Taking Charge…
The smartphones have evolved drastically in the past few years with some amazing features but if there is something it still lags behind at – the battery capacity. That is one factor that has been lugging phones behind for a while now. You have to constantly charge them, be it in your office, while you are traveling or even at home. But, have you noticed that your phone sometimes charges faster in certain ports and may slow down when you use your laptop or PC to charge it?
For users who assume that charging is all about simply plugging in that micro USB port and wait until it shows full battery, here’s a simple and useful guide that details things you should do, shouldn’t do and how charging actually works!
How Phone Charging Works?
An important question that most of us don’t stop to think about but we should. Not all phones and chargers are created equal. When compared to a power adapter, charging your phone on a USB cable on PC or a power bank slows it down significantly because the wattage is less and it doesn’t deliver enough power to charge the phone quickly.
In a PC USB port, the 1.0 and 2.0 version delivers only 2.5W but if you have upgraded to USB 3.0, your phone can receive up to 4.5W which makes charging faster. Similarly, you can use a 5W or a 10W charger irrespective of your phone’s requirement. It would help charge it at the fastest possible time. A phone is capable of accepting higher powered chargers without any compatibility issues. For e.g: an iPad charger will charge your iPhone much faster than its own charger.
Here are simple ways to make your smartphone charge faster.
#1 Use the Power Cord
It’s seriously basic and might sound silly to have made it to the top of the list. But, the AC wall outlet in your home is the most reliable power source of them all and every device derives power from it. When you make use of the bundled AC adapter or a third party one, it will charge your smartphone quickly. Besides, if it comes with a USB cable that plugs into a charger, the results are usually amazing.
#2 Switch to Airplane Mode
The major share of battery is consumed by the phone’s constant requirement to stay connected to your mobile carrier. When it is switched on, it obviously slows down your charging capability. You won’t receive calls and messages if you switch Airplane mode on but you could get it charged quicker, if you are in a hurry to remove the plug and get going.
#3 Plug into USB 3.0 Port
Most modern computer motherboards come integrated with a USB 3.0 port and if your laptop or PC has one, you can charge your phone faster than you would do in the older version of the port. This is an important upgrade for people to do, especially those who always prefer to charge phones using their other devices such as a laptop, ultrabook or computers.
Most modern notebooks, from Asus and Lenovo have dedicated programs that allow you to decide how much power should be dedicated to charging your mobile device via the USB 3.0 port. If you do not need your laptop or its plugged in to a charger, and need to charge the phone faster you can dedicate a larger percentage to the charging function via the USB 3.0 port and it will speed up the charging process significantly.
#4 Turn Off Updates and Features
Be it an iPhone or an Android, a lot of features including WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and vibration mode tend to suck the life out of your battery. So, switch them all off when you are looking to juice up your phone faster.
Besides, check if the App store or Play store is updating some of the apps as app updates are too frequent these days and based on the number of apps you have, it could drain your battery and slow down the charging process.
#5 Avoid switching on the Screen
No one is branding you a smartphone addict but most users have the habit of switching on their screen every few seconds even while it is charging, to check for notifications. It is an urge that you should overcome because the display consumes the most battery power.
Besides, always use the bundled charger or if it is of low quality, you can purchase branded ones that deliver the right power watts to help charge your phone faster. Using the right power source help prolong your phone’s battery life, keep the inner components safe, and also help you charge it faster without having to wait for long.
Use the Contrast Mode/Invert colours on your device or use night mode which will darken the screen of your device, thus saving significant amount of battery, if you need to use the phone while its charging.
Final Thoughts
Almost every suggestion made above will work for your smartphone, as well as tablets. Besides these pro tips, you can always try to recharge your battery as less often as possible as it will help prolong battery life and keep its health stable for years to come.
By charging your devices the right way, you not only save precious time but you also conserve energy and contribute your bit for the planet.
