Extend your mobile phone's battery life

By CNET staff on 14 December 2009

There's little in life more frustrating than having your mobile phone run out of battery in the middle of the day when you've left your charger at home. But you don't just have to accept this — follow these simple tips to extend your phone's battery life and avoid being caught short.

Tip 1: Features and settings
Tip 2: Signal strength
Tip 3: Understand your battery

Tip 1: Features and settings

Watch out for 3G and Wi-Fi

3G and Wi-Fi are now standard features in most new phones, and while they are essential for anyone who keeps tabs on work email while away from their desks, or Twitters about the bad smell on the train ride home from school, they are also one of the great battery life sinks in a mobile device. Because these are features which won't affect you making or receiving calls you should figure out how to turn these both off and make sure you only switch them on when you need them. Most phones feature a "GSM only" options, and switching to this could double or triple your battery life, depending on the phone model and on your usage.

iPhone battery life

Turning off a phone's 3G radios can significantly increase battery life
(Credit: Screenshots CBSi)

Turn off your Bluetooth when you're not using it

One of the most infamous battery-draining culprits is Bluetooth, which can be left on unintentionally. Bluetooth is a radio standard that can receive and transmit information, but to do this it consumes battery power. Unless you're using a Bluetooth headset, transferring files or sending information to someone, then you should turn it off and only use it when you need to.

Lower your screen's brightness

Another feature that you should keep an eye on is your screen's brightness. Some phones adjust the display's brightness automatically according to the ambient light, but most don't. The majority of mobile phone displays will be set to full brightness when you first switch them on and, unless you change it manually, they will stay on that setting.

You don't usually need full brightness to view the screen properly and setting it as low as possible will save plenty of energy. Some phones also have an option letting you adjust how long the backlight stays on for. It's best to keep the backlight on for as short an amount of time as possible, so turn it down to around 15 seconds, or less if you can to save your battery.

iPhone brightness

Adjusting your screen's brightness may also give you back a few hours
(Credit: Screenshots CBSi)

Keep it plain and keep it quiet

Screensavers and moving wallpapers may look pretty but they use up battery power, so turn them off. A loud ring and the vibrate mode also use up a lot of power, so turn down the volume and turn off the vibrate mode if you don't need it.

Use your phone sparingly and turn it off when you don't need it

If you restrict your phone usage to text messaging or phone calls and turn it off when you don't need it, your battery will last much longer. It may be fun playing games or browsing the Web at the bus stop, but your battery may well run out by the time you get to work.

Topics: battery, phone charger, extend battery life, mobile phone

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Comments (32)

  • Rachel101 commented on 30/05/2010 18:39

    Try The Pebble from www.planetgadget.com.au it's a battery charger that is portable and has 60 hours of re-charge available. It charged my iphone 4 times over.

  • Spin commented on 22/05/2010 13:01

    I have a mate who has told me about a code/number that you put into your phone (??) & it restores your battery life to half full or full. Has anyone heard of this? If you have, could you let me know what it is?

    Thanks!!

  • wwwbatterycompanycomau commented on 14/04/2010 18:54

    hile many of us now use mobile phones in place of land-line phones in our homes, the primary benefit of mobile phones remains their portability. A mobile phone is only as portable as its power source, however, so to get the most out of your phone you need to get the most out of your battery. When it comes to battery life, there are two separate, but connected, considerations: how to make the battery last longer between charges, and how to prolong the overall life of the battery.

  • Nippy commented on 13/04/2010 20:11

    Julie is a legend! Watch out for magnetic phone cases because they can and will sap the battery life from you mobile. It happened to me!!! I ditched the case and my phone is now amazing.

  • Nippy commented on 13/04/2010 19:38

    I love you sooooooo much!!!! Ive had the same problem and now you have saved me. It really works. Listen to the guy, hes a genius.

  • anthony commented on 29/03/2010 22:48

    how to save the battery when not used only 1 bar remaining

  • julie, nsw commented on 05/01/2010 09:06

    I brought a lg viewty (can't remember model #) phone & leather case to put it in & the battery was only lasting 4 to 6 hours from the start & I wasn't using any fancy features or settings a friend had the same phone & it lasted for days I soon worked out that it was the magnets in the leather phone case (used to keep the case closed) that were draining the battery power since ditching the leather case I have had no problem with my battery & it now also last for 4 to 6 days between recharges

  • TOL commented on 03/01/2010 01:41

    You mugs keep on spending money to buy expensive phones that you can't even use because when you do use any of the high tech featurres on the pnhone ,the battery lasts 5 minutes.
    Thats bullshit as far as I'm concerned
    Thats like forking over a mint toi by a Ferrari ,only to be told you have to keep it under 70 MPH or the engine will fail.
    I won't give my money top Apple or anybody else who produces a phone that I need to charge every 4-5 hours.I don't care how good the phone is.If I can't use it, it doesn't make a blind biit of diference.

  • greeenie commented on 02/01/2010 16:05

    i have samsung sgh-a412 phone and hve dificulty geting a signal omly one bar and it will not send or receive, afriend has the same phone and it gets 4 bars
    the batery shows fully charged, could it be a battery problem

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