Battery life is something we all care about. Here’s what you can do.
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Squeezing every last minute out of our phone’s battery is something we all do.
The Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra all have batteries that, on paper, should last all day. But that doesn’t always happen — all it takes is one ill-chosen setting or one rogue app and you’ll find yourself looking for a charger before the end of the day.
Below are some tips to help you get the most out of your S20’s battery.
The S20’s display can be set to 120Hz, but be mindful of battery life.
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Use 120Hz carefully
The S20’s 120Hz refresh rate for the screen is one of its headline features, but when chosen Samsung warns that it will use more battery life. How much? It depends. I’ve been testing the S20 Plus for a few days and have been able to get through a full day with 120Hz activated, but the S20 Ultra didn’t fair as well in our review.
My advice? Use the 120Hz option — it’s a huge improvement over the standard 60Hz refresh rate that most phones use — and if you have battery life issues, switch back to 60Hz.
Dark mode is the way to go.
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Dark Mode is your friend
Displaying darker images and backgrounds uses less energy than the bright, white, backgrounds that have long been standard on smartphones.
Leave Dark Mode on all the time by going to Settings Display and selecting Dark at the top of the screen. If you want to only use Dark Mode at night, or on a set schedule, select Dark mode settings and adjust as you see fit. Alternatively, you can toggle Dark Mode on and off in the quick settings panel.
Using all those pixels is going to cause your battery to take a hit.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Don’t use the screen’s full resolution
The Galaxy S20 display’s full WQHD+ resolution is a stunning 3,200 x 1,440. It’s fun to look at, but it also strains your phone’s battery. In fact, one of the first things that Samsung’s own power-saving modes do is to reduce the screen resolution.
Realistically, using the default FHD+ resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 is more than good enough for most of us.
If you’ve switched to WQHD+ and are experiencing poor battery life, switch back to FHD+ in Settings Display Screen resolution.
Your display’s brightness setting can drain your battery, as well.
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Turn off adaptive-brightness
Your screen’s brightness level can also drain your battery. Enabled by default, adaptive brightness tracks any adjustments you make along with the current lighting conditions and makes similar changes in the future.
If you find adaptive brightness is too aggressive, you can turn it off by going to Settings Display and toggle the switch next to Adaptive Brightness to the Off position.
Once turned off, you’re in control of your screen’s brightness, allowing you to keep the display as dim as you want, saving battery in the process.
There’s a lot of info about your battery use on the S20, you just have to know where to look.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Check battery usage and make adjustments
Overzealous apps running in the background for no reason can also impact battery life. Software features built into your phone will monitor which apps you use frequently and those you use rarely use. Then it will use that information to put apps to “sleep,” essentially stopping them from running in the background until you open them.
Check the impact on battery life of apps in Settings Device care Battery Battery usage. If you find an app, or apps, that are using more battery than you’d like, select it in the list and turn on Put app to sleep.
Don’t be afraid to switch to a power saving mode when you need to squeeze every last minute out of your battery.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Take advantage of power modes
When you find yourself in a situation without the means to charge your phone, use one of the power modes. Open Settings Device care Battery Power mode.
The default setting Optimize gives you a healthy mix of performance and maintaining battery life. However, you can get more aggressive with Medium or Maximum power saving.
Medium power saving, for example, will turn off some features like the always-on display, throttle the processor’s performance to 70%, lower brightness and set the screen resolution to FHD+. Maximum does all of that, except it drops the screen resolution to HD+. You can also customize each option to be more restrictive.
For more Galaxy S20 tips, check out this post. We also drop tested the S20 Ultra, and it didn’t fare so well. Speaking of the Ultra, make sure to check out our full review.
Article source: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/galaxy-s20-6-tips-to-improve-battery-life/#ftag=CADe34d7bf