Since smartphones require smart apps, in order to be smart these apps require a lot of processing and advanced hardware. More processing and hardware demand more power Hardware and chipsets have evolved but sadly, the batteries aren’t. Day by day as tablets and mobiles are becoming faster, their battery lives are shrinking drastically. In today’s market a device with a decent battery is expected to last a day. But is a single day enough? Think of days when standby times used to be days even weeks. Therefore to save your precious battery, we discuss some simple tips that you can implement. Have a look.
1. Reduce your Screen Brightness
Usually your screen eats away 5-80% of battery power. Reducing the brightness can help you to save a lot of battery.
2. Disable adapters when not in use.
3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS all operate on radio waves and have separate dedicated adapters for functioning each demanding a share of battery. Even though they are designed to be less power hungry, they too drain a considerable amount of battery life. Switch over to 2G if you’re not doing heavy browsing (note there are exceptions too… Xperia J, for instance has a longer battery life over 3G!). Switch off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS when not in use. In this way you can save a lot of battery.
3. Use Wi-Fi Sleep Policy
If Wi-Fi is your preferred way of connectivity and you wish to stay connected then enable the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy. This shuts down Wi-Fi temporarily when no data transfer operation is in progress.
4. Always be updated
Every new version is designed to be low-resource demanding than the previous one. The devs are always busy working hard to give you a longer battery life. So, if there’s an update available, grab it. You’ll get some improvements in battery life as well as performance and of course, new features.
5. Use dark wallpapers
Displays, especially AMOLED screens, use less power to display black than displaying white or other colors. Using dark wallpapers or better black or no wallpapers will help you to increase the battery life up to 10-20%. Also avoid Live Wallpapers, the UI interaction processes and animations also drain a lot of battery.
6. Disable background data
Some like GMail, Whatsapp, Facebook, Viber, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Play, use background data and check for updates and incoming messages all time. This increases the network uptime which in turn drains battery. So it’s better to disable the background data traffic, unless it is absolutely necessary. This will also save your monthly data bill so, double benefit!
7. Prefer Wi-Fi to GPRS
Wi-Fi uses one radio controller with less power as the signal source is very near but GPRS requires much power as the base station may be miles away. If you’re on a 3G/4G then there’s even another radio for it. So prefer Wi-Fi for data intensive operations like streaming, video calling, downloading or installing large apps, uploading files to cloud services etc.
8. Turn off push notifications
Social apps like Facebook, often display push notifications alerting you the updates within the apps. By switching off these notifications, you can save battery life on your handset.
9. Disable Auto-update in Google Play
The Google Play service checks for available updates of installed apps. This creates more data traffic and hence eats away the battery. So advisable to disable auto update. But if you prefer to be always up-to-date opt for “Update over Wi-Fi only”.
10. Prefer less widgets on your desktop
The cleaner the desktop, less is the resource usage hence more battery life. Prefer using less widgets. A simple clock along with some quick shortcuts will do fine.
11. Prefer a good network
The phone puts in more energy in calls when there is a spotty signal. So it’s better to use a service which gives good network in your area.
12. Turn off vibrations
Vibrations use more battery and it’s advisable to turn it off when not required.
13. Keep your device cool
High temperatures shorten the battery life. Batteries perform better in cool temperatures. So keep your phone cool.
14. Do not overcharge
Normally the your phone charges up in 2-3 hours. But if you charge it throughout the day, it lowers the life-time of the battery.
15. Set a rigid bedtime
Many phones provide task scheduling that allows you to turn off certain features after a certain time. Install a management app like Tasker and turn off all non-essential stuff overnight. Or you can even put it in airplane mode. Better if you can power-off your device.
16. Turn off animations and touch feedback
Switching off touch feedback, transitions and other animation effects will extend your battery life. These visual effects increase processor load resulting in battery drain.
Note that these tips apply to all devices in general. Be it an iPad, iPhone, Windows Phone, Symbian or BlackBerry. All you need to do is required settings and tweaks appropriate for your device.