Smart phones in general have a lot of functionality. The Android operating system (when loaded with other apps) has a ridiculous amount of functionality. In fact, for the amount of functionality that is packed into an Android device, we get amazing battery life. However, that said we can always look at ways of improving this battery life. Sometimes we are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no means to charge our phones. Maybe we are camping for a week or so and don’t have a means to charge our batteries. In this regard there are a few simple things we can do to conserve the life of our batteries.
1. Halt all Incoming Signals
Chances are – if you are in the middle of nowhere then you aren’t getting a signal anyway. In this regard, you may even opt to turn your phone off. If you want to use your phone while travelling however, then you can just put the phone into airplane mode. This will stop all incoming and outgoing signals and will reduce the amount of power that your Android is expending.
2. Turn off GPS
GPS is great, don’t get me wrong. However if you don’t need it, then why have it on? Turn off the GPS in your phone and shut down wireless transmission of unnecessary data. This will save a ton of battery power. It takes a lot of power to constantly communicate with a GPS satellite. Think of how far away the satellite is!
3. Tweak the Display (1)
There are a few things you can do with your display. Consider turning down the brightness. This will cause the phone to utilise less energy to pump brightness into the display. Also decrease the screen time out. This means that it will turn the back light off behind the screen a lot quicker and won’t burn as much energy. Some phones actually have a power saving mode and both of these things (as well as others) will be altered if the phone is in power saving mode. Have a look around for this option.
4. Useless Notifications
Although vibrate is not exactly useless – it detrimental to the life of your battery. Consider turning off vibration in order to get a bit of extra life out of your battery. Also, turn the volume down on your sound. The more energy expelled when your phone makes sound the louder the sound is. Consider putting your phone into silent mode if you are using it to play games. You will get an on screen notification of any calls anyway.
5. Tweak the Display (2)
This is actually an old laptop trick. The less eye candy on screen the longer the battery life because the computer has to work less to make the screen look pretty. This is equally viable in terms of phone battery longevity. Consider turning off any animated icons and overly flashy graphics in the interface. This can save a massive amount of battery power. This is also a nice way to make your phone work a little quicker as you are not reliant on sliding menus and stuff of that nature to get tasks done.
