Why did you choose your particular smartphone? If you’re like most people (most informed people, anyway), battery life ranks right up there with OS platform and wireless provider. A rich feature set and a roomy screen are wonderful, but if you’re running from charger to charger with critically low power every few hours, you’re not going to be too happy.
Also read what Joe has to say about Android Smartphone battery issues.
And neither will your battery! You know that prevailing myth about ‘battery memory’ that says you should wait until your battery is almost dead before recharging it? That’s a nasty holdover from the Nickel Cadmium Age (i.e., last century). Repeatedly draining your battery shortens the lifespan of Lithium Ion batteries, which are much happier if you recharge at somewhere between 40 and 60%.
Of course, this also means that you’ll want to get even more battery life, so you can optimize the amount of time between 100% and 40%. Many things go into battery performance, and some of them you’re just stuck with; like the size and capacity (MWh) of the battery, which tends to be smaller because we just like smaller, slimmer, and more lightweight devices in general. However, there are five especially efficient ways to make the most out of your smartphone’s battery:
5 Tips to Protect Your Smartphone’s Battery
1. Go Easy on Ad-Supported Apps
- Most of them constantly connect and reload, which is a major hit to your battery life. Not all free apps have ads; and not all paid apps are ad free. But you can count on any ad-supported app to be a major drain on your battery, especially if it’s using location-tracking to personalize the content.
2. Beware of Apps that Use Too Many Internal Features
- Ads are a particular example, but any app that uses a lot of the ‘internals’ of your phone will suck the juice right out of it. As we’ve said, GPS and other location services are a major concern, but it also goes for vibration alerts, WiFi, Bluetooth, and sensors (accelerometer, compass, etc.)
3. Don’t Allow Push Alerts
- Email is great, Facebook is great, knowing the minute that there’s an update to your apps is great. Et cetera. After all, staying connected on a second-by-second basis is the reason you never let your smartphone out of your sight. Having said that, your battery might be drained twice as fast if you leave email push, social media, and/or app update notifications turned on.
4. Be Vigilant about Apps Mess with Your Display
- Apps and app settings that adjust the brightness and timeout of the screen could be costing you juice. Obviously one of those bright flashlight apps is going to run your battery down, but also keep an eye on things like graphics-intensive games, e-readers, lock screen gadgets.
5. Monitor your Usage
- I’ve been telling you all about apps that you should watch out for, but I’ll change course and recommend two essential types of apps that you should have installed: one to monitor your battery: ideally, with enough detail to let you know exactly what kinds of usage is most draining. And one to kill battery-sucking apps that keep running in the background. There are a few apps that do both quite well; Android users should take a look at Android Assistant(which, ironically, comes in an ad-sponsored trial version).
Do you have any battery issues that you’ve solved on your phone? Let us know your tips in the comments below.
About Author: When he’s not out skiing the Utah powder, Greg Buckskin is a writer and blogger for CableTV.com – home to Comcast Web Deals.
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