Best practice: Improve your mobile phone's battery life

   One of the most common questions we get here at Recombu is "How can I improve

my mobile phone's battery life?" There's not a lot we can do about the batteries

themselves but we can offer you some advice on how to get the most out of your

phone's battery.

    Don't be flashy

    Perhaps a no-brainer but the higher the brightness on your phone's display settings

the more it'll drain the battery. Some phones automatically adjust the screen's

brightness depending on ambient light but even then we recommend going into

settings and setting your phone's brightness levels as low as possible.

If you own a phone with an AMOLED display then it's also a good idea to have a dark or

predominantly black background or theme for your phone. A report by 4D Systems

shows that a device with an AMOLED screen can save battery power by opting for a

black background.

       Another effective screen-related tip is to adjust the screen time-out. Set your

screen to time-out at 30 seconds or less.

   Bad vibes

    Turn your vibrate setting off if your running low on power. Yes, we know it's useful

to have vibrate on but if you can hear your phone ring and don't need it to vibrate then

you'll save a lot of power by switching vibrate off.

    Managed multitasking

    If you're running a lot of apps simultaneously then you're going to be eating up a lot

of juice. Make sure you keep an eye on how many apps you're running using a

pre-installed app manager or a third party task manager.
      
       There is a wide range of task managers and app killers available for a number of

smartphone platforms. Here is a selection of the some of the task managers available:

Android: TasKiller Full by Thibaut Nicholas (€0.70/£0.60)

BlackBerry: Task Manager and Process Viewer by Ajani InfoTech ($2.99/£2.08)

       Symbian (S60 3rd edition and above): Handy Taskman by Epocware

($14.95/£10.38)

     Email updates

     Mobile email is fantastic but it can also eat away at your phone's battery. If you've

got push email activated or your email client is set to check for emails very often, then

your battery is going to suffer. Try setting your mobile's email client up to check for

emails every hour, or longer if possible, and you'll find that your phone lasts even

longer.

Danger signals

     Your phone is constantly trying to locate the strongest possible network connection.

Leaving your phone in an area of the house or office which has low signal will place

unnecessary strain on the battery. Leave it instead in that one corner of the house

where you know you'll be able to get a bit of signal. If you live or work in an area which

has a weak 3G signal it's a good idea to switch your phone to 'use 2G networks only', if

the option is available to you in your phone's settings.

Watch the wireless
 
      If you don't need them, turn them off. Unless a friend wants to send you something

or you want to pair with another device then we're not sure why you'd want to keep

Bluetooth switched on. The same applies to 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi.

Charge athletically

      It's often said that it's a good idea to let your phone's battery run down before

giving it a full recharge. This isn't always true. While it is true of the rechargeable

nickel-cadmium-based AA batteries you used in your GameBoy, the same isn't true for

modern mobiles, which run on lithium-based batteries. It's best to charge your mobile

at regular intervals. Charging your phone in a series of short, regular bursts - before

you go to bed, at lunch - is also a good idea.

Keep it cool

      Phones get pretty warm when they're being charged up which isn't great for the

battery. So if you leave your phone charging for long periods of time then it can reduce

the battery's performance over long periods of time. BatteryUniversity says that a

battery regularly kept at temperatures under 25 degrees Celsius will retain 80% of its

maximum charge level after a year of use. Keep your phone somewhere cool and out of

the sun's light especially in the summer months.

Busy battery

     Current Lithium batteries have a lifespan of around 2-3 years. A modern mobile's

battery will generally last you the lifetime of your contract. If you're not interested in

upgrading after your contract is up, getting a fresh battery is a good idea.