Android phones have been the one of most used phones in the world. At Google I/O 2014the company revealed that there were over 1 billion active monthly android users (that have been active for 30 days) up from 538 million in June 2013.
But with the easiness comes some problems too. Many of us have an issue of android being battery hungry and search for the tips to save battery life of android smartphones. Most android phones irrespective of make and brands drain off the battery juice within 6-8 hours of standard use which worsens with the advent of more heavy apps and extensive use. Android phones have been criticized for decreasing battery lives with age. This post is gives you a guide on tips to save android battery life.
Several questions surface on how to save android battery life, which are the most battery hogging android apps etc. So, if you are one of those smartphone lover that makes you carry a charger or look for sockets during crucial times here is the perfect post.
THESE ARE SOME SIMPLE TIPS TO GIVE YOU AN EXTRAORDINARY BATTERY PERFORMANCE THAT MOST OF US IGNORE.
1) TURN OFF THE WIRELESS SERVICES:
Wireless services like Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth matter a lot in today’s world of communication but these are silent killers of battery and it is advisable to turn them off when not in use.
2) DON’T LOAD THE PHONE ON TOO MANY APPS THAT YOU RARELY USE.
Apps are the main reasons smartphones are different from feature phone. Nowadays everything on the web has a dedicated app of its own. They range from productivity apps to apps of popular websites or news blogs, apps of online retail stores or apps of social media sites. Many of the apps that are not official are usually mediocre in their coding and hog battery like anything. Follow these steps for the proper usage of apps.
- Don’t use unofficial apps for tasks that have their own official ones unless the official app is not compatible with your device or is too costly to purchase.
- Regularly clean up your device hunting apps that you once downloaded but never enabled them to see the daylight.
- Nowadays a dozen of apps (or even more) are available for every task we need. Like there are over thousands of photography apps or browsers. It is wise to choose the apps that are best in terms of battery usage, multitasking and price.
- Clear the unused files and cache that an application leaves as a legacy after it is uninstalled.
3) TWEAK YOUR BRIGHTNESS OF THE SCREEN TO A MINIMUM.
It is advisable to set the screen brightness of the smartphones to the minimum. It not only helps in battery consumption but also will soothe your eyes. One more added benefit is it doesn’t have to bother your partner while you are reading late night novels on your smartphone. If you happen to use the phone frequently try setting the time out to 5-10 sec it works!
4) STOP USING FANCY LIVE WALLPAPERS OR WIDGETS:
Most of us have a tendency to set fancy live wallpapers on the home screen. Trust me I did it too. But if you want to conserve the battery juice turn that off. I could save a 28% battery after I stopped using live wallpapers. This is one great tip to save battery life on Android.
Almost all android app have their version of widgets for home screen. Try not to use it and limit the number of widgets to two or three consisting of your To-do note or weather app or anything you need most. Keeping self-updating social feeds on home screen is a big NO-NO unless you are one of those diehard fans of HTC blinkfeed or Facebook home.
5) USE SMART SCREEN SETTING ON PHONES
Most phones nowadays come with smart awake features that keep your screen active only when you are looking at it and turn it off while you nod aside. This feature is powered through sensors in the front camera.
If you happen to use an older version of android OS there are apps like Wakey that serve the purpose but be aware some of these are just for keeping the screen awake and not for turning it off so remember to turn your screen off after reading your eBook or surfing your favorite social site.
6) USE A TASK MANAGER OR RAM BOOSTER WISELY:
Some experts suggest using a task killer or ram booster to kill ongoing processes at the background. This, according to them will release strain of the battery. But others are of the opinion of not using a task killer for boosting battery life as they do more harm than good.
The point is whether you have 500mb of free RM or 50mb it is no different. So instead of freeing the RAM (which kills the ongoing apps and again loads them from the Device’s memory thereby eating more of the battery) you should use it for caching the apps. You can read more about it here.
Similarly, task managers and android work against each other. Unlike a PC, where you have to close apps on our own, Android OS (version 2.2 and above) is designed to manage memory and kills apps on its own. It will automatically kill an ongoing process at the background when it thinks it is necessary. For the worst time android has a built in force close feature for any of its apps that goes wrong. So, using third party apps for a feature that your phone has and feeding it with battery juice is pointless. More about it here.
So, use the Task managers if it suits you otherwise let your (smart) phone handle it on its own.
7) TURN OFF VIBRATION AND HAPTIC FEEDBACK.
Keypad vibrations and other haptic feedback may sound fancy and interesting but it actually eats away your battery like a rat, gnawing at it and you don’t realize it.
So, I would suggest you to not to use it unless you are too desperate for the vibrations and are ready to drain battery for the same.
OVER TO YOU,
These were the top seven ordinary steps that can give you a boost over your smartphone battery life. What are your strategies to save battery life and what do you do in case your battery goes numb in a crucial point of time. If you have any other trick to save battery life of your smartphones do share it in the comments section below.
Would love to here from you...