Tips and Tricks
Monitor and Maximize Your BlackBerry Smartphone Memory
To get the most out of your BlackBerry® smartphone, you’ll want to make sure you maximize your device’s flash memory (impacts how much data you can store) and battery life. [Flash memory is memory that can be electronically erased and reprogrammed, but does not need power to maintain the information stored on the chip.]
Read on for more tips on making sure your BlackBerry smartphone is always ready when you are:
Q: How do I see approximately how much flash memory my smartphone has?
Q: How do I maximize the free space on my BlackBerry smartphone?
Q: How do I maximize battery power on my BlackBerry smartphone?
Q: How do I see approximately how much flash memory my smartphone has?
A:
- On the Home screen, open Options.
- Select Status.
- The File Free field shows the approximate amount of available flash memory available for data. If you want to make sure that this value is as accurate as possible, restart the BlackBerry smartphone to initiate a full garbage collection. For instructions, click here.
- The File Total field shows the amount of available flash memory after loading the wireless transceiver, operating system, and basic applications.
- To see the approximate amount of occupied flash memory on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps.
- On the Home screen, open Options.
- Select Status.
- Display the menu and select Database Sizes.
To read more about how your BlackBerry smartphone uses available memory and how the “Low Memory Manager” application works, click here.
Q: How do I maximize the free space on my BlackBerry smartphone?
By taking active measures to maximize the BlackBerry smartphone's available flash memory, you can help to free up memory for regular operations:
- Use a media card to store files like songs, pictures, videos, voice notes, and ring tones, or the pictures you take with the built-in cameras. To make sure the built-in camera is set up to save picture files on the media card, click here for instructions.
- Remove unnecessary features and applications to increase the available flash memory on the BlackBerry smartphone. For instance, use the Setup Wizard application to remove languages that you do not use.
- Minimize the number of contacts stored in the Address Book by using the remote address lookup feature when you need to send an email message rather than store company contacts in the Address Book (certain system requirements needed).
- Delete old items - you can delete old and unused items and also adjust settings so that the BlackBerry smartphone deletes old items as part of its regular routine maintenance.
- Delete Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages that are no longer needed. Because MMS messages can contain large media files and cannot be stored on a media card, MMS messages can use a lot of flash memory. You can save the media files attached to an MMS
message to a media card beforehand.
- Change the Keep Appointments setting to reduce the number of old calendar events using flash memory.
- Clear the browser cache often.
- Adjust settings for optimal storage efficiency on your BlackBerry smartphone.
- In BlackBerry® Desktop Software, set messages to stop being forwarded to the BlackBerry smartphone when it is cradled.
- Flash memory is used to download and display email messages on the BlackBerry smartphone. Set the Auto More option to No to make sure that only the sections of the email message that you want to read on the BlackBerry smartphone are downloaded, displayed, and thus,
stored in flash memory. By setting the Auto More option to No, the BlackBerry smartphone displays approximately the first 2 KB of an email message; you can display more of the email message by selecting More on the menu.
- For BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Smartphone Software 3.8 or 4.0, set the BlackBerry smartphone to allow content compression. Although content compression causes the BlackBerry smartphone to work harder (thus, using more battery power), it will make sure
that email messages use the least amount of flash memory that is possible.
Q: How do I maximize battery power on my BlackBerry smartphone?
A: Battery power can be maximized by following these simple suggestions:
1. Use BlackBerry smartphone shortcuts to access common system features quickly. For instructions, see the Getting Started Guide for your BlackBerry smartphone. Using shortcuts allows you to do the same things on your BlackBerry smartphone more quickly and efficiently, while saving battery power.
Some common shortcuts include the following:
- To delete a highlighted item, press the Delete key.
- To select or clear a check box, press the Space key.
- To view available values in a field, press the Alt key.
- To switch applications:
- Hold the Alt key and press the Escape key.
- Continue to hold the Alt key and highlight an application.
- Release the Alt key.
2. Set the Auto On/Off option to turn off the BlackBerry smartphone at a time of day when you are not using it (such as at night), and turn on again at a time of day that you are ready to use it (such as in the morning just before you wake up).
To set the Auto On/Off option on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:
- On the Home screen, open Options.
- Select Auto On/Off.
- Specify the on and off times.
- Tip: Set the BlackBerry smartphone to turn on just before you need to use it, (such as a few minutes before you wake up in the morning) so that the BlackBerry smartphone has a chance to receive the email messages sent to you during the time that
the BlackBerry smartphone was turned off. This way, the email messages have already been received when you are ready to read them.
3. When a particular wireless connection is not needed, use the Manage Connections application on the BlackBerry smartphone to turn off the connection.
For example, if you do not need to use Bluetooth® technology, you can use Manage Connections to turn the Bluetooth connection off.
To turn the Bluetooth connection off on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:
- On the Home screen, open Manage Connections.
- Click Bluetooth.
- Note: Using Manage Connections, turn the mobile wireless transceiver off when you know you are out of range of the mobile network. Turning the mobile wireless transceiver off prevents the BlackBerry smartphone from continually attempting to locate
the mobile network, which uses a lot of battery power.
Keep reading: To read more about keeping your BlackBerry smartphone streamlined, including information on causes of decreased performance,
and a table with the amount of memory used by each optional application, click here.
For more Troubleshooting Tips visit the BlackBerry Technical Solution Center
Where to find help:
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