Sometimes, you’re far from your charger and won’t be back
anytime soon. Here are some tips to extend your battery when it’s running low.
Not all of these tips will apply to all phones, so use the
ones that match the features on your phone. If your phone, camera or other
gadgets frequently run out of power while you’re away from an outlet, consider
an economical backup battery charger.
Turn Off 3G and Data
Most data capable phones can operate in different modes. If
you turn off the high-speed wireless data mode, such as 3G, you will
significantly reduce the power your phone consumes. This is the single biggest
thing I find affects battery consumption.
Dim the Screen
The screen’s backlight uses a lot of power, keeping it off as
much as possible will extend battery life. On the iPhone, press the top button,
on many BlackBerrys, press ALT + ENTER to lock the keyboard and shutoff the
screen. If your phone has an option to adjust the brightness, dim it. If it has
auto-brightness, enable it. If you can set an “auto off” time then set it to
the shortest time allowed.
Text Message Instead of Calling
If you can get away with communicating by text message, this
can save power too. Although, it does require your screen, so short messages
are better. These messages are embedded in the signals that your phone is
already sending and receiving to normally communicate with the mobile network,
even when you’re not using the phone, so it’s a very efficient way to
communicate.
Turn Wifi and Bluetooth Off
Wifi and Bluetooth are great conveniences, but when you’re
away from your charger and worried about losing phone capabilities, they’re a
luxury that can go. Most phones with these features, have an option to disable
them.
Don’t Play Games or Music
Well-designed mobile phone processors have a low power mode
that sips power when the phone is waiting for incoming calls in standby mode.
Playing games requires the processor to work at its limit, which requires a lot
more energy than standby mode. The same goes for playing music, especially if
they’re compressed, high bit-rate or encrypted or drm protected music files —
extra processing is needed to process these files and power the headphones or
internal speaker.
Stop Background Apps
Some background apps use more power than others, it really
comes down to the hardware in the phone the app is using (ex GPS) and how
processor intensive the activity is.
Generally, if you’re trying to save power, closing the apps
you don’t need can save power. This mostly applies to BlackBerry, Android and
Windows Mobile devices.
It isn’t as important on iPhone since background apps aren’t
true background apps, they have limited capabilities and therefore don’t
consume a significant amount of battery power. That said, if you have a GPS
tracking, VOIP or a music playing app running in the background, it could use
significant amounts of power over long periods of time and it should be closed.
-Birdy
