I’ve had my BlackBerry Curve 8530 for a little over a year now and up until recently I had no problems whatsoever. One day out of the blue my battery just dies in the middle of a phone conversation and when my device powered back up my battery was drained. I put my phone on the charger for a while and allowed it to charge fully. I made another phone call and the same thing happened. I knew something was definitely wrong. I started to walk with my charger and always had my phone charging in the car while in transit. I couldn’t have a regular conversation without my phone going dead if it wasn’t plugged up. I didn’t know when I’d have a chance to get into the Sprint store. I saw within a few days that it got worse. I would use applications, like Twitter and my phone would die after I tweeted! I knew I needed to get into see the Sprint Care Technicians. I live Social Media! If I can’t Tweet, Foursquare, or use Facebook on the go… I’m lost!
I went into the Sprint store and signed my phone in to be checked out thoroughly by a technician. I left and after a few hours returned only to find out that they couldn’t fix my phone and a new one was ordered for me. I received a text message within twenty four hours stating my new device had arrived. I went in the store, had all my contacts sync onto the new device and started all over. I had to download all my applications again and got a new (BlackBerry Messenger) BBM Pin with the new phone. So I had to request all my BBM contacts all over again, I’m still doing that. After I charged my NEW phone and used it, the same thing happened AGAIN! I went back to the Sprint store and spoke with a technician and stated that I was having the exact same issues as before on the new device and he checked my battery. My battery was the problem!
When my phone was replaced they gave me the same battery that was in my original phone and that’s why I continued to have the same issue. I almost went to Team Droid but, I couldn’t! What I learned is that the normal battery life for a phone is in between one and two years depending on how you use your device. If you are just making calls and not using your phone to its full potential your battery will last a bit longer. If you’re like me and use your phone to make calls, Tweet, blog, Facebook, pictures, video and scan QR codes among other things then you are definitely using your phone to its full advantage. Luckily my phone is still under warranty and I pay for insurance monthly so I was covered! The BlackBerry device contains a removable lithium-ion battery.
Here are a few tips to help pro long your battery’s life:
• You can set your phone up to turn on and off automatically
• Turn of your wifi and Bluetooth when not in use
• Put your backlight on low or turn it off when not in use
• Charge your phone regularly
• Make calls when you have a strong signal, It uses less power
• Don’t keep your apps running in the background, exit app completely when finished