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Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or Tablet

Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or Tablet

CloudTags: battery life , Android phone , tablet , Samsung nc10 , Dell latitude d630 batteries , Sony vgp-bps5 laptop battery

2728183067 Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or Tablet

Frustrated by how quickly your favorite mobile gadgets die? Follow these simple tips to get longer battery life out of your Android phone or tablet. 

Almost everything about Android phones is getting bigger and better. The screens, processors, and antennas are larger and faster but one thing just can’t keep up with the rest – the battery. Batteries are being taxed further and further with all of these new technologies, and they haven’t quite caught up.

Here’s a quick guide to make sure that you get the most out of your Android’s battery so your phone spends less time plugged into a wall.

Multitasking

One of the great features on Android phones is being able to run multiple apps at the same time.

The drawback is that running multiple apps in the background eats up tons of precious battery life. The Android Market features several app manager applications, but the most effective way to keep tabs on applications is already built into the operating system.

2907145561 Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or Tablet

By going into the settings menu you can see what apps are currently running, and how much processing power they consume. To do this go into the settings menu and tap “applications.” Then hit “manage applications.” Shut down applications you aren’t using, or ones that are eating up battery life, by clicking on the name of the app and then tapping the “stop” button.

If you own an Android device built by HTC, Motorola, or Samsung you most likely have a useful customized version of the built-in application manager. For example, Samsung’s TouchWiz features a widget that shows how many apps you currently have running, and will allow you to close apps one by one, or all apps at once with a single click.

85239386 Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or Tablet

It sounds overly simple, but ensuring that you don’t have apps running in the background when you don’t need them will save your battery. Each application might be taking up a very small amount of power, but it adds up over time.

Take Control

One surefire way to waste battery life is leaving hardware that isn’t being used turned on. Examples include leaving GPS and Bluetooth on all day, instead of only when needed.

1674116979 Simple Tips to Get Longer Battery Life out of Your Android Phone or TabletNearly all recent Android phones – Android version 2.1 and newer – have a widget called “power control.” Its sole function is to save battery life.

This handy widget enables you to turn on or off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Sync with the touch of a single button. It also enables to you reduce the brightness of your screen. Unless you are directly using the Wi-Fi, et al, there is no reason to leave it on.

However, Sync and auto-brightness for your screen are handy features. It’s up to you if you want to turn those off or down.

Unfortunately, if your phone came with a custom skin it is possible the “power control” widget is not included on your phone. Most likely, though, the device should have a very similar widget or feature.

Some of the new 4G phones offer a 4G toggle switch to turn off the power-hungry 4G antenna. It’s better to have it off until you start consuming tons of data. Keeping on top of all these features throughout the day should prolong battery life.

Fade to black

This tip will only help those of you who have an AMOLED screen, essentially this refers to any recent devices from Samsung. We’ll skip the lesson about how screen technology works, and just say that AMOLED screens don’t use power to display black pixels.

If you keep the screen’s background as black as possible you will save a massive amount of power. Screens are one of the most power hungry aspects of phones, by reducing the power that the screen needs to operate you will drastically improve battery life.

Wrap it up!

Android gets a bad rap for being a power hungry operating system, and it can be if left unchecked. However, by shutting off applications that aren’t in use and only turning on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPS functions when needed you’ll be amazed at how much longer the battery lasts.

Under average usage your device should easily last all day, and maybe then some. Of course, if you stream Netflix all day then bets are off.

Lenovo IdeaPad S2 10 Reviews – Unexpected Competitor for Asus Transformer Prime

Lenovo IdeaPad S2 10 Reviews – Unexpected Competitor for Asus Transformer Prime

CloudTags: Lenovo , IdeaPad S2 , lenovo batteries , tablet , Lenovo thinkpad t61 battery , lenovo s10 batteries

Lenovo has had a great start of the year in 2012, having announced and released quite a few new devices, and alongside with their new laptops and Ultrabooks, they’ve also announced a couple of tablets. The IdeaPad K2 and S2 are the successors to the first models that were released last year, and they both look like an attractive option for their respective markets.

While the K2 is more of a high end business-oriented slate with a quad core processor, fingerprint reader and all that, the IdeaPad S2 is a consumer tablet with a small detail that should make it more attractive in the eyes of a potential buyer: it has a keyboard dock, just like the Asus Transformer Prime (practically making it a direct competitor). But can it compete with the current flagship tablet?

223352 Lenovo IdeaPad S2 10 Reviews – Unexpected Competitor for Asus Transformer Prime

Just so we’re clear, we’re talking about the 10 inch S2 – there was another prototype at CES 2012 with a 7 inch display, and that will undoubtedly cause some confusion, although the specs are pretty similar, so if the smaller model gets released, you’ll have to choose just by display size.

The IdeaPad S2 has a fairly standard design, with the display on the front, surrounded by a chrome frame, and a nice matte back cover with the Lenovo logo in the middle. The resolution of the 10.1 inch display is 1280×800 pixels, which is certainly enough for most apps, but there were rumors that Lenovo might be going with a Full HD display for the final model – that would be very nice, indeed, and it would help the tablet compete with the newer Transformer Prime 700 series. The whole tablet is

The IdeaPad S2 is powered by a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon, running at 1.5 GHz… BUT WAIT, this is no simple Snapdragon – it is actually Qualcomm’s new 4th generation Krait platform, which is much faster than the previous chips and should be able to compete with the quad core Tegra 3 on equal grounds, at least in some applications.

