You don’t have to be a Nobel Prize-winning scientist to keep your Android device, free smartphone, or similar appliance from running out of battery power. In fact, by following just a few smartphone battery tips, you can stop worrying about losing power at the most inopportune times.
Why Batteries Run Down
It’s basic science: When we use batteries a lot, they run down quickly. But what most people don’t realize is that phones can get by on a lot less battery power than commonly used. That’s because all sorts of apps, functions, screen lights, and Internet-related services use a lot of power even when you’re not using them.
Tips for Keeping Cell Phone Batteries Charged
The following suggestions will get you started on the road to energy efficiency:
- Charge your phone up to 100 percent when it gets down to 15 percent: Don’t do “in-between” charging or you risk shortening the battery’s life.
- Set the “screen timeout” to just a few seconds, rather than the default: Most phones won’t time out for at least 1minute, which is an unnecessary waste of energy. Setting the time out to 5seconds or so will help you conserve about 10 percent of battery power each day.
- Shut off energy-hogging apps, like GPS, when you are not using them: Apps are the enemy of energy conservation in phones. Be careful about how many apps you use and how many you leave open. The goal is to close any function you don’t need at the present time.
- Keep the phone in a cool, dry environment: Water and heat are a phone’s greatest enemies. Heat is less of an obvious foe because we can’t always see it doing damage; however, leaving your phone in a warm environment causes the battery to become inefficient. Excessive heat can ruin your phone’s circuitry permanently.
Three Fast Ways to Protect Your Cell Phone Battery
Whether you own a free cellphone or a high-end Android device, the cell phone battery tips above can help you deal with all those inconvenient “low power” warnings. Here are three fast and simple ways to preserve battery juice:
- Disable “Vibrations”: Unless you’re going to be in an important meeting and must have your phone vibrate function on, disable it. Use the standard ringer or visual ringer instead. Vibrate is convenient, but it is an energy hog, so unless you need it for a special function, go to your “settings” and click it off.
- Set Screens to “Dim”: Your phone will use about 10 percent less battery power by putting the screen light on dim. Only brighten it when you must.
- Turn Off When Not in Use: This is a no-brainer in many ways because all you have to do is turn your phone off when you don’t need to use it for a couple of hours.
The trick to conserving phone energy is to follow a few easy guidelines. There’s no need to do every one of the items on the above lists. Choose a few that you know you can do and make a note to do them every day. You’ll soon notice that you don’t have to charge your phone’s battery as often as you did before.
