oh sheet, forgot my phone, have to go get it." I then huffed up Nob Hill [I live at the top so one block down is a steep block uphill].

Ran up three flights of steps, searched around the house, no phone.

Rechecked my topcoat pocket and alas, the phone was in the pocket.

That tells me the Pearl with the extended battery is still pretty small.

[TheBigNewt]

I don't understand it. For me, a pretty light user (read 10-12 emails, txt 6 times, listen to music 20 min, talk 15 min, browse rarely) I leave it on 7am-10pm and get 4 days and it's down to 10%.

[madbaumer]

I wonder if it is a BES issue. I work for a global firm that sets and pushes some pretty stringent security policy out to blackberry users via BES. That combined w/ the constant refresh has to be the issue. I have NOTHING running in background. Literally I bought the device for 2 purposes. First as a cell phone, second to read email. I don't even reply using my BB. I agree that it has to be an isolated issue as I can't find any similar complaints via google or the forums i have been reading. I might be SOL though since there is nothing i can do to affect our firms BES configuration. Extended battery may be my only option.

[guyweston]

I have the same problem - lucky to get through a full day in London (so not hunting for signal). New battery made no difference. More fuss, please!