Improving battery life on the iPhone 4S [insert smartphone here]
Energy storage is one technology that has not obeyed Moore’s law. This is clearly the case in smartphones–I often see heavy users plug in their phones everywhere they go to maintain enough juice to last the entire day.
In contrast, my dumb phone holds enough charge to last 4 days on standby. The bottom line is that the more functionality your mobile device has, the shorter the battery life will be. These features include 4G antennas, multitasking apps, push notifications, WiFi/Bluetooth activity, background processes, and flash camera use.
I’m often asked for tips to prolong battery life on the iPhone 4S. For those without the software glitch, here are a few suggestions (some are phone agnostic):
- Shut down background apps. Back when I was writing TSR‘s, I learned that background processes with leaky memory will throttle cpu big time. On the iPhone 4S, hold the Home button until a list of apps appears on the screen. Hold onto one of the icons until they start shaking. You will also see a red negative sign. Hit the sign to shut down the apps. This is most useful in apps that require net access. On Android, you can use Advanced Task Killer.
- Disable Bluetooth when not in use. Obvious.
- Disable cell signal if you are in poor reception areas. If you’re not expecting calls or texts, this is the way to go.
- Disable push notifications on non-urgent apps. Tricky. If you’re a day trader and rely on your texting/phone vibration for your job, you may be out of luck. You can also increase polling time.
- Disable Flash. Pertinent to Android devices. Yes, Flash is a battery killer.
There are many “disables” on this list. There are also a dozen other minor tweaks that can be found online. Be aware that apps typically aren’t screened as closely for memory leaks or routines that potentially cycle cpu time without effect. Your battery life will greatly depend on the apps you use daily. Unfortunately we are still limited by our technology, but perhaps these recommendations will help get you through the day.