Android and
other smart phones get a general comment that smart phones drain the
battery life. But the life of the device also depends on how we use
them. If we use it with care, it lasts longer than any other thing. Here
we give some tips which help android users to increase their
battery-life. The tip which you follow depends on your use of the phone
and it varies with person to person. So, follow the tip that chooses you
best. Before beginning, you need to look in to the settings to see what
is using your battery the most. To see that go to Settings->About phone->Battery use
Battery Settings
1. Reduce your Screen Brightness
Display uses about 5-80% of battery usually. Reducing the brightness helps to increase the battery life a lot. To do so goto Settings->Display->Brightness
2. Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC
Even though Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth are
designed for low-power consumption, they drain the battery. Most of the
2012 android devices have a unique feature known as NFC (Near Field
Communion). This feature enables a sensor field around the handset and
is used for sharing. This also drains the battery unnecessarily. So it’s
better to turn off the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFCs when it’s not in use.
3. Use Wi-Fi Sleep Policy
While the Wi-Fi is not in use and you
will turn it ON within minutes, use the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy. This feature
shuts down the Wi-Fi temporarily on the handset. To do so, goto Settings->Wireless & networks->Wi-Fi settings->Advanced->Wi-Fi sleep policy
Wi Fi Sleep Policy
4. Always be updated
You may be wondering how updating helps
to increase the battery life. But it’s true. The updates are designed
for low power consumption; hence it prolongs the battery life. Likewise,
the latest android version, the better. For example, Ice-cream Sandwich
consumes less power compared to Honeycomb and similarly Jellybean
consumes less power compared to Ice-cream Sandwich.
5. Avoid Live Wallpaper
The live wallpaper drains the battery to
a considerable rate. So it’s better to use static wallpapers rather
than the live wallpaper.Also use images which contain black color
because the LED screens use less power to display black than displaying
white. Doing this helps to increase the battery life up to 10%.
6. Disable background Data traffic
This feature in android disables all the
apps that use the internet to update automatically in a certain time
interval. Disabling this feature saves more data traffic. Some of the
apps which use the background data traffic are GMail, Whatsapp,
Facebook, Viber, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Play, etc. These apps checks
for the updates and for incoming messages all time. So it’s better to
disable the background data traffic. To do so, go to Settings->Accounts & sync-> Background data traffic
Note: There is no option to disable this feature in some handsets.
7. Disable Auto-Sync
This option comes under the background
data traffic. This feature checks for the mail all the time. Which means
you will be able to get the mail in your handset as soon as the mail
arrives. But this service uses a considerable amount of battery. To do
so, deselect the text box in Settings->Accounts & sync->Activate auto-sync.
8. Use Bluetooth Discoverable Timeout
You need to make the device to be
discoverable while pairing a new device through Bluetooth. Even though
Bluetooth drains the battery, making it discoverable drains more. But
the device has to made discoverable, so there is a new feature called
Discoverable timeout. This feature disables the discovery of Bluetooth
device in a certain time limit.
Bluetooth Timeout
9. Prefer Wi-Fi rather than GPRS
It may be weird that the GPRS consumes
more power when compared to Wi-Fi. For example, Wi-Fi consumes 5%
charge; the GPRS connection consumes 15% charge. This may not be seen
while viewing websites but in case of watching a video in YouTube or
making a call in a VoIP service, it drains the battery at a rapid rate.
So it’s better to use Wi-Fi to watch videos or making calls.
10. Upload only in Wi-Fi
Some cloud services like Dropbox,
Box.net, SkyDrive, etc. has a feature called Auto-Upload which uploads
the photos takes from the camera automatically to the cloud. This
feature may not be needed to many users, but in case if it is needed
then prefers Wi-Fi and not GPRS. This should be changed in the settings
of the app.
11. Turn OFF push notifications
Social apps often display push
notifications alerting you the updates within the apps. For example,
Facebook displays “Has added a photo of you”. By shutting these off, you
can save battery life on your handset. It should be disabled in the
settings of every individual app.
12. Disable Auto-update in Google Play
The Google Play service checks for the
update of each app and updates itself. This consumes more data traffic
and hence the battery. So it’s necessary to disable the auto update of
apps and to do it manually. If you prefer to be up-to-date always then
use the “Update over W-Fi only” feature.
Disable Auto Update
13. Do not use more widgets
The more the widgets, more the RAM, more the battery will be drained.
14. Disable Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash enables to watch videos in
websites but it drains the battery a lot. The main reason why adobe
discontinued its service from android 4.1 is this battery problem.
15. Disable unwanted network services
Some phones might be activated 3G
services but the person will be using only 2G services. Even though it’s
a 2G service, the phone uses the 3G network. There will be wastage of
battery. So it’s better to disable it in the network settings.
16. Prefer a good network
All might know that the phone uses more
energy in calls when there is a weak signal. When a good network is
available, the phone uses considerable aunt of energy. So it’s better to
use a service which gives good network in your area.
17. Never use Task managers
Task managers may be speeding up the
smartphone but they may be consuming more of your battery. So it’s
better to uninstall those task managers.
18. Turn OFF vibrations
The smartphones makes use of some energy
to make a vibration, but when “Vibration on Key press” is enabled,
while typing a word the phone produces more number of vibrations. It
consumes more battery. So it’s better to disable this feature in the
keyboard settings.
19. Prevent the Handset from getting heated
It’s a weird fact that the battery drains when it is heated. So keep the android phone in a cool place.
20. Do not try to overcharge
Normally the smartphone charges up in
1-2 hours. But if you charge it throughout the day, it lowers the
life-time of the battery. Check the condition of the battery often to
have a good battery life.
Data Collect: sparkwiz
