Battery life on the HTC One M9 isn’t a big deal, with its larger battery and more efficient processor alongside Quick Charge 2.0 technology. When it comes to using a powerful smartphone like the HTC One M9, users will still want to look for ways to improve and extend battery life, and below are a few helpful tips for beginners.
HTC’s new flagship One M9 was announced on March 1 after months of rumors and finally arrived on carrier shelves in the US on April 10. It’s a popular device, although its design almost mirrors that of last year, but it has a lot to offer. Some of the new features can cause the battery to drain faster than ever, so read on for more details.
Closing unused apps is an idea we explained in the link above, but below is a guide with a few helpful tips on battery life. The One M9 comes with a larger 2,840mAh battery that’s enough to last all day, but you can always squeeze in a little more. This guide will show One M9 users how the built-in battery will last longer and even show a few possible battery conditions to consider.
For starters, Google has made great strides and is working hard to make Android faster and smoother, but also more efficient. KitKat offered some of the best performances compared to previous versions, and the Android 5.0 Lollipop software on the new One M9 aims to be the best ever. It has a few bugs that could affect battery life, but we hear Android 5.1.1 is coming soon to fix some of them.
Below are a few steps and simple tweaks that all One M9 owners can do in a matter of minutes, just what you need to get a few more hours off your smartphone each day. Enough to do whatever you need to do without having to spend a night out and worry about finding a charger. The phone already has good battery life and charges super fast, but let’s make it even better.
Screen Brightness and Sleep Time
Having the 5 inch HD screen on and viewing Facebook messages, tweets or surfing the web will be the biggest drain on the battery. Screen On time at the bottom of the battery stats page in settings is important as the screen will use more battery than anything else. You’ll want to get started and choose something that works for you. Auto is not ideal for battery saving and I use a brightness of around 30%. Auto turns it on when lighting isn’t an idea, like outside, but the constant ups and downs can drain battery life throughout the day.
You will also want to set the screen sleep time. This determines how long the screen stays on and stays lit when not in use. Many users leave a device on the table after using it, and if this time is set to two or five minutes, your battery will drain for 2-5 minutes for no reason. I personally use it for 30 seconds and always manually press power to put my screen to sleep after use, instead of just turning the device off. That is, tap the power/wake button to turn it off before turning it off. When you do this 100 times in any given day, it’s 100 times that the screen doesn’t need to stay on for 30 seconds (or longer). Others may suggest going into Developer Options and disabling all animation effects; which in turn can increase battery life at the expense of the UI and experience not being as smooth or pretty.
WiFi, 4G LTE and Bluetooth
Obviously, if you’re not using WiFi or Bluetooth, you can turn them off as well. Although they are minimal when it comes to battery drain, this is a quick and easy step. If you are in a WiFi location (coffee shop) but not using WiFi, definitely turn it off as the device will constantly search for a network. Enabling Bluetooth is not much of a problem, but while we’re here, disable it if you don’t need it. Go to Settings and swipe to turn off both WiFi and Bluetooth. The first two options, you can not miss. If you’re outside of a service area or don’t need your phone for calls or messages, airplane mode turns off all radios and often a phone will last for days with airplane mode enabled.
Then of course, using things like Tethering or sharing the connection with a tablet or laptop will definitely drain your battery fast. Anything that constantly uses 4G LTE will hurt your battery. Use WiFi as often as possible, but turn it off when not in use.
Check Location Services and GPS
When your device turns on the GPS chip for Google Maps and Navigation or Facebook wants your location to be shared with the world, GPS needs to be turned on and that’s exactly battery life. In Android 4.4 KitKat Google has finally replaced this system, giving users more control over how all aspects of location services use GPS and therefore battery. and select Battery Saver.
