A good user experience and longer battery life are critical factors for mobile systems. Application software has a key
role to play in improving
user experience as well as in extending battery life.
Reduce the performance/quality of features, turn off background activities, or both. Implementing these operations
in an application increases the
processor idle time. Since processor power consumption when idle is significantly lower than when active, this results
in longer battery life
There is no pre-defined list of performance/quality features and background activities for extending battery life.
The performance/quality features and background
activities are specific to an application. Some examples could include the following:DELL Inspiron Mini 9 Battery
Reducing the quality of video and audio playback in a DVD application to extend playtime while traveling. Turning
off automatic spell check and
grammar correction within a word-processing application to finish the document when the battery is low. Reducing
the frequency of stock-quote updates in Web-based financial applications to remain online longer.
When a system is battery powered, applications can extend battery life. In addition, applications can define other
criteria to determine when
to extend battery life. These other criteria can be based on current battery power status, current system power scheme,
or both. Dell Inspiron 8200 Adapter
For example, an application can extend battery life when one or more conditions below are met:
The percentage of remaining battery power is below a specific threshold. The remaining battery time is below a
certain amount of time. The system
is using a particular power scheme. Dell XPS M140 Adapter
An application’s User Interface (UI) can provide options for specifying both how and when to reduce performance/
quality of features, to turn off
background activities, or both. User input is important, since users know their requirements and their environment
best. The user experience may
not be optimal if applications predefine these settings without any options to change them in the UI.
The relevant measures for an application to extend battery life include the following:
Identify the application features where users may be willing to reduce performance/quality for extended battery life.
Identify the application
background activities that users may be willing to turn off for extended battery life. When a system is battery powered,
the application can
extend battery life. In addition, the application can define other criteria to determine when to extend battery
Dell Inspiron 1300 Adapter life. These other criteria can be based on current battery power status, current system
power scheme, or both. Design and implement a UI so
users can specify both how and when to reduce performance/quality of features, and/or to turn off background
activities. Implement application
logic to retrieve system power information and determine when to reduce performanc e/quality of features, and/or
to turn off background
activities. Implement application logic to reduce performance/quality of features, Dell PA-12 Adapter and/or to turn off background activities.