Thursday, April 4, 2013

conserve battery iphone



Hurricane Sandy has touched down on the East Coast leaving power outages in its path. That means, for some people, battery life on a smartphone is even more of a precious commodity than it was before. Here, we outline some basic battery saving tips that will not only help during Hurricane Sandy, but also during power outages caused in other ways.

In this day and age, a smartphone is an important tool to have when facing an emergency, especially one like Hurricane Sandy where traveling and communicating can be extremely difficult. Sadly, we’re not in an age where our smartphones have unlimited battery life and that means that conserving and making that battery last is essential when dire times occur. And for those that are without power in New York and elsewhere, saving battery life becomes even more important.

Fortunately, there are some simple tips that iPhone and Android smartphone (and probably Windows Phone users as well) can follow in order to make sure their phone is ready when you need it most.

Here are ten things to do if you need to conserve battery life if Hurricane Sandy or something else has knocked out your power and you have no way of charging your smartphone.

Shut Off 4G LTE
If you own an iPhone 5 or an Android phone that connects to a 4G LTE network, turn 4G LTE data off. 4G LTE is a battery hog and by turning it off, you will save an immense amount of battery life.



On the iPhone 5, simply head into General in Settings, tap Cellular and toggle Enable LTE to Off.

On Android, head into Settings, tap More… under Wireless & Networks, tap Mobile networks, tap Network Mode and select the option that does not contain LTE.



You will no longer have access to high-speed data but you will see a significant boost in battery life if you toggled off 4G LTE and use an HSPA+ 4G network or CDMA network  instead,

Turn Off Cellular Data
If you aren’t using data on your phone, or are using it sparingly, you can turn off Cellular Data altogether which, like turning off 4G LTE, should help to keep battery drain at a minimum.



On the iPhone, head into General in Settings, tap Cellular and toggle Cellular Data to Off.

On Android, head into Settings, tap More… under Wireless & Networks, tap Mobile networks, and make sure Data enabled is not checked.

This will limit data to Wi-Fi if there is a Wi-Fi connection available. If no Wi-Fi connection is available, there simply will be no access to the web, email or notifications. It’s a bit of a price to pay, but it will ensure quality battery life.

Minimize Screen Brightness
The brightness of the screen can be, believe it or not, a major drain on a smartphone’s battery. Just by minimizing the brightness of the screen, you’ll see a significant increase in battery life.



On iPhone, head into General in Settings, go to Brightness and Wallpaper, and adjust the brightness of the iPhone screen accordingly. I have mine set to about the 15-20% level and it has worked well for me.

On Android, go to Settings, tap Display under the Device category, go to Brightness, and adjust brightness accordingly.

This is a small price to pay for ample battery life and we recommend turning screen brightness down in general to help conserve battery.

Turn Off Wi-Fi
By turning off Wi-Fi when you’re not in a familiar area with a known Wi-Fi connection, you can conserve a bit of battery life. Best of all, it’s extremely easy to turn back on should you need to.

On iPhone, go into General, tap Wi-Fi, and toggle Wi-Fi to Off.


No comments:

Post a Comment