There's one thing everyone hates about their iPhone — the battery life.
No matter how much juice you get from your iPhone, it could always be better.
For some people, low battery life is a career hazard. For others, it's just a pain.
Recently, my boss Henry Blodget revealed his three tips for getting better battery performance. I figure I'd throw out my tips, too. It involves some sacrifice, but when I'm going to be out all day, it's worth it.
My number one trick for improving my phone's battery life — the "Do Not Disturb" mode.
I get a lot of alerts on my home screen. I have Gmail sending push email, Twitterrific sending Twitter notifications, Foursquare updates, text messages, and lots of other stuff. Each time one of those alerts hits my home screen it lights up, putting a little strain on the battery. It adds up over time and knocks down my phone's battery life.
Other ways to conserve battery:
- Turn off WiFi when I leave my home, since the phone will be going crazy looking for WiFi.
- If I'm on the subway, or away from a signal, flip it to Airplane mode.
- Dim the screen's brightness.
- And when I'm really on my last gulp of battery, I just don't use the phone. I know this is silly, but if you get a feel for your usage and what's dragging on the battery you can make judgements about how and when to use the phone.
If battery life is really important, then you should spend $100 on a Mophie juice pack. I carry one around with me. When the battery drops to 10%, I put the phone in the juice pack, it goes back to 80%. I then take off the Mophie because it's big and bulky.
And short of a Mophie, just carry around an iPhone cord and plug.
None of these solutions are perfect, but it's better than nothing. If you've got some tips and tricks on extending the battery of your phone, drop it in the comments.
