How to Improve Battery Life on Galaxy S5
Despite of the fact that Samsung Galaxy S5 is among the longest-lasting smartphones from the current market, we know that it might not be enough for most of its users. As many of you know, we have a 2800mAh battery powering Samsung Galaxy S5 that has managed to score around 7 hours and 38 minutes in battery life tests.
Well, this is far from the full days of usage that we are dreaming of, but thankfully, there are some ways for improving battery life on Galaxy S5 that you should take in consideration. Don’t worry, you don’t have to implement all of these at once, but you can make a choice and decide which ones you could apply.
How to Improve Battery Life on your Samsung Galaxy S5:
1. Lower the Screen Brightness
With a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and 432 pixels per inch, Samsung Galaxy S5 packs not only a brilliant screen, but also a power-hungry one that literally eats up your battery’s resources. We have seen that most owners tend to keep their phone’s brightness on auto mode, but this is not at all the best solution for your battery. It is well known that Auto mode will automatically adjust your screen’s brightness according the conditions around you, but have you ever thought about the fact that this mode utilizes the phone’s sensors? Yes, this means just one thing: draining even more from your battery, not to mention that in many cases Auto mode will leave your display at a level that is way too bright for your environment.
You really don’t need to have the brightness maxed out, so don’t hesitate to lower the brightness even if you spend a lot of time outdoors. Just adjust it up for those times that you need it and you’ll feel the difference. You can access these settings by swiping down on the status bar, or by simply going to Settings > Display > Brightness.
2. Manage Your Data and Wi-Fi Usage
If you are in an area that has strong Wi-Fi, be sure that this is just what your Galaxy S5 battery needs! Using Wi-Fi will drain your battery less than using your carrier’s data and don’t forget to turn off Wi-Fi when you’re not in an area with an available connection.
If the handset continuously checks for available networks, it wastes even more from its battery juice!
Anyway, if you don’t want to turn Wi-Fi off completely, don’t hesitate to tap on the three-dot menu in Wi-Fi settings and head over to the Advanced page. You must keep “Always allow scanning” enabled, as this can be used for location data instead of GPS, which wastes even more battery.
3. Enable Ultra Power Saving Mode
Don’t forget that your Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with two options: Power saving mode and Ultra power saving mode. Power saving mode restricts background data and limits performance, but the Ultra power saving mode is even better.
You should use this option every time when you have very little life left; you’ll still have access to basic functions like calling and texting, but it will turn your screen grayscale with a minimal interface, helping you face the situation.
4. Adjust the Screen Timeout Interval
If you feel that you are wasting an absurd amount of battery, don’t forget that your Screen timeout can be configured to a lower interval for when your idle screen turns off. Use shorter timeouts of no more than 15 -20 seconds as long as the longer your screen stays on, the more battery it actually needs.
5. Turn Off Location Services
We all know that location services are useful when it comes to navigating through unfamiliar streets, finding local restaurants and so on, but you are not always in such a situation. Then, why leaving them drain your battery? Enter into Settings -> Location, tap on Mode and enable the Power saving locating method, which uses WiFi and mobile networks for estimating your location without using GPS.
And don’t leave aside that in the very same menu, you can also see which applications use the most battery with their location services. If you find out that something is wrong (and this is what it happens in most cases), you can easily disable location services for a specific app by entering into its own settings and unchecking location services.
6. Avoid Live Wallpapers
It is not the first time when we are talking about live wallpapers. We all love them, but this doesn’t change the fact that a moving wallpaper will draw more power than a static one. Your Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with an AMOLED screen, so we must admit that it doesn’t have a solid backlight.
Each pixel produces its own light, so you should know that if the pixel is white, it produces light; if it’s black, no light is emitted at all. So, if you place a black background on the AMOLED display of your Galaxy S5, less light will be produced. As for the Live wallpapers, they are at the end of the spectrum, so our advice is to choose one of those amazing static wallpapers available or HD Backgrounds. We are sure that you can find something to like from these option as well!
7. Disable Bluetooth & NFC
Bluetooth and NFC are useful for connecting to other devices in order to share music, pictures, videos, and more, but we can find no reason for having them enabled all day? To maximize battery on your Samsung Galaxy S5, you have to turn off Bluetooth and NFC when you’re not using them.
You can find Bluetooth and NFC in Settings or you can also access them from the toggle menu by swiping down on the status bar with two fingers and long-pressing their respective icons.
8. Make sure that your Apps are Up to Date
Do you know that app updates help fix bugs? This might look like an insignificant problem, but we can assure you that it is in fact an issue that often leads to battery drain, so always make sure to keep your apps updated.
From the Google Play app, go to My apps and update all of the ones that need it. It takes you a few seconds to do so, but the results will be considerable improved.
9. Check for Malicious Apps
The Android system works great when it comes monitoring for malicious apps, but there are always exceptions that you should be afraid of.
Don’t hesitate to enter into Settings > Battery in order to check battery usage for individual apps and processes. If you see an app that is using more battery than normal, tap on it to report it or uninstall it.
10. Limit Your Widgets
Widgets sort of work as standalone apps that are always on, so you should not have to many widgets you have on your Samsung Galaxy S5 device. Limit your widgets to the ones you really need, and adjust the settings for each one in order to be sure that the battery won’t be too much affected by their presence.
11. Use a Wearable Device
Do you take in consideration the possibility of buying one of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear watches compatible with your Galaxy S5? You could use them to look at the time, to check your notifications and not only, so just imagine what this means for the battery!
12. Turn the Screen to Monochrome
If saving battery on your Samsung Galaxy S5 is a top priority, you should force the handset to be completely monochrome without entering the special Ultra Power Saving Mode or its Emergency mode.
Enter into Settings > Power Saving > Power Saving mode and turn it on. On the bottom, you’ll see a Gresycale mode option and all you have to do is to turn it to on, and your screen will instantly become monochrome.
13. Turn Smart Stay Off
Turning Smart stay off is ideal in those emergency cases when your battery needs to be charged. As you know, this feature uses the front-facing camera to detect when you’re looking at it, so if the camera sees that you are, it’ll keep the screen on.
But if you want to conserve battery, you can survive without that as well, so go to Settings (Device tab) > Display > Smart stay.
14. Disable Automatic Play Store updates off Wi-Fi
We suggest that you should keep automatic Play Store updates completely turned off or at least do that for the updates over Wi-Fi (Settings > Auto-update apps). This way you’ll save both data and power and we are sure that this is what you have in mind.
15. Also remember to…
For the end, we have just a few more simple tips: don’t hesitate to turn off voice services like S Voice, to turn off haptic feedback as it consumes the battery of your Samsung Galaxy S5 with each vibration, clear notifications to turn off the blinking LED, use the AC adapter when near an outlet and update your firmware whenever a new version is available.
Do you have other advices for improving the battery life on Galaxy S5? Share them with us by using the comments section from below! We’d love to hear them!
