Increase Battery Life for Electronics

Step 3 Cell Phones

You probably have a cell phone. Everyone does these days, don't they? Well, if you think you're battery life stinks, use some of these ideas.

Many of today's intricate and cool phones have special features like animated wallpapers and the like. That uses a lot of power. I turned off the wallpaper and I notice a bit of extra time on my phone battery.

The screen backlight time, again is a huge influence. Set it to a lower time, because I highly doubt you can use your cell phone while you are talking on it. The only possibility is that you have a headset, which most of are Bluetooth, which brings up the next section.

Bluetooth can eat a HUGE amount of your battery. Make sure you turn it off if you aren't using a Bluetooth device. You might not even have a device!
Please don't take this the wrong way. Bluetooth by all means is perfectly fine to leave on. It's just a suggestion to save power (when you see the picture, you'll need reassurance :D).

I really don't think there is much that you can do to cell phones, so I'm going to stop here.
Please advise if you have any ideas for me to add.

Comments

[11010010110]

Few more things to test out : When reception is restricted (like in concrete buildings) phone may use more power for transmission. Using and keeping it near the window and / or with the antenna pulled out may enhance battery Screen contrast may affect battery Screen backlight color may affect battery (different efficiency of different color LEDs) All whats applicable for notebook computers is applicable here too Most important : Enjoy life not the phone ! Second hand Nokia 5110 owner. Charging once in 1.5 weeks

[thinkdunson]

you're right about reception... when it's constantly looking for a signal, it's using more power. but the contrast and color of the screen does not affect power usage. the backlight doesn't change color, the screen does. the only way to save energy with the backlight is to simply decrease brightness when you don't need as much. and the screen is not LEDs, it's an LCD. it will use the same amount of juice no matter what color or contrast it is.

[11010010110]

the backlight of the screen is LEDs. there are phones with black and white screen and colored backlight which can be changed in the settings

[thinkdunson]

the backlight isn't always led's. led backlights in laptops is just starting to emerge. besides, how do you know it isn't a filter? and if it is led's, i bet that the color is from a combination of different colored led's... meaning, even if you chose red (the lowest frequency and therefore the lowest power usage), it wouldn't be simply red... it would be a combination of led's making a red color, because it would be nearly impossible to see the screen with a normal red led. i just don't think it's very likely at all. if this was the case, then the difference in battery life would be enormous by switching to a red screen. most led colors use more than twice as much power as red.

[11010010110]

it'd be the other way then - that blue is the most efficient blue led voltage is higher so it needs less current (smaller resistor) to get the same power the current determines how fast the battery is drained (i saw leds in phones cnnected between resistor and ground each so i assume this is the way they are. if they are PWMed in newer phones then the current thing does not apply) are there any phones with backlight other than leds ? whats used in them ?

[andreblue]

some are long lube ones like in stores

[sijmenjan]

The backlight is always white. Black and other colors are made with covering the lights

[CeyloniteSoldier]

LEDs have never been widely used in cell phone screens. The screens, being LCDs, generally use fluorescent lamps as backlights. LCD screens with LED backlights are possible and have been done, but they are expensive and very far from being perfected. Also, higher voltage components require a higher current to operate.

[thinkdunson]

this really isn't the place for this discussion. if you have a colored backlight, try changing the colors and see if it helps. good luck.

[LemonSlice]

I've never heard that before, but that's an interesting idea, and with 1.5 weeks of battery life, it seems that all this helps. And yes, we'll enjoy life. :)

[tommylovesjamie]

Newer phones don't usually have this issue, but an interesting thing that a lot of people don't know about is that if their phone goes into analog signal reception, it drains the battery life tremendously. This is because the phone is constantly sending and receiving instead of sending in pulses of on and off. That said, if your phone has the option, it would be wise to shut off the analog reception capability. I did this for my LG phone when I was doing my pre-mobilization train-up, and I found that a lot of places where my phone was switching to analog still had a digital signal, so I was able to continue talking instead of losing the call and battery life in those areas.