So you own a shiny new Android smart phone, but are now more than a little annoyed because you have to carry your charger everywhere you go? Indeed, poor battery life is the Google OS’s worst-kept secret. But help is on the way. Here’s a primer on how to make those power cells lasy longer:

Switch-off unnecessary antennas- Antennas hog battery, so it’s advisable to switch off unnecessary services like Bluetooth. GPS and WI-FI when you are not using them. All Android phones have easy-to-access widgets that allow you to switch the various antennae on and off with a single touch. It’s best you turn off your 3G antenna in places where the service is patchy since your device will constantly seek a 3G network, draining the battery.

Manage screen brightness-To aggressively work towards saving battery life, manually set display brightness levels to between 30 and 40 per cent.Free-up RAM- Use the built-in task manager app to regularly free up your phone’s memory. If your device does not come with such a tool, download the free Advanced Task Manager from the Google play store.

Use a wallpaper with dark colours- Believe it or not, dark-coloured themes and wallpapers reduce battery usage, especially in devices with AMOLED screens.

Disable Sync- Wherever you can, disable push notification in apps like email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Instead, set specific update intervals, such as 15 minutes, depending on your usage.

Get paid apps- Advertisements in free apps tend to take a heavy toll on battery life.

Check battery usage- Go to your phone’s setting to discover which apps consume the most juice, and take a call on which you should uninstall.

Keep it cool- Heat lowers the battery life of a smart-phone. Take care to keep the phone away from hot areas like your car’s dashboard.

Saviour app-  Juice Defender is the swiss knife of battery-saving apps. It allows you to set rules such as switching-off 3G and connecting to WI-FI as soon as you enter your office. Connectivity scheduling lets you control when the phone uses data connection and for how long. For example, when you are sleeping, you don’t necessarily need full-time Internet access.