You may need to disable the following five features from a new smartphone you have just bought;
Manufacturers
offer an automatic brightness system. The smartphone detects the
ambient light level and adapts its display so that it remains
comfortable to read. This is a laudable idea, but the resolution is
disappointing most of the time since the luminosity threshold is usually
higher than you need.
Brightness means energy, and the
consumption will increase, which means your battery will ultimately be
paying for it. In short, turn off the automatic brightness and calibrate
it yourself. You will get more battery life out of it.
The
screen is the element that most affects your smartphone’s autonomy, so
you have nothing to lose by taking a look at your screen options to see
if something needs to be changed. This of course depends on your use and
habits, but in most cases, it is useless to keep the screen on for more
than a minute.
The secret is to improve battery life on any phone.
Useless and cumbersome bloatware
Your smartphone most
likely contains at least one app that does not interest you. Whether it
is a service from Google (for example, Duo), an app pre-installed by
your operator, an app from the manufacturer, or a sponsored app. The
number of these apps varies according to the manufacturer, but what is
certain is that these apps not only take up space, but may also run in
the background. In many cases, these apps can be deleted (and you are
better off deleting them).
As a rule, Google apps cannot be
deleted (at least not without hacking). Some apps pre-installed by
manufacturers cannot be uninstalled either. So, what you have to do is
simply disable them: not only will they take up less space in the
system, but they also will no longer bother you. To do this, go to the
Settings, find the list of apps and search to find the one you are
looking for.
Animations and transitions
If your
smartphone is not very powerful, you should do everything you can to
make it run a bit more smoothly. There is one little trick that can help
you on a daily basis: disabling transitions and animations. To be more
specific, these are the effects you see when you switch from one screen
or app to another: they can be pretty, but they are unnecessary. If you
disable them, transitions will be faster.
All you have to do is
simply enable developer options. Once you have done this, you will find
the developer options menu and ‘Window animation scale’, ‘Transition
animation scale’, and ‘Animation duration scale’. Once you have done
this, you will have to reduce it (for example, to 0.5) or deactivate it.
Vibrations and sounds
These
vibrations and sounds are intended to mimic the response of a physical
button, but in practice, they are usually quite irritating. Even worse,
they will impact your device’s autonomy. In short, you should ask
yourself if this feature really is of value to you. If this is not the
case, you should deactivate these features.
To disable these sounds and vibrations:
Go to Settings > Sound & notifications
Once
you are in this menu, you can disable everything: Dial pad sounds,
Screen locking sounds, Charging sounds, Touch sounds, Vibrate on touch,
etc.
Please note: if the smartphone is being used by an older
person who does not have a great sense of touch, it is recommended that
you leave the vibration on so that they can better feel the screen.
Personalisation for advertisements
Of
course, Google uses your private data to get to know you better, which
allows it to target you with ads. By accepting Google on your phone, you
accept the rules of the game: it will get information about you through
its various services and apps. You cannot do much about this (unless
you boycott Google), but you can decide whether apps can use your ad ID
or not. If you decide to disable this option, Google won’t be able to
offer you targeted ads (but they will continue to send you ads anyway).
To
do this, simply go to Settings and search in the Google menu. You will
then find ‘Ads’, and there, you will be able to set which apps may use
your ad ID to create profiles and run custom ads. Of course, if you want
to see targeted ads, it is better to leave this option enabled, but you
will not prevent Google from getting information about you.
Reasons for disabling the five features…
Optimisation
and fluidity: We all want an ultra-fast smartphone that loads
applications quickly and offers maximum battery life. Some of you will
have an advantage over others (if you have a powerful smartphone), while
others will have more difficulties. In both cases, it is recommended
that you avoid as many problems as possible.
User experience: The
experience you have with your smartphone depends on many elements, some
of which can be quite subjective. Some things can be really painful on a
daily basis.
Privacy and confidentiality: If these words are
important to you, you know that they have been in the headlines in
recent weeks. The Cambridge Analytica case has catapulted Facebook to
the forefront (due to criticism of its business model and the exposure
of some of its practices), and other big names in technology have
quickly followed up by providing more precise user conditions.
