Making your phone battery last longer requires a combination of good usage and practices. Over the last few years, the use of powerful mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other portable electronics has been on the increase. With advanced features and functionalities, today’s mobile devices have changed the way people communicate, work and monitor a wide range of things.
Despite the developments of new and advanced electronic hardware, the phone battery technology has not kept pace, and users must keep on charging their devices from time to time. On a busy day, you will probably charge your smartphone several times.
This has largely been due to the power-hungry electronics such as processors, large, bright screens, cameras, Wi-Fi other radios as well as powerful apps. These are consuming more energy, thereby draining the batteries faster despite their relatively larger capacities. Due to some design limitations, users cannot do much other than regular recharging or carry with them portable power banks.
Extending your phone battery
Sometimes the above options are not practical and you may need to do do with the little charge on your smartphone or tablet. The good thing is that there is still a lot that you can do in order to extend the little battery power on your phone till the next charge. However, you have to do away with some functionalities, especially when you are traveling or not in a position to charge the smartphone and you do not want to go offline.
Below are some of the ways you can extend your phone battery
- Keep your cell phone away from heat
- Use the power-saving mode
- Keep your cell phone away from heat
- Keep the volume down
- Turn off Wi-Fi, Location and Bluetooth radios
- Lower the screen brightness
- Reduce the screen timeout period
- Turn off notifications
User your cell phone in silent mode
Heat beyond a certain level will deteriorate the electronic components, reducing their operational efficiency and degrading the overall performance. This reduces battery life because it also uses electronics components and some temperature-dependent battery material.
For these reasons, keep your smartphone away from heat such as placing them on hot surfaces, on the car dashboard or seat, directly under the sun and other hot places.
Use the power-saving mode for better phone battery
A power-saving mode extends the battery life by turning off some of the functions. Most of the smartphones have several inbuilt power modes in the operating systems. Some have the normal mode and the power saving mode, while others may have an Ultra power-saving mode. The normal saving mode is customizable such that you can choose what to turn off and what to leave on.
The ultra saving mode provides the best savings by turning off the most apps and functions, leaving a black background, reduced brightness and basic functions – clock, contacts, dialer, and text messages.
There are also some third-party apps that you can use to add the power saving functionality either to enhance the inbuilt apps or when your phone doesn’t have the power saving modes.
User your cell phone in silent mode
The vibrator is a great and convenient function just as the sound ringer with customizable ringtones. However, these come at a cost as far as the battery life is concerned. Some of us prefer using both notifications, and there are a variety of combinations; vibrate and ring, vibrate and ring with ascending sound, and many more.
This happens whenever there is an incoming call, message, email, or social media updates. There is even of enabling the notification on every time one taps a key when writing a message or performing other functions.
Keep the volume down
The ringer volume is also another battery drainer and if you must use the function, better keep the volume as low as practically possible. The same goes when listening to music or playing multimedia files such as videos or games.
The amount of sound from the smartphone is directly proportional to the power used. A higher volume uses more battery power to supply the amplifier and other associated components. Keep the volume low and this will get some more minutes from your smartphone battery.
Turn off Wi-Fi, Location and Bluetooth radios
The Wi-Fi and other radios in the smartphone are not always required, so it will be advisable to turn them off and only switch them on when required. It is also unlikely that all of them will be used at the same time. Wi-Fi, in particular, is one that consumes the battery most, especially when the Wi-Fi signal is low.
During this time, it must search and boost the signal. The location and GPS will also consume the battery as they keep on polling to get the locations. Unless required, turn all these radios off.
If practically possible, use the 2G cellular signal for internet access if the speed is not an issue, otherwise, us the 3G or 4G instead of the Wi-Fi, unless the data are too expensive.
Lower the screen brightness to extend the phone battery
The smartphones are now using large, high resolution and bright screens which require more power to perform. However, they are also big battery drainers and it is important to lower the brightness to just what is enough.
Reduce the screen timeout period
Configure your smartphone to turn off the screen whenever it is not in use. There are customizable automatic options. Set this to the lowest time possible, which is either 15 or 30 seconds. This avoids your smartphone using the battery power to light the screen when you are not using it or when in the pocket.
Turn off notifications on your smartphone
We all want to be up to date with our emails, social media, politics and anything else that is happening around us. This has been made possible by the numerous apps and access to the internet. However, it comes at a cost; the apps must keep on polling and checking the internet for updates. When doing this they use the processor power in addition to Wi-Fi or cellular networks, hence draining the battery further.
The notifications must also use the ringer or vibration to alert you whenever there is an update. If possible, turn off the apps and notifications, you can update these manually.
Other things you can do to save the smartphone battery life include;
- Close unused apps
- Do not use live wallpapers
- Minimize the use of the torch
- Minimize the use of a camera and flash.
Conclusion
Despite improvements in the electronics, hardware, and software in mobile devices, the batteries seem to have been left behind. The battery life is shorter than what most users would wish for, and users must keep on charging the phones every now and then.
However, by changing a few things in the way you use your gadget, you can add a few more minutes if not hours of your battery life. These can be very useful if you in a place with no power, such as when traveling or in remote areas. It may require some sacrifice, but it will enable you to keep your phone on till the next charge.
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