DO YOU WANT YOUR SMARTPHONE’S BATTERY TO LAST THAT LITTLE BIT LONGER? HERE ARE BATTERY SAVING TIPS FOR EXTENDING THE BATTERY LIFE OF YOUR MOBILE PHONE.
USE YOUR PHONE’S BATTERY SAVERS
Most phones now come with a setting that automatically conserves power. New Sony phones like the Sony Xperia™ Z2 use STAMINA mode for example. Windows Phones like the Nokia Lumia 1020 use Battery Saver. These lower certain settings or display features to make your battery last longer.
USE SPECIAL APPS
Depending on your phone, there are downloadable apps that can help you conserve power. The impressive Snapdragon™ BatteryGuruapp learns how you use your phone and tweaks lots of settings to extend battery life.
There are also apps that automatically turn on or off settings like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Settings can be set to turn off at certain times of the day, or even when you leave home or arrive at work. The best of these apps are Locale and Llama, both for Android.
TURN OFF POWER HUNGRY FEATURES
Check that your Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC and your Mobile Data connection (3G or 4G) are off if you’re not using them. You’ll find the options in the Settings menu for your device.
TURN OFF AUTOSYNC
Auto sync is a setting that constantly checks for updates to your Facebook, emails, calendar and other accounts. You don’t have to turn Autosync off completely. Perhaps you need to know when you get a new email but can just check your other three email accounts and your Facebook manually a few times a day. This will save power.
You can also reduce the number of times your phone syncs. You’ll probably be ok if your emails are checked every five or 10 minutes, instead of having your phone checking every second. Tweaking the settings will make your phone last longer.
If you do turn off all kinds of syncing, get an app like Sinker. Once installed, just open the app and it’ll sync all your accounts, but only when you tell it to.
USE AUTO BRIGHTNESS
The auto brightness setting on modern phones is very good, and will accurately dim the screen depending on the amount of light available. You’ll find the screen still looks its best, but when there’s low light, you’ll be using much less power.
TURN VIBRATE OFF
The physical force of moving the vibration mechanism in a phone actually uses a lot of power. Turning off vibrate alerts reduces energy consumption by quite a lot. If you’re running low on power, you can also disable the vibration whenever you’re typing to make your battery last that little bit longer.
CHECK FOR SOFTWARE UPDATES
Keep checking for updates in your phone’s settings and make sure you install any updates. The new software often includes tweaks and changes to optimize your battery life, without you having to do anything at all!
OUR FINAL TIP: HOW TO CHARGE YOUR PHONE FASTER
If you’re in a real hurry, turn your phone off to charge it. This will shorten the charging time. If you really need to use it for something when it’s charging, turn off anything you don’t need like the Wi-Fi, and darken the screen. If you don’t need to make a call or send a text, you can even put it in Airplane mode.