How to Save Battery on an Android Phone?

Android is growing fast in terms of services and apps – that are high hungry for battery – and hence its becoming quite hard to keep up with a battery life of an Android smartphones that lasts all day.

Some people out there can probably stretch the life of a an Android phone battery to say 16 hours or even 24 hours on a single charge with low usage. But, hey, you didn’t buy a smartphone to keep it in your pockets to save battery.

So the question is how to increase battery life of Android phones without compromising with the usage?

Frankly speaking its not possible to get another full day of stand-by – even after digging out all the possible ways of extending battery life – however, there are few things that can save you with few hours of battery life.

In this article we are going to show you how to increase battery life on an android device.

Less Apps Less Battery Consumption:

The lower number of apps installed on your Android device the more battery you can dig out from it. This is probably the best way to save a lot of battery. Dump all unnecessary apps that you had installed once but never used them again – remove them immediately.

Such apps run in the background consuming your device’s RAM and even slowing down your device. By deleting such apps you can definitely get more battery life.

If your Android device is rooted then delete those unnecessary apps that come as stock apps on your device, such as some antivirus apps that always ask you to buy there premium package and you don’t want to. Delete such apps by installing root file manager and going into system files. it’s quite easy.

Installing Battery Saving Apps:

These battery saving apps have profiles or modes in which that they can toggle Wi-Fi, GPS, Mobile data, Sync etc. They automatically turns on and off such things that drains battery. Such apps would run in background and controls such options that drain battery. You can easily find these battery saving apps on Play Store.

Use task killing apps on your android:

Many apps are now available in Play store that are known as task killers. Such apps kill background running apps which frees up memory and ultimately saves battery. There are some automatic task killers and some are manual. You can even set regular task kills. The more memory you have the more fast and responsive your device would be and would save battery life.

Disable Wi-Fi when not needed:

When not using Wi-Fi turning it off is another great way to save battery life. Wi-Fi keeps grabbing new lists of Wi-Fi signal in the area where ever you go, that keeps on consuming more battery life. Even when connected to your home Wi-Fi or office’s Wi-Fi it drains battery, So best deal for you is to disable it when not needed.

Disable GPS when not needed:

Disable GPS while not using. GPS is mostly used by maps like Google Maps or Sygic etc. Such apps uses GPS to find your location and point your location on their maps. Facebook also uses to show your location when posting a status, pics or videos. Even camera uses GPS for geo-tagging. Such features are great but it would drain more battery life and hence should be disabled to save some cells.

Disable Mobile data when not needed:

Mobile data drains more battery life than the Wi-Fi and disabling the Mobile data when not needed is a great deal to save battery.

Select 2G in Network Mode:

Go in to settings/Wireless and networks/Mobile networks/Network mode and choose GSM only in Network mode. Because in Pakistan we only have GSM  — though we are desperately waiting for 3G but until then — changing such settings would also increase battery life.

Save Battery Through Wallpaper:

Live wallpaper drains battery as well as they slow down the processes like opening apps. Live wallpaper looks fancy but definitely are no go for those who want to save battery. Select static picture as a wallpaper that would save battery.

Using a black wallpaper or dark wallpapers on Devices with Super AMOLED or LED backlight screen saves battery further.

Enable Sync or Uploading Only Through Wi-Fi:

Sync files or download large files through Wi-Fi only because this way such operations will take lesser time and hence lesser battery consumption. Apps like dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive etc. come with the option that you can upload pictures or videos automatically and instantly when you shoot them – don’t select this option. Rather select to upload or sync your data only when on WiFi.

Delete Unnecessary Widgets:

Widgets also drain battery because they keep themselves running to update their status. For example Facebook widget shows new posts and for such function it runs in the background consuming Wi-Fi or mobile data and hence draining the battery. Using less widgets would help you get more battery life.

Use Lower Brightness and Screen Timeout:

Using lower brightness would help you dig out more battery. In android the more features you use at once the more battery it drains out. You will observe battery saved significantly by using lower brightness. While indoor usage try to keep brightness at around 30% to 40% and while in direct sunlight use more brightness that would make visibility easy enough. Using less screen timeout will also increase battery life, Choose screen timeout about 30 seconds or 1 minute not more than that.

Use Dark Themes

If available and possible, prefer dark themes on your phones. Idea is to minimize the white or non-black colors on your display as much as possible. Remember: Anything bright will consume more battery.

Underclocking CPU speed:

For those guys with rooted android devices can lower the CPU speed when performing simple tasks like messaging, calling etc. Under clocking save a lots of battery and even keeps your device cool. Underclocking will reduce speed while playing a heavy game but you can always Overclock it when needed.

Keep the Device Cool:

You would have noticed that device becomes warmer from the back side after playing a heavy 3D game or video streaming or performing heavy tasks that uses more CPU, In such cases the battery drains fast. Keeping device cool saves battery. You can keep the device cool by taking a break for little while until the device gets cool down.

Election Game: Go rich boy, go!

There’s hardly a game that we’ve played in recent times which is quite nearly as simple yet interesting as this one. “Go rich boy, go!” puts you in the shoes of an unnamed boy from a posh area of the city of Karachi who is going out to vote for the first time in his life. It is written by Jahanzaib Haque, the web editor of Express Tribune using, Quest.

The game gives you a choice of three characters (your friend, your crush or your guard) who can accompany you on your journey to the polling station. The trip is long and action-packed as you regularly see dead ends and eventually reach the polling station (which happens to be in a place called Murdabad).

Humour is incorporated in every portion of the game. I won’t be revealing much of it here but the moment your best buddy realises that you haven’t got a name is particularly funny. Upon reaching the polling station you’re given a choice of 5 parties to whom you could cast your vote (including PPP, PTI, MQM, JI and Shahid Nazeer who in this case represents his favoured party).

Although text-based, the best thing about the game is the depth of it. Each move you take is a mere branch of a labyrinth of dialogues and steps. Every step must be executed perfectly and only after judging the entire situation otherwise you’ll have to start all over again, or will lose points. It took me five attempts to finally emerge out as a successful voter. All of the endings in this game are unexpected and extremely funny.

You’re either asked to log in to save your progress or to play as a guest. Go rich boy, go! is just too good to be dismissed as a lame game. I’ve been playing a bit of Nun Attack! lately but even I can’t help laughing wildly or even get tense on a number of occasions.

It’s impossible to judge the game based on this review only. Go try it out yourself here!