I
have a friend whose phone battery never lasts past 2PM. She’s done all the
standard things to help extend battery life (turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
when they’re not needed, turning off location services for most apps, turning
down the screen brightness, and so on) but she still can’t get a full day’s use
from the device. What are her options now?
We
certainly know the feeling—we have all these settings configured appropriately,
yet our batteries run dry midday sometimes as well! If you’re travelling in an
area with poor cell coverage, for example, your phone spends far too much
effort trying to connect to the cell network, and this effort can run your
battery down.
To
extend your battery life, assuming you’ve made all the appropriate software
settings, your next best bet is to invest in some sort of external battery. The
simplest option is to examine the various battery cases that are available for
your device. A battery case is a combination of a standard phone case with an
external battery, and clearly, this sort of case must be designed specifically
for your phone. For popular phones, you’ll find a plethora of different
manufacturers providing these cases. For the iPhone 5/5s, the WireCutter web site
recommends the Lenmar Meridian so far (the options grow daily): http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-iphone-5-battery-case-is-the-lenmar-meridian-so-far/.
Popular manufacturers include Belkin and Mophie (http://www.belkin.com
and http://www.mophie.com).
If you’d
prefer a more generalized solution, you can pick up one of the many different
external battery packs. These small devices are available in various sizes; the
power of the battery is measured in milliamp hours (mAH) and in general, the
larger the number of mAH that the battery provides, the better. Most of these
battery packs work the same way: You charge the battery at home, and then carry
it with you to charge your device while away from a power source. The larger
the battery, of course, the less convenient you’ll find it to carry the battery
with you. The iPhone 5, for example, includes a 1445 mAH battery. An external
battery pack that supplies 5000 mAH can charge this phone at least three times
when it’s fully charged. The new iPad Air has an 8820 mAH battery, so the same
battery pack wouldn’t be able to completely charge the iPad Air. There are so
many of these batteries available, it’s hard to recommend the right one for
you. You can check out the review on The Wirecutter (http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-usb-battery-pack/),
although the field of options changes daily. The nice part about using an
external battery pack is that it can work with any device, and isn’t tied to
any specific form factor. Ken has this highly recommended model: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089DZNS4/?tag=thewire06-20.
Your best bet is to search online for “external battery pack review” and see
what turns up.
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