Life Designer, April 2015
LIFE SAVER FOR YOUR ANDROID.
No need to always be connected to all services.
Turn off GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi and mobile
data whenever you don't need them. Turning off
location data, or setting it to use Wi-Fi or 3G data
rather than GPS works perfectly well. Only turn
on Bluetooth and NFC as long as you need them
(even though these consume very little power),
and there's no need to have both Wi-Fi and mobile
data turned on at all times.
If you use Wi-Fi a lot though, say at home and at
work, then it makes sense to keep set your Wi-Fi
to ''Always on during sleep'' as this uses less
power than to have your Wi-Fi reconnecting every
time you wake your phone.
Use dark screen closed background.
If your phone has an AMOLED screen (like most
Samsungs), use a dark colored background,
because AMOLED screens only illuminate the
colored pixels. Black pixels are unlit, so the more
black pixels you have, or the more darker pixels,
the less battery you need to light them up.
19
Switch off vibration mode.
Switch off vibrate. Unless you really need that
added awareness, turn off vibration. It actually
takes more power to vibrate your phone than it
does to ring it. Turn off haptic feedback too. Sure
it feels cool, but it doesn't really add anything to
your experience, and it's another battery drainer.
Take least time out for screen.
Set your display's screen timeout to as short a time
as is practical for you. Just think, if your screen
timeout is set to a minute, it'll use four times the
amount of power to have it on, every time you
switch your screen on, than if your timeout is set
to 15 seconds.
Studies report the average smartphone user turns
their smartphone on 150 times a day, so anything
you can do to limit that frequency (through selfcontrol or other methods listed below) will help
keep your battery running for longer.
Blocking mode (disable or schedule time for
notification).
Don’t use auto screen brightness.
Don't use display auto-brightness. It may sound
good, but auto-brightness is usually way brighter
than you really need. It's much better to manually
set a super low brightness level that is still
comfortable, and then just bump it up when
necessary. This is one of the main ways to
improve your battery life as the screen is one of
the biggest battery suckers.
Most ROMs have battery saving features or a power saving mode, you just
have to find them.
Nice bright wallpapers may look lovely on AMOLED screens, but they drain
power
Set ''sleep times'' or ''blocking mode'' to switch off
Wi-Fi and mobile data when you don't need them.
If your phone is basically off limits at work, set
your device to not ring, vibrate or connect to the
internet while you're at work.
Likewise, you can set your phone to airplane
mode when you're asleep or use sleep or blocking
modes to set up limits for what your phone does
during certain times of the day, whether that's
while you're asleep, at work or in a meeting.
Get to know the specific settings your ROM
offers. Not only will you have to fiddle with your
phone less throughout the day (or night), but
you'll be saving on battery life too.
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