A Possible Tip To Increase Battery Life on Nokia Nseries Phones

When I read Om Malik’s rather extensive review of the Nokia N95, he mentioned something many people have already mentioned: The battery life on the Nokia N95 is not that great. I have no first-hand experience with the N95 (yet), but I did notice a default on the other Nseries devices I have that will cause some additional battery drain: the fact the phone tries to do both GSM and UMTS.

If you’re in the US, none of the current Nseries phones except for the still-delayed Nokia N75 support US frequencies for UMTS. Seems kind of silly to have the phone search for something it will never find, don’t you think? However, it’s relatively easy to change the phone to GSM only.

Hit the Application Key on your Nseries phone and go to Tools > Settings > Network > Network Mode. Set it to GSM. You will be asked to reboot the phone for this change to take effect. Once the reboot occurs, the phone won’t try and use UMTS at all. It should extend the battery life somewhat, though one wonders if it will be enough for the N95 to make it through the day. Hopefully, I will find out for myself soon.

Obviously if you’re in Europe where there might actually be UMTS available, this tip won’t do you any good. Also, if you’re roaming in Europe, doing data, and not worried about the high roaming charges you might occur, you may want to turn this feature on.

Note this tip also applies to the Nokia Eseries phones as well, at least the European 3G capable ones anyway such as the Nokia E61.