Here are five ways to get more out of your smartphone’s battery…
You're catching up with your friends and making the most of your
Sunday. You take out your smartphone, just in time for the perfect group
selfie only to find it running out of battery. Catastrophe!
By following some simple steps you can certainly avoid this situation. Here are five ways to get more out of your smartphone's battery...
- Keep a check on what's eating up your battery: Nail the culprit. On the iPhone (iOS 8+), you can check battery usage under the sub-menu of general settings. On Android phones, you can go to the battery settings. Android offers detailed statistics including battery usage data for screen and Wi-fi. You can then regulate your usage and dismiss any apps open in the background when you're not actively using them. Most Android phones have an `open apps' menu which can be launched by short pressing or long pressing the menu navigation key. The same can be fired up by double pressing the home button on the iPhone. You can also turn off background app refresh for all apps you don't care about in the iPhone's settings.
- Keep screen brightness on a comfortable level: You really don't need to put your phone display on full brightness.At times, even the auto-brightness setting is brighter than what you actually need. Disable that setting and set the brightness at a level that's comfortable to your eyes. Not only will you be saving your smartphone battery, you'll also prevent eye strain caused by screen glare. Although it will appear to be a bit cumbersome, but adjusting settings as per the ambient light in the room will really help in saving precious battery juice.Most Android phones have a brightness toggle in the notifications tray. iPhone running iOS 7+ has this settings in the control centre which can be pulled up from the bottom of the screen.
- Control notifications, disable auto app updates: You really don't need to get notifications from all apps. A number of app notifications are just promotional messages or unnecessary updates. These wake up the phone and turn on the display reducing your smartphone's standby time. The iPhone offers granular notification settings for individual apps. Android also lets you disable notifications through the `Apps' settings.
You should also dis able e-mail for ac counts that are not critical to your work. You can set email accounts to `fetch' instead of `push' and choose to receive e-mails only when you load the email app.
- Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-fi and location services when not needed: Your phone's communication antennas keep scanning for devices and networks when turned on, taking a toll on battery life.Turning off Bluetooth when you're not transferring a file or using wireless headphones is a good idea. Turning off Wi-fi when you don't have access to a Wi-fi network will also help in conserving the battery. You should also turn off location services when not using a navigation app or checking-in on Facebook or Swarm. The phone's GPS receiver constantly looks for a signal if these are turned on. Some apps also use your location information even when they are running in the background.Thankfully, the iPhone lets you manage location settings for each app through the `location services' settings under `Privacy'.
- Carry a portable charger: Most modern smartphones last just about a day with moderate use and less than that if you're a power user. If you want to stay constantly updated with the latest tweets or your Facebook feed, play mobile games in your free time, read the news and still manage to click a few selfies, we'd recommend carrying a good portable charger with you.Almost all smartphones are powered by lithium-ion batteries that don't need to be completely discharged before charging. Carry a car charger so that you can feed your phone while it's not in use.
By following some simple steps you can certainly avoid this situation. Here are five ways to get more out of your smartphone's battery...
- Keep a check on what's eating up your battery: Nail the culprit. On the iPhone (iOS 8+), you can check battery usage under the sub-menu of general settings. On Android phones, you can go to the battery settings. Android offers detailed statistics including battery usage data for screen and Wi-fi. You can then regulate your usage and dismiss any apps open in the background when you're not actively using them. Most Android phones have an `open apps' menu which can be launched by short pressing or long pressing the menu navigation key. The same can be fired up by double pressing the home button on the iPhone. You can also turn off background app refresh for all apps you don't care about in the iPhone's settings.
- Keep screen brightness on a comfortable level: You really don't need to put your phone display on full brightness.At times, even the auto-brightness setting is brighter than what you actually need. Disable that setting and set the brightness at a level that's comfortable to your eyes. Not only will you be saving your smartphone battery, you'll also prevent eye strain caused by screen glare. Although it will appear to be a bit cumbersome, but adjusting settings as per the ambient light in the room will really help in saving precious battery juice.Most Android phones have a brightness toggle in the notifications tray. iPhone running iOS 7+ has this settings in the control centre which can be pulled up from the bottom of the screen.
- Control notifications, disable auto app updates: You really don't need to get notifications from all apps. A number of app notifications are just promotional messages or unnecessary updates. These wake up the phone and turn on the display reducing your smartphone's standby time. The iPhone offers granular notification settings for individual apps. Android also lets you disable notifications through the `Apps' settings.
You should also dis able e-mail for ac counts that are not critical to your work. You can set email accounts to `fetch' instead of `push' and choose to receive e-mails only when you load the email app.
- Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-fi and location services when not needed: Your phone's communication antennas keep scanning for devices and networks when turned on, taking a toll on battery life.Turning off Bluetooth when you're not transferring a file or using wireless headphones is a good idea. Turning off Wi-fi when you don't have access to a Wi-fi network will also help in conserving the battery. You should also turn off location services when not using a navigation app or checking-in on Facebook or Swarm. The phone's GPS receiver constantly looks for a signal if these are turned on. Some apps also use your location information even when they are running in the background.Thankfully, the iPhone lets you manage location settings for each app through the `location services' settings under `Privacy'.
- Carry a portable charger: Most modern smartphones last just about a day with moderate use and less than that if you're a power user. If you want to stay constantly updated with the latest tweets or your Facebook feed, play mobile games in your free time, read the news and still manage to click a few selfies, we'd recommend carrying a good portable charger with you.Almost all smartphones are powered by lithium-ion batteries that don't need to be completely discharged before charging. Carry a car charger so that you can feed your phone while it's not in use.
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