Over the past few years , smartphones have grown at a phenomenal pace. Be it processors , storage , screens , ram etc. They have all become better , and we have phones powerful and gorgeous at the same time. The only thing that hasn’t improved though, is the battery . Till today , a phone with a good battery basically means a phone with a battery of higher capacity. We’ve seen batteries like 3100 mAh in Note 3 , there was even one 4100 maH battery in Huawei Ascend Mate. But the point is , the battery technology hasn’t improved .
We still can’t get through the day on a single charge on most Android phones. So , until the time they come up with a battery that will last me at least 2 days , here are some steps that will help you stay away from your charger and constantly searching for a charging point.
Now these points dwell on the fact that you don’t use all the aspects of a smartphone all the time . So , when the time you’re not using something , better turn it off , because its essentially sucking the life out of your phone for nothing.
1. Turn off radios(Wifi , Bluetooth,Data) when not in use
The most battery consuming things in any phone are the radios , the cell radio , the WiFi radio , the Bluetooth radio . So , if you’re not using a bluetooth device , turn it off. If you’re not connected to wifi , turn it off.For the data, you can try using an app called Battery Doctor , it provides you with an option that whenever your screen turns off , the data would be turned off too.
2. Keep the preferred network mode to 2G
In a country like India , where the 3G coverage fluctuates by the mile , its better to keep the preferred network mode to 2G , until and unless you really need 3G . Otherwise , the phone constantly keeps disconnecting from a poor 3G network and the phone’s desperate attempts to keep reconnect to the network kills your battery very swiftly.
3. Regulate screen brightness
The 2nd most battery consuming thing on your phone is your screen. There brighter the screen is the more power it consume . If you’re inside your home or your office , you probably don’t need your screen to be that bright , so reduce the brightness to the level its comfortable to you. Its advisable to not keep your screen brightness to automatic , because it then starts using the ambient light sensor all the time to keep a track of your surrounding light conditions and thus consuming additional battery.
Moreover , automatic brightness is not correct all time also.You can control the above 3 options easily by either using the power widget of the android OS itself or by using the one provided by Battery Doctor
4. Reduce Screen Time out :
The other factor for screens other than the brightness is the on time . If you’r not doing anything on your phone and your screen is still on, its wasting battery. You can reduce the screen time out time i.e the time of inactivity on your phone after which the screen turns off . 30 seconds is a reasonable time out.
5. Turn your smartphone into a dumbphone when you go to sleep
Yes, you read that right. Turn off all the functions of your smartphone except calls and sms when you go to sleep. This really helps reduce the standby loss that happens overnight . I have been doing this for over an year now on my Nexus 4 and rarely have I ever lost more than 7% battery over night , that’s a period of 8-9 hours of sleep. Now obviously disabling everything before you go to sleep is a big task in itself , especially when you are tired and half asleep. So , you can use the app i mentioned earlier Battery Doctor .
You can make a profile in this app , telling it what all functions you need to be enabled in a particular profile , and then you can schedule this profile to take over in your sleeping hours. This hardly takes 5 minutes to create a profile and once scheduled you’re done.
6. Turn off NFC
Like I said, if you’re not using NFC , turn it off. Its one less thing in the memory thats left running.
7. Turn off Location
This is the most battery sucking radio present on your phone. It should be kept off always , until you want to check in into your favorite restaurant or movies , or navigate using Google maps. For the rest of the time , you should keep it off as it drains your battery very quickly , especially in the GPS mode.
8. Switch to flight mode in areas with no signal
Have you ever wondered why your battery dies so rapidly whenever you’re aboard a train or a bus? Its because whenever you venture into an area with no coverage or signal , your phone is furiously trying to find the network and connect to it . This will drain your batter faster than you can imagine . So , its advisable whenever you’re in an area with no coverage , switch your phone to flight mode .
9. Use the battery section of the android OS to identify the apps using your battery
Go to settings > battery , this will show you what apps are using what percentage of the battery. Uninstall the apps that are using too much battery too quickly.
10. Never, Ever , Use Task/App Killers
I know , I know , most of you think I must be crazy for saying that, killing background apps frees memory and stops unnecessary battery drain. But let me explain, whenever you kill an app using a task/app killer , it force closes it , that usually takes a little more battery than usual. Then , when you’re not even aware , the app is up and running again in a matter of minutes , and the app has to start again from scratch , which again takes more battery . So , in essence , whatever little battery you saved by killing the app for a little while , more battery wasted during this whole process.
So the whole process of killing apps and tasks is always counter productive .The android has a job scheduler built in , let it do its job. Even the app I suggested , Battery Doctor , has an app killer . Please , please don’t use it .
11. Use Greenify
Greenify is a wonderful app that hibernates your background apps when you are not using them . Pay attention that the keyword here is “hibernates” and not “kill” .Greenify is not an app/task killer. It simply hibernates the app you’re not using into the background so that it doesn’t consume extra power until you call upon the particular app again. Here’s the link for greenify.
There are two working modes for greenify , rooted and non rooted . If your phone is rooted then the hibernation process happens automatically . However , be warned that rooting your phone will void your manufacturer’s warranty and may brick your device and render it useless.
12. Build a good charging habit and avoid overcharging
Every smartphone battery has a limited number of charge and recharge cycles . After which the battery backup starts to reduce. So the next time you put your phone to charge , keep in mind the following points
- From a 100% try using the phone till the battery goes down to 15-20% before you put it for charging.
- Try to charge it from around 15-20% to 100% in one go. Don’t keep charging whenever you get a chance.
- Avoid putting your phone on charge when you go to sleep and take it out when you wake up , like i said , avoid overcharging.
- Use AC charging as much as possible , USB charging is slow and takes a lot more time.
13. Use Custom Kernels
You may tweak the power settings of your system by using custom kernels , the details of which we will not be going into this post . Again, changing your kernel will void your manufacturer’s warranty and may brick your device and render it useless.
Following all these points will not only help you get through the day without searching for a charging point , it will help prolong the overall life of the battery and help you get the maximum out of it.
If we missed anything in the post above and you can add up any tricks or tips to save battery life, do share with us in the comments below.