Pokémon GO: 11 Biggest Questions Answered For New Players
They're super effective.
Like grabbing a bag of Pokéballs, having a quick word with the local Professor and being on your way, Pokémon GO can be a pretty daunting experience. After all, the game's tutorials are severely lacking (read: nonexistent), prompting helpful 'Tips & Tricks' articles like this, but that doesn't get away from the fact Nintendo's latest killer app has quite the mystifying entry barrier.
Playing like an open-world version of Paper Toss, you'll journey around your own country/town/living room, triggering various Pokémon before flicking Pokéballs at them to fill up your Pokédex. There's a bit more to the game than that, and after putting a good few hours into it (and charging my phone almost constantly to keep going), I've compiled some of the most common questions from across various social media sites, forums and everything in between.
Thankfully, Pokémon's community has always been a superbly helpful one, so leave any other qualms and quibbles in the comments below, and we'll all do our best to get them answered.
Without further adieu...
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11. How Much Battery Does It Use? What Can Prevent Drain?
"A TON", is the short answer, as right now developers Niantic are already "working on a solution" to the problem. As it stands, the game requires a constant connection both to Niantic's servers and GPS data to triangulate your position and populate the world, resulting in an entire phone's 100% charge depletingin around 40 minutes of solid play.
Yes, really.
Granted you can mitigate this a tad by hopping into the settings and ticking the 'Battery Saver Mode' option. Rather than dim your screen constantly or restrict certain processes, it instead turns your screen off altogether when your phone is upside down.
The practical use involves plugging in headphones and slipping your now-upside down phone in your pocket for long bouts of play. You'll still get audio notifications for PokéStops (more on them in a bit) and Pokémon that pop up around you, so right now it's the best way to get the most time out of any session.