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As everyday smartphone users, all we want is battery life to last as much as possible, but nowadays it seems to run out really fast. The amount of battery life our mobiles have on any given day depends on two key factors: how we use them on that particular day, and how we used them in the past.
Given the diverse range of capabilities and multi-functionality of today's smartphones, it’s no wonder that battery life has always been a concern for developers, manufacturers and the users themselves.
While we wait for the hardware development to catch up, the alternative will be to conserve battery life. As it is with our energy levels, battery life can be effectively utilized and managed, leaving nothing to go to waste. Without a battery charger or a spare battery with you everywhere you go, you’ll have to make do with minimizing the consumption of battery juice.
Here are 7 essential tips on how you can conserve your smartphone’s battery.
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Do you really need the brightness to be at 100% all the time?
The answer is obviously no. We all love the colorful display, but it's the battery's mortal enemy. Display consumes most of the battery life, so why not start here. Most phones include an auto-brightness feature that can automatically adjust screen's brightness to suit ambient lighting levels.
This mode uses less power than constantly running your screen at full brightness would, of course, but you'll get even better results by turning your screen's brightness down to the lowest setting that you can tolerate and leaving it there. Even if you do nothing else we suggest, following this one tip will extend the life of your battery dramatically.
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Switch off vibrate. Unless you really need that added awareness, turn off vibration alerts for incoming calls. Vibrating uses much more power than playing a ringtone does. After all, a ringtone only has to make a tiny membrane in your phone's speaker vibrate enough to produce sound.
In contrast, the vibration motor rotates a small weight to make your whole phone shake. That process takes a lot more power. If you don't want to be disturbed audibly, an alternative is turning off all notifications and leaving the phone in view so you can see when a call is coming in.
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Applications can be a big drain on the battery. So it is important that you turn off any and all apps/games/processes that might be running in the background. So make it a habit that every time you finish using any application, be sure that you close the application itself also. Simple going to the home screen doesn't kill the application. It is also worth noting that Bluetooth and GPS take a big toll on your battery's life, so you should try to leave them off as much as possible.
In Android, tap the multitasking button - usually the right-most of the three icons at the bottom of the screen - and you can swipe away apps to close them.
In iOS, double-tap the Home button so the multitasking screen appears, then swipe upwards to close the app. On iPhone X and later models, swipe up and hold from the bottom display and then quick swipe upwards to close the app.
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Smartphones have a smart battery saving mode built in the phone or operating system (for instance, Android has Power Saving Mode and iOS has Low Power Mode). These software features will modify the central processing unit or the CPU, so that it will be used less, by decreasing the brightness, notifications and various hardware options to reduce the energy consumption.
Use Airplane mode when you are not on your phone or while you're asleep. This mode typically disables GSM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS functions on your devices. When turning off all such auxiliary functions, the device will use only up to 5% of its usual energy consumption with the screen off. For comparison, simply having your device in idle can still use more than 15%.
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It seems as though almost every app now polls the internet in search of updates, news, messages, and other information. When it finds something, the app may chime, light up your screen and display a message, make your LED blink, or do all of the above. All of these things consume energy.
You probably don't want to turn off notifications about new text messages or missed calls, but turning off superfluous notifications will help your battery last a little longer, and it will eliminate pointless distractions throughout your day.
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You might have noticed that your battery runs out faster when your smartphone is warm. To put it simply, don't leave it under direct sunlight or in any place that is hot.
One of the more common occurrences would be leaving the smartphone in a car parked under the sun. The battery will function optimally in cooler environments, so do look out for, and try to avoid, scenarios where your phone is exposed to unnecessary and excessive heat.
Overusing your phone might lead to it overheating, so if you notice that during that particular long gaming session when your phone gets hot, it's time to take a break since the heat will increase the battery drainage and may potentially harm your device.
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There are generally two kinds of most commonly used batteries for smartphones: Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and Nickel-based batteries.
Battery capacity in NiCd batteries is reduced every time you recharge them, nonetheless, the NiCd batteries have longer life cycles. Nickel-based batteries should be charged (to the full amount) when they're very low on, and not when there is still a good amount of energy left.
Li-Ion batteries have the longest life cycle among all batteries types thus far, and should also be charged more frequently (even when the battery is not fully used up) to maintain its original capacity.
You can figure out which battery type you have with a quick google search of your phone model.
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Follow the above tips for longer battery life. And please do let me know if I've missed something!
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