Save More Battery Life On Your Nokia N82

It's no secret that the N82 already has a decent battery, especially for a smartphone and xenon flash. It's not quite as strong as the N73's (who knows why Nokia didn't put the same battery), but it still holds pretty good. Here is a little write-up I did at Symbian Addict last year that very much applies to the Nokia N82 and saving battery life. All of these tips are great to get overall longer battery life, but can be extremely crucial when your running low on the battery and don't have a charger near by.


1. Set your Network Mode to GSM Mode when not using 3g.
When your running low on battery life, or you don't get a 3g connection in your area, improve your battery life by changing your network mode to GSM only. 3g is best for internet use, and is the best way to go for voice as well, but GSM ain't that bad for voice. If I'm not planning on using the internet and I'm running low, I'd shut it off. This will stop your phone from searching constantly for a 3g signal that might not even exist in your area. This is one of the first things I did when I got my Nokia N73 since it doesn't even have US 3g capabilities. On the Nokia N82 you go to Tools, Settings, Phone, Network.

2. Change Your Screen Display Settings.
These Nokia handsets already have bright and beautiful screens. There's no need to keep the light set to the brightest possible setting. That will drain your battery fast! Then again, I don't like my screen dim and dull either. I set mine to the setting right below the highest. It keeps the screen bright and sharp, and does a lot to save on battery life.

Also, set your light time-out to something lower like 40 seconds. You'd be surprised at how much an extra 20 seconds at a time can drain your battery. Say you touch your phone 200 times throughout the day. Thats an extra 40 minutes your backlight is on if you keep at 60 seconds, as apposed to 40 seconds. Tools, Settings, General, Personalisation, Display.

And when your on that very last bar, just suck it up and turn your brightness all the way down. It should add a good deal of time to the small amound of life you have left.

3. Don't Leave Applications Running When Unused.
Keeping applications open in the background when your not using them can be costly to your battery. A lot of times, new S60 owners don't know that if you don't properly close out of the application, it will just get minimized to the background. Check out this post for information on a Task Manager, which allows you to see and close all your open applications, including some that might be hidden and not needed.

4. Turn Off WLAN Scanning if your not using it.
If you don't turn this off, your phone will always be searching for a hotspot and waste battery life. It's just not necessary unless your near a known hotspot browsing the web.

If you have any other ways you save battery life on your Nokia handset, share your thoughts.