I have been reading in various forums about people that have been shrinking the size of their Blackberry operating system. With the newest update to version 5 (5.0.0.328 to be exact) it seems as if one of the bugs is memory leak with third party themes. Since I like to use the Classic AppleBerry theme which is a look a like to the Mac desktop, the memory leak was an issue for me. I could start out on a fresh battery pull with 29MB of memory and it would drain down to zero in a day or so.
And me being the kind of person that is first to try out a new software, I figured why not dive into the Blackberry OS for a change. The only problem is that I use a Mac and I needed to use a PC to get a shrunk system. Although after doing so with Virtual PC on the Mac, I think I could have just removed certain files from the RIM OS folder that was on my Mac. But anyway I used Virtual PC, went to Verizon web site and downloaded the latest copy of the software. then had to install it on the PC. Used Shrink A OS to drop the size to about half of its original 88Mb. Then copied the folder of files onto the Mac portion of the computer and replaced the RIM OS folder in my library on the Mac that the New Mac Desktop Manager uses to sync and update the Blackberry with.
I backed up my Storm 9530 and then chose the new shrunk system to be reloaded… I am currently waiting on that task to finish, so I will finish this blog after that happens. Just in case there is a problem… or not.
After a battery pull, then restoring some things like Black Berry Messenger, Call Logs, and so forth, the phone so far seems to be back to normal. I sent some test emails and they seem to work, so I guess a few missing thjings will need to be re-entered or synced with Desktop Manager, but all seems well so far. But i will say, the IS NOT a task for anyuone who is not sure of what they are doing. Of course its not like I was sure, but i read enough info and how to’s online to have a good idea that I could do it.
So here it is the next morning… the phone woke up as scheduled at 8:00 AM and emails came in, and SMS messages. All the apps I had on before are there and since I restored my theme settings and call logs and things, the phone is pretty much the same as before I put on the new OS. After the end of the day, it still may leak memory until the third party theme folks make an update, but I can at least feel happy knowing I shrunk my OS from 88Mb to 44Mb. And I am not really some computer geek… I just get curious sometimes about having cutting edge technology in my life. I guess I could switch to the factory theme and see if any issue come up. But really… who cares. I don’t really, I think this was just all a thing to do instead of watching TV or doing something meaningful. Like putting away the three loads of laundry laying on the bed, or emptying the dishwasher.