‘My battery keeps getting low when I need it…’ ‘But I recharged it just this morning…’ ‘What’s the heck’s wrong with this battery…?’ ‘It’s just a year old… How can it fail?’
We normally complain about it, and most of the time we decide it is the manufacturer´s fault.
Fact is, cell phone technology has grown rapidly over the past 4-5 years, but battery technology just hasn’t kept pace. Cell phones use lithium-ion batteries with a normal lifespan of 2-3 years. They are efficient power sources and often last a couple days when fully charged.
If we recall 2003, it wasn’t uncommon to find cell phones that gave just 1 hr of talktime with a standby time of under 24 hrs, forcing us to recharge every night, overnight. These days, despite all the processing power involved, we can expect the typical Nokia or Sony cell phone to last much longer than that — Say 4-6 hrs of talktime and 2-3 days of standby time. Now, why do we get a real 50-75% of that? This is why.
We must take into consideration that manufacturers test the phone for calling and sms only when it comes to battery life, they do NOT publish the battery life when using many applications. So, battery life is tested only for the basic uses of the phone.
Under “normal” usage circumstances, however, we do a lot more than that. Here are 8 of the things that a cell phone tends to engage in on a real-world basis:
1. Bluetooth on most phones having it is almost always on.
2. We’ve got multiple applications running in the foreground and background – even those we’re not using.
3. Emails are being sent and the Internet is being browsed.
4. The brightness of our phone screen is set to high by default.
5. We’ve got sounds and vibrating alerts on, instead of functional ringtones.
6. For travelers and business users on roaming, the phone is constantly locating a signal — which eats into precious battery time like no one’s business.
7. We tend to overcharge our battery by keeping it plugged in for over 24 hrs, or the opposite — completely discharge the battery before recharging it again.
8. Lastly (and more commonly), our phone is continually exposed to heat, cold, dust, rain, oil fumes, shocks and vibrations, including accidental drops on a hard floor.
The first 6 consume power while the last 2 can irreversibly damage the cell phone.
Low power is the thing users complain about most, and the more service a phone offers, the more energy is consumed, but as well you stress processor and memory.
The overall performance of our cell phone depends heavily on how efficiently the battery is used in day-to-day scenarios. By cutting down on just a couple of the points above, the battery will last longer — not just between charges but also over its overall lifespan.
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David Herrmann is from Germany and works on internet marketing. He has traveled a lot and has always been interested in the latest wireless technology and gadgets. He has tried and tested several ways to communicate globally to keep in touch with friends and family.