T-Mobile G1

As some of you may know, I got a white T-Mobile G1 not long ago and have loved it all along. Android and the G1 are awesome at pretty much everything… well, with the exception of battery life. I’ve found a few things that when disabled or configured differently, conserve a vast amount of battery life on the G1. I’m sure a lot of you G1 users out there have found these things already but I figured I’d compile them for those of you who are still dealing with constant recharging.

1. Don’t leave messaging services logged in all day

I learned this within my first week of owning the G1. I found that when I left my Google Talk account logged in all day, my battery was taxed by mid day and was nearly dead. Unless you’re a messenger fiend who has his/her fingers glued to the slide-out keyboard all day long when you should be finishing that TPS report, keep it logged out.

2. Turn off Bluetooth

Nobody out there needs Bluetooth enabled for the entire day except those annoying business people you see in supermarkets and on busy city sidewalks, blabbing away on their bluetooth earpiece about nothing and misleading you into thinking they’ve set aside a second of their “busy life” to talk to you. If you’re like myself, you don’t use Bluetooth at all. Obviously having it enabled serves no purpose other than to eat battery life. I turned this off almost immediately. If I don’t use it, I don’t need it on.

3. Turn off data roaming

While reading around on the web, someone had mentioned that they turned off data roaming. Apparently when data roaming is enabled, your phone will search out all and any towers in order to be able to deliver data to and from your phone. I turned this off and it was also a slight help to conserving battery life. I haven’t really found a use for this setting to begin with. Also, turning off data roaming might save you from some hefty charges.

Here’s how to turn off data roaming on your G1:

1. Go to “Settings”
2. Go to “Wireless controls”
3. Go to “Mobile networks”
4. Click on “Data roaming” to uncheck it

There is a “bug” in the Android OS that baffles a lot of people as to why Google and/or T-Mobile would allow this. Despite your efforts to avoid data roaming charges, some third party Android applications will still access the network, unbeknowst to you and thus earning you some hefty charges in data roaming. I’ll never understand who’s idea it was to allow applications to override a user-defined setting. If I shut something off, NOTHING ELSE SHOULD ENABLE IT.

4. Assess third party applications’ abilities as you download them

I’m sure you’ve been to the Market application on the G1 and have already downloaded cool apps. If that’s the case then I’m sure you remember the little yellow warning messages that follow the click of the “Install” button prior to actually installing the application. Make sure you read these. Some applications like to access the network even when you’ve closed them, so that they can update things in the background. Twidroid (an awesome Twitter mobile application) is one of the apps that has the option to access and update your timeline even when it’s closed. Make sure to disable this. Leaving applications on in the background can also tax your G1 battery considerably. Make sure you read those warnings prior to downloading that cool app you found. Those are one of the fantastic features of the Android Market and they’re there for your safety.

So if you’re a G1 owner and you’ve got some secrets on saving some of that precious G1 juice, make sure to share them in the comments below. I am currently getting 2 days worth out of my G1 battery and I think that’s pretty good. I hope you find this helpful and thanks for reading.