The Krait Snapdragon has a 1000 MHz dual channel (DDR2) memory interface, the new Adreno 225 GPU and a handful of improvements to the original architecture to make the increased performance possible. Seeing as most of the current apps and even Android itself is still pretty bad at managing multiple cores, the higher-clocked Krait will probably be even faster than the Tegra 3 in the beginning. The 1 GB of RAM also helps keep things smooth when multitasking.

Now, for the other surprise that comes with the IdeaPad S2 – the keyboard dock. This optional accessory turns the S2 into a small netbook, very similar to the Transformer Prime, doubles the battery life from 10 hours to 20, and adds more expansion options, as well (2 USB ports, a micro USB port, micro HDMI out and an SD card slot, to be precise). Just as is the case with Asus’ tablet, you’re probably going to want to get it for the best experience.

It goes without saying that the Lenovo IdeaPad S2 ships with Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed, and of course, it has a customized interface running on top. It’s not that bad, and some people might actually prefer it to the original Android 4.0 UI, but I really hope it’s not buggy and prone to crashes like so many other custom skins on the market.

The tablet will come in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions, and it has a 5 megapixels camera on the back with support for 1080p video recording, plus a smaller 1.3 camera on the front for video calls. It has all the other standard issue features, as well – Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, DLNA, 3.5 mm audio jack are all present and accounted for.

The Lenovo IdeaPad looks like a winner, and it can definitely compare with the Transformer Prime, but it would be nice if Lenovo and/or Qualcomm could get more coverage for the processor – everybody seems to think that it’s much more inferior to the quad core Tegra 3 (that may be the case for older chipsets, but not for the Krait, that’s for sure). If the pricing is right, it should be a great purchase, especially considering Lenovo’s quality.

 

 

 

Buying Guide: Should You Get a Tablet?

Buying Guide: Should You Get a Tablet?

CloudTags: guide , tablet , laptop , Hp pavilion dv6 laptop batteries , Dell d630 laptop battery life , Sony vgp-bps2c laptop battery care

Tablet computers weren’t always the talk of the town, but ever since the iPad was launched, the market has been revitalised. Tablets (or at least Apple’s product) are hot-sellers, accounting for an ever-increasing percentage of the computing sector.

Ciara VIBE ExoPC Windows 7 Tablet Now Available on Microsoft Store for Pre Order Buying Guide: Should You Get a Tablet?

Needless to say, there’s been a fair bit of hype surrounding the devices, but do you really need one? 

Why you’d want a tablet

Portability is one of the biggest advantages over laptop computers, with a quick boot-up time and a slim design. The form factor means you don’t have to think twice before using it in most situations, whether you’re in bed or waiting on your flight.

Tablets are also easier to use than laptop computers, with a simple touch interface making for an intuitive experience. Laptops on the other hand, are complex, with people needing to make use of a touchpad/mouse as well as keyboard shortcuts. Don’t believe me? Have your grandparents use a tablet and laptop and see the difference.

Certain activities, such as video and web-browsing, also stand out on tablets, with large, vivid screens giving you a pleasurable experience no matter where you are. Video, in particular, can look fantastic on these devices, making full use of the real estate provided by the screen.

But arguably one of the best uses for a tablet is for e-book reading, making for a convenient way to enjoy your favourite works. This rings true for 7-inch tablets, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook and Kindle Fire, with the tablet being light enough to use over extended periods.

Another reason why you’d want a tablet is for the myriad applications available for them – at least on the iPad and Android slates. From social media and editing tools to games and travel, there are a variety of tailor-made apps for every occasion.

Tablets also have a great battery life, owing to their power-sipping ARM processors, measuring over eight hours for the most part. On the other hand, most laptops have a battery life of less than seven hours. 

Why you shouldn’t get a tablet

Most tablets run operating systems derived from smartphones, with the bigger screen being the main advantage. Consequentially, the same disadvantages come into play.

Tablet computers tend to lack the variety of ports you’d find on a desktop or laptop, such as USB ports, Ethernet jacks and more. While there are exceptions, like the USB-equipped Toshiba Thrive, you’ll need to resort to complicated workarounds (docks, adapters, etc).

Laptop computers are also more suitable for typing, thanks to the physical keyboard. Sure, you can get your own keyboard peripheral, but you’ll need to splash out for the privilege.

Computers are also more suitable for complex tasks, such as video-editing and multitasking, something that many tablets still struggle to get to grips with.

While some laptop components (RAM, hard drive), can be upgraded, the same can’t be said for tablet hardware. So you’re pretty much stuck with the same amount of storage space and specifications.

The price of tablet computers also leaves a lot to be desired, with AAA-quality tablets setting users back at least R4000 (the 16GB WiFi-only iPad 2 costs R4500). Entry-level laptops can be found for the same price at most retailers, while netbooks can be had for an estimated R3000. 

So, should I get a tablet?

A tablet computer is a recommended purchase if you’d like to consume media, read ebooks, check email, browse the web, play casual games and complete simple tasks wherever you are.

A tablet is also worth a look if you either don’t have a laptop or your current laptop is outdated.

However, a tablet isn’t for you if you plan on completing tasks such as multimedia editing, programming and long bouts of word processing. While there are plenty of games available, don’t expect your tablet’s visuals to compare to the latest PC titles just yet.

A tablet is also a no-go if you’re expecting computer-like features, such as the ability to read discs and plug in USB devices (although a few Android tablets have USB ports).

Ultimately, a laptop is more powerful and versatile, but the tablet’s portability and applications make it stand out.