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 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm [ Quote ]
first : )
July 7th, 2006 at 12:13 pm [ Quote ]
second..****
July 7th, 2006 at 12:14 pm [ Quote ]
ima try that though, maybe ill squeeze a few hours…it did say so on the manual..BUT WHO READS THOSE THINGS RIGHT? lol thats what we have Hiptop3 for xD
July 7th, 2006 at 12:53 pm [ Quote ]
I haven’t had any issues with my battery. I began charging it (out of the box) around 8:30am this morning. And while it was charging, I was messing around with it, and it said 100% charged a little before 12pm.
July 7th, 2006 at 1:02 pm [ Quote ]
u guys need a new game…….IAM 4TH!!! Lols……idk my sk3 batt drains in 5 hours lol I play with it non stop xDD
July 7th, 2006 at 1:34 pm [ Quote ]
if your having any thoughts about your battery i suggest just call and get a new one for free while the problem is up in the air and known about
July 7th, 2006 at 2:07 pm [ Quote ]
what other major problems are ppl having?
July 7th, 2006 at 2:24 pm [ Quote ]
did they update the catalog.. i’ve herd that they did a little.. but i know it hasnt been relased yet.. n its gonna b a while.. but if they did what kinda new ringtones did they get.. or are they still like lighters up n stuff?
July 7th, 2006 at 2:49 pm [ Quote ]
I was able to download AOL Mail* since its been added to the catalog now! There are also some new game apps in the catalog.
July 7th, 2006 at 3:20 pm [ Quote ]
I barely got 12 hours of standby time out of it on the first day with no use. But, as I’ve been draining it completely and then charging it overnight, I’ve noticed an increase in battery life.
Because I work in a basement, my phone is always searching for a signal. The first 4 days of this week I was at 40% when leaving work after a full workday. Today, I was at 50%. So it is getting better.
It’s certainly not perfect, but I’m happy to have the shorter battery life for a removable battery because, as you said, extended life batteries will probably be coming out soon.
b-easy - I’ve noticed a couple of new apps. At least, I don’t think they were there when I got my SK3. I just bought Money Clip today and it’s totally worth the $7. I don’t know about the ringtones, though. I’ve never looked at them.
July 7th, 2006 at 4:06 pm [ Quote ]
Not to be an *** or anything but the SK3 has a lithium Ion battery which doesnt require nor benefit from conditioning. The drain fully and recharge fully thing is for Nickel Cadmium batteries. People having bad battery life are probably just using the device a lot more than usual.
July 7th, 2006 at 4:12 pm [ Quote ]
lol ive been trying what was suggested…been playing music player all day and chatting, making certain phonecalls, playing rock & rocket and its now only half way..this might be because i brought the battery very low last night…
Although new batteries are gunna come out it sucks if you gotta give 60+ dollars for one…i mean if they increase the battery by a lot then sure but for an hour or 2 then nah
July 7th, 2006 at 4:41 pm [ Quote ]
I have no complaints
July 7th, 2006 at 4:48 pm [ Quote ]
Lets make a inquiry….WHO EVER HAS THEIR SIDEKICK 3 ALREADY SAY YAY THOSE WHO DONT SAY NAY and we will see what are the stats like on the site lol it has to be that you physically have it…no on the way or something
July 7th, 2006 at 6:19 pm [ Quote ]
if i report my sk3 lost and i get a new one .. is the old one still useable ?
July 7th, 2006 at 7:37 pm [ Quote ]
no.. most likely they will lock it up
and they will see where its being used.. u can get in big trouble for that..
plus u have to have insurance.. pay the deductable + risk getting caught= bad deal
July 7th, 2006 at 9:29 pm [ Quote ]
hah that would be one hell of a scam, of course they are going to lock it up, did you plan on selling your sk3 to your friend and gettin a new one by paying the deductable?
July 7th, 2006 at 9:40 pm [ Quote ]
the battery really does suck!
