As smartphones have improved, with faster processors, better screens, better cameras, and pretty much everything else getting better, our batteries have pretty much done everything they can to stay right there in the middle of the road. Yeah, they’re big, and it could probably be a lot worse, but there’s still a lot of room to grow and improve.
After all, we hear a lot about battery life these days, with the majority of consumers having a louder voice than companies when it comes to this particular conversation. I’m not saying that it’s all bad, and it’s not even all the battery’s fault really, but things could definitely be better.
And we’ve been asking for this for a really long time now.
But there are ways to seep out that extra bit of juice on semi-regular basis, right? I’m sure you’ve heard, more than a few times, “Well just turn off Wi-Fi,” or “Just turn off Bluetooth,” or “Just turn off location services.” And even more recently, there will be people who say you should deactivate Google Now’s best features, or never use Cortana.
Basically, just turn your phone off and call it a day, okay?
Obviously you shouldn’t do that, but there were times back not too long ago when it felt like that was basically the only way to really, truly, save battery life. An extreme option, sure, but the alternative was watching your percentage slip away too quickly.
I’ve had my fair share of phones that have just been awful when it comes to battery life, and having things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, and location services and whatever else, certainly made it worse. But I’ll be honest: I never turned any of it off. I just suffered through it, and ultimately hoped that it would get better in the next version, or when I inevitably picked up a new phone.
I’ve never ditched a phone because the battery life was awful, though. I’ve gotten rid of phones that have bad battery life, tablets, too, but that’s never been the number one reason. I’ve just tried to make it work, and I haven’t sacrificed a device’s features to do it, either. Because phones are expensive and I want to use everything it has to offer.
Thankfully there are ways to help the situation a bit, namely from third-party companies that usually don’t have anything to do with the company that manufactures the phone you’re using. A third-party battery case, which puts another, oftentimes pretty big, battery at the ready whenever you need it. More often than not, depending on the case, you may not even need to use your phone’s battery, but instead can rely on what’s supposed to be a backup.
A friend of mine swears by these things. He picked one up a couple of years ago for his iPhone and he’s kept one on each subsequent device since. He works in a wireless carrier retail store and he still refuses to get rid of his battery case. And I’m obviously not going to argue with him. It works for what he needs and he loves it, so more power to him.
I think it’s a pretty cool idea, if I liked having a case on my phone and I was having a real issue with my phone’s battery life. After all, you don’t need to sacrifice your phone’s features and you get a boost, or reserve, when you need it.
Has it picked up with you, though? Do you use a battery case? If so, what made you pick one up? Which phone convinced you you needed on? Let me know!