Modern phones come loaded with bright screens, fun games and apps, and connections for 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Not coincidentally, they're constantly out of juice. Here's some of the best collected wisdom about saving your web-connected phone's battery life.


Photo by [177].

Note: I've tweaked a few sections, added in submissions from commenters, and removed a woefully misguided idea about dark-themed backgrounds since this post was originally published. Thanks for the help and (occasionally) gentle hand slaps.


Universal battery tips

They're different in a lot of ways, but all smartphones can be made to be more frugal with their limited power reserves if you're willing to follow a few simple rules of thumb.

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Keep it cool and out of pocket: If you're outside, don't leave your phone facing the direct sunlight. If you can pull it off without looking like a hyper-aggressive real estate agent, belt-clip your phone, or generally keep it out of your pocket and away from close quarters with your body heat.


Switch off 3G when it's unnecessary: It's faster than EDGE or GRPS and can deliver both voice and data in a continuous stream to your phone. It also uses up quite a bit more power. When you've got good coverage and plan to mostly talk, or just get occasional email updates, you don't need such wide wireless pipes. Switch to EDGE/2G usage in your settings, preferably with a widget or shortcut.

It's faster than EDGE or GRPS and can deliver both voice and data in a continuous stream to your phone. It also uses up quite a bit more power. When you've got good coverage and plan to mostly talk, or just get occasional email updates, you don't need such wide wireless pipes. Switch to EDGE/2G usage in your settings, preferably with a widget or shortcut. Switch off any unneeded service: Goes without saying for anyone who's learned the hard way. Having your phone constantly look for new Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi hotspots, GPS positions, and Exchange server emails that don't arrive at 4 a.m. will definitely kill your battery. Find the most convenient way your phone offers to turn these things off, or automate their use, and act on it.

Goes without saying for anyone who's learned the hard way. Having your phone constantly look for new Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi hotspots, GPS positions, and Exchange server emails that don't arrive at 4 a.m. will definitely kill your battery. Find the most convenient way your phone offers to turn these things off, or automate their use, and act on it. Be frugal with background applications and notifications: It feels like living in the future when new emails, Twitter messages, Facebook updates, calendar appointments, and other minutiae are delivered minute-by-minute to your phone. Your battery lives in the present, though, and could use a break from your hyper-awareness. If you've got a phone that can keep multiple applications "open" for quicker access (Android, Pre, Windows Mobile), don't feel obligated to keep them present.

It feels like living in the future when new emails, Twitter messages, Facebook updates, calendar appointments, and other minutiae are delivered minute-by-minute to your phone. Your battery lives in the present, though, and could use a break from your hyper-awareness. If you've got a phone that can keep multiple applications "open" for quicker access (Android, Pre, Windows Mobile), don't feel obligated to keep them present. Fiddle with screen time-outs and brightness: Tweak how long your screen stays lit after a quick time check, modify how bright it must stay during the daylight, and you'll likely pull a bit more use time from your handset.

Tweak how long your screen stays lit after a quick time check, modify how bright it must stay during the daylight, and you'll likely pull a bit more use time from your handset. Use mobile site versions: Find and bookmark the mobile versions of the sites you always visit (often found at m.sitename.com , mobile.sitename.com , or, occasionally, sitename.com/m ), and keep tools like the Google Mobilizer Bing Mobile


Photo by sarchi.

BlackBerry


If you're rocking a BlackBerry, chances are that disconnecting your network to save on battery life isn't an option. Instead, you might try a few of these tips. Photo by liewcf.

RIM's official tips: To summarize: Close your browser with the ESC key when you're done surfing, use shortcuts instead of Java-based menus, get crazy with the extensive settings, and use the Desktop Manager (now available for PCs and Mac OS X) to load media, rather than have your phone resize and compress it all. Radio Saver and AutoStandby: Radio Saver turns off your phone's cell reception when coverage is spotty or non-existent, saving you from the dreaded drain of roaming for signal. AutoStandby, when it's on, drops your BlackBerry into a deeper standby state, rather than just sleep, if you'd rather get a bit more time from your phone than be constantly pinged. They're $2.99 each, which isn't cheap for a utility, but might be worth the coffee change if you're low on battery life or working on the edge of service. BBlight: This simple little app allows you to have your screen's backlight automatically turn off after a set period of time. Here's the direct over-the-air link. Thanks atomicrabbit! The Boy Genius basics: Straight from the BlackBerry-toting, news-breaking blogger behind the Boy Genius Report, the basics on keeping your phone alive: Turn down brightness of the screen, turn the LED off, turn Bluetooth off, Wi-Fi off (when not needed). Also, keep it in a holster, since it will "sleep" (when inside it) No silver bullets there, but sound advice—especially on the holster bit.

iPhones


Apple's game-changing, full-web-browsing phone has had its battery life detractors from the get-go. Luckily, some have put their efforts into fixing that. Photo by Mat Honan.


