Palm Treo 680 Power Saving Tips

Introduction

Many reviewers frequently comment that battery life of the 680 is inadequate, especially in comparison with the earlier models. I'll give you a list of things that can be done to increase the life of your battery and to lengthen operation time between charges. Please understand that different users will get different results and ultimately, battery life depends on the type of use and the user. I can only say that if you follow some of these tips, you may get better results.

Identifying the Culprits

So, what are the main power draining features on your phone? The Screen: Treo 680 has a beautiful, large and colorful display that is a pleasure to look at. It also drains a lot of battery power whenever it's on at full brightness. Telephone Calls: Somewhat obviously, making a lot of phone calls uses a great deal of battery charge. External Speaker: In combination with playing games and making phone calls, the speaker adds an additional drain on the battery. Automated Functions: Whenever the Treo is set to execute some automated function like alerts, E mail checking etc., it uses extra charge as well.

Important Note: My suggestions will alter the way some of these and other functions operate. You can choose to use all of them or pick the ones that suit your style. I will put personal and side notes in bold [ ]. You can skip those and still complete all the tasks. Also, to set up your phone for quick preferences menu access, please refer to Other Useful Tweaks at the end of this guide.

Condition Your Battery!

[So, you just got your phone or about to get one. You're probably very excited and that will help us to cycle your phone faster. I would suggest that you complete this process when you have some time and access to a power outlet.]

First, your battery will have some charge in it from the very start. Put it in your phone and start using it. Let the battery run out of charge completely. The Treo will warn you that the battery is low on power and suggest that you recharge it. Do not listen to the Treo. Keep running the phone until it turns off by itself. Once the Treo shuts down, turn it back on and play with it until it shuts down again. Keep repeating this process until you can no longer turn on the phone. Once the battery is completely "dead" you can plug in the charger and fully charge your PDA. Please resist the temptation to unplug your PDA until it is 100% charged.

The next step is fun. You should keep playing with the phone and get to know it very well. Make some phone calls or go through the rest of the guide. Do whatever you wish to discharge the battery. When the Treo is almost out of charge repeat the process above. It will seem that the battery life is really short, but remember that you were constantly using the phone at its maximum. I suggest repeating the entire process at least two times.

The Tweaks

1. Adjust Screen Brightness

 On the Treo navigation controls, press the Home button. That will take you to a list of programs and functions where you should select Preferences ("Prefs"). From a list of General Preferences, choose Power and press enter (center navigation button).

 Navigation Keys and Center (confirm/select) button.

Slide the Brightness bar to the left to dim the display. At first it will seem uncomfortably low compared to the initial settings, but your eyes will get used to it quickly and the power savings are significant.

Set Auto-off  for 30 seconds (select from a drop-down menu). That will make sure the screen turns off soon after you're done using the phone. Select 30 seconds for On Call, dim backlight after: option. Select Beam Receive Off only  if you won't be using the Infra Red (IR) functions like file transfers from phone to phone, etc.

Now your Screen is set up to save you battery power.

2. Sound Preferences

In the Preferences menu select Sound & Alerts. Select Vibrate function to Never. I could never feel the vibrations anyway, so it wasn't that big a deal not to have it on. It's really up to you , but it will help conserve battery power.

Right underneath, check the box next to Escalate ring tone volume. This sets the ringer to start softer and get louder. If you pick up the phone when the ringer is not going full volume, you save battery power by not taxing the speaker as much.

When you're playing games, you might have an in-game option to turn down the sound. I would use that option to lessen the drain on the battery.

3. VersaMail Power Options

Every time your PDA connects to a network, it makes a data phone call. Adjusting how often the application does this helps conserve power.

Select the VersaMail application either from the Pfrefs menu or by pressing the mail short cut key 

Press the Menu selection key on the bottom right of the keyboard . Use the navigation keys to select the Options drop down menu. Select Preferences.

 From this menu select Auto-sync. Here you can set how often your device connects to the data network to download email. Choose a less frequent setting that is comfortable for you or uncheck the Mail box and connect manually.

From the VersaMail Preferences menu select Alerts. Check the box next to Alert me of new mail and uncheck the box next to Alert me of failures. From the Alert Sound drop-down box select None. And Finally, from the VersaMail Preferences menu select Connections. Make sure the Auto-disconnect box is checked.

[FYI. Usually, your network will install the proper connection settings for the PDA. Some settings will periodically connect the Treo to the network and disconnect after downloading the messages, while other type settings will remain connected to the data network (green indicator arrows). I'm not an expert on this, but the native settings on my T-mobile network connect periodically, while the settings that I set up through a representative (I called them up) keep my device connected at all times.]

4. Bluetooth

If you're not using Bluetooth: In the Preferences menus select Bluetooth. Highlight Off and press the center navigation button. Press Done on the screen. Next, select Hands Free in the Preferences menu and uncheck the box next to Always route call to Hands-Free.  Press Done (or select done by using navigation keys and press the center button).

[Using these settings will stop the 680 from constantly checking for the device. It's  a minor tweak, but you should probably turn off Bluetooth if you're not using it.]

Other Useful Tweaks

1. Preferences Quick Access

You can set the side key on the Treo for quick access to the main Preferences menu.

    By pressing and holding this key, you can quickly access the main Preferences menu. Here is how:

Press the Home Button  and select Prefs from the list of programs and functions. Under Personal choose the Buttons sub-menu. Locate Press+Hold Side button option and select Prefs from the drop down menu. Now you can quickly access your main settings page.

2. Key Guard Options

For more power savings you can set the screen to turn of after 15 seconds. However, that could get really annoying because the Keyguard will activate as well. You can set the key-guard to engage 5 seconds after the screen goes blank. This way you will have the time to press the power button or one of the short-cut buttons to turn the screen back on. Here is how:

Go to the Main Preferences (Prefs) menu and select Key-guard. From the Auto-Keyguard drop down menu select 5 seconds after power off.

3. Touch Screen During Phone Calls

[The touch screen is great most of the time, however, many people complain that various functions activate while on a call because they accidentally touch the screen with their ear or cheek. In my case, I always touched the Make another call button. That got really annoying because the phone kept beeping while I was talking to people. Even if the touch screen is off during phone calls, you can make selections by using the navigation keys.]

Quick Access the Prefs menu and select Keyguard. Under the Disable touchscreen when: heading uncheck Incoming calls received and check On a call.  That will allow you to answer the call with the touch screen, but will turn it off while you're talking.

4. Speed up your Treo

Like any computer, your Treo uses internal memory to operate together with its 300mhz processor. When we download and store files in the Treo's internal memory, the treo slows down because there's less "room" for the treo to use while operating.  To speed up your Treo, get an SD memory card to store all of your files.

Thank you for Reading my Guide. I hope you were able to find some useful tweaks in it.