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How to Increase Samsung Galaxy S Battery life

August 8, 2010 by Chetan Bhawani 22 Comments

Samsung Galaxy SSamsung Galaxy S is power-packed with AMOLED screen and multiple applications, the camera and the huge interface surely speaks of eating up a lot of battery when you want to get the fullest use out of it. And you can’t blame the phone for draining the battery fast, as you can control it by few easy settings and steps that would reduce the draining of battery, and extend the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone. The 1500mAh battery provided by Samsung is good enough for just a normal use of a day, but I liked the way Galaxy shows the availability of battery for various functions. It restricts you to use certain applications and functions when the battery is low. Still, no one would appreciate when the battery keeps getting drained in these smartphones.

Here are the things you need to do –

  • Play with the brightness
    While you are at home, not trying to be geeky, just try to limit the brightness to a lower level which doesn’t use up much battery. The default setting that Samsung Galaxy S comes is the automatic brightness setting, with which the brightness of the screen becomes in accordance to the surrounding brightness. But that would keep the sensor on, and one of the reasons to eat up battery. Go to Applications > Settings > Sound and Display > in the bottom go to the Brightness setting and uncheck the option “Automatic brightness”, and then set the brightness to a low level.
    Samsung Galaxy S Display Brightness
  • Timeout of the screen
    This is a setting which turns off the screen display when the phone is idle, and you are not touching the screen. When you are not using the phone, what’s the use of having the screen active for long? Go to the same settings as above step, and just below the brightness, there is an option of “Screen Timeout” where you can set the time of screen turning off in just 15 seconds when it is idle.
  • Flight Mode
    This is a mode where the phone is stagnant, with no connection with the network or any other sources. It doesn’t eat up the battery, as the phone is almost switched off without any network. Flight mode isn’t just when you are on a flight (as the name says), but you can activate it when you are traveling or need no use of the phone and don’t want to receive any calls, or stopped using the internet.
    You can activate this flight mode by holding the power button on the right side of the device, until a list of options appear on the screen, and then select the “Flight Mode”. This will activate the flight mode, and all the network connections will be lost. You can rather choose to have the network on, but other connections like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc. off. To quit Flight mode, just repeat the earlier process and you can activate the network connection.
  • Restrict network to 2G
    Usually any 3G phone does the same, they try to use the 3G network for the web connectivity, but connecting to the 3G networks is different from the normal 2G ones, and it uses more battery. When you feel like not having a need of 3G when you are not into a browsing mode.
    To do this, press Menu button > Settings > Wireless and network > Mobile networks and in this, select the “Use only 2G networks” option, where the connectivity gets limited to the one you need.
  • Vibration – Haptic feedback
    Haptic feedback is the touch response which comes as a small vibration whenever you touch the screen, which is totally unnecessary except for when you really want to know whether you are using the touchscreen rightly. I would suggest to just shut that option off. Set the Haptic feedback off, as it can reduce some battery usage.
  • Accounts syncing and background data
    Syncing the accounts online with google is always on in Galaxy, and you are always kept connected to the network for this. This keeps running in the background, and the data transfer thus keeps working. This is one of the main reasons for the battery draining faster. I would suggest to just sync the phone with the Google services once every day, rather than keep it synced all the day.
    For that, go to the Menu button > Settings > Accounts and Sync.
    There you would see 2 options – Background Data, and Auto-Sync. Uncheck both of them, and you will see the phone itself boasting about battery life extending because of the disabled background data.
  • GPS Settings
    GPS drains battery, and that’s a universal fact. When not in use, try to disable it. Just tap the top menu bar and drag it down, and hit the GPS option to turn it off if its on. Turn on the GPS and location service only when you feel the need of using it.
  • Power Saving Mode
    There is an option power saving mode that comes by default in most of the Galaxy mobiles. If it hasn’t come activated in yours, do it and the phone will automatically start functioning on the ways to save more battery. It would work in the same way as laptops do when not connected to a power charger. To activate the power saving mode –
    Open Applications > Settings > Sound and Display and there select the “Power Saving Mode” which analyzes images and also adjusts LCD brightness to save the battery.
  • Audible touch tones
    The audible touch tones are activated just like the Haptic feedback, which can be disabled to reduce the battery usage. You can do that by going to Settings > Sound and Ringtones > Turn off Audible tones.
    Samsung Galaxy S Touch Tones

The above tips would help save battery, but would also make your phone less geeky for sure. But, sometimes its good to think about the former, while you are in need of longer running battery etc. like during travel.

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About

My name is Amit Bhawani and here I like to share my internet/tech experience with my online readers. You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram at @AmitBhawani I am also the Editor-in-Chief of PhoneRadar & Master Gadgets

Comments

  1. Nick says

    August 9, 2010 at 6:03 am

    Thanks.

    Never knew about the audible selection tones part. Hope to have a better Samsung Battery life and also much awaited Firmware update too. I few minor glitches with the GPS system.

