[wibbly]

When GSM phones are in a poor signal area they up their transmit power in an attempt to maintain a connection. It's an *enormous* difference (2W compared to 20mW at the extremes - that's 100:1) compared to being in a good signal area. The protocols involved means these are not figures for constant drain on the battery, but the point is that you are likely to see wild variations in battery life even using the BB the same way, depending on where you're located.

For example, I had poor signal at home. Any/all GSM phones would hardly last a day (even making NO calls!). Then they fixed the network and I get a strong signal. The same phones will now last days

So maybe one day you get caught in a traffic jam for an extra 30min in a poor signal area. The next day you don't. Add to that the effect of making calls, using the backlight, watching videos, use of sleep mode, bluetooth, WiFi, etc., and you can see why it's very hard to make comparisons between users. For me WiFi and Bluetooth use together maybe affect my end of day battery life by 10-20%. But if WiFi is saving high power GSM transmissions, overall battery life will improve by switching WiFi on!

[dbo]

Has anyone experimented with shutting GPS to see how much longer the battery lasts? If anyone has, there seem to be two options one can set: GPS Services Location Off, adn Location Aiding Disabled. Do these both improve battery life?

[bradhs]

9am to ~6pm, moderate to heavy use .. Battery ends up at about 20%. Everything is on, 3G, WIFI, Bluetooth, GPS .. And I'm using apps, internet and making a lot of phone calls.

[bimmerd00d]

Don't listen to anything Jarrod says, he knows nothing

[Jelly Bean]

Originally Posted by Jarrod623

Very true, Just like WiFi. I keep WiFi off b/c I never use it. Having it on wold just drain battery.

yep, after my first day of use...and the "shock" of watching my bars disapear, the first thing i adjusted on my own was wifi off! I guess I will flip it on when I need it...in the meant time, I've come here to search for battery saving tips, thanx you guys, hope it helps...love this bold, but I lose power with hardly even doing anything with it!

[Jelly Bean]

Originally Posted by peter_b

Day two of leaving WiFi turned *on* all day long has yielded very surprising results: battery life is hugely improved.

At both my home and office, I have WiFi but very bad or nonexistent 3G signal. In a couple of days of using the phone with only 3G, my battery was hardly able to make it to mid afternoon.

With WiFi enabled, I'm at 80% at 5 pm.

Even though this seems completely counter intuitive to me, it's definitely working out well.

hmmm, really? Maybe I need to rethink my tactic then. drats, anyone else do the wifi off vs on comparison?

[Jelly Bean]

Originally Posted by BB4Life

I think the biggest batter saver with the above recommendations that people forget to mention here is to leave the phone either in standby mode or in your holster to preserve your battery throughout the day....it definitely helps!!

phone is pretty much always in holster if not using or charging

[SingSong]

Just had a whole day of use from 7 am to 11 pm and had 90% battery remaining...who says Bold has a short battery time! (using .190 version and 30% brightness level with WiFi on all day long)

[Taomyn]

Originally Posted by SingSong

Just had a whole day of use from 7 am to 11 pm and had 90% battery remaining...who says Bold has a short battery time! (using .190 version and 30% brightness level with WiFi on all day long)

I concur

[ErnieH]

The most consistent thing I see in this and other threads is that AT&T users seems to have the lowest battery life. Looks like AT&T's policy of not allowing 2G to be selected is a bit of a power hog.

[bradhs]

My battery life has been much better with .190 and setting the screen brightness to 40%.

[Jarrod623]

What happened?????

No one like my post anymore. How come it was unsticky'd

This post is very informational... Vote to restick and never unstick!!!!

[Jelly Bean]

Originally Posted by SingSong

Just had a whole day of use from 7 am to 11 pm and had 90% battery remaining...who says Bold has a short battery time! (using .190 version and 30% brightness level with WiFi on all day long)

at first I only reduced brightness to 80%, still drained the life out of BB. This morn I finally caved and went down to 50%. Will see how much of a difference it makes.

[Jelly Bean]

Originally Posted by Jarrod623

What happened?????

No one like my post anymore. How come it was unsticky'd

This post is very informational... Vote to restick and never unstick!!!!

lol... I subscribed to the thread, does that make you feel better????
Its been very helpful, thanx

[Jarrod623]

lol hahaha,

BTW, his wifi is why he gets such good battey life. Wifi drains WAY less battery then 3g. When you are on wifi 3g shuts off. You may still have a 3g symbol but you are not connected.

[BBHorrigan]

nice tips, thanks

[Jarrod623]

yuor welcome... this has helped my battery life alot and I have no complaints, so why not help you guys!

[mmuras]

Hello folks:

I just joined AT&T today (Dec 13, 2008) and I just updated my new BlackBerry Bold to version 4.6.0.185.

I had not reloaded very much data at the time of the OS upgrade, but it only took about 20 min for the whole thing from Backup on older Device OS to Restore on new Device OS.

I will let you know how my battery is working once I have it for a few more days.

I probably would not have updated so soon, but in the 6 hours I had the phone it drained from 50% battery to 5% battery.

-Cheers-
-mmuras

[Lecter]

Been running .210 for 48 hours with all options on (3G only when I need it) and the battery life is awesome!!

[PapiPabs]

^Cosigned. I installed .210 Thursday afternoon and the battery was at about 80%. I'm just now getting to the point where the battery is getting low, and I've probably been using the device more than normal since that time if anything. Definitely worth the upgrade from a battery life standpoint.