How to save battery life on your Android phone
You’ll soon find out that your new, powerful Android phone doesn’t last as long as a mayfly.
Moving from a basic mobile phone to an Android smartphone seems like a big step into the future. At least, that’s the case until you see that the battery is dead after a few hours.After the initial excitement of playing with the phone’s bells and whistles has worn off, you won’t be able to get much more than 24 hours out of it. A lot of people are quite disappointed that they have to charge their phone every night.
A smartphone’s battery has a lot of work to perform since it has a huge screen and a fast CPU that uses a lot of power. That doesn’t mean you should settle for a phone that won’t survive the day. Here are 10 techniques for preserving battery life on your Android phone so you can get the most out of each charge. To find out everything, click play on the video above or read on.
We took our screenshots using a Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.3, but similar tactics work for any Android phone.
How to save battery life on Android: where the electricity goes
- Find out where the power is going.
To make your battery last longer, the first thing you need to do is figure out which programs and parts are utilizing the power.
Press Battery Use this option to find out what’s draining the battery.
The chart at the top displays how long the phone has been off the charger and how quickly it is losing power over time. To get more information on an object, tap on it. If there are any suggestions for how to use less electricity, they will be there too.
- Use the screen carefully.
The screen is the major battery drain for virtually all users. To see the choices, go to Settings and hit Display. Tap “Screen Timeout” and select a short time limit so that the screen turns black while you’re not using the phone.
You may change the brightness of the screen under the Display menu. Tap Brightness to choose a constant brightness or to let the screen adjust automatically to the light around it. To make the brightness change to match the picture on the screen, check the box next to “Power saving mode.” You may make things even better by hitting the power button after you’re done utilizing the phone. This will turn off the screen right away.
- Turn on Android battery-saving recommendations.
Turn off anything you aren’t utilizing.Radio interfaces make smart phones really clever, but they also use quite a lot of battery life. To rapidly turn Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS on and off, drag the Notification bar down from the top of the screen.
Only switch on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you need them.
You can usually leave GPS off, but try to switch it on a few minutes before you need it. This can speed up acquiring an initial location on many phones, which means you won’t have to mess with the screen as much and waste even more battery life.
- Running applications to save power on Android Apps that run in the background use up battery life.
You can easily navigate back to the Home screen from an app by pressing the Home button, however that keeps the program running in the background. That could be what you want, but if not, the app will be wasting battery life. Press Back until you go back to the Home screen to close apps the right way.
If you’ve closed all your apps but your battery still seems to be dying, go to Settings, then Applications, and then Manage Applications. Press “Running” to get a list of all the programs and services that are now operating. To stop one, press it. To close any apps that were started by hand, restart the phone.
- Be careful with widgets
Widgets may be helpful, but many of them, like news tickers and weather forecasts, need time to digest and download data to keep up to date.
Don’t put widgets all over your home screens. Instead, make application shortcuts and just use them when you need them.
Speaking of which, Android’s live wallpapers may seem beautiful, but they use up a lot of resources all the time. If electricity is a problem, trade them for a good photograph of a gallery.
Android battery-saving tips: 6. Email can wait;
- Email can wait.
People usually phone if anything is essential, so it’s okay to check your email less often to preserve battery life.
Open Android’s Email app, select an account, and then tap the Menu key. From there, tap More and pick Account settings. Click on Email Check Frequency and pick Every Hour. Do the same for any additional email accounts.
You can perform the same thing with a lot of social media apps, including TweetDeck.
- Stair Dismount:
Tips for preserving battery on Android Don’t play too many games and watch too many videos.
Android phones are wonderful for listening to music, watching movies, and used as radios, but playing videos may use up a lot of battery power.
It may seem simple, but if you need your phone to last until you get home, don’t get too into iPlayer on the way to work.
The same is true for Angry Birds, Stair Dismount, or any other game; leveling up might make you feel weak.
- Get a power app from someone else
The Android system helps you save power in a multitude of ways, but there are also third-party apps that do even more. One of the best examples is JuiceDefender, which you can acquire for free from the Android Market.
JuiceDefender automatically keeps power use low, but you may modify the settings to make it work harder if you like.
The Plus and Ultimate editions provide more features, but first check sure the free one works on your phone.
- In case of an emergency, here are some strategies to save battery life on Android.
When the battery gets below 15%, Android’s low battery alert goes out, and you need to do something drastic. Right away, go to the notifications bar and turn off as many options as you can.
Press and hold the power button to turn off Data network mode now that you’ve done that. Now dismiss any apps you don’t need, go back to the Home screen, and turn off the screen.
From now on, it’s best to think of your smart phone as a phone. Don’t touch it until you have to answer a call or text. This will keep enough power for when you really need it.
To save battery life on Android, tether
- You should never pass up a chance to charge.
It’s a good idea to charge your battery whenever you can since you never know when you might need to talk on the phone for three hours or play video games for hours on end. Get a USB adapter for your car and a Micro-B USB cable so you can charge your phone from any USB outlet. It’s probably clear that charging goes faster when the phone is off.
Instead of building a wireless access point, connect your phone to your computer via USB so you may charge it at the same time. If your laptop has the ability, set its USB ports to give power even while the laptop is off.
Lastly, if none of these methods work, you should acquire a spare battery just in case.