Loaded with apps and trendiest functionalities, our smart phone is our own private universe. Phone calls, data, GPS, Bluetooth, games, MS office suite, news, calendars, camera…. The list of things that we access through our phone is endless. However, this comes at a cost – discharged batteries.

A drained battery is the most common problem encountered by cell phone users. This has probably been troubling the cell phone user since the first time phones were introduced to mankind; of course it started getting worse as smart phones replaced simple phones and larger screens with higher resolutions came into being.

Smart Phones were an outcome of advancement and innovation in cellular technology. However, our cell phones batteries continued to function on old technology. Bigger and smarter the phones, lesser is the battery life and higher is consumer dissatisfaction.

Is there any way battery life can be extended? What are the tips?

Tips for extending your Cell Phone Battery Life

Manage your Screen

That beautiful, big and vibrant screen that you hold is the number one culprit behind draining your battery. A battery consumption check by visiting your phone’s settings shall validate this. Huge amount of power is required to light up high resolution screens of smart phones.

So what can you do? Here is a handy list of things that you can do to optimize power consumption by your screen:

• Every phone has an ‘auto-brightness’ feature which adjusts the screen’s brightness as per surrounding environment. Turn it on to help your battery score few extra points
• You may choose to adjust the screen brightness manually instead of opting for ‘auto brightness’ feature. So, even if the environment around you is dark and you are not using your cell phone, the screen need not be brightened, resulting in enhanced battery life.
• If your battery is running low, consider switching on ‘Power saver’ mode. This shall instantly dim your screen’s brightness and help you save some power for crucial calls.
• Adjust your screen timeout to minimum to save power.

Stop searching for Signals when Network is Bad

Turn off relevant functionalities when your phone is facing bad signal. Poor network can cause your battery to drain faster than you can imagine. You can do the following in such circumstances:

• If there is no 4G signal, immediately switch to 3G signal.
• In case 3G connectivity is poor, turn off your mobile data completely.
• If there is no network and you are unable to make calls, temporarily switch to airplane mode to save you battery being consumed in hunting for bad signal.
• If you are located at the basement or any other place where network issue is persistent, consider purchasing a cell signal booster. Mobile range boosters are widely available and can increase your signal strength by up to 36x, thus exercising less pressure on cell phone battery.

Turn-Off Features while Not in Use

Few features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are tough for your battery to handle. Same applies to GPS. Just turn them off when not in use.

For example, you do not need GPS while you are travelling in a local bus or city metro. Switch it on only when you are driving and need assistance for routes. Similarly, you need not be hooked on to Wi-Fi all the time- turn it on when you wish to access data, else give it some rest. You can easily do these by toggling few widgets on your smartphone.

Alternate Wi-Fi with Mobile Data

Mobile data is known to consume more power as compared to being connected through Wi-Fi. To help your mobile batteries last longer, switch to Wi-Fi whenever possible.

Avoid Excessive Heat

Your lithium-ion cell phone batteries do not like to be heated up. Though they are deemed to deteriorate with time, here are few simple things that you can do to make it last longer.

• Keep your cell phone at cool place. Avoid direct sunlight or any other place which is excessively heated up. Do not keep your smart phone on car’s dashboard for the fear of being exposed to sunlight for longer durations.

• Put your battery on charge before it gets completely discharged. Look out for under 5% power situations and act urgently.

• One your phone is 100% charged, switch the plug immediately. Overheating might cause your battery to last less.

  

Limit Update Notifications

Update notifications are push messages from various apps on your smartphone every time a new activity is registered on it. This can be received if your friend pings you on what’s app, likes your pic on Facebook, if recent news flashes on some news app or when you receive a mail in your inbox and so on…

We are sure that you do not need to know it all instantly. Be judicious in selecting the updates that you would like to receive immediately while the rest can wait till you check the app.  Limiting update notifications shall reduce power consumption largely and help your battery perform better.