Time for another edition of “Getting the Most Out of Your Android Device.”  This time we’re going beyond the apps and into the Android operating system itself.  This article is going to focus on some things to keep in mind in order to achieve maximum performance out of your device.  Don’t expect hacks in this article – that’s for the advanced sections which are coming up next – but common Android knowledge that we’ve all wished someone told us when we first started out.

Battery Life

One of the most griped about things about Android devices are their battery lives.  Android devices, like iPhones and similar electronics toys, are smartphones.  They use the Internet, power a large screen, sync data, and do a lot of things that the previous generations of cellular devices could only dream of.  As such, these devices consume considerably more battery power.  Expect to get about a day’s worth of use out of your device before needing to charge it again.  If you’re a heavy mobile gamer, tweeter, or for some reason obsessively keep your phone’s screen on for large periods of time, then you’re sometimes going to need a midday charge to get you through the day.  Lets look at some tips for maintaining your precious battery power:

• Use only what you need, when you need it: Your phone is a honeycomb of resources.  However, to use those resources you have to consume battery power.  Be mindful of this and turn certain things off when you don’t need them.  For example GPS is a humungous battery drain.  Only use it when you’re using a navigation or other geocentric application.  Wi-fi uses less power than 3/4G.  When you’re stationary in a place with a strong mobile hotspot, connect to it and use this instead of your mobile data plan (it will probably be much faster, anyway).
• You don’t need real time data all the the time: Many applications that tap into a live data stream (Facebook, Twitter, etc) give you options for how often you want to update those streams.  Set these settings for a reasonably low amount of time.  I usually set them for a long period of time (think hours, not minutes) and if I need to, I’ll force an update when I need the information.  Every time you sync your device or update a live feed, you’re consuming precious battery power.
• You only actually charge your battery up to 90%: Yes, I was surprised when I read this as well.  Its actually damaging to charge your battery all the way all the time, so instead phones are designed to charge 90% of the way and top off the battery at that point.  However, you would be quite confused if your battery level reported 90% charge after charging it al day.  To alleviate this, phones read up to 100% charge, but that top 10% disappears quickly.  For a more technical overview of this phenomena, check out this article.  If you really need that last 10% to get you through the day on a given day, we recommend the tactic of bump charging, which we’ll be covering the Advanced Android Tricks articles.

Lets Talk About Sync, Baby

Ok, I touched on it earlier, but a lot Android services rely on syncing with a live data stream.  Applications such as gmail use push notifications to keep up with the data, while others do on demand syncing.  What’s the difference?  It depends on who initiates the contact.  In push notifications the server initiates the contact when messages or data are available to be delivered.  For example; when  you’ve got a gmail message in your inbox, the gmail server sends out a message to you saying “You’ve got mail” (thankfully without the voice prompt).  Contrast this to how old twitter apps work.  Every set amount of time or when you ask the phone to, it’ll make a request to the server asking, “Do you have any more gossip for me?”  The server then responds back with a yes or no, and if the answer is yes, it sends the data on down the pipe.

The Cloud is Your Friend

One of the nicer features of Android are the cloud-based services it has to offer.  In recent iterations of Android, Google keeps track of what apps you’ve installed, and your contact book.  When your phone gets broken or you switch to another device, this information is automatically transferred with you.  This is the epitome of convenience and is part of the beauty of the cloud.  Take advantage of the cloud to handle other sections of data important to you and you’ll become more efficient.  Here’s some cloud based solutions you might want to consider:

• Google Voice: Google voice adds another layer of control to your phone management.  It provides you a phone number that you can carry around independent of changing phones or having multiple phones.  In addition, Google Voice provides you free texting.          <Pause>                    Yes.  Free Texting.
• Google Calendar: You’ve got a Google phone.  What better way to get the most out of it than by using it to access Google services?  I couldn’t live without Google Calendar to keep my life and schedule intact.
• Remember the Milk / Astrid: If you need a GTD (Get Things Done) solution look no further than Remember the Milk, an online to-do list and Astrid, a phone to-do solution that syncs quite nicely to RTM
• Dropbox: The more devices you use this on, the more powerful it really is.  Dropbox gives you a dropbox folder that will sync automatically across all of your computing devices.  In addition to being available of your computers, they are available on the dropbox website.
• Evernote and Springpad: These are two note taking applications for Android.  Evernote is a more comprehensive multi-platform solution, while springpad is lightweight and perfect if you’re just going to be using it on your phone(s).  Both applications take notes and sync them to the cloud.  This is infinitely useful for saving quick thoughts.

Expect to see some articles in the future showing how real Android users use these services to make their lives easier.  In the meantime if you have a tip about how you get the most out of you Android device, comment on it below or tweet us via @droidweb.