The Simplest Tips To Increase Battery Life On Android Phones

[Picture borrowed from game 'Infamous']

Smartphone technology is advancing so fast that the battery counterpart couldn't keep up. This is why we need to charge our phones more often than we used to decades ago. Here are some tips to squeeze a little bit more juice from your phone.

• Screen display uses a lot of battery. Set the screen brightness lower or turn on Auto Brightness. I prefer to set the brightness manually though. Also, turn your phone's screen off by locking it the moment you finish using your phone.
• Disable GPS if you're not using it. This is the main culprit that your phone is draining battery more than it needs to when you leave it idle.
• Disable Wifi, unless you're close to a stable source all the time.
• Disable 3G if you don't need the speed. Edge is normally enough for WhatsApping. To disable 3G and stick with Edge, go to Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Network mode > GSM only.
• Disable Bluetooth when you're not using it.

[This is a no-no..]

The above for settings can be easily toggled in the home screen of most Android phones. Just remember to off all of them when you're leaving your phone idle :)

It is also wise to turn off Wireless Network Positioning (used for Google location data), go to Settings > Location > uncheck Use wireless networks.

Now for other less important tips:

• Don't use live wallpapers, they are battery drainers.
• Many widgets pull data from the net, putting too much of those on the homescreen drains a lot of batteries. The main weather app does it a lot, so it is wise to pull weather information only when you need it.. Go to Menu > All Programs > Weather to launch the app, after that tap your menu button, choose 'Settings' and disable 'Update Automatically'.
• Some programs such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Gmail syncs every 15 minutes, so it is better to set them to longer interval such as one hour or two. To increase the update interval you'll have to do it within the individual apps. If you doesn't need auto sync feature (just sync it manually when you need to) just go to Settings > Accounts and sync > uncheck Auto-sync.
• Always-On Mobile Data is on by default, might be wise to turn it off. Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Enable always-on mobile data.
• Last but not least, go to Settings > About phone > Battery usage to check what's been draining your battery the most.