C'mon! Just fifteen more minutes! That's all you need to get out the door. But your phone's battery dropped dead, and there's not enough time to get a decent charge. If you ever find yourself in these dire straits, try this stupid-simple tip to keep the juice flowing fast.
Airplane mode is available on most smartphones. It essentially shuts off your phone's transmitting function. No calls or texts or packets of data can come or go from your device while in airplane mode, making it ideal for air travel—or when you just need a break. Check your phone's settings to discover how to enable airplane mode:
• iOS Airplane Mode
• Android Airplane Mode
• Windows Phone Airplane Mode
But it's also ideal for another situation: when you need a quick charge.
Because your device is not connected to the internet, you can rest assured there are no applications running in the background, sucking up juice when you need it the most. Your phone's battery will charge more quickly than if you'd left your settings alone.
Of course, switching to airplane mode will also effectively shut down all of your phone's major functions. If you're expecting an important call or text, you'll have to juice up the old fashioned way.
(Image: Flickr user Phil Roeder with license from Creative Commons)
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Great tip for a quick fix. But for anyone who has (or rides in) a car, a car charger is a must. Of course many newer cars have USB ports, so you can plug the phone charging cord directly in there for a charge when you're on the go.
Thank you for a great tip.
aha!
Or... turn it off, maybe?
LOL
Never thought of it. Great idea!!
@Gungahlin: if you turn it off you will need to turn it on again, which uses up quite a lot of battery.
OR, turn the phone!
Excellent tip! And it comes at a perfect time - we are on vacation right now, and have 3 phones and an ipad sharing just one charger. Anything that makes it charge faster is good news.
Wow. People really don't know airplane mode saves the battery? How long have smart phones been around now?
And I liked smart phones before you painted them, the natural wood in the before pic just looks better...
Acrimonious Jess - that is the most perfect comment I have ever read. Yes. Yes it is.
Going to airplane mode does not shut down all apps. You can easily check this yourself by turning on airplane mode and then looking at you running apps within settings. And while it will allow your phone to charge slightly faster, you would be much better off simply turning the phone OFF while charging.
Yes, turning it back on uses a tiny bit of battery, but not as much as the gain of having the phone off. Want proof? Turn your phone off. Fully charge it. Then turn it back on and look at your battery meter. Chances are it's at 100%.
If you find yourself constantly running out of battery, you may want to invest in a portable battery charger (tiny, cheap and can be a real lifesaver) or look at what features are draining your battery and adjust your settings. Some advice for doing that here: http://www.techlicious.com/tip/whats-draining-your-android-battery/
If you still need to be able to receive text messages and/or phone calls you can turn off data on smart phones. It definitely makes my phone stay charged longer so it probably charges ti more quickly too.
Learn something every day, thanks!
I have a really nice phone that does not have IOS, Android or Windows or anything like that. I can't check my E-mail or browse the net but I can use it to make phone calls and send/receive SMS. The battery lasts for 3 weeks or so and charges in under an hour. And it only cost about 1/10 of what the newest Iphone costs. I feel smug. :)