AccuTracking

I just bought Increase / 1415 Nextel Motorola phones - have less than a day - and find this 'feature' (if you want) is very disturbing. I realized that if I leave the screen will be dark for a while, before connecting the battery charger seems to have remained unclear. However, if the display light when I plug it in, left, gives "connected device" message, or whatever.

Looking around the web, I see that Mototola offers a choice of plug-in keyboard device for this model. I wonder if this has something to do with it - for example, if the screen should be operated for a text message with an external keyboard!??!?!

I'll post later if I find an answer to this vexing problem .............

In order for this to work, the backlight must first be manually turned off in the menu. Also, rather than going into the menu and selecting "run in background, " from the Accutracking screen, just puch the red hangup button once and the light goes off immediately. Great info! Thanks.

AS FAR AS INCOMING TEXT OR THE WALKIE TALKIE FEATURE I BELEIVE YOU CAN TURN THEM OFF USING THE PHONES FEATURES
I415 GO TO MENU THEN HIT MORE,GO TO PROFILES. HIGHLIGHT STANDARD HIT MENU THEN HIT EDIT . SCROLL DOWN TO CALL FILTER HIT OK THEN CHANGE EACH CATEGORY TO ON. HOPE TAT WORKS JUST STARTED WITH THIS MYSELF FOR ABOUT A WEEK NOW AND SEEMS OK

There is a way around this but it will permanently turn off the backlights.

Tools:
T6 screwdriver
Low wattage soldering iron/desoldering tool

1)Open up the phone using the T6 screwdriver
2)Carefully remove the circuit board
3)desolder the LEDs on the keypad part of the cirtcuit board (becareful to not desolder the capacitors)

--the hard part---
4)carefully disconnect the display ribbon from the circuit board
5)dismantle the layers of the display to get the actual display ribbon
6)VERY carefully desolder the LEDs from the display ribbon (they're significantly big and white...you can miss them)
--If you mess this step up you'll destroy the display ribbon
7)reassmble everything

Yep! This situation stinks -- thinking about returning the phone to Best Buy, if I can't find a workaround. Turning off the backlight, in the menu settings doesn't even work.

The thing is, I'll bet all these Nextel/Motorola phones do it...

Here's the problem, if you will...

The problem is actually worse than I indicated in my earlier message.
An incoming call or text message -- apparently any kind of alert -- will also turn the light on, and leave it on, when there is an external supply. For example, the recent message Boost sent to all subscribers about the increase in data pricing turned the lights on on my units.
Call forwarding can handle incoming phone calls, but I don't know of a way to suppress alerts for incoming text messages.
The only mitigation that I can think of is to have an external supply that cycles: say, comes on for an hour to charge the internal battery, and then switches off for 5hours (say) until it is nearly discharged. The light seems to go off reliably when there is no external power source.
But, there must be losses in transferring charge between batteries, and the external supply would also need to be regulated, which incurs further losses (right now I am using external 6V lead-acid batteries, which can only be attached safely when the internal battery is fully charged).

I just bought a Boost/Nextel Motorola 1415 phone -- had it less than a day -- and find this 'feature' (if you will) extremely annoying. I've noticed that if I let the display go dark, for a while, before plugging in the charger, it seems to stay dark. However, if the display is lit when I plug it in, it stays lit, giving a "Device Plugged In" message, or whatever.

Looking around on the web, I noticed that Mototola offers an optional plug-in keyboard device for this model. I wonder if that has something to do with it -- for instance, if the display is supposed to stay lit for text messaging with the external keyboard?!?!?!

I'll post back later, if I find an answer to this irritating problem...

Very interesting find...

[replying to my own question, just for the record...]

I found a hack that disables the backlight with the charger attached.
1. Attach charger, start Accutracking app (either order)
2. Choose menu item "run in background"; "Suspended apps" dialog appears, backlight goes off.
3. Leave well alone. Eventually boost main screen appears, app continues to run.

The amount of current consumed @6V falls from ~200mA (backlight on) to ~70mA (off).

If a key is pressed, or the power interrupted, the light comes back on.

I'm using an i415 unattended, connected to a lead-acid battery.
The backlight turns on and stays on when the battery is attached via the charger cable.
Is there any way to shut it off, to extend the battery's life? The backlight timer doesn't appear to operate when the cable is attached.