As this is being composed, howling winds and a fair amount of shower rages on outside one of the very few windows kept open to equalize the pressure inside the house. Just a few hours ago, power was cut/lost so we are left to our devices which would (as most smartphones and even tablets these days are rated) in less than a day, lose charge.
Here are a few tips that should keep you from the dreaded paperweight state of your devices.
1. When you know that a storm (or any other predictable natural calamity if there is any) is about to hit, do not forget to charge ALL chargeable electronic devices you’re able to get your hands on, this includes old ones. Pretty simple right?! This ensures that you will be able to use your phone for as much time as it can provide with its less than a day charge capacity. Do it in this order:
Internal battery > Extra batteries > Power Banks > Laptop computers… and when you’re done, plug in the phone once again to make sure you have it completely filled in anticipation for outages.
2. Turn off all wireless connections you don’t need at the time namely – wifi, bluetooth, and GPS. GPRS/EDGE/HSPA/3G/4G/LTE networks should only be turned on for bursts whenever they are needed IE getting updates from other users or putting something important up online. Mobile network reception eats up battery power like crazy so when these are activated, battery decline accelerates significantly. If your smartphone has power savinng features built in use that; some other background processes will be shut down as well leaving only the absolute necessities.
3. Turn off adaptive brightness and bring it down to the lowest setting. It might be something taken for granted nowadays but keeping the backlight low improves battery life significantly. This was more apparent during the earlier days of smartphones but it still carries some significance with today’s technology.
4. Queue posts before turning on mobile networks for an efficient online run. This is a fairly recent addition to most social media platforms and a very welcome and underutilized feature to say the least. Minimizing exposure to the web during outages leads to less data consumed, highly recommended for those not with a data plan, but even with one, using this technique will yield more uptime in the long run.
5. Grab a book! Not only will this enhance your understanding of the world and its workings… or take you on an adventure you may or may not have been through before but it kills time AND leaves your phone to rest. Of course this assumes that you have a bright enough reading area or a light to support this activity… Admit it, holding a book between your hands and actually turning a page provides stimuli that cannot be replicated by e-readers.
6. Get your hands busy! Whether its simple note-taking, scheduling, bookkeeping, sketching, calligraphy or something much more intensive like crafts, model-making, sculpting; there are plenty of tasks that can be achieved within or outside your workflow. Do something to further a hobby or an interest of yours and you’ll probably come up with some breakthrough discovery.
7. Sleep. Do this only when you’re situated in a low-risk area. Apart from all the obvious benefits of prolonged rest, sleeping will keep your devices in standby mode running only background proccesses which have been allowed and does not include any of the closed off transmissions on tip no. 2.
While the storm blew past quickly, power is still being repaired in 70% of the metro. Here’s to hoping there’s still juice left in their units till the electricity is restored. Keep safe everyone, and may your devices never lose charge!
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