Gadget Blog

Tweetear

Yes, you couldjust tiwn everything off, but we show you the best power-saving methods that actually work

Battery life is one of the biggest issues facing the Android world today. Take your SIM card out, turn off Wi-Fi and never touch it, and your phone will sit there happily, lasting for a whole week on a single charge. But try to use it for anything 'smart' and that's where your problems start.

You have to admit that it's a pretty sorry state of affairs when you're counting the uptime of today's smartphones in hours rather than days: the standard metric of decent battery life being whether a phone can last a whole working day on a single charge. So are there any realistic things that you can do to improve the duration of your smartphone's battery life, other than just switching it off, hiding it away in your sock drawer and hoping no one ever calls you?

Read on to discover some easy, not-too-compromising methods of boosting your Android phone's battery life, so you're not always wondering where the nearest power socket is.

It's not possible to suddenly double your Android smartphone's uptime by magically tweaking a few settings, of course. However, you should be able to squeeze out a few more hours from even the puniest of batteries, which could be the difference between listening to music on your way home and sitting in silence wondering where it all went wrong.

> Set a rigid bedtime

Some of today's smartphones feature automation tools, which enable you to, say, turn off the mobile signal and Wi-Fi after a certain time.

Putting your phone into this sort of induced coma does save power, so if your phone doesn't already support scheduled activities, try installing a management app, such asTasker, and switching off all non-essential stuff overnight. Or you could stick itin airplane mode yourself. You'll sleep better, too.



> Deactivate Wi-Fi when not needed

If your phone's constantly sniffing out and trying to connect to every Wi-Fi signal in the area, like a robot dog on heat, you're wasting battery power.

Switch off Wi-Fi when out and about or when you know that you're not going to be needing it. A homescreen toggle makes this easy. Think of it as something boring but essential you have to do, like always putting your seat belt on.


> Upload and sync only on Wi-Fi

If you're a keen Dropbox user or rely heavily on music syncing services, you'll benefit greatly from only doing your uploading through Wi-Fi. It's vastly quicker, which means your phone isn't working so hard on demanding tasks, and a lot less strain on those battered lithium reserves.

> Uninstall any unnecessary apps

You can never be too sure what's running itself in the background, what with all the multi-tasking, self- uploading, auto-replicating features in today's modern Android apps.

So at least minimise the chances of something randomly hoovering up all your battery by constantly trying to connect to some non-existent server, by deleting any unused or old apps.

> Use push notifications

when possible Android's built-in email application is great and stylish and everything, but having it poll for messages every 15 minutes isn't best for your battery. If your email provider offers push notification support, use it - the excellent standalone Hotmail app does, for example, which will help lessen power drain a little.

> Switch off GPS

Unless you're one of those people who's still using Foursquare to tell the world every time you go out to the corner shop to buy a packet of crisps, there's little reason to have GPS constantly active on your smartphone. Turn it on only when you actually need it, and use the option to have your phone detect your location through the Wi-Fi connection. Wi-Fi location is usually close enough an approximation for most apps.

And if they do need GPS, they're clever enough to tell you anyway.


> Check yourself

Apps such as Battery Doctor give you a much better indication of what's eating away at your smartphone's battery over time than Android's own limited battery life checker does, which could help finger something that is the key culprit in draining your device's power. And if you can live without it. bin it.


> Install a brightness toggle widget

Set your phone to its minimum possible brightness by default, because it's your display that's by far the biggest user of power. Then stick a big brightness high/low toggle widget on the homescreen, in a place you can find it without being able to see it (such as when using your now ultra-gloomy phone outside). Then only max the brightness when you need to. It might help, and even the automatic brightness option uses a marginal amount of power, because the light sensor needs to sense light.

> Dump the widgets

Yes, widgets are a key part of Android, and we're trying to keep this guidepractical and not tell you to nuke everything, but do you really need a constantly updating Facebook widget on a homescreen? It's just full of boring people's boring baby photos anyway, and updating widget content puts a constant strain on your battery throughout the day, even if you just activate your phone for a few seconds to check a text message.

> Remove haptic feedback

Surely your brain's had enough practice using touch devices that it knows if you've pressed something or not by now? If so, turn off all the haptic feedback options. These little bumps and grinds use power each time you press a key, so try to get used to life without physical feedback.

> Put your phone on the windowsill
A strong connection to your phone network requires less power to maintain, so the technical people tell us.

So instead of keeping it in your pocket, stick it somewhere else and point it in the right direction so you see the maximum number of connection strength bars.

Simply flipping your phone 45° on your desk might actually make the battery last longer What a mind-blowing revelation, eh?

> And keep it cool

Batteries work best in cooler temperatures, with prolonged warm periods gradually lowering their efficiency over time. Putting your phone in a looser pocket might help, or perhaps just gently fanning it while it charges.

That might not be the best use of your working day, but at least you'll still be able to get on Twitter on the train home.

Tweetear

The launch of Nokia’s Asha series and Samsung’s REX series has brought the spotlight back on ‘feature phones.’ Once considered basic, no-frills devices used only for texting or calling, these phones have acquired a new avatar – the ‘smart feature phone’ that includes some features found in smartphones, and are gaining popularity in the Indian market.

According to Gartner, feature phone  sales have declined but the smartphone  segment is booming, with shipments rising  by 47 per cent year-on-year. A mobile  industry report by IDC shows that for first time ever, more smartphones were shipped worldwide than feature phones. In the first three months of 2013, around 418.6 million

mobile phones were shipped, out of which 216.2 million were smartphones, which is about 51.6 per cent, a historic figure. The main reason for the rise of this popularity of smartphones are declining prices, but it would nevertheless be premature to write the obituary of that old reliable, the feature phone.

