Blackberry lightning bolt when charging

How to Extend BlackBerry Storm Battery Life

You can try some tricks to boost your BlackBerry Storm battery life that will help you use the devise to its optimum capacity. Read on the following article on how to increase BlackBerry Storm battery life to its highest capacity for some helpful tips.

After buying a BlackBerry Storm, one feels elated and wants to try the 'n' number of features of the phone. You will want to check out the music, send/ receive email, BlackBerry Instant Messenger application (BBM), texts, surf the web and do hundreds of different stuff. But, there is one major aspect that will disappoint you, the BlackBerry Storm batter life. It is quite obvious that the high-end features of the device will lead to the battery draining fast. If you want to increase the BlackBerry Storm battery life, then the following tricks will help you boost the weak battery life for longer periods.

How to Increase Battery Life ?

Once you bring home a BlackbBerry mobile phone, charge the battery completely before you begin using the cell phone. You need to charge the battery for at least 15 hours even if the battery is full. This step needs to be repeated for 3 continuous days. This will help extend your battery life to some extent. Do not repeat this step after the first 3 days. You should then continue charging your cell phone as you would normally do. Then you need to carry out certain steps to avoid BlackBerry Storm battery draining fast. Let's see some of the easy steps that will help you get the maximum from your mobile phone.

Turn Off GPS

The biggest source of battery drainage is the GPS. You see, the GPS navigation on blackBerry is activated by default and your phone is connected to the satellite continuously. This causes the software and the hardware on the phone to run constantly causing the battery to drain out. If you are not using the GPS, you need to switch it off, until the time you need to use it.

To turn off the GPS, you need to locate the 'Options' tab in Menu. Then select 'Advanced Options' and select 'GPS'. You will find three boxed on your screen. Do not change the first box that prompts 'GPS Data Source'. The next box, needs to be changed to 'E911 Only'. This means your phone will automatically get GPS activated in case of an Emergency. The third box 'Location Aiding', needs to be set at 'Disabled'. You will find the tiny circle on your screen indicating GPS without any waves. This shows that GPS is inactivated. Follow the same steps to activate GPS, if you want to use it. This will surely help in increasing the battery life.

Remove Unwanted Applications

There are many applications available on your BlackBerry Storm, some of which you will hardly use. In such a case, identify the applications that are of no use to you and your phone. Then, delete these applications once and for all. This will reduce the strain on the cell phones computing power as it won't have to search through so many applications to find what you are actually looking for.

You need to delete these applications by selecting the 'Options' tab in the Menu. Search for 'Advanced Options' and click on 'Applications'. In applications, you need to locate and highlight the applications you do not wish to use. Then you need to select 'Delete' and remove these applications from the phone. This will not only help increase your battery life to some extent, but also provide more free memory on your device.

Block Unnecessary Emails

There are many emails that you hardly read like spam mails or just forwarded emails. You can select the emails you do not wish to receive and block them on your phone. Wondering, how blocking emails will help you extend battery life? Well, the phone will not ping or vibrate unnecessarily for every email you won't even want to read and thus, saving precious battery power.

Activation of the 1xev Option

The BlackBerry Storm is automatically devised to be able to accept the various global connections. However, if your phone is continuously in search of new networks, it will lead to battery drain. The best thing to avoid battery draining fast, is turning on the 1xev option.

You can do this by reaching for the 'Options' tab in the Menu and clicking the 'Mobile Network' tab. Here, you will come across 'Network Technology' and choose the '1xev' tab. This will help in removing the SIM errors that you may see and extend the battery life marginally.

Switch Off the Bluetooth

A Bluetooth that is turned on will take up about ⅓rd of the power of your battery. To avoid this unnecessary power drainage, you should keep the Bluetooth in turn off mode at all times when not in use. This will help increase the battery life considerably.

Turn Off Connections that You are Using

The BlackBerry is connected to many connections like IrDA connections, Wi-Fi, GPS apart from Bluetooth technology. All these connections eat considerable battery power and you can save your battery life by simply turning these connections off. You need to click on 'Manage Connections' and turn off all the connections you are not using. You will find your battery life last a bit longer.

Cut Down on Notifications

You need to use shorter message or email notifications ring tones as longer ones tend to kill your cell phone battery. You also need to use the LED flashing alerts to a minimum. You should change the settings in your 'Profile' tab and choose only those sounds and notifications that have a shorter vibe. Keep the ringer volume to low as it will help save battery power.

Backlight Reduction

Backlight of your phone may help bring out the vibrancy of your phone, but will drain away precious battery life. The best thing to do is keep the backlight at a lower level and save power. You need to select the 'Options' in the Menu and click on the 'Keyboard/Screen'. Here, locate the 'Backlight' tab and lower the light levels. This will avoid unnecessary use of battery power and also lead to less strain on your eyes. You also can select the option where the backlight turns off, when not in use.

Battery with Blue Lightning Bolt

Many people find their BlackBerry Storm battery with blue lightning bolt while charging the phone. The lightning bolt probably means the phone is charging. The bolt will disappear on its own when the battery is fully charged. Many times, charging the phone through the laptop or with a car charger won't be providing the phone with the required energy to be charged. This will cause you to see the blue lightning bolt. You need to use a wall charger and try to charge your battery and watch the bolt disappear.

Battery Removal

First, turn off your BlackBerry Storm before removing the battery. Then you need to remove the battery cover by pushing in the two small releases on either side. You need to press them down and lift the cover up. Carefully open the cover by pulling it up and out. Then, you will find a gray, rectangular battery with green stripe. You need to place your thumb and forefinger on either edge and pull up the battery.

If you are replacing the battery, you need to place the battery in the same spot with the top side facing up. Align the positive and negative signs in the battery compartment and place the battery firmly. Then place the battery cover over it and slide in the seven small half ovals in the groove of the rear cover. Press it down gently till you can hear it snap into place.

You need to remove unwanted applications and switch off applications that are power-hungry. These applications are those that provide you with the latest updates like social networking sites or news and weather feeds. I hope this article on how to improve BlackBerry Storm battery life, has provided you with some useful ways to extend the life of your battery.

By Batul Nafisa Baxamusa