[Osprey]

Hi - I am an ex-Curve 8300 user, but have switched to the 8900 as of 10 days ago. I never had any problems with the 8300 - it is a great phone, but I was due for an upgrade.



I like the 8900 very much. However, the battery life has been shockingly bad. After three days' use, I had the battery changed at the supplier (Carphone Warehouse, UK) and also asked them to change the pouch. I also switched off WiFi and adjusted the backlight etc. Initially, these changes seemed to be promoting greater battery life, albeit it was still draining quite quickly.



However, last night I left the phone with two bars showing on the battery symbol, before switching it off and leaving it in its pouch. When I switched it on this morning, there were no bars left and the battery sign was red. Surely this is proof that there are faulty pouches circulating, at least in the UK.



Can someone from RIM please look into this ?

[Deep88]

Osprey,

1) You need to download and install the latest Operating System 4.6.1.114 found at the top of the 8900 discussion forums. This completely rectifies the battery drainage issue.

2) You are absolutely right about the faulty pouches; the leather sleeve the 8900 comes with is a battery killer. I do not even use it anymore.

Once you install the new operating system i guarantee you will be happy with it and you will find the battery life to be similar to the 8310's. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Deep

[BryanHarig]

I have the newest OS, do not use the silly pouch and I can tell you that battery life is nowhere near an 8310. Even with her year old battery my girlfriends 8310 gets significantly better battery life then my 8900.

The 8900's battery life is usable though. I can get about 1.5 days of heavy use and about 2.5 days of light use out of it. Gone are the days of leaving for the weekend with out bothering to grab a charger. But I find the advantages of the 8900 to outweigh its worse battery life.

[TheBigNewt]

Many of the pouches are defective, and it has been established beyond any doubt that using them drains the battery, probably by pressing on keys at the bottom because the pouch is too tight. This can drain the battery even when the magnet shuts it off, contrary to what I used to think. FYI

[StanMort]

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...too-short.html

[gcclubs]

Originally Posted by Deep88

Osprey,

1) You need to download and install the latest Operating System 4.6.1.114 found at the top of the 8900 discussion forums. This completely rectifies the battery drainage issue.

2) You are absolutely right about the faulty pouches; the leather sleeve the 8900 comes with is a battery killer. I do not even use it anymore.

Once you install the new operating system i guarantee you will be happy with it and you will find the battery life to be similar to the 8310's. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Deep

Just to clarify I don't see the new operating system having any benefit in changing the battery life.

Can someone explain how to know if the pouch is causing a problem. As soon as I slip my BB into the pouch the screen goes off? That is normal but would have thought pouch wouldn't do that if defective. PS. I am on my second 8900 and 2nd no better then first in battery life.

[ShaynePierce]

Originally Posted by gcclubs

Just to clarify I don't see the new operating system having any benefit in changing the battery life.

Yes it will! The OS does all kinds of things to either drain or better manage battery life. For instance, it determines how often to "ping" the network (both Wi-Fi and EDGE) and also how agressive the GPS connects to satelites. In addition, it controls things like screen brightness, ring loudness, noise cancelation. Not to mention the CPU and memory usage. It goes on an on. Sometimes the OS has bugs and will have a direct impact on battery life. Trust us on this. Upgrade if you haven't already!

[StanMort]

Originally Posted by gcclubs

Just to clarify I don't see the new operating system having any benefit in changing the battery life.

Can someone explain how to know if the pouch is causing a problem. As soon as I slip my BB into the pouch the screen goes off? That is normal but would have thought pouch wouldn't do that if defective. PS. I am on my second 8900 and 2nd no better then first in battery life.

Try a newer OS and you'll be eating those words. There is a HUGE difference in battery life.

[bligui]

Well i am coming from an 8320 and this is my first day with the phone and i must say battery is disapointing me i have wifi off because i was down to 25% of battery. I do have the latest OS since it came with the phone yes it is a great phone and a car charger might solve the little issue but the 8320 was a 4 day battery no problems.

