- August 25th, 2011
- Android, Brandon St. Amand, iphone, iPod Touch, Smartphone, tech, Technology
- Brandon
- Comments: 2 Comments
I think the most common complaint I hear about a Smart Phone is the horrendous battery life. Here are a few tips to keep you going and maybe even make it through the day:
1. The biggest drain on most phones is the big, bright, beautiful screen. Some phones have an auto-brightness settings that will dim the screen based on the lighting in the room, which somewhat works, but the best solution is to lower the brightness to something that works for you.
2. Turn off vibrate. It takes a lot more to vibrate the phone than to ring. And turning the ringer down a bit may help too.
3. Manage your background apps. If you have three different Twitter applications, all checking in the background every ten minutes, this will drain your battery more than necessary. Shut down or turn off automatic updates on unnecessary applications. Maybe have your Facebook and Twitter apps check for updates every hour instead of every 2 minutes, no matter how popular you are. Also, turning off push notifications for unnecessary applications will make a difference.
4. Lay off on the Wi-Fi. If you don’t really need anything data-intensive, turn off your wi-fi. You most likely have a fairly good data plan that should be find for simple e-mail and other small things. If you are not near your own Wi-Fi hotspot, the phone will constantly try to find and connect to a signal, which is bad for the battery.
5. Turn off the GPS/Location Services. Again, this will try to connect when you don’t need to.
6. Buy a second battery. You can then easily swap it out when your first one dies. But, like propane tanks on a barbecue, chances are you’ll end up with a big steak on, and two empty tanks…so make sure you charge them!
Most Smartphones are going to be somewhat rough on a battery though, as they get more and more powerful, and do more and more. If you’re going to do a lot of talking, play a lot of Angry Birds, and surf the web, expect to have to charge your phone throughout the day, and always carry your charger with you.
These are just a few tips I could think of. Anyone else have any tips they can share?