Phones might be getting bigger and faster, but one should not forget that a large chunk of the world’s population still wants nothing more than basic voice, messaging and Internet access on their handsets - classic feature phone territory.


A ‘Smart’ feature phone?

In simple terms, a smart feature phone is a phone that can connect to Internet via GPRS (2G) or EDGE (2.5G), has a camera with a relatively low-megapixel count and the ability to run apps. However, this definition is changing rapidly as manufacturers continue to compete in this segment and add features to what were once rather basic devices.

The major difference between a feature phone and a smartphone is that the latter sports powerful processors, has multi-tasking abilities, runs on a powerful operating system and can without hassle run games and apps.

But this difference is narrowing, as now the smart feature phones are coming with app access and have better features than their relatively “dumb” predecessors. Nokia can be given the credit for reviving feature phones with its Asha series. At Nokia World 2011, the company announced  its new product range,  dubbed ‘Asha’ (which means ‘hope’  in Hindi) which the company claimed to be  targeted at the emerging markets.

Giving feature phones ‘Asha’ 

And the Asha series has certainly proved a  star performer for Nokia. The company might  be facing  a stiff challenge in the smartphone  segment but it is the Asha series that has been  accounting for some very significant sales  for it, and has kept it right at the top when it  comes to the number of devices shipped in the  feature phone segment.

This year at MWC, Nokia displayed its  prowess and showcased two new feature  phones, the 105 and the 301 at the global stage.

This was followed by the launch of its next  major Asha series device, the 501.

Samsung, Nokia’s great  rival, has also been  working away at the  smart feature phone segment. The company  launched its affordable REX series last year  and has been spending a lot in its promotion.

The REX series consists currently of four  handsets that are priced between $us 50 to $us 100, and pales in comparison to Nokia’s  portfolio, but these are early days. Clearly a  battle royale beckons in this segment as well.

Speaking about the feature phone segment Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India says  “While the overall feature phone segment con-tinues to be the bulk of the mobile phone market in India, people are now looking for smart  features like mobile Internet, instant messaging, high-resolution touch screens, smarter user interface, etc., similar to that  of high-end smartphones but at attractive price points. The target audience includes first-time

Internet users who now can aspire to get the  ultimate mobile experience and stay connected  with low priced smartphones. The Nokia Asha  series of devices bring smart solutions to the  maturing consumer base, which is now looking  to do more with their handsets. Our Asha full  touch range has democratized services such as   music, maps, web applications, faster internet,  access to popular social networking sites etc by  widening accessibility and affordability of key  services to consumers at new price points – between $us 50 – $us 150.”

This feature (phone) story ain’t over!

There is a huge installed base of feature phone  devices across India which largely consists of  Nokia devices, thanks to Nokia’s dominance

in the market for a decade. However, smartphones are coming into India thick and fast  with the likes of Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG and a host of indigenous handset makers like Micromax and Karbonn leading the charge  with cost-effective Android based smartphone  devices. But it would still take some time for  these devices to find their way into the hands  of the majority of consumers - while  urban India is  smartphone territory, other regions still swear by feature phones.

The battle between ‘Smart’ feature phones  and smartphones has been well and truly  joined. The force of affordability and ease of  use is with smart feature phones, while that  of quality and features is with smartphones.

The coming days will tell us whether feature  phones will once again come into prominence  and outshine smartphones or whether the

Asha and REX surge will simply prove to be   the last stand. But as of now, those on a tight  budget have the option to choose between a smart phone and smart feature phone, which  proves that it is not the end for feature phones.  Not yet.

Tweetear

3D smartphones are not really new. In fact, even some features phones used to tout this feature a couple of years back. Though they offered a glass-free 3D interface, the experience was horrible to put it
mildly.

The Micromax Canvas 3D too offers a glass-free 3D, but with a much superior experience when compared to its predecessors. At first look the Canvas 3D is a normal Android smartphone, but the 3D Space icon in the app launcher literally gives it a new dimension. This space is the 3D hub and  comprises a 3D gallery, 3D guide, 3D YouTube, 3D camera, 3D games and 3D videos. All these options have a pop-out 3D effect, Strangely, the game does not come pre-loaded with any 3D game except a trial version of Fruit Devil But there is a list of games that can be purchased from Google Play Store, The Canvas 3D has got a 5-inch 3D display on a design that in nothing to write home about. After looking at some good hardware from Micromax in recent times, the Canvas 3D feels too broad and heavy to hold. The power key and headphone jack have been placed at the top with the volume controls on the left and power key on the right panel Below the display are three touch keys for options, home and back. But the 3D effect on the Micromax Canvas 3D is far more impressive than what we experience a couple of years back on the HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus VU. It is hard to watch this content for a longer duration without straining your eyes.


Though the device doesn't come with a 3D glass, we realised that using even a passive 3D glass reduces the strain considerably. Usually a 3D camera has two sets of lenses for capturing stereoscopic images, but the Canvas 3D tries to do this with a single lens and that shows in the images which are nothing great. Running Android Jelly Bean operating system, the Canvas 3D has got a 1,2Ghz dual-core processor with 512MB RAM, It has got an internal storage of 4 OB with an expandable memory card slot supporting up to 32GB of expandable memory. The 2000 mAh battery onboard lasted us a day and half while watch¬ing 3D content.