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By now many if not most of you have already received your Sprint HTC Hero and are on your way to enjoying all things Android. Unfortunately there was a big surprise for most of us when our device arrived with CupCake (Android 1.5) and not Donut. Now we are hearing that Verizon’s Motorola Droid will ship with Android 2.0 and somehow fellow Sprint users, we’ve been left behind. On the plus side we have our devices and even with a history of iPhone use I can honestly admit that the Sprint HTC Hero is impressive and I have not experienced any notable lagging. However, what we have experienced is horrendous battery life, but with a few quick tips below you’ll be on your way to pumping out 8+ hours of heavy use on your new best friend.
- Download Task Killer from the Android Market. Those of you with Windows Mobile backgrounds know the importance of closing out excessive applications and the direct correlation this has on battery life. Bottom line, if you aren’t using the program within the next few minutes close it with Task Killer.
- Disable the “Always On” Data option in Menu / Settings / Wireless Controls / Mobile Network Settings. Simply uncheck the “Enable Always-on Mobile Data” option because heavy data usage is a sure-fire way to have your battery drained by lunch time.
- Disable Wireless Network Positioning Service in Menu / Settings / Location / Use Wireless Networks. Note that you do not need to uncheck the GPS box since GPS only operates in conjunction with services (apps) that access it.
- Turn off WiFi
- Turn Down Brightness. From the Launcher click Screen & Lock then find Screen / Brightness. Unless you are going to be in direct sunlight while you use your Hero you can afford to lower the brightness, really trust us.
- Turn off the Weather App. Yes we know how cool it is to have the weather on one of your home screens, but would you rather see neat animations or be able to use your phone without leaving it on the charger all day at work? Navigate to Menu / All Programs / Weather and choose the Menu option within the Weather app then click Settings and disable Update Automatically.
- Reduce the frequency your applications request data i.e. Facebook. By changing the frequency your applications request data from every 5 minutes to every 30 minutes or even an hour will significantly improve your battery situation.
Keep in mind that these 7 tips are simply suggestions and not a requirement. If you always have access to a charger whether it be in your car at home or at work, by all means ignore our advice. But if you are like the rest of us (99%), who carry a phone and often times depend on it having both service and power for work or our personal lives give some of these tips a try. At worst you’ll end up with a few more hours each day to play with your shiny toy otherwise what’s the fun in having it if you can’t use it, right?
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thanks for the tips, task killer is a nice app
Glad it helped. Battery life is a battle we always seem to be facing.
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