July 7th, 2006 at 9:42 pm [ Quote ]
oh yeah im 14th
July 7th, 2006 at 11:29 pm [ Quote ]
July 7th, 2006 at 11:35 pm [ Quote ]
July 8th, 2006 at 12:24 am [ Quote ]
wow it works i tryed it
July 8th, 2006 at 1:15 am [ Quote ]
I’m trying it as we speak…I will have results tomorrow…ill keep you guys posted
July 8th, 2006 at 1:07 pm [ Quote ]
does ne1 know is that OEM card works on the front page?
July 8th, 2006 at 1:43 pm [ Quote ]
i call CC the otther day and they said you dont need to drain the battery so idint my progress today:
turn on at 10:30 central time
playin mp3s alll day
instant messaging all day
battery life 64% at 2:42 central life
is this good
July 8th, 2006 at 3:24 pm [ Quote ]
Guys, seriously try doing this. Fully charge, completely drain, fully charge, completely drain…. After three or four times of doing this, your battery will last a LOT longer.
I’ve had my SK3 for three days. I leave bluetooth enabled on mine 24/7, I do a lot of web browsing and messaging, and I run the mp3 player for several hours at a time. Even when doing all that, my battery lasts longer than my old SK2 did.
You just have to be patient and condition the battery. It makes a world of difference.
July 8th, 2006 at 3:43 pm [ Quote ]
update for the sk3 video will be out around christmas
July 8th, 2006 at 3:49 pm [ Quote ]
I have 2 questions.
1) On average, what is the battery life SUPPOSED to be? 8 hours? 10 hours? 12 hours? Longer?
2) On the SK 2, (while the phoen was off) the battery would indicate that it was fully charged by not flashing the battery icon anymore. However, my SK3 has no such indication. Even if it’s fully charged, it’s still flashing as if it is charging. Is this just me?
July 8th, 2006 at 3:52 pm [ Quote ]
Oh, one more.
How many hours do you guys chare it?
July 8th, 2006 at 3:52 pm [ Quote ]
R kritikal how do u know the video update will be available by christmas?
July 8th, 2006 at 4:12 pm [ Quote ]
Hey is that pumpjack a good game for the sk3?
July 8th, 2006 at 4:32 pm [ Quote ]
i am a reliable man with a reliable source, all my other info has been correct hasn’t it (when people doubted me about the sk3 being $349.99 when available) so thats your xmas present from t-mob, video update, merry christmas
July 8th, 2006 at 4:54 pm [ Quote ]
lol nice…but umm this battery thing, conditioning…i believe i read it somewhere and thought…damn i never do that with my new phones…so i did it once, my battery is still at 82% since 1:30 eastern time, it is now 6:55 eastern time…i guess its pretty good…i will try it a few more times and then play the mp3 player all day and see the results…but yeah i think this actually works
July 8th, 2006 at 5:21 pm [ Quote ]
question does anyone else have a problem like when you answer your phone there is like a pause until the person can hear you?
also does anyone else miss their sidekickII like me
July 8th, 2006 at 6:14 pm [ Quote ]
Charging time:
I usually put mine on the charger when I go to bed, and let it charge all night. After being discharged/recharged a couple times, I’ve noticed that charge time is about the same as it was for the SK2: roughly 4 hours.
And yes, the little lightning bolt “Charging” indicator disappears when the battery is fully charged, just like the SK2 did.
July 8th, 2006 at 6:20 pm [ Quote ]
Oh, and regarding this:
“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.”
This sounds about right. Most cellular devices vary the radio’s transmitter power to maintain a constant signal. When near a tower, the device reduces power to conserve the battery, since it doesn’t need to transmit at full blast to reach the tower. In a fringe area, it’ll max out the transmitter power in order to keep the connection.
Actually, I think I remember the manual to my old Motorola v70t explaining this.
