by Patrick McAvey | Twitter.com/thefndtn
Whether you have the original iPhone or the latest iPhone 4, battery usage is always an issue. Because the iPhone does so much — plays video, music, checks email all day, delivers directions, search the web and plays games — it uses a lot more energy than a phone that is just a phone. To keep the power available to do the things I want, I have a few tips to make the iPhone do less and use less power.
1. Dim your display. In Settings-> Brightness I keep mine set to about 1/4 brightness which is bright enough for me under all circumstances. Since the backlight for the display is a major source of battery consumption reducing it can have a major effect.
2. Autolock. Tackling the same issue – LCD Backlight – the Autolock function turns off the backlight and locks the screen from input after a set amount of time. Setting your Autolock to the minimum of 1 minute will save more power for other things. Autolock can be found in Settings-> Autolock.
3. Limit your WiFi use. I leave my WiFi set to off almost all the time. This saves power in two ways – it turns off the WiFi antenna and also does not scan for networks to connect to all the time. I am rarely downloading large files and so can live without it. On the rare occasions I need to get a big file fast, I turn WiFi back on. If you are person who has to have WiFi to live, then by all means leave it on, but consider turing off the Ask to Join Networks option – that way it will connect to networks you know about, but not always be asking about new networks it finds. All of these Settings can be found in Settings-> WiFi.
4. Bluetooth. If you do not use Bluetooth devices with your iPhone, turn that off in Settings-> General -> Bluetooth. If you use it very rarely you might get in the habit of turning it off until needed.
5. Play games less. If it is your thing, it is your thing, but accept that playing games can be a very high draw on your battery. It uses the CPU, LCD, the graphics system and even the networking for some games. Nothing seems to suck battery on my iPhone 3GS like playing Angry Birds. Games are fun, but really use a lot of battery power.
In general these tips can really help make it through your day with enough battery. A final essential tip I cannot stress enough is to plug in as much as possible. As I drive from place to place throughout the day I have my iPhone plugged in to the charger in my car. This means that not only do I top off the battery while I am driving, I also do not consume any battery during that time. At my desk I also have a charger and plug it in when I am in the office. I use my iPhone a lot and all day long but by following these conservation strategies and charging it whenever I can I am able to get though my day with power to spare.
