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Plug it in! Battery Saving Tips For Android

Posted at 10:46 PM, Oct 09, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-09 22:46:52-04

We live on our smartphones.  It’s a small computer in the palm of our hands and we want to be able to use it when we need it.  But there’s that pesky battery.  And with bigger screens and faster connections (4G/LTE) that battery can drain in only a few hours.  So what can you do to have more juice?

Here are some tips that may help.

First, change your brightness level.  If you’re not out in the sun a lot, it’s a good idea to lower the brightness to as low as you can and still see the screen properly.  If you are out in the sun a lot, you may want to select auto-brightness.  It will adjust automatically to your surroundings. 

If you don’t need GPS, turn it off.  There’s no reason to be transmitting when you don’t need to.  Most apps will turn it on when it’s needed.  Or you can just turn it on when you need it.

Speaking of GPS, that pretty weather widget you have – most likely refreshes a lot to make sure you have the most up to the moment weather information. Change the refresh rate.  I have mine set to check once an hour. That way the phone isn’t always checking where I am to figure out what to display.

The same can be said for a lot of other apps.  Twitter/Facebook/Google+/Email can all be adjusted on how often they check for new information.  If you don’t need instant updates, here’s a good place to change refresh settings and save some battery.

I love animated wallpapers! But those beauties are drainers. Dump them, the screen is a big drainer, so you may also want to change the time-out on your screen.  I have mine set to 30 seconds.  That way when you set the phone down, your screen isn’t staying on for no reason draining your battery.

Now you may see a bunch of apps in the Play Store promising to save you some battery.  I’ve tried a couple here and there and some of them are okay.  One I do like is called Juice Defender.  There’s a free and paid version with the later allowing you more control.  But the free version has some nice features that will save you some battery power.

So how do you conserve battery?  Leave me a comment here or Tweet me @Doctor_Droid.