Image i-phone-resource.blogspot
The Apple iPhone and Palm Pre are notoriously handy devices. They are also notorious for short battery life. Battery life is the Achilles' heel of almost every Smartphone.
Happily, there are things that you can do to extend the battery life on the Apple iPhone 3G, 3G S the Palm Pre and similar Smartphones. The trick is to go into your device’s configuration app or screen and make some subtle, but important, changes. We’ll consider this for the iPhone 3G, but many of these same techniques will work with the iPhone 3G S, the Palm Pre, and the Blackberry Curve.
These configuration changes can make quite a difference. That’s because the more we ask our Smartphone to do, the shorter its battery life becomes. When we use things such as push e-mail, Bluetooth, GPS, and such, we are putting more strain on what really is, in any consideration, a modest battery. This is true even with the new iPhone 3G S that, while offering better battery life than its predecessors, still can benefit from these kinds of improvement.
Okay, let’s start:
Turn off push e-mail:
Features are nice, but features can also be battery eaters. One of the biggest battery eaters is push e-mail. That’s because in order to receive push messages, the iPhone needs to keep the cell radio on all of the time. Doing so makes a big dent in battery life. You can work around this by turning off push e-mail and setting a time period for your phone to check in with Exchange, Google Mail, or whatever business e-mail system you happen to use. Even setting an aggressive mail check time, such as every 15 minutes, can make a major difference in battery life.
Turn off location services:
Yet another battery eater, location services keeps the GPS and perhaps the cell phone radios on when it is in use. It is better to turn on location services when you need them and keep them off when they are not required.
Turn off Bluetooth:
If you aren’t pairing any devices currently with the iPhone, you don’t need Bluetooth. So turn it off and give yourself some extra battery life.
Turn off Wi-Fi:
You should turn off WiFi when you don’t need it. Doing so reduces battery drain by turning off the 802.11b/g radio. However, when you are in range of a wireless LAN that you can use, turn WiFi back on to extend battery life. Believe it or not, this really does make sense. WiFi has yet another radio and it also is a battery drainer. However, the WiFi radio appears to draw less power than the 3G radio. That makes it better (and faster) for data use than 3G when you are in range of a wireless LAN network.
Try airplane mode:
If you just need a computing device and not a phone or wireless data device, airplane mode can give you significantly longer battery life. When airplane mode is activated, the radios are turned off. Interestingly, should your aircraft be WiFi equipped, you can turn on Airplane Mode and then turn WiFi back on. The same trick works at home, in the office and in a WiFi hot spot—as long as you don’t need to make or receive calls.
Turn down the brightness:
Every device made by man that has backlighting and a battery recommends this. It’s not a bad idea for the iPhone 3G or other Smartphones either. The lower your brightness the less power it drains from the battery. So make it as low as you are comfortable setting. Additionally, you may want to uncheck the iPhone 3G’s automatic brightness option.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with configurations to see if there are other changes you can make that enhance your iPhone’s or Palm Pre’s battery life. Just note what the setting was before you made the change so you can return back should you unexpectedly lose something you need.
Comments
So in other words, disable everything useful. Basically disable the phone because the features we use most kill the battery?
That's not a shot at you, it's a shot at the device manufacturers or even the battey manufacturers. It seems to me that the battery industry isn't keeping up with the technology industry.
They've got to find away to keep our phones running for 2 days without disabling the things we use most or even had to have before we purchase the phone.
Actually, you don't disable everything at one time. You only disable the features that you aren't using at any given time. It's a pain, I know, but it makes a big difference in battery life.
Still, your comments are well taken. You are, in a very real sense, dumbing down a device and shutting off features that you paid for when you bought your iPhone, Pre, or other device along with its associated services.
The Smartphone manufacturers, in conjunction with the chip manufacturers and, yes, the battery manufacturers have got to find a better way to provide a much longer battery lifespan. Having to recharge a device every four hours or even every day doesn't cut it for many users.
Jeff
I'm really disappointed by the short life of iPhone batteries. I bought this phone because I wanted to enjoy my phone browsing of the internet. It is very annoying to be able to browse only for a couple of hours. I have no choice to switch back to my nokia phone eventhough it has a relatively small screen.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!