12 Ways and Means to Avoid Saying, “I Got an Empty Batt!”
by: bidzter
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12 Ways and Means to Avoid Saying, “I Got an Empty Batt!”
1: Turn Your Phone Off.
Obviously, turning your phone off would save you battery life, but the sometimes, you just don't know when to turn it off. If you are inside a movie theater, in a meeting, or in a class, and you are not expecting any important call, you may simply turn off your phone. Even at night before you sleep, especially if you're not expecting any calls, and you also don't have plans of attending to it when it rings. This approach will extend the standby of your phone considerably and in some cases, actually do the phone some good, as some models need downtime to clear memory and perform other shutdown tasks.
2: Display Backlights and Brightness.
All phones have a backlight to illuminate the display, which while essential, doesn’t have to be as bright as the sun to serve as flashlights during your walks in the dark. Check your phone manual to see if your can change the length of time the backlight stays on for, or change the level of illumination (though I doubt Nokia phones has this feature setting, but there are new models where the backlight dims after the phone gets idle for 3 seconds then continually shuts off), as shortening the time and dropping the brightness several notches will be beneficial to your battery life.
3: Ringtones and Vibration.
Most phones have definable profiles which allow you to change how your phone operates according to your situation one part being the way your phone alerts you to a call. The simplest is to set it to Normal and let it ring and vibrate away regardless, but as is often the case, the simplest route is not the best, as loud ringtones and the vibrate feature also consume your battery at a higher rate. So, if the phone is not in your pocket, turn the vibrate off, if you can see the phone, turn the ring down to the lowest volume or even off completely; just set-up and use different profiles to your own preference! I know sometimes it's just so irritation browsing through complicated steps just to turn on and off your phone's vibration, but if you need that extra battery mile, you have to deal with the pains.
4: 3G Features.
While 3G offers excellent connectivity speeds, it’s a power-hungry little beast too, so if you don’t need 3G enabled all the time and your phone gives you the option, just switch to GSM 2G. This alone can add another 50% to your phone’s standby time!
5: Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth.
If your phone can connect to a Wi-Fi network, it may also have the option to continually search for one to connect to. If it has, ensure that it’s switched off. The same goes for Bluetooth, which can be set to search for active devices all the time. By having both these features inactive until you need them will extend your battery’s life. Having GPRS active all the time also adds further strain to the battery, so if you can disconnect each time you finish, you will be rewarded with some more standby.
6: Multi-tasking.
You’ve been listening to music, playing a game or watching a video on your phone and a call comes in. At the end you push the Call End button and go off and do other things, while any previous running applications continue happily in the background, tucking into your battery’s precious power. No longer purely applicable to smartphones, some standard phones can have several applications running at the same time too, so always remember to close down functions you are no longer using.
7: Screensavers and Animations.
Lovely as they may be, anything that does stuff when you’re not using the phone will eat the battery at a faster rate than doing nothing at all. So, you may love your LG Prada’s fish darting about the screen, but if you want your battery to last longer; he’s got to go.
8: Wow a Battery Saver!
Some phones have a Battery Saver or Power Save option hidden in their menu system (I wonder why it is hidden), which when activated, shuts down any non-essential features after a preset amount of time has elapsed since the phone was last used. With this turned on, it may also change the backlight and brightness too, so if you can’t find any individual adjustments for those features, but can find a Battery Saver feature, give it a try. On older phones a battery save option could also mean that during a call you would lose the duplex function, but this shouldn’t be the case today.
9: Signal Problems?
Although largely out of the individual user’s control, your phones signal strength greatly affects standby time. If your phone is out of service, or has a very weak or intermittent signal, it’s forever trying to establish a new or better one, meaning it’s using lots more power than if the signal is at full strength. One option is to switch off your phone when you know there is no reception, but if the signal at your home is bad and the phone needs to be active, consider purchasing a signal booster box to give it a helping hand. Not only will your battery thank you, but everyone who calls will too!
10: Do nothing.
The most effective way to make your battery last longest is to quite simply leave it alone. Accept and make calls, but keep them short, send SMS messages, but not MMS and don’t play games, take pictures, listen to music or radio, browse the Internet, download mail or use GPS to find your way. Harsh, we know, and obviously not very practical but if you want to be master of your phones battery, it’ll take dedication and a strong will. That is why I find my new Nokia phone irritating. It has an SMS reminder feature where it blinks every 5 seconds if you have an unread message in the inbox. This means, I just can't leave it alone, or read my messages a little later even though I'm busy, the blinking alone can drain my battery. Also, having server provider auto-generated SMS is not good, when you get a tip or a promotional advertisement from them, your phone lights up as well like receiving SMS from your contacts. Sometimes they are just perennially and stubbornly popping up even if you have requested a “stop to subscription” from your service provider.”
11: Bring A Spare Battery.
A spare battery can be helpful and will certainly overcome the dying phone/important call problem. Just remember, batteries don’t like to sit about and do nothing, and a partially discharged battery which isn’t used for months will be next to useless when it’s finally called into duty, so try to alternate between your batteries, ensuring they’re both used regularly.
12:Change Batteries: Buy a new one!
If you have applied all of the above tips to extend the standby time of your battery and still struggle to get anything approaching what the manual says you should get, then you may have to face the fact your battery is dead or dying. Modern phone batteries, when treated well, should last around two years before they require replacement, but if they have been abused, exposed to high-levels of heat or if it’s a Li-Ion, totally discharged, their lives may be cut short.
By following as many of these tips as possible, you, you’re phone and its battery will have a long and happy relationship together and no-one need hear ‘I’ll have to call you back, my phone is nearly out of batt…<click> bzzzzzz.’ ever again!
The author is a content provider of <a href="http://www.freebies.com.mx">freebies</a>
If you want to know more about freebies, fitness, health and the outdoors, visit www.freebies.com.mx
tags: technology, mobile phones
About the Author
The author is a content provider of <a href="http://www.freebies.com.mx">freebies</a>
If you want to know more about freebies, fitness, health and the outdoors, visit www.freebies.com.mx
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