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TOP 5: Smartphone SECRETS you didn't know

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 18:59 IST

Get Ahead reader Abhishek Sahasranaman tells you about five things that will help you enhance your smartphone experience. Abhishek, who has done his BE in Computers from Don Bosco Institute of Technology and is a Cisco Certified Network Professional, works as Network Consulting Engineer at Cisco Systems.

You may be the proud owner of a high-end smartphone but do you know these five things about your object of desire that can go a long way in you having an enjoyable experience with it?

1. Battery life

A vast majority of users often complain of battery life and install additional applications trying to remediate the problem. The solution is rather simple.

Enable automatic screen dimming
Disable automatic sync for unnecessary services (such as non-critical email accounts & social networking services). This option can be found in the settings, alternatively you can set the sync to be performed every once in every 1-2 hours
Toggle to 2G when your phone is in standby mode (screen switched off)
Prefer Wi-Fi over 2G/3G/4G
Disable GPS and location services, unless required
Disable Bluetooth when unused

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TOP 5: Smartphone SECRETS you didn't know

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 18:59 IST

2. Notifications

Do you receive a hoard of unnecessary notifications on your iPhone/iPad, of games or applications you use very rarely? Thankfully they can be disabled from within the settings menu.

Andorid users need to trickle down from SettingsApps. Click on the app you want to disable notifications for and uncheck the notifications option.

TOP 5: Smartphone SECRETS you didn't know

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 18:59 IST

3. Additional free storage

Do you often feel constrained by the lack of additional storage options for your phone / trouble of swapping to higher capacity memory cards / fear of losing (or bricking) your phone and losing those memorable pictures and videos?

Switch to cloud based storage services for free, offered by every top phone manufacturer and backup of up to 5 to 7GB ( with the option to buy more) of your data securely and which can be easily retrievable in the event of a calamity.

TOP 5: Smartphone SECRETS you didn't know

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 18:59 IST

4. Legibility

Do you find it cumbersome if you have to pan across the screen when you zoom into a web page? There are apps available on Android and the Reader button on iOS (iPhone/iPad) that clean out all the irrelevant matter and present the article to you in a font that is easy on the eyes and perfectly oriented for reading without having to zoom in at all.

TOP 5: Smartphone SECRETS you didn't know

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 18:59 IST

5. Maintenance

With the increasing amount of power that comes in the tightly packaged phones of today, it's vital that we pay attention towards maintenance of the software before we set our expectations on its functionality.

Delete unnecessary files -- pictures, music, videos etc that have lost relevance over a period of time
Delete unnecessary messages/e-mail
Check for software updates twice a year
Drain out the battery twice every month