How to conserve battery power on my BlackBerry smartphone

Two main connectivity options affect the battery life of a BlackBerry smartphone: Bluetooth and Mobile Network. To conserve your battery, you can turn both options on or off (independently of each other) through the Manage Connections screen on your smartphone.

You’ll conserve battery life if you turn Bluetooth off when you’re not actively using a Bluetooth device, such as a headset. If left on, Bluetooth will frequently search for compatible devices in the vicinity, consuming battery power.

Similarly, when a phone is in an area without strong coverage, it constantly tries to reconnect with the Mobile Network, draining the battery. You’ll save battery power if you turn off the Mobile Network when you enter an area with poor or no coverage -- when riding on a subway or an airplane, for example. Just remember to turn the Mobile Network back on to make and receive calls, use the Internet or other communication functions.

To manage connectivity options:

1. Press the BlackBerry key to the left of the trackball to go to the main menu
2. Click on the Manage Connections icon
3. Check or uncheck the boxes marked Bluetooth and/or Mobile Network to activate or deactivate these features

To save battery power, you can set your BlackBerry smartphone to automatically shut down at night (or other times when not in use) and turn itself back on.

To set Auto On/Off:

1. Press the Menu key
2. Highlight and select the Options icon
3. Highlight and select Auto On/Off
4. Highlight the word Disabled and change it to Enabled in the Weekday section
5. Choose the time that you want the phone to Turn On At
6. Choose the time that you want the phone to Turn Off At
7. Highlight the word Disabled and change it to Enabled in the Weekend section
8. Choose the time that you want the phone to Turn On At
9. Choose the time that you want the phone to Turn Off At
10. Press the Menu key and select

Notification alerts for incoming phone calls or messages can affect battery life. For example, setting your BlackBerry smartphone to vibrate three times and then ring loudly when a call comes in will consume more battery power than a setting with lower volume and no vibration.

If you have a RIM-designed holster for your BlackBerry, you can further customize your notifications by setting different alerts for when your smartphone is in the holster or out of it.

To adjust your phone’s ringtones and alerts:

You can also prolong battery life by adjusting the brightness and timeout of your BlackBerry smartphone's display.

To adjust the backlight brightness and timeout:

1. Press the Menu key and select Options
2. Select Screen/Keyboard
3. Highlight the number beside Backlight Brightness and choose a level that is comfortable (60 is optimal), then select
4. Highlight the number beside Backlight Timeout and choose a time that is comfortable (20 sec. is optimal), then select
5. Press the Menu key and select Save

Also, returning the smartphone to its holster when it's not in use will power off the screen to conserve power regardless of the phone's settings.

Certain BlackBerry applications will consume power and affect battery life.

"Always-on" applications such as Mobile RSS feeds and Facebook consume more power than others because they are constantly pulling content from the network, even when you're not looking at them. When not using these applications, you may want to close them.

Navigation applications such as BlackBerry Maps and GPS Nav will also consume battery power while they are running. Be sure to plug in and charge your BlackBerry smartphone with the vehicle adapter while using these applications in your car.

To determine which applications are running:

1. Hold down the ALT key and click Escape
2. While holding down ALT, scroll left or right between applications
3. Release ALT to select an application
4. When done, press the Menu key and select Close

If you have the BlackBerry Storm, you can select an application by tapping it.

BlackBerry smartphones come with Lithium-Ion batteries, which should be topped up regularly. If you leave your battery flat for an extended period, it will benefit from being fully charged and then fully discharged 3 times.

Recharge according to your usage pattern to maximize your battery life.

Recharge your battery every 18 hours if you:

• Read/send more than 100 emails, BlackBerry Instant Messenger messages or text messages per day
• Talk for more than 50 minutes per day
• Browse the Internet, use an application or play a game for more than 10 minutes per day

Recharge your battery every 24 hours if you:

• Read/send 50-99 emails, BlackBerry Instant Messenger messages or text messages per day
• Talk for 20-50 minutes per day
• Browse the Internet, use an application or play a game for 5-10 minutes per day

Recharge your battery every 36 hours if you:

• Read/send less than 50 emails, BlackBerry Instant Messenger messages or text messages per day
• Talk, for less than 20 minutes per day
• Browse the Internet, use an application or play a game for less than 5 minutes per day

Tip: These recommendations are based on standard smartphone settings. Any changes to these settings will affect battery performance. If your usage falls between the categories above, choose the higher recommended charging frequency.