How long does your Android powered smartphone last with a full charge? My guess is that no more than a day, maybe two at a big stretch. Hell, I don't think people who claim their phone lasts two days are using it enough! My phone is currently sat here on 22 per cent battery remaining and I've only used it for nine hours. To be fair, I've used it for a run amongst a lot of other things today so this is a bit of a special case. Usually it does last me the whole day without any problems.
In my mind, I think a lot of people are missing out on decent battery life because of ignorance. Not to say I blame them, finding out why your phone doesn't last too long after a full charge isn't easy, but it's not that difficult either. I'll explain what I mean and how I try to extend my phone's battery life.
First, let's talk about how your phone is inadvertently draining without you even realising. How many applications do you have installed on your phone? How many of them are running services in the background that you're aware of? The chances are that you don't know, or you do but only to some extent. The easiest way to check is to have a look in the phone settings, then click on 'Applications Manager' and scroll to the right to have a look at the running applications and services. Take a look at the list and see if any of them surprise you. Every widget you have on your phone's launcher (the thing you see when you press the home button) will constantly run in the background, after all it needs to since it's an interactive widget and if it didn't then nothing would happen when you tap on it. Strip them away and what else is left? There could be some applications which you didn't expect to run in the background. These are generally the ones to look out for as they can cause extra battery drain. Usually you can open up the application that is running in the background and adjust the settings so that it desists from doing so, at the cost of maybe giving you push notifications. If some applications don't have the option to stop running in the background or you think they shouldn't be, then I would suggest getting in touch with the developers and/or removing the app. Most apps shouldn't run in the background unless they're giving you something back.
Now lets talk about ways to save battery life, I alway see posts on forums on how to do this but most of the time they're just a bit over the top and generally limit the functionality of your phone. For example, using 2G (Second generation) network rather than 3G/HSDPA (Third generation/High-speed downlink packet access). What is the point of having a fast data connection and smartphone if you're going to limit yourself to technology first introduced in 1992? I'm going to try to be different, I'm not going to tell you to put your phone in airplane mode until you need to make a call or anything like that. Instead I suggest using Tasker and Juice Defender (Standard and Ultimate combined) to come up with ways of saving battery when you are definitely not going to use your phone. Both of these applications are on the Play Store and they are very powerful tools, although Juice Defender unfortunately seems to be lacking updates at the moment.
Starting with Tasker, you can set it to disable auto-sync, turn off data connectivity or reduce screen brightness (amongst a whole host of other things) to its lowest level during certain times of the day to save battery. Most people sleep during the night (hear me out before you say anything!) and don't need their phone to retrieve emails and other notifications. So instead of disabling auto-sync at night or turn off data manually, you can make a profile in Tasker that does it automatically, say between the hours of 12 midnight and 8 in the morning, every day. This saves a lot of battery and you'll find your battery hasn't drained nearly as much during the early hours as it would have done otherwise. You can also set an end task so that Tasker enables auto-sync at the end of the time period so the next day you'll get push notifications. I used to use this to save myself some battery during the night until I started using Juice Defender and Tasker combined.
Juice Defender by itself can save you a lot of battery, but if you're like me and always on your phone you might find it a little annoying especially when it comes to applications like Whatsapp. I've resorted to using Juice Defender while I'm asleep instead of all the time. Tasker is able to enable/disable Juice Defender so you can set up a profile in Juice Defender and then let the two apps do all the work at night. You can set Juice Defender to do a lot more to save battery with a lot more ease compared to Tasker alone so these two apps make a perfect couple for saving battery.
I've only scratched the surface of the functionality of these two apps and how to save battery but it's definitely a start. I've also tried to keep this guide for non-rooted phones as everyone can benefit this way. Have a play around with both of the apps until you get the hang of them and take control of your phone and it's battery usage! There's a bit of a steep learning curve but you'll be so happy once you've passed it.
Apart from this, there are other way of reducing battery drain but I don't believe in reducing your phone's functionality for more battery. Like I said before, it defeats the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place!
Mo
In my mind, I think a lot of people are missing out on decent battery life because of ignorance. Not to say I blame them, finding out why your phone doesn't last too long after a full charge isn't easy, but it's not that difficult either. I'll explain what I mean and how I try to extend my phone's battery life.
Background apps
First, let's talk about how your phone is inadvertently draining without you even realising. How many applications do you have installed on your phone? How many of them are running services in the background that you're aware of? The chances are that you don't know, or you do but only to some extent. The easiest way to check is to have a look in the phone settings, then click on 'Applications Manager' and scroll to the right to have a look at the running applications and services. Take a look at the list and see if any of them surprise you. Every widget you have on your phone's launcher (the thing you see when you press the home button) will constantly run in the background, after all it needs to since it's an interactive widget and if it didn't then nothing would happen when you tap on it. Strip them away and what else is left? There could be some applications which you didn't expect to run in the background. These are generally the ones to look out for as they can cause extra battery drain. Usually you can open up the application that is running in the background and adjust the settings so that it desists from doing so, at the cost of maybe giving you push notifications. If some applications don't have the option to stop running in the background or you think they shouldn't be, then I would suggest getting in touch with the developers and/or removing the app. Most apps shouldn't run in the background unless they're giving you something back.
Extending battery life
Now lets talk about ways to save battery life, I alway see posts on forums on how to do this but most of the time they're just a bit over the top and generally limit the functionality of your phone. For example, using 2G (Second generation) network rather than 3G/HSDPA (Third generation/High-speed downlink packet access). What is the point of having a fast data connection and smartphone if you're going to limit yourself to technology first introduced in 1992? I'm going to try to be different, I'm not going to tell you to put your phone in airplane mode until you need to make a call or anything like that. Instead I suggest using Tasker and Juice Defender (Standard and Ultimate combined) to come up with ways of saving battery when you are definitely not going to use your phone. Both of these applications are on the Play Store and they are very powerful tools, although Juice Defender unfortunately seems to be lacking updates at the moment.
Match made in heaven
Starting with Tasker, you can set it to disable auto-sync, turn off data connectivity or reduce screen brightness (amongst a whole host of other things) to its lowest level during certain times of the day to save battery. Most people sleep during the night (hear me out before you say anything!) and don't need their phone to retrieve emails and other notifications. So instead of disabling auto-sync at night or turn off data manually, you can make a profile in Tasker that does it automatically, say between the hours of 12 midnight and 8 in the morning, every day. This saves a lot of battery and you'll find your battery hasn't drained nearly as much during the early hours as it would have done otherwise. You can also set an end task so that Tasker enables auto-sync at the end of the time period so the next day you'll get push notifications. I used to use this to save myself some battery during the night until I started using Juice Defender and Tasker combined.
Juice Defender by itself can save you a lot of battery, but if you're like me and always on your phone you might find it a little annoying especially when it comes to applications like Whatsapp. I've resorted to using Juice Defender while I'm asleep instead of all the time. Tasker is able to enable/disable Juice Defender so you can set up a profile in Juice Defender and then let the two apps do all the work at night. You can set Juice Defender to do a lot more to save battery with a lot more ease compared to Tasker alone so these two apps make a perfect couple for saving battery.
Wrap up
I've only scratched the surface of the functionality of these two apps and how to save battery but it's definitely a start. I've also tried to keep this guide for non-rooted phones as everyone can benefit this way. Have a play around with both of the apps until you get the hang of them and take control of your phone and it's battery usage! There's a bit of a steep learning curve but you'll be so happy once you've passed it.
Apart from this, there are other way of reducing battery drain but I don't believe in reducing your phone's functionality for more battery. Like I said before, it defeats the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place!
Mo
