One big difference between the
‘torchlight’ feature phones and what we call ‘smartphones’ like
BlackBerry, iphone and Samsung S3 and other such brands is battery life.
There’s no way smartphones can match up with feature phones in this regard. Even the best batteries don’t have enough reserves to power big, bright screens, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G.
However, by making a few changes to your phone’s settings (and maybe even changing the way you use your phone a little) you should be able to extend its battery life quite well. The aim here is to show you how to reduce your handset’s power consumption without making it unusable.
Here are eight ways you can boost your smartphone’s battery life.
Dim the screen brightness
Screen brightness is about the highest consumer of battery power. Most phones include an auto-brightness feature that automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness to suit ambient lighting levels. This mode uses less power than constantly running your screen at full brightness would. However, you can get far better results by reducing the brightness (under Settings/Options menu) to the lowest level you can tolerate Even if you do nothing else we suggest, following this one tip will extend the life of your battery dramatically.
Shorten the screen timeout
Screen time out is the amount of time the screen stays lit after receiving input. Under your phone’s display settings menu, you should find an option labeled ‘Screen Timeout’ or Backlight for BlackBerrys. Every second counts here, so set your timeout to the shortest available time. On most Android phones, the minimum is 15 seconds. If your screen timeout is currently set to two minutes, consider reducing that figure to 30 seconds or less. On a BlackBerry, the minimum you can set is 10 seconds.
Turn off Bluetooth
No matter how much you love using Bluetooth to transfer music or photos, once you are done, turn it off. Most phones ask for permission to switch on Bluetooth to send or receive a file, but will not turn it off automatically when done. By turning off the Bluetooth radio, you can add an hour or more to your phone’s battery life.
Turn off Wi-Fi
As with Bluetooth, your phone’s Wi-Fi radio is a serious battery drainer. While you will need to use your home or office Wi-Fi connection rather than 3G for internet access and other data services, there’s little point in leaving the Wi-Fi radio on when you’re out and about. Toggle it off when you go out the door, and turn it back on only when you plan to use data services within range of your Wi-Fi network. Look in the notifications area of you device to know if it’s on or not.
Don’t run apps in the background
Multitasking - the ability to run more than one application (app) at a time - is a powerful smartphone feature. It also burns a lot of energy, because every app you run uses a share of your phone’s processor cycles. By killing apps that you aren’t actually using, you can drastically reduce your CPU’s workload and cut down on its power consumption. For BlackBerry, press the Menu button and scroll to ‘Switch Application,’ a list of all running apps will show up. You can then select the ones not in use and close them. Sometimes, it’s worth closing all the apps and rebooting your phone from time to time as well.
Don’t use vibration only
Some people prefer to have their phone alert them to incoming calls by vibrating rather than playing a ringtone. Unfortunately, vibration uses much more power than playing a ringtone does. After all, a ringtone only has to make a tiny membrane in your phone’s speaker vibrate enough to produce sound. In contrast, the vibration motor rotates a small weight to make your whole phone shake. That process takes a lot more power. If you don’t want to be disturbed audibly, consider turning off all notifications and leave the phone in view so you can see when a new call is coming in. This approach is as courteous to your battery as it is to your friends and colleagues.
Switch from 3G to 2G
It is possible to switch Network Mode from 3G to 2G under Network and Connections Setting under Options menu for BlackBerry. Doing this can double battery power. The only implication is that download speeds are reduce when browsing. Everything else like calls, text messages and BBM, work just as fine under 2G setting.
Use Power-saving modes
Depending on your handset, you may find the manufacturer has provided power-saving features. Enabling this mode manages the phone’s various power-sapping features for you. It might, for example, prevent your apps from updating in the background, dim your screen, reduce the screen timeout setting, disable on-screen animations, and turn off vibration.
By default, this mode usually turns on when your battery level drops to 20 per cent, but you can set it to kick in at 30 per cent instead. And the sooner the phone switches to this power-saving mode, the longer its battery will last.
