iPhone Battery

The best way to save battery life while using iOS 7 is by turning off everything you don't use. For example, the parallax effect may be neat, but what good is the illusion of 3D when your phone is dead? Or do you really need your phone to automatically update all your apps? Here are a few iOS 7 features you may want to disable or limit so you can get more use out of your battery.

Turn Off Parallax

You can turn off the parallax effect by navigating to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion > OFF.

Turn Off Auto Downloads

You can go back to manually updating your apps by navigating to Settings > iTunes & App Store and scrolling down to Automatic Downloads.

If your iPhone 5 battery is acting up, it might be covered under warranty. For those who prefer to go it alone, iFixit covers the steps on how to replace the battery yourself. Not only are iPhone 5 batteries available for $10 online, the repair can take as little as 15 minutes if you're already comfortable working with your iOS hardware.

A few tools are necessary, including an iPhone penalobe screwdriver, Phillips #00 screwdriver, plastic opening tools and a small suction cup. Of course, iFixit sells a Pro Tech Toolkit designed to help the intrepid do-it-yourself fan to open and repair a multitude of modern electronic devices. These items can also be purchased individually to help safely gain access to the insides of your iPhone 5.

The new iOS and Android app Carat promises users better battery life by delivering tips on how to conserve energy. According to TechCrunch, the app was designed by a " top-notch" team of "M.S. and Ph.D scientists from the UC Berkeley electrical engineering and computer science department’s Algorithms, Machines, and People Laboratory (AMP Lab)."

The free app uses gathered information from your device to decide what apps are hogging your iPhone's battery power. To do this the app has to take "measurements" from your device. This means you will need to allow it access for it to work. It also takes a few days to collect data before it can start sending you battery saving tips. So don't expect instant results.

Once again, some iPhone owners have experienced problems with their battery life after updating to the latest firmware, in this case iOS 5.1.1. Updating over-the-air is convenient, but for some it caused battery life to be noticeably shorter despite the fixing of several bugs. Problems including 2G to 3G network switching and AirPlay video bugs were among the problems fixed.

This is nice, but when your battery takes a hit this can seem to be the bigger problem. The good news is that thanks to CNET there are simple steps that will return your battery to its full potential.

Every time a new technology surfaces that could be used in a portable electronic device, the iPhone seems to pop up. Apple likes to be ahead of the curve, and there's no doubt the company is always on the lookout for better ways to power their mobile offerings. Enter the NEC Organic Radical Battery (ORB), which was first announced in 2005.

With a recharge time of just 30 seconds, the ORB breaks new ground. Not only this, but the revamped battery contains no heavy metals like current lithium rechargeable batteries. That means recycling or disposal of the ORB doesn't involve any toxic materials.