We live and die today with the strength of our iPhone batteries. One of the features added in iOS 9 helps save your battery, at least a little. That feature is called “Facedown detection” and what it does is to disable the display of notifications when your iPhone is face down on a table. This, in turn, saves a little power from being drained from your battery for each notification.
The built in proximity and ambient light sensors detect when the iPhone is facing down and deactivate the display. Note that this feature only works with the iPhone 5s and later models. While the earlier iPhone models have the right sensors, only the iPhone 5s and
later models have the needed motion co-processor. The “Facedown detection” works if you set your iPhone facing down on any surface including a glass table top.
You do have to have Fitness Tracking enabled on your iPhone for this to work. Go to Settings >> Privacy >> Motion & Fitness and make sure “Fitness Tracking” is on.
This isn’t going to make a huge difference to the life of your battery charge, but then sometimes every little bit helps. So the next time you are in one of those all day meetings, lay your iPhone face down in front of you. That may just keep it operating all day! If must see every one of those notifications, then an Apple Watch is a good investment.
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I had a small external battery that I used for phone charging, but it seems to have found it’s way to a safe, but unknown location. My iPhone 5 battery seems to be sliding down the slope to failure, so I need to be able to charge up my iPhone while on the go. I did a survey of available products on Amazon and settled on the “Levin Ultra Compact 5000mAh USB External Battery with intelligent charging Technology” priced at $13.99 when I ordered it in early January 2016.
The order came quickly and I have put the battery to used a few times. I have to say that I am thrilled with the resulting performance. I have tried it with both my iPhone and iPad and found that it successfully charges both, which is a added benefit. This inexpensive device claims several positive characteristics:
- High Performance : Adopts panasonic technogy ,large energy density, good temperature stability and better security.The most compact 5000mAh power bank.5V2A Outlet allows for simultaneous charging of your devices at high speed .
- Effctive & Long-Life : Constructed with lithium-ion battery cells and built-in microchips to ensure safety use and long lifespan. 500+ recharge cycles over the life of the battery, after 24 months still maintains unrivaled performance
- Intelligent Charging Technology : Built in intelligent charging protection function. Prevent white screen, black screen, cell phone system halted or shut down etc.
- LED & Flashlight : The LED flashlight works perfectly in darkness, especially for emergency. The flash light will turn on when you just press the button for few seconds. 4 blue LED status of charge indicators indicate the charging and discharging process
- Safty Guarrantee : Supports over-charged, over-discharged, over-voltage, over-current and short circuit protection, perfectly protects your digital devices from charging accident
While I have only used the battery for a little over a week, I find that this is a very cost effective device. It is small enough to fit into my pocket or lap top bag, yet contains enough power to keep my ailing iPhone working for hours. It will definitely be part of my “go bag” for the many meetings that I attend.
Pros
- Low cost
- Capable of charging both iPhone and iPad
- 5000 mAh capacity
- Flashlight mode
Cons
- Only 5000 mAh capacity
- Only one USB charging output
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