probably not using all its functions to the max. Well hey, let's correct that! Here

are some awesome smartphone features you might not have heard about.

1. Extending battery life Looking at a phone with maximum screen brightness

is not only bad for your eyes, it also does a real number on your battery life! Cut the

brightness down to about 30 to 50%, or take advantage of your phone's auto-brightness

feature. Smartphones have a built-in motor that needs

a certain amount of power to make the vibrate function work. The same isn't true for the

ringtone's sound. If you don't want to disturb the people around you, just put your

phone on silent and keep it near you so that you can see it when it lights up.

GPS or Location Services are real life-savers when you're on the hunt for the nearest

pizza joint. On the downside, they do wreak havoc on your battery. Tweak Location Services

and use them sparingly. You can also choose which of your apps can use this feature.

Turn off “Push” notifications in your email settings to instantly boost your phone's

battery life. As an alternative, change it to “Fetch,” which lets you check your

emails based on a schedule and not whenever you have the urge.

The screen is the biggest energy drainer of all the components in a phone. If you're

like me and forget to turn the display off when you set your phone down, then you might

wanna put the screen timeout to the lowest setting possible. Your battery will thank

you! Keeping your phone fully charged all the time

is actually not very good for the battery. Pull the cord when it reaches 80% and recharge

before it drops to 20%. Don't leave your phone plugged in for too long; just give it

10- to 15-minute bursts of juice whenever the opportunity presents itself.

The charging port gets pretty dirty with lint and other debris from your bellybutton, I

mean your pockets that easily get stuck inside. Make it a habit to clean this port with a

pointed Q-tip or a toothpick just as often as you wipe the screen. It won't be long till

you notice how much more effective charging has become!

Each time you check your text messages or missed calls, the wallpaper is there and it

keeps eating up your battery. The same thing goes for live or any other type of moving

wallpapers. That's why it's always better to go for black-and-white wallpapers. Not

only do they look cool and elegant, but they also conserve your smartphone's battery

way better! When left on all the time, the auto-rotate

function just dries your battery out completely. It works thanks to a special sensor called

an accelerometer that runs constantly in the background, waiting for you to turn your phone.

Switch it off immediately when you no longer need auto-rotate, and you'll see a difference!

You know how your phone sometimes just freezes and refuses to do anything at all? That's

because you don't let your battery get a proper rest at night! Make sure to turn your phone

off every night so that the battery can cool down.

2. Useful tweaks If your phone is running on fumes and you

don't have much time to wait for it to charge, enable Airplane Mode. It's your best option

to charge your phone much faster than usual. The thing is, Airplane mode blocks all incoming

and outgoing signals that normally drain your battery a lot.

If you have an iPhone and an iPad, you can use the iPad power adapter to charge your

iPhone. It's absolutely safe for the battery itself, so don't worry. The more powerful

adapter will charge your phone twice as fast! When you are writing an important letter or

a message, you have to think twice before you send it. That's why we often rewrite

the text a few times. iPhone and iPad owners can use the Shake to Undo feature to delete

all the text they've just typed. Just shake your device and tap Undo in the pop-up window.

When you're using a free app or playing a free-to-play game, there are often annoying

pop-up ads. If you are not ready to pay for the premium ad-free content, just switch your

phone to Airplane Mode and enjoy your favorite apps without interruption. Don't get too

excited, though: you might miss an important call.

If you lose your phone and somebody finds it, they can find you thanks to Android and

iOS functions that lets you put into the system your name, your e-mail address, and a different

phone number someone can use to contact you. By the way, you can also add information about

your closest relatives, your blood type, and other medical information in case something,

you know, BAD happens to you. This will make doctors' job easier and more effective.

Audio Timer on iOS will allow your device to turn off all the audio at a certain time.

First, go to Timer, and choose its length. Tap When Timer Ends, and select Stop Playing

at the bottom. Select Set, and start your timer. When your timer goes off, any audio

currently playing will stop. Now you can go to sleep to music and not worry about the

charge in the morning! Want to read an e-book and use a dictionary

at the same time without having to switch screens? Just enable multi-window mode! To

do this, open the right app, and hold the task list key (to the right of the "Home"

button). Unfortunately, not every smartphone is able to work in this mode.

Using a special feature of Android, you can leave a message on the lock screen for the

person who finds your phone if you lose it. For example, you can ask to have it returned.

Go to “Settings” — “Lock screen and security” — “Lock screen signature.”

Now write a backup phone number or your email there. Done!

You can also use your smartphone as a dash cam in your car. All you need to do is install

your phone on the dashboard so that it has the best view of the road.

If you are serious about your smartphone and use it all the time, you may as well change

its settings like a professional. To do so, you need to go to the Developer Menu. Ooo

h! Go to: Settings — About the phone — Click 7 times on “Model Number.” Congrats! Now

you're the developer! Using this menu, you can improve the overall performance, signal

reception quality, and system appearance. Want to save your battery and your eyesight?

Then use your smartphone in monochrome mode while reading. Go to the developer's menu,

and find “simulate anomaly,” then switch the monochrome mode on. Now your phone will

work in black and white. Phone memory storage can be usually expanded

by a memory card or cloud storage, but you can also use messengers as an expansion too.

Some of them allow you to send links, files, and texts to yourself. Input your own phone

number or ID and start the chat — here you go!

3. iPhone features You can easily create your own vibration patterns

for notifications. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. Then tap on Sounds, and select

an alert type in the Sounds and Vibrations list. Tap Vibration > Create New Vibration.

Start recording, and tap the center of the screen in the sequence you want the vibration

to be. Once you're done, stop recording and save your pattern. It will be stored in

the Vibration section (Ringtone menu) among the list of custom patterns.

To enable the burst mode on your smartphone, press and hold the camera shutter button.

Now it will shoot many photos at a time. If you like taking panoramic shots with your

iPhone, you know that annoying feeling you want the shooting process to go the other

way around, but you can't do it. Simply tap the arrow on the screen, though, and its

done. One of the iPhone's most popular basic apps

is Calculator. There is a smart trick to play with it, too. If you made a mistake in the

digit that you typed, just swipe your finger to the left or right of the numbers to clear

the last digit.

4. Android features If you prefer to listen to the text rather

than read it, go to Settings/Accessibility and turn on the Text-to-Speech Output option.

Go to Settings/Security/Device administrators, and check the boxes next to Android Device

Manager, Remotely locate this device, and Allow remote lock and erase. Now, if you lose

your smartphone, you can locate and block it without losing your data via a special

website. If you need to give your phone to your child

to play a game or lend it to your friend, you need the guest mode that only Android

phones have. It works exactly like the similar feature on computers. On the one hand, it

keeps your data safe, so that nobody sees it or accidentally deletes it. On the other,

the guest will have a completely clean phone, ready for comfortable using.

Go to Settings / Accessibility / Magnification gestures. Then you'll be able to zoom in

on any part of the display just by tapping it.

You needn't buy a separate modem or a router to use the Internet on different devices because

your smartphone can do this easily. Go to Settings / Tethering and portable hotspot,

and turn on Portable WLAN hotspot. That's it!