LIVING LARGE
Samsung shows off two little-known settings to instantly boost battery life – first is perfect for ‘below 15%’ emergency
There are some other settings to tweak too
SMARTPHONE giant Samsung has revealed two settings you need to check if your cell's charge is always low.
The South Korean tech titan shared a memo with tips aimed at maximizing your smartphone's battery life.
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And there are two areas in your Samsung Galaxy phone's settings that you might have missed.
POWER SAVER
One simple option is to turn on Power-Saving Mode.
It's best used when your phone is already low on charge.
If you leave it on all the time, you might find that your phone experience isn't great.
"Drastic times — like when your battery falls below 15% — call for drastic measures," Samsung said.
"The power-saving mode on Galaxy devices is a smart feature that automatically decreases screen brightness, reduces screen resolution, limits processor speed and stops background network usage."
You can find the feature inside Settings > Battery and Device Care.
There's also an even more powerful mode that is available on the latest Samsung phones.
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It's called Emergency Mode and you'll find it under Settings > Safety and Emergency.
"This lets you sustain your battery for several days, though you’ll only have access to core apps and features," Samsung explained.
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"It also sends a message with your location to a chosen contact so they can see where you and your phone are."
SMARTER PHONE
A second (and less extreme) option is to use what Samsung calls "intelligent performance management".
This helps to optimize your phone's performance and battery life.
Why do batteries get worse over time?
Here's what you need to know...
- Most gadgets run on lithium-ion batteries
- Over time, the amount of charge this type of battery can hold gets smaller
- That means you need to charge your device more often because they hold less charge
- Batteries have two electrode points – the cathode and the anode
- To charge a battery, the ions inside the battery are forced from the cathode to the anode
- When you use a battery, it moves in the reverse direction
- This process wears away at the structure of the anode, reducing its ability to function correctly
- But the process also builds up a kind of salt on the cathode when charging
- As this build-up grows, the battery will accept less charge over time
- It’s estimated that between 500 and 1,000 full charge-cycles will reduce a battery’s maximum capacity by roughly 20%
You can find these features in Settings > Battery and Device Care.
It's even possible to automate some of the optimizations so you don't have to constantly check it.
Samsung explains: "Many folks also recommend turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as a power-saving tactic — Wi-Fi and Bluetooth each use a fraction of the power of GPS and cellular connectivity — but some people don’t like the trade-offs.
"On the other hand, you can save some power (and sanity) by turning off notifications whenever a public Wi-Fi network is available and turning off Wi-Fi while your phone is asleep."
Drastic times — like when your battery falls below 15% — call for drastic measures
Samsung
OTHER BATTERY TIPS
Some other settings to take a look at generally for improving battery life include:
- Reducing screen brightness
- Switching phone theme to dark (on devices with AMOLED displays)
- Shortening the screen shut-off timer
- Limit background activity for apps in Settings > Battery and Device Care > Battery > Background Usage Limits
- Turning off Location Services
- Turning off Data Roaming
Try a combination of these tweaks to see if your phone's battery life improves.
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But remember: smartphone batteries will always get worse over time.
So if you've had the same phone for four or five years, changing settings will only do so much.
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