Mobile Phones & Broadband

[Ira-BBYM]

Originally posted at Best Buy Mobile Magazine

We’ve all been there before. It’s a normal day like any other. You pick up your phone to send out a quick message when all of a sudden it hits you… that awful sound… beep beep — LOW BATTERY!!  It’s only 3 o’clock, and you won’t be home for three hours! A feeling of panic washes over you as you rush to find a charger.

Do you need help avoiding this terrifying situation that plagues us all far too often? Don’t worry, there are things you can do to alleviate the drain on your smartphone’s battery. If poor battery life is keeping you tied down to your charger, here are some tips to help free yourself from that wire.

Manage your phone
Our smartphones are doing what seems like a million different tasks all at one time.  While multitasking is one of the biggest benefits of owning a smartphone, it also is the biggest battery killer. The best thing you can do to increase your battery life is simple: don’t make your phone do more than it needs to.

Don’t make your phone search for signals that are not there. When you are not in Wi-Fi, turn it off.  If you are not using Bluetooth, go ahead and disable it.  The same goes for 4G. If you are not in a 4G area, or if you don’t need internet at the moment, switch it off! Screen brightness is another one that can go. Most people don’t need to have the backlight set to the max all the time. Turn it down when you don’t need it and put it back when you do. Many of the applications that are running in the background may be draining your battery too.  Make sure your programs are really closed out when you are done with them.  If they stay on, they may run in the background and strain your battery too.

Apps
Some people swear by task managers like Advanced Task Killer and Advanced Task Manager.  These are apps that close out programs automatically so they don’t run in the background; it definitely may be worth a try if you are really struggling with your battery level.  I prefer apps like Juice Defender and One Touch Battery Saver, because they are made specifically to save battery life and are easy to use and manage.

Additional batteries
There are also battery extending devices and extended life batteries that are always an option to purchase.  The Mophie Juice Pack is a case that packs a battery inside to at least double your battery life.  Lots of people go with extended batteries for their phones, which are available for many devices.  These will definitely improve battery life significantly, but they will add some bulk to the phone too.  There are also portable chargers so you can juice up on the go without being tied down.  These can be a life saver if you are stuck somewhere without a charger.

I hope this helps you make it through your day with some juice left in your phone!

[pinkzroxor]

good tip. Thanks Ira !
but at the same time, Android phones allow users to switch batteries so you can actually use the phone at full performance and carry around extra batteries and it'll be fine

[xl]

I'd like to offer my tips for getting more use of your phone…

• Lower the brightness.  Does it really need to be set to maximum?
• Consider turning the phone off or disable the cell signal when the phone isn't used (sleeping? At work? Driving?)
• Consider disabling Bluetooth, wifi, hotspot, and gps features when not being used.  Make sure you don't have Google Map running in the background.
• Choose a phone with a smaller screen?  Some phones are half screens to maximize battery life.
• For an extended battery, I like Energizer's Energi 2 Go.  However, I use low-discharge Eneloop NiMh as a fuel of choice.  Great when travelling, especially on a tour bus.
                                  
• After 2 or 3 years, the battery will not hold a charge compared to when it was new.  Consider phones where you can replace the battery yourself for the cost of a dinner instead of a few days pay with a hair dryer.
• Some phones are designed to shorten it's battery life each time you charge.  Avoid these models.
  http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/031710-how-to-know-if-your.html

I like Blackberries.  Make mine a Torch!

[ncoclub]

I am considering buying a Motorola Razr XT 912 next month when I can get a discount for being a loyal Verizon customer. I watched the video that Verizon offers on the Razr. This video said you don't need task managers on this phone. Do you recommend using one like I now have (Advanced Task Killer)? Also, if the Razr uses Gorilla Glass should I buy an additional screen protector as well? On the battery side. The owners manual says the user cannot remove the battery. How then do you reboot the phone (other than turning it off, then on)? On my old phone there have been many instances where the only way I could get it to come back on was to physically remove, then reinstall the battery? Thanks for any input anyone can give here.

[Entropy]

BTW, on many newer phones, the standby drain of the wifi chipset is so low that it is best to leave it on all the time - background data routed over wifi uses far less energy than routing it over cell data.

Similarly, leaving GPS enabled should not drain your battery unless an app misbehaves - it's not just "left on" - it is only powered when an app wants it to be.

Never use automatic task killers - only use task killers when an app seems to be misbehaving, such as by holding a wakelock (preventing the device from sleeping).  I usually task-kill Facebook when I'm done with it, and Skype is a notorious battery hog.

An app called BetterBatteryStats on the Android Market is great for hunting apps that misbehave - the standard battery utility in Gingerbread isn't too good at blaming wakelock holders.  ICS is better in this regard.

[xl]

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Entropy wrote:

Similarly, leaving GPS enabled should not drain your battery unless an app misbehaves - it's not just "left on" - it is only powered when an app wants it to be.

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Perhaps what's worse then draining your battery is draining your data... especially when travelling in another country with roaming charges applied.  Made that mistake too many times when checking where I am in a strange town.

[Balbina10]

Hello, I am new here, it looks like you very much, I hope you can help me

[CrimsonRain]

Android Task Killer apps are useless past Android 2.0. Android 2.1 and beyond automatically manages the apps on its own. The miniscule amount of battery life you would be saving to kill an app would be offset by the few seconds you spent going through the task killer and manually closing the app. Here's an article about it. I wanted to find the article on xda developers but got lazy looking through my bookmarks.

If you want an app that really maximizes your battery life, then get Juice Defender Ultimate. The free one works but the paid version lets you do so much more. Take 15-20 minutes to learn how to properly configure it and you will truly appreciate the battery life savings.

[Entropy]

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CrimsonRain wrote:

Android Task Killer apps are useless past Android 2.0. Android 2.1 and beyond automatically manages the apps on its own. The miniscule amount of battery life you would be saving to kill an app would be offset by the few seconds you spent going through the task killer and manually closing the app. Here's an article about it. I wanted to find the article on xda developers but got lazy looking through my bookmarks.

If you want an app that really maximizes your battery life, then get Juice Defender Ultimate. The free one works but the paid version lets you do so much more. Take 15-20 minutes to learn how to properly configure it and you will truly appreciate the battery life savings.

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Not entirely true.  Everyone who says task killers are useless is talking only about memory usage - for which I agree they are useless.

However, apps can use other resources than memory, such as CPU or they can hold what is called a "wakelock" which prevents the phone from going to sleep, leading to significantly increased battery drain.  The best solution is to uninstall apps which are misbehaving (Android 4.0 is a bit better at assigning blame where it's due, but apps like BetterBatteryStats are still beneficial), but sometimes you just have to use an app that is poorly written and wakelocks your device.  For example, Facebook's app held a permanent wakelock for much of the first half of 2011, making it a guaranteed battery drainer and requiring a task killer if you wanted to use it.  Facebook's messaging interface still sometimes grabs a semi-permanent wakelock for no reason at all.

[tylerfelipe]

Thanks for the tip. For android users battery life is a big concern.