As a busy mom, you know all-too-well that balancing your family, work and other responsibilities is challenging enough, even on days when things are going smoothly. Add in some technical difficulties with a phone battery that conks out as your son is trying to call you from school, or your laptop battery is at 5 percent when you have a big Skype meeting coming up with your boss, and your day is suddenly infinitely more stressful.
In order to prevent these situations from happening and stay on top of everything that you have to do, it is important to do what you can to lengthen the battery lives in your various devices. For example, check out the following ideas for the “Big 3” of electronics: your smartphone, laptop and tablet.
Smartphones: Start with a Wireless Charging Model
When it comes to preserving battery life on a smartphone, not all models are created equally. If your current smartphone is getting old and you have the money in the budget for a new one, consider treating yourself to a smartphone that charges wirelessly and is also designed to have a longer battery life. A great example of this is Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus; it offers up to 21 hours of battery talk time and up to 16 days of battery standby time.
A great to extend the life of your smartphone battery is to keep Wi-Fi on (instead of mobile) and to turn Bluetooth and GPS off. Doing so will immediately save a noticeable percentage of your battery each day. Other common issues that can suck the life out of a smartphone battery include keeping your location-tracking setting on at all times and push notifications for emails and social media; if you disable both of these, you should notice that your battery is lasting longer.
Laptops: Think Short- and Long-term
You can extend the life of your laptop batteries with long-term and short-term tips; the former will help the machine use less energy and the latter can save your hide if you are about to do a big Power Point presentation at work when you realize you have hardly any juice left in the battery. While old advice suggested keeping your battery charged up to only 80 percent and not leaving it on the charger, this is outdated info; the new lithium ion and lithium-polymer batteries used today can be fully charged. At the same time, to keep the battery in tip top shape, let it drain completely from normal use from time to time. In addition, make sure your laptop is as cool as possible at all times — use compressed air to clean out dust buildup that clogs the ventilation ports and avoid plopping the laptop on a pillow or blanket. As for short-term strategies, activate the Battery Saver or Eco Mode and turn off everything you do not need to use during your work presentation; this includes a USB mouse, external drive, unused optical drives and Wi-Fi.
Tablets: Upgrade and Then Turn Off Battery Hogs
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When it comes to battery life, tablets can be frustrating. Unlike our smartphones that we tend to have with us and use all of the time, many busy moms use tablets in shorter spurts; for example to watch funny videos on YouTube with the kiddos or sneak in a game of Candy Crush while the kids are doing homework. But the batteries can drain on their own and leave you with very little power. If you can, upgrade to a new tablet that boasts a long battery life — Laptop Mag recently reviewed the longest-lasting tablets and puts Apple’s 10.5 inch iPad Pro at the top. Its battery lasts an impressive 13 hours and 55 minutes while being super fast. In addition, locate and shut down any and all power sucks that drain energy from your tablet even when it is not in use. Background data syncing is a great place to start — disable email, social media and other alerts that are using battery power.
Full Battery Equals Happy Mom
By incorporating as many of these tips as you can, including upgrading to a new smartphone and tablet and thinking about short and long-term approaches to battery life, you should notice a tangible improvement in the life of your various devices. In turn, this can help you get through your busy days more efficiently and with less stress.
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