Learn how to prevent your iPhone's battery from dying prematurely during the holidays.
Episode #4-15 released on December 22, 2013
The holidays are a time for cheer, a time for family, and a time for iPhone batteries. We typically use our iPhones a specific way, and have grown a custom to the strengths and weaknesses of our batteries, the same rings true for our internet usage allocation, but around the holidays our bills and batteries are put to the test, this episode will help you try to save some money, battery charge, and reduce your internet usage during the holidays.
Let's deal with the battery. Most of us won't have an easy way of charging our iPhones during the holidays. Since the battery is the most immediate issue we need to deal with, here are a few useful tips and tricks to make the battery last longer.
Reduce the back light on your phone, and turn off auto-brightness as that drains the battery even more by continuously adjusting the back light. Adjust the light on your phone to the lowest you can see during the daytime, and it will be plenty bright in the dark rooms we party in.
Turn off useless effects on your phone, like motions effects. These require the sensors in your phone to be on, and therefore can, also, drain the battery. Consider turning off gesture features like that of Siri.
Turn off Bluetooth, and don't be a blue tool. Keeping your Bluetooth on and your ear piece in your ear only makes you look stupid, and there is no difference between driving with Bluetooth and driving with your cellphone in your hand, so you shouldn't do either, especially during the holidays.
Turn off location services for all applications that don't technically require it, which means everything but your GPS features. Also, you may further consider turning off location services for things like Compass Calibration, Diagnostics and Usage, Location-Based iADs, Popular Near Me, Setting Time Zone, Traffic, Wi-Fi Networking, and Frequent Locations. Since I have disabled these, I haven't had any significant or minor issues using my iPhone.
Consider lowering the volume, and avoid using the flash as a notification means, and the vibration mode. All these need more power, the more they are used, or the louder they are set.
Turn off notifications for all non-essential applications, and don't just prevent them from appearing on the lock screen. If a notification was suppose to make it to the lock screen, and doesn't show up, the lock screen still lights, and your phone still vibes, or rings anyway.
Consider using the Do Not Disturb feature for your iPhone, and add your family and friends to your favorites list. Then allow favorites to call or notify and nothing else. This prevents useless activation of notification features when not desired.
Now, to deal with internet usage, and these tricks and tips will, also, save some battery life for your iPhone. Turn off cellphone data usage, and use Wi-Fi instead. Not using Wi-Fi, turn off the antenna, do the same for Bluetooth.
Turn off cellphone data for all applications that don't require it, such as anything not GPS related. You can, always, turn them back on when you need it. Meanwhile, since they can't go online, and the notifications will be off unless you need it for a specific application, you will save battery life and bandwidth.
Turn off auto-upload services like that of Facebook. Not only can this kill your battery, but it may, also, eat at your internet usage allocation.
Turn off auto fetch for your e-mail. If you need to check your messages, you still can, the application in your iPhone, provided it can connect online, will fetch your messages when you open the application.
Now, I know that many of these can, also, apply to your favorite Android, Windows, Blackberry, etc... phone, but if you have extra tips, please leave a comment down below, or e-mail me them at ask@tqaweekly.com, and I will post them in the show notes, and in the description to my Youtube video.
Happy holidays, and have new year. My next episode will be on January 5th, 2014.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : Jonny Lee Hart | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Productions