credit: BL1961
When I first got my Palm Pre I wasn’t sure why the battery life sucked so bad. Sure, this phone is a beast as far as the WebOS goes, but still. It would lose like 70% over night, doing nothing! After some digging around, I quickly realized why this bad boy used so much energy. While I guess it’s cool to have the GPS, and AIM blazing 24/7, it’s not very efficient, or even necessary. Read below to learn how to increase your Palm Pre’s battery life.
Battery Saving Tips:
1. Sign Out Of AIM and Google Talk!
I didn’t know this when I first got the phone, but once you sign in, your phone stays signed in, unless you sign out. Makes sense I guess, but you have to manually sign out, even if you close the card.
To do this: Launcher > Messaging > Buddies > Click the little dot next to “Available” and then “Sign Off”.
2. Turn Down Your Damn Backlight!
The Pre’s backlight is a very bright one! That’s awesome, but even on the lowest setting, it still puts out enough light for me to see outside. As a matter of fact, I just turned the brightness all the way up just to experience it for once, and it’s blinding me! I guess it makes the screen look more dazzling than it already is, but you don’t need it that way for every day use. Turn it down all the way!
To do this: Launcher > Scroll To The Very Right > Screen & Lock > Adjust Brightness.
3. Turn Off “Auto Locate” and “Use GPS”.
The only draw back of this is that whenever you open an application that requires the GPS or Location Information, you have to click “Allow” . Small price to pay as far as I’m concerned for extended battery life.
To do this: Launcher > Scroll To The Very Right >Location Services > Turn Off “Auto Locate” > Turn Off “Use GPS”. I also turn off “Background Data Collection”. Google already knows enough about me.
4. Turn Off Bluetooth & Wi-Fi
This should already be turned off by default, but just to be sure, you will want to check.
To do this: Launcher > Scroll To The Very Right > Bluetooth (or Wi-Fi) > Turn Off.
5. Only Sync Important Email Often
If you’re anything like me, you have like 10 email accounts syncing to your Pre. Some of the email accounts are less important, less critical. Others are more vital, therefore requiring much frequent syncage (like every 15 minutes).
To Adjust Sync Frequency: Email Icon > Tap “Email” in the top left corner of the screen > Preferences & Accounts > Tap on the account you wish to adjust under the “Accounts” heading > Scroll to the bottom until you see the “Sync” heading > Tap “Get Email” > Adjust less important accounts to every 12 hours or longer. More important accounts should sync every 15 minutes or however often you feel is necessary.
6. Don’t Be a Pandora Whore
It should come as a surprise to nobody that listening to Pandora on your Pre will drain the battery quicker than just about anything. I can probably get 3 hours out of my Pre – max – if I’m listening to Pandora while I’m doing other multi-tasking operations. Not bad, but definitely not awesome.
Buy The Touchstone Charger
This isn’t a setting on your phone, but having a Touchstone Charger is an awesome way to keep your Pre charged. If you buy a Touchstone charger, you can simply dock your Pre on your desk while you work. If you get a call while it’s sitting on the charger, simply push the answer button and it will automatically go into speaker mode. Awesome for lazy people like me. Even if you want the phone to your ear, just pick it up and put it to your ear and talk. No need to answer it. The phone automatically detects that it is at your ear and it answers for you! When you’re done with the call, set it back on the Touchstone magnetic charger and get back to life. The Pre is definitely an enabling device.
Do you have more tips? Did I miss something? Did you discover a magical setting that allows you to go a week without charging your Pre? Let us know in the comments!
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