[TheBigNewt]

Anyone who's used a GPS on battery knows how fast that radio will kill a battery by updating positions constantly. I can't imagine a phone battery would last more than a few hours with that radio on. Many phone batteries stink right out of the box, they get better with a few charges. The Bold people griped about their batteries when new and so did the Storm people, now they don't. I know everyone thinks that a new OS fixes them, but it's basically the radio use that kills 'em. The pouch kills it because it turns stuff on and off by pressing on the keys even with the screen off somehow. Toss the pouch out and get a good leather one or something else. The battery is probably fine and so is the phone.

[StanMort]

Originally Posted by bligui

Well i am coming from an 8320 and this is my first day with the phone and i must say battery is disapointing me i have wifi off because i was down to 25% of battery. I do have the latest OS since it came with the phone yes it is a great phone and a car charger might solve the little issue but the 8320 was a 4 day battery no problems.

Just because you just received your phone does not mean that it has the most recent OS. Do you think RIM or Tmo had people sitting around last week upgrading the OS on all of those phones? Nope. Like everybody will tell you, get the newest OS and your problem will be solved.

[domesticprincess]

I know you said you turn off the WiFi, but also turn off the GPS, make sure to fully quit the camera not just click the red button, make sure you dont leave instant messaging on when you aren't using it, turn off bluetooth, all will help battery drainage problems.

[Osprey]

Hi -

I would point out one thing to people who suspect the pouch of pressing buttons etc to drain battery life: that argument has validity if the phone is on standby, but mine has consistently drained when switched off and been left stationary on a table, in its pouch. How would the pouch turn it back on again (I have checked) ?!? Also, my GPS and other power hungry features are switched off when not in use.

[kcmo]

I just got my 8900 and I have v.4.6.1.114 installed on T-Mobile. After one day's use, I'm ALREADY down to 55%....and I'm a light user! My Curve 8320 would be at about 85% at this level normally. Do I need to install a newer version firmware? Never done this before so any help/advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Osprey]

Hi - I would proceed with caution, having weighed up comments from several different forums about this issue.

I have not used my pouch for the last 5 days and the battery has definitely behaved better. However, in my opinion the battery is draining a little even with light or no use at all. There must be something else other than the pouch which makes this combination of factors result in unsatisfactory battery life. I am afraid that many users who frequently have their phones on charge or plugged in to a PC are missing evidence of the pure battery drain - it really is any issue. I previously had an 8300; 8320; 8700. None of these showed the same fault - and were always kept in their pouches whenever possible.

Personally I will be more comfortable when RIM issue an official fix. They are probably using us all as guinea pigs right now in advance of this.

[jjmummy64]

I glad I've read this, as was about to go back to O2. Just got my 8900 last Wednesday as an upgrade to my 8320 (which I loved). Battery used to last forever on the 8320, and couldn't believe after a day, the 8900 was nearly flat. Have turned WiFi off (after reading the posts), set the backlight to 50% and turned off the dimm.
Not sure about dispensing with the pouch? I always lock mine before it goes in the pouch, but even with it locked have noticed that the shift key will light up as I'm putting it in - must be catching.

[Garias]

one way to solve the pouch issues is the following..I tried it and it works just fine. Just insert my 8310 in 8900's pouch (it is very tight), but after 5 minutes 8900 slides nicely in it and there are no pressed buttons (shift)...

[seattleboi1982]

i noticed with the .133 update my battery holds a charge better. i have only had the device a week and left it unplugged on friday night with no activity and woke up saturday to a dead device. so, evidently the update may fix it, but as always, ymmv

[rifleman]

Well, after installing the official .133 software and using the BB like normal throughout the day the battery life has DEFINITELY improved. Using the Beta (.133) software last week my battery was dead by 1400 and I had to charge it.

I did NOT turn anything off. WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS were on all day and the battery has dropped down 2 bars. Note: I am a HEAVY user and from the previous 8320, I would have approximately the same battery drain by this time during the day.

Conclusion: Update to the official .133 release has definitely seemed to have resolved the battery life issues I had.

[DGC41]

I just checked on the Rogers site and they have a 4.6.1.158 version. Anyone tried this. I am having the same battery issues and want to update the OS. No one has talked about the .158 version yet.
Thanks