Android owners are urged to check 'hidden number' that could extend battery life
ANDROID owners have been urged to check a 'hidden number' on their phones, which could be the key to longer battery life.
Experts from Android-based phone company OnePlus have revealed that the trick is best used in emergency situations when you really want to save every last drop of juice.
“Before I even get started, I know some of you might be wondering why we need battery tips… what if you're traveling and forget your charger, or you go on a long hike and don't have power? ,” brand ambassador Abhishek wrote on a OnePlus community forum.
“There can be countless such scenarios and that's why it's important to have these tricks on hand and use them when the time is right!”
Most Android owners are familiar with the “efficient” battery saver mode, which Abhishek says is “perhaps the simplest method to save power.”
But few people know this 'hidden number' trick.
What 'hidden number'?
The so-called 'hidden number' relates to the device's screen refresh rate.
Your phone's screen refresh rate is the number of times per second the image on the screen is refreshed.
For example, a 60 Hz screen updates the screen 60 times per second.
Depending on which Android phone you have (and how old it is), your screen refresh rate could be anywhere between 10Hz and 240Hz.
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But most devices are around 60 Hz to 90 Hz.
According to Abhishek, “In situations where you really want to save your device's battery, you can change the refresh rate [from 90Hz] up to 60 Hz can be extremely useful.
While some phones automatically switch to 60Hz under certain conditions, Abhishek says, “If you keep the battery constantly at 60Hz, you can get an extra boost in battery life as it reduces the load on the hardware.”
How to change the screen refresh rate
Follow these steps to change your phone's screen refresh rate:
Go to Institutions > Display > Screen refresh rate and select 60Hz.
Alternatively, if you want to switch and have your phone automatically change the screen refresh rate, you can follow these steps:
Open Institutions > Display > Movement softness > click Custom to enable variable refresh rates > tap To apply to confirm.
The immediate benefit of this is better battery life.
This is because the screen can reduce the refresh rate to as low as 10Hz to consume less power while displaying static content.
The list of phones that can reduce their screen refresh rate to 10 Hz is small, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23+, Google Pixel 7 Pro and the OnePlus 11.
A high refresh rate is useful while scrolling through lists, playing games optimized for such refresh rates, and watching high frame rate content such as Netflix.
But aside from these activities, there is little point in constantly refreshing a screen at 120Hz as it will drain the battery.