Tips and Tricks for Samsung Galaxy S4

Brightness Level and Control

Screen consumes 50 per cent of the total battery consumption on every smartphone and it is recommended to manage the brightness to reduce it. Go to the device's settings and activate the "Automatic Brightness" feature which detects the surrounding and adapts the device to produce adequate brightness. If this feature consumes battery as well due to its sensor, manually set the brightness which your eyes are comfortable with.

Email and Accounts

Without your knowledge, email apps and accounts continuously drain battery life as they attempt to sync and drag data on your phone. If you are not using email often, go to the application then inside the settings configure the syncing frequency to "never" or "manual." For other accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, go inside the application's setting and apply the same. Alternatively, you can go to the device's settings and disable the auto-sync feature.

Check Applications

Regularly monitor your applications to see which one eats the most out of the battery. Go to "Settings > Battery" to view which app is the culprit. You can install some apps you do not need anymore or disable ones you are not using. It will dramatically improve the battery life and even free the RAM.

Reducing Screen Timeout

Aside from the brightness level, the screen timeout also eats a lot on the battery and it is suggested to reduce the timeout. Select the screen timeout duration according to your desire to save more juice on the battery.

Disabling Wireless Connectivity

If you are not using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and mobile data, disable them to prevent them from draining the battery. Turn off the mobile data connection when there is an available Wi-Fi and select 3G connectivity instead of 4G if it's stable enough for Internet use.

Airplane Mode

Do not let the Galaxy S4 search for network coverage if none is available; activate the Airplane Mode when needed. If you are in a vacation, inside an area covered with thick walls or areas out of coverage, enable the Airplane Mode to save more energy. The antennae constantly look for network coverage if there is nothing to find and sadly, no signal means more battery is consumed. In addition, you can turn on the Airplane Mode to reset the network to improve its signal coverage.

Task Manager

Samsung Galaxy S4 has a task manager on its own and use to kill applications you are not using anymore. Hold and press the "Home" key and swipe left or right to remove applications on the task manager.

Use the "Back" Key

When leaving or closing applications, use the "back" key instead of the "home" button to close them or it will eat the battery and memory without you knowing. The "home" button leaves the application running in the foreground and it is only advised to use it if you are not yet finished.

Charge the Galaxy S4 Correctly

Proper charging is a little complicated that you think and it helps boost the battery life to keep it running for a long time. Avoid depleting the battery frequently and charge it once notified by the device. Once a month you can completely deplete the battery then recharge it without interruption for optimal performance. But be reminded that improper draining may damage the battery pack, so once the device reaches 5 per cent, maximise the brightness, leave the screen on, turn off wireless connection and do not launch games or play multimedia files to drain it.

Watch the Temperature

Hot temperature drains battery quicker and Lithium-ion batteries are not resilient with it. Avoid direct sunlight hitting the device, keep in cool but dry surface and never ever leave the smartphone inside your car overnight.

12. Wallpapers

Live wallpapers are beautiful and stunning but it adds to the screen consumption on the battery and so it is advised to use static wallpapers especially if your charger is away from you. Samsung Galaxy S4 has a Super AMOLED screen display and saves more battery if your wallpaper is darker.

Third-Party Applications

Be careful on installing third-party applications which may affect battery performance. Some applications are poorly written such as task managers or battery savers which in the long run do the opposite instead of relieving the device. Use Samsung's built-in task manager and power saving tool even if don't like it. Other apps may also cause system glitch, so regularly check their memory and battery consumption.

Power Saving Mode

Whenever your Galaxy S4 is running low on battery, activate the "Power Saving" mode on the notifications shade. It will disable wireless connections, stop background apps syncing, reduce brightness, reduces screen timeout and more to save energy. In addition, you can configure which functions are to be disabled by the power saver app.

Galaxy S Features

Samsung exclusive features are wonderful but not all of them are useful in everyday task. So turn the features which are not important to you to juice more battery on your smartphone.

Monitor Wi-Fi Hotspot

Hotspot allows your smartphone to distribute its Internet connection to other devices but it consumes a lot of power more than you think. Monitor the hotspot and turn it off when no one needs sharing.

Reboot Regularly

Whenever you recharge your phone, reboot it to free up RAM and kill some background applications. Apps constantly running on your device are leftovers of everything you have done within the day and restarting can refresh the phone.

Update the Firmware

Always look for updates from Samsung and install them when you have a chance. Bug fixes and battery improvements are usually included in the new firmware and some apps are optimised better on the system.

Quite Mode during Sleep

Use either the Airplane Mode or turn of the sounds when you are asleep and not expecting any calls during the night. Turn the brightness level to its minimum as well to sustain the current battery level till the next day.

Camera Video Light

Video light on the camera eats a lot of battery during video recording and the environment have sufficient lighting, turn the light off.

Compressing Data

Some browsers can compress data which is helpful on the battery during transfers and Web page loading. If you are using Google Chrome, launch the app and go to "Settings > Bandwidth Management > Reduce Data Usage."

Factory Reset

If all else fail, reset the device instead to renew the system. Use the Factory Reset inside the settings to reformat the device which will erase everything. So create a backup of applications, contacts, messages, personal settings and data files before resetting the phone.