Have you ever woken up to find your phone has switched itself off due to low battery when you only charged it the evening before? Smartphones may be more like little computers than mobile phones these days, but they aren’t quite smart enough to have long-lasting batteries like old-style, ‘unsmart’ mobile phones. However, you can maximise your phone’s battery life if you follow these handy little tips.
Portable lithium battery packs
A portable battery pack can not only be used to recharge your phone but you can run your phone directly from it and extend your phone’s battery life as a result. These external packs generally use lithium batteries, which are more long lasting than those found in your phone or alkaline cells. RS Components has a range of lithium batteries that work with these kinds of portable chargers and charging docks. However, you should note that lithium batteries are usually of a higher voltage than their alkaline counterparts.
Turn it off
This sounds obvious, but most of us leave our mobile phones on all the time, even when we are sleeping and when we are in areas without signal. Constantly searching for reception uses up a lot of battery, so when you are in an area without signal for more than just a few minutes turn your phone off.
Close all unnecessary applications
The GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities are there when you need them, but they don’t need to be on all the time. All these extra applications, particularly ones that require your phone to carry out constant searches for signals, rapidly deplete battery life.
Turn down the brightness
Just as with laptops, the brighter your mobile phone’s screen the more energy is required. You can turn down the brightness just a few notches and still get a clean, crisp picture. You can usually adjust the brightness of the LCD screen using your phone’s ‘power saving mode’.
Keep it cool
Although you can’t control the air temperature outside, you can avoid leaving your phone in direct sunlight, near hot surfaces or inside a hot car. High temperatures are one of the fastest ways of zapping the life out of your smartphone battery.
You can manage your Android phone battery using the Battery Monitor Widget available on Android Market.
