Why battery tests suck

Smartphones have been with us for quite a while now, and back in the day when Android was young we all cursed the screen and video play back times. HTC back in 2010 were on a roll with their handhelds, remember the HTC Desire ?! Humm 1400 mAh battery in that bad boy and it was shocking, hardly any time to spend enjoying the (at the time) gorgeous screen.




Fast forward to 2013 and we are spending more time than ever on our phones, so wouldnt we have found a way to measure the battery life in real life conditions ?


One site will tout that its one hour of surfing, one hour of video and one hour of calling is enough to emulate real life, then they supply a final endurance rating, our issue here is I can think of people using their handsets to work in the train doing so much more. Using whatsapp, online dating, texting, reading the news, looking at pictures - all while listening to music. Wrap that up into a 90 min public transport torture ride and you get real life. No GPS is mentioned either, who has tried using their handset to get from A->B over a 2 hour drive, only to be notified by your handset is drinking more than its being topped up ?

Looking elsewhere another site, simply turns up the brightness and audio to 100% puts on wireless and drains the battery playing video. Thats just a video endurance test ?!

Only Motorola have addressed the issues from a hardware point of view and made their RAZR Maxx handsets to have decent battery life, however thats a few years old now and the new Ultra Maxx is stuck on a crappy provider in the US, which wont see the light of day else where.

The new Sony Xperia Z1 hasnt been subject to these tests just yet however one site claims the life of the battery is limited to just 5 hours of video playback, but what does that mean ?! Using the same tests the S4 lasts 11 hours which has 600mah less - really !? While this isnt a scientific tests it does raise questions about the testing which should be grouped into the same chip set maybe. Taking that a step further the LG G2 will last a good day, of heavy use however thats what we are told - not backed up in anyway. 

So while our handsets have evolved - the tests around the battery have been stuck in 2009 or even earlier. While the need for consistency is needed to have a clear and concise benchmark, its not keeping with the real world which has changed so fast. 

What is a good test ?! Ah thats the 1,000,000 mah question !

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Tips To Fix iOS 7 Battery Drain

Until scientists deal with the issue of battery to power our gadgets, we are still at the mercy of those things. 

Quite a few users of an Apple device running the new iOS 7 have complained of rapid drainage on their iDevices. This may not be due to bad battery but may be due to certain settings that comes with iOS 7 for example putting off Bluetooth and WiFi when not  in use.

To quickly fix this, a series of things have been suggested and they have actually worked and increase the battery life of iDevices substantially.

Tip 1: Reduce Screen brightness of device:

To quickly do this, swipe up the from bottom of screen to reveal quick settings. Just move the first slider to the left and the screen brightness would  be reduced.

Tip 2: Change Wallpaper

iOS 7 have two types of images that can be used as Wallpaper; Dynamic and Still Wallpaper. The Dynamic wallpaper take a toll on battery over time. Therefore its suggested that the Still wallpaper be used which actually helps.

To do this, go to Settings -->Wallpapers & Brightness-->Chose Wallpaper and click on the Stills Wallpaper type. There you can select either the pre-installed wallpapers or choose from Photos.

Tips 3: Reduce Motion

A splendid feature of iOS 7 is the Motion Feature which gives a parallax effect of icons and alerts including the zooming effect when moving between screens or apps. However, this effect can also affect battery over time. Therefore its better to be turned off when one is low on battery power.

To do this, go to Settings-->General-->Accessibility-->Reduce Motion, now toggle the feature ON. This would disable the motion effect.

Tip 4: Background App Refresh

Background app refresh allows apps to refresh their content when on WiFi or cellular or use location services. Turning off this feature will help preserve battery life significantly.

To do this, go to Settings-->General-->Background App Refreshes and slide it OFF.

Tip 5: Automatic App Updates

Automatic app updates is good as you would always be updated if new updates for apps are released, however, it can take a toll on battery too. This is because the device will always access the internet at frequent times to see if there is an update for apps at the expense of the battery and if it finds any, automatic download of the update would begin.

To stop this, just navigate to Settings-->iTunes & App Store scroll down to Automatic Downloads section and turn Updates.

Tip 6: Location Services

A situation where GPS is always on trying to pinpoint exact location of the phone means rapid battery draining. Usually, GPS doesnt function well alone, it tries to use the combine ability of WiFi to get exact location, so usually, two things are in operation here. The logical thing is to turn off Location Services.

To do this, just navigate to Settings-->Privacy--Location Services and simply turn it off.

Tips 7: Auto Lock

Auto Lock isnt only there for security reasons but it also serves to help the phone go to sleep by itself when its not in use thus conserving all the battery that needs to be conserved. 

In other to setup auto lock, just go to Settings-->General--> scroll down to Auto-Lock and then set it to any time you please.

The good thing is if these tips are followed and used, the battery life of an iDevice running iOS 7 should be considerably better than.

Do you know of any more tips to reducing battery drainage on iOS 7? share it with us in the comment section.

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