6 Things You Didn't Realize Were Draining Your Phone Battery

This post is sponsored by Samsung.

You start the day fresh with a fully charged phone only to find by midafternoon you're running on empty, and usually at the worst possible moment - like when you're expecting an important call or need directions after making a wrong turn.

If your phone is perpetually running low on power, technology like Samsung Galaxy S5's Ultra Power Saving Mode - which extends battery life by changing the screen to black and white and shutting down unnecessary features - can be a lifesaver. Even with only 10% of battery life remaining, Ultra Power Saving Mode can keep your phone going for another 24 hours.

But before you start using that functionality, it's important to understand what's causing all that battery drain in the first place. Want to know what's sucking the power from your phone? You might be surprised. Some things, like leaving GPS on all the time or streaming endless YouTube videos, are notorious battery hogs. Others, however, are not so obvious.

1. A colorful phone background.

Bright and colorful wallpapers add personality to your home screen, but if you crave better battery life, a plain dark theme is better. Super AMOLED screens (like the one on the Galaxy S5) don't use a backlight. Instead, each "organic light emitting diode" pixel on the screen produces its own light. When the pixel is white, the phone produces bright light; when it's black, it produces less light and thus uses less energy. BBC science presenter Steve Mould experimented and found battery savings of as much as 21% by changing to a dark wallpaper.

Solution: When your phone battery is on its last legs, swap out that animated-fish live wallpaper for a simple black one. Brilliantly, the Samsung Galaxy S5's Ultra Power Saving Mode does this for you.

2. Free, ad-supported apps.

We get it: Free mobile apps are the best thing since sliced bread, but those free apps could be costing you your battery life. Microsoft and Purdue University researchers found that a significant amount of energy used by free Android apps (such as games and social platforms) is consumed by the ads or user-tracking services running within those apps. That's because they're using your data connection and phone processor to download new ads all the time, even when you're not using the apps.

Solution: Samsung Galaxy S5's Ultra Power Saving Mode limits the number of apps you're able to use, allowing just six to appear on your home screen. Therefore, most of those battery-draining ad-supported apps won't be available to you at all. The Ultra Power Saving Mode also disables Wi-Fi, cellular data, and Bluetooth so that using those select few apps won't put undue strain on your phone. In general, though, if you love an app, it's worth it to shell out the few dollars for the full version.

2. Apps that aren't even open.

It's not just ad-supported apps that are killing your battery. Other apps that run in the background use up precious phone juice. Weather apps, messaging and social-media apps, and even your mail app can drain your battery by constantly requesting updates and other data such as location. It doesn't matter if you have them open or not.

Solution: Configure these apps to check less frequently in the settings for the app itself, and uninstall the ones you don't use. By limiting apps and services to just the most essential ones, including the web browser and phone, the Galaxy S5 Ultra Power Saving Mode ensures that your battery will last as long as possible without robbing you of a working phone.

4. Vibration.

Vibrating alerts seem like such an innocent, fundamental part of the mobile-phone experience, but unfortunately the vibrate function uses much more battery power than just ringtones. If you think about it, the whole phone has to shake enough to get your attention.

Solution: Easy. Turn off vibration or adjust its intensity. On most Android phones, you'll find this under Settings > Sounds. In addition to the "vibrate when ringing" setting, turn off "vibrate on touch" option, which also uses a bit of battery life for the tactile feedback you get every time you type or touch your screen. Samsung Galaxy S5 users can finely tune the vibration intensity for incoming calls, notifications, and haptic vibrations.

5. The temperature.

Like humans, your phone's battery is sensitive to its environment. If your phone gets too hot or cold, the battery will drain faster and the hardware will possibly degrade or get damaged. In both cases, the phone can spontaneously shut down.

Solution: Keep the phone to as close to decent room temperature as possible, and in environments you would feel comfortable in - for example, not trapped in an overheating car. Planning to hike through the desert or up Mount Everest? You may want to leave your phone off and wait until returning to a normal climate before you try to use it. Unless, of course, you're lost in the desert and need to make an emergency call - in which case, switch on Ultra Power Saving Mode, go for it, and hope that someone finds you before your phone dies.

6. Screen Brightness

Finally, if there's one setting on your phone that's eating away at your battery life the most, it's the display brightness. We understand, no one wants to use their phone with the screen dimmed so far down you can't tell if the thing's even on. But lowering from full-on brightness to about half could add hours to your phone's battery life.

Solution: Turn down the screen brightness level as low as you can stand it. Or get a phone whose brightness level you don't even have to worry about. The Galaxy S5 can auto-adjust the screen brightness to what's actually shown on the display (a unique feature, which, we have to say, is pretty neat). Plus, the Galaxy S5's display is 22% brighter than the already bright Galaxy S4 - without any additional power draw. How's that for efficient?

Learn more about the Samsung Galaxy S5 Ultra Power Saving Mode.

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