subject: Boost Your Smartphone Battery Life [print this page] The safest and easiest way to save battery is to disable some of the system's features and functions that are usually running in the background or open when a certain action is started. Of course, if you need any of the features mentioned below do not turn it off.
One of the main battery energy eaters is the Location service, which checks your location automatically, every now and then.
You won't need this one unless you want to use the included geo-tagging feature or you want to know where you are located on the map.
Do you know where your smartphone is? Unless you're using it to read PCWorld.com, your phone is probably plugged into an outlet somewhere to charge, because the battery stinks. You can find plenty of good reasons why your smartphone battery sucks, most of which stem from the failure of lithium ion batteries to keep pace with the exponentially increasing power demands of rapidly evolving smartphone technology. Thankfully, plenty of tips and tutorials are available to help you wring every last drop of juice from your smartphone battery, and such tricks can be distilled down to two critical steps: Configure your smartphone for maximum battery life, and then download a reliable and trustworthy battery-optimization app.
Optimize Your Phone for Maximum Battery Life
Configuring your smartphone for maximum battery life entails giving up a few luxuries such as GPS tracking and a stunningly bright screen; but after testing these tricks, were willing to bet that you wont even notice the loss. What you will notice is the few extra hours of battery life youll earn with simple tweaks such as dimming your smartphone screen, reducing the screen timeout to the shortest available time (preferably 15 seconds or less), and switching off the power-sucking Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios when you arent using them. Making those three changes should net you an extra hour or two before your phone dies. If thats not enough, however, check out our complete list of tricks that boost your smartphones battery life.
In case you really need to know where you are on Bing maps, but you don't need the Geo-tagging feature, you can simply turn it off from Settings, Applications, Pictures & Camera and choose Off from the include location (GPS) information in pictures you take.
Data roaming is another feature that eats the battery's energy, but also boosts your bill if you're browsing the Internet when you're abroad without using a Wi-Fi connetion. You can turn the feature off from Settings and Mobile Network.
It is also advised to turn off 3G connectivity if you're not planning to use it for faster Internet browsing. You can find the switch to toggle between WCDMA and GSM mode in the Settings, Mobile Network menu.
Once your device is running lean and mean, you should download a few good battery-optimization apps to ensure it stays that way. The best app for your COMPAQ 4098A battery needs will vary depending on what sort of smartphone you carry.
Android users have access to a smorgasbord of apps that boost speed and improve battery life, but many of them directly affect your phone's system settings and require a rooted device to function properly. Unfortunately, few apps on the Apple App Store are capable of automatically managing your iPhones system settings. If youre carrying an iPhone and youre concerned about reports of poor Compaq HSTNN-E08C battery life, pick up a system monitor app such as iStat to keep an eye on how your phone draws juice, and use that knowledge to troubleshoot your battery-sucking iPhone 4S. If you own an older iPhone or an iPad, check out our quick fix for the Apple iOS 5 battery-drain issue instead.
If you use a Windows Phone 7 smartphone, update the firmware to the latest version of Mango and try the new Battery Saver feature. This great battery-management utility allows you to automatically disable power drains such as Live Tile and email updates when your battery starts to run low. The typical tips for conserving smartphone battery power are also appropriate for Mango users.
No matter what tools you select, be cautious and avoid bogus battery-saver apps; weve seen a recent rash of HP 200409-S29 battery Android malware masquerading as battery-upgrade utilities. Be sure to install a trusted mobile security app, and consult a few reviews before you download any questionable apps.
