Android Battery Life

With the increasing availability of quad-core processors, as with the Samsung Galaxy S III, trying to keep the Android battery charged is an even more apparent concern. Today, we will look at the top 5 ways to maximize Android’s battery life.

Android Battery Tip #1 – Find Out What Is Using The Juice

To know what actions to take to fix your battery problems, first, you must know why your battery is being depleted in the first place. This information is found in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich under Settings>Device >Battery. This same screen can be pulled up in Gingerbread through Settings > About Phone > Status.

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This screen will show your current discharge rate and how long it has been since your battery was fully charged. Below that, you will see, by percentage, exactly what sources are using up your battery in the example I have shown. The screen takes approximately 64% of the battery life from my phone. This will most likely be your highest battery use as well. But as you can see with mine, Twitter takes a significant amount of battery. For me, this is normal, but if you see an incredibly high application, this will be your first sign of what should be done next to improve your battery life.

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Android Battery Tip #2 – Screen Brightness

Though apps can chew through a great amount of battery, your display is the most likely culprit to be #1 on the list. This is pretty universal through all phones, and limiting your ‘presentation power will ultimately yield the best results in saving the battery.

The trickiest part is that there is no “best setting” for screen brightness. The best setting for one phone for one person may render the screen unreadable to another. Also, automatic brightness setting work differently on different phones, some phones regulate the screen brightness very well while others are marginal at best. I suggest getting a widget for your phones, like this one, and adjusting the brightness to what suits your needs the best.

Android Battery Tip #3 – Control Your Refresh Intervals

Social networking has continued to find a place in our everyday lives. Apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are used by millions daily. These apps push notifications to a user’s phone and allow them to see updates in real time from other users within the given app. The biggest problem with the apps is that your mobile device constantly checks the internet to see if anything new has been added to achieve this real-time data.

Considering that the average user may have 2 or 3 apps on their phone, you can see what type of power can be generated to ensure they are up-to-date. Looking within the app’s settings and changing the refresh interval will affect your battery over a day.

Android Battery Tip #4 – End Apps You’re Not Using

You will find a task manager within the newer version of the Android OS. This application can show you which programs are active on your mobile device and how many resources each uses. By taking ending applications that you are no longer, those resources will go into an idle state, allowing you to save more of your battery for when you really need it.

Note: Under the task manager, you will see a RAM tab. There is an ongoing debate about whether clearing the RAM regularly will help your device’s battery life. The truth is that no matter how often you remove the RAM, it will get used up again. It is an inherent trait of how a Linux system runs and will have a minimal effect on your battery life. So save your time.

Android Battery Tip #5 – Take Things Into Your Own Hands

The last tip is about as simple as they come: take charge of yourself. Many features have been added to the newer Android Operating Systems to allow users greater control over their battery life. ICS, for one, has a battery-saving setting that will enable you to switch Wi-Fi on and off or go into airplane mode when you don’t need the signal, which will profoundly affect your battery.

Also, don’t take for granted the ignoring your device method. Each time you flip your screen on to see if there is anything new, your display uses a lot of energy to turn on. Constantly doing this is worse than having proper notifications on your phone to make you aware of new content.

Android Battery – Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways for a user to take more control over the battery life their device consumes. Though some may have more benefits than others, all of these tips will help you create the most out of the life of your device.

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Alcohol scholar. Bacon fan. Internetaholic. Beer geek. Thinker. Coffee advocate. Reader. Have a strong interest in consulting about teddy bears in Nigeria. Spent 2001-2004 promoting glue in Pensacola, FL. My current pet project is testing the market for salsa in Las Vegas, NV. In 2008 I was getting to know birdhouses worldwide. Spent 2002-2008 buying and selling easy-bake-ovens in Bethesda, MD. Spent 2002-2009 marketing country music in the financial sector.