12 Tips to Save Smartphone Battery While You Travel
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12 Tips to Save Smartphone Battery While You Travel
Battery life is an important consideration when you shop for a new phone. But no matter which phone you end up choosing, real life happens. Maybe you forgot your charger at home and stayed out later than you expected. Perhaps you're traveling somewhere new and ran through your battery way faster than usual. We've all been there.
Power management tips can come in handy to help keep your phone alive so you can stay connected even when you can’t plug in. Optimum Mobile offers 12 tips to help you conserve your phone’s battery life, no matter what make or model you buy.
1. Reduce screen brightness
While it's easy to forget that you can adjust this setting, it should come as no surprise that the brighter the screen, the more battery power you use. The good news is that you have a few options for how to manage your phone's brightness.
Most smartphones include an option to adjust the brightness based around ambient light settings, so that the brightness is turned up when you need it - like when your phone display is competing with bright surroundings. This can help make sure you only use battery power when it's needed, without compromising on convenience.
If you are particularly worried about your battery, you can set your phone to the fixed level of dimness that works best for you.
2. Set your phone to sleep faster
Today's electronics can be switched to a state that lives between fully on and fully off, known as "sleep" mode. When your phone is asleep, nonessential parts such as the screen are turned off while vital components stay on so that you can quickly start using your phone when you need to. Sleep mode lets you save battery while maintaining convenience.
By reducing the number of minutes your phone sits idle before it goes to sleep, you can reduce power spend further and do an even better job of saving your battery charge.
3. Use power-saver mode
In addition to sleep mode, most mobile phones offer a power-saver or battery-saver mode. When this mode is turned on, all the settings on your phone are automatically adjusted to prioritize battery life. Your screen might run a bit dimmer; background apps may get shut off; and phone operation gets reduced to "essential tasks only." This simple move can add several hours to your battery life.
4. Use airplane mode
Mobile phones spend a lot of power searching for signal, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular data. When you set your phone into airplane mode, you stop this search and save battery as a result. If you know you won't need your phone for a while and want to save battery until the next time you need to make a call or otherwise communicate, putting it in airplane mode might be a good option.
5. Watch out for power-hungry apps running in the background
A recent Avast study of three million smartphones showed that many of the most power-hungry apps are also big drains on mobile data and storage space. If you are running low on memory or running up your data usage, reviewing your apps for performance-killers might help you get more out of your smartphone.
Most phones have an option - usually under their Settings menu, often tied to Network Settings - where you can view app data usage. You can customize settings for when these apps run, pause them temporarily, or even uninstall them completely depending on your power needs.
6. Consider updating your operating system
Do you procrastinate installing operating system updates when prompted by your phone? You may want to rethink this, particularly if you notice your battery life isn't quite where you want it to be. Phone manufacturers like Apple periodically release system updates that may include battery performance enhancements. Keeping your phone up to date gives you direct access to the latest optimizations.
7. Reduce push notifications
Alerts like push notifications - those messages that pop up at the top of your screen or on your lock screen - can rapidly drain your battery. For maximum battery-saving effects, you can turn these notifications off completely on your Android or iPhone. If you want to keep some notifications, such as receiving calendar reminders or text messages but avoid other app notifications, you can adjust which push notifications are enabled on an app-by-app basis from your Settings menu.
8. Limit location services
Leaving location services on means that your phone is constantly searching for and interacting with local satellites, trying to find the nearest one and sharing updates on where you go. The constant calculation of distance to the closest satellite is enough to quickly drain your battery. Again, within your phone's settings there is an option for location services, which you can adjust.
9. Avoid rich content
Downloading files, streaming media, watching videos, or playing music all accelerate the rate of battery usage on your smartphone because they all require processor power. While choosing to refrain from viewing media is up to you to decide whenever you need to save battery, you can turn off automatic downloads from your phone's Settings menu. Usually, this involves viewing the App Download settings, and selecting the option to be asked every time (versus enabling automatic downloads over Wi-Fi).
10. Lock your phone
When you lock your phone, you stop the screen's activity and reduce the work your phone's processor must do, which in turn saves your battery life. Even though you will have to sign in every time you need to use your phone, you will likely net massive gains on battery longevity from each charge.
11. Store at room temperature
The normal temperature range for optimal battery life is between 62- and 72-degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures that go too far below this (such as freezing) can impede phone function, but temperatures above this range are particularly bad for battery lifespan. In fact, many smartphones automatically shut off when they reach a certain temperature to protect their parts.
If you notice your phone is hot, make sure to move it out of any direct sunlight and into the coolest spot you can find. Using a source of airflow, such as placing the phone near a fan, can also help it cool faster and keep it safe.
12. Carry a power bank
If you find yourself traveling a lot or consistently running low on mobile phone battery - or you're just worried about losing power while you travel - a mobile power bank might be a great solution for you. Power banks act as a portable power source you can use to charge your phone while you're on the go, without needing to plug in anywhere or cut back on your phone use. These banks are also fantastic in case of a power outage or other emergencies.
Optimum Mobile offers the latest mobile phones from Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and more. With four plans to choose from, Optimum Mobile offers big carrier benefits without the big price. When you get Optimum Internet and add Optimum Mobile, you'll save monthly on your Internet bill. You can call us at 866-200-7004 or visit the Optimum store nearest you.
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