Tip of the Week Month Whenever: Turn off the screen duing calls!

Ah...the Tip of the Week, that little column that fell down that busy hole of life. Hopefully we'll be able to bring back this gem on a semi-regular basis. To make up for it, here is a nice little tip that is easy and free.

What we're gonna do is give you a way to turn off the screen (not just dim the back light) during your phone calls.

Why you ask? Simple: one of the top killers of your precious phone battery is the powering the LCD screen.

Click the link to read for the deets!....

When on a 40 minute phone call, the LCD screen is on the entire time, even if the back light isn't. That's wasted power! Your cheek doesn't need to read your email, so let's turn it off, eh?

(BTW, you should have your screen auto-dim to 30 seconds or less under your Settings).

To do this, first download the freeware app "BlackMe" (click here for mobi download). Install as usual.

Next you can just leave it under your "Programs" area and navigate there when on a phone call (boo) or just assign it to a spare key (assuming you have one; if not try AE Button Plus).

For myself, I've assigned it to my "Option + Calendar" button combo on my Treo 800w. Now when a call comes in and I know it may take awhile, I'll quickly hit that key combo and kill my screen. This will not only save some battery life, but will slightly reduce some of that device hotness as well.

But how to turn it back on? Simple. Just hit the "Action key" on your dpad and the screen comes back on and you're facing "BlackMe's" dialogue which allows you to re-enable or Exit. This app is also great for all sorts of intesive activities that you do on your WM device but don't need the screen on (GPS caching, music, remote hacking of Pentagon compu