There’s no way smartphones can match up with feature phones in this regard. Even the best batteries don’t have enough reserves to power big, bright screens, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G.
However, by making a few changes to your phone’s settings (and maybe even changing the way you use your phone a little) you should be able to extend its battery life quite well. The aim here is to show you how to reduce your handset’s power consumption without making it unusable.
Here are eight ways you can boost your smartphone’s battery life.
Dim the screen brightness
Screen brightness is about the highest consumer of battery power. Most phones include an auto-brightness feature that automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness to suit ambient lighting levels. This mode uses less power than constantly running your screen at full brightness would. However, you can get far better results by reducing the brightness (under Settings/Options menu) to the lowest level you can tolerate Even if you do nothing else we suggest, following this one tip will extend the life of your battery dramatically.
Shorten the screen timeout
Screen time out is the amount of time the screen stays lit after receiving input. Under your phone’s display settings menu, you should find an option labeled ‘Screen Timeout’ or Backlight for BlackBerrys. Every second counts here, so set your timeout to the shortest available time. On most Android phones, the minimum is 15 seconds. If your screen timeout is currently set to two minutes, consider reducing that figure to 30 seconds or less. On a BlackBerry, the minimum you can set is 10 seconds.
Turn off Bluetooth
No matter how much you love using Bluetooth to transfer music or photos, once you are done, turn it off. Most phones ask for permission to switch on Bluetooth to send or receive a file, but will not turn it off automatically when done. By turning off the Bluetooth radio, you can add an hour or more to your phone’s battery life.
Turn off Wi-Fi
As with Bluetooth, your phone’s Wi-Fi radio is a serious battery drainer. While you will need to use your home or office Wi-Fi connection rather than 3G for internet access and other data services, there’s little point in leaving the Wi-Fi radio on when you’re out and about. Toggle it off when you go out the door, and turn it back on only when you plan to use data services within range of your Wi-Fi network. Look in the notifications area of you device to know if it’s on or not.
Don’t run apps in the background
Multitasking - the ability to run more than one application (app) at a time - is a powerful smartphone feature. It also burns a lot of energy, because every app you run uses a share of your phone’s processor cycles. By killing apps that you aren’t actually using, you can drastically reduce your CPU’s workload and cut down on its power consumption. For BlackBerry, press the Menu button and scroll to ‘Switch Application,’ a list of all running apps will show up. You can then select the ones not in use and close them. Sometimes, it’s worth closing all the apps and rebooting your phone from time to time as well.
Don’t use vibration only
Some people prefer to have their phone alert them to incoming calls by vibrating rather than playing a ringtone. Unfortunately, vibration uses much more power than playing a ringtone does. After all, a ringtone only has to make a tiny membrane in your phone’s speaker vibrate enough to produce sound. In contrast, the vibration motor rotates a small weight to make your whole phone shake. That process takes a lot more power. If you don’t want to be disturbed audibly, consider turning off all notifications and leave the phone in view so you can see when a new call is coming in. This approach is as courteous to your battery as it is to your friends and colleagues.
Switch from 3G to 2G
It is possible to switch Network Mode from 3G to 2G under Network and Connections Setting under Options menu for BlackBerry. Doing this can double battery power. The only implication is that download speeds are reduce when browsing. Everything else like calls, text messages and BBM, work just as fine under 2G setting.
Use Power-saving modes
Depending on your handset, you may find the manufacturer has provided power-saving features. Enabling this mode manages the phone’s various power-sapping features for you. It might, for example, prevent your apps from updating in the background, dim your screen, reduce the screen timeout setting, disable on-screen animations, and turn off vibration.
By default, this mode usually turns on when your battery level drops to 20 per cent, but you can set it to kick in at 30 per cent instead. And the sooner the phone switches to this power-saving mode, the longer its battery will last.
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