How to game on your phone without killing the battery

A great offline game is wasted if your battery dies twenty minutes in. Over the years we've picked up a few habits that stretch a charge surprisingly far.

Turn the brightness down and switch off unnecessary background sync — airplane mode is your friend for offline games anyway, and it does wonders for battery life. Bright arcade racers are the biggest drain, so save those for when you're near a charger.

Lowering the frame rate in settings, if the game allows it, also helps for slower titles like sims and puzzles. You won't miss the extra frames, and you'll get an extra hour of play.