Six ways to improve iPhone battery life

(Credit: Screenshot by Rick Broida)

 

CNET - As the iPhone 4 approaches its first birthday (and previous models approach their second, third, etc.), it's time to start looking at ways to improve battery life. After all, it's around the one-year mark that most batteries start to lose some capacity, meaning your phone simply won't run as long as it used to between charges.

New York Times tech columnist David Pogue recently got four iPhone battery tips from an Apple store Genius--some of them obvious, some not-so-obvious. Here's an overview of the advice, along with my thoughts and two additional tips from yours truly.

1. Turn off push e-mail. No doubt about it, forcing your iPhone to check for new mail every 15 minutes--especially if you have multiple accounts--will kill your battery in a hurry. It can kill your productivity, too. Tell friends and co-workers that if they need to reach you urgently, send a text.
2. Turn off location services. A lot of apps tap the phone's GPS when they don't really need to. Head to Settings, Location Services, and disable the feature for the apps that can live without a location check. (I'm looking at you, Angry Birds!)
3. Turn off notifications. While you're in the Settings app, tap Notifications and turn off all unnecessary sounds, alerts, and Home Screen badges. As Pogue points out, the apps that use these features have to monitor your iPhone--and that uses up juice.     More