couldn’t imagine life without our reliable desktop computers a decade back, and now it feels like we are living in a stone age whenever we don’t have access to our smartphones. Smartphones have become a daily part of our life. We check it as soon as we wake up in the morning for checking new emails and notifications and watch a few videos on it before going to bed. The modern smartphones we evolved a lot in terms of processing power and imaging quality. However, battery backup / battery life is the only thing which keeps us from using our smartphones to their fullest potential.
A smartphone having long battery life was considered a myth a few years back. Apple iPhone was notorious for its poor battery backup so were its Android counterparts.
1. Use internet as and when needed – the biggest culprit behind fast battery draining is an always-online phone, as data transfer (over WiFi or 3G/LTE) consumes equal (or more) power to making a call. Almost everyone uses social networking/chatting apps and unfortunately these are the most data hungry ones (along with web browsers) – FB, WhatsApp, WeChat (and similar others) plus Gmail and other email apps which have push notifications enabled, remain always alive and continuously send data connection requests to check/retrieve available messages. This drains a lot of battery juice. So if it is not absolutely necessary to be always connected to internet – keep your WiFi/Bluetooth/mobile data connection off and turn it on only when needed. This will hugely improve phone’s battery performance plus as a (good) side effect you will also get the much needed peace of mind. I think everyone can and should remain off his/her social circle for a while unless he/she is an obsessed social-junkie or an always-online, live-chat support personnel!
2. Limit downloading and uploading – these two processes require continuous data transfer and drain battery very fast (even faster than talking on phone) so better use your PC for downloading/uploading large files
3. Keep “Power saver/saving” mode on – power saving/saver mode optimizes battery performance by tweaking apps and system settings (like adjusting screen brightness/color, control CPU cores and speed etc). You can tweak various power saving settings via Settings – Power saving/saver (vary according to phone manufacturer)
4. Keep the GPS function off and use it in a “when needed” mode
5. Avoid voice calling/data connection where network signals are weak, and if you have to then try to limit the conversation or find a place where signal strength is good.
6. Switch off data/WiFi connection while playing games as most free games are ad-supported and remain online all the time to fetch ads etc – which results in very fast battery draining. Game play itself is an intense battery consuming task (especially in case of more advanced, graphic intensive games) – CPU, GPU, speakers, sensors, all run to max at the same time.
7. Keep screen brightness to minimum possible level – screen color/brightness is the second most critical factor affecting battery performance. Although screen brightness level vary according to personal preferences but for optimum battery backup keep the screen brightness level to the minimum (according to surrounding light and your comfort level) plus preferably use a dark/black theme rather than a white one.
8. And lastly restart your phone say once every two days (if you are glued to the phone day and night) to once every week (for average users). This will streamline the madly running and possibly conflicting processes by restarting them. After all, phones are electronic machines which also need rest in my opinion. My personal usage pattern – I switch off my phone for a whole night once in a while (say every Sunday) or for some minutes when it becomes hot after heavy sessions of gaming or browsing.