July 8th, 2006 at 7:10 pm [ Quote ]
Yeah, thanks SDWolf. I also just read the manual and it says exactly what you said. The problem is, mine doesn’t indicate that it’s done charging. And yes, I let the battery drain before I charge it and I charge it all night. In fact, it got 18 hours in its last charge. My battery isn’t really suffering because of this, but I still wonder if I should bring it to CC attention or not.
July 9th, 2006 at 1:29 am [ Quote ]
im having a weird problem with my sk3. When i put it on charge it doesn’t even indicate that its charging. This is the first time its done it. Im just wondering if anyone else has had the same problem or if anyone could help me out
July 9th, 2006 at 10:26 am [ Quote ]
Hmmm will see how accurate you are I guess around christmas
July 9th, 2006 at 7:23 pm [ Quote ]
I think there will be an update for video way before Christmas. That’s just too long to wait especially since T-Mobile know that we want this feature bad. Sure they hold off on a lot of stuff but they are usually oquick with firmware uprades and the like.
July 9th, 2006 at 7:54 pm [ Quote ]
ha! i mock thee…how long did it take T-mo for a basic update to javascript enabled browser…lol
just because we really want something doesnt mean they are going to do it…do you not think it would have been an excellent selling point to include video from the beginning..why do it after it has been released? you wouldnt capitalize on it…
and RKritikal…how do you figure we are to watch video on our crappy resolution screens?…
July 9th, 2006 at 8:26 pm [ Quote ]
thats not my problem about the crappy resolution, im just going by what i heard, i asked why wasnt video out when the sk3 came out, the person said video isnt ready for it yet, and they didnt want to delay the sk3 release any longer…
July 9th, 2006 at 8:54 pm [ Quote ]
hmmm…seems plausible…if your “source” is reliable…then we might just be playing cat themed videos on our cat remote controls by the time Saint Nick comes around….
July 9th, 2006 at 8:59 pm [ Quote ]
Stop crying I can’t wait for video on the sk3 its goin be hard
July 9th, 2006 at 9:31 pm [ Quote ]
uhhh??? crying?
July 10th, 2006 at 12:38 am [ Quote ]
haha, but still no mms? so every video/pic has to be seen on the phone itself or sent to an email??
July 10th, 2006 at 12:58 am [ Quote ]
correct me if i’m wrong… i heard you can’t check ur e-mail with the sk3’s internet… (yahoo, msn?… is that correct..?
July 10th, 2006 at 6:21 am [ Quote ]
Yahoo and MSN both have mobile sites designed specifically for PDA’s and smart phones. You can check your mail on the mobile versions of their sites.
Yahoo >> http://mobile.yahoo.com
MSN >> http://mobile.msn.com
July 10th, 2006 at 7:44 am [ Quote ]
^ I hope this is wrong, as you can do this on the SK2! Ill find out today, when I pick mine up. If this is the case, it will be going back as soon as I purchased it!
July 10th, 2006 at 9:55 am [ Quote ]
GreekPharoah: My sidekick 3 also will not “fully charge”. I got one last week, and left it in the wall for at least 15 hours… and it wouldn’t indicate a fully charged battery. I called T-Mobile and they suggested I return it for a new unit. I did this, and even the new one won’t show it as being fully charged when I leave it in the wall all day. Glad to know I’m not the only person having this problem. Anyone else have comments regarding this? Should I take this one back again before my 14 day period is up?
July 10th, 2006 at 10:31 am [ Quote ]
tmobile locked the mms feature on it.. danger had it onthere tho.. so u send emails..
July 10th, 2006 at 10:31 am [ Quote ]
but you can send emails*********
July 10th, 2006 at 10:59 am [ Quote ]
thats garbage man
July 10th, 2006 at 11:02 am [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
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 ***** 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 [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
Here is a Screenshot of what happens when you click on all the different people on the Sidekick3.com website.
http://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 [ Quote ]
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.****.
did everyone else have to get a new one that way?
July 11th, 2006 at 7:46 am [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
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 [ Quote ]
mine is fine
it lasts about 11 hrs on a 11pm-6am charge
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 am [ Quote ]
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.