Sunday, 9 August 2015

How to charge your Android phone battery faster

UPDATE: Does your phone have a super-fast charging mode?

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We've all done it: you're halfway through the door and you realize that you've forgotten to charge your phone. Five percent power isn't going to get you through a whole day, but you don't have heaps of time to wait for your device to recharge. So what do you do? You can read our favorite tips on how to charge your battery faster.
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Here's how to charge your phone faster. © ANDROIDPIT

Get the right plug and charger

While Android chargers have a universal fitting, that doesn't mean they're all the same. Connecting your charging cable to a laptop is a bad idea if you want to charge your phone fast: a USB 2.0 port chucks out just 2.5 watts of power, while USB 3 delivers 4.5 watts. Your wall charger will deliver much more, and charge your phone more quickly.
Many Android phones support fast charging, which delivers a whopping 15 watts to charge your phone much more quickly. You'll find a good list of fast charging phones on the Qualcomm website (you don't need to have a Qualcomm processor; just Qualcomm's power system), but beware: just because a phone supports fast charging, that doesn't mean the charger that comes with it is a fast charger, so you may have to buy your own. For example, the LG G4 is fast charging-compatible but the stock charger isn't a fast charger.
You don't necessarily need to use your phone maker's own charger — buying a third party one can save you a fortune — but be wary of no-name grey market cheapies, which have a tendency to set things on fire.
Don't use wireless charging if you're in a hurry. Wireless charging can't deliver power as well or as quickly as good old-fashioned cables, so it's better suited to places where you don't mind your phone sitting a while. 

Get into airplane mode

The less your phone has to do, the more quickly it'll recharge — so at the very least, enable airplane mode to speed up charging. Every device is different, but you most likely know how to turn airplane mode on on yours.
Airplane mode blocks any wireless radios on your device, which means you won’t receive any calls or messages, or have internet access, while it's enabled, but it’s worth it to get a faster power boost and have a device that will stay on for the next few hours.
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Turn on airplane mode to make your phone charge faster. © ANDROIDPIT

Turn that bad boy off

If you don’t actually need your phone at the moment, turn it off completely, and allow it to recharge faster. Notifications won’t come through when it is off, but this is something you might just need to live without for a while if you are racing the clock.

Use power saving mode

Every Android Lollipop device has a battery saving mode of some description, whether it's the stock option or a manufacturer-specific feature such as Motorola's Doze. Switch this on to conserve power while your phone recharges.

Switch off unnecessary features

Check to see if you have any unnecessary features on, such as Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi or NFC. Close all your apps and stop your phone from doing any automatic backups or updating apps from the Google Play Store.
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Switch off some system features if you aren't using them. © ANDROIDPIT

Don't touch!

If you need your phone on and out of airplane mode while it's charging, because you are expecting an important call or message, suppress the urge to check your phone every 30 seconds. Why? Because the screen is the biggest battery-drainer of them all.
These are small but golden tips for when you are in a rush. Everything can be easily switched back to normal once your phone has that bit of extra juice.

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