Android


The current crop of Android phones have almost universally crummy battery life. Luckily, the system's open platform has given app developers lots of leeway to squeeze every drop out of them. Photo by sugree.

Automate your phone rules: When you're asleep, you want important calls to come through, but you don't need to check your email every hour. When you're at work, your screen doesn't need to be so bright, and you've already got net access. Using an app like Locale

When you're asleep, you want important calls to come through, but you don't need to check your email every hour. When you're at work, your screen doesn't need to be so bright, and you've already got net access. Using an app like Learn to love APNdroid: It's more severe, but APNdroid

It's more severe, but Keep the power widget handy: When your Android 1.6 (a.k.a. Donut) update arrives, you'll have a new widget available, "Power Control," that puts some important on/off switches—Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, auto-sync, and screen brightness—all on one horizontal strip. Keep it someplace handy on your home screen, and power down when you're at your most casual.

When your Android 1.6 (a.k.a. Donut) update arrives, you'll have a new widget available, "Power Control," that puts some important on/off switches—Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, auto-sync, and screen brightness—all on one horizontal strip. Keep it someplace handy on your home screen, and power down when you're at your most casual. See what's eating your juice: Also new in Android 1.6: A percentage Battery Use chart you can access under About Phone in your Settings. It shows what's been pulling in power since the last time you charged your phone, which can help remind you of background apps and other power drains.


Windows Mobile


Older than almost all its siblings, but Windows Mobile has grown to incorporate all the same battery-killing background powers as its brethren. Photo by Titanus.

WMExperts' tips : To summarize: Avoid Wi-Fi whenever possible, dial down your email checking, and dig into your settings to modify screen time-outs and vibration frequency.

To summarize: Avoid Wi-Fi whenever possible, dial down your email checking, and dig into your settings to modify screen time-outs and vibration frequency. WMLongLife : Basically, this independent app switches your phone from 3G service down to 2G when it's in standby mode, so background data grabs and non-essential pings drain less battery. The developer also states it has a beneficial impact on, erm, other functions.


Palm Pre


Everybody who digs the Palm Pre mentions its "deck of cards" multi-tasking and Sprint's seriously speedy data networks. Yeah, you guessed it—both require a little power precaution.

Treonauts' battery tips : To summarize: Turn it off (or into airplane mode) when in very weak coverage, and follow the same kind of auto-check and background app recommendations made earlier in this post.

To summarize: Turn it off (or into airplane mode) when in very weak coverage, and follow the same kind of auto-check and background app recommendations made earlier in this post. Battery Saver : This homebrew app is only really useful if there are parts of the day where another phone provides you with emergency contact—like at home, if you have an alternate line. If that's the case, though, turning your phone to airplane mode at pre-set parts of the day gives you the advantage of a quick power-on or contact check, while also saving on battery life.


Symbian (Help Wanted)

To be honest, the vast variety of Symbian phones with customized firmwares give us pause at offering a standard set of apps or recommendations for better battery life. That said, if you know of a tip, trick, or app that saves battery life on Symbian phones, tell us in the comments. We'll update the post here to reflect the best suggestions.


traviswilson shares the basics of Symbian app management for newcomers: Close your camera, youtube, slingplayer, google maps (it uses gps, and say no to latitude sharing) and any applications still running:

I believe all Symbian phones have a menu key ... If you hold that button down it will show you what applications are open (windows version of alt-tab) and you can close programs running in the background. Remember Symbian can multitask and will usually leave your programs running unless you close them by using Options, Exit. sockatume posts a whole lot of Symbian tweaks to try in the comments, including this bit: Switch data connections to "When Needed" instead of "When Available". The phone won't make a power-hungry data connection unless an app actually requests one. fadedspark asks Symbian users to be sure they're updated on their firmware, as it's more than just a number change that happens: Battery improvements are one of nokia's focus points, going from 100-110 on my old e71 netted me about 3hrs of battery life. I was a HEAVY user. HSDPA push running all day. Had to recharge at 11pm every night until that update.


Hopefully you'll find something useful in these tips to give your mobile data hub a bit more life from each charge. Did we miss anything major? By all means, tell us about it in the comments, and share your own battery life discoveries.