If you really want to be extreme, turning off location services completely will be a huge savings when it comes to battery. Don’t expect Google Assistant to be this helpful, giving you directions or finding nearby restaurants and businesses. Facebook and Messenger apps do not share locations, and Instagram or photo uploads do not have location data. In general, it’s ideal to leave Location services enabled and Battery Saver turned on. This is because it uses mobile networks, towers, and WiFi access points instead of the power-hungry GPS chip in your smartphone to determine location. With this power-saving setting, navigation won’t be as accurate, so turn it on when you need it and switch back to battery saver mode when you’re done. This is what I did.
Data, Gmail and Google Sync
Controlling what is automatically backed up, synced with Google, and otherwise transferred data is a big deal. For obvious reasons, you’ll want to keep most of Google’s sync settings enabled for Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, and stuff, but if you don’t need Gmail to sync and check for emails every minute, change them. Gmail can be set to check whenever you want. From push to 30 minutes to never. Check out HTC’s own options, too.
This is another area that makes Android strong. Google’s Music syncs everything in Chrome browsing history and even saves app data and settings. I would keep all of these enabled, but if you want to conserve the battery, there is another way to do it. Automatic Backup of Photos by Google+, DropBox, Google Drive or any other service falls into the same category here. Either disable it or set it to only backup over WiFi instead of mobile data. Google Photo Sync is essential, so use it sparingly if you’re taking multiple photos of family, kids, or selfies every day.
Most of these backup and sync features are useful, but if you don’t use Google+ Photos, Google Play Music, Movies and many other things in this area, disable them wherever possible to save some battery. Everything adds up in the long run.
Install Battery Guru
HTC One M9 comes with a collection of battery saving software, but free SnapDragon Battery Guru software You’ll see better M9 battery life with changes you rarely notice. This app is made by Qualcomm, which makes the Snapdragon 810 inside your phone, and learns more to customize your usage habits, where you connect to WiFi, and when settings turn on or off. Then it does it automatically. That doesn’t do anything for you either, but enjoy better battery life. This goes against some of the things mentioned above, but give it a try and see if it works for you.
This is an app that works on any Snapdragon powered device and works great on the Galaxy S4, and initial tests show it to be useful on our M9 as well.
Battery Saver Modes
Last but not least is the built-in battery saver mode. HTC has a few options here for your convenience. This is a feature below. Normal battery saver slows down the 8-core processor, lowers the screen brightness, turns off the haptic feedback vibration on the keyboard or incoming messages, and a few other things. It also kills data when the screen is off, so you won’t receive Facebook messages, emails, or data-using alerts unless the screen is on.
Extreme power saving mode is customizable and allows you to set when your phone switches to this mode. I set it to 20% when really needed. It lowers the screen brightness when not in use, kills WiFi or data (so you may not receive Facebook notifications, Twitter alerts or Gmail notifications), and even prevents the notification LED from flashing and draining some battery. It’s more aggressive and turns off many of these “smart” features of a smartphone, making it a regular phone that can last for hours if you need a little more juice to finish off the evening.
It’s a good idea to go in and set this up as you see fit. When your phone reaches 20% (or whatever point you choose) battery saver mode will kick in and start sipping juice to get you through the last few hours of the day. It’s not ideal, but it will work great in an emergency.
Power Saver mode is getting more and more popular and it’s a great way to still have a phone for calls and texts when you need it, instead of wasting all your battery looking at Facebook status updates.
Charger
Another good idea would be to buy an extra Quick Charger or two. HTC One M9 uses Qualcomm processor and has Quick Charge 2.0 technology. It charges 65% faster than the original One and even faster than last year’s devices. Just 30 minutes on the wall when using a turbocharger they promise will give you 6 hours of battery life and boost your phone to at least 50%.
Turbo Charging is a neat new feature on many smartphones released last year, so you’ll want to go to Amazon and pick up a few extra fast chargers or buy one from the HTC.com store. Then of course you can always carry a portable charger battery pack. there are so many good options Amazon.
At the end of the day, these are all minor changes that many are probably familiar with, but if you’re new to Android or smartphones, this guide will help you get the most out of your new phone. I’m always fine between Turbo Charge and my 10,000 power pack and never worry about my phone running out of battery. Try the options above and leave a comment below if you see positive results.