Battery Drain

I seem to be charging my Blackberry Bold twice a day, once at work and once at home. Haven't kept track of actual length of usage on one charge, but it clearly burns through the battery faster than any phone I've ever owned. So I did some research to figure out how I can make one charge last longer.

Based on what I've read so far on the web, the following four tips will greatly reduce battery drain:

1) Turn off Bluetooth

2) Turn off Wi-Fi

3) Close unused programs

4) Enable Auto On/Off

I did all of the above except for Tip 4, because I wanted to be able to receive calls at any hour of the day in case of emergency (wife is pregnant and is in her 3rd trimester). So we'll see how the other tips do and I'll report back with my findings.

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10/4/09 Update: 20 hrs later, I still have 3 out of 5 bars on the battery, so employing the first three tips mentioned above actually will conserve power. And while I'm happy about that for now, I am considering buying an extended battery for my Blackberry.

The original battery capacity is at 1500 mAh, and I've seen aftermarket batteries on Amazon.com at 1650 mAh and 2500 mAh. Unfortunately, the 2500 mAh battery (which claims double the capacity of the original) is thicker than the standard battery and requires a deeper back door, which thickens the overall shape of the phone. So I prefer the 1650 mAh which uses the same form factor as the original, although it costs nearly double than the 2500 mAh.

The Blackberry Clock

A friend recently mentioned that he is working on a stopwatch program, because his Blackberry Curve didn't have one. At the time I thought that was odd since I've had that feature on older, less sophisticated phones. I looked into this later and found that my Bold has a Clock application under the Applications folder. When you ball-click on the app icon (shape of a clock), it displays a clock face with the current date and time (face can be configured to one of three styles). Pressing the Menu button reveals four functions: Set Alarm, Enter Bedside Mode, Stopwatch, and Timer.

So I can use the Set Alarm and Bedside Mode to wake me up in the morning. Stopwatch gives me something to time with, which would be great for runners (and I am happily not one of them). And the Timer feature gives me a countdown, which would be great for limiting a person's time during turn-based games.

Found a case that looks promising

10/21 Update: Found a case better than the one mentioned below. Covers and protects the entire phone and the shell is more like a hard plastic which won't stick to your pocket. The only con is that this case is much more expensive. Amazon.com has it the cheapest at http://www.amazon.com/Seidio-Innocase-BlackBerry-Bold-Black/dp/B002FU5REC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1256136527&sr=8-2.

Case-Mate makes a good looking silicone case for my Blackberry Bold that covers the entire phone except for the screen, non-keyboard buttons, and camera. A screen protector is included in the package. They claim that the silicone material will not stick to fabric like other silicone cases, but based on one customer's feedback, that may not be entirely true. The big plus for me here is that the case covers the entire keyboard and an image of the keys and layout has been laser cut onto the face of the case. Now that's pretty cool. You can see pics of the case for yourself at the following link: http://www.case-mate.com/BlackBerry-Bold-Cases/Case-Mate-BlackBerry-Bold-9000-Smart-Skin-Cases.asp

To accessorize or not to accessorize

There's a ton of accessories out there for your phone nowadays - screen protectors, skins, cases, pouches, tassels, etc. For my last phone (Samsung Omnia), I picked up a screen protector and a silicon rubber case to protect the backside and sides from scratches and dings. And scratches and dings my phone did not get. However, the silicon rubber case made it impossible to insert into a belt pouch and quite difficult to retrieve from my front pocket without pulling out the entire pocket lining. An accessory that limits accessibility - love the irony.

So the question remains. What type of accessory is best for my Blackberry? Something that will do a good job at protecting the phone, be easy to slip in and out of my front pocket, and still look good.

The hunt is on.

So I wanted to list out all the phones that I've owned in the past, and let me tell you, it took a lot of digging to find the right model numbers. But here it is from newest to oldest...

Blackberry Bold 9000 w/ AT&T

Samsung Omnia i910 w/ Verizon

Samsung u740 (original Alias in Black) w/ Verizon

Blackberry 7280? w/ AT&T

LG VX model (can't find the model#) w/ Cingular

Motorola v500 w/ Cingular

Ericsson T18 w/ Sprint

Samsung SCH 2000/2010 w/ Sprint

Whew, that was a nice walk down memory lane. By the way, if you want to look up an old Sprint phone (pre-2005ish), this is a good place to look:

http://www.sprintpcs.com/pages/old_devices.html

Let there be Blog!

So this is my first blog. No idea what I'm doing. And at the risk of being labeled a cheesy bandwagon jumper, I admit that I decided to start my own blog after watching the movie Julie & Julia. And yes, I'm a guy (my wife forced me to watch it...kinda). Embarrassing intro aside, I thought I'd blog about something interesting - like my Blackberry, or perhaps cell phones in general.

Cell phones are fascinating to me. I remember my first cell with Sprint back in the mid-90's when I was in college, and it's amazing how much the technology has changed. And my needs and preferences have changed with it over time. It's ironic that I felt like I needed a cell back then to stay more in touch with friends and family, but after I got one, I became notorious for not returning calls and calling my friends up sporadically at best (this has improved slightly over time). I guess I'm not much of a phone conversation guy. So I justified the monthly payment to myself as a contingency for emergencies. And that made me happy.

I've made my rounds with carriers over the years - Sprint, Cingular, AT&T, Verizon, and now back to AT&T. I've always lived on the East Coast so coverage was never really an issue, since all carriers seem to have made steady improvements here. Phone devices, on the other hand, have changed dramatically. What made me happy back then wouldn't make the cut today, because the number and types of features available in today's phones are mind boggling compared to my first Sprint PCS phone.

Today, I am the proud owner of a Blackberry Bold 9000 with AT&T service. Had it for about a month now and I'm happy with it so far. But I'm still learning how to use the phone, so I'm looking forward to sharing my mobile adventure here with all of you and hopefully pick up a few tips myself along the way.

Best,

pkcho