Ever been cut off mid-conversation, mid-text or heaven forbid mid-flappy bird? Battery life is a ever-present problem for the fast majority of smartphone addicts at this point in time. However it appears the major phone manufacturers remain reluctant to invest the resources into developing a viable solution.
However what many people fail to remember/acknowledge is that there are subtle changes that we can make to our using habits, and handset configurations, that can stretch that inadequate lithium nightmare into the biggest and best battery bunny around.
What are these changes and where do I find them!? I hear you shriek, well thanks to liGo electronics they are all under one metaphorical roof. The Glasgow based online retailer has created a handy interactive guide on how to save your smartphone battery.
Simply select your make and model from the dropdown menu and enjoy basking in the power saving knowledge in all its glory. I’m sure there will be many suggestions you are already implementing but I would be amazed if anyone had considered every one of the tips and tricks.
Daniel, from liGo, explained to me how they came up with the concept and why it is important: “As big tech fanatics we were often being asked on how to improve a phones battery life and what the best practices were. We carried out a little search to see if any guides existed but found nothing comprehensive and detailed enough, in our opinion. That led us to creating this piece which will hopefully educate smartphone users in a simple and effective way”.
Having used the tool myself I would have to agree. Having encountered similar guides I was initially sceptical. I find these sorts of things usually offer dumbed down, mum-like, advice such as “Use it less” or “Charge it overnight” so I was pleasantly surprised to find some ideas I hadn’t contemplated myself.
I selected HTC from the ‘make’ menu, followed by HTC ONE (M8) from the ‘model’ menu, and was as if by magic presented with 13 suggestions and guides. While there were three or four tips I had already put into place I was somewhat shocked to see the number of ideas I had not yet implemented. I have to confess I am not someone overly troubled by battery depletion but I felt compelled, largely through curiosity, to give some of the suggestions a whirl.
I set out restricting background apps, stopping my phone from auto syncing data and setting a shorter screen timeout and I have to report there was a definite improvement in my HTC’s battery life. I found myself still hovering around the 50% mark even after a day of relatively heavy use.
Impressive. Anyway if you are one of the millions of people (primarily iPhone users I assume?) who instantly scans every new room for a plug socket then head over to liGo and check out this handy tool. It may be the difference between a new high score on flappy bird or the misery and monotony of the real world.