Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Ultimate guide: 10 ways to improve battery life on your smartphone and laptop

Published Aug 26th, 2015 12:44PM EDT
Battery Life iPhone 6
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

To be perfectly frank, battery technology is infuriating. Think about how different the world would be if improvements to battery tech progressed as quickly as other areas. Unfortunately… science.

It’s annoying that we even have to think about battery life as often as we do, but the fact of the matter is if we spend some time making a few key tweaks and optimizing things, it can have a significant impact on battery performance in our laptops and smartphones.

DON’T MISS: How to access Windows 10’s secret Start Menu

We constantly post guides that focus on milking the batteries in your gadgets for all they’re worth. A few simple changes can mean the difference between making it home just in time to charge your phone, and watching helplessly as it powers off halfway through your day.

Now, we’ve come across a great guide on Lifehacker that addresses smartphones and laptops in one big post. While it’s true that modern laptops feature battery performance that is dramatically improved compared to computers from just a couple of years ago, everyone can benefit from longer battery life regardless of where your machine is now.

Here are some of Lifehacker’s tips:

First, the site advises readers to be sure to use any battery maintenance tools that come pre-installed on their laptops. These apps from popular manufacturers like Lenovo and Sony might seem like junkware, but they can actually have an impact on battery performance.

The guide also recommends putting your laptop into sleep mode rather than shutting down if you plan to use it again soon. Believe it or not, shutting down and starting up can use more energy than two or more hours of sleep mode.

On the smartphone side of things, there are a few obvious notes in there like turning down your display’s brightness, unplugging your phone once it’s fully charged, and reducing the amount of time before your phone puts the screen to sleep. The guide also recommends using battery saving apps if you have an Android phone.

To check out the complete guide, follow the link below in our source section.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.