If your battery is running low, what do you?

[droidntn]

Ok....let's say that you are running at 30% battery life.
What do you do? Do you shut down some things? Safely? How? I use an app called 'Android System Info'.
And on there I can go to tasks..
and kill something if I need to, but with all this paranoia bout task killing, I'm not sure what to do.
I've been using my X moderatly thru the day, off charge since 7 and it's 330 and it's at 30 %.....
And I have the latest update that corrected the need to reboot to see the battery useage.
So...neways, if your battery is running at 30%...what do YOU do?

 

[rinnr1]

I plug it in before I go to bed..

I get a full day but if I get home and I know I'm going out that night and will be messing with it a lot I'll throw it on the charger to get up over 60% before I go out..

What's moderate usage though I think everyone has a different definition of that..

 

[heathro1281]

I use "Beautiful widgets" screen brightness switch and drop to 20%.

I 'kill' my apps as soon as I open them.

Edit: forgot the airplane mode. I use this if I am going into a know 1x signal. I have went from 50% to dead in 30 mins while sitting in 1x.

my only beef is at 15% you are hosed you better get a charger now and at 5% I usually lose my phone within the next 5 mins.

So in short, on my phone 15% is near dead, 5% kiss it goodbye.

 

[mflynn]

Killing an inactive process does not extend your battery life, in fact it could actually make matters worse. Many of the processes that are in memory and killed could very well start back up again after being terminated. The overhead of android starting up a process is much higher then letting it sit there, thus - a higher battery hit.

If you want to extend the life of your battery in certain circumstances, then put it in airplane mode, turn down the screen brightness. Those are your only ways.

If the phone is rooted, then an app like setcpu can help greatly be forcing the CPU to a slower GHz.

 

[heathro1281]

Killing an inactive process does not extend your battery life, in fact it could actually make matters worse. Many of the processes that are in memory and killed could very well start back up again after being terminated. The overhead of android starting up a process is much higher then letting it sit there, thus - a higher battery hit.

If you want to extend the life of your battery in certain circumstances, then put it in airplane mode, turn down the screen brightness. Those are your only ways.

If the phone is rooted, then an app like setcpu can help greatly be forcing the CPU to a slower GHz.

Is the 'kill' theory true or something you have seen in your phone?

 

[vor]

Never leave home without the USB cord

If you're near a PC you're near a charger

 

[JimmyMac]

Never leave home without the USB cord

If you're near a PC you're near a charger

Haha, that's a good way to look at it!

 

[inkmantpa]

Is the 'kill' theory true or something you have seen in your phone?

I'm amazed at how many people will come to the forums and then rather than do a little research just ask questions like this.

It's not a "theory" it's the way the Android OS was designed and developed.

Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way

 

[droidntn]

Never leave home without the USB cord

If you're near a PC you're near a charger

haha, true..I actually have a charger at home, in my truck and at work. LOL. I was just wondering how you guys handled it.

 

[matthewdlyons]

If I absolutely need some life before getting home or to a charger, I'll shut down background updates/synching. I try to limit use of the X because the screen will eat up battery life. Even with >30%, I can get a fair amount of use.

 

[jdbower]

I have an external battery with a USB port in my laptop bag next to my wall and car chargers (both just provide a USB port, I bring my own micro USB cable for my phones and mini-USB for my wife's phone). And in case I get really stuck in the boonies, the external battery has a solar cell.

 

[Cory Streater]

I've been in situations - while traveling - where my battery gets pretty low and I have no power options nearby. In those cases, I usually toggle data synchronization via the power control widget. I also use the same widget to turn the brightness down to the lowest level. When the little red light comes on I start to cry.

 

[droidntn]

toggle data synchronization via the power control widget. I also use the same widget to turn the brightness down to the lowest level. When the little red light comes on I start to cry.

Please expound on how you do this.

 

[Cory Streater]

I hope you're referring to the widget ha-ha...

If you look through the stock android widget list, you'll see one called "Power Control". This widget has 5 different toggle switches. The 4th widget toggles data sync, and the last one controls brightness.

 

[terpitude71]

i throw it on a charger...or die a little inside as my phone slowly marches toward lifelessness

 

[initialjdg]

I've just started keeping chargers on me at all times. I usually have a computer or outlet around and there's a charger in my truck that's always ready.