With smartphones getting more and more technologically advanced, a growing problem that users are facing is making their devices battery lives live longer.
Gone have the days when we use our classic Nokia 9210s for weeks on end without having to introduce it to its charger; instead, we’re lucky if our phones can survive the whole day without having to be recharged.
So what are the best ways to conserve your phone’s battery?
1) Don’t charge it to 100%
While many people have undertaken research into the best ways to look after your phone’s battery, the latest suggests that, conversely to popular belief, you should never charge your battery to 100%.
Whilst this might come as quite a shock to many of you, it’s not the fact that the ‘rules’ surrounding batteries have changed so much as the batteries themselves have been transformed from nickel-based cells to lithium-ion batteries.
This means that with lithium-ion batteries, which all smartphones run on, there’s no such thing as ‘battery memory’, meaning your phone won’t necessarily remember that you only charged it to 80% the first time you plugged it into the mains, only ever recharging to 80% thereafter.
Instead, the latest advice is to ensure that your phone has above 50% juice left in it, topping it up whenever necessarily.
2) Don’t let it drain completely
The same way as you shouldn’t charge your phone to 100%, sources are also suggesting that you shouldn’t let it drain to 0% either.
Although waiting until your phone is completely dead about once a month isn’t necessarily a bad thing, regularly allowing your device to dip lower than 40% can have a long-lasting effect on your battery.
3) Keep your phone at room temperature
Now this is a tip that you might not be so aware of. All phones generate heat- though some handsets are worse than others- and this can mean, as the laws of physics confirm, that your device loses energy unnecessarily.
And it’s not just using your phone frequently that makes your phone hot; simply leaving it in a warm environment can contribute to its battery degrading. According to Gizmodo, your smartphone will naturally lose 6% of its battery capacity per year if it is kept at a constant temperature of 0°C. However, when this temperature is increased to 25°C it will lose a massive 20% of its complete charge.
And while you might not be able to avoid using your phone in the summer or while you’re on holiday, it’s worth bearing in mind before leaving it in, say, a hot car or in a steamy kitchen.
4) Activate battery saving mode
A slightly more obvious tip for saving your phone’s juice is to activate its battery saver mode. Most smartphones now offer some form of battery-saving service, which makes it easier than ever to keep your phone topped up as long as possible.
Battery-saving mode essentially changes your phone’s settings by turning off power-hungry applications and changing your phone’s screen brightness, which slows down the rate at which your phone’s battery discharges without you even realising it.
It’s also worthwhile turning on your phone’s Flight Mode if you’re in an area of low coverage, as your battery can drain pretty fast while your [tp lang=”en” only=”y”]mobile phone network’s[/tp][tp not_in=”en”]mobile phone network’s[/tp] searching for signal.
5) Change your app settings
Another piece of advice for prolonging your phone’s battery life is to change your app settings. Most of you won’t even realise which apps use more juice than others, and functions such as GPS and Bluetooth are particularly guilty of this.
Firstly ensure that only the apps you are using are actually open at any time, and turn off ‘push notifications’ to minimise the frequency with which your phone sends you notifications.
6) Avoid charging wirelessly
Last but not least, the word on the street is to avoid using wireless charging facilities if possible. Although they’re the latest piece of kit when it comes to charging your phone, it’s been suggested that charging wirelessly generates far more heat than traditional charging, so if you can stand the inconvenience, staying old school could save your phone’s battery in the long run.
Guest article written by: Charlotte Kertrestel is an author for [tp lang=”en” only=”y”]Mobilephones.com[/tp][tp not_in=”en”]Mobilephones.com[/tp], a website that offers [tp lang=”en” only=”y”]the best mobile phone deals[/tp][tp not_in=”en”]the best mobile phone deals[/tp], reviews as well as all the latest news. She considers herself a bit of a tech-geek and loves writing about all things Android!