Let Your Smartphone Sleep

May 2013 — Tip of the Month

I don't have a lot of pet peeves, but one of them is when people leave their smartphone screens on when they aren't using them. For example, a person will check his email on his smartphone, then just leave it on the table with the screen on. Or a girl might check her text messages, then place her phone back in her purse with the screen lit up.

The reason this annoys me is that it is so easy to put your phone to sleep. All smartphones I have used, including iPhones and Android devices, have a sleep/wake button that turns the screen on and off when pressed. Therefore, there is really no excuse to not put your smartphone in sleep (or standby) mode whenever you aren't using it.

Why is it important to put your phone to sleep? The two primary reasons are 1) to save battery life and 2) to avoid accidental phone operations.

Smartphones use up several times more battery power with the screen on than when it is turned off. This is because the display requires a significant amount of power. If you have a high brightness setting, it will use up battery power even faster. You definitely don't want to leave your phone sitting on the table in camera or video mode, since this could drain your entire battery in less than an hour.

When your smartphone is in sleep mode, it also doesn't accept any touchscreen input. This helps prevent accidental actions such as opening apps, sending text messages, or worst of all, making unintentional phone calls. By placing your phone in sleep mode, you don't have to worry about any of these things happening.

So if you are not already in the habit of putting your smartphone to sleep, it's worth the effort. You'll get more life out of each battery charge and you'll avoid making embarrassing phone calls.

- Per Christensson