Tech Table Monday, May 19, 2014
May 19, 2014
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise, it’ll be easy to digest.
Justin: It’s Monday, Diana.
Diana: Yeah, I think I’ll just let you take this one.
Justin: Oh, you’re gonna let me take this one. That’s fantas-, you not awake?
Diana: I was just almost not ready. I was sitting back and relaxing but.
Justin: Well, you know, it’s mail Monday.
Diana: Yes.
Justin: Where we go into our inbox and dig out a question. What’s that address people can send their questions to, Diana?
Diana: questions@askmpa.com.
Justin: Very nicely done. So, Elaine has asked up some general questions about her new iPhone. She got this new iPhone, you know, and for people who don’t have any experience, you know, in.
Diana: It was her first smart phone.
Justin: Yeah, right.
Diana: In fact.
Justin: Right. It was a great purchase. We should applaud. We need a little applause sound effect here.
Diana: Yay!
Justin: Yay on getting an iPhone. We think that’s a great, great choice. So, we’re gonna answer some of these questions. Tell you a little more about the iPhone and other cellular devices regarding data usage and battery power.
Diana: Yeah. And that’s a big concern for people, especially when they’re venturing from a, you know, standard phone- non smart phone.
Justin: Right.
Diana: To a new smart phone the first time because they-, that is a pretty general concern.
Justin: Yeah. They use data.
Diana: They use data and they use a lot of power
Justin: And they use a lot of battery.
Diana: Mm-hm.
Justin: Yup. Mm-hm. Exactly. So, you can conserve battery life pretty easily by lowering the brightness, which is located in settings on your phone. You can disconnect the internet, which is turn on airplane mode in your settings. Or you can disconnect Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, again, found in settings. You also can power off the device until you need it. You’re a big fan of doing that. I couldn’t-, I can’t handle it.
Diana: Well, and you know, I don’t know if this true anymore frankly, but let me throw it out there. If you turn off your phone for about 10 minutes every day and reboot it, it’s good for it. It’s what I was told.
Justin: That’s what I’ve always been told, too.
Diana: Because it’s a computer. It just needs a little break.
Justin: Right.
Diana: So, I usually try to do that, you know, in the morning when I’m not available for my phone anyways. I just turn it off.
Justin: Absolutely. Sure. You can also conserve battery life by closing open applications. You know, a lot of times, you leave things open. I used to on my Blackberry-, leave like the Google mapping thing open and it would just-, the GPS-, the Google GPS, and it would drain my battery. It would use a lot of data.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: And so, yeah, I definitely learned to close that open application.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: Absolutely.
Diana: And now, have you ever noticed it looks like your phone is in roaming mode. That even if you’re close to home and you know very good and well that it’s not roaming?
Justin: Uh-huh.
Diana: Have you ever seen that?
Justin: Yeah.
Diana: Well, basically it’s saying that you have a poor connection and the device is working hard to get back online so you can receive those calls and emails.
Justin: Sure.
Diana: So, that will drastically reduce your battery life. So, if you ever see that happening, just turn it to airplane mode and that will simply stop that second largest drain of the battery. Now, we should note that airplane mode means that you are not going to receive calls. Ok.
Justin: That’s true.
Diana: So, if you’re wanting to receive calls, airplane mode is not for you.
Justin: Right. That is true. Very good. So, data usage because you use a lot of data easily, so there are apps you can get such as 3G Watchdog that track your data usage. And that’s, I think, a good one.
Diana: Yup, and they give you alerts, too. You also might get alerts from your phone carrier. Just kind of ask them about that option if they have it.
Justin: Absolutely. Absolutely. What else?
Diana: Keep apps closed after you use it. So, again, some of these tips that we have noted for basic battery power also help with the data.
Justin: Absolutely. So, you know, the most important thing is just keep an eye on it especially at first. Learn how you use your smartphone and your habits and things. And then you can monitor how much data you’re using and use less and alter the things that you do. So, enjoy your new iPhone, Elaine, and send us questions to…
Diana: Questions@askmpa.com
Justin: Until next time.
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa, and God’s country radio. You can visit us online at askmpa.com
Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com.
Justin: And thanks for listening.
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