How to Make 3G Mobile Phones Last Longer on a Single Charge

3G mobile phones that run Android tend to last about five hours of use on a single charge; the average Android tablet will last you about an hour longer. As you probably notice by now, neither one of these even comes close to what four days of use is likely to need. Certainly, you can spend money on a portable power pack for extra power; but a far better way would be to learn to make what you have last you longer.

3G mobile phones are notorious for a number of hidden battery draining features they have. If you could take the time to learn what features need to be switched off or reprogrammed for the best possible use of your battery, you could easily get a lot more time out of each charge.

Many people understand that turning off their phone's Wi-Fi is important to making their battery last longer. 3G mobile phones have more than one radio. There is a Bluetooth, for instance, and a hotspot feature as well, usually. It doesn't matter that you don't use these; if they are turned on, they will always keep scanning the airwaves for something relevant. You could easily get 10% more of a battery by turning everything off that you're not using. It's pretty easy to turn these off. You just need to go to Wireless Networks under Settings on your Android device and
 touch to turn everything off. Make sure that you turn your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth tethering and mobile hotspot off.

There's more to turn off – like your GPS. You love using your GPS, and the location services. These can run your battery dry given enough time, though. Under the same Settings menu, you'll find a "Location and security", item as well. You need to check everything here – standalone GPS devices, Google location services and any other proprietary navigation service that your phone carrier might have placed there. Verizon, for instance, has a location services item that's always turned on by default and is always scanning everything.

There are many apps on modern smartphones that are constantly looking for ways to update something or the other. Each time these do something, they use up a little bit of your data. You also use a little bit of your battery's power. You don't really need to have your phone busily checking everything for updates over time. It wouldn't hurt if you only got to see your e-mail once, when you actually went and checked. You'll find the right settings under "Battery and data management".