My friend Diane and I made plans for happy hour at 6:30 last week, so when I showed up at 7:10, she wasn't too thrilled to see me. Maybe if my cell battery hadn't died, I could've spared her the lecherous advances of a comb-over dude who was still packing a pager.

Running late, getting lost and not being able to communicate?because who remembers people's phone numbers anymore??is like the ultimate triumvirate of mobile frustration. But a dead cell is no excuse, because I know better. Here's a list of stuff I could've been doing to spare my battery:

1. Check the phone's sound and display settings. The more features are turned on (or all the way up), the more energy needs to be used. Dim the screen or backlight, silence keypad sounds and set the phone to sleep after five seconds of inactivity. Remember to turn the vibrate mode off when you don't need it, because this takes more power than using an audible ring.
2. Pause videos once in a while to check your battery levels. Vids take more juice than regular podcasts or other audio, so when power is low, watching a few shows could be enough to drain it dry.
3. Bluetooth takes a colossal amount of a cell phone's energy, so if you're not using it, turn it off.
4. Games are another big potential power leak, so kill sound effects and other extraneous features. And if your levels are already low, don't even think about starting one up unless it's a low-consumption app.
5. If you're not getting any bars in a particular area, power down the phone. Places that have little to no coverage are energy danger zones for your cell, since it will continuously, even relentlessly, search for a signal.
6. Done with that website? Great?now, close the browser. If it's a Wifi-enabled phone, turn off the setting. Like searching for bars, looking for a Wifi signal can gobble up your batteries.
7. For most people, there's no need to have the cell turned on at work. These days, it's pretty easy to have calls forwarded to a direct extension. This won't save any money on those monthly bills, but if your cell isn't making or receiving calls?or even better, isn't even turned on?you won't be using what precious little power that phone has.

I followed these tips and practically doubled my battery life, so give it shot. The sheer awesomeness of your phone's extended power might just astound you.