Cellular phones have become an indispensable part of everybody's life. In spite of all the advancement seen in cell phones, battery life is something that is still a major drawback. Here are a few tips that will help you extend the meager battery life of your cell phone.
Though cell phones have progressed exceptionally in the last few years, battery life is still a major concern for most manufacturers, not to mention users. Ten years ago, cell phones were only used for emergencies; today, however, it is hard to think of not having a cell phone for everyday use.
Most of today’s cell phones use lithium ion batteries, that are small and light, and are hence, also used in laptops and portable media payers. Though the life of these batteries are longer, care must be taken to improve their longevity. In the following paragraphs, we tell you of some common ways that will help you extend your phone’s battery life.
Improving Cell Phone Battery Life
Charging Time
The first most important thing to keep an eye out for is the charging time. Cell phone batteries should not be overcharged or charged for a long time. In other words, once the battery reached 100% charge, you should stop the charging process, and let the battery discharge.
A thumb rule about batteries is that the higher the temperature, the lower the battery life. This comes into effect when people charge batteries overnight. When cell phones are left overnight to charge, the phone remains plugged even after the battery has finished charging.
Since the capacity of the battery is full, further charging results in heat, which can damage the battery, decreasing its life. This can be avoided, by switching off the phone while charging; this will reduce the heat generated after the battery reaches full capacity. The best way, of course, is to unplug your charger once the battery has been fully charged.
The best way, of course, is to unplug your charger once the battery has been fully charged.
Charge Discharge Cycle
Lithium ion batteries have a 300 to 500 charge-discharge cycle. To improve the battery life, these type of batteries must not be fully discharged every time. When the capacity drops to about 30%, you should recharge the battery to full again.
However, once in about 25 to 30 cycles, a full discharge should be done. This means that you do not charge the battery till it is empty, or fully discharged. This prolongs the battery life and helps in calibrating the battery gage, which if not calibrated properly, causes occasional switch-offs, even when the battery has not discharged completely.
Phone Settings
Keeping the phone on vibration mode causes the battery to drain quickly, as compared to silent mode. The backlight of the cell phone must be set to turn off after a few seconds. The phone battery drains quickly if the screen of the mobile remains on for a long time.
The settings of your mobile has an option of turning off the backlight after few seconds. Use this setting to avoid quick discharge of the battery. Even screensavers require a lot of energy, and can cause your battery to discharge quickly.
Added features in a cell phone, like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPRS drain the battery very rapidly. These features must be turned off when not in use. The keypad must be locked when the cell phone is kept in pockets. Extra and unnecessary button hits cause the battery to discharge quickly.
Other Factors
The phone must not be kept in extremely hot or extremely cold temperatures. These extreme temperatures may cause the battery life to decrease. The batteries must not be exposed to water, as that can reduce the life of the battery to a very large extent. Not only the battery, but other features of the phone may also stop working if exposed to water.
It is advisable not to buy spare batteries along with your new cell phone. If at all, you do buy one, keep it in the refrigerator, but avoid keeping it in the freezer. When you refrigerate the spare battery, the battery must be charged to 40% of the total charging.
Lastly, when you buy a new cell phone, the first charge must be done for 10 hours. These are some of the simple tips to increase cell phone battery life. Enjoy talking for longer hours!