How To

1. Optimize Display Settings:

Go to ‘Options’ > ‘Screen/Keyboard’

Turn the ‘Backlight Brightness’ down. You can probably see the screen just fine if
you set it to 30.

Change the ‘Backlight Timeout’ to 20 or even 10 seconds.

Make sure ‘Automatically Dim Backlight’ is set to on.

2. Turn Wifi Off when you have no wifi coverage:

Go to ‘Manage Connections’ and uncheck the wifi box.

3. Turn Bluetooth off when not using it:

Go to ‘Manage Connections’ and uncheck the Bluetooth box

4. Turn Off GPS if not needed:

If you don’t use GPS for anything, go to ‘Options’ > ‘Advanced Options’ > ‘GPS’ and
turn it off.

5. Close Background Apps

If you have apps running in the background, they are draining your battery (and
using memory but we’ll get to that in another article). View your running background
apps by hitting menu & selecting ‘Switch Application’ (on 5.0 OS builds you can
simply hold down the menu key). Some apps have to run in the background and cannot
be closed. ie: Phone, Messages, BBM, Browser, Visual Voicemail etc. Mostly
everything else can be closed. Many people have a bad habit of hitting the end key
when done with an app, but doing so will leave it running in the background! In
order to close an app, you have to use the exit key, or sometimes press menu &
close. That all depends on that app. You should make it a habit of checking to see
which background apps are running from time to time. We are all guilty of forgetting
about something here and there.

6. Standy Mode or New Lock Feature

*You only have one or the other depending on your OS build.

If pressing and holding the mute button on top of your device puts it into standby
mode, then use it. Your screen and keyboard will be turned off. It will also avoid
pocket dialing.

If you don’t have standby mode, then pressing the lock button on top of your device
does pretty much the same thing. The only difference I’ve found, is rapidly pressing
keys will turn the screen and keyboard back on momentarily, but the device will
still be locked. This feature is only on the newer OS 5.0 builds.

*Note: You calls and alerts will still come thru in either of these modes.

7. Top Off Your Battery

On the contrary to popular belief, frequently letting your battery run low before
you recharge it will ruin your battery! Lithium-ion batteries which are found in all
phones now, want to be fully charged all the time. There is no such thing as
charging your battery too often or overcharging it.

8. Re-calibrate

Lithium-ion batteries do not have a memory, but short charges will cause your
devices battery guage to be inaccurate after some time. It is not healthy to do this
often but every 30 days or so you should let your battery run down to 15% or lower
if possible. Then FULLY recharge. This will re-calibrate your devices battery meter.

9. Change Mobile Network Options (if device is 3G)

Switching your device to 2G or EDGE will make your battery last almost twice as long! Now
this one is something that is a personal preference. In some areas, 2G is so strong,
you probably won’t notice the difference in speed, but that’s all for you to find
out through trial and error. Now keep in mind, if you are running on a GSM network,
you will lose the ability to ‘talk and surf’ unless connected to wifi. Some examples
of GSM networks are AT&T, T-mobile & Rogers. If you are on a CMDA network such as
VZW or Sprint, you do not have the ability to ‘talk and surf’ with 3G, so you will
not lose any features by switching to 2G. This is something that you have to try out
and weight out the pros and cons. You can switch your mobile network settings by
going to ‘Options’ > ‘Mobile Network’ > ‘Network Mode’. If you are running a 3G
device and do not have the option to switch to 2G, your OS is most likely out-dated
and you should really consider upgrading.

Although the directions I gave are BlackBerry specific, the tips will really save
you battery life on any smartphone. Try them out and after a few days I’m sure you
will notice a difference!