How to Increase Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Battery Life

Finally the phone that every gamer was waiting for and which created a huge hype across all forums as a PLAY station phone has been finally released. It’s the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY a.k.a  the PLAY station phone, released few months ago. The Xperia PLAY has a 1 GHz Scorpion processor with a Adreno 205 GPU for a smooth gaming experience. It comes preloaded with the latest Android v2.3.4 (Gingerbread) which has enhanced user interface along with great power saving capabilities. The camera is a 5 MP, autofocus with LED flash light which creates a very sharp picture. It has a very bright 4 inch LED backlit LCD, capacitive touch screen.

The main feature of Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY is its gaming. The phone has a gaming battery life of 5hrs, which is pretty good considering the large screen and 1 GHz processor. The Xperia PLAY comes with a Li-Ion 1500mAh battery with a talk time of 8 hr 25 min (2G) & 6 hr 25 min (3G).

Display   

This part eats up most of the battery in any portable device. The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY has a very bright 4 inch LCD display with sharp and crisp detail. The more is the brightness of the screen the more is the power consumption. The phone has a proximity sensor which turns off the screen when the phone is close to your ears while calling. Following are some tips to save power

• Keep the brightness of the screen to an optimum level
• Choose a darker wallpaper or theme for the phone. This helps in saving power as a brighter picture would use more power.
• Adjust the screen timeout to a minimum so that the power is not wasted when not in use.

GPS
This features helps in pinpointing your location and navigating. The navigation feature consumes a lot of power as the GPS receiver in the phone needs to search for the available satellite constantly to pinpoint its position. In addition to that the application also uses the GPRS network for real-time information of places and for map updates. Following are some tips to save power

• When using the navigation keep the network assist OFF. The navigation doesn`t really require network support as the maps can be preinstalled. Turn it ON when really required.
• You can also turn OFF the turn by turn voice feature if not required. The map displays enough information for navigation.
• Turn the satellite positioning OFF when you’re just checking out the map and not navigating. Remember you can still detect you`re approx. location through the network assist feature.
• The latitude feature in Google maps enables you to share your location with your friends in real-time. But this feature updates your location in few time intervals, hence consuming power. It is recommended to turn the auto location feature off, use it manually.

Connectivity
The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY comes with many connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE etc. Some tips to save power

• Wi-Fi scan should be turned off unless required. Unnecessarily turned on Wi-Fi drains your battery because it constantly scans for networks.
• Bluetooth should always be turned off unless required.
• Remember 3G networks reduce your talk time to almost half.

Applications

The android is known for its apps which makes it a useful and fun experience. The apps access many feature like Bluetooth, GPRS, WLAN, etc. All this drains the battery. Following are tips to keep the apps in check.

• Many apps require GPRS network connections to update. This causes power loss as the apps use the network in the background. Hence it is recommended to turn off the apps auto update feature. And only update the required one manually.
• Many applications in android run in the background without the user even knowing, this ends up in drained battery. Control background running applications by using the built in task manager
• No additional task manger applications are required because they themselves eat up a lot of power as they run in the background.

Firmware
Firmwares for android are updated by the company as required. It is necessary to update your firmware to the latest.

• The latest firmware for this phone is v2.3.4(Gingerbread) which is a lot more efficient in saving battery life. Hence it is recommended to update your device.

General tips

• As Xperia PLAY is a gaming phone it gets discharged quickly if the game is constantly ON. Hence it is recommended to quit the game after your done and not just press the back button as it leaves the game running in the background sometimes.
• Keep the media volume at optimum levels. Use ear phones if possible.
• Auto rotation of screen must be turned OFF in order to save battery. Auto rotation uses accelerometer and if the usage is restricted then it can help in increasing battery life.
• Avoid overcharging the battery because it could damage it and reduce its life.