Battery Life on the Sidekick3
So you’re having bad battery life on your brand new Sidekick 3. Before you open your mouth and start complaining, give this a try:
We tried this and noticed a significant increase in battery life right away. We got to 12+ hours with heavy internet usage all day long. One thing we did notice but aren’t sure of the validity: When indoors and with a bad signal, it seems the battery drains more quickly as it searches for a tower.
On a similar note, yes you will see the battery having weird percentages sometimes after charging. Ours likes to show more than 400%. Either reboot the device (1+@+0 at the same time) or plug/unplug a charger and if should go back to normal.
Finally, hang tight, since the battery is now removable, there are companies out there working on extended life batteries that will keep you going for much longer. Be prepared to drop a few $$s for them though.
July 10th, 2006 at 10:31 am
tmobile locked the mms feature on it.. danger had it onthere tho.. so u send emails..
July 10th, 2006 at 10:31 am
but you can send emails*********
July 10th, 2006 at 10:59 am
thats garbage man
July 10th, 2006 at 11:02 am
yea.. i know… especially when u wanna send sumthin to someones phone.. or get a pic message from some one.. cus u gotta go online to look at it
July 10th, 2006 at 11:35 am
yea i couldnt deal with that, i use mobile to mobile pic messaging so much itd drive me crazy
July 10th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
you can send pictures to them and instead of them sending it to your phone they could jsut type ur email in the “phone number” area…its really not that difficult…only if you whine, and bitch and make it difficult…i do it all the time..i send pictures using the different server script at the end like @tmomail.net or something…and then when they send to me just enter the T-mobile email…whats so hard?
July 10th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
i am having a problem with charging my battery, when i first got my sk3 on the 29th, i turned it on and drained it that evening, while noticing when taking pictures was bad because there was static, i called CC, no help. i felt like i was talking to someone that didn’t know what they were talking and suggested for to try to take a picture in the sunlight the next day, whatever. i have been using the sk since the color sk. anyway, then when i got to work the next day, i started charging it at 8:30 in the morning while it was off and it was still charging at 5. i called CC and told them what was up, the fool i was talking to was trying to tell me all new phones need to charged for 10 hrs, which is a bunch of bull. well i should be getting my replacement on the 12, after talking to numerous CC reps, but now i started charging my sk3 since 7 this morning, while it is off, and i turned it on at 2, checked what the meter said in the menu and it said 97 percent full. it is now 3:30 and it is still animating indicating that it is still charging. this is bad if the new on does the same thing, i never had to charge any of my sk’s for longer than 5 hrs.
July 10th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Ok I hope people are still reading this thread because I have some info that you may or may not know about regarding the battery.
This message is particularly for timebomb and don7juan84real :
I had the same problem as you two. But I read that you should charge the SK3 WHILE IT IS ON. In fact, from what I hear, MOST battery problems have been resolved after people started to charge their device while it is ON. I’m not sure why you have to do this but it has something to do with electrical currents and such. Anyway, it worked for me and lots of others. So drain your batteries people, plug it in while your SK3 is ON, leave it alone or 4 hours or so and it should be good as new. Which it should be considering the fact that it IS new lol Good luck!
July 10th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Thanks for the response GreekPharoah. I called T-Mobile and after talking with 4 different people, someone suggested this to me. It has been on and charging for 4 hours, but still not saying it’s done even though when I unplug it it tells me it’s at 100%. I’m going to drain it completely tomorrow and try again, hoping for the best.
July 10th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Here is a Screenshot of what happens when you click on all the different people on the Sidekick3.com website.
https://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4416/skeggs7xl.png
it says.
CONGRATS!
You uncovered the block party secrets!
Check back on August 11 to find more hidden treats.
July 11th, 2006 at 7:29 am
i always charge my battery when it is on.
this morning i checked the battery and it was at 91% after charging all night long.
CC is such a pain in the neck! they want me to send my phone back before i get another one.
what.the.crap.
did everyone else have to get a new one that way?
July 11th, 2006 at 7:46 am
I GOT MY SIDEKICK YESTURDAY FOR PREPAID AND I MUST SAYI AM IN LOVE WITH IT I ONLY GOT PREPAID(TMOBILE TO GO) CAUSE I HAD SIDEKICK2 LAST YEAR UNTIL THE BEGINING OF THIS YEAR AND COULDNT KEEP UP WITH THE 80 DOLLAR BILL EVERY MONTH LOL.
July 11th, 2006 at 8:49 am
that is so wierd how greekpharoah suggested that to charge when it is on. out of the 4 or 5 times i have charged mine, one time i did leave it on the second time i charged it and it was fine, after 4 and a half hours or so, it was full. when i get the new one, i will do the same and charge it while it is on. did it say that in the manual? i am one to read the manual, but not this time, i will have to look over the whole manual and see what else i need to know. as far as yesterday when i started to charge it at 7, it was still charging at 530 when i was leaving work. i hope charging it while it is on helps, other wise i’ll send it back and i guess i’ll just have to say goodbye to hiptop, even though i really don’t want to, but it makes no sense to be passionate when it causes headache. as far as tmobile not sending one until you send your old one back, apparently it is a new policy on sidekick and blackberry, however if you complain enough you can get a supervisor to approve sending the new one then sending the old one back, i have done that.
July 14th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
mine is fine
it lasts about 11 hrs on a 11pm-6am charge
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 am
The the guy suggesting draining and charging, go read up on lithium ion batteries.
They DO NOT have a “memory” like old school rechargables. In fact, draining a Lithium Ion battery will shorten its life and in some cases kill the battery. For this reason most devices shut down with some charge. (although the battery meter is empty. It’s like how you can drive about 30 miles after the gas light comes on in a car)
This is demonstrated in that, in most cases, you can turn your phone right back on after it forces itself off and the device will shut itself down correctly versus just cutting off like you pulled the battery. Keeping the charge at about half makes the usable life (or lenght of time that the battery will take a charge when recharged) almost triple compared to draining as fully as possable then charging.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
i just got my SK3 and it was on for a
June 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
i just got my SK3 and it was on for about 15 and then it shut off now it wont turn on but when i re plug it in a little circle comes up then slowly fades away whats wrong with it?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:57 am
Hae,
i got a Sk3 about 5 mnths (in june) ago since the first month it hasnt worked??
my mum bought it n i fink its secondhand??
but anywaes….heas the story
wen i got it it as fine but then my grandad died, so we had to fly back were we use to live and i bought my hiptop n the charger wid me..but wen i got back i left my charger bck wea we went
ive been reading and apparently the battery(Lithium-ion rechargeable) doesnt survive without the charger…?????
thiis iis so confusiing
Is the fone dead or is it dead …confusiing????
March 13th, 2010 at 9:37 am
sidekicks suck. thats all i have to say.