Customizing Android: 6 ways to maximize battery life

Have you ever run into problems getting your Android device to just last throughout the day? I run into these frustration daily because my smartphone is my access to work, whether it be for answering emails, replying to texts, jotting down notes, and etc. Since these are elements pertinent to my job, I can’t have my smartphone dying around mid-day. And a lot of you might be able to resonate with that.

The problem isn’t that we use our smartphones so much, though. It’s that we’re sporting the latest and greatest that not only have similar specs to our laptops, but also have the gorgeous and behemoth 5.5-inch display. That’s a lot of power and pixels to push, and thus, takes a big toll on battery life. Fortunately, there are ways to maximize the life we get out of our smartphones, whether they be mid-range or high-end devices.

Power Saving Mode

Many smartphones these days, such as the Galaxy S6 and One M9, have built-in power saving modes. Samsung calls it Ultra Power Saving mode while HTC’s is Extreme Power Saving mode. Turn them on, take advantage of these options.

Depending on how much you use your device after turning this feature on, you could easily save up to 3hrs in battery life. Again, that figure depends on how much you continue to use your device.

Quick Settings

Your quick settings is another thing to keep an eye on. If you have all of these extra settings checked on — Bluetooth, Download Booster, NFC, Smart Stay, and more — they will chew through battery life. And the funny thing is, most of these features won’t be used on a daily basis except for the people that are using NFC in places where mobile payments are commonly available. Some of these features that you can have turned on don’t always work properly, either.

Even if you do actively use these features, they can always be turned back on. So, while you’re doing simple things like email and text, you can save juice by turning those features off, even for a short time.

Network Connectivity

The connection to a 4G LTE network hurts battery life significantly. Locating the network and sending/receiving information takes a decent amount of power. If the signal is low, then your device has to work even harder. Today, there are WiFi networks available at almost every corner. Choosing a WiFi network over a 4G LTE network alone has immediate benefits.

To take things a bit further, turn off mobile data while connected to a WiFi network. Turn off mobile data when not connected to a WiFi network and you will notice that your battery life is leaps and bounds better than before. You may be left with only the calling and text, though.

Inactive Apps

Applications that we minimize and don’t touch for the rest of the day are another, major opposition to achieving maximum battery life. When you press the home button to get out of an app, you haven’t closed it, you’ve minimized it. It’s still running in the background, using battery life for things like network connectivity, syncing, and other tasks.

While a single application might not affect your overall battery life, it adds up when you have multiple applications doing this. To make sure an app is closed, just go into Recent Apps (the button to the right of your home button, in most cases) and make sure to clear all of the non-essential apps out of there.

Once Android M starts appearing on smartphones and tablets, you won’t have to worry about this much, as there are new features built into the system — Doze and App Standby — that will handle things like this automatically.

Display

The display is easily the biggest champion in eating up battery life. When you’re sporting a gorgeous 1080p 5.5-inch display and have your brightness turned all the way up, the smartphone will easily consume 60 to 70% of your battery. Even if you spend your day in direct sunlight, it’s best to go into your display settings, turn off automatic brightness, and leave it at 20 to 30% through the day.

I’m saying this from experience–it’ll conserve more battery life than you could ever imagine. 2K resolutions are becoming popular among smartphones, and 4K is on its way to become just as common. These resolutions do even more damage to the length of your battery, further requiring people to have that extra on hand.

Push notifications

We live in a world where we love to be constantly connected, mainly through avenues like Facebook, Twitter, and in some cases, Google+. Turn the push notifications off on these social networking services, and when you feel the need to check one of them, retrieve them manually. If you’re struggling to get through the day with your current settings, there’s no need to have these services constantly refreshing and searching for new notifications.

Wrap Up

For some people, these options to improve battery life will help extend the amount you get out your smartphone. Power users might still have to carry around an extra battery to make it through the day. Unfortunately, some people don’t have the option of swapping out batteries. They’re pretty much stuck with taking advantage of optimizing software features in order to have a long lasting charge.

What advice do you have to save battery life for those that don’t have the option of swapping out a dead battery for a fully charged solution? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Come comment on this article: Customizing Android: 6 ways to maximize battery life