    Reply
  2. Basil says

    August 24, 2010 at 10:02 am

    Thanks for the great tips, but i have an issue, I tried to follow ur instruction to change the network to 2G mode only, but I couldn’t find this option, when i choose setting>network & wifi > mobile network > there is only 4 options
    one of them is Network mode: and the options that i have are
    GSM, WCDMA, GSM & WCDMA?
    so how can i make it only 2G?

    Reply
  3. damien says

    August 26, 2010 at 5:54 pm

    gsm=2g
    wcdma=3g

    Reply
  4. pacific says

    September 4, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    how to close running applications,plz reply asap

    Reply
    • luis says

      April 15, 2011 at 3:33 am

      wat kind of cell u got?

      Reply
  5. elaine says

    September 6, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Hi, install “Advanced Task Killer Free” BUT it didnt make much difference , the battery is useless, cant get 12 hours out of it and I dont use ANYTHING on the phone.

    Reply
    • Phetogo Themba says

      December 26, 2010 at 7:00 pm

      hey , there is one application that when u enabled it helps track the battery usage of the galaxy captive ,, um really seeking help as to how it can be enabled idk hw to do it..:)

      Reply
  6. Dsf says

    September 8, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    thanks
    my phone was draining battery ridiculously fast
    hopefully this will help out

    Reply
  7. Dsf says

    September 8, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    just to add:

    i think if you have a live background it uses up more energy then having a still wallpaper!
    i wish the screen could get darker too.

    Reply
  8. Atish Nischal says

    September 14, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Just to put these number in perspective, Apple sells 8M iPhones a quarter. If Samsung really manages to sell 10M Galaxy S by the end of the year, it’ll sell around 30% as many Androids as Apple sells iPhones. Now, apple might increase the iPhone sales rate, but we need to remember that the Galaxy only came out in the second quarter.
    Very impressive achievement for Samsung.

    Reply
  9. Ahamed says

    September 15, 2010 at 9:28 pm

    Above tips are really helpful..I will suggest not to use a live wall paper

    Reply
  10. Ace says

    December 2, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    about switching to 2G only:

    in some firewares the option for “2G only” does not exist anymore. here you can only use the debug menu in the internal phone settings.

    enter *#*#197328640#*#*
    go to “debug mode” -> “phone control” -> “network control” -> “band selection” -> “GSM band” -> “select all” (or your desired band 800, 900,…)

    to have 3G net again just do the same and set to “automatic” instead of GSM band.

    Reply
    • arvind says

      April 13, 2011 at 9:23 am

      this option is not working in my samsung galaxy fit…

      Reply
  11. Jim H says

    January 5, 2011 at 8:51 am

    The battery life on these phones is really bad – you really need to spend a lot of time to get any decent time from the phone. Garbage for a consumer product. Main issue are the preinstalled Samsung apps (e.g., Social Hub) – they drain battery, are buggy, and generally garbage.

    Get a Desire Z/G2 – far better phone (though heavier).

    Reply
    • maX says

      February 25, 2011 at 8:28 am

      https://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/tips-increase-samsung-galaxy-s-battery-life/#comment-89456

      Reply
  12. Spired Web Solution says

    January 18, 2011 at 6:02 am

    thanks to share it.

    Reply
  13. Kabeerr says

    January 21, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    guys.. thank u very much… really it works…

    Reply
  14. Costa says

    February 14, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    Thanks all!!! Great tips for beginner galaxy users such as I. As for the desire or n8, I used both phones and they are both absolute bricks compared to the galaxy s. Great job Samsung!!
    P.S, I was a die hard Nokia fan

    Reply
  15. nick Guillem says

    March 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    help – galaxy ace phone says no internet connection – when i’m absolutely sure that my settings are correct? anyway to check my network connection?

    Reply
  16. Elena says

    April 9, 2011 at 8:32 am

    Hello,

    How can i do to cancel the sound of the notification when: 1) the battery is charged 2) the battery is discharged.

    Is immposible for me to sleep with the phone!. A few days ago, i sleep (as i use to do it with the old phone that i have), charging it, and at 2:00 AM he sound telling me that he is full of charge!! :(((

    Yesterday, my phone is almost full when i went to my bed, and at 6:30 AM it sound telling me that he had no more battery!!!. It wake up me always!. How can i do to eliminate this sound?

    Thank you for the one who answer me.

    Cheers, Elena

    Reply
  17. arvind says

    April 13, 2011 at 9:22 am

    this option is not working in my samsung galaxy fit…

    Reply
  18. Vicki Downs says

    June 12, 2011 at 2:16 am

    Thanks for this. I went from an old phone lasting 14 days on standby, to this phone which last 12 hrs. Will have to switch if off at night I think. Find turning off internet connection a help. I just use my wireless at home now. Cannot switch to 2G, it turns off all connection, so I cannot send or receive messages.

    Reply

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