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?

Our Groceries, available for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry – Free (Ad supported. Paid version removes ads)

With 18 month old twins, and a 4 year old, our trips to the grocery store are filled with laughter, tears, tantrums, and arguments, and that’s just my wife and I.

So, suffice it to say, we need to be organized, and attack that store with a strategic approach.

Luckily, my wife is a bit of a gadget geek too, so we both use the Our Groceries application for our phones. You can set up multiple shopping lists, and even create recipes that will add all the ingredients to your list with one click. You can also categorize each item based on the location/aisle in the grocery store.

The greatest feature however is the ability to synchronize multiple devices. So, as I start at the dairy aisle, and my wife starts at the produce, we can see as the other person checks things off the list in real time!

It’s a very simple application to use, and helps us save time and money at the store, even though we do look a little geeky while we shop.

It’s that time of year, where most people have their holiday shopping done, and I haven’t even started. You can ask my wife, and she will tell you that I have no clue what to buy a woman for Christmas, but let me shop for a Geek, and I’m all over it. I’m lucky that my wife is a Geek Chick, and this list can also apply to her!

So, what do you buy that special Geek/Gadget freak for Christmas?

1. A Smartphone – This one is a really bad gift unless you know they really want the commitment. Sure, you’re paying the up-front costs, but you’re also sticking them with a monthly bill of $60 or more. may be a good idea to offer to pay for a few months of usage. There are tons of models out there, and it will all depend on the person you’re shopping for. The safe bet is an iPhone, as it has mass appeal, is simple to use, and is also an iPod, so you can skip my next gift idea. I would buy my wife an iPhone if I was to get her a phone as a gift. For the geek out there, I think an Android phone is the way to go! If the person is all about work, and has no idea what the internet is, then go with a Blackberry.

I don’t have an iPhone, and I’ve been known to openly bash Apple, even though I absolutely love their products. It’s a love/hate thing. I love my iPod touch, and am attached to it, but hate Apple and how proprietary everything they do it. I’m kind of an open source hippy sometimes.

My brother has an iPhone, he’s a technophobe, and his main use for it is to take pictures of himself while pooping at random public (and private) restrooms and then e-mail them to me. Luckily, they are from the waist up. Talk about a waste of an iPhone. Although, it’s no more of a waste than some of the applications that are out there. I mean, iFart? Come on?!?! You have a sophisticated piece of technology, and the best thing you can come up with is making it fart? Check out this video from CollegeHumor on cell phones, it’s great: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1899978.

Okay, back to the point. I’m going to go on record, like many others, and say that Twitter is going to be the biggest thing of 2009, by far. Facebook is now trying to copy it with its new home page, and more and more people are using Twitter. It is no longer just a haven for geeks.

I’ve tried a few iPhone apps for Twitter, and have landed of TwitterFon (iTunes Link). It does pretty much all you need with regards to the feed, friends, following, replying, Tweeting, and even searching…and it’s free! I haven’t tried any of the paid apps yet, because I’m cheap, and this one does everything I need it to do. So, try it out, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Stay tuned for more ways to use your iPhone/iPod touch to its fullest.