Battery life is a perennial problem for
smartphone users.While our handsets have become faster
and more powerful over the years, smartphone batteries often last less than a
day under heavy use, or even moderate use after a few months.
Battery problems on yoursmartphone? Here's
what you need to know about battery’s myth busters.
1.Does battery life get worse over time?
Yes, you're not making it up, your battery
deteriorates over time. Modern lithium-ion batteries are designed to withstand
a certain number of "cycles" - a full drain of the battery. A cycle
is equivalent to a battery fully draining, but this doesn't all have to be from
one charge.
2.Do I need to charge my phone when I first
get it?
No. Earlier battery types like nickel cadmium
had a "memory effect" that meant batteries would maintain a certain
capacity based on how they had been charged and discharged. This meant that
electronics products often came with advice to charge them fully and keep them
plugged in for hours before using them.
However, with modern lithium-ion batteries
most people agree that there is no such effect and the batteries are more
reliable. A smartphone is fine to run out of the box without
"priming" it beforehand.
For the same reason, you don't need to
calibrate your smartphone by running the battery all the way down.
3.Should I wait until my phone battery has
gone well down before recharging it, or can I charge it often?
No - in fact, you should do the opposite.
Modern lithium-ion batteries gain nothing from being powered down, and long
charging cycles are actually worse than short ones.
4.Does leaving my smartphone charging damage
the battery?
Not usually. There have been suggestions that
keeping your phone charging overnight or constantly can force the battery to
deteriorate, due to it receiving more power than it needs. Modern battery
systems, however, know to reduce this to a trickle, so it only tops up a
battery with the power you need.
The exception is in very hot conditions. Heat
causes lithium-ion batteries to decay slightly, reducing performance. Since
charging a phone does heat it up slightly, combining this with hot
temperaturescan damage it. Try to keep your phone relatively cool when charging
it, by placing it out of the sun.
5.Does turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
improve battery life? How about airplane mode?
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are not nearly as power
hungry as they used to be. Keeping them on is not likely to drain a huge amount
of battery, although if you really want to completely maximise efficiency, it
helps slightly.
Having your cellular radio look for signal in
areas where there isn't any, however, is very draining. You can activate
airplane mode if you don't need a mobile signal. And if you can connect to
Wi-Fi, do it: Using 4G or 3G drains the battery far quicker than Wi-Fi does.
6.How else can I save battery?
There are several things that can be done to
just reduce how much power the phone is using, which will both keep your
battery going for longer and mean it deteriorating more slowly.
(a)You can read a full list with explanations
here, but they include:
(b)Turning down the screen brightness
(c)Disabling location and background app
refresh for apps that don't need it
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