At the official unveiling of the Galaxy S5 earlier this week, Samsung demoed an intelligent battery saving technique that turns the screen black and white to extend battery life considerably. In addition to its own customizations, Samsung has revealed that the Galaxy S5 will feature three additional battery saving optimizations from LucidLogix. LucidLogix develops power saving solutions that enables you to extend your device’s battery life. Its Xtend line of battery saving features that include NavExtend, WebExtend and GamExtend will be included in the Galaxy S5, which should make the device much more energy efficient.
Lucid’s NavExtend focuses on increasing battery life when using GPS and navigation utilities. It does so by throttling the GPU just so that it matches the minimum requirements needed by the GPS client. Usually when using navigation, the GPU runs full-tilt, which leads to a heavy strain on the battery. NavExtend intelligently manages the GPU so that more battery is conserved, with a claimed increase in battery life by as much as 25%. The throttling of the GPU means that the device does not run too hot as well. Lucid has mentioned that the NavExtend technology will work “transparently and flawlessly with leading navigation software”.
Similarly, WebExtend works by increasing battery life by up to 25% while surfing the Internet. It uses a combination of GPU and CPU throttling to achieve this, and Lucid claims that all major Android browsers work with WebExtend. Finally, GameExtend is a utility that has already been used on the Galaxy Note 3 to manage the device resources better while undertaking heavy-duty tasks like gaming. These Lucid technologies in addition to Samsung’s own tweaks mean that the Galaxy S5 will likely be one of the most energy efficient devices this year.
