3 Ways To Maximize Your Phone’s Battery

I've heard many different ideas on keeping your cell phone battery working at its peak potential.  It turns out I've been getting the wrong info.  If you've ever wondered why your cell phone doesn't last as long as it's supposed to, here are three tips from Gizmodo.com to help you take better care of it.

1.  Keep topping it off throughout the day.  Some people think a cell phone battery has a "memory," and that you should run it all the way down, and "teach" it its capacity.  But that's only for nickel-based batteries . . . cell phones have lithium-ion batteries.

Letting a phone battery go to zero can actually be dangerous . . . it can get chemically unstable.  But it also doesn't like being fully charged.  So the way to maximize battery life is to top it off as often as possible, and keep it between 40% and 80%.

2.  Keep it cool.  The warmer your phone gets, the more capacity your battery loses.  At 77 degrees Fahrenheit, a lithium-ion battery loses 20% of its capacity every year.  And if you carry your phone in your pocket, it's probably hotter than that all day long.

Women do better when they carry their phone in a purse.  Guys could go back to carrying their phone on a belt clip, but if that's not your style, at the very least never leave your phone in the car, or sitting on a table or countertop that's in direct sunlight.

3.  Don't charge it wirelessly.  Wireless charging mats get pretty hot after a while.

But overall, there's really no need to worry about battery life.  Even if you abuse your battery, it'll still last for two years with SOME capacity left over.

And by then you might be upgrading anyway.